Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 80
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
4:37–5:21
Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and
brought the money to the apostles.
But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira,
sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.
Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You
lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The
property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it,
the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this?
You weren’t lying to us but to God!”
As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died.
Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up,
wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received
for your land?”
“Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.”
And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring
to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your
husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.”
Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in
and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside
her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who
heard what had happened.
The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among
the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the
area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. But no one else dared to join them,
even though all the people had high regard for them. Yet more and more
people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and
women. As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into
the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of
them as he went by. Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.
The high priest and his officials, who were Sadducees, were filled with
jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But an
angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought
them out. Then he told them, “Go to the Temple and give the people this
message of life!”
So at daybreak the apostles entered the Temple, as they were told, and
immediately began teaching.
