Acts chapter six and seven, as I've been mentioning in our journey through the book of Acts,

if you've been here, the book of Acts is somewhat like a book of firsts, because it introduces

us to some things for the very first time. In chapter one, we have the first time that ministry

was entrusted completely to men and women after Christ ascended back into heaven.

In chapter two, the first time that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon all flesh.

First time the gifts of the Spirit were in operation.

First time that an evangelical message was preached.

And the first time that converts got saved in the early church. In chapter three, it's the first miracle of the early church, the healing of a lame man. In chapter four, we looked at the first

opposition to the early church by the critics and the skeptics and the unbelievers.

Last week in chapter five, we looked at a very sobering passage, the first

judgment of the early church when God took out Anonais and Safira for their sin of lying and

deceiving. Today we're going to look at chapter six and seven. It's the first martyr of the

early church. His name is Stephen.

Stephen was one of the seven original deacons that were hand-selected by the apostles

to help with the daily ministry as the needs of the early church started to increase.

You know, the church grew numerically, but where you had numerical growth, you also

had growth in human need. And the apostles wanted to devote themselves to the word of God

and prayer, but they didn't want people to be neglected. So they raised up deacons. The Greek word

is diaconos. It means literally a minister or a servant. The early church selected deacons. The Greek word is Diaconos. It means literally a minister or a servant.

The early church selected deacons.

They were not intended, and still today,

deacons are not intended to be part of the leadership of a church,

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