II. Paul and the Expansion of the Church from Antioch to Rome (chs. 13-28)
- "Throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia" (13:1 -- 15:35; see 16:6and note)
"Over to Macedonia" (15:36;21:16;16:9;)"To Rome" (21:17;28:31;28:14;)
ACTS 13 NLT
1 Among the prophets and teachers of the
church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called “the black man” ),
Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas ),
and Saul.
2 One day as these men were worshiping the
Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the
special work to which I have called them.”
3 So after more fasting and prayer, the
men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.
4 So Barnabas and Saul were sent out by
the Holy Spirit. They went down to the seaport of Seleucia and then sailed for
the island of Cyprus.
5 There, in the town of Salamis, they went
to the Jewish synagogues and preached the word of God. John Mark went with them
as their assistant.
6 Afterward they traveled from town to
town across the entire island until finally they reached Paphos, where they met
a Jewish sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus.
7 He had attached himself to the governor,
Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor invited Barnabas and
Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God.
8 But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name
means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what
Barnabas and Saul said. He was trying to keep the governor from
believing.
9 Saul, also known as Paul, was filled
with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye.
10 Then he said, “You son of the devil,
full of every sort of deceit and fraud, and enemy of all that is good! Will you
never stop perverting the true ways of the Lord?
11 Watch now, for the Lord has laid his hand
of punishment upon you, and you will be struck blind. You will not see the
sunlight for some time.” Instantly mist and darkness came over the man’s eyes,
and he began groping around begging for someone to take his hand and lead
him.
12 When the governor saw what had happened,
he became a believer, for he was astonished at the teaching about the
Lord.
13 Paul and his companions then left Paphos
by ship for Pamphylia, landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left
them and returned to Jerusalem.
14 But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to
Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the
services.
15After the usual readings from the books of
Moses and the prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message:
“Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, come and give
it.”
16 So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet
them, and started speaking. “Men of Israel,” he said, “and you God-fearing
Gentiles, listen to me.
17 “The God of this nation of Israel chose
our ancestors and made them multiply and grow strong during their stay in
Egypt. Then with a powerful arm he led them out of their slavery.
18He put up with them through forty years of
wandering in the wilderness.
19Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and
gave their land to Israel as an inheritance.
20 All this took about 450 years.
“After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the
prophet.
21 Then the people begged for a king, and
God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for
forty years.
22 But God removed Saul and replaced him
with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man
after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’
23 “And it is one of King David’s
descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!
24 Before he came, John the Baptist
preached that all the people of Israel needed to repent of their sins and turn
to God and be baptized.
25 As John was finishing his ministry he
asked, ‘Do you think I am the Messiah? No, I am not! But he is coming soon—and
I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the sandals on his feet.’
26 “Brothers—you sons of Abraham, and also
you God-fearing Gentiles—this message of salvation has been sent to us!
27 The people in Jerusalem and their
leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about.
Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’
words that are read every Sabbath.
28 They found no legal reason to execute
him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.
29 “When they had done all that the
prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in
a tomb.
30 But God raised him from the dead!
31 And over a period of many days he
appeared to those who had gone with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now
his witnesses to the people of Israel.
32 “And now we are here to bring you this
Good News. The promise was made to our ancestors,
33 and God has now fulfilled it for us,
their descendants, by raising Jesus. This is what the second psalm says about
Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father. ’
34 For God had promised to raise him from
the dead, not leaving him to rot in the grave. He said, ‘I will give you the
sacred blessings I promised to David.’
35 Another psalm explains it more fully:
‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’
36 This is not a reference to David, for
after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was
buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed.
37 No, it was a reference to someone
else—someone whom God raised and whose body did not decay.
38 “Brothers, listen! We are here to
proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins.
39 Everyone who believes in him is declared
right with God—something the law of Moses could never do.
40 Be careful! Don’t let the prophets’
words apply to you. For they said,
41 ‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die!
For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even
if someone told you about it.’ ”
42 As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue
that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next
week.
43 Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism
followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on
the grace of God.
44 The following week almost the entire
city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord.
45 But when some of the Jews saw the
crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever
he said.
46Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and
declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews.
But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life,
we will offer it to the Gentiles.
47 For the Lord gave us this command when
he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the
farthest corners of the earth.’ ”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were
very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for
eternal life became believers.
49 So the Lord’s message spread throughout
that region.
50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential
religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against
Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.
51 So they shook the dust from their feet
as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium.
52 And the believers were filled with joy
and with the Holy Spirit.
