Study Desk

God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan and gave the land to his people.

All this happened in about four hundred fifty years. "After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.

Then the people asked for a king, so God gave them Saul son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin and was king for forty years.

After God took him away, God made David their king. God said about him: ‘I have found in David son of Jesse the kind of man I want. He will do all I want him to do.'

So God has brought Jesus, one of David's descendants, to Israel to be its Savior, as he promised.

"Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and others who worship God, listen! The news about this salvation has been sent to us.

But God raised him up from the dead!

We tell you the Good News about the promise God made to our ancestors.

God has made this promise come true for us, his children, by raising Jesus from the dead. We read about this also in Psalm 2: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.' Psalm 2:7

God raised Jesus from the dead, and he will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings that I promised to David.' Isaiah 55:3

But in another place God says: ‘You will not let your Holy One rot.' Psalm 16:10

But the One God raised from the dead did not rot in the grave.

When the meeting was over, many people with those who had changed to worship God followed Paul and Barnabas from that place. Paul and Barnabas were persuading them to continue trusting in God's grace.

But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly, saying, "We must speak the message of God to you first. But you refuse to listen. You are judging yourselves not worthy of having eternal life! So we will now go to the people of other nations.

As this man was listening to Paul speak, Paul looked straight at him and saw that he believed God could heal him.

"Friends, why are you doing these things? We are only human beings like you. We are bringing you the Good News and are telling you to turn away from these worthless things and turn to the living God. He is the One who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

In the past, God let all the nations do what they wanted.

When they arrived in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas gathered the church together. They told the church all about what God had done with them and how God had made it possible for those who were not Jewish to believe.

The church helped them leave on the trip, and they went through the countries of Phoenicia and Samaria, telling all about how the other nations had turned to God. This made all the believers very happy.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the apostles, the elders, and the church. Paul, Barnabas, and the others told about everything God had done with them.