Acts 11

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The apostles and brothers throughout Judea soon heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.

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So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him

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and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

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But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events:

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“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.

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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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Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’

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‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

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But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

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This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.

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Just then three men sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying.

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The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s home.

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He told us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.

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He will convey to you a message by which you and all your household will be saved.’

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As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.

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Then I remembered the word of the Lord, as He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

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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?”

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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.”

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

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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.

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

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

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

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Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

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Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul,

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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.

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

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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.)

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

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