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 16/3/24 here.

Enjoy!

Gone Fishin’ Monthly Newsletter – March 2024

“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

(Rev 20:10-15).

Hi Everyone

I hope everyone is looking forward to Easter weekend – a time when we get to reflect on the goodness of God, and what He has done for us. It is also a great opportunity to tell others the Good News!

Read the Gone Fishin’ Field Report 17/2/24, available here

Read the Gone Fishin’ Field Report 16/3/24, available here

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Everybody loves a good ending to a story!

And the ending is always sweeter when the good guys win – the players formed the battle lines, the battle has been fought, the war has been won, and good triumphed over evil.

It’s the stuff of childhood fantasies since we first learned to listen, read, or watch film. We cheer on the good guys and celebrate their wins. We boo and hiss at the bad guys when they wrestle back control. And when our champions deal the final blow, we jump and cheer and clap at their victory.

In the real world, battles and wars have been fought since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, and they will continue to be fought until the final curtain has been drawn. Nothing will change in that regard, for man’s heart is still as selfish and evil as it was in the beginning.

How the world perceives the concept of good vs evil is very much skewed. And this is exactly how Satan wants it. It goes something like this:

• Satan is on an even par with God. Everything God does, Satan can do too. He uses his power to cause chaos in people, or the world.
• Man gets to choose if he wants to be evil, or good. If he chooses good, then he is rewarded when he dies, and goes to heaven, and be eternally happy. This standard of goodness is one he has invented himself, so that he can meet it comfortably.
• If he chooses to be evil, then he goes to hell. Satan oversees hell, so is eternally tormenting us – a fiery pitchfork at the ready to jab at our rear ends when we don’t serve his purposes.

But this could not be further from the truth of scripture:

•  God created everything, including angels. Satan is a fallen angel that wanted to rebel from God and was kicked out of heaven. He can do only what God allows him to do, nothing he does is without God’s permission or allowance:

 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” (Is 14:12).

 “So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”” (Gen 3:14-15).

 “And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.” Job 1:12).

• Mankind is inherently evil – a disease he inherited from the original sin when the first man (and first woman) was deceived by Satan. Man cannot do good in the sight of God – in fact, all his righteousness is like a filthy rag to Him. His goodness cannot make himself perfect, which is a pre-requisite for entry to heaven:

 “As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” “ (Rom 3:10-18).

“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.” (Is 64:6)

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:48).

• Satan is not in charge of hell – in fact he will be burning in the lake of fire alongside all who reject God and Christ. Inmates don’t govern the prison – the one who commissioned them does (Christ), and He will oversee both Satan and man’s eternal punishment:

“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:10-15).

Now we know who will win the ultimate battle of good vs evil. Sadly, we don’t get to pick which side we battle for. As hard as it is to hear: by default, we are automatically on the losing side. We have Adam & Eve to thank for that.

So how do we avoid going to hell? How can we who are imperfect, become perfect in the sight of God?

How can we change from the losing side?

Well, the answer to that question is also in God’s Word. And it’s also why we celebrate Easter. It’s not all doom and gloom!

•  God is Just. “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.” (Deut 32:4).

God’s decrees are perfect, as He is a perfect God. No one will get away with any sin without there being a payment for it. There will be no clever lawyer present to get you off on a technicality in the celestial courtroom. God’s case against you is watertight; you broke the Eternal Judges’ rules, and now He demands an eternal punishment. Ultimate submission to His authority is the only course of action.

We know that God never changes, and He cannot go back on His word. When He says He will punish sin, He will carry it out, for He cannot lie (Num 23:19, Heb 6:18).

However…

•  God is Merciful. ”The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9).

Scripture also tells us that He is a merciful God. We read of Him withholding His wrath many times. Often it is to give man a chance to repent and change his ways. Often it is to carry out His perfect will in another area. The truth is we will never know why, but He chooses to show mercy to some, and not others (Rom 9:15). We don’t have the right to question Him or complain to Him about it because we all deserve hell as much as anyone!

God’s Beautiful Plan of Reconciliation

Apologies if you have heard this from me a few times before. But I can never get over the brilliance of God!

How does God carry out His plan – to be perfectly just, yet perfectly merciful, and still be a perfect God?

Well, He does punish someone for our sin. It could be you He punishes, or someone else.

Yes, you heard me right – God punished someone else for your cosmic treason, and He is still perfectly just!

Let me put it another way…

Let’s say you are nonchantly driving down the road. All of a sudden, there are lights and a siren behind you. It is a police officer pulling you over. You look at your speedo and realise you are doing 20km over the speed limit! The police officer writes out a ticket – let’s say it’s for $200.00. You don’t have that sort of money, so can’t afford to pay it. But a good friend who loves you and wants to keep you out of jail pays the debt for you. How much is left for you to pay? Exactly, none. The law can legally let you go – not because you are innocent, but because the fine has been paid. The courts don’t care who paid it, only that the debt has been settled. Alternatively, if we refuse to let them pay for us, then we must face the wrath and consequences of the law.

We nonchalantly cruise through life, recklessly breaking the Universe Creator’s rules. The arresting officer (death) is perpetually pursuing us. And once it inevitability catches up with us, it will haul us before the righteous judgement seat, where we will be held eternally accountable for our actions.

But God also offers us diplomatic immunity in the form of someone paying the fine for us. He sent His Son to pay the debt we couldn’t afford to pay. All the wrath that was due to us was poured out on Christ on the cross at Calvary, crushing Him. As Christ has paid for it all, there is now no debt owed for us to pay. Three days later He walked out of the tomb, proving that death has now been defeated.

If we have repented and placed our faith in Christ prior to death for the forgiveness of our sins, then we have diplomatic immunity from prosecution, for it has been paid through Christ’s blood, and God can legally let us go from prosecution. We then get to spend eternity thanking Him for what He has done! 

But if we, in this life, refuse to allow Christ to pay for our sins, then we have no immunity from punishment in the next life, and must face the wrath of God’s fury alone – in the prison cell of hell, where Christ Himself will personally oversee our punishment.

This is how God is perfectly just, and yet perfectly merciful, while still staying perfect!

And this is also how we can change to the winning side!

Folks, this is the beautiful Gospel, laid out as simple as I can explain. We need not complicate it any further – to do so would be to strip it of its’ power and meaning. The world has enough misleading information when it comes to things like God and Satan, good and evil, right and wrong, and heaven and hell. It needs to hear the truth!

And we need to be constantly reminded of this ourselves too, lest we forget what He has done for us, and what we can tell the world!

I’ll see you all down at the Riverbank Market at 9:00am!

 Blessings,

 Craig.

Witnessing Tip: Music Is A Great Motivator!

Good scripture-based songs can help focus our attention on God.

At can also encourage us to spread the Gospel!

Check out this CityAlight Easter-focused song!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUGQNYm44hk