I recently copied the entire book of Acts into a document, and began crossing out every mention of gospel proclamation, along with all that resulted from it. Additionally, I crossed out all references to the power, work and leading of the Holy Spirit. Such an exercise allows demonstrates just how much the book of Acts features the power of the Spirit and the speaking of the gospel. When those aspects are removed from the book, the narrative is almost stripped bare.
Several other observations stand out:
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Acts is an aimless text without the Holy Spirit and the act of speaking. This should be no surprise, as these two themes are set forth at the very beginning. Jesus says in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Here you see the power of the Spirit and the work of testifying (speaking) highlighted as that which will direct the rest of the narrative. So when you remove these two elements, you are left with an aimless story that does not make much sense.
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There is no advance of the Kingdom without the Spirit. The Holy Spirit brought an unnatural power and boldness to the disciples. This is evidenced in Acts 4:31, where the Spirit filled the believers to the end that they continued to speak the word of God with great boldness. Without the empowering work of the Spirit, the advance of the gospel is short-circuited, and the disciples are left powerless.
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There is no advance of the Kingdom without the proclamation of the gospel. Very clearly, gospel proclamation constitutes a significant portion of the book of Acts. If you remove all such cases, the outward advance of God’s Kingdom from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth stalls.
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Removing gospel proclamation removes persecution. In order to eliminate persecution against believers, all one has to do is cease proclaiming the gospel. Almost all the persecution experienced by the disciples in the book of Acts was a direct result of their bold testimony of the gospel. It remains no different today. If you want to avoid persecution, then you must avoid gospel proclamation. The only problem with that is…
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Removing gospel proclamation removes fruitfulness. When you eliminate gospel proclamation from the narrative of Acts, almost all ministry fruitfulness vanishes. This helps us understand why Jesus articulated the importance of bearing witness at the beginning of the book (Acts 1:8).
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Bold proclamation of the gospel under the power of the Spirit is the central thrust of our mission. All of the above realities should inform our understanding of mission. Our mission primarily consists of boldly testifying to the gospel under the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). This is our central aim. This should shape how we view and pursue mission work, both individually and collectively, lest our ministries be stripped of their power and fruitfulness.