Acts 11-The Christians at Antioch

In Christian history, apart from Jerusalem, no other city of the Roman Empire played as large a part in the life of the early church as Antioch of Syria. It was the home base of Paul's outreach to the eastern half of the empire. It was the place believers were first named "Christians." It was the place where the dispute about whether the Gentile converts had to be circumcised or not and other Jewish customs arose. It was the birthplace of foreign missions (13:2). And it had among its teachers – Barnabas, Paul, and Peter in the first century; Ignatius and Theophilis in the 2nd century; and Lucian, Theodore, and Chrysostum at the end of the third century. Continuing verse by verse. 40 min. MercySeat.net "For there is no spirit of liberty of independence in them to lift up their voices against the powers of the world. No valor to protect the truth in time of danger. So long as they prosper in their own concerns, so long as they realize the objects of their ambition or avarice, they hold in small account the loss of the things of Jesus Christ." -John of Salisbury, Policraticus 1159 AD, speaking of the churchmen of his day - which is strikingly similar to the churchmen of our day.