In Antioch there are a group of prophets and teachers hanging around, but God singles out Barnabas and Saul for some special duties. The pair head over to Cyprus where they run into a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. When the Roman governor in the area asks Paul and Barnabas to come chat with him about Jesus, Bar-Jesus tells the governor that they're just spewing lies. Oh, Bar-Jesus. Saul (who, did we mention, is better known as Paul?) tells Bar-Jesus that he's a terrible, awful, no good guy and that he's gonna be blind for a while. It matches his spiritual blindness. Sure enough, Bar-Jesus goes blind and the governor believes that what Saul/Paul said about Jesus must be true.
Paul and friends leave Cyprus and head to Galatia where they head straight for the synagogue. The religious officials there invite them to speak (this is a first). Paul stands up and gives a little speech about the history of the Jewish people leading up to King David. From David, Paul claims, comes Jesus, who is the fulfillment of everything God has ever promised the Jewish people. Of course, the people down in Jerusalem didn't realize this (even though it was obvious) and they had Jesus put to death on trumped up charges. Paul ends by telling that they can free themselves from sin if they put their faith in Jesus (and, of course, God). Everyone that doesn't listen is going to die.
As Paul and Barnabas are leaving, the people in the synagogue ask them to come back next week to talk some more. Loads of people start to become followers of Jesus, too. The following week, almost the entire city turns out to hear Paul preach. But there's a group of Jews who aren't so pleased with what's going on, and they let everyone know that they think Paul's full of it. Paul and Barnabas tell everyone that the good news about Jesus was passed on to the Jewish people first. But since they're so good at rejecting it, God has asked them to move onto the Gentiles. Lots of Gentiles start following Jesus after this, but the naysayers get someone to spread rumors about Paul and Barnabas and they're forced to leave town and head for Iconium. Preaching is never easy. Same thing goes down in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas make some headway getting people to follow Jesus, and then the naysayers start spreading the seeds of doubt. When the naysayers threaten to stone them, Paul and Barnabas get out of Iconium.
They head to Lystra, where they meet a man who has never been able to walk. Paul heals him and then the man can walk. The people are amazed (as usual) and decide that Paul and Barnabas must be gods come to Earth. Obviously. They call Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes and they rush off to the temple to offer a sacrifice to their new gods. Paul and Barnabas are pretty upset when they hear about this. They tear their clothes and tell all the people that they're just regular guys like them. Their job is to tell people about the one true God, not to become one!! Later on, some Jewish naysayers come from Antioch and Iconium to speak against Paul and Barnabas. The naysayers get the crowd so worked up that they actually get them to stone Paul. When the crowd of stone-throwers thinks Paul's dead, they drag him out of the city and leave him there. But when the disciples come to find him, they see that Paul hasn't quite been stoned to death. Paul gets up and walks back into the city. Paul and Barnabas travel around to lots of other places preaching about Jesus and converting Jews and Gentiles alike. All the time, they're happy to be persecuted because it means they're doing right by God. In the end, Paul and Barnabas head back to Judea and give a report to everyone there on the status of the church around the Roman Empire. Everyone is pretty excited.
In Judea, there's a bunch of guys talking about circumcision. Mainly, they're saying that no one can be saved unless they're circumcised. Paul and Barnabas don't agree. Male Gentiles everywhere rejoice. Paul and Barnabas decide to head to Jerusalem to take up the topic with the twelve apostles and elders to get their opinion on everything. Some of the Christians there say that male converts need to be circumcised. After all, a follower of Jesus still has to follow the laws of Moses. But Peter stands up and tells everyone that God is good with the Gentiles.And he wants to give them the Holy Spirit. Besides, they all know that the path to salvation goes through Jesus, not Jewish law. Paul and Barnabas agree and tell all kinds of stories about how faithful and spirit-filled the new Gentile-Christians are. James also tells everyone that he agrees with Peter. He decides that there are only a few things Gentiles need to avoid. They shouldn't worship idols, have sex outside of marriage, eat any animal that hasn't been ritually slaughtered, or drink animal blood. They all agree. The apostles write up a letter that Paul and Barnabas will circulate to the Gentile believers. Judas Barsabbas and Silas also tag along with them. In Antioch, everyone is glad to hear the news. Sadly, Paul and Barnabas have a bit of a falling out over who gets to come to the next town with them. Paul doesn't want John Mark tagging along with them again. The dynamic duo splits. Barnabas takes John Mark with him and Paul goes on ahead with Silas. John Mark is also Mark the Mark that wrote the gospel of Mark.
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