Study Desk

'YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.'

"Brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

"So because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne,

And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on urging them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation!"

and they would sell their property and possessions and share them with all, to the extent that anyone had need.

Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

But Peter, along with John, looked at him intently and said, "Look at us!"

And leaping up, he stood and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

and they recognized him as being the very one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg for charitable gifts, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

"It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God ordained with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.'

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people,

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.

But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another,

saying, "What are we to do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

And when they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind and said, "Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND EVERYTHING THAT IS IN THEM,

"For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

"And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant it to Your bond-servants to speak Your word with all confidence,

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.