Study Desk

But Peter said, "I can't do that, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is not pure or fit to be used for food."

But the voice said to him again, "God has made these things pure. Don't say they are unfit to eat."

But Peter told him to get up. Peter said, "Stand up! I am only a man like you."

Peter said to the people, "You understand that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit anyone who is not a Jew. But God has shown me that I should not consider anyone unfit or say they are not pure.

"We saw all that Jesus did in Judea and in Jerusalem. But he was killed. They put him on a cross made of wood.

But on the third day after his death, God raised him to life and let him be seen openly.

He was not seen by everyone, but only by us, the ones God had already chosen to be witnesses. We ate and drank with him after he was raised from death.

But when Peter came to Jerusalem, some Jewish believers argued with him.

"But I said, ‘I can't do that, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is not pure or fit to be used for food.'

"But the voice from heaven answered again, ‘God has made these things pure. Don't say they are unfit to eat!'

Then I remembered the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘John baptized people in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.'

The believers were scattered by the persecution that began when Stephen was killed. Some of them went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. They told the Good News in these places, but only to Jews.

He arrested Peter and put him in jail, where he was guarded by a group of 16 soldiers. Herod planned to bring Peter before the people, but he wanted to wait until after the Passover festival.

So Peter was kept in jail, but the church was constantly praying to God for him.

The believers said to her, "You are crazy!" But she continued to say that it was true. So they said, "It must be Peter's angel."

But Peter continued to knock. When the believers opened the door, they saw him. They were amazed.

Herod looked everywhere for him but could not find him. So he questioned the guards and then ordered that they be killed. Later, Herod moved from Judea. He went to the city of Caesarea and stayed there a while.

Herod was very angry with the people from the cities of Tyre and Sidon. But these cities needed food from his country, so a group of them came to ask him for peace. They were able to get Blastus, the king's personal servant, on their side.

But the magician Elymas (as Barjesus was called in Greek) spoke against them, trying to stop the governor from believing in Jesus.

But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked hard at Elymas