While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, two men in white robes stood right beside them.

They asked, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go up into heaven."

When they came into the city, these men went to the upstairs room where they had been staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

(Now this man bought a field with the money he got for his crime. Falling on his face, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines gushed out.

who was one of the men associated with us all the time the Lord Jesus came and went among us,

So they nominated two men Joseph called Barsabbas, who also was called Justus, and Matthias.

Then they prayed, "Lord, you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two men you have chosen

All of them continued to be stunned and puzzled, and they kept asking one another, "What can this mean?"

"Men of Judea and everyone living in Jerusalem! You must understand something, so pay close attention to my words. These men are not drunk as you suppose, for it's only nine o'clock in the morning.

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

In those days I will even pour out my Spirit on my slaves, men and women alike, and they will prophesy.

The sun will become dark, and the moon turn to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord.

"Fellow Israelis, listen to these words: Jesus from Nazareth was a man authenticated to you by God through miracles, wonders, and signs that God performed through him among you, as you yourselves know.

After he was arrested according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified this very man and killed him using the hands of lawless men.

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.

So the man watched them closely, expecting to get something from them.

they knew that he was the man who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

It is his name that is, by faith in his name that has healed this man whom you see and know. Yes, the faith that comes through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

But many of those who heard their message believed, and the men grew to number about 5,000.

If we are being questioned today for a good deed done for someone who was sick or to learn how this man was healed,

you and all the people of Israel must understand that this man stands healthy before you because of the name of Jesus from Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead.

Now when the Jewish leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and found out that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and realized that they had been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could not say anything against them.

They said, "What should we do with these men? For it's obvious to everybody living in Jerusalem that an unmistakable sign has been done by them, and we cannot deny it.

since the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than 40 years old.

since none of them needed anything, because everyone who had land or houses would sell them and bring the money received for the things sold

One man, Joseph, a descendant of Levi and a native of Cyprus, who was named Barnabas by the apostles (the name means "a son of encouragement"),

sold a field that belonged to him, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

But then a man named Ananias, with the consent of his wife Sapphira, sold some property.

With his wife's full knowledge, he kept back some of the money for himself and brought the remainder and laid it at the apostles' feet.

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!"

The young men got up, wrapped him up, carried him outside, and buried him.

"How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?" Peter asked her. "Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well."

She instantly fell down at Peter's feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband.

Nevertheless, believers were being added to the Lord in increasing numbers both men and women.

After the apostles heard this, they went into the Temple at daybreak and began to teach. The high priest and those who were with him arrived, called the Council and all the elders of Israel together, and sent word to the prison to have the men brought in.

Then someone came and told them, "Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the people!"

So the commander of the Temple guards went with his men to bring them back without force, because they were afraid of being stoned to death by the people.

He said, "We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name, didn't we? Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to bring this man's blood on us!"

But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men!

God has exalted to his right hand this very man as our Leader and Savior in order to extend repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

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.

Then he told them, "Fellow Israelis, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men.

For in the recent past Theudas appeared, claiming that he was important, and about 400 men joined him. He was killed, and all his followers were dispersed and disappeared.

After that man, at the time of the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and got people to follow him. He, too, died, and all his followers were scattered.

"I'm telling you to keep away from these men for now. Leave them alone, because if this plan or movement is of human origin, it will fail.

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.

This suggestion pleased the whole group. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch.

They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

But some men who belonged to the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), as well as some Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and began to debate with Stephen.

So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."

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

So Moses learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man, both in words and in deeds.

When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him and avenged the man who was being mistreated by killing the Egyptian.

The next day, he presented himself to some of them while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them. He said, "Men, you are brothers. Why should you be hurting another?'

"But the man who was harming his neighbor pushed Moses away and said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us?

"This same Moses whom they rejected by saying, "Who made you ruler and judge?' was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer with the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

He said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

ran him outside of the city, and began to stone him to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Devout men buried Stephen as they mourned loudly for him.

But Saul kept trying to destroy the church. Going into one house after another, he began dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.

Now in that city there was a man named Simon. He was practicing occult arts and thrilling the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.

But when Philip proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and about the name of Jesus the Messiah, men and women believed and were baptized.

Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money

But Peter told him, "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God's free gift with money!

The man replied, "How can I unless someone guides me?" So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.

He asked him for letters to take with him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the men who were traveling with Saul were standing speechless, for they heard the voice but didn't see anyone.

The Lord told him, "Get up, go to the street called Straight, and in the home of Judas look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. At this very moment he's praying.

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

But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell how much evil this man has done to your saints in Jerusalem.

Everyone who heard him was astonished and said, "This is the man who harassed those who were calling on Jesus' name in Jerusalem, isn't it? Didn't he come here to bring them in chains to the high priests?"

But Saul grew more and more persuasive, and continued to confound the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this man was the Messiah.

There he found a man named Aeneas who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years.

Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him and begged him, "Come here quickly!"

Now in Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.

He was a devout man who feared God, as did everyone in his home. He gave many gifts to the poor among the people and always prayed to God.

The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have arisen as a reminder to God. Send men now to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter.

While Peter was still at a loss to know what the vision he had seen could mean, the men sent by Cornelius asked for Simon's house and went to the gate.

Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Spirit told him, "Look! Three men are looking for you.

So Peter went to the men and said, "I'm the man you're looking for. Why are you here?"

The men replied, "Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say."

But Peter made him get up, saying, "Stand up! I, too, am only a man."

Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this very hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my home. All at once a man in radiant clothes stood in front of me

He has sent his word to the descendants of Israel and brought them the good news of peace through Jesus the Messiah. This man is the Lord of everyone.

They said, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

"At that very moment three men arrived at the house where we were staying. They had been sent to me from Caesarea.

The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitating. These six brothers went with me, too, and we entered the house of the man from Caesarea.

But among them were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began proclaiming the Lord Jesus even to the Hellenistic Jews.

because he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And so a large number of people was brought to the Lord.

The people kept shouting, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man!"

He was associated with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. He sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.

Then Paul and his men set sail from Paphos and arrived in Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them and went back to Jerusalem.

"Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen! The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made them a great people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with a public display of power he led them out of there.

Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, "I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.'

It was from this man's descendants that God, as he promised, brought to Israel a Savior, who is Jesus.

However, the man whom God raised did not experience decay.

Now in Lystra there was a man sitting down who couldn't use his feet. He had been crippled from birth and had never walked.

he said in a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet!" Then the man jumped up and began to walk.