Acts 13:44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.
We are almost halfway through the book of Acts, but to this point the Gospel had barely gotten beyond Judea and Samaria. The Church was being released to spread now that She accepted freely into fellowship those who were of Gentile background. This chapter begins with the intentional sending of Barnabas and Saul to take the Gospel into the Roman provinces. They first would go into the synagogues to share the good news of the Messiah with the Jews, but each time it was not long until they were kicked out and took the Good News to the Gentiles. Word began to spread quickly, and they continued on city by city.
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