77 Paul with Timothy

Paul's next stop is in Lystra where he meets a Christian named Timothy. Timothy's dad was Greek, which means he was never circumcised, so Paul goes ahead and asks him to have it done. Paul thinks it will strengthen their cause with the Jews they'll meet in their upcoming travels. Paul, Silas, and Timothy travel around the eastern part of the Roman Empire spreading the word and winning converts. One night, Paul has a vision telling him to head to Macedonia. So off he goes. In Macedonia, Paul meets a wealthy Gentile woman named Lydia who promptly decides that she and everyone who lives in her house will be baptized after talking with Paul. Lydia invites Paul and company to stay with her. One day, Paul and friends meet a slave girl who has a gift for fortune-telling. In fact, her owners make a lot of money from her gift (not what I would call a gift tho). Every time the disciples pass by her, she yells that they are servants of God who could point you to salvation. Even though this description is accurate, Paul is pretty annoyed by the constant yelling. He orders the fortune-telling spirit to come out of her and, just like that, it's gone. Not surprisingly, the owners of the girl aren't too happy. They were making some cash money off that girl's possession. They drag Paul and Silas in front of the Roman magistrates and tell them that the two are nothing more than Jewish rebels. The magistrates have them stripped, beaten with rods, and thrown in jail. At midnight, while Paul and Silas are praying in their cell, there's an earthquake. All the cell doors open and the chains fall off the prisoners. God has arranged another prison break.

When the jailer wakes up and sees that all the cells are opened he takes out his sword so that he can kill himself for letting prisoners escape on his watch. Paul tells him that they're still there and that he should hold off on killing himself. The jailer is so impressed by the two men that he decides to believe in Jesus, too. The jailer takes Paul and Silas to his house and treats their wounds. Everyone in the whole house decides to believe in God. The next morning, the magistrates send word to the jailer to let Paul and Silas go. But Paul, who seems to be feeling a little over-confident after the whole earthquake prison break, tells them no way. After all, Paul says, we're Roman citizens and you beat and humiliated us in public. You do not treat a Roman citizen that way. The magistrates come and apologize to each of them personally.

Paul and Silas head back to Lydia's house with their heads held high. Paul and Silas visit Thessalonica, and immediately upon arrival they rush to the synagogue to start arguing that Jesus is the Messiah. Some Jews and Gentiles are persuaded, but another group of Jewish naysayers is not having it. They form a mob and hunt down Paul and Silas, as usual. The naysayers are claiming that Paul and company are preaching against the Roman Emperor. After all, they are saying that Jesus is King. The emperor might not be too thrilled about that. Paul and Silas leave town and head to Beroea. The Jews and Gentiles are way warmer and friendlier there, and they enjoy listening to Paul's preaching. The Jews from Thessalonica find out that Paul is in Beroea though, and they head on over. The Christians in town send Paul to Athens, where he'll be (a little) safer. When he arrives, Paul is pretty sad to see that the whole city is covered in idols. Naturally, again he goes to the synagogue to start arguing with everyone about Jesus. Paul is very consistent. He moves on to the marketplace and starts to engage some of the non-Jewish Greeks in the crowd.

He gives a sermon that's one part biblical and one part Greek philosophy. Paul tells the citizens of Athens that they are obviously very religious (they have all those idols hanging around, after all), but God is the one who created the whole world and who should actually be worshiped. Oh yeah, and He also sent a guy (Jesus) who will lead the way—a guy who died, but was raised from the dead. The Athenians are intrigued and tell him that they'd like to hear more. Some even become believers because Paul is good. Paul leaves Athens, heads over to Corinth, and meets a Jewish couple named Aquila and Priscilla who have just been kicked out of Rome. The couple happens to be tentmakers (like Paul), so the three of them work together making tents and enjoying the sights in Corinth. Every time the Sabbath rolls around, Paul heads over to the synagogue to start telling everyone about Jesus. In the meantime, Silas and Timothy meet up with him from Macedonia. Paul isn't making any headway with the Corinthian Jews, so he decides to go talk to the Gentiles in town. Paul has better luck among the Gentiles and manages to convert lots of people. One night, God speaks to Paul in a vision and tells him not to worry. Corinth is a safe place for him because there are lots of sympathetic Christians hanging around. God is right. Corinth is so safe that Paul stays there for a year and a half.

