Acts 2:46-47 - And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 6:1 - Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists[a] arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

Problems are normal! Problems from within the church can divide the church more than problems from outside the church.

Colossians 3:11 - Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Take a normal step. Like the early church, we’re to ask the Holy Spirit to help identify and solve the problem.

Acts 6:2 - And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

The real problem is a lack of leadership, ministry development that involves helping people identify their gifts and serve others.

Acts 6:3-6 - Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

By the work of the Holy Spirit, they selected and empowered people to serve others.

Ephesians 4:11-13 - And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Acts 6:8-13b - And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council,13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law,

Ephesians 6:11-12 - Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Here, the real problem is spiritual opposition. At times, because of our faith in Christ, we’ll all face opposition.

Stephen stands firm and serves faithfully under difficult and opposing circumstances.

God calls us to be faithful wherever He has us, despite the opposition or difficulty we face.