⁷ So God’s message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.

²⁰ So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.

²⁴ Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread, and there were many new believers.

⁶ This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

⁵ Through Christ, God has given us the privilege^[a] and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.

⁸ It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

⁹ In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.

⁹ And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained.

²⁶ But now as the prophets^[a] foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, so that they too might believe and obey him.

²⁰ After hearing this, they praised God. And then they said, “You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they all follow the law of Moses very seriously.