Starting 2nd half of the New Testament

I've never intensely studied the second half of the New Testament, so I'm sure I have a lot to learn this semester, and I'm excited to share it with you!

In Acts 1:3 it says, "To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God"
---The "he" in this verse is referring to the resurrected Jesus Christ ---

In class we pointed out the words Luke used "infallible proofs." Infallible means absolutely or certain. This indicates that he probably showed the markings on his hands/feet/side. No one else would be alive and bear the same marks He did.
Have you ever thought about how when we resurrect, we are to have absolute perfect bodies while Jesus, the only one to truly deserve a perfect body, will be the only one bearing scars?
That's pretty powerful. He has engraved us onto his skin so he cannot forget our suffering. He will stand with us and plea for the forgiveness of our sins.

Which brings me to my next point, being a witness. In verse 8 it says, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
In Young Women's we recite a theme that starts "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him. We will stand as witnesses of God at all times, in all things, and in all places..."
Now I want you to think about being called as a witness in a court.
If someone called you up to a stand and asked you to be a witness of the resurrected Jesus Christ, could you?
Do you have enough personal testimony of bear witness of Him?
That's how strong you have to be.

A lot of people like to take Acts 2:21 in isolation and hold onto, "... that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" If you ever run into this problem with someone, I encourage you to tell them to read on. There is a lot more to salvation, and the details are beyond that verse :)

The last thing I would like to cover is the lame man who is healed by Peter and John in Acts 3. In verse two it tells that this man laid daily at the gate of the temple. If you think about it, Jesus probably walked by and through that gate a hundred times. Why did He never heal him?
We don't know.
Perhaps Jesus knew the timing wasn't right to heal this man. That the miracle would be better performed by Peter and John.
Jesus knows the better plan for us, even if we don't. Our timings might be different, but we need to have faith in the Lord's timing.
I know this can be difficult. Being a BYU student, I can see lots of struggles of wanting things now. A spouse, an acceptance to medical school, a child, etc. Sometimes the answer is no, but it's not no forever. It would probably be great to get those things when we want them, but there could be something better for us/others just around the corner if you just wait.