You mean like Paul? The way you talk, you would have given up on Paul. And Paul's example shows that it seems only God determines who believes and who doesn't (after all, faith is salvific and therefore must come from God). So, again, what does preaching accomplish, except maybe test the preacher's own faith?
Stephen’s indictment of the leaders of the Jews was that “they always resist the Holy Spirit.” God eventually opened the heart of one of them that day, Paul, and others remained closed.
Opening his heart did little for Paul's conversion. According to the Bible, that happened when Paul was "struck" and knocked into believing on the way to Damascus.
Stephen finished his message to all of those folks and spoke to them no more. God provided the increase.
You think Stephen had to die just so God could convert Paul? LOL.
No, I think Stephen’s preaching to them stopped. It’s a good illustration that the Word is the seed, not our eloquence, persistence, or intelligence. God can use all those things, but this story demonstrates that they are not the issue.
You continue to ignore biblical directives that Christians are not bound to perpetuate futility with resistant non-believers or believers.
If those are the instructions, then it cannot be a violation of the “love” the bible talks about to follow those instructions.
I suspect you’d like it to be a violation due to your incessant need to throw unbelief at believers. I don’t know if that’s to assuage your own doubts, to attempt to undermine their faith, or because you’re bothered by loneliness...or something else. Nonetheless, it is not a violation of biblical love.