Acts 6:8:

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.

Notes on Acts 6:8:

Stephen is an interesting case study.  He was appointed to wait on tables, but we know that he was full of faith and power.  He was what we would probably call a deacon today.  The apostles had assigned him no explicitly spiritual responsibilities.  Yet he did great wonders and miracles among the people!

This is proof that ministering healing could not have been only for the apostles, because Stephen was never an apostle and he did great wonders and miracles!  If you want to be in the ministry just because you want to do signs and wonders, you want to be a minister for the wrong reason, because laypeople such as Stephen can do signs and wonders, too.  (You don’t enter the ministry unless you know that God has called you to it and other believers bear witness with your calling and separate you to that ministry.)

How did Stephen get his great faith so that he walked in great power?  We know that faith comes by hearing God’s Word; therefore, Stephen must have been a man of the Word.  You don’t have to speculate about it; read Stephen’s speech at his trial in Acts 7.  Stephen obviously knew the Old Testament quite well, even though it wasn’t distributed to the masses in those days.

If you are a layperson, you can still do great wonders and miracles.  Be a person of the Word and of the Spirit, and prepare for God to use you mightily!

The verse says that STEPHEN did wonders and miracles, not that God did.  Obviously, God used Stephen, but Jesus said that WE would do the works that He did.  Stephen was just one of “those who believed on Jesus” – he was living proof that ANY believer can do the works of Jesus, including YOU!

See also:

YOU Can Do Miracles
Objection: Acts 8 Proves That the Apostles Had Unique Powers
Objection: Christ’s Command to HEAL THE SICK Stopped Before the Cross and Has Never Been Repeated Since Then, Even in Other New Testament Writings
Objection: We Cannot Expect to Heal as Jesus Did Because We Are Not the Son of God
Objection: We Cannot Heal as Jesus Did Because He Had the Spirit Without Measure, While We Have the Spirit Given by Measure
Objection: Christ’s Disciples Were Told to Heal EVERYONE.  No One Does This Today, So We Cannot Say We Have the Same Authority They Did.
Objection: “The Acts of the Apostles” Does Not Show Rank-and-File People Doing Miracles
Objection: Hebrews 2:3-4 Puts Signs and Wonders in the Past Tense, Showing That They Had Ceased Before Hebrews Was Written