When Peter went to Jerusalem, those who were in favor of circumcising Gentiles criticized him, saying,

"You were a guest in the home of uncircumcised Gentiles, and you even ate with them!"

It is clear that God gave those Gentiles the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; who was I, then, to try to stop God!"

When they heard this, they stopped their criticism and praised God, saying, "Then God has given to the Gentiles also the opportunity to repent and live!"

But the Jews stirred up the leading men of the city and the Gentile women of high social standing who worshiped God. They started a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of their region.

Then some Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, decided to mistreat the apostles and stone them.

Some Jews came from Antioch in Pisidia and from Iconium; they won the crowds over to their side, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead.

But some Jews were jealous and gathered worthless loafers from the streets and formed a mob. They set the whole city in an uproar and attacked the home of a man named Jason, in an attempt to find Paul and Silas and bring them out to the people.

But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city authorities and shouted, "These men have caused trouble everywhere! Now they have come to our city,

But when the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul had preached the word of God in Berea also, they came there and started exciting and stirring up the mobs.

When Gallio was made the Roman governor of Achaia, Jews there got together, seized Paul, and took him into court.

"This man," they said, "is trying to persuade people to worship God in a way that is against the law!"

But some of them were stubborn and would not believe, and before the whole group they said evil things about the Way of the Lord. So Paul left them and took the believers with him, and every day he held discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

But just when the seven days were about to come to an end, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the Temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and grabbed Paul.

(They said this because they had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with Paul in the city, and they thought that Paul had taken him into the Temple.)

The mob was trying to kill Paul, when a report was sent up to the commander of the Roman troops that all of Jerusalem was rioting.

'Go,' the Lord said to me, 'for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "

The people listened to Paul until he said this; but then they started shouting at the top of their voices, "Away with him! Kill him! He's not fit to live!"

But as for me, my friends, if I continue to preach that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were true, then my preaching about the cross of Christ would cause no trouble.

I am less than the least of all God's people; yet God gave me this privilege of taking to the Gentiles the Good News about the infinite riches of Christ,

I beg you, then, not to be discouraged because I am suffering for you; it is all for your benefit.

"Turn to me now and be saved, people all over the world! I am the only God there is.

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Salvation is to be found through him alone; in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us."

As the scripture says, "Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved."

And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out? As the scripture says, "How wonderful is the coming of messengers who bring good news!"

and use every kind of wicked deceit on those who will perish. They will perish because they did not welcome and love the truth so as to be saved.

who wants everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth.

It will be four generations before your descendants come back here, because I will not drive out the Amorites until they become so wicked that they must be punished."

"What is it?" I asked. He replied, "It is a basket, and it stands for the sin of the whole land."

The angel said, "This represents wickedness." Then he pushed her down into the basket and put the lid back down.

Go on, then, and finish up what your ancestors started!

"I will give warnings of that day in the sky and on the earth; there will be bloodshed, fire, and clouds of smoke.

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will turn red as blood before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.

The LORD Almighty says, "The day is coming when all proud and evil people will burn like straw. On that day they will burn up, and there will be nothing left of them.

"But before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah.

When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them, "You snakes---who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?

And don't think you can escape punishment by saying that Abraham is your ancestor. I tell you that God can take these rocks and make descendants for Abraham!

Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day."

"He will certainly kill those evil men," they answered, "and rent the vineyard out to other tenants, who will give him his share of the harvest at the right time."

"And so I tell you," added Jesus, "the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits."

while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them.

The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.

You are going to hear the noise of battles close by and the news of battles far away; but do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come.

And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come.

For the trouble at that time will be far more terrible than any there has ever been, from the beginning of the world to this very day. Nor will there ever be anything like it again.

But God has already reduced the number of days; had he not done so, nobody would survive. For the sake of his chosen people, however, God will reduce the days.

So the people of this time will be punished for the murder of all the prophets killed since the creation of the world,

from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the Holy Place. Yes, I tell you, the people of this time will be punished for them all!

saying, "If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it!

They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!"

"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed.

For those will be 'The Days of Punishment,' to make come true all that the Scriptures say.

Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.

But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth nothing; it is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.

Instead, all that is left is to wait in fear for the coming Judgment and the fierce fire which will destroy those who oppose God!

What, then, of those who despise the Son of God? who treat as a cheap thing the blood of God's covenant which purified them from sin? who insult the Spirit of grace? Just think how much worse is the punishment they will deserve!

And now, you rich people, listen to me! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming upon you!

Your gold and silver are covered with rust, and this rust will be a witness against you and will eat up your flesh like fire. You have piled up riches in these last days.

Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter.

Whoever is evil must go on doing evil, and whoever is filthy must go on being filthy; whoever is good must go on doing good, and whoever is holy must go on being holy."