"Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God: trust in me also.

By this is God glorified--by your bearing abundant fruit and thus being true disciples of mine.

You will be excluded from the synagogues; nay more, the time is coming when any one who has murdered one of you will suppose he is offering service to God.

Now we know that you have all knowledge, and do not need to be pressed with questions. Through this we believe that you came from God."

And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.

Simon Peter, however, having a sword, drew it, and, aiming at the High Priest's servant, cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.

One of the High Priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"

"We," replied the Jews, "have a Law, and in accordance with that Law he ought to die, for having claimed to be the Son of God."

"Do not cling to me," said Jesus, "for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But take this message to my brethren: 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

"My Lord and my God!" replied Thomas.

But these have been recorded in order that you may believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, through believing, you may have Life through His name.

This He said to indicate the kind of death by which that disciple would bring glory to God; and after speaking thus He said to him, "Follow me."

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.

Yet we all alike hear these Galilaeans speaking in our own language about the wonderful things which God has done."

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, God says, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall have dreams;

"Listen, Israelites, to what I say. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man accredited to you from God by miracles and marvels and signs which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know, Him--

delivered up through God's settled purpose and foreknowledge--you by the hands of Gentiles have nailed to a cross and have put to death.

But God has raised Him to life, having terminated the throes of death, for in fact it was not possible for Him to be held fast by death.

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

This Jesus, God has raised to life-- a fact to which all of us testify.

"Being therefore lifted high by the mighty hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out this which you see and hear.

"Therefore let the whole House of Israel know beyond all doubt that God has made Him both LORD and CHRIST--this Jesus whom you crucified."

For to you belongs the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, whoever the Lord our God may call."

praising God and being regarded with favour by all the people. Also, day by day, the Lord added to their number those whom He was saving.

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)

Leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk, and went into the Temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God.

All the people saw him walking and praising God;

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.

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.

The Prince of Life you put to death; but God has raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses as to that.

But in this way God has fulfilled the declarations He made through all the Prophets, that His Christ would suffer.

Heaven must receive Him until those times of which God has spoken from the earliest ages through the lips of His holy Prophets--the times of the reconstitution of all things.

Moses declared, "'The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brethren as He has raised me. In all that He says to you, you must listen to Him.

"You are the heirs of the Prophets, and of the Covenant which God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham, 'And through your posterity all the families of the world shall be blessed.'

It is to you first that God, after raising His Servant from the grave, has sent Him to bless you, by causing every one of you to turn from your wickedness."

be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that through the name of Jesus the Anointed, the Nazarene, whom *you* crucified, but whom *God* has raised from among the dead-- through that name this man stands here before you in perfect health.

But Peter and John replied, "Judge whether it is right in God's sight to listen to you instead of listening to God.

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.

And they, upon hearing the story, all lifted up their voices to God and said, "O Sovereign Lord, it is Thou who didst make Heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them,

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.

While it remained unsold, was not the land your own? And when sold, was it not at your own disposal? How is it that you have cherished this design in your heart? It is not to men you have told this lie, but to God."

Peter and the other Apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than man.

The God of our forefathers has raised Jesus to life, whom you crucified and put to death.

God has exalted Him to His right hand as Chief Leader and as Saviour, to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.

And we--and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him--are witnesses as to these things."

But if it is really from God, you will be powerless to put them down--lest perhaps you find yourselves to be actually fighting against God."

But they did not desist from teaching every day, in the Temple or in private houses, and telling the Good News about Jesus, the Christ.

So the Twelve called together the general body of the disciples and said, "It does not seem fitting that we Apostles should neglect the delivery of God's Message and minister at tables.

Therefore, brethren, pick out from among yourselves seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, and we will appoint them to undertake this duty.

Meanwhile God's Message continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem very greatly increased, and very many priests obeyed the faith.

Then they privately put forward men who declared, "We have heard him speak blasphemous things against Moses and against God."

The reply of Stephen was, "Sirs--brethren and fathers--listen to me. God Most Glorious appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

"Thereupon he left Chaldaea and settled in Haran till after the death of his father, when God caused him to remove into this country where you now live.

