The Complete Holy Bible - NIVUK Audio Bible - 44 Acts

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chapter 1. in my previous book theophilus I wrote about everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken to heaven after giving instructions through the

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spirit to the apostles he had chosen after his suffering appeared and he gave them many convincing proofs that he was alive he appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke to them about the kingdom of god on one occasion while he was eating with them he gave them this order not to leave jerusalem but wait for the gift that my father promised from the which you have heard me speak for John baptized with water but in a few days you will be baptized with the

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spirit so they gathered around him and asked him sir are you going to restore the kingdom at this time?

Israel said to them, it is not for you to know the times or the dates that the father has set by his own authority, but you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of The earth, after saying this, was taken before his own eyes and the cloud hid him from his sight. They were staring up at the sky as he walked when suddenly two men dressed in white stood next to them. from Galilee they said why are you here looking at heaven this same jesus that has been taken from you to heaven will return in the same way that you have seen him go to heaven then the apostles returned to jerusalem from the hill called the mount of olives to a walk of sabbatical days from the city when they arrived they went up to the room where those present were staying were Peter John James and Andrew Philip and Thomas Bartholomew and Matthew James son of Alpheus and Simon the Zealot and Judas son of James They all joined constantly in prayer together with the women and mary the mother of jesus and with his brothers in those days peter stood among the believers a group of about 120 and said brothers and sisters the scripture had to be fulfilled in which the holy spirit spoke long ago through from david about judas who served as a guide for those who arrested jesus he was one of us and participated in our ministry with the payment he received for his wickedness judas brought a field there he fell on his head his body opened and all his intestines poured out, everyone in Jerusalem heard this, that's why they called that field in their language, which is a field of blood.

For said Peter, it is written in the book of Psalms that his place will be deserted, there will be no one to live in it and that another will take his place of leadership. Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us all the time that the Lord Jesus was living among us from the baptism of John until the moment when Jesus was taken from us because one of these must be a witness With us from his resurrection they nominated two men Joseph called Basabas also known as Justice and Matthias then they prayed Lord you know the hearts of all show us which of these two you have chosen to take charge of this apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs Then they cast lots and the lot fell to Matthias so he was added to the eleven apostles made chapter two when the day of Pentecost arrived they were all together in one place suddenly a sound like that of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the entire place. house where they were sitting they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and rested on each of them.

They were all filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit allowed them now that they were staying in Jerusalem Jews afraid of God of all nations under heaven When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered together, bewildered because each one heard their own language spoken. Astonished, they asked, Aren't these all speaking Galileans, then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language, Parthian Medes? and Alamites residents of Mesopotamia Judea and Cappadocia Pontus and Asia Phrygia and Pamphylia Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene visitors to Rome both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs we hear them declare the wonders of God in our own languages ​​amazed and perplexed They asked one another what this means, some however mocked them and said that they had drunk too much wine then Peter stood up and the eleven raised their voices and addressed the crowd, fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem let me explain this to them listen carefully to what I say these people are not drunk as they suppose it is only nine in the morning no this is what the prophet joel spoke in the last days god says I will do it I will pour out my spirit on all people your sons and daughters will prophesy Your young people will see visions Your old people will dream dreams even about my servants both men and women I will pour out my spirit in those days and they will prophesy I will show wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below blood and fire and bellows of smoke the sun will turn into darkness and the moon in blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved Israelite brothers listen to this Jesus of Nazareth was a man credited by God before you by miracles, wonders and signs that God did among you through him, as you yourselves know, this man was handed over to you by the deliberate plan and foreknowledge of god and you with the help of evil men killed him by nailing him to the cross but god raised him from among the dead freeing him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to retain its power over him David said of him I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I will not be moved by that my heart rejoices and my tongue rejoices my body will also rest in hope because you will not abandon me to the kingdom of the dead you will not let your holy one see decay you have made me know the ways of life you will fill me with joy in your presence Israelite brothers I can tell you with confidence that the patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day but he was a prophet and knew that the god had promised him under oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne seeing what was to come he spoke of the resurrection of the messiah who was not abandoned to the kingdom of the dead nor did his body see decomposition god has raised this jesus to life and we are all witnesses of it exalted to the right hand of god he has received the promised holy spirit from the father and has poured out what now you see and hear why david did not ascend to heaven and yet he said the lord said to my lord sit at my right until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet, therefore, let all israel be safe from this god has done to this jesus whom you crucified both lord and messiah when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to peter and the other apostles brothers what will we do peter responded repent and be baptized each of you in the name of jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit the promise is for you and for your children and for all those who are far away for all those whom the lord our god will call with many other words he warned them and begged them to be saved from this corrupt generation. who accepted his message were baptized and around three thousand were added to their number that day they dedicated themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communion to the breaking of bread and to prayer everyone was filled with amazement at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles all the believers were together and had everything in common they sold property and possessions to give to whoever was in need every day they continued to meet in the courts of the temple they broke bread in their homes and ate together with happy and sincere hearts praising god and enjoying of the favor of all the people and the Lord daily added to their number those who were being saved.

Chapter 3 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. Now they were taking a lame man to the temple. birth door called beautiful where they put him every day to beg those who entered the atrium of the temple when he saw Peter and John about to enter he asked them for money Peter looked at him intently as did John then Peter said look at us then the man gave him their attention hoping to get something from them then Peter said I don't have silver or gold but what I do have I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth he walks taking him by the right hand he helped him get up and instantly the man Feet and legs His ankles became stronger, he jumped up and began to walk, then he went with them to the courts of the temple walking, jumping and praising God, when all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit. begging at the door of the temple called beautiful and they were filled with amazement and amazement at what had happened to him while the man held Peter and John all the people were amazed and came running towards them in the place called Solomon's colonnade when Peter saw this He told them, Israelite brothers, why does this surprise you, why do you stare at us as if by our own power or piety we had made this man walk?

You are the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the god of our fathers has glorified his servant Jesus, you handed him over. to be killed and you disowned him before Pilate, although he decided to let him go, you disowned the holy and righteous and asked that a murderer be released to you, you killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. witnesses of this by faith in the name of Jesus this man whom you see and know was strengthened it is the name of Jesus and the faith that comes through him that has healed him

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ly as everyone can see now fellow Israelites, I know that they acted in ignorance like your leaders but this is how god fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets saying that his messiah would suffer repent then and return to god so that your sins may be erased the times of refreshing come from the lord and that he can send the messiah who has been appointed for you, even jesus must receive him until the time comes when god restores everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets, for moses said that the lord your god will raise up to you a prophet like me. from among your own people you must listen to everything he tells you, anyone who does not listen to him will be

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ly cut off from his people, in fact, beginning with Samuel, all the prophets who have spoken have predicted these days and you are heirs of the prophets And of the covenant that God made with your fathers he told Abraham through your descendants all the people of the earth will be blessed when God raised up his servant and sent him first to you to bless you by making each of you convert from your evil ones. paths made chapter 4.

The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees approached Peter and John while they were speaking to the people, they were very disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead, they arrested Peter and John, and because it was night, they put them in prison until the next day, but many of those who heard the message believed, so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand. The next day, the rulers, the elders, and the teachers of the law gathered together in Jerusalem anas the high priest was there and also Caiaphas John Alexander and others of the family of the high priest brought Peter and John before them and began to ask them by what power or by what name they were doing this then Peter filled with the holy spirit told them rulers and elders of the people if today we are being called to account for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame before a being asked how he was healed then know this you and all the people of Israel are with the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead that this man is before you healed Jesus is the stone that you builders rejected which has become the cornerstone salvation does not It is found in no other because there is no other name given under heaven to humanity by which we must be saved.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were ordinary men without instruction, they were amazed and noticed that these men had been with Jesus but since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them they could not say anything so they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then they consulted with each other what we are going to do with these men they asked everyone who lives in Jerusalem knows that they have performed a notable sign and we cannot deny it but To prevent this from spreading further among the people, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in this name anymore, then they called them again and ordered them not to speak or teach anything in the name of Jesus, but Peter and John responded. which is correct in the eyes of God to listen to you or him you be the judges since we cannot help but talk about what we have seen and heard after new threats they let them go they could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising to God for what had happened because the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old when Peter and John were freed.

