Acts 28

Greetings!  Paul is on his way to Rome as a prisoner.  They have been shipwrecked on Malta.

Ashore on Malta
28     Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. 2 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. 3 Paul [...]

Acts 27

Greetings!  Luke is traveling with Paul (note how he says, “we . . .”).  Thus begins an amazing adventure on his trip to Rome.
Paul Sails for Rome
27     When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial [...]

Acts 26

Greetings!  Remember, Paul has been in jail for two years.  And jails were even less pleasant then than they are now.  But what was Paul’s primary goal - to share the Gospel and advance the kingdom, or to win his freedom?
26     Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”
So Paul motioned with [...]

Acts 25

Greetings!  Paul has been waiting in Caesarea for two years for this trail.  To his credit, Festus is eager to give Paul justice.  The Jewish leaders still want to kill him, legally or otherwise.

The Trial Before Festus
25     Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, 2 where the chief [...]

Acts 24

Greetings!  Paul is on trial in Caesarea (named for Caeser), the Roman center of government in Israel. 
The Trial Before Felix
24     Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. 2 When Paul was [...]

Acts 23

Greetings!  The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem are trying to have Paul punished or killed for preaching the Gospel. 
23     Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” 2 At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike [...]

Acts 22

Greetings!  Paul has been arrested in Jerusalem and had asked the Roman soldiers to let him speak before they took him into the barracks.  He tells the story of his conversion again (from Acts 9).
1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”
2 When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became [...]

Acts 21

Greetings!  Paul finally gets to Jerusalem after making several stops. 
On to Jerusalem
21     After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. 2 We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and [...]

Acts 20

Greetings! 
Through Macedonia and Greece
20     When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a [...]

Acts 19

Greetings! 
Paul in Ephesus
19     While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, [...]

Acts 18

Greetings!  Paul went to Corinth, the political and commercial center of Greece and a city with a reputation for serious immorality.  He will later write them letters, two of which are in the Bible (I Corinthians and II Corinthians). 
In Corinth
18     After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, [...]

Acts 17

Greetings!
This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  Paul is in Greece, where he gives a winsome, thorough and excellent presentation of the Gospel.  He understands his audiences well and treats them with respect.  Yet he doesn’t patronize them or water down the message.  Those who are interested in hearing more do so, but many [...]

Acts 16

Greetings! 
Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
16     He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. 2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so [...]

Acts 15

Greetings! 
The Council at Jerusalem
15     Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other [...]

Acts 14

Greetings!  We know so much about Paul because of the letters he wrote and his travels documented here in the Book of Acts.  Yet notice how often he is referred to with others, and how many people he thanks in his letters.  Here he is teaming with Barnabas.
In Iconium
14     At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went [...]

Acts 13

Greetings! 
Barnabas and Saul Sent Off
13     In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for [...]

Acts 12

Greetings!
King Herod (Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great), was partly Jewish.  He had James put to death for reasons that appeared to be political, not religous.
He might have known that Peter escaped from prison once before (see Acts 5, starting with v. 17), so security was probably quite high.  But God rescued Peter once [...]

Acts 10

Greetings!  One of the messages in this story that gets missed is that even though Cornelius was a devout, God-fearing Gentile, he still needed Jesus.  One of the great myths of the church today is that “good” people go to Heaven.  But that isn’t a Biblical motif at all.  We are all sinners in need [...]

Acts 9

Greetings!  This is one of three tellings of the conversion of Saul (aka Paul) in the book of Acts. 
I like Paul. I appreciate his writing and especially his passion. He gets a bad rap for allegedly being anti-female, but if you read him properly and in the context of his culture, he was quite the [...]

Acts 8

Greetings!
The persecution of the church begins.  The Apostles stayed in Jerusalem but others fled.  Saul was on a mission to destroy the church.  The Jewish leaders didn’t come to their senses after killing Jesus.  They ratified their rebellion by continuing to reject the Gospel. 
Many others have tried to destroy the church as well.  Yet here we are 2,000 [...]