ACTS 14 NLT
1 The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul
and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a
great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.
2 Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s
message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas.
3 But the apostles stayed there a long
time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their
message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders.
4 But the people of the town were divided
in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the
apostles.
5 Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along
with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them.
6 When the apostles learned of it, they
fled to the region of Lycaonia—to the towns of Lystra and Derbe and the
surrounding area.
7 And there they preached the Good
News.
8 While they were at Lystra, Paul and
Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. He had been that way from birth,
so he had never walked. He was sitting
9and listening as Paul preached. Looking
straight at him, Paul realized he had faith to be healed.
10 So Paul called to him in a loud voice,
“Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking.
11 When the crowd saw what Paul had done,
they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!”
12 They decided that Barnabas was the Greek
god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker.
13 Now the temple of Zeus was located just
outside the town. So the priest of the temple and the crowd brought bulls and
wreaths of flowers to the town gates, and they prepared to offer sacrifices to
the apostles.
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul
heard what was happening, they tore their clothing in dismay and ran out among
the people, shouting,
15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We are
merely human beings—just like you! We have come to bring you the Good News that
you should turn from these worthless things and turn to the living God, who
made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.
16 In the past he permitted all the nations
to go their own ways,
17 but he never left them without evidence
of himself and his goodness. For instance, he sends you rain and good crops and
gives you food and joyful hearts.”
18 But even with these words, Paul and
Barnabas could scarcely restrain the people from sacrificing to them.
19 Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and
Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out
of town, thinking he was dead.
20 But as the believers gathered around
him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas
for Derbe.
21 After preaching the Good News in Derbe
and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and
Antioch of Pisidia,
22 where they strengthened the believers.
They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must
suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.
23 Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders
in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the
care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
24 Then they traveled back through Pisidia
to Pamphylia.
25 They preached the word in Perga, then
went down to Attalia.
26 Finally, they returned by ship to
Antioch of Syria, where their journey had begun. The believers there had
entrusted them to the grace of God to do the work they had now completed.
27 Upon arriving in Antioch, they called
the church together and reported everything God had done through them and how
he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too.
28 And they stayed there with the believers
for a long time.
ACTS 15 NLT
1 While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch
of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers :
“Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be
saved.”
2 Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them,
arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to
Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and
elders about this question.
3 The church sent the delegates to
Jerusalem, and they stopped along the way in Phoenicia and Samaria to visit the
believers. They told them—much to everyone’s joy—that the Gentiles, too, were
being converted.
4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, Barnabas
and Paul were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders.
They reported everything God had done through them.
5 But then some of the believers who
belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile
converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.”
6 So the apostles and elders met together
to resolve this issue.
7 At the meeting, after a long discussion,
Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God
chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they
could hear the Good News and believe.
8 God knows people’s hearts, and he
confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he
did to us.
9 He made no distinction between us and
them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.
10 So why are you now challenging God by
burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors
were able to bear?
11 We believe that we are all saved the
same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”
12 Everyone listened quietly as Barnabas
and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them
among the Gentiles.
13 When they had finished, James stood and
said, “Brothers, listen to me.
14 Peter has told you about the time God
first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself.
15 And this conversion of Gentiles is
exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written:
16 ‘Afterward I will return and restore the
fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it,
17 so that the rest of humanity might seek
the LORD, including the Gentiles— all those I have called to be mine. The LORD
has spoken—
18 he who made these things known so long
ago.’
19 “And so my judgment is that we should
not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
20 Instead, we should write and tell them
to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from
eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood.
21 For these laws of Moses have been
preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many
generations.”
22 Then the apostles and elders together
with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to
Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men
chosen were two of the church leaders —Judas (also called Barsabbas) and
Silas.
23 This is the letter they took with them:
“This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is
written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.
Greetings!
24 “We understand that some men from here
have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send
them!
25So we decided, having come to complete
agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved
Barnabas and Paul,
26 who have risked their lives for the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 We are sending Judas and Silas to
confirm what we have decided concerning your question.
28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit
and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements:
29 You must abstain from eating food
offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and
from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”
30 The messengers went at once to Antioch,
where they called a general meeting of the believers and delivered the
letter.
31 And there was great joy throughout the
church that day as they read this encouraging message.
32 Then Judas and Silas, both being
prophets, spoke at length to the believers, encouraging and strengthening their
faith.
33 They stayed for a while, and then the
believers sent them back to the church in Jerusalem with a blessing of peace.
34
35 Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch.
They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord there.
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