Meet My Best New Friend
Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honour. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?” Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” (Luke 5:27-32 NLT)
 
There is a Chinese proverb that says, “if you draw near the light, you become light; if you draw near the dark, you become dark”. In other words, stay away from the bad people. But in this Bible passage, we see Jesus asking a questionable character to follow him. In turn, Levi invites a whole group of dreadful tax collectors and sinners to meet his new best friend. This caused a massive outcry among the pious Pharisees!
Jesus saw beyond the crusty exterior of Levi and his peers. He saw something in them that wanted to break free from the darkness – but they did not know how. Jesus, the Light of the World shows the way. With overflowing forgiveness, abundant grace and mercy, Jesus reached out and shared a meal with these money swindlers; in the same way that He spoke with a notorious woman at the well, and shared His life with ordinary, smelly fishermen.
As Christians, we were introduced and encountered Jesus personally. We were called out of the darkness of our sinful lives and brought into the light of everlasting love with Jesus. And having received this gift from Jesus, He calls us to share with others what He has done in our lives.
What are the ways we can reveal the light of Christ in our work, our home and with our friends?
 
PRAYER
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for calling me out of darkness into Your incredible light. I confess some darkness remains in me. Forgive me. I have often yielded to inaction and not stood up for You before mockers and slanderers. Keep me strong so that Your light in me will overcome the darkness in them. Help me to draw near to You, so that more and more of Your light will overflow in my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Distraction
 
To me, one of the scariest animals in the world, is the seagull. I’m not joking, they really freak me out!
Which makes it quite a weird choice to live in Brighton the home of the most fierce, bold and gigantic seagulls on this planet! All of us probably have different animals that scare us, don’t even get me started on cows…!
 
But back in 62-63AD (Peter’s time) one of the undisputed scariest animals was the lion. I mean nearly 30 stone of pure muscle eating up to 40kg of meat in one go, my word, that’s scary! And so, as Peter draws his first letter to a close talking of the church as God’s flock of sheep, look how he speaks about the devil.
 
1 Peter 5:8
"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
 
A prowling lion… If he was writing that to me, today, he might say; “your enemy the devil circles above like a seagull looking for someone to divebomb.” That would send shivers up my spine!
But Peter is getting his readers to see that they have a deadly enemy on the prowl so they are to be alert, to be watching out ready for when he might strike! And these words ring true today. We have a deadly enemy prowling determined to take us away from our God.
 
But to be ready for his strikes; we need to know what his tactics are and I think his tactics are slightly changing for the 21st Century?
 
I think the devil is using distraction as one of his main weapons against believers in this modern world. Distracting us with endless hours of Netflix to watch; taking our attention with a constant stream of YouTube videos; filling our minds with all the countless worries of this world; stealing time as we scroll listlessly on our phones. The devil would love our attention and our focus to be less on our Saviour and more on our socials, he loves it when we put off Bible reading to switch on the PS4, the devils loves a distracted heart.
 
 
And distraction works so effectively because it doesn’t look like the ferocious assault of a roaring lion.
It works so effectively because everyone else is getting involved doing those things!
It works so effectively because we fall for it almost every single time.
 
The devil dangles the carrot of distraction and we need very little persuading to take it up.
 
 
How are you being distracted from God?
What things are drawing your soul away from time with the Lord?
Where do you need to be alert this coming week?

We find the story about King David and the threshing floor in 2 Samuel 24:18 – 25 where God commands David to “...raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” So, David goes to Araunah and they discuss the threshing floor and David is offered it for free along with oxen for a burnt offering...here is David’s response,
“I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

The other picture above is depicting the woman with an alabaster jar of expensive ointment who poured it out over Jesus’ feet, whom we read about in Luke 7:36 – 50. The ointment was valuable but the cost to the woman was also in being seen to do something scandalous – when she was already looked down on and despised.

So, two pictures of ‘costly worship’.
I wonder what costly worship might look like for us in 2021? It might be just our willingness to be known as a Christian – at work or school or among our friends and family. It might be about our giving in terms of Christian service within the church and within the community or in our finances. It could be in leaving our homes on Sundays to come to the church building for services when it might be less stressful, easier or more comfortable to stay at home and watch online.

The key thing about costly worship is that it is showing what we believe God is worth!! David had lots of money to buy the threshing floor but it was important to him that he demonstrated God’s worth by purchasing it. For the sinful woman her heart was so full of love for Jesus’ who had forgiven her sins, that the cost – immense as it was – didn’t actually matter so long as she demonstrated His worthiness and showed Him how much she loved Him. The thing about faith is that it’s all about the beauty, kindness, love and grace of the God who came to save us because He cares. So...our worship is a reflection of how much we value Him. The cost of our worship isn’t a reflection of what we are able to give – it’s a response to how much we’ve been given!!
​Chris

​Why so much hatred?
 
‘The acts of the flesh are obvious.....hatred, discord...factions.’ Galatians 5:19
 
What saddens me so much about our current world situation, is not so much the pandemic, or the climate crisis, nor even the hatred that we see between individuals, groups and nations. What gets me is the belief that we can fix all these problems! The optimism of mankind, bearing in mind the dreadful track record so far, is utterly staggering - don't you think?
 
