I wrote my first volume, Theophilus, about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning

And once while He was eating with them, He charged them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. "You have heard me speak of it," He said,

but you are going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you must be witnesses for me in Jerusalem and all over Judea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth."

Then Peter stood with the Eleven around him, and raising his voice he addressed them, "Men of Judea and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you, and give close attention to my words.

'It will occur in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will have visions. Your old men will have dreams.

Even on my slaves, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will become prophets.

For David says of Him: 'I always kept my eyes upon the Lord, for He is at my right hand, so that I may not be removed.

So my heart is glad and my tongue exults, and my body still lives in hope.

For you will not forsake my soul to Hades. Nor will you let your Holy One experience decay.

You have made known to me the ways of life, and you will fill me with delight in your presence.'

"Brothers, I may confidently say to you about the patriarch David, that he died and was buried, and that his grave is here among us to this very day.

For David did not go up to heaven, but he himself says: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,

Peter said to them, "You must repent -- and, as an expression of it, let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ -- that you may have your sins forgiven; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,

for the promise belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those who are far away whom the Lord our God may call to Him."

So now repent and turn to Him, to have your sins wiped out, that times of revival may come from the presence of the Lord,

and He may send back Jesus, the Christ who long ago was appointed for you.

Moses, indeed, said: 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, as He did me. You must attentively listen to everything that He tells you.

Peter said to her, "Tell me, did you sell the land for such and such a sum?" She answered, "Yes, that is it."

but if it has its origin in God, you can never stop it. It is to be feared that you may find yourselves fighting God."

and said to him, 'Leave your country and your kinsmen and come to Whatever country I may show you.'

But God further promised: 'I will pass sentence on the nation that enslaves them, and after that they will leave that country and worship me on this very spot.'

Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?'

Because I have seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and heard their groans, I have come down to deliver them. So come! I will send you back to Egypt as my messenger.'

It was this Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among you, just as He did me.'

So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the starry host, as it is written in the Book of the Prophets: 'Did you really offer me victims and sacrifices those forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?

No, you offered me the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rompha, the images you had made to worship! So I will now remove you beyond Babylon.'

'"Heaven is my throne, and earth a footstool for my feet. What house can you build for me?" says the Lord; "Or what place is there in which I can rest?

Was it not my hand that made them all?"'

They continued stoning Stephen as he continued praying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

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

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, to see if this thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

So Simon answered, "Both of you beg the Lord for me that none of the things you have said may befall me!"

He answered, "How in the world could I, unless someone teaches me?" And he begged him to get up and sit with him.

"Tell me, I pray, of whom is the prophet speaking," asked the official of Philip, "of himself or of someone else?"

As they continued down the road, they came to some water, and the official said, "Look! here is some water! What is there to keep me from being baptized?"

He dropped to the ground; then he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name to the heathen and their kings, and to the descendants of Israel.

For I am going to show him how great are the sufferings he must endure for my name's sake."

So Ananias left and went to that house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said, "Saul, my. brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road on which you were coming here, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

and he said to him, "You know that it is against the law for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit one, but God has taught me not to call any man vulgar or ceremonially unclean;

Then Cornelius said, "Four days ago, about this hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, I was praying in my house, and all at once a man in dazzling clothing stood before me,

"I was praying in the town of Joppa, and while I was praying I fell in a trance and had a vision. I saw something like a great sheet coming down out of the sky, lowered by the four comers; and it came right down to me.

And I heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter, kill something and eat it!'

But I answered, 'Never by any means, sir, for nothing common or not ceremonially cleansed has ever passed my lips.'

Just at that moment three men, who had been sent from Caesarea for me, stopped at the house where we were staying.

And the Spirit told me to go with them without any hesitation at all. These six brothers, too, went with me, and we all went into the man's house.

Then the angel said to him, "Tighten your belt and put on your shoes? He did so. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your coat and follow me!"

Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I really know that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the power of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting to do to me."

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them."

After the reading of the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue worship sent to them and said, "Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you may speak."

Then He deposed him and raised up for them David to be king, to whom He bore this testimony, 'I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all that my will requires.'

As John was closing his career, he said, 'What do you take me to be? I am not the Christ; no, but He is coming after me, and I am not fit to untie the shoes on His feet.'

that God has fulfilled it to us their children, by raising Jesus to life, just as the Scripture says in the Second Psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have become your Father.'

