The Message of Acts

As I read the Book of Acts, four key components stand out: the agency of the Spirit, the proclamation of the kingdom, the means of the Word and prayer, and the movement of gospel advancement.

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1. The Holy Spirit is the agent of gospel advancement.

All through Acts, the Holy Spirit is the one acting, and Gospel advancement follows.

In Acts 1, Christ commands the disciples to wait until the arrival of the Holy Spirit. When he comes – and only then – the disciples will receive power to be witnesses (1:8).
In Acts 2, the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit, and begin to witness (2:4). Peter begins to preach boldly.
In Acts 4, the disciples pray for boldness in the midst of persecution. Then they are filled with the Spirit and speak the Word with boldness (4:31).
In Acts 8, the Spirit commands Philip to join the Ethiopian eunuch, then miraculously carries him away.
In Acts 10, the Spirit sends the men from Cornelius to get Peter (10:19-20).
In Acts 13, the Spirit commands the leaders to separate Barnabas and Saul for a special calling and send them on their missionary journey.
In Acts 16, the same Spirit also forbids Paul and Barnabus from speaking the word in Asia (16:6) because his plan was to send them to Macedonia.

The Holy Spirit sovereingly enables for witness, emboldens, guides, calls, and directs.

Learning about the Spirit gives us encouragement to pray and ask for the Spirit’s enablement, boldness, and guidance. God’s people must be Spirit-filled or Spirit-controlled. The Spirit who is sovereign calls missionaries to serve and yet forbids them to preach in certain places. We are not placed in a certain neighborhood, school, office, or grocery store by accident! We acknowledge that He sovereignly places us to be witnesses for Christ.

2. The Proclamation of the Kingdom is the primary message.

Acts begins and ends with kingdom proclamation. For forty days, Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God (1:3). This made the disciples long for the restoration of the kingdom. Jesus said that it was not time for that yet, but it was a time for bearing witness (1:8). Disciples of Jesus don’t usher in the kingdom; they proclaim the kingdom until Jesus comes back. At the end of Acts, Luke summarizes what Paul was proclaiming:

He [Paul] lived there two whole years…proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” (Acts 28:30–31).

Proclaiming the kingdom means testifying about the King who died and rose again.

Peter preached, “God has made him [Jesus] both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (2:36; cf. 3:13–16).
The disciples “were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (4:1–2, 12).
Paul reasoned with the Jews, “explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead” (17:2–3, cf. 30–31).
Paul reasoned in another synagogue (at Ephesus), “reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God” (19:8).

Is this a contradiction? Sometimes Paul’s message is that Jesus had to die and rise from the dead. Then other times, he reasons and argues about the “kingdom of God.” No, Paul’s message is one and the same. The message of the kingdom is the message of good news about the King, Jesus, who died and rose again. Those who will repent and believe in him will be part of his kingdom.

Greg Gilbert summarizes the kingdom of God like this:

“The kingdom of God…simply defined, is God’s redemptive rule, reign, and authority over those redeemed by Jesus. . . . Paul talks about Christians transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:12– 13), and he is very careful to point out that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9).” – Greg Gilbert, What is the Gospel? 88.

This is the message we want to proclaim and make clear in our city. We also want to identify who are the ones who belong to the King and profess his lordship so they may be strengthened. Finally, we want to raise up men who will teach, proclaim, defend, and guard this good news.

3. The Word and Prayer are the primary means for gospel advancement.

The Word

From the beginning of Acts, we see the importance of declaring the Word of God:

Peter preached at Pentecost (ch. 2) and outside the temple (ch. 3)
Stephen preached a long sermon in ch. 7.
Acts 8:4 says, “those who were scattered went about preaching the Word.”
The church in Antioch began through the men of Cyprus and Cyrene preaching the Lord Jesus (ch. 11).
Paul preached at the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia where “the whole city gathered to heard the word of the Lord” (ch. 13).

In addition to preaching, we also read about one-to-one Bible reading. Philip read Isaiah with the Ethiopian eunuch (8:26). Aquila and Priscilla read the Scriptures with Apollos in ch. 18.

Prayer

We show our obedience to God when we proclaim the Word, but we also show our trust in God when we pray, realizing that it is God who ultimately converts and grows his people. We see this in Acts:

The disciples prayed in the Upper Room for the Spirit to arrive (ch. 1) and when deciding who should replace Judas (ch. 1)
The church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the prayers (ch. 2).
The disciples prayed for boldness in the midst of persecution (ch. 4)
Cornelius was praying when the Lord directed him to send for Peter; Peter was praying when he saw the vision from the Lord (ch. 10).
The disciples gathered to pray for Peter while he was in prison (ch. 12).
The elders at Antioch were praying when the Spirit separated Barnabas and Paul for mission work (ch. 13).
Paul and Silas were at a place of prayer when Lydia was converted (ch. 16)
Paul and Silas sang and prayed until midnight in jail before the jailor was converted (ch. 16).

We see in Acts that the Spirit uses the Word and prayer for gospel advancement.

4. All movement in the Book of Acts is toward gospel advancement.

This seems obvious since “gospel advancement” is what we have been talking about all along, but the idea of “advancement” implies a guaranteed outcome. Luke emphasizes this in Acts as he documents gospel advancement throughout Acts. Notice the terms of advancement:

“And the Lord added to their number . . . those who were being saved.” (2:47)
“And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly.” (6:7)
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria… multiplied.” (9:31)
“the Word of God increased and multiplied . . . ” (12:24-25)
“So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in number daily.” (16:5)
“So the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.” (19:20)
“He [Paul] lived there [in Rome]…proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” (28:30-31)

The advancement of the gospel sounds exciting, and it is. Yet it is not without sacrifices. Throughout Acts, we read about persecution, trials from within, church division, imprisonments, assassination attempts, shipwrecks, snake bites, betrayals, and even death. But God sovereignly orchestrates the advancement of his kingdom through all these difficulties.

Here is the summary of Acts: “The church advances the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection through the Spirit’s use of the Word and prayer.” I’m thankful that the gospel’s advancement does not rest on my shoulders. The outcome is guaranteed, and it is a joy for us to have a small part in this as we seek to make disciples, strengthen churches, and train pastors in the Philippines!