They returned to their own town and told everything that thechief priests and elders had told them when they heard this. They raised their voices together in prayer to the sovereign God, Lord, they said, you have made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, you spoke by the holy spirit through the mouth of your servant our father David, why do the nations and the people riot? people rise in vain the kings of the earth and the rulers unite against the lord and against his anointed, truly Herod and Pontius Pilate gathered with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, to whom you anointed did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen now lord consider their threats and allow your servants to speak your word with great courage extend your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders in the name of your holy servant Jesus after praying the place where they gathered shook and everyone was filled with the holy spirit and spoke the word of God boldly all the believers were one in heart and mind no one claimed any of their possessions as theirs but they shared everything they had with great power the apostles continued to testify of the resurrection of the lord jesus and the grace of god was working so powerfully in all of them that there was not one needy among them from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them they brought money from the candles and they placed it at the feet of the apostles and distributed it to anyone who was in need.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold a field. He owned it and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles. apostles acts chapter five now a man named ananias along with his wife sapphira also sold a property with the full knowledge of his wife he kept part of the money for himself but brought the rest and put it at the feet of the apostles peter said ananias how Is it that Satan has filled your heart so much that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept part of the money that you received for the earth, did it not belong to you before?

It was sold and after it was sold it was not the money that you had at your disposal that made you think about doing such a thing. You have not lied only to human beings but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell and died and a great fear took over. of all who heard what had happened, then some young men came up, wrapped his body, took it out and buried it about three hours later, his wife came in not knowing what had happened and Peter asked him: "Tell me, is this the price that you and Ananias got for the land yes she said that is the price Peter told her how could you conspire to test the spirit of the lord listen the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door and they will take you out too and At that moment she fell at his feet and died.

Then the young men came in and finding her dead, they took her out and buried her next to her husband. Great fear took hold of the entire church and everyone who heard about these events, the apostles did many signs and prodigies among the people and all the believers used to gather in Solomon's colonnade no one else dared to join them even though they were highly appreciated by the people however more and more men and women believed in the lord and joined his number as a result the people brought those who were sick in the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least the shadow of Peter would fall on some of them as he passed by, he also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem bringing those who were sick and tormented by impure spirits and all of them were healed then the high priest and all his companions who were members of the group of the Sadducees were filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison but during the night an angel of the Lord He opened the prison doors and brought Come out and stand in the temple court, he said, and tell the people all about this new life.

At dawn they entered the atrium of the temple as they had been told and began to teach the people when the high priest and his associates arrived and summoned the Sanhedrin. the entire assembly of the elders of Israel and sent to the prison to look for the apostles, but when they arrived at the prison the officers did not find them there, so they returned and reported that we found the prison tightly closed with the guards standing at the doors , but when we opened them we found no one inside hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were bewildered wondering what this could lead to, then someone came and said: look, the men you put in prison They are standing in the temple.

The courts taught the people that the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles, they did not use force because they feared that the people would stone them. The apostles were brought and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. he gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, he said, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Peter and the other apostles responded that we should obey God rather than humans, the god of our ancestors. He raised Jesus from the dead whom you killed by hanging him on a cross God exalted him at his right hand as prince and savior to lead Israel to repentance and forgive their sins we are witnesses of these things and so is the holy spirit whom God has When those who obey him heard this, they became angry and wanted to kill them, but a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men to leave.

They left him outside for a moment, then he left. He directed the Sanhedrin men of Israel to carefully consider what you intend to do to these men some time ago the udas appeared claiming to be someone and around 400 men met with him, they killed him, all his followers were dispersed and everything came to nothing afterwards that Judas the Galilean appeared on the days of the census and led a group of people in rebellion. He was also killed and all of his followers were dispersed. Therefore, in the present case, I advise you to leave these men alone.

Let them go. because if their purpose or activity is of human origin it will fail but if it is from God they will not be able to stop these men they will only find themselves fighting against God his speech persuaded them they called the apostles and had them flogged then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and they let them go the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the name day after day in the courts of the temple and from house to house they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the messiah Acts Chapter 6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing the Hellenistic Jews among them were complaining against the Hebrew Jews because their widows were being ignored in the daily distribution of food so the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said that It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God to serve tables, brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of spirit and wisdom, we will turn this responsibility upon them and give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word this proposal pleased the entire group they chose stephen a man full of faith and the holy spirit also philip progerus nichol of antioch a convert to judaism they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them to that the word of God spread the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith now Stephen a man full of the grace and power of God performed great wonders and However, there were signs of opposition among the people on the part of the members of the synagogue of the freedmen, as it was called, the Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria, as well as the provinces of Silesia and Asia, who began to argue with Stephen, but could not resist the wisdom The spirit gave him while he was speaking, then they secretly persuaded some men to say: We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God, so they incited the people, the elders and the teachers of the law, they seized Stephen and brought before the Sanhedrin.

They presented false witnesses who testified that this man never stopped speaking against this holy place and against the law because we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses transmitted to all of us who were sitting in the Sanhedrin. . He looked intently at Stephen and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Acts Chapter 7 Then the high priest asked Stephen if these charges were true. To this he responded, brothers and fathers, listen to me, the god of glory appeared to our father.

Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia before living in Haran, leave your country and your people, God said and go to the land that I will show you, so he left the land of the Cordians and settled after the death of his father, God sent him to this earth. where you live now did not give him an inheritance here or even enough land to set foot on but god promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land even though at that time abraham did not have any children god spoke to him in this Thus, For 400 years your descendants will be foreigners in a country that is not theirs and they will be enslaved and mistreated, but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and then they will leave their country and worship me in this place. he gave abraham the covenant of circumcision and abraham became the father of isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth then isaac became the father of jacob and jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs because the patriarchs They were envious of Joseph, they sold him as a slave in Egypt, but God was with him and rescued him from all his problems.

He gave Joseph wisdom and allowed him to gain the good will of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Then Pharaoh made him ruler of Egypt and everything. his palace then a famine struck all of egypt and canaan brought great suffering and our ancestors could not find food when jacob heard that there was grain in egypt he sent our ancestors on their first visit on their second visit joseph told them his brothers who he was and pharaoh found out about joseph's family after this joseph sent for his father jacob and his entire family 75 in total then jacob descended to egypt where he and our ancestors died their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had brought from the sons of Hamor to Shechem for a certain sum of money.

As the time approached for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had increased considerably. , then a new king to whom Joseph meant nothing came to power in Egypt, treacherously treated our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them. that they would throw their newborn babies away to die at that moment Moses was born and he was not an ordinary child for three months he was cared for by his family, but when they placed him outside the pharaoh's daughter took him and raised him as if he were she. His own son Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in word and action when Moses was 40 years old he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites, he saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian Moses thought his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

The next day, Moses encountered two Israelites who were fighting and tried to reconcile them by saying that you are brothers. Why do they want to hurt each other but the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me like you killed the Egyptian yesterday when Moses heard this he fled to Midian where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons after forty years an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai When he saw this he was amazed at the sight and went to look for it.

When he looked closer he heard the Lord say, I am the god of your fathers, the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. Then the Lord told him. He said take off your sandals because the place where you are standing is holy ground in fact I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt I have heard their groans and I have come down to free them now come I will send you back to Egypt this is the same Moses that they had rejected with the words that made you ruler and judge, he was sent to be their ruler and liberator by god himself through the angel who appeared to him in the bush, he brought them out of egypt and performed wonders and signs in egypt at the red sea and during forty years in the desert, this is Moses who told the Israelites that God will raise up for them a prophet like me from his own people.

