The Witness of God

We need to understand the difference between witnessing and evangelizing. In the majority of instances when the term "witnessing" is used today we really are referring to preaching the Gospel and evangelizing.

Also, we need to understand the difference between bearing witness and ministering the Gospel. There is an abundance of ministry in the United States at the present time, but the witness of God is nearly dead.

A witness is not necessarily a preacher, but every preacher should be a witness. However, many times the preachers of the Gospel of Christ are actually, in their behavior, bearing witness of Satan. They lie, steal, sometimes commit adultery or fornication, and molest children. They often are covetous. Sometimes they are unmerciful in their actions toward other people. They seek their own advantage. They gossip and slander. All this is true, in some instances, of the preachers of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

They are ministers but not witnesses.

The Lord Jesus told us of the truest form of witnessing: "Let your light shine in the presence of people so they may see your good works and glorify God."

We of today place heavy emphasis on ministry and personal evangelism; but if someone points out the need for righteous behavior he is attacked as being a legalist, a Pharisee.

In other words, we are not truly ministering the Gospel, we are proselyting, making converts to our theological belief. We are exercising our religion and therefore will always slander and oppose Christ wherever He is found.

You just don't go out and fish for men. You just don't go out and "witness." Jesus Christ alone can make a fisher of men. Jesus Christ alone can make you a witness of God so you, in your God-given wisdom, win souls to the way of righteousness by your personality far more than by your words.

God makes witnesses of Himself that He alone is God. We must see God, hear Him, touch Him, before we can bear witness of Him. Any lawyer can tell us.

How do we see, hear, and touch God? Seeing, hearing, and touching God take place throughout a long, rugged discipleship.

We are in deep water but do not drown. We go through the fire, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but are not burned.

We endure every conceivable difficulty and frustration. We have the sentence of death in ourselves and become as dead-living people. God keeps raising us up, and in the raising the witness of God shines forth.

We learn of God's faithfulness when we are brought to the brink of disaster and then find that God appears on the scene just in time to save us.

We learn of God's provision when we have great needs and only God's faithfulness keeps us surviving and moving ahead.

We learn of God's keeping power when thousands fall around us and we escape all harm.

To be continued.