A dispute erupts over whether Gentile converts must be circumcised, so Paul and Barnabas bring the question to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. After hearing Peter's testimony about the Holy Spirit falling on Gentiles, and Paul and Barnabas's account of God's work among them, James proposes that Gentiles be spared circumcision but asked to avoid idol-tainted food, sexual immorality, and blood. The council sends this decision by letter to the churches, and the believers who receive it rejoice. When has hearing someone else's experience changed a conviction you were holding firmly to?

Paul and Barnabas preach in Antioch, and the word spreads until nearly the whole city turns out to hear it. Opposition drives them from town to town, yet the message keeps advancing through Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, gathering believers and enduring persecution at every stop. They return to Antioch and report how God has opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. What would it mean to trust God with results you can't control?

In Antioch, the Spirit sets apart Barnabas and Saul while the church fasts and prays, and the leaders lay hands on them before letting them go. The two travel to Cyprus and Pisidian Antioch, preaching in synagogues and facing a sorcerer who tries to block their path. In Pisidian Antioch, Paul stands and traces Israel's story from Egypt to David to Jesus, declaring forgiveness through him to all who listen. Crowds gather the next week to hear more, though some leaders stir up opposition against the message. How do you weigh personal comfort against a larger purpose?

King Herod arrests James and executes him, then seizes Peter to please the crowds, but the church gathers to pray fervently through the night. An angel frees Peter from his chains and past the guards while the praying believers can barely believe their own answered prayer at the door. Herod, struck down for accepting worship as a god instead of giving credit elsewhere, dies suddenly, while the word of God continues to spread and grow. Do you treat prayer as a last resort or a first response?

In Matthew 7:1-12, Jesus teaches his followers not to judge others, warning that they will be judged by the same standard they use. He tells them to remove the plank from their own eye before pointing out the speck in someone else's. He instructs them not to give what is holy to dogs or cast pearls before pigs, and to ask, seek, and knock, promising that those who do will receive, find, and have the door opened. He closes by telling them to treat others as they wish to be treated, summarizing the Law and the Prophets.

Moved by the mercy already shown to them, believers place their whole selves—body, will, and future—onto the altar as a living offering, every day. They resist the steady pressure of a world reshaping them into its likeness, choosing instead a quiet, ongoing transformation through a renewed mind. Like a couple bound by vows once spoken and now lived out morning after morning, they discover that surrender is not a singular event but a direction. In this daily yielding, the good and perfect will of God comes into view. What is one part of your life you have yet to place fully on the altar?

Peter returns to Jerusalem and defends his visit to Cornelius's household, explaining how the Spirit fell on the Gentiles just as on the Jews at the beginning. The believers in Jerusalem grow quiet, then glorify God, realizing that repentance and life have been granted even to the nations. Meanwhile in Antioch, scattered believers preach to Greeks as well as Jews, and a great number turn to the Lord, prompting Barnabas to fetch Saul so the growing community can be taught together for a full year. What does it mean for your identity to be shaped more by Christ than by culture, class, or background?

Cornelius, a Roman centurion who fears God, receives a vision instructing him to send for Peter. Peter, meanwhile, sees a vision of unclean animals and hears a voice telling him not to call anything impure that God has made. When Peter arrives at Cornelius's house, he declares that God shows no favoritism, and while he is still speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles present, astonishing the Jewish believers. Peter then orders that they be baptized, welcoming this Gentile household fully into the faith. Where in your own life might you be drawing lines between "us" and "them" that God is asking you to erase?

Barnabas vouches for the newly converted Saul, and the wary Jerusalem believers receive him before sending him off to years of quiet waiting in Tarsus. The church enjoys peace and grows, and Peter travels on to Lydda, where he speaks healing over the paralyzed Aeneas, then to Joppa, where he calls Tabitha back to life. In both accounts, the breakthrough moment sits atop groundwork already laid before anyone arrived on the scene. Where might God already be at work in a season of your life that feels more like waiting than progress?

Saul storms toward Damascus breathing threats against believers, when a blinding light drops him to the ground and a voice asks why he is causing harm. Trembling and now blind, he is led by the hand into the city, where he waits three days without sight or food. Ananias, though afraid, obeys a call to visit Saul, lays hands on him, and watches scales fall from his eyes as his sight is restored. Saul is baptized, regains his strength, and soon preaches in the same synagogues he once threatened, escaping the city by night when his former allies turn against him. Is there anyone in your life who you have written off as unreachable?