HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1353
ACTS 4
page 983
this holy, righteous one and instead demanded
the release of a murderer. 15 You killed the author
of life, but God raised him from the dead. And
we are witnesses of this fact!
16 “Through faith in the name of Jesus, this
man was healed—and you know how crippled
he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed
him before your very eyes.
17 “Friends,* I realize that what you and your
leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance.
18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets
had foretold about the Messiah—that he must
suffer these things. 19 Now repent of your sins
and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped
away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come
from the presence of the Lord, and he will again
send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. 21 For
he must remain in heaven until the time for the
final restoration of all things, as God promised
long ago through his holy prophets. 22 Moses
said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a
Prophet like me from among your own people.
Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’*
23 Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen
to that Prophet will be completely cut off from
God’s people.’*
24 “Starting with Samuel, every prophet spoke
about what is happening today. 25 You are the
children of those prophets, and you are included in the covenant God promised to your
ancestors. For God said to Abraham, ‘Through
your descendants* all the families on earth will
be blessed.’ 26 When God raised up his servant,
Jesus, he sent him first to you people of Israel,
to bless you by turning each of you back from
your sinful ways.”
Peter and John before the Council
While Peter and John were speaking to
the people, they were confronted by the
priests, the captain of the Temple guard, and
some of the Sadducees. 2 These leaders were
very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a
resurrection of the dead. 3 They arrested them
and, since it was already evening, put them in
jail until morning. 4 But many of the people who
heard their message believed it, so the number
of men who believed now totaled about 5,000.
5 The next day the council of all the rulers and
elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, along
with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and other relatives of the high priest. 7 They brought in the two
disciples and demanded, “By what power, or in
whose name, have you done this?”
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said
to them, “Rulers and elders of our people, 9 are
4
3:17 Greek Brothers. 3:22 Deut 18:15. 3:23 Deut 18:19;
Lev 23:29. 3:25 Greek your seed; see Gen 12:3; 22:18.
4:10 Or Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 4:11 Ps 118:22.
we being questioned today because we’ve done
a good deed for a crippled man? Do you want to
know how he was healed? 10 Let me clearly state
to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he
was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ
the Nazarene,* the man you crucified but whom
God raised from the dead. 11 For Jesus is the one
referred to in the Scriptures, where it says,
‘The stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.’*
12 There is salvation in no one else! God has
given no other name under heaven by which
we must be saved.”
13 The members of the council were amazed
when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
for they could see that they were ordinary men
with no special training in the Scriptures. They
also recognized them as men who had been
with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man
who had been healed standing right there
among them, there was nothing the council
could say. 15 So they ordered Peter and John out
• Change
A C TS 3:19
With all the change swirling around us,
it’s easy to forget that sometimes the
most important changes take place within
us. The good news of Jesus is that when
we admit our failures and sin and accept
his loving forgiveness, we are then free,
with God’s help, to change the direction
of our lives. What changes do you think
the Lord is urging you to make now?
• Salvation
A C TS 4:12
Imagine being on a ship that has struck
an iceberg. The captain reports that the
ship is going down but that everyone
will be saved if they get into the lifeboat.
Would you become angry and say, “Who
is he to tell me I need to get into the lifeboat? I was enjoying this cruise! Besides,
the ship doesn’t feel to me like it’s sinking. I can take care of myself!” Of course
not! This is a metaphor for the truth of
Christ: The only way anyone can be
saved is to “get into the lifeboat,” that is,
to believe in Jesus. Have you accepted
the truth of Christ and his salvation, or
are you still on the sinking ship of reality
as you would like it to be?