He was in the assembly in the desert with the angels who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors and he received living words to pass on to us, but our ancestors refused to obey him, insteadSpirit said Simon, three men are looking for you, so get up and go down the stairs. Don't hesitate to go with them because I sent them. Peter came down and said to the men. I am the one you seek. Why have you come? The men responded. We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous man and a god. fearful man who is respected by all the Jewish people a holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so he could hear what you had to say so Peter invited the men to the house to be his guests the next day Peter began he left with them and some of the believers from Joppa went with them the next day he arrived at Caesarea Cornelius was waiting for them and had gathered his family and close friends when Peter entered the house Cornelius found him and fell at his feet in reference but Peter did he got up stood up said I am just a man while I was talking to him peter came in and found a large gathering of people and said to them, you are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate or visit I am gentle but god has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean so when they called me I came without making any objection can I ask why you sent for me? cornelius responded three days ago i was in my house praying at this time at three in the afternoon suddenly a man in bright clothes stood in front of me and said cornelius god has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor sent to the helicopter for simón whose name is pedro is a guest in simon the tanner's house who lives by the sea so i sent for you immediately and it was very kind of you to come now we are all here in the presence of god to hear everything that the Lord has ordered you to tell us then Peter began to speak now I realize the truth is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from each nation those who fear him and do what is right you already know the message that God sent to the people of israel announcing the good news of peace through jesus christ who is lord of all do you know what has happened in the entire province of judea starting in galilee after the baptism that john preached how god anointed jesus of nazareth with holy spirit and power and how he went about doing good and healing all those who were under the power of the devil because God was with him we are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem they killed him by hanging him on a cross but God raised him from the dead The dead on the third day and he showed it was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses that God had already chosen for us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead, he ordered us to preach to the people and testify that He is the one whom God appointed judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify of him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. Circumcised believers who had come with Peter were surprised that the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles because they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God, so Peter said: surely no one can stand in your way to be baptized. with water they have received the holy spirit just as we have done that is why he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days facts chapter 11 the apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the The Gentiles had also received the word of God, so when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said: You entered the house of uncircumcised men and walked with them from the beginning.

Peter told him the whole story. I was in the city of Joppa. praying and in a trance I had a vision I saw something like a large sheet that came down from heaven at its four corners and descended to where I was I looked inside it and saw four-legged animals of the earth, wild beasts reptiles and birds then I heard a voice who told me get up Peter kill and eat I answered surely no sir nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth the voice spoke from heaven for the second time do not call anything impure that god has cleansed this happened three times and then everything was elevated again To heaven at that moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarean section stopped at the house where I was staying.

The spirit told me not to hesitate to go with them. These six brothers also went with me and we entered the man's house. He told us how. He had seen an angel appear in his house and said: send the helicopter to look for Simon, whose name is Peter, he will bring you a message by which you and your entire house will be saved when I began to speak. the holy spirit came upon them as it had come upon us at the beginning then i remembered what the lord had said john baptized with water but you will be baptized with the holy spirit so if god gave you the same gift that he gave us who believed in the lord jesus christ who was i to think that i could get in the way of god when they heard this they had no more objections and they praised god saying that then even to the gentiles god has granted repentance that leads to life now to those who had been scattered throughout the The persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled to Phenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, spreading the word only among the Jews.

Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks and also tell them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The hand of the Lord was with them and a large number of people believed and turned to the Lord. The news of this reached the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and He encouraged them. everyone to remain faithful to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man full of holy spirit and faith and a large number of people were brought to the Lord.

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught a large number of people. The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus arose and through the The spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread throughout the Roman world. This happened during the reign of Claudius. The disciples, as each one could, decided to provide help to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea.

This they did by sending their gift to the elders through of Barnabas and Acts of Seoul Chapter 12 It was around this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church with the intention of persecuting them. He had James, John's brother, killed with the sword. When he saw that this had approval among the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter. This also happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded. by four squads of four soldiers each herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the passover so peter was locked up in prison but the church was praying fervently to god for him the night before herod took him to trial peter was sleeping between two soldiers tied with two chains and sentinels stood guard at the entrance suddenly an angel of the lord appeared and a light shone in the cell it hit Peter in the side and woke him up quickly get up he said and the chains fell off Peter's wrists then The angel told him put on your clothes and sandals and Peter did wrap yourself in your cloak and follow me the angel told him that Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was actually happening, he thought that he was seeing a vision, they passed the first and second guard and came to the iron gate that led to the city which was opened for them alone and they passed through it when they had walked along a street suddenly the angel left him then peter returned himself and said now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the clutches of Herod and from everything that the Jewish people expected to happen when this adorned upon him went to the house of Mary the mother of Juan also called Marcos where many people had gathered and were praying Peter knocked on the outside entrance and a servant named Roda came to answer the door when he recognized Peter's voice he was so happy that he ran back without opening it and exclaimed Peter is in at the door, you're crazy, they told her and when she continued to insist that it was so, they told her that I must be her angel, but Pedro kept knocking and when they opened the door and saw him, they were surprised.

Pedro waved them to silence and described how the man had gotten him out of prison. Tell Santiago and the other brothers and sisters about this. He said and then he went to another place in the morning there was no little commotion among the soldiers about what had become of Peter after Herod searched for him thoroughly and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered them to be executed then Herod was from Judea to Caesarea and he stayed there he had been fighting with the people of Tire and Sidon they now united and sought an audience with him after getting the support of Blasto a trusted personal servant of the king they asked for peace because they depended on the king's country for their food supply on the appointed day, Herod dressed in his royal robes sat on his throne and gave a public speech to the people they shouted oh, this is the voice of a god, not of a man, immediately because Herod did not praise god an angel of the lord struck him and he was eaten by worms and died but the word of god continued to spread and flourish when barnabas and saul finished their mission they returned from jerusalem taking with them john also called mark acts chapter 13 now in the church of antioch there was prophets and teachers barnabas simeon called niger lucio by cyrene moneo who had been raised with herod the tetrarch and saul while they worshiped the lord and fasted the holy spirit said set aside for me barnabas and saul for the work to which I have called them so after having fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away, the two sent by the holy spirit descended to seleucia and from there they sailed to cyprus when they arrived at salamis they proclaimed the word of god in the jewish synagogues john was with them as their assistant they traveled throughout the island until they reached Paphos, there they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet called Bargazas who was an assistant to the pro-consul Sergius Paulus.

The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. but elimas the sorcerer because that is what his name means he opposed them and tried to separate the proconsul from the faith and then saul who was also called paul full of the holy spirit he looked directly at elimus and said you are a son of the devil and an enemy of all that is right you are full of all kinds of deceptions and deceptions you will never stop perverting the right ways of the lord now the hand of the lord is against you you are going to be blind for a while and you will not even be able to see the sunlight immediately the Fog and darkness took hold of him and he was groping around looking for someone to take him by the hand when the proconsul saw what had happened and believed because he was amazed at the teaching about the lord from Paphos Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia where John left them to return to Jerusalem from Perga they went to Paisidian Antioch on the Sabbath in which they entered they entered the synagogue and sat down after the reading of the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message saying Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak standing up, Paul made a gesture with his hand and said brothers Israelites and you. gentiles who worship god listen to me the god of the people of Israel chose our ancestors he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt with great power he took them out of that country for about 40 years he endured their behavior in the desert and they overthrew seven nations in Canaan giving his people their land as an inheritance all this took about 450 years after this god gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet then the people asked for a king and he gave them Saul son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin who ruled for forty years after deposing saul, had david his god king testify about him i have found david son of jesse a man after my heart he will do everything i want him to do from the descendants of this man that god has brought to Israel the savior Jesus as promised before the coming of Jesus John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel while John was completing his work he said who do you think I am I am not the one you are looking for but there is one coming Behind me, what sandals I am not worthy to untie, brothers, children of Abraham, and you, God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.

The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, even when they condemned him, they fulfilled the words of the prophet that they read every Sabbath, although they found no adequate basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to execute him, when they fulfilled everything that was written about him, they took him down from the cross andThey put them in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. Now they are his witnesses for our people. We tell them the good news.

What God promised to our ancestors, he has fulfilled with we his children by raising Jesus from the dead as it is written in the second psalm you are my son today I have become your father god raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to corruption as god has said I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to david, so it is also said elsewhere you will not let your saint see decay now when david had fulfilled the purpose of god in his own generation he fell asleep he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed but he to whom god He rose from the dead and did not see corruption.

