after giving instruction through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up to Heaven.

He had also, after He suffered, shown Himself alive to them with many sure proofs, appearing to them at intervals during forty days, and speaking of the Kingdom of God.

When He had said this, and while they were looking at Him, He was carried up, and a cloud closing beneath Him hid Him from their sight.

At length, on the day of the Harvest Festival, they had all met in one place;

Being a Prophet, however, and knowing that God had solemnly sworn to him to seat a descendant of his upon his throne,

And all the believers kept together, and had everything in common.

some men were carrying there one who had been lame from birth, whom they were wont to place every day close to the Beautiful Gate (as it was called)

and recognizing him as the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple asking for alms, they were filled with awe and amazement at what had happened to him.

Peter, seeing this, spoke to the people. "Israelites," he said, "why do you wonder at this man? Or why gaze at us, as though by any power or piety of our own we had enabled him to walk?

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has conferred this honour on His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to let Him go.

But many of those who had listened to their preaching believed; and the number of the adult men had now grown to be about 5,000.

And seeing the man standing with them--the man who had been cured--they had no reply to make.

The Court added further threats and then let them go, being quite unable to find any way of punishing them on account of the people, because all gave God the glory for the thing that had happened.

For the man was over forty years of age on whom this miracle of restoration to health had been performed.

After their release the two Apostles went to their friends, and told them all that the High Priests and Elders had said.

to do all that Thy power and Thy will had predetermined should be done.

When they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were, one and all, filled with the Holy Spirit, and proceeded to tell God's Message with boldness.

Among all those who had embraced the faith there was but one heart and soul, so that none of them claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything they had was common property;

sold a farm which he had, and brought the money and gave it to the Apostles.

About three hours had passed, when his wife came in, knowing nothing of what had happened.

Having received that command they went into the Temple, just before daybreak, and began to teach: So when the High Priest and his party came, and had called together the Sanhedrin as well as all the Elders of the descendants of Israel, they sent to the jail to fetch the Apostles.

They, therefore, left the Sanhedrin and went their way, rejoicing that they had been deemed worthy to suffer disgrace on behalf of the NAME.

When, however, Jacob heard that there was wheat to be had, he sent our forefathers into Egypt; that was the first time.

and they were taken to Shechem and were laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a sum of money paid in silver.

"But as the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people became many times more numerous in Egypt,

"Moreover they made a calf at that time, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and kept rejoicing in the gods which their own hands had made.

"Our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony in the Desert, built as He who spoke to Moses had instructed him to make it in imitation of the model which he had seen.

Now for some time past there had been a man named Simon living there, who had been practising magic and astonishing the Samaritans, pretending that he was more than human.

When the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had accepted God's Message, they sent Peter and John to visit them.

for He had not as yet fallen upon any of them. They had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

Upon this he rose and went. Now, as it happened, an Ethiopian eunuch who was in a position of high authority with Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, as her treasurer, had visited Jerusalem to worship there,

But no sooner had they come up out of the water than the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again. With a glad heart he resumed his journey;

Then he rose from the ground, but when he had opened his eyes, he could not see, and they led him by the arm and brought him to Damascus.

Barnabas, however, came to his assistance. He brought Saul to the Apostles, and related to them how, on his journey, he had seen the Lord, and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had fearlessly taught in the name of Jesus.

and speaking fearlessly in the name of the Lord. And he often talked with the Hellenists and had discussions with them.

The Church, however, throughout the whole of Judaea, Galilee and Samaria, had peace and was spiritually built up; and grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord and receiving encouragement from the Holy Spirit.

There he found a man of the name of Aeneas, who for eight years had kept his bed, through being paralysed.

Lud, however, being near Jaffa, the disciples, who had heard that Peter was at Lud, sent two men to him with an urgent request that he would come across to them without delay.

About three o'clock one afternoon he had a vision, and distinctly saw an angel of God enter his house, who called him by name, saying, "Cornelius!"

So when the angel who had been speaking to him was gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a God-fearing soldier who was in constant attendance on him,

He had become unusually hungry and wished for food; but, while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.

The sky had opened to his view, and what seemed to be an enormous sail was descending, being let down to the earth by ropes at the four corners.

While Peter was greatly perplexed as to the meaning of the vision which he had seen, just then the men sent by Cornelius, having by inquiry found out Simon's house,

had come to the door and had called the servant, and were asking, "Is Simon, surnamed Peter, staying here?"

and the day after that they reached Caesarea. There Cornelius was awaiting their arrival, and had invited all his relatives and intimate friends to be present.

And all the Jewish believers who had come with Peter were astonished that on the Gentiles also the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.

Now the Apostles, and the brethren in various parts of Judaea, heard that the Gentiles also had received God's Message;

Then he described to us how he had seen the angel come and enter his house and say, "'Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon, surnamed Peter.

"And," said Peter, "no sooner had I begun to speak than the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He fell upon us at the first.

Those, however, who had been driven in various directions by the persecution which broke out on account of Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, delivering the Message to none but Jews.

On getting there he was delighted to see the grace which God had bestowed; and he encouraged them all to remain, with fixed resolve, faithful to the Lord.

He had him arrested and lodged in jail, handing him over to the care of sixteen soldiers; and intended after the Passover to bring him out again to the people.

But he motioned with his hand for silence, and then described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. "Tell all this to James and the brethren," he added. Then he left them, and went to another place.

And when Herod had had him searched for and could not find him, after sharply questioning the guards he ordered them away to execution. He then went down from Judaea to Caesarea and remained there.

