Acts 6:8-10

⁸Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.

⁹Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen,

¹⁰but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

Stephen

a man full of God's grace & power

It could not have been easy for the disciples of the early church. Their opposition was intense against the Jewish rulers who had held the authoritative position amongst the people from the time of Moses, generation after generation knew that the Jews were the chosen people of God. Times were a changing, thousands were listening to the "Good News" for ALL men, and the church was growing rapidly.

Stephen, having received the power of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands by Peter, became a new threat to the Jews.

You see Peter had the Power of the Holy Spirit within him. It was not he who was speaking, rather it was God himself using Stephen as his vessel. It says that the religious leaders could not stand up to his wisdom, and I could only imagine the fire in their eyes as they argued with Stephen.