Take human hatred for example. 'All you need is love' sang the Beatles at the start of the 'Make love, not war' hippy generation. A few years later those four fabulous friends were at each others throats. It's the same wherever you look isn't it? Why can't we just get along? Why has there been, and continues to be war and hatred in all it's ugly manifestations?
 
The writers of the (wonderful) Heidelberg Catechism of 1594, showed far more sense when they wrote 'I am by nature prone to hate God and my neighbour' (Question 5). It sounds rather harsh to our (woke-ish) ears doesn't it? But what they were teaching was biblical truth. God's Word tells us that we are bent upon hatred. It festers in all of our hearts in some form or another. As Galatians 5:19 teaches us, it's an act of our (fallen) nature.
 
So, don't be over optimistic for world peace, or for a Utopian society. Rather seek a new heart, a new nature, that will (naturally) bear the fruit of peace and righteousness. That new heart and nature is the gift of God to all who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you' Ezekiel 36:26

It’s not where you start...
I wonder what you think these Bible characters have in common... Solomon, Asa, Joash, Demas.
The first 3 are Old testament kings and the last a New Testament disciple. All of them started out well but sadly they didn’t finish well! There are many others sadly who could be on this list.
Solomon – the wisest man of his time and still fêted for his wisdom, at the end of his life turned away from God,                                                                                                                        “For when Solomon was old...Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and...Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites...” 1 Kings 11:4 – 8
Asa and Joash were both good kings at the beginning of their reigns following God but they ended up putting their trust in other things and Demas is spoken of by Paul when he wrote to Timothy [2 Timothy 4:9] as a deserter who was ‘in love with this present world’.
It’s so sad when we hear about those who have been obeying God that they’ve turned away from Him. We probably all know people who have backslidden or wandered away from God. I’m not going to go into a discussion about whether those who are saved can ever be lost because that’s not my purpose in writing this...I just want to remind us all of the need to keep going!!
The Bible does also give us examples of godly men and women who did persevere. Hurrah!! My favourite is Caleb – one of the spies Moses sent into Canaan when he was about 40, who even at 85 was still wholeheartedly following God, trusting Him and eager to claim all God had promised him. Do read about him in Numbers 14:6 – 14 and be encouraged.
The finish line is just ahead and although we don’t know how long our individual race will be we do know the end point and the prize – heaven!
Let’s finish well😊
 

I wonder if you’ve noticed how often in the Bible God changes a person’s name?
It happens to Abram and to Jacob in Genesis. It’s not actually likely that God changed Saul’s name to Paul (he probably used both), but Jesus does change Simon’s name:
Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1v42).

Names in the ancient world were highly significant. Usually they were chosen because they meant something and related to the character of the person. When Jesus meets Simon His first act is to rename him ‘Peter’ meaning ‘rock.’ On Peter’s apostolic testimony and ministry Jesus would build His church.

What a massive change that must have been for Simon! Going through life up till then as Simon, only to have it changed in a moment. New passport, new driving license, correcting family members and friends endlessly for years afterwards.

In all seriousness, it’s a reminder that Jesus is all about change. That’s hard because many of us dislike change. And church is often a place people expect there to be very little change. But while God Himself does not change, that doesn’t mean He is static. Rather, He is radically committed to changing us. He may not give us a new name, but He is working in us as individuals and as whole churches to change us into the likeness of His Son. He is also shaping and changing how our churches operate. That’s for the better, for such outward changes happen in order to help us change inwardly – and to help more from outside the church to have life-changing encounters with Jesus. Can you thank God for change?
Dave

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Zechariah 3
3 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan v standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning sticky snatched from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.g
8 “ ‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes l on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
10 “ ‘In that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
​
We often feel filthy in our sin. We feel accused, dirty, and disgusting in our sin. We feel broken, guilty, and despairing in our sin. We feel under the accusations of the Devil. Just like Jesus on the cross, we feel like we’re enduring accusations and mocking taunts, as we bear the weight of sin. 
I remember hearing a talk on our CU weekend away once that kind of painted this picture we see here in Zechariah 3 of this courtroom situation with us as the accused, and Jesus defending us before God the judge. We often imagine Jesus pleading before God like “oh go on just let them off one more time! I know they’ve sinned again, but they’ll be good from now on!”
But that’s not the case, is it? You see verses 3-5, the dirty clothes are ripped from Joshua and he is dressed in beautiful robes. His sin is taken away from him. It’s not that he’s still in the robes of dirt but God lets him off anyway. It’s that he is now in perfect beautiful robes and there’s no dirt on him. His sin is taken away from him.
Because in v.8-9, in a single day the sin of the world was taken away. In a single day! HOW AMAZING IS THAT! In a single day, those garments were ripped from all of us we were dressed in robes of beauty. In a single day, Christ took all the sin of the world upon himself. In a single day, all that dirt and evil and the guilt that comes with it were ripped away from us. It’s not that God lets our sin go because Jesus is pleading with him to let us off. It’s that there is no sin to punish. It’s gone. God cannot punish our sin as Christians, because we are made perfect through Christ, dressed in robes of beauty.
One of my fave Bible verses ever, 1 John 4:18 reminds us this. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 
Christ’s love means that we are free to come to God again without fear of punishment or disdain from God, but knowing he has taken our sin away and is pouring out his love upon us and longing for us to come to him.

