Day 47: Acts 9 - 11

New Testament in 90 days reading for day 47.

Acts 9

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.
11 “Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
14 And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”
15 “Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.
16 I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
17 So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
18 At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,
19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
20 Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.”
21 All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
22 But Saul was empowered all the more, and he confounded the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.
23 After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,
24 but Saul learned of their plot. Day and night they watched the city gates in order to kill him.
25 One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.
26 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who spoke to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus.
28 So Saul stayed with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem and speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
29 He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
30 When the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria experienced a time of peace. It grew in strength and numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.
32 As Peter traveled throughout the area, he went to visit the saints in Lydda.
33 There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.
34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you! Get up and put away your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up,
35 and all who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.
37 At that time, however, she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upper room.
38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to urge him, “Come to us without delay.”
39 So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
40 Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
41 Peter took her by the hand and helped her up. Then he called the saints and widows and presented her to them alive.
42 This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.
43 And Peter stayed for several days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.

Acts 10

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Regiment.
2 He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.
3 One day at about the ninth hour, he had a clear vision of an angel of God who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.
5 Now send men to Joppa to call for a man named Simon who is called Peter.
6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.
8 He explained what had happened and sent them to Joppa.
9 The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
11 He saw heaven open and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air.
13 Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”
14 “No, Lord!” Peter answered. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.
17 While Peter was puzzling over the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house and approached the gate.
18 They called out to ask if Simon called Peter was staying there.
19 As Peter continued to reflect on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.
20 So get up! Go downstairs and accompany them without hesitation, because I have sent them.”
21 So Peter went down to the men and said, “Here am I, the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”
22 “Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”
23 So Peter invited them in as his guests. And the next day he got ready and went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.
24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea, where Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
25 As Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet to worship him.
26 But Peter helped him up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”
27 As Peter talked with him, he went inside and found many people gathered together.
28 He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
29 So when I was invited, I came without objection. I ask, then, why have you sent for me?”
30 Cornelius answered: “Four days ago I was in my house praying at this, the ninth hour. Suddenly a man in radiant clothing stood before me
31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God.
32 Therefore send to Joppa for Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’
33 So I sent for you immediately, and you were kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has instructed you to tell us.”
34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,
35 but welcomes those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.
36 He has sent this message to the people of Israel, proclaiming the gospel of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
37 You yourselves know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee with the baptism that John proclaimed:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.
39 We are witnesses of all that He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although they put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree,
40 God raised Him up on the third day and caused Him to be seen—
41 not by all the people, but by the witnesses God had chosen beforehand, by us who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.
42 And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.
43 All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message.
45 All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and exalting God. Then Peter said,
47 “Can anyone withhold the water to baptize these people? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have!”
48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.

Acts 11

1 The apostles and brothers throughout Judea soon heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.
2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him
3 and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
4 But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events:
5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision of something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came right down to me.
6 I looked at it closely and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air.

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