Derbe

"And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia.

Also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia.

These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas." Now, these two verses are one of those little sections of the Bible that we often avoid, or we even skip over, because to us it just seems like a list of names, and most of those names are hard to pronounce.

Yet we believe that every line of God's Word is not only inspired by Him, but it's also a gift from Him, and there's some kind of treasure in every line of the Bible if we'll only look for it.

Barnabas went to Cyprus with Mark while Paul chose Silas as his new companion.

Paul and Silas strengthened the churches in Syria and Cilicia, before heading to Derbe and later to Lystra.

In Lystra they met Timothy, a young disciple whose mother was a Jewish convert and whose father was Greek.

Impressed by his faith and the respect he inspired in the local communities, Paul wished for Timothy to join them.

There was a plot afoot among both Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to ill-treat them and stone them.

But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country, where they continued to preach the gospel.

In Lystra there sat a man who was lame.

He had been that way from birth and had never walked.

They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.

The next day, he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.

We refer to them as 1 and 2 Timothy.

So Paul... meets Timothy when he comes into this area of Derbe and Lystra on one of his missionary journeys.

So in Acts chapter 16, verses 1 through 5, this is the story of...

Paul's meeting Timothy and then enlisting him to become part of his ministry team.

So let me just read a few verses here from Acts chapter 16, verses one through five.

You don't need to turn there.

So he came, Paul, to Lystra, to Derbe and Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was a Greek.

He was well spoken of by the brothers and sisters in Iconium.

"Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.

However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and he went into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe." Paul and Barnabas went from city to city in the Roman provinces of Asia Minor, what is today modern-day Turkey.

They preached the good news of Jesus Christ, and when people responded, they started congregations.

Along the way, they faced a lot of opposition.

Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.

But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch.

There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.