Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 73
ACTS
In my first book I told you, Theophilus, about everything Jesus began to
do and teach until the day he was taken up to heaven after giving his chosen apostles further instructions through the Holy Spirit. During the forty
days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to
time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And
he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.
Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not
leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told
you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be
baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has
the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”
He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and
times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling
people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising
into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of
Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus
has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from
heaven in the same way you saw him go!”
Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of
the house where they were staying.
Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James,
Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus),
Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). They all met together and
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