But you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Now a man who had been crippled from birth was being carried in. Every day people would lay him at what was called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from those who were going into the Temple.

However, Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but I'll give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth, walk!"

and lay it at the apostles' feet. Then it was distributed to anyone who needed it.

Peter asked, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land?

As long as it remained unsold, wasn't it your own? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn't lie only to men, but also to God!"

But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while.

Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we'll put them in charge of this work.

Then we'll devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

They had false witnesses stand up and say, "This man never stops saying things against this Holy Place and against the Law.

"The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. God told him, "Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land I'll show you.'

I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, I've heard their groans, and I've come down to rescue them. Now come, I'll send you to Egypt.'

You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven't obeyed it!"

and said, "Give me this power too, so that when I lay my hands on someone, he will receive the Holy Spirit."

He has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so he would see again."

and said, "You're full of every form of deception and trickery, you son of the Devil, you enemy of all that is right! You'll never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord, will you?

The Lord is against you now, and you'll be blind and unable to see the sun for a while!" At that moment a dark mist came over him, and he went around looking for someone to lead him by the hand.

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders asked them, "Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you may speak."

God raised him from the dead, never to experience decay, as he said, "I'll give you the holy promises made to David.'

and that everyone who believes in him is justified and freed from everything that kept you from being justified by the Law of Moses.

"Men, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings with natures like yours. We are telling you the good news so you'll turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

Then some men came down from Judea and started to teach the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the Law of Moses, you can't be saved."

But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The gentiles must be circumcised and ordered to keep the Law of Moses."

For I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you or harm you, because I have many people in this city."

They said, "This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the Law."

But since it is a question about words, names, and your own Law, you will have to take care of that yourselves. I refuse to be a judge in these matters."

When they heard about it, they praised God and told him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are zealous for the Law.

But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs.

Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law.

yelling, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place."

"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today.

"A certain Ananias, who was a devout man with respect to the Law and who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there,

"Then he told me, "Go, because I'll send you far away to the gentiles.'"

At this Paul told him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! How can you sit there and judge me according to the Law, and yet in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"

Now then, you and the Council must notify the tribune to bring him down to you on the pretext that you want to look into his case more carefully, but before he arrives we'll be ready to kill him."

I found that, although he was charged with questions about their Law, there was no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment.

However, I admit to you that in accordance with the Way, which they call a heresy, I worship the God of our ancestors and believe in everything written in the Law and the Prophets.

Felix was rather well informed about the Way, and so he adjourned the trial with the comment, "When Tribune Lysias arrives, I'll decide your case."

Paul said in his defense, "I have done nothing wrong against the Law of the Jews, or of the Temple, or of the emperor."

"The Lord answered, "I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet, because I've appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you to be my servant and witness of what you've seen and of what I'll show you.

I'll continue to rescue you from your people and from the gentiles to whom I'm sending you.

Meanwhile, the sailors had begun trying to escape from the ship. They lowered the lifeboat into the sea and pretended that they were going to lay out the anchors from the bow.

From morning until evening, he continued to explain the kingdom of God to them, trying to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others wouldn't believe.