Later, some of the Jews drag Paul off to the Roman governor, Gallio. But Gallio doesn't think much of their concerns. He basically tells them to figure it out themselves because the Christians aren't breaking any Roman laws. Priscilla And Aquila Take The Reins. Finally, Paul leaves Corinth and heads for Ephesus with Priscilla and Aquila. He leaves the couple in Ephesus, and travels on to various places. In Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila run into a Jewish-Christian guy named Apollos. Apollos is really into Jesus and speaks pretty well, but a couple things he says about baptism aren't exactly right. So Priscilla and Aquila pull him aside and explain where he's going wrong. The newly-schooled Apollos heads to Corinth to help out there.

After this, Paul comes back to Ephesus. When he arrives, he runs into a dozen followers of Jesus who don't even know what the Holy Spirit is. Paul helps them understand and then baptizes them in the name of Jesus. Then he lays his hands on them and they get the Holy Spirit and start to speak in tongues and prophecize. Paul keeps on preaching about Jesus in the synagogues around Ephesus. Some people are into it and some are pretty dead set against him. But Paul's got the power. He stays in Ephesus for two years and manages to convert and heal alot of people. One day, there are some random Jewish exorcists who are trying to cast out evil spirits in Jesus's name. The evil spirit is unimpressed. It tells the men that it knows Jesus and it knows Paul, but who are you guys again? The man who's possessed attacks them and runs them out of the house. After this, lots of people who practice magic (the kind that doesn't come from God) repent of their evil ways and start following Jesus. Paul decides that's he's ready for another trip. He plans to go through Macedonia, Achaia, Jerusalem, and then onto Rome.

Paul sends Timothy and Erastus ahead of him and stays back in Ephesus. Good thing too, Crisis breaks out. There's an Ephesian named Demetrius who worked as a silversmith. His main job was to make statutes of Artemis (Idol Statues). Since Paul started preaching about Jesus, production has been down. Demetrius gathers some other silversmiths together and they wring their hands about the danger this poses to their industry (oh, and to the proper worship of the goddess). The men start shouting, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians" and they drag two of Paul's companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, into a huge theater. It's chaos. Paul wants to try to calm things down, but his friends urge him to stay away. The people are all shouting and carrying on. Some of them don't even know why they're there. Some of the Jews try to have a man named Alexander come forward to silence the crowd, but he doesn't have any luck. Two hours of chanting follows. Finally the town clerk gets everyone to quiet down. Look, he tells them. Everyone knows how great Artemis is. No one is disputing that. These Christians aren't some crazy criminals or blasphemers, so what's the big deal? If anyone wants to try to take them to court, go ahead. Otherwise, people need to shut up about it.

Surprisingly this works and the crowd goes on its way. After all the craziness dies down, Paul leaves town to travel a bit more. He winds up in Philippi, where he celebrates Passover with his travelling friends. One day, Paul is discussing stuff with his companions and keeps going on until midnight. A guy named Eutychus dozes off during his speech and falls out a third-story window.. Everyone thinks Eutychus has died , but when Paul goes down to check out the body, he tells everyone not to worry. He is dead, Luke, a medical doctor and eyewitness to this incident, plainly states that Eutychus was dead. Luke, a medical doctor and eyewitness to this incident, plainly states that Eutychus was dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” Then Paul goes back upstairs and keeps talking until the sun comes up. Paul leaves town. On his way to Jerusalem, he meets with the church elders in Ephesus He tells them that he has faithfully served God (even when times got tough). Now he's on his way to Jerusalem and the Ephesian Christians will never see him again. He tells them to stay strong after he's gone, remember everything he taught them about Jesus, and not to let anyone tell them otherwise. Paul explains that he never took charity and always supported himself because he could. He quotes Jesus's words, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Naturally, this speech bums everyone out ….Paul gets on a ship and starts the journey toward Jerusalem. The group stops in a bunch of ports and are well-received by various Christians before arriving in Caesarea. Upon arrival, Paul meets with Philip (who was one of the seven that was appointed by the apostles).