The Early Church

So if God gave them the same gift He gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder the work of God?”

When they heard this, their objections were put to rest, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.

But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

When news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great 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 back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.

One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted through the Spirit that a great famine would sweep across the whole world. (This happened under Claudius.)

So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

This they did, sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul.

About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.

He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

And seeing that this pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.

On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.

“Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel. Peter did so, and the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”

So Peter followed him out, but he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He thought he was only seeing a vision.

They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.

Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”