Study Desk

Peter said to them, "Change your hearts and lives and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Then God will forgive your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This promise is for you. It is also for your children and for the people who are far away. It is for everyone the Lord our God calls to himself."

Many wonders and miraculous signs were happening through the apostles, and everyone felt great respect for God.

The believers praised God and were respected by all the people. More and more people were being saved every day, and the Lord was adding them to their group.

He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk. He went into the Temple area with them. He was walking and jumping and praising God.

All the people recognized him. They knew he was the crippled man who always sat by the Beautiful Gate to beg for money. Now they saw this same man walking and praising God. They were amazed. They did not understand how this could happen.

No, God did it! He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is the God of all our fathers. He gave glory to Jesus, his special servant. But you handed him over to be killed. Pilate decided to let him go free. But you told Pilate you did not want him.

And so you killed the one who gives life! But God raised him from death. We are witnesses of this—we saw it with our own eyes.

But God said these things would happen. Through the prophets he said that his Messiah would suffer and die. I have told you how God made this happen.

So you must change your hearts and lives. Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins.

"But Jesus must stay in heaven until the time when all things will be made right again. God told about this time when he spoke long ago through his holy prophets.

Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will give you a prophet. That prophet will come from among your own people. He will be like me. You must obey everything he tells you.

"Samuel, and all the other prophets who spoke for God after Samuel, said that this time would come.

And what those prophets talked about is for you, their descendants. You have received the agreement that God made with your fathers. God said to your father Abraham, ‘Every nation on earth will be blessed through your descendants.'

God has sent his special servant Jesus. He sent him to you first. He sent him to bless you by causing each of you to turn away from your evil ways."

We want all of you and all the people of Israel to know that this man was made well by the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth. You nailed Jesus to a cross, but God raised him from death. This man was crippled, but he is now well. He is able to stand here before you because of the power of Jesus!

They said, "What shall we do with these men? Everyone in Jerusalem knows about the miracle they did as a sign from God. It's too obvious. We can't say it didn't happen.

But Peter and John answered them, "What do you think is right? What would God want? Should we obey you or God?

The Jewish leaders could not find a way to punish the apostles, because all the people were praising God for what had been done. This miracle was a sign from God. The man who was healed was more than 40 years old. So the Jewish leaders warned the apostles again and let them go free.

When the believers heard this, they all prayed to God with one purpose. They said, "Master, you are the one who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in the world.