Began

When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.

Then the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, testing Him by demanding from Him a sign from heaven.

So they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.

Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again.

He spoke this message quite frankly, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

Peter began to say to Him, “Look, we have left everything and followed You.”

As they were going up the road to Jerusalem, Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. Again Jesus took the Twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him:

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

When they arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.

Then Jesus began to teach them, and He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey.

Jesus began by telling them, “See to it that no one deceives you.

They were delighted to hear this, and they promised to give him money. So Judas began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

They began to be grieved and to ask Him one after another, “Surely not I?”

He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.

Then some of them began to spit on Him. They blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in His face.

But he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man of whom you speak!”

And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things.

So the crowd went up and began asking Pilate to keep his custom.

And they began to salute Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!”

Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak, praising God.

Assuming He was in their company, they traveled on for a day before they began to look for Him among their relatives and friends.

Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry. He was regarded as the son of Joseph, the son of Heli,

…and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Then He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath He began to teach the people.

…and He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and began to serve them.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear.

So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

But the scribes and Pharisees began thinking to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

One Sabbath Jesus was passing through the grainfields, and His disciples began to pick the heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat them.

But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?

As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.

But those at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

Suddenly two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with Jesus.

As Jesus went on from there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose Him bitterly and to ply Him with questions about many things,

In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Then He placed His hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and began to glorify God.

But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’

So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need.

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”

And as He approached the descent from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise God joyfully in a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:

Then Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling there.

Judas consented, and began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus to them in the absence of a crowd.

Then they began to question among themselves which of them was going to do this.

The men who were holding Jesus began to mock Him and beat Him.

And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this man subverting our nation, forbidding payment of taxes to Caesar, and proclaiming Himself to be Christ, a King.”

But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people all over Judea with His teaching. He began in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and began to walk. Now this happened on the Sabbath day,

Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews began to persecute Him.

When the people saw the sign that Jesus had performed, they began to say, “Truly this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

About halfway through the feast, Jesus went up to the temple courts and began to teach.

Then some of the people of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

They said this to test Him, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger.

When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there.

So the Jews began to ask, “Will He kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

At this, his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging began to ask, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him.

In my first book, O Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach,

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

He sprang to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and leaping and praising God.

They had Peter and John brought in and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.

In those days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Grecian Jews among them began to grumble against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.

They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring, “He is the Son of God.”

Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,

But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events:

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as He had fallen upon us at the beginning.

Meanwhile those scattered by the persecution that began with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the message only to Jews.

But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.

And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”

Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and began to speak: “Men of Israel and you Gentiles who fear God, listen to me!

In a loud voice Paul called out, “Stand up on your feet!” And the man jumped up and began to walk.

Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”

And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.

When the men heard this, they were enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

When the governor motioned for Paul to speak, he began his response: “Knowing that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I gladly make my defense.

Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete.

We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo.

After he had said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.

They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: “The Holy Spirit was right when He spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began.

For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.

…being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.

…in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.

And I began to weep bitterly, because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look inside it.

And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish