Acts 11

The apostles and other believers who lived in various towns in the province of Judea heard that some non-Jewish people had also believed the message of God about Jesus.

But there were some Jewish believers in Jerusalem who {followed the teaching of the Pharisees and} believed that Jews should not associate with non-Jews. When Peter came back from Caesarea to Jerusalem, they met with him and criticized him.

They said to him, “Not only was it wrong for you to go into the home of someone who was not Jewish, you even ate there!” \*

So Peter told them exactly what had happened.

He said, “I was praying {by myself} in the city of Joppa, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, suspended by its four corners. It came down to where I was.

As I was gazing at it, I looked closely and I saw some tame animals and also some wild animals, reptiles, and wild birds. \*

Then I heard a voice commanding me, ‘Go ahead, Peter, kill some and eat them!’

But I replied, ‘Lord, surely not! I have never eaten anything that our laws say we must not eat!’

The voice spoke to me from heaven a second time: ‘I am God, so if I have made something acceptable to eat, do not say it is unacceptable.’

This same thing happened two more times. Then the sheet with all those animals and birds went back up into heaven. \*

At that exact moment, three men arrived at the house where I was staying. Their master had sent them to bring me to Caesarea.

God’s Spirit told me that I should not hesitate to go with them even though they were not Jews. Six Jewish believers went with me to Caesarea. We went into the house of the man who had sent for me.

He told us that he had seen an angel standing in his house. The angel told him, ‘Tell some men to go to Joppa and bring back Simon whose other name is Peter.

He will tell you how God will save you and everyone else in your house.’ \*

While I was speaking to them, the Holy Spirit suddenly came to them just as he came to us during the Pentecost festival.

Then I remembered what Jesus had said: ‘John baptized you with water, but God will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ \*

God gave us the Holy Spirit when we believed in the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. God gave those non-Jews the same Holy Spirit. So I had to cooperate with what God was doing {and baptize them}.”

After those Jewish believers heard what Peter said, they stopped criticizing him. Instead, they praised God. They said, “It is clear that God has accepted non-Jews so they too can have everlasting life if they turn from their sinful behavior.” \*

After Stephen died, people started persecuting the other believers in Jerusalem. So many of them left and went to other places. Some of them went to the land of Phoenicia. Some went to the island of Cyprus. Others went to the city of Antioch in Syria. In those places. They told people the good news about Jesus. But most of them told only other Jewish people.

But some of the believers were men from the island of Cyprus and from the city of Cyrene in north Africa. They went to Antioch and also spoke with non-Jewish people, telling them that Jesus is the Messiah.

The Lord God was powerfully enabling those believers to preach effectively. As a result, very many non-Jewish people believed their message and trusted in Jesus. \*

The group of believers in Jerusalem learned that many people in Antioch were believing in Jesus. So they sent Barnabas to Antioch {to teach and encourage the new believers}.

When Barnabas got to Antioch, he recognized that God had acted kindly toward the people there. This made him very happy. He encouraged all of the new believers to continue to trust in the Lord Jesus completely.

Barnabas was a good man whom the Holy Spirit completely controlled. He trusted God completely. Because of what Barnabas did, many more people in Antioch believed in Jesus. \*

Then Barnabas left Antioch and went to the city of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia to look for Saul.

After Barnabas found Saul, he brought him back to Antioch to help teach the believers there. Barnabas and Saul met regularly with the church there for a whole year. They taught large numbers of people about Jesus. The people of Antioch were the first people who called the disciples of Jesus “Christians.” \*

During the time that Barnabas and Saul were in Antioch, some believers who were prophets came there from Jerusalem.

One of them whose name was Agabus stood up {in order to speak}. God’s Spirit enabled him to prophesy that there would soon be a severe shortage of food in many countries. (This shortage happened when Claudius was the Roman emperor.) \*

{When the believers there heard what Agabus said,} they decided that they would send money to help the believers who lived in Judea. Each of them decided to give as much money as he was able to give.

They sent the money with Barnabas and Saul to the leaders of the believers in Jerusalem. \*