That is why, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is freed from all sin, a justification that you could not obtain under the law. of moses take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you, look, you scoffers, be amazed and perish because I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you while paul and barnabas were leaving the synagogue the people invited many of Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke with them and urged them to continue in God's grace during the following Sabbath for almost the entire day.

The city gathered to hear the word of the Lord and the Jews, when they saw the crowd, were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and insulted him. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly. We had to speak the word of God to you first, but Since you rejected yourselves and did not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, now we turn to the Gentiles because this is what the Lord has commanded us. I have made you a light for the Gentiles so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

When the Gentiles heard This they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord and all those who were appointed to eternal life believed that the word of the Lord spread throughout the region but the Jewish leaders incited the high-ranking God-fearing women and the leaders. men from the city caused persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their region so they shook off the dust from their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium and the disciples were filled with joy and the holy spirit acts chapter 14 In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual to the Jewish synagogue, there they spoke so effectively that a large number of Jews and Greeks believed, but the Jews who refused to believe incited the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers, so Paul and Barnabas spent a considerable time speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of His grace by allowing them to perform signs and wonders.

The people of the city were divided, some siding with the Jews, others with the apostles, there was a plot afoot between Gentiles and Jews together. with their leaders to mistreat and stone them, but they found out and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derby and the surrounding countries where they continued to preach the gospel. On Lystra sat a man who was lame. I had been like this since I was born and had never walked. Paul listened as he spoke Paul looked directly at him saw that he had faith to be healed and shouted get up at that the man jumped up and started walking when the crowd saw what Paul had done they shouted in the lichionium language.

The gods have descended to us in human form. They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul they called Hermes because he was the main speaker. The priest of Zeus whose temple was on the outskirts of the city brought bulls and crowns to the city gates because he and The crowd wanted to offer them sacrifices, but when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowd shouting friends, why are you doing this? We are also humans like you, we bring you good news, telling you to return. from these useless things to the living god who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them in the past he let all nations go their way but he has not been left without testimony he has shown kindness by giving you rain from him heaven and the crops in their seasons he provides you with abundant food and fills your hearts with joy even with these words they had difficulty preventing the crowd from sacrificing them then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowd and stoned Paul and he dragged him out of the city thinking he was dead, but after the disciples gathered around him, he got up and returned to the city the next day, he and Barnabas left for the derby, they preached the gospel in that city and they gained a large number of disciples.

They returned to Lystra Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain faithful to the faith. We must go through many difficulties to enter the kingdom of God. They said that Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for themselves in each church and with prayer and fasting they commended them to the Lord. in whom they had put their trust after passing through basidia they arrived at pamphylia and when they had preached the word imperga they went down to attaly from italy they sailed back to antioch where they had been entrusted to the grace of god for the work they had already completed when they arrived there They gathered the church and told everything that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles and they stayed there for a long time with the disciples made chapter 15 certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching Believers, unless they are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, cannot be saved.

Now this caused Paul and Barnabas to have a strong dispute and debate with them, so Paul and Barnabas were appointed along with some other believers to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and the elders about this matter, the church sent them for their On their way and while they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria they told how the Gentiles had converted. This news made all the believers very happy. When they arrived in Jerusalem they were received by the church and the apostles and elders to whom they informed everything that God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the group of Pharisees stood up and said that the Gentiles should be circumcised and forced to keep the law of Moses.

The apostles and elders met to consider this question after much discussion. Peter stood up and addressed them, brothers, you know that some time ago God chose among you that the Gentiles should hear the message of the gospel from my lips and believe God. who knows the heart showed that he accepted them by giving them the holy spirit just as he did not discriminate between us and them because he purified their hearts by faith now then why do you try to test god by putting on the collars of Gentiles? a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear.

We do not believe that it is by the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved just like them. The entire assembly remained silent listening to Barnabas and Paul recount the signs and wonders that God had done. among the Gentiles through them when they finished James spoke brothers he said listen to me Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name among the Gentiles the words of the prophets agree with this as it is written after this I will return and rebuild the fallen tent of David its ruins I will rebuild it and restore it so that the rest of humanity will seek the lord even all the Gentiles who bear my name says the lord who makes these things known Therefore, for a long time I have considered that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God, but should write to them telling them to abstain from food contaminated by idols, from fornication, from the flesh of strangled animals, and from blood. because the law of Moses had been preached in every city from the earliest times and was read in the synagogues every Sabbath, so the apostles and elders with the whole church decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.

They chose Judas called Basabas and Silas men who were leaders among the believers with them the apostles and elders your brothers sent the following letter to the Gentile believers in Syrian Antioch and Silesia greetings we have heard that some left us without our authorization and I disturbed them by disturbing them their minds by what they said, so we all agreed to pick some men and send them to our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our lord Jesus Christ, so we sent Judas and Silas. To confirm by word of mouth what we wrote seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: you must abstain from food sacrifices to idols, from the blood of the flesh of strangled animals and from sexual acts. immorality, you would do well to avoid these things, goodbye, then the men were sent and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church and delivered the letter, the people read it and rejoiced at its encouraging message.

Judas and Silas, who were prophets, said to encourage and strengthen the believers after spending some time there, they were sent by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them, but Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch where They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord. Some time later, Paul said to Barnabas, let's go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they were doing. Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them. But it did not occur to Paul.

It was prudent to take it because he had abandoned them in the pamphlet and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they broke up. Barnabas took Mark and embarked for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, entrusted by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He passed through Syria and Silesia, strengthening the churches. Acts Chapter 16 Paul came to Derby and then to Lystra, where a disciple named lived. Timothy whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was Greek the believers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him Paul wanted to take him with him on the trip so he had him circumcised by the Jews who lived in that area because everyone knew that his father was Greek As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem so that the people would obey, so that the churches would be strengthened in faith and grow daily in number.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the entire region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the holy spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia When they reached the border of the mission, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus did not allow them, so they passed through the mission and went down to Troas. During the night, Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia standing and begging him to come. to macedonia and help us after paul had seen the vision, we immediately prepared to leave for macedonia, concluding that god had called us to preach the gospel to them from troas, we put to sea and sailed directly towards samothrace and the next day we went to Neapolis from there we traveled to Philippi a Roman colony and the principal city of that district of Macedonia and stayed there several days.

On Saturday we left the city gate to the river where we hoped to find a place of prayer. He sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of the theater named Lydia, a merchant in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened his heart to respond to Paul's message. When she and the members of her house were baptized, she invited us to her house. If you consider me a believer in the Lord, she said come and stay in my house and persuaded us.

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, a slave who had a spirit came out to meet us. by which she predicted the future she earned a large amount of money for her owners by guessing she followed paul and the rest of us shouting these men are servants of the most high god who are showing you the way to be saved she continued like this for many days finally paul She got so upset that she turned around and said to the spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, I order you to come out of her.

At that moment, the spirit left her. When her owners realized that her hope of earning money was gone, they grabbed her. Paul and Silas and they dragged them to the market to face the authorities, they took them before the magistrates and said that these men are Jews and they are disturbing our city by defending customs that we Romans cannot accept. or practice the crowd joined in the attack on paul and silas and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped naked and beaten with france after having severely whipped them they were thrown into prison and the jailer was ordered to watch them carefully when he received these orders.

They put them in the inner cell and tied their heads.feet in the stocks. Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison shook instantly. All the prison doors opened and everyone's chains came loose. The jailer woke up and when he saw the prison doors open, he took out his sword and was about to commit suicide because he thought the prisoners had escaped, but Paul shouted, "Don't worry." Do harm, we are all here the jailer called lights he ran in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas then took them out and asked gentlemen what should I do to be saved they responded believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your house will be saved then they spoke the word of the Lord The jailer took him and everyone who was in his house at that time of night and washed their wounds and immediately he and his entire household were baptized.

