Professor Horner’s Reading Plan

¹Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking,

²“Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

³King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem.

⁴He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

⁵“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

⁶‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ”

⁷Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.

⁸Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

⁹After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.

¹⁰When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!

¹¹They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

¹²When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

¹³After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁴That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,

¹⁵and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

¹⁶Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.

¹⁷Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

¹⁸“A cry was heard in Ramah — weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.”

¹⁹When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.

²⁰“Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”

²¹So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother.

²²But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee.

²³So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

¹So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed.

²On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.

³And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

⁴This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Man and Woman in Eden When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

⁵neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the LORD God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil.

⁶Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land.

⁷Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

⁸Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.

⁹The LORD God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground — trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches.

¹¹The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found.

¹²The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there.

¹³The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush.

¹⁴The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

¹⁵The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.

¹⁶But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden —

¹⁷except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

¹⁸Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”

¹⁹So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.

²⁰He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening.

²²Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

²³“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”

²⁴This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

²⁵Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

¹You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.

²And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things.

³Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?

⁴Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

⁵But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁶He will judge everyone according to what they have done.

⁷He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers.

⁸But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.

⁹There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil — for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.

¹⁰But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good — for the Jew first and also for the Gentile.

¹¹For God does not show favoritism.

¹²When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.

¹³For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.

¹⁴Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.

¹⁵They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

¹⁶And this is the message I proclaim — that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.

¹⁷You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him.

¹⁸You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law.

¹⁹You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness.

²⁰You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth.

²¹Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?

²²You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples?

²³You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.

²⁴No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.”

²⁵The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.

²⁶And if the Gentiles obey God’s law, won’t God declare them to be his own people?

²⁷In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God’s law but don’t obey it.

²⁸For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision.

²⁹No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

¹You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure.

²You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition.

³So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery.

⁴For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.

⁵Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money!

⁶As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.

⁷As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children.

⁸We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.

⁹Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you.

¹⁰You yourselves are our witnesses — and so is God — that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers.

¹¹And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children.

¹²We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory.

¹³Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God — which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.

¹⁴And then, dear brothers and sisters, you suffered persecution from your own countrymen. In this way, you imitated the believers in God’s churches in Judea who, because of their belief in Christ Jesus, suffered from their own people, the Jews.

¹⁵For some of the Jews killed the prophets, and some even killed the Lord Jesus. Now they have persecuted us, too. They fail to please God and work against all humanity

¹⁶as they try to keep us from preaching the Good News of salvation to the Gentiles. By doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last.

¹⁷Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again.

¹⁸We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us.

¹⁹After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you!

²⁰Yes, you are our pride and joy.

¹One day the members of the heavenly court came again to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them.

²“Where have you come from?” the LORD asked Satan. Satan answered the LORD, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

³Then the LORD asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless — a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause.”

⁴Satan replied to the LORD, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life.

⁵But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

⁶“All right, do with him as you please,” the LORD said to Satan. “But spare his life.”

⁷So Satan left the LORD’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.

⁸Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.

⁹His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”

¹⁰But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

¹¹When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.

¹²When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief.

¹³Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

¹Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans?

²The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one.

³“Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

⁴But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.

⁵Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury.

⁶For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain.”

⁷The king proclaims the LORD’s decree: “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father.

⁸Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession.

⁹You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.’”

¹⁰Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth!

¹¹Serve the LORD with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹²Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities — for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him!

¹My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.

²Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.

³Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.

⁴Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.

⁵Then you will understand what it means to fear the LORD, and you will gain knowledge of God.

⁶For the LORD grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.

⁸He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.

⁹Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.

¹¹Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.

¹²Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.

¹³These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths.

¹⁴They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.

¹⁵Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong.

¹⁶Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the seductive words of the promiscuous woman.

¹⁷She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God.

¹⁸Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to the grave.

¹⁹The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life.

²⁰So follow the steps of the good, and stay on the paths of the righteous.

²¹For only the godly will live in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it.

²²But the wicked will be removed from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted.

¹Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night.

²But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.”

³So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.”

⁴Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, “Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from.

⁵They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.”

⁶(Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.)

⁷So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut.

⁸Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them.

⁹“I know the LORD has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror.

