Staff & Leadership

The Conversion of Saul

¹Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,²and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.³As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him;⁴and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”⁵And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said,“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,⁶but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”

¹I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up,

And have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

²O LORD my God,

I cried to You for help, and You healed me.

³O LORD, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;

You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

⁴Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones,

And give thanks to His holy name.

⁵For His anger is but for a moment,

His favor is for a lifetime;

Weeping may last for the night,

But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

⁶Now as for me, I said in my prosperity,

“I will never be moved.”

⁷O LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain to stand strong;

You hid Your face, I was dismayed.

⁸To You, O LORD, I called,

And to the Lord I made supplication:

⁹“What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit?

Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness?

¹⁰“Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me;

O LORD, be my helper.”

¹¹You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

¹²That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,

¹²saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

¹³And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying,

“To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.”

¹⁴And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Jesus Appears at the Sea of Galilee

¹After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way.²Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.³Simon Peter *said to them, “I am going fishing.” They *said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.

⁴But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.⁵So Jesus *said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.”⁶And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.⁷Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved *said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea.⁸But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish.

⁹So when they got out on the land, they *saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread.¹⁰Jesus *said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.”¹¹Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus Provides

¹²Jesus *said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples ventured to question Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord.¹³Jesus *came and *took the bread and *gave it to them, and the fish likewise.¹⁴This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.

The Love Motivation

¹⁵So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.”¹⁶He *said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He *said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”¹⁷He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus *said to him, “Tend My sheep.

Our Times Are in His Hand

¹⁸“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.”¹⁹Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He *said to him, “Follow Me!”

³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.³⁷And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room.³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, having heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”³⁹So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.⁴⁰But Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed, and turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.⁴¹And he gave her his hand and raised her up; and calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.⁴²It became known all over Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.⁴³And Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.

¹The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

²He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

³He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

⁶Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

⁹After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands;¹⁰and they cry out with a loud voice, saying,

“Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”¹¹And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,¹²saying,

“Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

¹³Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?”¹⁴I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.¹⁵“For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.¹⁶“They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat;¹⁷for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

²²At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem;²³it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.²⁴The Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”²⁵Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.²⁶“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.²⁷“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;²⁸and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.²⁹“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.³⁰“I and the Father are one.”

Peter Reports at Jerusalem

¹Now the apostles and the brethren who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.²And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who were circumcised took issue with him,³saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”⁴But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying,⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me,⁶and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air.⁷“I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’⁸“But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’⁹“But a voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.’¹⁰“This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky.¹¹“And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea.¹²“The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings. These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man’s house.¹³“And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here;¹⁴and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’¹⁵“And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning.¹⁶“And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’¹⁷“Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”¹⁸When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

The Church at Antioch

¹Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

Praise Him in the heights!

²Praise Him, all His angels;

Praise Him, all His hosts!

³Praise Him, sun and moon;

Praise Him, all stars of light!

⁴Praise Him, highest heavens,

And the waters that are above the heavens!

⁵Let them praise the name of the LORD,

For He commanded and they were created.

⁶He has also established them forever and ever;

He has made a decree which will not pass away.

⁷Praise the LORD from the earth,

Sea monsters and all deeps;

⁸Fire and hail, snow and clouds;

Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;

⁹Mountains and all hills;

Fruit trees and all cedars;

¹⁰Beasts and all cattle;

Creeping things and winged fowl;

¹¹Kings of the earth and all peoples;

Princes and all judges of the earth;

¹²Both young men and virgins;

Old men and children.

¹³Let them praise the name of the LORD,

For His name alone is exalted;

His glory is above earth and heaven.

¹⁴And He has lifted up a horn for His people,

Praise for all His godly ones;

Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him.

Praise the LORD!

The New Heaven and Earth

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.³And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,⁴and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

⁵And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”⁶Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

³¹Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus *said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;³²if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.³³“Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’³⁴“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.³⁵“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

⁹A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”¹⁰When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.¹³And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

¹⁴A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.¹⁵And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹God be gracious to us and bless us,

And cause His face to shine upon us—

Selah.

²That Your way may be known on the earth,

Your salvation among all nations.

³Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

⁴Let the nations be glad and sing for joy;

For You will judge the peoples with uprightness

And guide the nations on the earth.

Selah.

⁵Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

⁶The earth has yielded its produce;

God, our God, blesses us.

⁷God blesses us,

That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

The New Jerusalem

¹⁰And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,¹¹having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.¹²It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.¹³There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west.¹⁴And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall.¹⁶The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal.¹⁷And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements.¹⁸The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.¹⁹The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;²⁰the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.²¹And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

²²I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.²³And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.²⁴The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.²⁵In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed;²⁶and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it;²⁷and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

The River and the Tree of Life

¹Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,²in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.³There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;⁴they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.⁵And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

²³Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.²⁴“He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.²⁶“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.²⁷“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.²⁸“You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.²⁹“Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.

¹⁶It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.¹⁷Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”¹⁸She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.

¹⁹But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities,²⁰and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,²¹and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

²²The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.²³When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely;²⁴and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;²⁶and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.²⁷When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.²⁸But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”²⁹And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas,³⁰and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted

³¹They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.³³And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.³⁴And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.

¹The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;

Let the many islands be glad.

²Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

³Fire goes before Him

And burns up His adversaries round about.

⁴His lightnings lit up the world;

The earth saw and trembled.

⁵The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the LORD,

At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

⁶The heavens declare His righteousness,

And all the peoples have seen His glory.

⁷Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images,

Who boast themselves of idols;

Worship Him, all you gods.

⁸Zion heard this and was glad,

And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced

Because of Your judgments, O LORD.

⁹For You are the LORD Most High over all the earth;

You are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰Hate evil, you who love the LORD,

Who preserves the souls of His godly ones;

He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

¹¹Light is sown like seed for the righteous

And gladness for the upright in heart.

¹²Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones,

And give thanks to His holy name.

¹²“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.¹³“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.¹⁵Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

¹⁶“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

¹⁸I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;¹⁹and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

²⁰He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

²⁰“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;²¹that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Their Future Glory

²²“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;²³I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.²⁴“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;²⁶and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”