Hi Everyone
Here’s this month’s Gone Fishin’ Newsletter.
Every month a team from our fellowship at Calvary Wellington heads out to our regular fishing holes – the Naenae Market and Hillary Court shops, or the Hutt Riverbank Fruit and Vege Market. There we share the Gospel to those in our immediate community.
Once a month I publish a simple newsletter that is distributed to the fellowship (or for anyone else who stumbles across this website), as a way of encouragement, and as a tool to equip us to be better evangelists.
You can read the last Field Report from 10/6/23 here.
Enjoy!
Gone Fishin’ Monthly Newsletter – April 2025
“…let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
(Acts 4:10-12).
Hi Everyone
Trusting that everyone’s had a great month, making good use of the last of the settled weather, to get the good news out!
You can read February’s Outreach report here, and March’s Outreach report here.
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The world loves the festive seasons of Easter and Christmas. Bunnies, chocolate easter eggs for one, and fancy presents wrapped in good will toward all mankind for the other. Everything the Christian holds dear, the world copies. This is Satan’s master plan – to lure away or distract the eyes from anything pertaining to God and His eternal goodness and substitute it for worthless glitter and gloss that rots, rusts, and blows away.
All the world holds dear counts for nothing in the end. Sure, it is beneficial for a season, but there is nothing that will last eternally. We have nothing to hang our eternal hope in aside from God, as He is the uncreated One, who existed before time began, and will still exist when time ends.
And since He is the creator of the universe, He gets to set the rules about how we live in His universe – much like at home it’s your house, your rules; and anyone who tries to disrupt your home life, or disrespects your property gets shown the front door with the right boot of hospitality.
Why then would we expect anything different from God?
Telling others about God’s anger towards us seems counter-productive, yet it is necessary. You wouldn’t accept a pill to cure you of a deadly cancer unless you were convinced you had the disease in the first place. An x-ray, a blood test, an MRI, or a CT scan would reveal this.
In the same way, we use the microscope of the law of God to reveal the cancerous sin that will lead to eternal pain and death. If the patient is convinced, they will gladly snatch the cure out of our hands – the hope of Christ bearing our sin for us, through repentance and faith.
This is the most frustrating part of evangelism – endeavouring to convince the listener they have a terminal disease, and the wrath of God hovering over them. Why don’t they understand? Because they are hypnotised by the gloss of this world, distracted by its’ allure and pleasure. This convinces them that everything is just fine – “nothing will happen to me. I don’t need Jesus; I have everything I need, and I’m just fine by myself thank you very much.”
All we can do is pray. Pray that God will soften their hearts. Pray for a holy slap in the face to snap them out of their trance. Then we leave them in His hands.
For the believer, Easter is a solemn period in the church calendar. The thought of God Himself having to send His only Son to earth to take our hell punishment should be enough for us to hang our heads in shame for all eternity. Yet, that is what He did.
We needn’t feel sorry for God – or for Jesus – for having to go to these great lengths, for God took pleasure in it; not because He is a brutal sadist, but because He knew the beautiful pathway it created for reconciliation with man:
“…it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” (Isa 53:10).
The Son was also unselfishly willing to participate in the plan: “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18). So, we have a beautiful plan – masterminded by the Father, accomplished by the obedient Son, and perfected by the seal of the Holy Spirit. This guarantees our salvation, through faith!
And what then are the cool sparkly things of this world to the believer? They are now just tools for us to accomplish God’s work on earth. We do not place our trust in them. We do not place our eternal faith in them, as they will eventually fail us. They will break, rot, rust, and blow away in the wind. They will one day be burned up when the Lord returns.
Our faith is in the creator, not the creation. So, we ask for God’s help to avert our eyes from them, lest they tempt us to place their importance above Him.
Let us never be tempted to avert our attention from the cross and to the things of this world.
And let us never forget the great price that was paid to secure our eternal salvation!
I’ll see you at Peck’s house on Friday at 10am to pack the gift packs, and also at the Hutt Market on Saturday from 9am!
Blessings,
Craig.
Witnessing Tip: No Hope In Any Other
You can place your trust in the things of this world, but they will just rot, or rust.
Only trust in Christ guarantees our eternity, so, go tell everyone!
(click to listen, turn up the volume!)
