Annalong Presbyterian Church Podcasts APC Podcasts

Part 6 of our teaching on church history. This week we look at Patrick, the Apostle of Ulster.
The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.

Part 5 of our teaching on church history. This week we look at Emperor Constantine.
The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.

Throughout the history of God's people place has been important. The gospel is grounded in history and as such it not only works in the lives of people, but uses places to bring about the circumstances for gospel growth. One such place is Caesarea Maritima. It is from this Roman port city that Pontius Pilate ruled Judea. It was to this city that Paul fled in safety before heading on to Tarsus. And it was in this city that the Roman ruler Diocletian persecuted the church and the library of Christian teaching it was building.
Place continues to matter to us. The gospel works in where we find ourselves today, as well as providing opportunity for gospel growth in the future. Learning from Caesarea Maritima demonstrates God's continued gospel initiative in brining people to himself through time and place.
The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.
The podcast was recorded using Ecamm Live. Start your free trial at https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/?fp_ref=david97.

In part 3 of our series we return to Rome and see how the early Christians survived persecution. Looking at how the church responded to the arrest of Peter in Acts 12, we that the early church continued the practice of gathering together when persecution came and encouraging one another in prayer and the Word of God. Not being able to meet in public places or in private homes, the believers met in the one place the citizens of Rome would never go, the Catacombs.
Under Rome lies a network of catacombs into which the Romans buried their dead. But the Romans hated death and so they outsourced this work to slaves. No upstanding Roman would be found in the catacombs, so the Christians could meet freely. When Christianity became the faith of the Empire under Emperor Constantine the Christians then were buried also in the Catacombs. Their gravestones tell of their faith and strong belief. One doctrine that was important to them was that of the Trinity.
This doctrine had been one of great controversy through the first centuries of the church and wasn't settled until 325 and the Council of Nicaea. But in the first century it was Pope Clement I who began the development of the Trinity and how it works. Being the Bishop of Rome it then makes sense why this was so important to the early believers and a doctrine developed for our benefit today.
The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.
The podcast was recorded using Ecamm Live. Start your free trial at https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/?fp_ref=david97.
Video and Handout

In part 2 of The Life of the Church we travel to the French city of Lyon. Throughout the 2nd Century the officials in Lyon persecuted the church. Christians would be taken and imprisoned. This official persecution led the populous of Lyon taking matters into their own hands and go after their neighbours who were Christians. The problem for Lyon was that this was against the current practice of the Empire. By AD170 persecution was limited to small pockets and wasn't sustained for any length of time. But in Lyon the Roman official went after the church in what can be described as severe persecution.
The Christians stood firm, but a total of 48 were martyred for their faith. The church historian Eusebius records this in his book The History of the Church. In his record he speaks of a young man named Irenaeus who was from Smyrna. He was a disciple of Polycarp and Polycarp ordained him an elder. He took the plight of the persecuted Christians to Rome in the hope of appealing directly to Caesar. We don't know if he was successful in this hope, but when he returned to Lyon he discovered the 48 Christians had already been martyred.
But Irenaeus wasn't going to stop. He was appointed Bishop of Lyon and led the church until his martyrdom in AD202. During his ministry he stood firm against gnosticism, those who believed that there was a secret knowledge to becoming a Christian. Irenaeus refuted this and held to the truths of the gospel, that salvation was for everyone. For us today, we stand on this truth knowing the full truth of the gospel and the freedom it brings to everyone.
The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.
The podcast was recorded using Ecamm Live. Start your free trial at https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/?fp_ref=david97.
Video and Handout

As the Acts of the Apostles draws to a close we can be left asking what happens next. Our studies in early church history begin with two disciples of the Apostle John. From the Revelation we know that John was imprisoned on the island of Patmos. But the ministry of the gospel continues in Antioch and Smyrna with Ignatius and Polycarp, two church leaders who had been discipled by John.
Ignatius came from Ephesus and became the bishop of Antioch. He led the church to take its stand against those who questioned the deity of Christ. There were those who were teaching that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were figurative than actual. This questioned the gospel message. Ignatius took his stand and defended the truth of the gospel, a truth we stand on today.
Polycarp lived in Smyrna and led the church there into his 80s. Polycarp stands out in church history as the first Christmas to have their persecution documented. He showed grace to the end and would not recant his faith. He was burned at the stake, but his strong defence of the gospel has comforted and strengthen Christmas martyrs throughout the generations.
The Life of the Church - Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. For videos and handouts visit www.annalongpc.org/midweek.
The podcast was recorded using Ecamm Live. Start your free trial at https://www.ecamm.com/mac/ecammlive/?fp_ref=david97.
Video and Handout