up to the day when through the Holy Spirit He gave the apostles whom He had chosen their orders, and then was taken up to heaven.

So those who were present began to ask Him, "Lord, is this the time when you are going to set up the kingdom again for Israel?"

and said to them, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This very Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in just the way you have seen Him go up into heaven."

"Brothers, that Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit uttered by the mouth of David in the former times about Judas who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus;

"So one of these men who have been associated with us all the time the Lord Jesus came and went among us,

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

And they prayed, saying, "Lord, you who know the hearts of all, show us which one of these two men you have chosen

They were perfectly astounded, and in bewilderment they continued to say, "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?

Then everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.'

I mean Jesus whom God raised from the dead, to which fact we are all witnesses,

"Therefore, let all the descendants of Israel understand beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."

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."

constantly praising God and always having the favor of all the people. And every day the Lord continued to add to them the people who were being saved.

when a man crippled from his birth was being carried by, who used to be laid every day at what was called The Beautiful Gate of the temple, to beg from people on their way into the temple.

and recognized him as the very man who used to sit at The Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg, they were completely astounded and bewildered at what occurred to him.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you yourselves betrayed and disowned before Pilate, although he had decided to set Him free.

It is His name, that is, on condition of faith in His name, that has made strong again this man whom you see and recognize -- yes, faith inspired by Him has given this man the perfect health you all see.

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

The result will be, that any person who will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.'

Yes, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel down, have also foretold these days.

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

you and all the people of Israel must know that it is by the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead -- yes, I repeat it, it is by His authority that this man stands here before you well.

and since they saw the man who had been cured standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.

for the man on whom the wonderful cure had been performed was more than forty years old.

who spoke thus through the Holy Spirit by the lips of our forefather David, your servant: 'Why did the heathen rage, and the peoples make vain designs?

"For in this city they actually met against your holy Servant Jesus, whom you had consecrated -- Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the heathen and the peoples of Israel,

Now there was but one heart and soul in the vast number of those who had become believers, and not one of them claimed that anything that he had was his own, but they shared everything that they had as common property.

Now Joseph, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, who by the apostles was named Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement,

When Ananias heard these words, he fell dead, and a strange awe seized everybody who heard it.

Peter said to her, "How could both of you agree in such a way to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door; they will carry you out, too."

So a strange awe seized the whole church and everybody who heard it.

but still a vast number of people, both men and women, who believed in the Lord, continued to join them,

But the attendants who went for them could not find them in the jail, and so came back and

We and the Holy Spirit that God has given to those who practice obedience to Him are witnesses to these things."

This suggestion was approved by the whole body, and so they selected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Procorus, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, who was a convert to Judaism.

Then they put up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops saying things against this holy place and against the law,

Then all who were seated in the council fixed their eyes upon him and saw that his face was like that of an angel.

until another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, ascended the throne.

Because he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended and avenged the man who was suffering ill-treatment by striking down the Egyptian.

But the man who was harming his brother pushed him aside, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and referee?

That very Moses whom they refused, saying, 'Who made you our ruler and referee?' was the man whom God sent to be both their ruler and deliverer, by the help of the angel who had appeared to him in the bush.

It was he who brought them out of Egypt by performing wonders and signs there and at the Red Sea -- as he did also in the desert for forty years.

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.'

This is the one who in the congregation in the desert went between the angel, who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and our forefathers, who also received, to be handed down to you, utterances that still live.

and they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods to march in front of us, for as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him!'

"In the desert our forefathers had the tent of the testimony, like the model Moses had seen, as God who spoke to him ordered him to make it.

but it was Solomon who came to build a house for Him.

Which of the prophets did your forefathers fail to persecute? They killed the prophets who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have betrayed and murdered Him,

you who received the law by order of the angels, and yet you did not obey it!"

Now those who were scattered went from place to place preaching the good news of the message.

There was a man named Simon in the city, who had kept the Samaritan people thrilled by practicing magic there and by claiming to be a great man.

So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian official, a member of the court of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, her chief treasurer, who had come to Jerusalem to worship,

Justice was denied Him in His humiliation, who can tell of His times? For His life is removed from the earth."

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

He asked, "Who are you, sir?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon your name."

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 all who heard him were astounded and said, "Is not this the man who harassed those who called upon this name in Jerusalem, and has come here expressly for the purpose of putting them in chains and taking them back to the high priests?"

But Saul grew stronger and stronger and continued to put to utter confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus, by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Now, as Peter was going here and there among them all, he finally went down to God's people who lived at Lydda.

There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years as a paralytic.

Then all the people who lived at Lydda and Sharon saw him, and so they turned to the Lord.

a religious man, too, who revered God with all his household, who was always liberal in his many deeds of charity to the people, and who had the habit of praying to God.

So now send men to Joppa and invite over a man named Simon, who is also called Peter.

After the angel who had spoken to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants, and a religious soldier who was one of his devoted attendants,

Now while Peter was still at a loss to know what the vision he had seen could mean, the men who had been sent by Cornelius had asked for the way to Simon's house and had stopped at the gate;

and they called and inquired if Simon who was called Peter was staying there.

They answered, "Cornelius, a colonel in the army, an upright man and one who reveres God, and a man of high reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to listen to a message you would bring."

So send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is called Peter, to come over. He is being entertained at the house of a tanner named Simon, by the seashore.'

but in every nation the man who reveres God and practices doing right is acceptable to Him.

how God consecrated Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and then He went about doing good and curing all who were overpowered by the devil, because God was with Him.

not by all the people but by witnesses whom God had beforehand appointed, namely, by us who ate and drank with Him after His resurrection from the dead.

He also ordered us to proclaim to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the One whom God has appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

To this very One all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him is to receive the forgiveness of sins through His name."

While Peter was still speaking these truths, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.

Then the Jewish believers who had gone along with Peter were astounded because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been showered upon the heathen too,

for having visited and eaten with men who were not Jews.

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

Then he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say to him, 'Send to Joppa and invite Simon, who is called Peter, to come over;

So if God had given them the same gift that He gave us when we believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to try -- and how could I if I tried -- to thwart God?"

But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who on reaching Antioch began to speak to the Greeks too, and proceeded to tell them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

So the disciples decided to send a contribution, each in proportion to his prosperity, to help the brothers who lived in Judea.

About that time Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, in order to do them violence.

When he became conscious of his situation, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, were a large number of people had met and were praying.

When Barnabas and Saul had finished their helpful service, they returned from Jerusalem, and took along with them John who was called Mark.

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who is called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen who was an intimate friend of the governor, and Saul.

He was an intimate friend of the governor, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The governor sent for Barnabas and Saul and in this way tried to hear God's message.

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, because he was full of the Holy Spirit, looked him straight in the eye

Then Paul got up and motioned with his hand and said: "Fellow Israelites, and you who reverence God, listen!

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.'

Brothers, descendants of the race of Abraham, and all among you who reverence God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

and for many days He appeared to those who had come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now witnesses for Him to the people.

but He whom God raised to life did not experience it.

and that through union with Him every one of you who believes is given right standing with God and freed from every charge from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

The heathen kept on listening and rejoicing and giving the glory to God's message, and all who had been destined to eternal life believed,

But the Jews who refused to accept their message aroused and exasperated the minds of the heathen against the brothers.

In spite of this, however, they stayed there a considerable time and continued to speak with courage from the Lord, who continued to bear testimony to His gracious message and kept on granting signs and wonders to be done by them.

Now in the streets of Lystra a man used to sit who had no strength in his feet, who had been crippled from his birth, and had never walked.

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.

They helped them select elders in each church, and after praying and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.