The Holy Spirit spoke to the church in Antioch to set apart Barnabas and Paul for ministry, and they took John Mark with them. They first went to the Island of Cyprus, then took a ship to the area of Turkey. They would especially go to big cities, and they went to Jewish Synagogues first, and when the Jews would not listen, they would turn to the Gentiles. This caused the Gentiles to rejoice and the Jews to jealousy. The Lord empowered them to do signs and wonders like causing blindness, and healing a lame man. Many people both Jews and Gentiles believed. We also see in this section a transition of leadership from Barnabas to Paul, who was the chief speaker. John Mark left the trip once they entered Turkey, but Scriptures do not tell us why. This becomes an issue later on in Acts. Paul was stoned in the city of Derbe, but he did not die, and they went back the way they came to encourage the believers to walk in the faith, and to appoint elders in the churches. They came home to Antioch, and shared the great things that God had done, and spent a long time in their home church with the disciples.
