In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers. They were Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene), Manaen (who had grown up with King Herod ), and Saul.
These men were all serving the Lord and fasting when the Holy Spirit said to them, "Appoint Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for me. They are the ones I have chosen to do it."
He always stayed close to Sergius Paulus, who was the governor and a very smart man. He invited Barnabas and Saul to come visit him, because he wanted to hear the message of God.
and said, "You son of the devil, full of lies and all kinds of evil tricks! You are an enemy of everything that is right. Will you never stop trying to change the Lord's truths into lies?
Now the Lord will touch you and you will be blind. For a time you will not be able to see anything—not even the light from the sun." Then everything became dark for Elymas. He walked around lost. He was trying to find someone to lead him by the hand.
The Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read. Then the leaders of the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: "Brothers, if you have something to say that will help the people here, please speak."
The God of Israel chose our ancestors. And during the time our people lived in Egypt as foreigners, he made them great. Then he brought them out of that country with great power.
After God took Saul away, God made David their king. This is what God said about David: 'David, the son of Jesse, is the kind of person who does what pleases me. He will do everything I want him to do.'
When John was finishing his work, he said, 'Who do you think I am? I am not the Christ. He is coming later, and I am not worthy to be the slave who unties his sandals.'
"My brothers, sons in the family of Abraham, and you other people who also worship the true God, listen! The news about this salvation has been sent to us.
The Jews living in Jerusalem and their leaders did not realize that Jesus was the Savior. The words the prophets wrote about him were read every Sabbath day, but they did not understand. They condemned Jesus. When they did this, they made the words of the prophets come true.
We are their descendants, and God has made this promise come true for us. God did this by raising Jesus from death. We also read about this in Psalm 2: 'You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.'
God raised Jesus from death. Jesus will never go back to the grave and become dust. So God said, 'I will give you the true and holy promises that I made to David.'
Brothers, understand what we are telling you. You can have forgiveness of your sins through this Jesus. The Law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But you can be made right with God if you believe in Jesus.
'Listen, you people who doubt! You can wonder, but then go away and die; because during your time, I will do something that you will not believe. You will not believe it, even if someone explains it to you!'"
After the meeting, many of the people followed Paul and Barnabas, including many Jews and people who had changed their religion to be like Jews and worship the true God. Paul and Barnabas encouraged them to continue trusting in God's grace.
But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly. They said, "We had to tell God's message to you Jews first, but you refuse to listen. You have made it clear that you are not worthy of having eternal life. So we will now go to those who are not Jews.
When the non-Jewish people heard Paul say this, they were happy. They gave honor to the message of the Lord, and many of them believed it. These were the ones chosen to have eternal life.
But the Jews there caused some of the important religious women and the leaders of the city to be angry and turn against Paul and Barnabas and throw them out of town.