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How did the Apostle Paul preach the gospel?

1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

Hebrews 2:4 God bearing witness with them by both miraculous signs and wonders, and by various works of power, even by distribution of the Holy Spirit, according to His will.

For the most part, the Church has not emulated the example of Paul in its presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Often we preach the gospel with persuasive words deriving from man's wisdom and philosophy. In the West in particular, needy people are drawn to churches through very positive messages of encouragement that minister to people's "felt needs." However large a church may grow with new souls through this type of preaching, there is a diversion from the main focus of evangelism which should be Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why has this taken place?

Part of the reason is due to the lack of a demonstration of the Spirit's power when the gospel is preached today. The visible demonstration of miraculous healings accompanying Paul's preaching was convincing proof to the listeners that Jesus Christ had indeed suffered on the cross to save them from sin and death. No eloquence of superior wisdom was needed. But since this visible demonstration is for the most part lacking today in our churches, we tend rather to minister to people's "felt needs" as a means of evangelism. This approach may indeed bring many new people into a church. It may in fact be important in the teaching and discipleship of born-again believers. However if we use it as an evangelistic tool to reach the lost we run the risk of them ultimately basing their faith on men's wisdom and not on God's power. Of course this approach would appear preferable to running the risk of proclaiming God's power to heal in a gospel meeting but then no miracles taking place. This is the spirit of fear that restrains the Church from proclaiming the gospel the way Paul did.

But God is restoring the Apostle Paul's model of evangelism to the Church. This past September in Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, Brother William and his team witnessed Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and idol-worshippers come to Christ as the gospel was preached in the way that Paul taught. First, Jesus Christ was presented in a very concise way as the Savior who suffered on the cross and the only way to the Father. Then trained local disciples of Christ---at times both evangelical and charismatic---were called to minister healing to the infirm at the meetings to prove that the gospel as presented was indeed true. The sick, both believers and non-believers, were healed in Christ's name and came forward to testify. (No manifestations such as people being "slain in the Spirit" occurred.) Only then the invitation to accept Christ was given. Because the listeners saw the demonstration of the Spirit's power and heard the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, they responded to the call.