¹⁰For we have heard how the LORD made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed.

¹¹No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the LORD your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.

¹²“Now swear to me by the LORD that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that

¹³when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.”

¹⁴“We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety,” the men agreed. “If you don’t betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the LORD gives us the land.”

¹⁵Then, since Rahab’s house was built into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window.

¹⁶“Escape to the hill country,” she told them. “Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.”

¹⁷Before they left, the men told her, “We will be bound by the oath we have taken only if you follow these instructions.

¹⁸When we come into the land, you must leave this scarlet rope hanging from the window through which you let us down. And all your family members — your father, mother, brothers, and all your relatives — must be here inside the house.

¹⁹If they go out into the street and are killed, it will not be our fault. But if anyone lays a hand on people inside this house, we will accept the responsibility for their death.

²⁰If you betray us, however, we are not bound by this oath in any way.”

²¹“I accept your terms,” she replied. And she sent them on their way, leaving the scarlet rope hanging from the window.

²²The spies went up into the hill country and stayed there three days. The men who were chasing them searched everywhere along the road, but they finally returned without success.

²³Then the two spies came down from the hill country, crossed the Jordan River, and reported to Joshua all that had happened to them.

²⁴“The LORD has given us the whole land,” they said, “for all the people in the land are terrified of us.”

¹This is a vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all — the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.

³People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the LORD’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.

⁴The LORD will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.

⁵Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

⁶For the LORD has rejected his people, the descendants of Jacob, because they have filled their land with practices from the East and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do. They have made alliances with pagans.

⁷Israel is full of silver and gold; there is no end to its treasures. Their land is full of warhorses; there is no end to its chariots.

⁸Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands.

⁹So now they will be humbled, and all will be brought low — do not forgive them.

¹⁰Crawl into caves in the rocks. Hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the glory of his majesty.

¹¹Human pride will be brought down, and human arrogance will be humbled. Only the LORD will be exalted on that day of judgment.

¹²For the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has a day of reckoning. He will punish the proud and mighty and bring down everything that is exalted.

¹³He will cut down the tall cedars of Lebanon and all the mighty oaks of Bashan.

¹⁴He will level all the high mountains and all the lofty hills.

¹⁵He will break down every high tower and every fortified wall.

¹⁶He will destroy all the great trading ships and every magnificent vessel.

¹⁷Human pride will be humbled, and human arrogance will be brought down. Only the LORD will be exalted on that day of judgment.

¹⁸Idols will completely disappear.

¹⁹When the LORD rises to shake the earth, his enemies will crawl into holes in the ground. They will hide in caves in the rocks from the terror of the LORD and the glory of his majesty.

²⁰On that day of judgment they will abandon the gold and silver idols they made for themselves to worship. They will leave their gods to the rodents and bats,

²¹while they crawl away into caverns and hide among the jagged rocks in the cliffs. They will try to escape the terror of the LORD and the glory of his majesty as he rises to shake the earth.

²²Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?

¹On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.

²Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

³Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.

⁴And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

⁵At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem.

⁶When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

⁷They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee,

⁸and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!

⁹Here we are — Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome

¹¹(both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”

¹²They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.

¹³But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”

¹⁴Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this.

¹⁵These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that.

¹⁶No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants — men and women alike — and they will prophesy.

¹⁹And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below — blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

²⁰The sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that great and glorious day of the LORD arrives.

²¹But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.’

²²“People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know.

²³But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.

²⁴But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

²⁵King David said this about him: ‘I see that the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.

²⁶No wonder my heart is glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! My body rests in hope.

²⁷For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.

²⁸You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.’

²⁹“Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us.

³⁰But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised with an oath that one of David’s own descendants would sit on his throne.

³¹David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah’s resurrection. He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave.

³²“God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this.

³³Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today.

³⁴For David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit in the place of honor at my right hand

³⁵until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet.”’

³⁶“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”

³⁷Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

³⁸Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away — all who have been called by the Lord our God.”

⁴⁰Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

⁴¹Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day — about 3,000 in all.

⁴²All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper ), and to prayer.

⁴³A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.

⁴⁴And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.

⁴⁵They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

⁴⁶They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity —

⁴⁷all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.