Study Desk

"I came back to Jerusalem. When I was praying in the house of God, I had a dream.

Paul looked straight at the court and said, "Brother Jews, I have lived for God with a heart that has said I am not guilty to this day."

Paul said, "God will hit you, you white-washed wall! Do you sit there and say I am guilty by the Law when you break the Law by having me hit?"

He even tried to make the house of God unclean by taking people into it who were not Jews. But we took hold of him. (*We could have said he was guilty by our Law.

I did not argue with anyone in the house of God or in the Jewish places of worship or in the city. I was not making trouble.

"I will say this, I worship the God of our fathers in the new Way. They say it is a false way. But I believe everything that has been written in the Law and by the early preachers.

I trust God for the same things they are looking for. I am looking for the dead to rise, both those right with God and the sinful.

I always try to live so my own heart tells me I am not guilty before God or man.

Some Jews from the countries of Asia found me in the house of God after I had gone through the worship of washing. There were no people around me and there was no noise or fighting.

Paul spoke about being right with God. He spoke about being the boss over our own desires. He spoke about standing before One Who will tell us if we are guilty. When Felix heard this, he became afraid and said, "Go now. I will send for you when it is a better time."

Paul spoke for himself, saying, "I have done nothing wrong against the Law of the Jews or against the house of God or against Caesar."

"And now I am on trial here because I trust the promise God made to our fathers.

This promise is what our twelve family groups of the Jewish nation hope to see happen. They worship God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that they are saying things against me.

Why do you think it is hard to believe that God raises people from the dead?

I beat them and tried to make them speak against God in all the Jewish places of worship. In my fight against them, I kept going after them even into cities in other countries.

You are to open their eyes. You are to turn them from darkness to light. You are to turn them from the power of Satan to the power of God. In this way, they may have their sins forgiven. They may have what is given to them, along with all those who are set apart for God by having faith in Me.'

First I told what I saw to those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem. I told it through all the country of Judea. I even preached to the people who are not Jews that they should be sorry for their sins and turn from them to God. I told them they should do things to show they are sorry for their sins.

"That is why the Jews took hold of me in the house of God and tried to kill me.

God has helped me. To this day I have told these things to the people who are well-known and to those not known. I have told only what the early preachers and Moses said would happen.

Paul said, "My prayer to God is that you and all who hear me today would be a Christian as I am, only not have these chains!"