Chronological NT Plan

¹Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest.

²He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them — both men and women — back to Jerusalem in chains.

³As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

⁵“Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!

⁶Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one!

⁸Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus.

⁹He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.

¹⁰Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord!” he replied.

¹¹The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now.

¹²I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”

¹³“But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem!

¹⁴And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.

¹⁶And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

¹⁷So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

¹⁹Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days.

²⁰And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”

²¹All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”

²²Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

²³After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him.

²⁴They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot.

²⁵So during the night, some of the other believers lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.

²⁶When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer!

²⁷Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

²⁸So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

²⁹He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him.

³⁰When the believers heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown.

³¹The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.

³²Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda.

³³There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.

³⁴Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly.

³⁵Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas ). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.

³⁷About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room.

³⁸But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”

³⁹So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them.

⁴⁰But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up!

⁴¹He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.

⁴²The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord.

⁴³And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.

¹In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was a captain of the Italian Regiment.

²He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God.

³One afternoon about three o’clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. “Cornelius!” the angel said.

⁴Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering!

⁵Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.

⁶He is staying with Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.”

⁷As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants.

⁸He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.

⁹The next day as Cornelius’s messengers were nearing the town, Peter went up on the flat roof to pray. It was about noon,

¹⁰and he was hungry. But while a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

¹¹He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners.

¹²In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds.

¹³Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.”

¹⁴“No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean. ”

¹⁵But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”

¹⁶The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.

¹⁷Peter was very perplexed. What could the vision mean? Just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon’s house. Standing outside the gate,

¹⁸they asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.

¹⁹Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three men have come looking for you.

²⁰Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Don’t worry, for I have sent them.”

²¹So Peter went down and said, “I’m the man you are looking for. Why have you come?”

²²They said, “We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer. He is a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he can hear your message.”

²³So Peter invited the men to stay for the night. The next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Joppa.

²⁴They arrived in Caesarea the following day. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

²⁵As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him.

²⁶But Peter pulled him up and said, “Stand up! I’m a human being just like you!”

²⁷So they talked together and went inside, where many others were assembled.

²⁸Peter told them, “You know it is against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean.

²⁹So I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me why you sent for me.”

³⁰Cornelius replied, “Four days ago I was praying in my house about this same time, three o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me.

³¹He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God!

³²Now send messengers to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner who lives near the seashore.’

³³So I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here, waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you.”

³⁴Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism.

³⁵In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right.

³⁶This is the message of Good News for the people of Israel — that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

³⁷You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism.

³⁸And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

³⁹“And we apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a cross,

⁴⁰but God raised him to life on the third day. Then God allowed him to appear,

⁴¹not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be his witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

⁴²And he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all — the living and the dead.

⁴³He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.”

⁴⁴Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.

⁴⁵The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.

⁴⁶For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. Then Peter asked,

⁴⁷“Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?”

⁴⁸So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.