Acts:5

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* A man named Ananias and his wife , Sapphira , sold a field . He brought some of the money to the apostles . But he kept the rest of it . His wife knew what he had done . * Peter said , Ananias , why has Satan filled your heart ? Why do you lie to the Holy Spirit ? You have kept some of the money which you got for the field . * As long as you had the field , it belonged to you . When you had the money , you could do what you wanted to do with it . Why then did you plan to do a thing like this ? You have not lied to men , but to God . * As Ananias heard Peters words , he fell down and died . All who heard these things were very much afraid . * The young men came and wrapped him up . They carried him out and buried him . * About three hours later , his wife came in . She did not know what had happened . * Peter asked her , Tell me , did you sell the field for so much money ? and she answered , Yes , that is how much it was . * Then Peter said to her , Why did you two agree together to test the Spirit of the Lord ? Listen , I hear the footsteps of the men who buried your husband . They are at the door . They will carry you out too . * And she fell down at Peters feet and died . The young men came in and saw that she was dead . They carried her out and buried her beside her husband . * Then all the church people , and all the people who heard about this were very much afraid . * The apostles did many signs and wonderful things for the people who met together in the place called Solomons porch . * Other people feared to join them , but they spoke well of them . * Many more men and women believed and came to the Lord . * They brought sick people out into the streets and laid them on beds and mats . They hoped that at least Peters shadow would touch them as he passed by . * Many people also came from the cities around Jerusalem . They brought others who were sick and those who were controlled by bad spirits . Every one of them was healed . * Some Sadducees were with the high priest . They all became very jealous . * They caught the apostles and put them in prison . * But that night the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out . * Go , said the angel . Stand in the temple and tell the people all about this new life . * When the apostles heard that , they went into the temple early in the morning and taught the people there . The high priest and his men came . They called a meeting of the court and all the leaders of the Jews . Then they sent men to the prison to bring the apostles out . * When the men came to the prison , they did not find the apostles there . Then they went back and told the high priest and those with him . * They said , The prison was locked very well . And the police were guarding the doors . But when we opened the doors , no one was inside . * When the high priest , the captain of the temple , and the chief priests heard this , they did not know what to think . We wonder what will come from all this , they thought . * Just then someone came and told them , The men you put in prison are standing in the temple teaching the people . * Then the captain went with the men and brought the apostles quietly . They did not bring them by force because they were afraid the people would kill them with stones . * So they brought them in and put them before the court . The high priest asked them , Did we not tell you that you must never teach again in this name ? But here you are , teaching people all over Jerusalem in this name . You are trying to put on us the blame for this mans death . * Then Peter and the other apostles answered them , We must obey God rather than men . * The God of our fathers raised up Jesus , the one you killed by hanging on a dead tree . * God has made him great at his right side . He has made him leader and Saviour . He has done this so that the people of Israel may stop doing wrong things and be forgiven . * We know these things are true . So does the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him . * When the judges heard this , they were very , very angry and wanted to kill them . * Then a lawyer named Gamaliel stood up in the court . He was a Pharisee and all the people respected him . He asked that the apostles be taken out for a while . * Then he said , Men of Israel , you had better take care what you plan to do to these men . * Before this time , there was a man named Theudas . He tried to make people believe that he was a great man . He had about four hundred followers . He was killed , and all of his followers were scattered , and the whole thing ended . * Then after that , at tax time , another man named Judas from Galilee made trouble . Many people followed him . He also was killed and all of his followers were scattered . 38 , * So now , I say , do nothing to these men . Leave them alone . If this is the teaching or work of men , it will come to an end . But if it is of God , you cannot stop these men . You might even be fighting against God ! * They agreed to do what he said . They called in the apostles and had them beaten . They told them not to speak in the name of Jesus . Then they let them go . * The apostles left the court . They were very glad to think that God let them be punished for the name of Jesus . * Every day , in the temple and in homes , they kept on teaching and talking about Jesus Christ .

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