The jailer took them to his house and prepared food in front of them. He was filled with joy because He and his entire household had come to believe in God. When it was day, the magistrate sent his officers to the jailer with the order to release those men. The jailer said to Paul. The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can. leave in peace but paul told the officers no, they beat us publicly without trial even though we are roman citizens and they threw us in prison and now they want to get rid of us quietly, don't let them come themselves and escort us out, the officers They reported this to the magistrates and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they became alarmed, came to appease them and escorted them out of the prison asking them to leave the city after Paul and Silas left the prison.

They went to Lydia's house where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left Acts Chapter 17 when Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia. They arrived at Thessalonica where there was a Jewish synagogue, as was their custom. Paul entered the synagogue. and on three days of rest he reasoned with them based on the scriptures explaining and demonstrating that the messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead this Jesus that I am proclaiming to you is the messiah he said that some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as well as a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women, but other Jews were jealous, so they gathered some bad characters from the market, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city.

They ran to Jason's house looking for Paul and Silas to get them out to the crowd, but when they couldn't find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials shouting that these men have caused trouble all over the world and now They have come here and Jason has welcomed them. In his house, everyone is defying Caesar's decrees by saying that there is another king named Jesus. When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials rioted, then they put Jason and the others on bail and let them go as soon as it was night.

The believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea, when they arrived there they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Jews of Berea were of nobler character than those of Thessalonica because they received the message with great enthusiasm and they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true, as a result, many of them believed as did several women. prominent Greek women and many Greek men, but when the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul was preaching the word of the god of Berea, some of them went there also stirring up the crowds and agitated them, the believers immediately sent Paul to the coast , but Silas and Timothy stayed in Pereira.

Those who escorted Paul took him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible while Paul waited for them. In Athens he was very distressed to see that the city was full of idols, so he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the market day after day with those who were there, a group of Epicureans and Stoics. Philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked what this charlatan was trying to say. Others commented oh, he seems to be defending foreign gods.

They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him and took him to a meeting of the Areopagus where they said to him: can we know what this new teaching is? that you are presenting you are bringing some strange ideas to our ears and we would like to know what they mean all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there didn't spend their time doing anything but talking and listening to the latest ideas, then paul stood up on the meeting of the Areopagus and said people of Athens I see that in every way you are very religious because while I was walking and looking carefully at your objects of worship I even found an altar with this inscription to an unknown god so you are ignorant of what you worship and this is what that I am going to proclaim to you the god who made the world and everything that is in it is the lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands and is not served by human hands as if he needed something, rather He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else, from one man he made all nations to inhabit the entire earth and marked their appointed times in history and the limits of their lands.

God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out and find him, although he is not far from any of us because in him we live and move and have our being, as some of his own poets have said that we are his. Therefore, since we are descendants of God, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone, an image made by human design and skill. In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has set a day when he will judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed, of this he has given proof to all. when they raised him from the dead when they heard of the resurrection of the dead some of them mocked but others said we want to hear about this topic again when paul left the council some of the people became followers of paul and believed that among them was dionysus a member of the areopagus also a woman named damaris and several other events chapter 18 after this paul left athens and went to corinth there he met a jew named aquila a native of ponto who had recently arrived from italy with his wife priscilla because claudius had ordained To all the Jews who left Rome Paul went to see them and since he was a tent maker like them he stayed and worked with them every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue trying to persuade the Jews and Greeks when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia Paul dedicated himself exclusively to preach testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the messiah but when they opposed Paul and became abusive he shook his clothes in protest and told them: let your blood fall on your own heads.

I am innocent from now on I will go to the Gentiles. Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door, to the house of Titus Justicia, a worshiper of the god Crispus, the synagogue. The leader and his entire household believed in the Lord and many of the Corinthians who had heard Paul believed and were baptized one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision do not be afraid continue speaking do not be silent because I am with you and no one will leave you to attack or hurt you because I have a lot of people in this city so Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half teaching them the word of God while Galileo was proconsul of Achaea the Jews of Corinth made a united attack against Paul and took him to the place of the trial this man they accused is persuading the people to worship god in ways contrary to the law just when paul was about to speak Galilean told them if you Jews were filing a complaint for some misdemeanor or serious crime.

It would be reasonable for me to listen to you, but since these are questions about words, names and your own law, settle the matter yourself, I will not be a judge of such things, so he drove them away and the crowd turned against Sosthenes in the synagogue. leader and beat him in front of the pro consul and Galileo did not show any concern, but Paul stayed in Corinth for some time then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed towards Syria accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila before setting sail they cut his hair in indentation for a vow he had made they arrived at Ephesus where Paul left Priscilla and Aquila he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews when they asked him to spend more time with them he refused but upon leaving he promised that I would come back if it is the will of god then sailed from ephesus when he landed in caesarea went up to jerusalem and greeted the church and then went down to antioch after spending some time in antioch paul left from there and traveled from place to place throughout the region of galatia and phrygia strengthening all the disciples meanwhile a jew named apollo a native of alexandria came to ephesus he was a learned man with a deep knowledge of the scriptures he had been instructed in the way of the lord and spoke with great fervor and taught about jesus with precision, Although he only knew the baptism of John, he began to speak boldly in the synagogue when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, invited him to their home and explained the way of God to him more adequately when Apollo wanted to go to a Be careful, the brothers and sisters They encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him when he arrived.

He was of great help to those who by grace had believed because he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in a public debate by proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah. acts chapter 19 while apollo was in corinth paul took the road through the interior and arrived at ephesus there he found some disciples and asked them if they received the holy spirit when they believed they answered no, we have not even heard that there is a holy spirit so paul asked then what baptism did you receive the baptism of John they responded Paul said that the baptism of John was a baptism of repentance he told the people to believe in the one who would come after him who is in Jesus upon hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord jesus when paul laid his hands on them the holy spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and they prophesied that there were about twelve men in all paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months arguing persuasively about the kingdom of god, but some Some of them were stubborn, refused to believe, and publicly slandered the way, so Paul left them, took the disciples with him, and had daily discussions in the tyrants' conference room.

This continued for two years for all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province. From Asia they heard the word of the Lord God, they performed extraordinary miracles through Paul so that even the handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to those who were sick and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits were left to them by some Jews who were expelling them. the evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the lord jesus on those who were possessed by demons they said in the name of jesus whom paul preaches i command you to come out seven sons of skava a jewish high priest was doing this one day the evil spirit answered them Jesus, I know and Paul, I know, but who are you?

Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and defeated them all, he beat them so badly that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding when this was known. The Jews and Greeks who lived in Ephesus were all overcome with fear and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great honor. Many of those who now believed came and openly confessed what they had done. Some who had practiced witchcraft gathered their scrolls and burned them publicly when they calculated the value of the scrolls the total reached fifty thousand drachmas in this way the word of the lord spread widely and grew in power after all this happened paul decided to go to Jerusalem passing through Macedonia and Ikea After I had been there, he said that he must visit Rome and also sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he remained in the province of Asia a little longer.

At that time a great disturbance arose over the way a silversmith named Demetrius made silver. The shrines of Artemis generated much business for the craftsman. There he gathered them together with the workers of related trades and told them, my friends, you know that we receive good income from this business and see and hear how this comrade Pablo has convinced. and he misled a large number of people here in Ephesus and, impractically, the entire province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. There is a danger not only that our trade will lose its good name but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited and the goddess herself who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world will be stripped of her divine majesty when they heard At this they became angry and began to shout, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians." Soon the whole city was in chaos.to Gaius and Aristarchus of Macedon, Paul's traveling companions, and they all hurried together to the theater.

Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but his disciples did not let him, even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him. a message begging him not to venture into the theater the assembly was confused some shouted one thing others another most of the people didn't even know why they were there the jews in the crowd pushed alexander to the front and shouted instructions to he made a gesture to him of silence to defend himself before the people, but when they realized that he was Jewish, everyone shouted in unison for about two hours.

