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 11/11/23 here.
Enjoy!
Gone Fishin’ Monthly Newsletter – December 2023
“For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved.
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities.”
(Is 64:4-7).
Click here to read the Field Report from our last time out.
Hi Everyone
…And just like that, the end of the year is right upon us! I pray you get a chance to rest in the Lord over the coming Christmas break, to enjoy the sunshine, and hone those evangelism skills to those around you!
Every year that goes by I get a little bit older. I like to think I get a little bit wiser, too. But then I read God’s Word and discover that I actually know nothing – or very little, compared to the infinite wisdom of God! This is how we grow; knowing that the little we know about God causes us to learn more about Him. And the more we learn about Him, the more we realise how little we know about Him, which causes us to learn more…and so the cycle continues, until He calls us home.
Strangely enough, this was highlighted in my mind while talking to people who are steeped in false religion. When I was at the Schoolies Outreach last month, I encountered many from alternate religions – none more so than Islam.
If you ask a Muslim person if they think they are going to heaven, they will say “Who knows? Only God. I do my best, and he is the one who decides”. That is the tragedy of this man-made folly – you can spend decades trying your best to please God, and yet he can still say “Nope, not good enough, go to hell!”.
When I remembered the verses in Isaiah 64, I decided to use them as a way to explain to a Muslim how his good works will never work with God.
It was during one of the online video evangelism streams one morning that the Lord brought the verses to my mind. A particular gentleman was trying to convince me that there was no way anyone could know with assurance that they would go to heaven – that we had to do our part and leave the rest to God. I asked him if a Muslim believes that the prophets in the Bible are true. He said yes, they are told they must believe them (I already knew this, hence the question).
I cut and pasted the verses from Is 64:4-7 on the screen and asked him to read them out loud, which he did. I asked him what they meant, and he threw his hands up and said he had no idea. I used verse 5 to explain how angry God is that we constantly sin. He reluctantly agreed with this. I asked him what God should do to people who constantly break His law – reward or punish them. He said punish them. I asked if that punishment sounded like heaven or hell? He was quiet for a moment, then said “That sounds like hell”.
I got him to read verse 6 out loud, which he did. I told him that’s how God sees our good works – that the filthy or defiled rags in the verse is the same Hebrew word used to describe a woman’s menstrual clothes, or to put it in more modern terms, a used tampon. I told him that it’s like we gather all our good works together, thinking they are a beautiful and awesome offering to God – but all He sees is a great big stinking, bloodied pile of used tampons.
I asked him if there was any wonder now why God would now send him to hell? He nodded, but didn’t answer verbally. I explained at the end of verse 5 that we need to be saved, saved from God’s wrath – how do you think we can do this without doing good works? He thought for a while but couldn’t think of anything. It was time to transition to the Gospel.
I told him that the only way we can escape our hell punishment is if someone takes 100% of it on our behalf. That way, we could go free, even though we are guilty. He said “Wait, is that why you believe in Jesus?”. I asked if Jesus doesn’t take your hell punishment, who takes it? He said he would have to. I pulled up Isaiah 53 on the screen and explained that the person Isaiah was talking about was Jesus Himself. I told him that only 100% trust in Christ for the forgiveness of his sins was the only way he could be saved. I also reiterated that Muslims are expected to believe Biblical prophets.
The guy was quiet for a while. Then he said, “That means my religion is a lie”. I said that Allah can’t just forgive you, because that would be like accepting a pile of used filthy rags. We went back and forth a bit regarding what true judgement was. He wanted to cling to God forgiving him, but I kept pointing back to Is 64, and that a true and perfect judge can’t ignore his crimes.
He told me I had blown his mind, and that he had some thinking to do. I said, “Don’t leave it for too long, as you don’t know when you are going to die – and if I am right, where would you go? He said, “To hell”. I thanked him for the chat, and when he disconnected, I spent some time praying for him, that God would open his heart. I had to leave him in God’s hands. Maybe you could pray for him too!
So now you see how learning scripture can actually benefit you. But not only through your personal knowledge and growth of how great God is, but how you can use this knowledge to tell others of the reason Christ came to earth! Let’s plan to do this more!
I’ll see you at the Hutt Riverbank Market at 9:30 to share the glorious hope of the Gospel!
Blessings,
Craig.
Witnessing Tip: Don’t forget the real reason for Christmas!
God’s greatest gift to mankind was His Son.
Christmas is the best time of the year to tell the world all about Him!
