Study Desk

The message of God was spreading, reaching more and more people.

When Barnabas and Saul came to the city of Salamis, they told the message of God in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.

He always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, who was the governor and a very smart man. He invited Barnabas and Saul to come visit him, because he wanted to hear the message of God.

Paul stood up, raised his hand to get their attention, and said, "People of Israel and all you others who worship the true God, please listen to me!

The God of Israel chose our ancestors. And during the time our people lived in Egypt as foreigners, he made them great. Then he brought them out of that country with great power.

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

All this happened in about 450 years. "After this, God gave our people judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.

Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul, the son of Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years.

After God took Saul away, God made David their king. This is what God said about David: ‘David, the son of Jesse, is the kind of person who does what pleases me. He will do everything I want him to do.'

"As he promised, God has brought one of David's descendants to Israel to be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus.

"My brothers, sons in the family of Abraham, and you other people who also worship the true God, listen! The news about this salvation has been sent to us.

But God raised him up from death!

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

We are their descendants, and God has made this promise come true for us. God did this by raising Jesus from death. We also read about this in Psalm 2: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.'

God raised Jesus from death. Jesus will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said, ‘I will give you the true and holy promises that I made to David.'

But the one God raised from death did not rot in the grave.

Brothers, understand what we are telling you. You can have forgiveness of your sins through this Jesus. The Law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But you can be made right with God if you believe in Jesus.

After the meeting, many of the people followed Paul and Barnabas, including many Jews and people who had changed their religion to be like Jews and worship the true God. Paul and Barnabas encouraged them to continue trusting in God's grace.

He was sitting and listening to Paul speak. Paul looked straight at him and saw that the man believed God could heal him.

"Men, why are you doing this? We are not gods. We are human just like you. We came to tell you the Good News. We are telling you to turn away from these worthless things. Turn to the true living God, the one who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them.