And God declared that Abraham's posterity should for four hundred years make their home in a country not their own, and be reduced to slavery and be oppressed.

"'And the nation, whichever it is, that enslaves them, I will judge,' said God; 'and afterwards they shall come out, and they shall worship Me in this place.'

"The Patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him

"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,

He supposed his brethren to be aware that by him God was sending them deliverance; this, however, they did not understand.

"'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.' "Quaking with fear Moses did not dare gaze.

"The Moses whom they rejected, asking him, 'Who appointed you magistrate and judge?' --that same Moses we find God sending as a magistrate and a deliverer by the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

This is the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, "'God will raise up a Prophet for you, from among your brethren, just as He raised me up.'

So God turned from them and gave them up to the worship of the Host of Heaven, as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, "'Were they victims and sacrifices which you offered Me, forty years in the Desert, O House of Israel?

Yes, you lifted up Moloch's tent and the Star of the God Rephan--the images which you made in order to worship them; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'

That Tent was bequeathed to the next generation of our forefathers. Under Joshua they brought it with them when they were taking possession of the land of the Gentile nations, whom God drove out before them. So it continued till David's time.

David obtained favour with God, and asked leave to provide a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob.

But, full of the Holy Spirit and looking up to Heaven, Stephen saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand.

"I can see Heaven wide open," he said, "and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand."

Those, however, who were scattered abroad went from place to place spreading the Good News of God's Message;

To him people of all classes paid attention, declaring, "This man is the Power of God, known as the great Power."

But when Philip began to tell the Good News about the Kingdom of God and about the Name of Jesus Christ, and they embraced the faith, they were baptized, men and women alike.

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

"Perish your money and yourself," replied Peter, "because you have imagined that you can obtain God's free gift with money!

No part or lot have you in this matter, for your heart is not right in God's sight.

So the Apostles, after giving a solemn charge and delivering the Lord's Message, travelled back to Jerusalem, making known the Good News also in many of the Samaritan villages.

Then Philip began to speak, and, commencing with that same portion of Scripture, told him the Good News about Jesus.

but Philip found himself at Ashdod. Then visiting town after town he everywhere made known the Good News until he reached Caesarea.

And in the synagogues he began at once to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God;

Now Peter, as he went to town after town, came down also to God's people at Lud.

Among the disciples at Jaffa was a woman called Tabitha, or, as the name may be translated, 'Dorcas.' Her life was wholly devoted to the good and charitable actions which she was constantly doing.

Then, giving her his hand, he raised her to her feet and, calling to him God's people and the widows, he gave her back to them alive.

He was religious and God-fearing--and so was every member of his household. He was also liberal in his charities to the people, and continually offered prayer to God.

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!"

Looking steadily at him, and being much alarmed, he said, "What do you want, Sir?" "Your prayers and charities," he replied, "have gone up and have been recorded before God.

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,

Again a second time a voice was heard which said, "What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy."

Their reply was, "Cornelius, a Captain, an upright and God-fearing man, of whom the whole Jewish nation speaks well, has been divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and listen to what you have to say."

He said to them, "You know better than most that a Jew is strictly forbidden to associate with a Gentile or visit him; but God has taught me to call no one unholy or unclean.

who said, "'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charities have been put on record before God.

"Immediately, therefore, I sent to you, and I thank you heartily for having come. That is why all of us are now assembled here in God's presence, to listen to what the Lord has commanded you to say."

Then Peter began to speak. "I clearly see," he said, "that God makes no distinctions between one man and another;

but that in every nation those who fear Him and live good lives are acceptable to Him.

The Message which He sent to the descendants of Israel, when He announced the Good News of peace through Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all--that Message you cannot but know;

It tells how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, so that He went about everywhere doing acts of kindness, and curing all who were being continually oppressed by the Devil--for God was with Jesus.

That same Jesus God raised to life on the third day, and permitted Him to appear unmistakably,

not to all the people, but to witnesses--men previously chosen by God--namely, to us, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.

And He has commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly declare that this is He who has been appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling the majesty of God. Then Peter said,

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

"But a voice answered, speaking a second time from the sky, "'What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy.'

"If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we first believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, why, who was I to be able to thwart God?"