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Acts 14:1-7
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1 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.
2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who affirmed the message of His grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.
4 The people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews, and others with the apostles.
5 But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,
6 they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding region,
7 where they continued to preach the gospel. -
Acts 13:42-52
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42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people urged them to continue this message on the next Sabbath.
43 After the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
44 On the following Sabbath, nearly the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
49 And the word of the Lord spread throughout that region.
50 The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.
51 So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium.
52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. -
Acts 12:1-19
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1 About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.
2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
3 And seeing that this pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
4 He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
The Rescue of Peter 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.
6 On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.
7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.
8 “Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel. Peter did so, and the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
9 So Peter followed him out, but he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He thought he was only seeing a vision.
10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
12 And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.
13 He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.
14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”
15 “You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.
17 Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.
18 At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
19 After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there. -
Acts 11:19-30
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19 Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.
20 But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.
21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
22 When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
26 and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.
27 In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)
29 So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
30 This they did, sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul. -
Acts 9:10-19
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10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.
11 “Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
14 And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”
15 “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
16 I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
17 So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,
19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. -
Acts 9:1-9
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1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest
2 and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
3 As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
5 “Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.
6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone.
8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
9 For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything. -
Acts 8:1-8
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1 And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
2 God-fearing men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.
3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.
6 The crowds gave their undivided attention to Philip’s message and to the signs they saw him perform.
7 With loud shrieks, unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, and many of the paralyzed and lame were healed.
8 So there was great joy in that city. -
Acts 7:54-60
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54 On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him.
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 At this they covered their ears, cried out in a loud voice, and rushed together at him.
58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. -
Acts 7:39-53
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39 But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
40 They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
41 At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.
42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
45 And our fathers who received it brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations God drove out before them. It remained until the time of David,
46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built the house for Him.
48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or where will My place of repose be?
50 Has not My hand made all these things?’
51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
52 Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
53 you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.” -
Acts 6:8-15
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8 Now Stephen, who was full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
9 But resistance arose from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They began to argue with Stephen,
10 but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
11 Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin,
13 where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.
14 For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
