How should we determine what the people in Acts actually preached?
Determine what the people in Acts preached by examining what Scripture actually attributes to them, not by assuming what they might have said. The text shows they proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom—that Jesus was the Christ—not the Gospel of grace, which had not yet been revealed.
Les teaches that we must always watch what the people in Acts actually said, not what we think they might have said, and we have no room to assume they said something Scripture does not attribute to them. He points to Philip, one of the seven appointed in Acts 6, who went to Samaria about seven years after Pentecost, after Stephen was martyred, and preached the Gospel—but not the Gospel of grace, which had not yet been revealed. Les explains that the Gospel of grace and the Gospel of the Kingdom are two distinct Good News. The Gospel of the Kingdom had been going to Israel through Jesus and the twelve, and Philip continued it. The reason for this premise is that there is no mention of salvation by the finished work of the cross, no mention of His death, burial, and resurrection for salvation. Instead, they emphasized that the One they crucified was indeed the Christ. Les also notes that when the Samaritans truly believed Philip's message that Jesus was the Christ, they received the Holy Spirit only after Peter and John laid hands on them, showing that authority rested in Jerusalem and the twelve.