Acts 8:14Plain English VersionBut at that time, the Holy Spirit didn’t go into any of those Samaria people. Philip only baptised the people to show they belonged to Jesus. Then Jesus’s special workers in Jerusalem heard that the people in Samaria believed God’s word, so they sent Peter and John to Samaria. After they got there, they put their hands on the people that believed in Jesus, and prayed for them. Then the Holy Spirit came into those people. See the chapter |
After that, Paul and the men with him got to Jerusalem, and the Christians there were happy to see them. Jesus’s special workers, and all the church leaders there, told them, “We are happy you came.” Then Paul and Barnabas, and the other men with them, told the Christians in Jerusalem everything that God helped them do.
And Saul agreed with that Jewish council mob. He reckoned it was all right for them to kill Stephen. After that, some good men got Stephen’s body and buried it, and they cried a lot for him. But Saul and his friends started making a lot of trouble for the Christians in Jerusalem. They went into the houses of Christians and dragged out the men and women, and locked them up in jail. Saul and his men were trying to finish up the Christian people. So a lot of those Christians ran away from Jerusalem to Judea country, and to Samaria country. But Jesus’s 12 special workers stayed in Jerusalem.
The 3 very important leaders in Jerusalem were James, Peter and John. They heard how much God helped Barnabas and me in our work, and they understood that God gave me this special job. Then they were happy with us, and they shook hands with us to show that they are our friends. They agreed that we had to go to people that are not Jews, and they themselves had to go to the Jewish people.
And we always thank God for the way you listened to us. We told you God’s message, and you knew that it wasn’t only a message from people. You believed that we told you words from God, and that it was God’s message. And you were right. It is God’s word. And now that you believe that word, it helps you grow strong for him.
He will trick those people. They will think, “He is doing powerful things, so he is right,” but he will really be doing very bad things with Satan’s power. You know, there are some people that don’t like the true message about Jesus. They don’t believe it. Those people will not let God save them. They are the people that this really bad man will trick. So in the end, God will finish up those people.