Study Desk

The officials could not find any reason to punish Peter and John. So they threatened them and let them go. The man who was healed by this miracle was more than forty years old, and everyone was praising God for what had happened.

The kings of earth prepare for war, and the rulers join together against the Lord and his Messiah."

But they agreed to cheat and keep some of the money for themselves. So when Ananias took the rest of the money to the apostles,

Peter asked her, "Tell me, did you sell the property for this amount?" "Yes," she answered, "that's the amount."

"We told you plainly not to teach in the name of Jesus. But look what you have done! You have been teaching all over Jerusalem, and you are trying to blame us for his death."

But one of the members was the Pharisee Gamaliel, a highly respected teacher. He ordered the apostles to be taken out of the room for a little while.

The apostles left the council and were happy, because God had considered them worthy to suffer for the sake of Jesus.

But they were no match for Stephen, who spoke with the great wisdom that the Spirit gave him.

God said that Abraham's descendants would live for a while in a foreign land. There they would be slaves and would be mistreated four hundred years.

But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there for the first time.

Joseph sent for his father and his relatives. In all, there were seventy-five of them.

Finally, the time came for God to do what he had promised Abraham. By then the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased.

During this time Moses was born. He was a very beautiful child, and for three months his parents took care of him in their home.

In Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the desert, Moses rescued the people by working miracles and wonders for forty years.

Later it was given to our ancestors, and they took it with them when they went with Joshua. They carried the tent along as they took over the land from those people that God had chased out for them. Our ancestors used this tent until the time of King David.

He pleased God and asked him if he could build a house of worship for the people of Israel.

And it was finally King Solomon who built a house for God.

But the Most High God doesn't live in houses made by humans. It is just as the prophet said, when he spoke for the Lord,

"Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? In what place will I rest?

He knelt down and shouted, "Lord, don't blame them for what they have done." Then he died.