New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Acts chapter 11

Now the and the brothers and sisters throughout Judea heard that had also embraced .So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, confronted him,saying, “You went into the homes of and ate with them!”But Peter laid it all out for them from the beginning, step by step:“I was in the city of , praying, and in a I saw something coming down — like a huge sheet being lowered from the sky by its four corners — and it came right down to where I was.I looked closely at it and saw all kinds of four-footed animals, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds.Then I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’But I said, ‘Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing or has ever touched my lips.’But the voice from heaven spoke a second time: ‘What God has , stop calling off-limits.’This happened three times, and then the whole thing was pulled back up into the sky.Right at that moment, three men who had been sent to me from showed up at the house where I was staying. told me to go with them . These six brothers also came with me, and we went into the man’s house.He told us how he had seen an appear in his house and say, ‘Send men to Joppa and bring back Simon, the one called Peter.He will tell you a message through which you and everyone in your will be .’“As I began to speak, just like it fell on us at the very beginning.Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John people in water, but you will be submerged in the Breath of God.’So if God gave them the exact same gift he gave us when we the Lord Jesus, — who was I to think I could stand in God’s way?”When they heard this, they had nothing more to say. They praised God, saying, “So then, God has given even non-Jewish people the chance to and !”Now those who had been scattered by the that broke out after was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and , but they only shared the message with Jewish people.But some of them — men from Cyprus and — went to Antioch and started telling the about the Lord Jesus too. was with them, and a huge number of people and the Lord.News about this reached in Jerusalem, so they sent to Antioch.When he arrived and saw the evidence of , he was overjoyed and encouraged them all to the Lord .Barnabas was a good man, and full of . And a large number of people were brought to the Lord.Then Barnabas went to to look for ,and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with there and taught large numbers of people. It was in Antioch that the were first called “.”During this time, some came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.One of them, named Agabus, stood up and — — predicted that a severe was about to hit the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of .)So the followers decided that each of them would send help, , to the living in Judea.They did this, sending their to the through Barnabas and Saul.