Now those who had gathered together began to ask Jesus, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"

After saying this, Jesus was taken up while those who had gathered together were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

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."

because he was one of our number and was appointed to share in this ministry."

(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.

This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that this field is called in their language Hakeldama, that is, "The Field of Blood".)

beginning when he was baptized by John until the day he was taken up from us. Therefore, someone like this must become a witness with us to his resurrection."

to serve in this office of apostle, from which Judas left to go to his own place."

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

Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

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.

"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and that his tomb is among us to this day.

"It was this very Jesus whom God raised and we're all witnesses of that.

"Therefore, let all the people of Israel understand beyond a doubt that God made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah!"

When the crowd that had gathered heard this, they were pierced to the heart. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"

For this promise belongs to you and your children, as well as to all those who are distant, whom the Lord our God may call to himself."

Using many different expressions, Peter continued to testify and to plead: "Be saved," he urged them, "from this corrupt generation!"

When Peter saw this, he told the people: "Fellow Israelis, why are you wondering about this, and why are you staring at us as if by our own power or godliness we made him walk?

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.

This is how God fulfilled what he had predicted through the voice of all the prophets that his Messiah would suffer.

They made Peter and John stand in front of them and began asking, "By what power or by what name did you do this?"

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.

But to keep it from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them never again to speak to anyone in this name."

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

When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, "Master, you made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

For in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate actually met together with unbelievers and the people of Israel to oppose your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

And great fear seized the whole church and everyone else who heard about this.

"Go, stand in the Temple, and keep on telling the people the whole message about this life they can have."

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.

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!"

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.

When the Council heard this, they became furious and wanted to kill them.

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

For we have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us."

Then the high priest asked, "Is this true?"

So he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country where you now live.

"This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its people would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years.

"But I will punish the nation they serve,' said God, "and afterwards they will leave and worship me in this place.'

"At this time Moses was born. He was beautiful in the sight of God, and for three months he was cared for in his father's house.

Because of this, Moses fled and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.

"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.

It was this Moses who told the Israelis, "God will raise up a prophet for you from among your own brothers, just as he did me.'

This Moses is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and to our ancestors. He received living truths to give to us,

They told Aaron, "Make gods for us who will lead us. This Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt we don't know what happened to him!'

Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, don't hold this sin against them!" After he had said this, he died.

Everyone from the least to the greatest paid close attention to him, saying, "This is what we call the great power of God!"

Before this, he had not come on any of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

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

So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart's intent may be forgiven you.

Now an angel of the Lord told Philip, "Get up and go south on the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a deserted road."

This was the passage of Scripture he was reading: "Like a sheep he was led away to be slaughtered, and like a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

Then Philip began to speak, and, starting from this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.

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.

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

He immediately started to preach about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "This is the Son of God."

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.

This happened three times. Then the sheet was quickly taken back into heaven.

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.

He also ordered us to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that this is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify to this: everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

While Peter was still making this statement, the Holy Spirit fell on all the people who were listening to his message.

This happened three times. Then everything was pulled back up to heaven.

When they heard this, they calmed down, and praised God by saying, "So God has given repentance that leads to life even to gentiles."

When the church in Jerusalem heard this news, they sent Barnabas all the way to Antioch.

One of them named Agabus got up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine all over the world. This happened during the reign of Claudius.

When he saw how this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Then the angel told him, "Tuck in your shirt and put on your sandals!" He did this. Then the angel told him, "Put on your coat and follow me!"

He motioned to them with his hand to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He added, "Tell this to James and the brothers." Then he left and went somewhere else.

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

"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.

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

"My brothers, descendants of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

When the gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. Meanwhile, all who had been destined to eternal life believed,

"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.

Even by saying this, it was all Paul and Barnabas could do to keep the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

Paul and Barnabas had quite a dispute and argument with them. So Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to confer with the apostles and elders about this question.

So the apostles and the elders met to look into this claim.

This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,

""After this, I will come back and set up David's fallen tent again. I will restore its ruined places and set it up again

They wrote this letter for them to deliver: "From: The apostles and the elders, your brothers To: Their gentile brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

Paul wanted this man to go with him, so he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who lived in that region, since everyone knew that Timothy's father was a Greek.

and from there to Philippi, an important city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We were in this city for several days.

She kept doing this for many days until Paul became annoyed, turned to her and told the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus the Messiah to come out of her!" And it came out that very moment.

He explained and showed them that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead: "This very Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Messiah."

The crowd and the city officials were upset when they heard this,

Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some asked, "What is this blabbermouth trying to say?" while others said, "He seems to be preaching about foreign gods." This was because Paul was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

Then they took him, brought him before the Areopagus, and asked, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

For as I was walking around and looking closely at the objects you worship, I even found an altar with this written on it: "To an unknown god.' So I am telling you about the unknown object you worship.

because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world with justice through a man whom he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead."

When they heard about a resurrection of the dead, some began joking about it, while others said, "We will hear you again about this."

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

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."

Then all of them took Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and began beating him in front of the judge's seat. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.