Study Desk

From Attalia they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had just completed.

When they arrived, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them, and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

On their arrival in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and apostles and elders, to whom they reported all that God had done through them.

After much discussion, Peter got up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that the Gentiles would hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

And God, who knows the heart, showed His approval by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.

Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

The whole assembly fell silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.

Simon has told us how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to be His own.

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

As soon as Paul had seen the vision, we got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."

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

Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them. So he and all his household rejoiced that they had come to believe in God.

Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.

But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.

For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription: To an unknown God. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.