Acts 16:1-18:11

After Paul and Barnabas had returned to Antioch with the letter from the elders in Jerusalem, Paul takes Silas with the intention of visiting the people they had let to Christ in Asia Minor, first going to Derbe and Lystra, which marks the beginning of Paul’s second missionary journey.  It was there that they met Timothy, who was a young man of good report, and who began traveling with Paul from that point.  They traveled to various places in Asia Minor, but nothing was happening, until Paul received a vision of a man in Macedonia (Greece), who was asking them to come there.  So Paul and his party immediately traveled there, stopping first in the city of Philippi.  Paul and Silas were imprisoned, but God saved his jailer, and all of his household through that experience.  The Philippian magistrates ultimately let Paul and Silas go, but only after (essentially) apologizing for having them beaten, since it was not lawful for them to do that to Roman citizens without a court ruling.  Thus, the church of Philippi was started.

They then traveled to Thessalonica, where many believed as Paul preached for 2-3 weeks before being thrown out of the city by an angry mob of Jews.  Still in Macedonia, they traveled to Berea, where others also believed, and the Bereans proved to be solid believers, testing the things Paul said against the scriptures.  However, it wasn’t long before he left Berea (ahead of Timothy and Silas) and went to Athens, as the angry Jews were beginning to follow him around.

While Paul was waiting in Athens for Timothy and Silas to catch up to him, he started reasoning with any who would listen, as the city was full of temples to false gods.  They even had a monument to the “unknown god”, which gave Paul a great opportunity to explain to the Greek philosophers that He knew who that God was, and that He was the One Who made all things.  The Greeks were intrigued by the things he said, but they were mostly just interested in hearing new things to discuss.