Great, Artemis of the Ephesians, the city secretary calmed the crowd and said that his fellow Ephesians did not. everyone knows that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great artemis and her image that fell from heaven, therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you should calm down and do nothing rash. Although you have brought these men here. they have not robbed temples or blasphemed our goddess, if then Demetrius and his fellow artisans have a grievance against anyone, the courts are open and there are pro consuls, they can press charges, if there is anything else you want to bring up, it must be resolved in a legal assembly as it is we are in danger of being accused of riots for what happened today in that case we could not account for this commotion since there is no reason for it after having said this he dismissed the assembly minutes chapter 20 when the commotion Paul sent for the disciples and after encouraging them he said goodbye and left for Macedonia.

He traveled through that area speaking many words of encouragement to the people and finally arrived in Greece where he stayed three months because some Jews had conspired against him just when he was about to be killed. To set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sir Peter, son of the pirates of Berea, Aristarchus and second of Thessaloniki, Gaias of Derby, Timothy, also antiquities and a trophy from the province of Asia. These men went ahead and waited for us in Troas, but we set sail from Philippi. After the Feast of Unleavened Bread and five days later we joined the others in Troas, where we stayed seven days, on the first day of the week we met to break bread. people and since he intended to leave the next day he continued talking until midnight there were many lamps in the upstairs rooms where we met sitting in a window was a young man named Eutychus who sank into a deep sleep while Pablo spoke again and again When he was fast asleep he fell to the ground from the third floor and they picked him up dead.

Paul came down and threw himself on the young man and surrounded him with his arms. Don't be alarmed. He said he's alive. Then he went up again and broke bread until dawn. people brought the young man home alive and we were very consoled we headed to the ship and sailed towards asos where we were going to take Pablo on board he had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot when he received us in asos we took him on board and went to mittalini The next day we sailed from there and arrived from Chaos.

The next day we crossed to Samos and the next day we arrived at Miletus. Paul had decided to sail beyond Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem if possible. For the day of Pentecost, from Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he told them, you know how I lived. I was with you all the time from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. I serve the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe trials due to the conspiracies of my Jewish opponents.

You know that I have not hesitated to preach. anything that is useful to them but I have taught them publicly and from house to house I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our lord Jesus and now compelled by the spirit I am going to Jerusalem without knowing what What will happen to me there? I only know that in each city the Holy Spirit warns me that prisons and difficulties await me. However, I consider that my life is worth nothing to me. My only objective is to finish the race and complete the task.

The Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace. Now I know that none of you among whom I have been preaching the kingdom will see me again, that is why I declare to you today that I am innocent of blood. of any of you because I have not hesitated to proclaim to you all the will of God, take care of yourselves and all the flock of which the holy spirit has made you overseers, be pastors of the church of God that he purchased with his own blood. Know that after I am gone, wild wolves will enter among you and will not spare the flock, not even your own, men will arise and distort the truth to drag the disciples after them, so be on your guard, remember that for three years never.

I stopped warning each of you night and day with tears, now I commend you to God and the word of his grace that can build you up and give you an inheritance among all the sanctified. I have not coveted silver or gold or clothing from anyone. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have I met my needs and the needs of my companions in everything I did I showed them that with this type of hard work we must help the weak remembering the words that the Lord Jesus himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive When Paul finished speaking he knelt with all of them and prayed they all cried while they hugged him and kissed him what hurt them the most was his declaration that they would never see his face again then they accompanied him to the ship acts chapter 21 after we had separated from them we We went out to sea and We sailed directly to Kos, the next day we went to roads and from there to Patara we found a ship that was crossing towards Phenicia, we got on board and set sail after sighting Cyprus and passing south we sailed towards Syria.

We landed in Tire where our ship was going to unload its cargo. We looked for the disciples there and stayed with them for seven days. Because of the spirit, they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem. When the time came to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives. and children accompanied us out of the city and there on the beach we knelt to pray after saying goodbye we climbed aboard the ship and they returned home we continued our journey from Tire and landed a Ptolemaid where we greeted the brothers and sisters and she stayed with They left one day the next day we arrived at Caesarean section and stayed at Philip the Evangelist's house one of the seven had four unmarried daughters who prophesied after we were there several days a prophet named Agabus descended from Judea coming to us he took Paul's belt He tied his hands and feet with it and said the holy spirit says thus the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.

When we heard this, we and the people there begged Paul not to go up to Jerusalem, then Paul answered: Why do you weep and break my heart? I am ready not only to be bound but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. When we did not dissuade him, we gave up and said the Lord's will be done. After this we began our journey towards Jerusalem. Some of Caesarea's disciples accompanied us and took us to Nassan's house where we were going to stay. He was a man. from cyprus and one of the first disciples when we arrived in jerusalem the brothers and sisters welcomed us warmly the next day paul and the rest of us went to see james and all the elders were present paul greeted them and informed them in detail what god had done among the Gentiles through his ministry when they heard this they praised God then they told Paul you see brother how many thousands of Jews have believed and all are zealous for the law they have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles let them turn away from moses telling them not to circumcise their sons or live according to our customs what will we do they will surely hear that you have come so do as we tell you there are four men with us who have made a vow to these men, join their rights of purification and pay their expenses so that they can shave their heads, then everyone will know that there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law as for Gentile believers.

We have written to them our decision that they abstain from food sacrifices to idols, from blood from the flesh of strangled animals, and from fornication. The next day, Paul took the men and purified himself with them, then he went to the temple to give notice of the date on which the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them when the seven days had almost elapsed. days some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple, they stirred up the entire crowd and grabbed him shouting Fellow Israelites, help us, this is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place and also He has brought Greeks to the temple and desecrated this holy place.

They had previously seen Tropheus the Ephesus in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had taken him to the temple, the whole city went into an uproar and people came running from everywhere, grabbed Paul, dragged him out of the temple and immediately shot at the doors while they tried to kill him. The news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar, he immediately took some officers and soldiers and ran towards the crowd and when the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers stopped beating Paul, the commander stood down. approached, arrested him and ordered him to be tied up. with two chains, then he asked who he was and what he had done.

Some in the crowd shouted one thing and others another, and since the commander could not get to the truth because of the commotion, he ordered that Pablo be taken to the barracks. When Pablo arrived at the stairs, the violence of the mob was so big that he had to be carried away by the soldiers, the crowd that followed him kept shouting, get rid of him when the soldiers were about to take Paul to the barracks, he asked the commander, can I tell you something? Do you speak Greek?, he replied, aren't you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists into the desert some time ago?

Paul replied: I am a Jew from Tarsus in Silesia, a citizen of an unusual city, please let me speak to him. The people, after receiving permission from the commander, Paul stood on the steps and gestured to the crowd when everyone kept quiet. Silence he told them in Aramaic facts chapter 22 brothers and parents listen now to my defense when they heard him speak to them in Aramaic they became very calm then Paul said I am a Jew born in Tarsus of Silesia but raised in this city I studied with Gamalius and was completely trained in the tradition of our ancestors was as zealous for god as any of you today I persecuted the followers in this way to their death arresting men and women and imprisoning them as the high priest and the entire council can testify.

I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus and I went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished around noon when I was approaching Damascus suddenly a bright light from heaven shone around me I fell to the ground and heard a voice that told me soul soul why are you persecuting me who are you sir I asked am I Jesus of Nazareth who are they persecuting answered my companions saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me what should I do sir I asked get up and go to Damascus there they will tell you everything that you have been assigned to do my My companions led me by the hand to Damascus because the brightness of the light had blinded me.

A man named Ananias came to see me, he was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews who lived there. He stood next to me and said brother Saul. receive your sight and at that same moment I could see it then he said the god of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous and to hear the words of his mouth you will be his witness to all the peoples of what you have seen and heard and now what are you waiting for rise up be baptized and wash away your sins invoking his name when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking to me leave quickly from Jerusalem immediately because the people here will not accept your testimony about me Lord, these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you and when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and saving the clothes of those who were killing him Then the Lord said to me, Go, I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Deliver the land from him. He is. They were not fit to live." They shouted, took off their cloaks and threw dust into the air. air, the commander ordered that Paul be taken to the barracks, he ordered that he be flogged and interrogated to find out why the people were yelling at him like that. While they were laying him out to corner him, Pablo said to the centurion who was standing, is it legal for you to flog a man? Roman citizen who has not even been found guilty?

