The record of Peter’s preaching of the gospel at Caesarea reveals that he included testimony to the miraculous aspects of Jesus’ works: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38). This statement suggests several important points about how we should testify to Jesus’ miraculous works in our evangelism.
First, Peter bore testimony to a specific aspect of Jesus’ miraculous works–healing those who were oppressed of the devil–that probably few people today regularly bear testimony to in their evangelism. Despite the contemporary popularity of emphasizing such miracles as His turning water to wine, raising dead people, walking on water, and feeding multitudes, we should learn from Peter foremost to bear testimony to His delivering Satanically-oppressed people.
Second, this record does not show that Peter stressed this miraculous work by Jesus as a proof of His deity; instead, it shows that he emphasized how God empowered Jesus to do that miraculous work. Our evangelism likewise should emphasize God’s empowering Jesus to deliver those who were oppressed by the devil.
Third, Peter explained Jesus’ healing all those oppressed people by saying, “For God was with Him.” He thus stressed that Jesus did not act alone in delivering those people–the Father was accompanying Him in some manner that Peter did not explain further. Based on this record, we should learn to stress that the Father was with Jesus as He was going about doing this miraculous work.
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