Acts 11:11-22

And right then the three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. The Spirit told me to go with them without the slightest hesitation. So these six brothers also went with me and we went to the man’s house. And Cornelius told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, ‘Send word to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; he will bring a message to you by which you will be saved [and granted eternal life], you and all your household.’ When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as He did on us at the beginning [at Pentecost]. [Acts 2:1-4] Then 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.’ So, if God gave Gentiles the same gift [equally] as He gave us after we accepted and believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ [as Savior], who was I to interfere or stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified and praised God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance that leads to eternal life [that is, real life after earthly death].” So then [since they were unaware of these developments] those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with [the stoning of] Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, without telling the message [of salvation through Christ] to anyone except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming [to them] the good news about the Lord Jesus. And the hand (the power and presence) of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord [for salvation, accepting and drawing near to Jesus as Messiah and Savior]. The news of this reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.