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¹ Just like before, Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish church in Iconium, and God spoke through them so powerfully that many Jews and Greeks became believers. ² But there were some hard-headed Jews who refused to believe and they riled up some of the mavericks in the area and poisoned their minds against the two cowboys. ³ So Paul and Barnabas camped there for quite some time. They preached boldly about how to ride for God's outfit, and God proved what they were saying was right by allowing them to do some great signs and amazing feats. ⁴ The whole town was split in two. Half sided with the hard-headed scoffers and the other half with the cowboys. ⁵ There was even an assassination plot by some unbelieving Jews and mavericks to stone them to death. ⁶ They caught wind of it though and hightailed it south down to Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding ranches. ⁷ It was there they preached the good news.

Derbe and Lystra

⁸ While in Lystra, Paul and Barnabas found a man who had been crippled since birth and had never been able to walk. He was sitting there ⁹ and listening to some mighty good preaching and Paul saw the man had faith enough to be healed. ¹⁰ So Paul hollered at him and told him to get up. The man jumped to his feet and started walking for the first time.

¹¹ Now, this sure started a ruckus. The people there were amazed and started shouting, "These are gods in the form of cowboys!" ¹² They reckoned Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and Paul was Hermes since he's the one who did most of the talking. ¹³ The temple of Zeus was just outside of town. The priests there got some bulls and flowers and started preparing a sacrifice and a shindig in honor of the two cowboys.

¹⁴ But when the cowboys, Paul and Barnabas, realized what was happening, they tore their hats from their heads, threw them down, and said, ¹⁵ "Amigos! What in the world are y'all doing? We ain't gods. We're just a couple of cowboys sent to gather the strays for the Boss with the good news. Quit paying attention to statues made by human hands and bow down and worship the living God. He made the heavens and the seas and everything in 'em. ¹⁶ Up until recently, God had let folks go their own ways, ¹⁷ but he never did so without showing them how much he loved them. He sent down the rain for crops, cattle for food, and smiles for your ugly mugs." ¹⁸ Even with these words, Paul and Barnabas had a heck of a time turning the stampede that wanted to sacrifice to them.

¹⁹ Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and talked the crowd into turning on Paul. They pelted him with rocks until they thought he was dead and then drug him outside the city like a dog that had been run over in the street. ²⁰ All the believers gathered around him after the crowd left and Paul got to his feet and went right back in the city like a boss. The next day, Paul and Barnabas struck a long trot for Derbe.

Headed Back to Antioch in Syria

²¹ After gathering many strays in Derbe, Paul and Barnabas headed back the way they'd come. They went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. ²² On their way through, they stopped and checked with all the cowboys who had started riding for God. They encouraged them to be strong and faithful. They reminded them it ain't easy to cowboy for God's outfit and there would be hard times gathering remnants out of the brush. ²³ Paul and Barnabas appointed some jigger bosses over every group of believers to help them and guide them. They all prayed so hard they didn't eat and then turned the jigger bosses over to the Lord's guidance. ²⁴ With a wave goodbye, they continued down the trail through Pisidia to Pamphylia. ²⁵ They did some gathering in Perga and then headed down to Attalia.

²⁶ Finally, they got on a boat and headed back to Antioch in Syria where they'd first began their journey. The believers in Antioch had trusted these two cowboys to go out and gather remnants and lean on the grace of God. ²⁷ When they got back to Antioch, they called all the cowboys in the outfit there together and told them about everything that had happened. They were especially excited about telling them how God opened the gate to his outfit and let mavericks in too. ²⁸ And they put their saddles in the tack room and stayed there a long time.