Now the people of Tyre and Sidon had incurred Herod's violent displeasure. So they sent a large deputation to wait on him; and having secured the good will of Blastus, his treasurer, they begged the king to be friendly with them again, because their country was dependent on his for its food supply.

Instantly an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the glory to God, and being eaten up by worms, he died.

Having reached Salamis, they began to announce God's Message in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John as their assistant.

When they had gone through the whole length of the island as far as Paphos, they there met with a Jewish magician and false prophet, Bar-Jesus by name,

Then the Proconsul, seeing what had happened, believed, being struck with amazement at the teaching of the Lord.

Before the coming of Jesus, John had proclaimed to all the people of Israel a baptism of repentance.

and when they had carried out everything which had been written about Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb.

And, after a few days, He appeared to the people who had gone up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem and are now witnesses concerning Him to the Jews.

And, when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout converts from heathenism continued with Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to hold fast to the grace of God.

But the Jews who had refused obedience stirred up the Gentiles and embittered their minds against the brethren.

Now a man who had no power in his feet used to sit in the streets of Lystra. He had been lame from his birth and had never walked.

After this man had listened to one of Paul's sermons, the Apostle, looking steadily at him and perceiving that he had faith to be cured,

So he sprang up and began to walk about. Then the crowds, seeing what Paul had done, rent the air with their shouts in the Lycaonian language, saying, "The gods have assumed human form and have come down to us."

Even with words like these they had difficulty in preventing the thronging crowd from offering sacrifices to them.

When, however, the disciples had collected round him, he rose and went back into the town. The next day he went with Barnabas to Derbe;

Thence they sailed to Antioch, where they had previously been commended to the grace of God in connexion with the work which they had now completed.

Upon their arrival they called the Church together and proceeded to report in detail all that God, working with them, had done, and how He had opened for the Gentiles the door of faith.

But certain persons who had come down from Judaea tried to convince the brethren, saying, "Unless you are circumcised in accordance with the Mosaic custom, you cannot be saved."

Upon their arrival in Jerusalem they were cordially received by the Church, the Apostles, and the Elders; and they reported in detail all that God, working with them, had done.

But certain men who had belonged to the sect of the Pharisees but were now believers, stood up in the assembly, and said, "Yes, Gentile believers ought to be circumcised and be ordered to keep the Law of Moses."

and after there had been a long discussion Peter rose to his feet. "It is within your own knowledge," he said, "that God originally made choice among you that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the Message of the Good News, and believe.

Then the whole assembly remained silent while they listened to the statement made by Paul and Barnabas as to all the signs and marvels that God had done among the Gentiles through their instrumentality.

When they had finished speaking, James said, "Brethren, listen to me.

For Moses from the earliest times has had his preachers in every town, being read, as he is, Sabbath after Sabbath, in the various synagogues."

After spending some time there they received an affectionate farewell from the brethren to return to those who had sent them.

while Paul deemed it undesirable to have as their companion one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. At Lystra he found a disciple, Timothy by name--the son of a Christian Jewess, though he had a Greek father.

As they journeyed on from town to town, they handed to the brethren for their observance the decisions which had been arrived at by the Apostles and Elders in Jerusalem.

So when he had seen the vision, we immediately looked out for an opportunity of passing on into Macedonia, confidently inferring that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to the people there.

On the Sabbath we went beyond the city gate to the riverside, where we had reason to believe that there was a place for prayer; and sitting down we talked with the women who had come together.

When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgement I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she made us go there.

Starting up from sleep and seeing the doors of the jail wide open, the jailer drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

which he clearly explained, pointing out that it had been necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, and insisting, "The Jesus whom I am announcing to you is the Christ."

As soon, however, as the Jews of Thessalonica learnt that God's Message had been proclaimed by Paul at Beroea, they came there also, and incited the mob to a riot.

So he had discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the other worshippers, and in the market place, day after day, with those whom he happened to meet.

A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him. Some of them asked, "What has this beggarly babbler to say?" "His business," said others, "seems to be to cry up some foreign gods." This was because he had been telling the Good News of Jesus and the Resurrection.

Here he found a Jew, a native of Pontus, of the name of Aquila. He and his wife Priscilla had recently come from Italy because of Claudius's edict expelling all the Jews from Rome. So Paul paid them a visit;

But, when Paul was about to begin his defence, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it had been some wrongful act or piece of cunning knavery I might reasonably have listened to you Jews.

After remaining a considerable time longer in Corinth, Paul took leave of the brethren and set sail for Syria; and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had shaved his head at Cenchreae, because he was bound by a vow.

They put in at Ephesus, and there Paul left his companions behind. As for himself, he went to the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews.

He had been instructed by word of mouth in the way of the Lord, and, being full of burning zeal, he used to speak and teach accurately the facts about Jesus, though he knew of no baptism but John's.

Then, as he had made up his mind to cross over into Greece, the brethren wrote to the disciples in Corinth begging them to give him a kindly welcome. Upon his arrival he rendered valuable help to those who through grace had believed;

Towels or aprons, for instance, which Paul had handled used to be carried to the sick, and they recovered from their ailments, or the evil spirits left them.

But there were also some wandering Jewish exorcists who undertook to invoke the name of Jesus over those who had the evil spirits, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches."

Many also of those who believed came confessing without reserve what their conduct had been,

and not a few of those who had practised magical arts brought their books together and burnt them in the presence of all. The total value was reckoned and found to be 50,000 silver coins.