So, my brothers, you must understand that through Him the forgiveness of your sins is now proclaimed to you,

'Look, you scoffers! Then wonder and vanish away, for I am doing a work in your times which you will not at all believe though one may tell you in detail.'"

and shouted, "Men, why are you doing this? We are merely men with natures like your own, who are telling you the good news, so that you may turn from these foolish things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and all that they contain.

After a lengthy discussion Peter got up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose among you that through me the heathen should hear the message of the good news and believe it.

When they finished, James responded as follows: "Brothers, listen to me.

So that the rest of mankind may earnestly seek the Lord, Yes, all the heathen who are called by my name, says the Lord,

So I give it as my opinion, we ought not to put difficulties in the way of the heathen who turn to God,

When she and her household were baptized, she begged us by continuing to say, "If you have made up your mind that I am a real believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she continued to insist that we do so.

The jailer reported this message to Paul, saying, "The chiefs of the police court have sent orders to let you go. So now you may come out and go in peace."

So they took him and brought him to the city auditorium and said, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

to serve the Lord with all humility and in tears, through the trials that befell me because of the plots of the Jews.

And I am here now on my way to Jerusalem, because I am impelled by the Spirit to do so, though I am not aware what will befall me there,

except that in town after town the Holy Spirit emphatically assures me that imprisonment and sufferings are awaiting me.

But now I count as nothing the sacrifice of my life, if only I can finish my race and render the service entrusted to me by the Lord Jesus, of faithfully telling the good news of God's favor.

And now I know that none of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will ever see my face again.

You know yourselves that these hands of mine provided for my own needs and for my companions.

Then Paul answered, "What do you mean by crying and breaking my heart? Why, I am ready not only to be bound at Jerusalem but to die there for the sake of the Lord Jesus."

As he was about to be taken into the barracks, Paul said to the colonel, "May I say something to you?" The colonel asked, "Do you know Greek?

Paul answered, "I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. Please let me speak to the people."

"Brothers and fathers, listen now to what I have to say in my defense."

as the high priest and the whole council will bear me witness. Indeed, I had received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on the way there to bind those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.

But on my way, just before I reached Damascus, suddenly about noon a blaze of light from heaven flashed around me,

and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?'

I answered, 'Who are you, Sir?' He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.'

The men who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of Him who was speaking to me.

Since I could not see because of the dazzling sheen of that light, I was led by the hand by my companions and in this way I reached Damascus.

came to see me, and standing by my side said to me, 'Saul, my brother, recover your sight!' Then instantly I did recover it and looked at him,

and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and at once get out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

Then He said to me, 'Go, because I am to send you out and far away among the heathen.'"

So the colonel came to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" He answered, "Yes."

Paul fixed his eyes upon the council and said, "Brothers, with a clear conscience I have done my duty to God up to this very day."

Then Paul said to him, "You white-washed wall, God will strike you! Do you sit as a judge to try me in accordance with the law and yet in violation of the law you order them to strike me?"

But that same night the Lord stood by Paul's side and said, "Courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must testify for me in Rome, too."

So he took him and brought him to the colonel and said, "The prisoner Paul called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."

So the colonel took him by the arm, stepped to one side so as to be alone, and asked him, "What is it you have to tell me?"

Because a plot against the man has been reported to me as brewing, I at once am sending him on to you and have directed his accusers to present their charge against him before you."

At the governor's signal to Paul, he answered: "Since I know that you for many years have acted as judge for this nation, I cheerfully make my defense,

and they have never found me debating with anybody in the temple nor making a disturbance in the synagogues or about the city,

and they cannot prove the charges they have just made against me.

But I certainly admit this as a fact that in accordance with The Way -- that they call heresy -- I continue to worship the God of my forefathers, and I still believe in everything taught in the law and written in the prophets,

After several years' absence I came to bring contributions of charity for my nation, and to offer sacrifices.

While I was performing these duties they found me just as I had completed the rites of my purification in the temple; however, there was no crowd with me and no disturbance at all.

But there were some Jews from Asia who ought to be here before you and to present their charges, if they have any, against me.

Or let these men themselves tell what wrong they found in me when I appeared before the council --

But as he continued to talk about uprightness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became alarmed, and said, "For the present you may go, but when I find a good opportunity, I will send for you."

"So have your influential men go down with me," said he, "and present charges against the man, if there is anything wrong with him."

Then Festus, as he wanted to ingratiate himself with the Jews, said to Paul, "Will you go up to Jerusalem and be tried on these charges before me there?"