Acts 3

One day Peter and John were going to the temple courtyard. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, at the time when people prayed there.

There was a man who had not been able to walk from the time he was born. People were carrying him to the temple gate called Beautiful. Every day they put him there so he could ask people who were going into the temple courtyard to give him some money.

As Peter and John were about to enter the temple courtyard, he began to ask them to give him some money.

As Peter and John looked directly at him, Peter said to him, "Look at us!"

So he looked directly at them, expecting to get some money from them.

Then Peter said to him, "I do not have any money, but what I can do I will do for you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth you are healed. Get up and walk!"

Then Peter grasped the man's right hand and helped him to stand up. At that moment the man's feet and ankles became strong.

He jumped up and began to walk! Then he entered the temple area with Peter and John, walking and leaping and praising God!

All the people in the temple saw him walking and praising God.

They recognized that he was the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate in the temple courtyard and ask people for money! So all the people there were greatly amazed at what had happened to him.

As the man kept holding on to Peter and John, all the people were so surprised that they did not know what to think! So they ran to them at the place in the temple courtyard that is called Solomon's Porch.

When Peter saw the people, he said to them, "Men of Israel, you should not be surprised about what has happened to this man! Why do you look at us as though we made this man walk by our own power or godliness?

So I will tell you what is really happening. Our ancestors, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, worshiped God. And now God has greatly honored Jesus. Your leaders brought Jesus to the governor, Pilate, so that his soldiers would execute him. You were the ones who rejected Jesus in the presence of Pilate, after Pilate had decided that he should release Jesus.

But you rejected Jesus, the Holy and Righteous One, and you asked for a murderer to be set free instead of him!

God considers that you killed Jesus, the one who gives people eternal life. But God has caused him to become alive again. We saw Jesus many times after he became alive again.

It is because of faith in the name of Jesus that this man was made strong again and able to walk in front of you all, and as you see, he is in perfect health.

"Now, my fellow countrymen, I know that you and your leaders killed Jesus because you and your leaders did not know what you were doing.

However, God gave the message to the prophets long ago. That message said that the Christ would suffer. Now you know that the message God gave to the prophets has come true.

So turn away from your sinful lives and ask God to help you do what pleases him, in order that he may completely forgive you for your sins, and in order that he may strengthen you.

If you do that, then you will know that the Lord is helping you. He will send you the Christ, the one whom God chose to help you. That person is Jesus.

Jesus will certainly stay in heaven until the time when God will cause all that he has created to become new. Long ago God promised to do that, and he chose holy prophets to tell that to people.

For example, the prophet Moses said this about the Christ: 'The Lord your God will send a prophet like me from among you. You must listen to everything he says to you.

Those who do not listen to that prophet and do not obey him will no longer belong to God's people. God will destroy them.'"

Peter continued, "All the prophets have told about what would happen during these days. Those prophets include Samuel and all the others who later also spoke about these events before they happened.

When God strongly promised to bless our ancestors, he also surely promised to bless you. He said to Abraham about the Christ, 'I will bless all the peoples on the earth as a result of what your descendant will do.'"

Peter concluded, "So when God sent Jesus, his servant, he sent him first to bless you and to turn you away from the wicked things you are doing."