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 19/4/25 here.

Enjoy!

Gone Fishin’ Monthly Newsletter – May 2025

“” No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.””
(Matt 6:24-34, ESV).

Hi Everyone

Well, didn’t autumn make a sudden entrance for us!
It signals the end of the warm weather, and clogs my gutters with leaves, but the payoff is worth it – God showing off all the wonders and beauty of His creation in the magnificent reds, yellows, and oranges.

It’s usually when things seem disappointing and gloomy, and prospects are not that great, that God suddenly shows up and reveals His glory!

You can read April’s Easter Outreach report here.

Speaking of gloomy prospects; what concerns you most in this life?

Maybe it’s about what’s going on in the world and not being able to do anything about it.
Maybe it’s struggling to put a meal on the table every night.
Maybe it’s struggling to buy clothes to wear.
Maybe it’s struggling to ensure there’s a roof over your family’s head.

These are legitimate concerns, and no one would shame you for feeling the way you do about your situation.

However, Christ tells us not to be anxious:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…” (v25). Then He lists what concerns drive our anxiety – food, drink, and clothing. These are the basics that keep us alive, so we automatically ascribe them our foremost attention.

Our bodies have an automatic response to anxious moments like these by releasing endorphins. It’s nature’s way of warning us of potential danger and giving us the ability to act or cope. But if Christ tells us not to be anxious, yet we carry an inbuilt biological system that allows us to process our anxiety, where does that leave us?

We need to take a step back and look at the context of this section of scripture:
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (v24).

This is the crux of the situation: to whom do we serve? Our bodies, or the One that created them?

Our natural tendency is to fall back on our own ability to govern what goes on in our own little world:
I control what I eat, drink and wear. I control the financial sources to acquire these things, and I have the natural skill and ability to work to achieve the money.

To whom does it sound like I am relying on? Not God, He would not be my Master. My master would be myself.
This is not to say I cannot put plans in place to care for myself or my family; but rather acknowledging that it is God that supplies all my needs. We cannot rely on anything outside of God. I spoke in the last newsletter of how putting our faith in the world is futile because nothing in this world is permanent.

This is along the same concept: my ability to earn money could be taken away from me due to a physical mishap, or I could lose my job through no fault of my own. So the basic needs that I used to take for granted now become the most important things in the world to me. That makes me anxious.

Jesus now steps in with a little bit of hyperbole to show the folly of my anxiousness:
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (v26).
”…Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (v28-29).
“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (v30).

All this time I was behaving like a Gentile – an unbeliever – trying in my own strength to fix my circumstances…
“For the Gentiles seek after all these things…” (v32).

…yet and all this time God was trying to re-focus my attention away from myself and onto Himself:
“…and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (v32-33).

Top priority should be God’s righteousness. This is the only thing I should put my trust in. When I do, everything else makes sense. If Jesus says God will provide – and my trust is in Him – then He will provide for me. I need not be anxious, because if he cares for a little bird who does not have a home, then He will definitely provide for me as well. If the lilies of the field are beautifully arrayed, He will absolutely ensure that I am arrayed as well.

Why? Because we are infinitely more valuable to Him than birds and lilies!

So if our faith is in Christ, then phew! We need not worry about what will happen tomorrow. I remember an old catchy saying from when I was a kid that stuck with me: Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. God brought us through it, and it was regardless of how anxious we were towards it. So, it would therefore make sense why Jesus would say:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (v34).

Today is hard enough. Place your faith in Christ alone and leave the details about tomorrow to Him!

I put together a SunoAI song based on today’s verses. Click on the link below to listen. You can follow word for word from the ESV or follow from the verses at the top of this newsletter. It’s a great way to drill scripture into our brain.

Turn the volume up up and enjoy!