When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and informed him what are you doing? was going to ask this man is a Roman citizen the commander went to Paul andHe asked him, tell me if you are a Roman citizen, yes I am, he responded then the commander said that I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship but I was born. The citizen Paul responded that those who were about to interrogate him immediately left. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized. that a Roman citizen had chained Paul, the commander wanted to know exactly why the Jews were accusing Paul, so the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to meet, then he brought Paul and put him before they acts chapter 23 paul looked directly at the sanhedrin and said my brothers, i have done my duty to god in all good conscience.

On this day, the high priest Ananias ordered those who were near Paul to hit him on the mouth, Then Paul said to him: God will strike you, whitewashed wall, you sit there to judge me according to the law, but you yourself violate the law by ordering that. I am surprised by those who are close to Paul, they said how dare you insult the high priest of God? Paul responded, brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest because it is written, do not speak evil of the ruler of your people, so Paul knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the rest of the Pharisees shouted in the Sanhedrin, my brothers, I am a Pharisee. descendant of Pharisees I am on trial for the hope of the resurrection of the dead when he said this a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the assembly was divided the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there are no angels or spirits but the Pharisees believe all these things, there was a great uproar and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously.

We found nothing wrong with this man. They said, what if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him? The dispute became so violent that the commander feared that Pablo would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to come down and take him by force and take him to the barracks the following night. The man stood near Pablo and said to him: "Take heart." , since you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. The next morning, some Jews formed a conspiracy and took an oath not to eat." or drink until we have killed paul more than forty men were involved in this plot they went to the chief priests and the elders and said: we have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed paul now then you and the sanhedrin ask the commander to bring him before you under the pretext of wanting more precise information about his case, we are ready to kill him before he gets here, but when Paul's sister's son found out about this plot, he went to the barracks and told Paul , then Paul called one. of the centurions and said take this young man to the commander, he has something to tell him so he took him to the commander, the centurion said that Paul the prisoner sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to him because he has something to tell him.

You, the commander, took the young man by the hand, took him aside and asked him what he wants to tell me. He said that some Jews agreed to ask him to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow under the pretext of wanting more precise information about him. Don't give in to them because more than 40 of them are waiting for you in an ambush. They have sworn not to eat or drink until they have killed him. Now they are ready waiting for your consent to his request. The commander dismissed the young man. man with this warning do not tell anyone that you have informed me of this then he called two of his centurions and ordered them to prepare a detachment of 200 soldiers 70 horsemen and 200 lancers to go to Caesarean section at nine at night provide horses for Paul to So that he can be brought safely to Governor Felix, Cl

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Lisio wrote the following letter to His Excellency, Governor Felix Greetings, this man was captured by the Jews and they were about to kill him but I came with my troops and rescued him because he had learned that he is a Roman citizen.

I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I took him to his Sanhedrin. I discovered that the accusation had to do with questions about his law, but there was no charge against him that merited death or imprisonment when I was. informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you immediately and also ordered his accusers to present their case against him, so the soldiers, carrying out his orders, took Paul with them during the night and they took him so far. As antipatris, the next day they let the cavalry continue with him while they returned to the barracks.

When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they gave the letter to the governor and gave it to Paul. The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from when he found out that he was from Silesia. , he said: I will hear your case when your accusers arrive, then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace, acts chapter 24, five days later, the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarean section with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tulis and they presented their charges against paul before the governor when paul was called to tetheles he presented his case before felix we have enjoyed a long period of peace under his rule and his foresight has brought reforms in this nation everywhere and in everyone Very excellent Felix, We acknowledge this with deep gratitude, but in order not to tire you further, I would ask you to be so kind as to listen to us briefly.

We have discovered that this man is a troublemaker who stirs up riots among the Jews around the world he is a leader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple so we arrested him by examining him yourself you will be able to know the truth about all these charges that We present against him the other The Jews joined the accusation by affirming that these things were true when the governor told him to speak. Paul replied: I know that for several years you have been a judge of this nation, so I gladly make my defense.

You can easily verify that it is not. More than 12 days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship my accusers, they did not find me arguing with anyone in the temple or looking at the crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city and they cannot prove to you the charges they have now. doing against me however I admit that I worship the god of our ancestors as a follower of the path that they call the sect I believe everything that is according to the law and that is written in the prophets and I have the same hope in god as these The same men say that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked, so I always strive to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings I was ceremonially clean when I was found in the temple courts doing this there was no crowd with me nor was I involved in any riot but there are some Jews from the province of Asia who should be here before you and press charges if they have anything against me or these who are here must say what crime they found in me when I appeared before the Sanhedrin, unless this was what I shouted while I was in their presence, it is about the resurrection of the dead that I am.

In the trial before you today, then Felix, who knew the way well, adjourned the trial when Lysius the commander arrived, said, I will decide your case, ordered the centurion to keep Paul under surveillance, but to give him some freedom and let his friends drink. Taking care of their needs several days later, Felix arrived with his wife, Drusella, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke of faith in Christ Jesus. While Paul spoke of justice, self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was afraid and said that is enough for now. you can leave whenever you see fit i will send for you at the same time he expected paul to offer him a bribe so he sent for him frequently and spoke to him when two years had passed felix was succeeded by porquius festus but as felix wanted doing a favor to the Jews left Paul in prison facts chapter 25 three days after arriving in the province Festus went up from Caesarean section to Jerusalem where the chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges Against Paul they asked Festus a favor to transfer him to Jerusalem because they were preparing an ambush to kill him on the way.

Festus replied that Paul is detained in Caesarea and I will go there soon. Let some of your leaders come. me and if the man has done something wrong they can press charges against him there after spending eight or ten days with him Festus went down to Caesarea the next day he convened the court and ordered Paul to be brought before him when Paul entered with the Jews. who had come down from Jerusalem, they surrounded him, they presented him with many serious charges but they could not prove them, so Paul made his defense, I have not done anything wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul.

Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried before me there on these charges? Paul replied, "I am now before Caesar's tribunal where I should be judged. I have not done any harm to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. However, if I am guilty of doing something that deserves death, I do not refuse to die, but if The charges these Jews bring against me are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar after Festus has died. He consulted with his council and declared: you have appealed to Caesar to Caesar you will go a few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus since they spent many days there Festus discussed Paul's case with the king said there There is a man here that Felix left prisoner when I went to Jerusalem.

The chief priests and elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned. I told them that it is not Roman custom to hand over anyone before they are condemned. They have faced his accusers and had the opportunity to defend themselves against the charges when they came here with me. I did not delay the case, but called the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in when his accusers rose to speak. I did not accuse him of any of the crimes I expected, but they had some points of dispute with him about his own religion and about a dead man called Jesus, who Paul claimed was alive, I did not know how to investigate such matters, so I asked. if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges, but when Paul made his appeal to have the emperor's decision postponed, I ordered him to be detained until I could send him to Caesar, whereupon Agrippa told Festus that he would .

I would like to hear this man, he replied tomorrow, you will hear it the next day. Agrippa and Berenice came with great pomp and entered the audience hall with the high-ranking military officers and prominent men of the city under Festus Poll. At Festus said King Agrippa and everyone who is present with us sees this man, the entire Jewish community has made requests of me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarean section shouting that he should not live any longer, I discovered that he had done nothing worthy of death, but because he made his appeal to the emperor I decided to send him to Rome but I have nothing definitive to write to your majesty about him therefore I have brought him before all of you and especially before you king agrippa so that as a result of this investigation he may have something to write about.

