About this episode

William Klock discusses the importance of the story leading to Jesus as presented in Acts 7:1-16.

Telling the Story: Part 1 Acts 7:1-16 by William Klock   Last Sunday, in Acts 6, we saw Stephen confronted as he preached in the synagogue. We don’t know exactly what he was preaching, but from the accusations that were made against him, he was—of course—preaching that Jesus is the Messiah, but must also have been talking about the way in which Jesus and the Spirit fulfil God’s promises to Israel, the law and the prophets, the torah and the temple. We can surmise that, because what they accuse him of is saying blasphemous things against God in general and specifically against Moses. They accuse him of saying that Jesus will destroy the temple and change the customs that Moses had handed down to them. We can surmise this, too, because this is what we’ve been hearing Peter preach in the earlier parts of Acts. Never in the early church do we see the apostles or anyone else just launching into a sermon about Jesus. They always and consistently preach Jesus as part of the story of the God of Israel and his people. That’s important. In fact, it’s critical; it’s essential. Leave out the story that leads to Jesus and you just may lose Jesus himself. That’s what happened with Marcion…

People in this episode

Host: William Klock

Topics covered

• Acts
• Stephen
• Jesus as Messiah
• Old Testament
• Early Church
• Heresy

Keywords

• Acts 7
• Stephen
• Jesus
• Old Testament
• Heresy
• Marcion
• Early Church

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: the church

Books & works: Acts

More episodes of Living Words

• Telling the Story: Part 2 · July 19, 2026
• The Face of an Angel · July 5, 2026
• But if it’s from God… · June 28, 2026
• They Boldly Spoke the Word of God · June 21, 2026
• Excuses, excuses: The Parable of the Banquet · June 14, 2026

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