Lesson 6 English Fluency Exercise

Lesson Text 2:14-47 (Acts)

Read the Lesson Text aloud. Read the entire section until you can pronounce each word correctly, reading each paragraph without pausing. Practice until you can read the entire Lesson Text with good English pronunciation.

Then Peter stood up with the other eleven apostles and in a loud voice began to speak to the crowd. “Listen to me and let me tell you what this means. These people are not drunk, as you suppose; it is only nine o’clock in the morning. Jesus of Nazareth was a man whose divine authority was clearly proven to you by all the miracles and wonders which God performed through him. You yourselves know this, for it happened here among you. In accordance with his own plan God had already decided that Jesus would be handed over to you; and you killed him by letting sinful men crucify him. But God raised him from death, setting him free from its power, because it was impossible that death should hold him prisoner.

“My friends, I must speak to you plainly about our famous ancestor King David. He died and was buried, and his grave is here with us to this very day. He was a prophet, and he knew what God had promised him: God had made a vow that he would make one of David’s descendants a king, just as David was. David saw what God was going to do in the future, and so he spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah when he said, ‘He was not abandoned in the world of the dead; his body did not rot in the grave.’ God has raised this very Jesus from death, and we are all witnesses to this fact. He has been raised to the right side of God, his Father, and has received from him the Holy Spirit, as he had promised. What you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us. All the people of Israel, then, are to know for sure that this Jesus, whom you crucified is the one that God has made Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were deeply troubled and said to Peter and the other apostles, “What shall we do, brothers?” Peter said to them, “Each one of you must turn away from your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God’s gift, the Holy Spirit. For God’s promise was made to you and your children, and to all who are far away—all whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Peter made his appeal to them and with many other words he urged them, saying, “Save yourselves from the punishment coming on this wicked people.” Many of them believed his message and were baptized, and about three thousand people were added to the group that day. They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals, and the prayers.

Lesson Text: Today’s English Version, Copyright ©1992 by the ABS.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.