Acts

Waiting

The ascension, the instruction to stay in the city, and the upper room — with the women named among those praying. Then lots cast to replace Judas.

Pentecost

Each hearing in his own language, and a list of fifteen nations. Peter quoting Joel about sons and daughters, old and young, male and female servants — and three thousand added, holding everything in common.

The Man at the Beautiful Gate

Silver and gold I don’t have, but what I have, I give you. A man lame from birth walking and leaping into the temple courts — and a sermon preached on the strength of it.

Before the Council

Peter and John arrested for teaching, and the authorities noting they were unschooled and ordinary men. The prayer afterward asks not for safety but for boldness.

Ananias and Sapphira

A gift misrepresented, and two deaths. Then the apostles arrested, released overnight, and Gamaliel’s advice to leave them alone and see whether it comes to nothing.

Seven Chosen

The Greek-speaking widows being overlooked in the daily distribution — and a structural fix rather than an apology. Stephen among the seven.

Stephen

The longest speech in the book, retelling the whole history, and the stoning that follows — with the coats laid at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Samaria, and the Road to Gaza

The scattering spreads the message rather than stopping it. Philip and the Ethiopian court official reading Isaiah in a chariot — a foreigner and a eunuch, baptised at the first water they pass.

The Damascus Road

Saul blinded, and Ananias told to go to him — and arguing about it first. Then the basket over the wall, and the disciples in Jerusalem afraid to believe he had changed.

Cornelius

A Roman officer’s vision and Peter’s on a rooftop, three times over. Peter enters a Gentile house and says out loud that God shows no favouritism — the sentence the rest of the book turns on.

Explaining Himself

Peter called to account in Jerusalem for eating with the uncircumcised, and retelling the whole thing. Then Antioch, where they were first called Christians, and famine relief sent to Judea.

The Prison Door

James executed and Peter arrested. An angel, chains falling off, and a servant named Rhoda so glad to hear his voice that she leaves him standing at the gate.

Sent Out

Barnabas and Saul set apart at Antioch. Cyprus, then Pisidian Antioch — the synagogue sermon, and the turn to the Gentiles when it is rejected.

Mistaken for Gods

Lystra: a lame man healed, the crowd bringing oxen and garlands, and the two of them tearing their clothes to stop it. Then Paul stoned and left for dead, and getting up.

The Council

The question put plainly: must Gentiles be circumcised to belong. Peter, Barnabas, Paul and James in turn, and a letter sent that asks for very little. Then a sharp disagreement about Mark that splits the team.

Philippi

Lydia, a dealer in purple, and her household. A slave girl freed from what was making her owners money — which is what gets them arrested. Then an earthquake, and a jailer washing their wounds at midnight.

Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens

The Beroeans commended for checking the scriptures daily to see whether it was so. Then the Areopagus, the altar to an unknown god, and a Greek poet quoted back at them.

Corinth

Priscilla and Aquila, tentmakers and teachers. Eighteen months of work, a case thrown out by Gallio, and a learned speaker named Apollos taken aside and explained the way more accurately — by a married couple.

Ephesus

Two years in a lecture hall. Books of magic burned by their owners. Then a riot organised by silversmiths whose trade in shrines was falling off — and a town clerk who ends it.

Troas and Miletus

A young man who falls asleep in a window during a long sermon and falls three floors. Then the farewell to the Ephesian elders — remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Jerusalem

Warnings at every stop, and Paul going anyway. The vow at the temple, the riot, and the arrest — carried up the barracks steps by soldiers because of the violence of the crowd.

The Testimony on the Steps

He tells his own story in Aramaic, and the crowd listens until he says the word Gentiles. Then the flogging stopped by a single question about citizenship.

The Council, and the Plot

A hearing that dissolves into a doctrinal argument. Then a plot to ambush him, uncovered by his nephew — the only member of his family who appears in the book — and a night ride to Caesarea under heavy escort.

Felix

Two years in custody under a governor who hoped for a bribe and sent for him often to talk. Tertullus for the prosecution; Paul answering about righteousness, self-control and judgment to come.

Festus, and the Appeal

A new governor and the same case. Rather than be sent back to Jerusalem, Paul appeals to Caesar — a right of citizenship that decides the rest of the book.

Before Agrippa

The story told a third time, to a king. Agrippa’s reply about being persuaded so quickly, and the note that he could have been released if he had not appealed.

The Shipwreck

A voyage against his advice, fourteen nights driven before a storm, and the cargo and tackle thrown over. He tells them to eat, and every one of the two hundred and seventy-six gets ashore.

Malta, and Rome

A viper shaken off into the fire. The islanders’ unusual kindness. Then Rome — two years at his own expense, receiving everyone who came, with no one stopping him. The book ends without telling you what happened to him.