Simply the Word

     When you read the Bible which is a living, breathing document...it will come alive in your hands and cause your heart to be convicted and changed.  No other book can make those claims.  I know everybody has access to a Bible, but sometimes when I read a passage, I just want to make sure everyone has heard it.  It's that exciting!  If you never pick up your Bible, maybe these words will inspire you to do so.  In this passage, Jesus had just been resurrected and the apostles had witnessed it.  They had seen, loved and touched the living God and He had poured out His spirit to them and was giving them power to be bold witnesses even when threatened with beatings, jail and death.  They simply didn't care if they lived or died.  They only knew they were going to tell everybody they saw about the Messiah.  The Chief Priest didn't know what to do with them.  They couldn't be stopped.  So they put them in jail to shut them up.  Read on....

Acts 5:  ^17-20Provoked mightily by all this, the Chief Priest and those on his side, mainly the sect of Sadducees, went into action, arrested the apostles and put them in the town jail. But during the night an angel of God opened the jailhouse door and led them out. He said, "Go to the Temple and take your stand. Tell the people everything there is to say about this Life."
   Promptly obedient, they entered the Temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.
 ^21-23Meanwhile, the Chief Priest and his cronies convened the High Council, Israel's senate, and sent to the jail to have the prisoners brought in. When the police got there, they couldn't find them anywhere in the jail. They went back and reported, "We found the jail locked tight as a drum and the guards posted at the doors, but when we went inside we didn't find a soul."
 ²⁴The chief of the Temple police and the high priests were puzzled. "What's going on here anyway?"
 ^25-26Just then someone showed up and said, "Did you know that the men you put in jail are back in the Temple teaching the people?" The chief and his police went and got them, but they handled them gently, fearful that the people would riot and turn on them.
 ^27-28Bringing them back, they stood them before the High Council. The Chief Priest said, "Didn't we give you strict orders not to teach in Jesus' name? And here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are trying your best to blame us for the death of this man."
 ^29-32Peter and the apostles answered, "It's necessary to obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, the One you killed by hanging him on a cross. God set him on high at his side, Prince and Savior, to give Israel the gift of a changed life and sins forgiven. And we are witnesses to these things. The Holy Spirit, whom God gives to those who obey him, corroborates every detail."
 ^33-37When they heard that, they were furious and wanted to kill them on the spot. But one of the council members stood up, a Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel, a teacher of God's Law who was honored by everyone. He ordered the men taken out of the room for a short time, then said, "Fellow Israelites, be careful what you do to these men. Not long ago Theudas made something of a splash, claiming to be somebody, and got about four hundred men to join him. He was killed, his followers dispersed, and nothing came of it. A little later, at the time of the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and acquired a following. He also fizzled out and the people following him were scattered to the four winds.
 ^38-39"So I am telling you: Hands off these men! Let them alone. If this program or this work is merely human, it will fall apart, but if it is of God, there is nothing you can do about it—and you better not be found fighting against God!"
 ^40-42That convinced them. They called the apostles back in. After giving them a thorough whipping, they warned them not to speak in Jesus' name and sent them off. The apostles went out of the High Council overjoyed because they had been given the honor of being dishonored on account of the Name. Every day they were in the Temple and homes, teaching and preaching Christ Jesus, not letting up for a minute.

*this is from The Message version of the Bible.  You may enjoy another version better but I love to hear these stories in our modern, everyday words.