“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.
Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying,
“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me.
Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.
But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’
And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea.
And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.
And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter;
As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.
And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?”
When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose,
for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.
and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius).
So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.
He killed James the brother of John with the sword,
and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.
And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.
So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.
And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.
Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate.
But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.
Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.
And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.
Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food.
On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.
And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.
But the word of God increased and multiplied.
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them.
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