King Herod began to persecute members of the church. He even killed James, the brother of John. When he realized this pleased the Jews he had Saul arrested and put in jail under very heavy guard. The people prayed and prayed for him. The night before the trial, Peter was sleeping between two guards with his hands and feet chained. Suddenly, an angel lit up the cell, woke Peter, and told him to put on his clothes and shoes and go with him. So Peter did, but he thought it was a vision. The gate opened and they walked out of the jail, and down a street. Then the angel was gone. Peter realized that God had sent the angel to rescue him, that it was really happening. Peter went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark and knocked on the gate. A servant girl, Rhoda, went to see who it was and when she recognized Peter's voice, she ran back to tell the others and left Peter outside the gate. Peter kept knocking and finally they opened the gate. Peter told them everything that happened, how the angel rescued him from jail. In the morning there was a huge commotion at the jail. Herod killed the guards, then he went to Caesarea. One day Herod was giving a speech and the people said it wasn't a man speaking but a god, and an angel of the Lord struck Herod down because he did not give honor to God. He was eaten by worms and died. The church grew and Barnabas and Saul finished their mission and took John Mark with them.
In Antioch Barnabas and Saul were fasting and praying with a small group and the Holy Spirit told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work He had called them to do. They prayed, fasted, placed their hands on them and sent them off. They sailed to Cypress and preached from one end of the island to the other. There, they met a sorcerer who claimed to be a prophet, but he was up to no good. He was friends with the governor. The governor wanted to hear the word of God, so he was listening to what Barnabas and Saul had to say, except that his friend, the sorcerer was trying to turn him from the faith. Saul --or Paul-- rebuked him and he became blind. When the governor saw this, he believed. From there, they sailed to Perga. John Mark went home to Jerusalem. On the Sabbath, they went into the synagogue and were invited to speak words of encouragement to the people. They told the story of Jesus and about resurrection, and forgiveness of sin. The people invited them back again the next Sabbath. When the Jewish leaders saw that everyone in town wanted to hear them they got jealous and disputed what Paul was saying. Paul told them that since they rejected the word, they would preach to the Gentiles (who were thrilled about it.) The Jews got the leaders to start a persecution campaign against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of the city. They shook the dust off their feet from that town. They went to Iconium. The believers in Antioch were joyful and full of the Holy Spirit.
Tomorrow read Acts 14-16:10
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