There is a big difference between ministering and bearing witness.

Ministry is a means to an end. Bearing witness is the end.

The purpose of ministry is to build the Body of Christ to the measure of maturity as measured by the fullness of the stature of Christ.

The purpose of bearing witness is to reveal to God's creation His Person, way, will, and eternal purpose in Jesus Christ.

Ministry is temporary and will be done away just as scaffolding is done away as soon as the building is completed.

The witness of God is eternal. Once we become a witness of God we bear witness for eternity.

Consider Noah, Abraham, Job, Daniel, Elijah. They were, are, and from now on will be witnesses of God. When we think of any one of them the Person, way, will, and eternal purpose of God come to mind. It shall always be so. Once a witness always a witness.

True ministry is a witness of God to the one being ministered to. But today we have ministry apart from true witness. We have people who are preaching, teaching, and evangelizing who not only are presenting a warped gospel but who themselves are bearing more of a witness of the devil than they are of God.

The televangelist pleads for money, wears his five hundred dollar suits and begs widows to send him their food money. ("God will send you back five thousand dollars.") Not only is his message incorrect as he oversells the grace of God, but the witness he is presenting by his appearance and actions is not telling the truth about God.

Our country has come to believe the whole Christian business is a money-making scam.

The pastor who has his eyes on the attendance rather than on the Lord is compromising the message of the Gospel so as not to drive people away. He talks of the rapture, of grace, of God's love, of how to have a successful marriage, of how to be prosperous. His message is not balanced. The witness he is giving of God is false. God is not as he is presenting. God is as much a consuming fire as He is incomprehensible love. To stress the goodness of God and not His severity is to bear a false witness.

Sometimes when we speak of witnessing for Jesus we mean doing the work of an evangelist. The work of the evangelist is necessary. But perhaps even more importantly in our day in America is the witness of people whose lives have been changed. They now have integrity, are honest, joyful, dependable, truth- telling, morally pure human beings.

Perhaps most Americans have heard the Gospel. Many of them have "made a decision for Christ." A significant part of those who have made such a decision are in jail in the present hour.

Why? Because the preachers are emphasizing grace, grace, grace, and themselves are living spiritually careless lives. They are not witnesses of God. They may be ministers but they are not witnesses.

When there is no true witness of God the iron is not present to enable the preacher and his hearers to stand against sin.

This is where we are in America today.