Henry: Welcome to immerse, the daily bible reading experience.
Day 14.
Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place and he came down to visit
the believers in the town of Litta.
There he met a man named Anias who had been paralyzed and
bedridden for eight years.
Peter said to him, Anias, Jesus Christ heals you.
Get up and roll up your sleeping mat.
And he was healed instantly.
Then the whole population of Litta and Sharon saw Anias walking
around and they turned to the Lord.
There was a believer in Jpa named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcus.
She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.
About this time she became ill and died.
Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room.
But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Litta.
So they sent two men to beg him, please come as soon as possible.
So 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 Dorcus had made for them.
But 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, he 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.
The news spread through the whole town and many believed in the Lord.
And Peter stayed a long time in Japa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.
In Cesarea, there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius, who was
a captain of the Italian regiment.
He was a devout God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household.
He gave generously to the poor and prayed regularly to God.
One afternoon, about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw
an angel of God coming toward him.
Cornelius, the angel said.
Cornelius 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.
Now send some men to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter.
He is staying with Simon a Tanner who lives near the seashore.
As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household
servants and a devout soldier, one of his personal attendants.
He told them what had happened and sent them off to Japa the next day.
As Cornelius messengers were nearing the town, Peter went
up on the flat roof to pray.
It was about noon and he was hungry, but while a meal was being
prepared, he fell into a trance.
He saw the sky open and something like a large sheet was let down by
its four corners In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds.
Then a voice said to him, get up Peter.
Kill and eat them.
No, Lord Peter declared.
I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared, impure and
unclean, but the voice spoke again.
Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.
The same vision was repeated three times.
Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven.
Peter was very perplexed.
What could the vision mean?
Just then?
The men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house standing outside the gate.
They asked if a man named Simon Peter was staying there.
Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him,
three men have come looking for you.
Get up, go downstairs and go with them.
Without hesitation.
Don't worry for I have sent them.
So Peter went down and said, I'm the men you're looking for.
Why have you come?
They 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.
So Peter invited the men to stay for the night.
The next day he went with them, accompanied by some
of the brothers from Joa.
They arrived in Cez the following day.
Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his
relatives and close friends.
As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell at his feet and worshiped him, but
Peter pulled him up and said, stand up.
I'm a human being just like you.
So they talked together and went inside where many others were assembled.
Peter 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.
So I came without objection as soon as I was sent.
For now, tell me why you sent for me.
Cornelius 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.
He told me, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your gifts to
the poor have been noticed by God.
Now send messengers to Jpa and summon a man named Simon Peter.
He is staying in the home of Simon, a Tanner who lives near the seashore.
So 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.
Then Peter replied, I see very clearly that God shows
no favoritism in every nation.
He accepts those who fear him and do what is right.
This 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.
You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after John began
preaching his message of baptism and you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and with power.
The, then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed
by the devil for God was with him.
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, but God raised
him to life on the third day.
Then God allowed him to appear not 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, and
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.
He is the one all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone
who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.
Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all
who were listening to the message.
The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy
Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles too, where they heard them speaking
in other tongues and praising God.
Then Peter asked, can anyone object to their being baptized now that they
have received the Holy Spirit just as we did so 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 soon
the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the
Gentiles had received the word of God.
But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him.
You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them.
They said.
Then Peter told them exactly what had happened.
I was in the town of Joa, he said, and while I was praying, I went
into a trance and saw a vision, something like a large sheet was let
down by its four corners from the sky, and it came right down to me.
When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of tame and wild
animals, reptiles and birds, and I heard a voice say, get up, Peter.
Kill and eat them.
No, Lord.
I replied, I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have
declared, impure or unclean, but the voice from heaven spoke again.
Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.
This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained
was pulled back up to heaven.
Just then, three men who had been sent from Cesarea arrived at
the house where we were staying.
The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry that they were Gentiles.
These six brothers here accompanied me and we soon entered the home
of a man who had sent for us.
He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told
him, send messengers to Jaba and summon a man named Simon Peter.
He will tell you how you and everyone in your household can be saved.
As I began to speak, Peter continued.
The Holy Spirit fell on them just as he fell on us at the beginning.
Then I thought of the Lord's words when he said, John baptized with water, but
you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God's way.
When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God.
They said, we can see that God has also given the Gentiles the
privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.
Meanwhile, the believers who had been scattered during the persecution after
Steven's death traveled as far as Venetia, Cyprus and Antioch of Syria.
They preached the word of God, but only to Jews.
However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus
and Cyrene began preaching to the Gentiles about the Lord Jesus.
The power of the Lord was with them, and a large number of these Gentiles
believed and turned to the Lord.
When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they
sent Barnabas to Antioch.
When he arrived and saw this evidence of God's blessing, he was filled
with joy and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.
Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith, and
many people were brought to the Lord.
Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for soul.
When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch.
Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year
teaching large crowds of people.
It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.
During this time, some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch.
One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by
the spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world.
This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.
So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers
and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could.
This they did entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the
elders of the church in Jerusalem.
About that time, king Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church.
He had the apostle James John's brother killed with a sword.
When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter.
This took place during the Passover celebration.
Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers.
Each Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover,
but while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.
The night before Peter was to be placed on trial.
He was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers.
Others stood guard at the prison gate.
Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell and an angel
of the Lord stood before Peter.
The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, quick get up,
and the chains fell off his wrists.
Then the angel told him, get dressed and put on your sandals, and he did.
Now, put on your coat and follow me.
The angel ordered.
So Peter left the cell following the angel, but all the time
he thought it was a vision.
He didn't realize it was actually happening.
They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron
gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself.
So they passed through and started walking down the street, and
then the angel suddenly left him.
Peter finally came to his senses.
It's really true, he said, the Lord has sent his angel and saved me
from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me.
When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark,
where many were gathered for prayer.
He knocked at the door in the gate and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it.
When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that instead of opening
the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, Peter is standing at the door.
You're out of your mind.
They said when she insisted, they decided it must be his angel.
Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking.
When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.
He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the
Lord had led him out of prison.
Tell James and the other brothers what happened, he said, and
then he went to another place.
At Dawn, there was a great commotion among the soldiers
about what had happened to Peter.
Herod Agrippa ordered a thorough search for him when he couldn't be found.
Herod interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death afterward.
Herod left Judea to stay in Cesarea for a while Now, Herod was very angry
with the people of Tire and Siden.
So they sent a delegation to make peace with him because their cities were
dependent upon Herod's country for food.
The delegates won the support of Blastos, Herod's personal assistant, and an
appointment with Herod was granted.
When the day arrived, Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his
throne, and made a speech to them.
The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, it's the
voice of a God, not of a man.
Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with his sickness.
Because he accepted the people's worship instead of giving the glory to God.
So he was consumed with worms and died.
Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread and there were many new believers.
This concludes today's Immer Reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.