I think it is unreasonable to send a prisoner to Rome without specifying the charges against him. Acts chapter 26. Then Agrippa said to Paul: You have permission to speak for yourself. Then Pablo made a gesture with his hand and began to defend him. King Agrippa. I consider myself fortunate to be before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews and especially because you know well all the Jewish customs and controversies, therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently, all the Jewish people know this. . the way I have lived since I was a child from the beginning of my life in my own country and also in Jerusalem they have known me for a long time and can testify if they are willing that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion. living like a pharisee and now it is because of my hope in what god has promised our ancestors that today I am on trial this is the promise that our twelve tribes hope to see fulfilled as they fervently serve god day and night king agrippa it is because of This hope that these Jews are accusing me why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead I was also convinced that I should do everything possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth and that is precisely what I did In Jerusalem , under the authority of the chief priests, I put many of the Lord's people in prison and when they were executed, I voted against them many times I went from one synagogue to another to punish them and I tried to force them. them to blaspheme I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even persecuted them in foreign cities on one of these trips I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests around noon King Agrippa While on the way I saw a light from heaven brighter than The sun was burning around me and my companions all fell to the ground and I heard a voice that told me in Aramaic soulsoul why are you persecuting me it is difficult for you to kick against the gods and then I ask who you are lord I am Jesus who you are persecuting now get up and stand I have appeared to you to make you a servant and a witness of what you have seen and you will see from me I will rescue you from To your people and to the Gentiles I send you to them to open their eyes and convert them from darkness to light and from the power of satan to god, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those sanctified by faith.

In me then King Agrippa was not disobedient to the vision of heaven first to those of Damascus then to those of Jerusalem and to all Judea and then to the Gentiles I preached that they should repent and turn to God and show their repentance for their actions and it is That is why some Jews stopped being in the temple courts and tried to kill me, but God has helped me to this day, so I am here and witness to small and great alike. I am not saying anything beyond what the prophets and Moses said. It would happen that the messiah would suffer and as the first to rise from the dead he would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles at this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense you are crazy Paul shouted your great learning is going crazy I am not crazy your excellency Festus Paul answered what I say is true and reasonable the king is familiar with these things and I can speak freely with him I am convinced that none of this has escaped him because it was not done in a corner king Agrippa you believe in the prophets I know it then Agrippa said to Paul, do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?

Paul answered, short or long, I ask God that not only you but everyone who listens to me today can become what I am except for these chains, the king. He stood up and with him the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them after they left the room began to say to each other this man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment Agrippa said to Festus this man could have been released if he had not appealed to the facts of Caesar chapter 27 when it was decided that we would sail to Italy Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius who belonged to the imperial regiment we boarded an Andromedio ship about to set sail for the ports of the coast of the province of Asia and we put to sea Aristachus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica was with us the next day we landed in Sidon and July, out of kindness to Paul, we allowed him to go with his friends so that they could cover their needs from there we set out to the sea again and we passed under the lee of cyprus because the winds were against when we had sailed through the open sea off the coast of silesia and a pamphlet we landed at mira in lysia there the centurion found an alexandrian ship sailing towards italy and He took us on board We moved slowly for many days and had difficulty reaching us When the wind did not allow us to keep our course We sailed towards the lee of Crete off Salmoni We advanced along the coast with difficulty and reached a place called Beautiful Harbors near From the town of Lasaya a lot of time had been lost and navigation had become dangerous because it was already after the day of atonement so Paul warned the men.

I can see that our trip is going to be disastrous and will bring great losses to the ship and the cargo and also to our own lives, but the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and the owner of the ship since the The port was not suitable for wintering. Most decided that we should continue sailing in the hope of reaching Phoenix in winter. There, this was a port in Crete facing both southwest and northwest. When a gentle southerly wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity, so they weighed anchor and sailed along the coast of Crete.

Soon a hurricane-force wind called a northeasterly wind swept from the island and the ship was caught in the storm. and could not sail against the wind so we gave way to him and were carried away as we passed towards the lee of a small island called cauda, ​​we could barely secure the lifeboats, so the men hoisted them on board and then passed ropes under the boat to hold it together because they were afraid of running aground on the certis sandbanks. We dropped anchor and let the ship drift away, we received such a violent blow from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, on the third day they threw the ship's rigging overboard with their own hands when not even the son nor the stars appeared for many days and the storm continued to rage we finally lost all hope of being saved after they had gone a long time without food, paul stood in front of them and said, men, you should have followed my advice not to sail away from Crete, then they would have done it.

You were spared this damage and loss, but now I urge you to keep your courage because none of you will be lost, only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the god to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said Do not be afraid, Paul, you must be judged before Caesar and God has given you the lives of all who sail with you, so keep your courage, man , because I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me, however, we must run. Stranded on an island on the fourteenth night, we were still being driven through the Adriatic Sea when around midnight the sailors felt they were approaching land, they took soundings and discovered that the water was 40 meters deep, a short time later they sounded again and they found it.

It was 30 meters deep, fearing that they would crash us against the rocks. They dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for dawn. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors dropped the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were going to drop some anchors from the bow. Paul told the centurion and the soldiers unless those men stayed with the ship they would not be saved, so the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it drift just before dawn. Paul urged them all to eat during the last 14 days. days he said that you have been in constant suspense and you have been without food you have not eaten anything now I urge you to take some food you need it to survive none of you will lose a single hair on your head after saying this he took some bread and He gave thanks to God in front of everyone, then he broke it and began to eat.

Everyone cheered up and at mealtime in total there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten everything they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea. When dawn came, they did. They did not recognize the land but they saw a bay with a sandy beach where they decided to run the boat over land if they could, releasing the anchors they left them in the sea and at the same time they untied the ropes that held the rudders then they hoisted they sailed with the wind and headed towards the beach, but the boat hit a sandbar and ran towards our land, the branches got stuck and did not move and the stern broke into pieces from the impact of the waves, the soldiers planned to kill the prisoners.

To prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping, but the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and prevented them from carrying out their plan, he ordered those who knew how to swim to jump overboard first and reach land, the rest had to get there on planks or on other parts of the ship in this way everyone reached land safely acts chapter 28 once safely on the coast we discovered that the island was called malta the islanders showed us unusual kindness, they lit a fire and we They welcomed everyone because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of firewood and when he put it on the fire, a viper, expelled by the heat, stuck to his hand.

When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other. others this man must have been a murderer because although he escaped from the sea the goddess justice has not allowed him to live but paul threw the snake into the fire and suffered no harmful effects people expected him to swell up or drop dead suddenly but after waiting a long time and Seeing that nothing unusual was happening to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. There was a farm nearby that belonged to Publio. The main official of the island received us in his house and showed us generous hospitality.

For three days, his father was sick in bed. Suffering from fever and dysentery, Pablo came in to see him cured. They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to set sail, they provided us with the provisions we needed. After three months, we went to sea on a ship that had wintered on the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the caster of twin gods we arrived at siracusa and stayed there three days from there we set sail and arrived at regulum the next day the wind rose from the south and the next day we arrived at petroli there we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to We spent a week with them and so we came to Rome.

The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were going and traveled to the Celery Forum and the three taverns to welcome us upon seeing these people. Paul thanked God and was encouraged when we arrived in Rome. Paul was allowed to live alone with a soldier to protect him. Three days later he called the local Jewish leaders together when they had gathered. Paul told them my brothers, although I have done nothing against ours. people or against the customs of our ancestors I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans they examined me and wanted to free me because I was not guilty of any crime that deserved death the Jews objected so I was forced to appeal to Caesar Certainly not I intended to press any charges against my own people and for this reason I asked to see you and speak with you.

It is for the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain. They replied that we have not received any letter. of Judea regarding you and none of our people who have come from there have reported or said anything bad about you, but we want to hear what your views are because we know that people everywhere are speaking out against this sect, They agreed to meet with Paul on a certain day and they came in greater numbers to the place where he was staying. He testified to them from morning until evening, explaining to them about the kingdom of God and the law of Moses and the prophets.

He tried to persuade them about Jesus. Some were convinced of what he said, but others did not believe that they disagreed with each other and began to leave after Paul made this final statement. The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to their ancestors when he said through the prophet Isaiah, go to this people and say that you will always hear but you will never understand, you will always see but you will never perceive, because the hearts of these people have become callous, They barely hear with their ears and have closed their eyes, otherwise they could see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn around and I would be healed.

That's why I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles and they will listen for two whole years. Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him, proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.