So then, there were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were another 14 generations from David to the time they took the Israelite people away to Babylon. Then there were 14 generations from that time until Jesus, the Messiah, was born.

Jesus sends out his 12 apostles

Jesus sent out these 12 disciples. Before they left, he said to them, ‘Do not go to any place where the people are Gentiles. And do not go to towns where only Samaritans live.

They will take you to stand in front of kings and rulers. All this will happen because you are my disciples. You will tell all these important people and also the Gentiles the good news about me.

They sailed across the lake and reached the shore at a place called Gennesaret.

Jesus makes many sick people well

They sailed across the lake. They reached the shore at Gennesaret and they tied the boat there.

Jesus asks some men to go with him

One day, Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. A crowd was pushing to get near to him. They were listening to him. He was speaking God's message to them.

Some of us were born as Jews. Others of us are Gentiles who now obey God as the Jews do. Some of us are from Crete and some of us are from Arabia. But we all hear these people speaking in our own languages. They are speaking about all the great things that God has done.’

He said to them, ‘You all know that we Jews do not become friends with Gentiles. Our Jewish laws do not let us visit the homes of Gentiles. But God has now shown me something different. I should not say about anyone that God will not accept them.

Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came down on all the people who were listening to his message.

The Jewish believers who had come from Joppa with Peter were very surprised. They saw that God had now freely given his Holy Spirit to Gentiles.

Peter returns to Jerusalem

The apostles and the other believers in Judea heard that Gentiles had also believed the message from God.

So we see that God gave these Gentiles his gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the same gift that he gave to us Jews who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So I could never try to stop God.’

The Jewish believers heard what Peter said. They could not say anything more against him. Instead, they praised God and they said, ‘We now see that God has also let Gentiles have life with him. He will accept them if they stop doing bad things and turn to him.’

Some of the believers were people who came from Cyprus and Cyrene. These men went to Antioch. There they told God's message to Gentiles, as well as to Jews. They told everyone the good news about the Lord Jesus.

So Paul stood up. He raised his hand towards the people so that they would listen to him. Then he said to them, ‘Some of you are Jews, like us. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. All of you, listen carefully to me.

Paul then said, ‘I speak to all you people here. Some of you, like us, have Abraham as your ancestor. Some of you are Gentiles who now worship our God. God has sent this message to all of us. It tells us how he will save us.

When the meeting finished, many people followed Paul and Barnabas. Some of them were Jews. Others were Gentiles who now worshipped God. Paul and Barnabas said to them, ‘God has been very kind to you. You should continue to trust him.’

But Paul and Barnabas were not afraid of them. They said to them, ‘It was right that we first tell you who are Jews the message from God. But now you say that God's message is not true. You have shown that you do not deserve true life with God. So we will leave you now. We will go and tell this message to the Gentiles.

The Lord God has also told us to do this. He said: “I have chosen you to be like a light to the Gentiles. You must go to people everywhere in the world. You must tell them how God wants to save them.” ’

When the Gentiles there heard this, they were very happy. They thanked God for the message about the Lord Jesus. Many people believed in Jesus. They were the people that God had chosen to have true life with him.

This is what happened in Iconium

When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Iconium, they did the same as they had done before. They went to the Jewish meeting place and they spoke God's message there. They spoke very clearly, so that many Jews and Gentiles believed in Jesus.

But some of the Jews refused to believe God's message. They told the Gentiles that they too should not believe it. The Jews put bad thoughts into the minds of the Gentiles so that they became angry against the believers.

Some of the Jews and the Gentiles met with their leaders. They decided to do bad things to Paul and Barnabas. They wanted to throw stones at them and kill them.

When they arrived, they sent a message to the group of believers in Antioch. When all the believers had come together, Paul and Barnabas told them about their journey. They told the believers about everything that God had helped them to do. They said, ‘God has made it possible now for Gentiles to believe in Jesus.’

The group of believers at Antioch sent Paul, Barnabas and the other men on their way. They travelled through Phoenicia and Samaria. They spoke to the believers in those places. They told them, ‘Gentiles are also turning to God and they are believing in Jesus.’ The believers were all very happy to hear this news.