Acts 11
1 The apostles and the brothers in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had received the word of God.
2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision took issue with him.
3 They said, “You went into the home of uncircumcised men and ate with them!”
4 Then Peter began to explain it to them step by step, saying:
5 “I was in the city of Joppa, praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: an object coming down, like a large sheet lowered from heaven by its four corners, and it came right up to me.
6 I looked closely at it and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild animals, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky.
7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’
8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9 The voice answered from heaven a second time: ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’
10 This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.
11 At that very moment, three men sent from Caesarea to me arrived at the house where we were.
12 The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.
13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.
14 He will speak words to you by which you and your whole household will be saved.’
15 When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he had on us at the beginning.
16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
17 If, then, God gave them the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”
18 When they heard this, they calmed down and glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted the Gentiles repentance that leads to life too!”
19 Those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
20 But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, came to Antioch and also spoke to the Greeks, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.
21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and urged them all to remain with the Lord with steadfast purpose of heart.
24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And a considerable crowd was added to the Lord.
25 Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul.
26 When he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a considerable crowd. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
27 In those days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated by the Spirit that a great famine was about to come over the whole world. It happened during the time of Claudius.
29 So the disciples decided, each according to his means, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
30 And that is what they did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
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