Disciple Stephen was the first Christian martyr. He was stoned by the envious Jewish religious leaders; A great persecution against the newly forming Christian church began buy the Jewish religious authorities; the disciples of the risen Jesus were spreading the message of Jesus everywhere they could; one of the greatest Jewish persecutors of the newly forming church, the Pharisee Saul, had an encounter on the road to Damascus with the risen Jesus. Saul realized this Jesus he was wrongly persecuting was in fact God, and Saul's name was changed to Paul and he became the greatest apostle of Jesus and responsible for the writing of approximately 40 percent of the New Testament and did more than anyone else to spread the message of Jesus around the world. END OF THE PODCAST SERIES 'THE GOSPEL.

Three thousand people became followers of Jesus at one time due to Peter's preaching; the apostles were now performing signs and wonders in Jesus's name; the believers in Jesus helped and supported eachother and their numbers grew daily; Peter heal a man crippled from birth; Peter strongly preaches about Jesus to everyone; As the followers of Jesus grew due to the apostles preaching, Peter and John were imprisoned for preaching about Jesus. With the Holy Spirit in him, Peter strongly preached about Jesus to the religious leaders that had Jesus crucified; the religious leaders warn the apostles to stop preaching about Jesus but the apostles refuse to stop preaching about Him; as the apostles were praying, the place they were at shook and they were filled with the Holy Spirit; Peter healed the sick and cast our impure spirits; the high priest and Saducees put the apostles in jail for speaking about Jesus, but an angel freed them from jail and sent them back to preach about Jesus; the apostles were rounded up again and ordered not to preach about Jesus, but the apostles refused to stop preaching; the apostles were flogged for preaching about Jesus and the apostles rejoiced because they were found worthy to suffer for Jesus.

After Jesus died, Joseph of Arimathea buried Him. On the third day, followers of Jesus found His tomb empty. Two angels and Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene at Jesus's empty tomb. Jesus appeared to His disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. The risen Jesus performed many signs in front of His disciples. The risen Jesus asked Peter three times if he loves Him. Jesus told Peter that one day Peterwould also be crucified to glorify God. John testifies that Jesus did many more things than was written in the Bible. THE BOOK OF ACTS: The risen Jesus was taken back up into heaven in front of His disciples. The Holy Spirit came to the disciples at Pentecost, and they began to speak in different languages. With the power of the Holy Spirit in him, Peter began to preach about Jesus to the people around him.