1. Contextualizing the Gospel means sharing the Gospel in an understandable manner to your audience.
2. The message never changes. We don’t alter the Gospel. It is complete as it is written. We change the way we deliver the message so that all can understand.
3. The Gospel does not belong to any culture or any language group. The gospel is not American. The Gospel is God’s revelation of himself to all people. All people. And while it is God’s revelation, it must always be understood and expressed within the human culture.
4. Paul begins speaking to the Jews in the temple. Vs 14. And notice how he contextualizes the word to the Jews. He reminds them of the history of the Jewish people. And we see that the Jews received the word and they were glad. The listeners that day were Jews and Gentiles who had not converted to Judaism. At just the right moment Paul said in his message what we read in verse 39: Everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be saved from by the Law of Moses. WOW!!! Watch closely church. The Jews who had been anchored in God’s family by obeying the Law of Moses are now finding out that there is something called justification by faith and not by following the Law of Moses. Do you suppose the Gentiles would be happy? I bet they were. All at once there was a way for them to experience God’s redemption.
5. They asked Jesus to come back the following week and continue teaching about Jesus, which he did. (Boom!!! Here is a principle of sharing the gospel. Pay close attention. When you are sharing your testimony, when you are sharing a bible verse, when you are telling a friend of yours about the love of Jesus. Always, absolutely always ask for an opportunity to come back and share more of your story. Always ask for another coffee date or another porch meeting so that you get the opportunity to invest more in them.)
