Paul and his group traveled all through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, looking for a place to stop and preach the word. But the Holy Spirit didn’t let them stop there, or farther west in the province of Asia, either.
After Paul had spent some time there, he set out once again and traveled throughout Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples in those regions.
A man from Cyrene named Simon (he’s the father of Alexander and Rufus) was coming in from the country. When he went past the soldiers who were leading Jesus away, they stopped him and forced him to carry the cross.
The brothers and sisters there had heard we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God for them, and they encouraged him.
There he met a Jew named Aquila, who was originally from Pontus. Aquila had recently moved from Italy with his wife Priscilla after the emperor Claudius ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers. Among them were Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius from Cyrene, and Manaen, who’d been brought up with Herod, the ruler of Galilee. Saul was among them too.
But members of a group called the Synagogue of the Freedmen began to oppose him. Some of them were Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria. Others were Jews from Cilicia and Asia. They all began to argue with Stephen.
This plan pleased everyone. They chose Stephen, a man who was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. They also chose Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, who was a convert to the Jewish faith.
They all stayed there until King Herod died. This made the words that the Lord had spoken through the prophet come true: “I called my son out of Egypt.”
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You travel by land and sea to win one person to your way of living, but then you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Some of us were Jewish by birth, while others have converted to the Jewish faith. There are even Cretans and Arabs here. We all hear these people speaking about God’s wonders in our own languages!”