Study Desk

"The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He led them out from it.

"Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

"From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

"Brethren, sons of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.

"But God raised Him from the dead;

that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'YOU ARE MY SON; TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU.'

"For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;

but He whom God raised did not undergo decay.

Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God.

Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.

and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM.

strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

From there they sailed to Antioch, from which they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished.

When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.

"And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;

"Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

"Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.