Acts 16:1-12

1Paul travelled to Derbe and then he arrived in Lystra. A man called Timothy lived in Lystra. He was a believer. His mother was a Jew who had become a believer in Jesus. But Timothy's father was a Gentile who came from Greece.

2All the believers in Lystra and Iconium said good things about Timothy.

3Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him to different places. All the Jews in that region knew that Timothy's father was a Gentile. So Paul circumcised Timothy, so that the Jews would accept him.

4Paul, Silas and Timothy travelled through many towns. In each place, they told the believers the things that the apostles and the other leaders in Jerusalem had decided. They told the believers to obey those rules.

5In this way, the groups of believers in those towns became stronger. They trusted Jesus more. More and more people joined the groups of believers every day.

6Paul and his friends wanted to go to the region of Asia to speak God's message. But the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing this. So they travelled through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia.

7Then they arrived at the edge of the region of Mysia. They wanted to go from there into the region of Bithynia. But the Holy Spirit of Jesus stopped them from going there too.

8So they went quickly through Mysia and they arrived at the city of Troas, on the coast.

9During that night, Paul had a vision. In the vision, he saw a man from the region called Macedonia. The man stood there and he said to Paul, ‘Please, please come across the sea to Macedonia and help us.’

10After Paul's vision, we immediately prepared ourselves for the journey to Macedonia. We decided that God was telling us to go there. He wanted us to tell the people there the good news about Jesus.

11We got in a ship at Troas and we sailed across the sea. We went across to an island called Samothrace. The next day, we continued our journey to a port called Neapolis.

12We then travelled across the land to Philippi, the most important city in the region of Macedonia. The Romans ruled Philippi and many Roman people lived there. We stayed there for a few days.