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Read (and listen!) through the amazing story of Luke and Acts!
Immerse: Luke and Acts is part of Immerse: The Reading Bible, which takes you on a new and unique journey through the books of Luke and Acts in the New Testament. This fresh arrangement of the books highlights the depth of the New Testament’s fourfold witness to Jesus the Messiah. The Son of God, who fulfills all the longings and promises of the collected Scriptures. The goal of Bible reading is to understand the sacred writings in depth so we can learn to live with them. Using the text of the New Living Translation (NLT) from Tyndale Publishing, now you can experience Luke and Acts the same way the original readers did and be fully immersed in the most amazing story of all time!
Oliver: Welcome to Immerse Luke
and Acts, Day twelve, Week three
.
The next day, the council of all
the rulers and elders and teachers
of religious law met in Jerusalem.
Annas, the high priest, was there,
along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander,
and other relatives of the high priest.
They brought in the two disciples
and demanded, By what power or
in whose name have you done this?
Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Spirit, said to them, Rulers and
elders of our people, Are we being
questioned today because we've done
a good deed for a crippled man?
Do you want to know how he was healed?
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.
For Jesus is the one referred to in
the scriptures where it says, The
stone that you builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
There is salvation in no one else.
God has given no other name under
heaven by which we must be saved.
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.
But since they could see the
man who had been healed standing
right there among them, there was
nothing the council could say.
So they ordered Peter and John
out of the council chamber and
conferred among themselves.
What should we do with these men?
They asked each other, We can't deny that
they have performed a miraculous sign and
everybody in Jerusalem knows about it.
But to keep them from spreading
their propaganda any further,
we must warn them not to speak
to anyone in Jesus name again.
So they called the apostles back in
and commanded them never again to
speak or teach in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John replied, Do you think
God wants us to obey you rather than Him?
We cannot stop telling about
everything we have seen and heard.
The council then threatened them further.
But they finally let them go,
because they didn't know how to
punish them without starting a riot.
For everyone was praising God for this
miraculous sign, the healing of a man
who had been lame for more than 40 years.
As soon as they were freed, Peter
and John returned to the other
believers and told them what the
leading priests and elders had said.
When they heard the report,
all the believers lifted their
voices together in prayer to God.
O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and
earth, the sea and everything in them,
you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit
through our ancestor David, your servant,
saying, Why were the nations so angry?
Why did they waste their
time with futile plans?
The kings of the earth
prepared for battle.
The rulers gathered together against
the Lord and against His Messiah.
In fact, this has happened
here in this very city.
For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the
governor, the Gentiles, and the people
of Israel were all united against Jesus,
your holy servant, whom you anointed,
but everything they did was determined
beforehand according to your will.
And now, O Lord, hear their threats,
and give us, your servants, great
boldness in preaching your word.
Stretch out your hand with healing power.
May miraculous signs and wonders
be done through the name of
your holy servant, Jesus.
After this prayer, the meeting
place shook, and they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit.
Then they preached the
word of God with boldness.
All the believers were united in
heart and mind, and they felt that
what they owned was not their own,
so they shared everything they had.
The apostles testified powerfully to
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and
God's great blessing was upon them all.
There were no needy people among them,
because those who owned land or houses
would sell them and bring the money to
the apostles to give to those in need.
For instance, there was Joseph, the
one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas,
which means son of encouragement.
He was from the tribe of 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.
When the high priest and his officials
arrived, they convened the high council,
the full assembly of the elders of Israel.
Then they sent for the apostles to
be brought from the jail for trial.
But when the temple guards went
to the jail, the men were gone.
So they returned to the council and
reported, The jail was securely locked,
with the guards standing outside.
But when we opened the
gates, No one was there.
When the captain of the temple
guard and the leading priests
heard this, they were perplexed,
wondering where it would all end.
Then someone arrived with startling news.
The men you put in jail are standing
in the temple teaching the people.
The captain went with his temple
guards and arrested the apostles,
but without violence, for they were
afraid the people would stone them.
Then they brought the apostles
before the high council, where
the high priest confronted them.
We gave you strict orders never again
to teach in this man's name, he said.
Instead, you have filled all Jerusalem
with your teaching about him, and you
want to make us responsible for his death.
But Peter and the apostles
replied, We must obey God
rather than any human authority.
The God of our ancestors raised
Jesus from the dead after you killed
him by hanging him on a cross.
Then God put him in the place of honor
at his right hand as Prince and Savior.
He did this so the people of Israel would
repent of their sins and be forgiven.
We are witnesses of these things,
and so was the Holy Spirit, who was
given by God to those who obey him.
When they heard this, the High Council
was furious and decided to kill them.
But one member.
A Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an
expert in religious law and respected
by all the people, stood up and
ordered that the men be sent outside
the council chamber for a while.
Then he said to his colleagues,
Men of Israel, take care what you
are planning to do to these men.
Some time ago, there was that fellow
Thutis, who pretended to be someone great.
About 400 others joined him,
but he was killed, and all his
followers went their various ways.
The whole movement came to nothing.
After him, at the time of the
census, there was Judas of Galilee.
He got people to follow him,
but he was killed too, and all
his followers were scattered.
So my advice is, leave these men alone.
Let them go.
If they are planning and doing
these things merely on their
own, it will soon be overthrown.
But if it is from God, you will
not be able to overthrow them.
You may even find yourselves
fighting against God.
The others accepted his advice.
They called in the apostles
and had them flogged.
Then they ordered them never
again to speak in the name of
Jesus, and they let them go.
The apostles left the high council
rejoicing that God had counted them worthy
to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.
And every day, in the temple
and from house to house, they
continued to teach and preach this
message, Jesus is the Messiah.
But as the believers rapidly multiplied,
there were rumblings of discontent.
The Greek speaking believers
complained about the Hebrew speaking
believers, saying that their widows
were being discriminated against
in the daily distribution of food.
So the Twelve called a
meeting of all the believers.
They said, we apostles should
spend our time teaching the Word
of God, not running a food program.
And so, brothers, select seven
men who are well respected and
are full of the Spirit and wisdom.
We will give them this responsibility.
Then we apostles can spend our time
in prayer and teaching the Word.
Everyone liked this idea, and
they chose the following, Stephen,
a man full of faith and the
Holy Spirit, Philip Procorus.
Ner Tieman, parms and Nicholas of Antioch,
an earlier convert to the Jewish faith.
These seven were presented to the
apostles who prayed for them as
they laid their hands on them.
So God's message continued to spread.
The number of believers greatly
increased in Jerusalem and many of
the Jewish priests were converted too.
Oliver: This concludes today's
Immerse Reading Experience.
Thank you for joining us.