Study Desk

When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported everything God had done through them.

At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: "Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe.

God knows people's hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear?

Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself.

"And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.

One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying.

She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, and they have come to tell you how to be saved."

Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening.

He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women.

But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble.

He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.

for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.' This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.

"He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples,

"His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.

And since this is true, we shouldn't think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

"God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.