We have enjoyed, as followers of Jesus, unprecedented freedom that most Christians throughout the world as well as history have never known. It would be naïve to think this unusual freedom will last forever, so how do we sustain faith in an increasingly hostile world? We can look to the example of the martyrs who stood up for their faith, even unto death. In Acts 6:1-8:4, we see how the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr who was stoned for preaching Jesus, led to the spread of the Gospel across the known world.