Study Desk

who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements:

They stayed for a while, and then the believers sent them back to the church in Jerusalem with a blessing of peace.

Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus.

so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.

Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there.

So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.

On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.

One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. She earned a lot of money for her masters by telling fortunes.

"They are teaching customs that are illegal for us Romans to practice."

The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.

As was Paul's custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people.

But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd.

And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, for they profess allegiance to another king, named Jesus."

Those escorting Paul went with him all the way to Athens; then they returned to Berea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him.

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.

for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.' This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.

and human hands can't serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

"His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.