One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.
 
Psalm 27:4
 
One of my favourite verses in the Bible. We live in a ever increasingly fast paced world. Every facet of life is becoming more efficient, which is a good thing, but also a demand that things be instant. Your food, your coffee, your wifi speed, your travel, your information, the list is endless.
 
We have so many distractions and items that scream our attention. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. No wonder a lot of people are experiencing mental health battles these days.
 
I think David had it right. David remember was King of Israel, beloved by people, an excellent soldier, musician, poet, a man who had family, an exciting backstory. As king he could have any possession that he wanted or required.
 
And yet, here we see his heart’s desire. He desires a ‘one thing’ mentality. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, because he has realised that there is nothing else worthy of his gaze and attention.
 
Have you ever had your gaze captivated by something? The vast ocean? A mountain range? A picture of a newborn? Something that you struggled to look away from because what you were beholding was too beautiful, too glorious to not demand your attention? Now imagine that to an infinite degree better. God is the source of beauty. He is beautiful. He is glorious to behold. 
 
I’m sure we won’t spend eternity just gazing at God, there will be a great many things he will get us to do, extending the Kingdom the universe! But in our gazing upon God we will find no other activity more fulfilling.
 
So take a moment every day to slow down, to escape from the escapism, and gaze like David did. What might that look like for us? Take half an hour to read and meditate on your Bible, pray, put on some music to help you worship, reflect on the person and work of Christ, whatever helps you to see God a bit more clearer, because He is glorious!

Psalm 1
Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither--
    whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
 
How can you truly flourish in life?  According to a wellbeing website here are 10 steps:
 
Step 1: Make a decision to be happy and start to believe that real happiness is a definite possibility.
Step 2: Determine what happiness and inner beauty mean to you.
Step 3: Think optimistically about achieving the life you want.
Step 4: Don’t go it alone.
Step 5: Get yourself organised and make plans.
Step 6: Live a healthy life.
Step 7: Have fun!
Step 8: Find a sense of spirituality.
Step 9: Go with your strengths.
Step 10: Persevere.
 
While some of those things might be helpful to a degree, the problem with them is that they focus on ‘me’.  But God says the way to truly flourish is to look to him, to gaze upon him, to love him.
 
Psalm 1 starts with a description of the blessed person- that is, someone who is content, even happy, as they live with God’s smile upon them.  In other words, the blessed person is the person who truly flourishes in life.  
 
So, what’s the secret to flourishing?  It’s simply to love God’s law (v3), that is his word.  We can only know God through his word, so to delight in his word is really to delight in him, in knowing him more fully more deeply day by day.  Not only that, but the Lord Jesus is The Word (John 1:1-4, 14) so to delight in the word of God is to delight in Christ himself.  That is the key to flourishing! Which is why the psalmist uses this lovely image of a strong tree in v3.  When we are rooted in the word of God, in Christ, we will be like a strong, healthy, beautiful, fruit producing Oak.  
 
There are two ways to live according to Psalm 1.  There is the way of the wicked and there is God’s way.  The wicked end up bitterly deriding God (v1); their lives prove to be futile and inconsequential (v4); and ultimately, they will not stand safely before God on judgement day (v4-6).  In contrast, living God’s way- the way of flourishing- brings stability, growth, fruit, and prosperity (v3); it means being loved, cared for and watched by God (v6); and ultimately brings eternal hope and security (v5-6).
 
This isn’t about wicked sinners vs us ‘good’ people, for all of us are unrighteous and fall short of God’s standards (Rom 3:10-11).  There has only ever been one righteous man. One blessed man. One man who fully loved the law of God and therefore who truly flourished.  When we are in Christ, his life is ours, his blessedness becomes ours.  We can’t earn this blessedness; we must be given it.  
 
So how can we flourish?  Not by looking to ourselves but by looking to Christ and his word, by gazing upon him day after day, and by living the life he has won for us.
 
Enjoy being blessed! Go and flourish!
Rich

Are you interested in looking after our environment and reducing our carbon footprint as a church? If you are we are looking for someone to champion this for us. The Chichester Diocese along with the rest of the Church of England are wanting churches to be carbon neutral by 2030 and we want to be supportive of this initiative. If you are interested in taking this forward please contact the church office.

​Please remember that we meet again, on Zoom, at 7.00pm this evening for 30 minutes to pray for our country. The link is on MyChurchSuite in the usual way. Look forward to seeing you there.

Our young people are fresh off the back of a youth weekend at home, it was INCREDIBLE.
The highlight for me, was our good friend James Pinto opening up Song of Songs for us.
He was encouraging us to see the words of the man in the Song as words that the Lord Jesus says to US, His beloved.
 
What really caught my attention was reading Song of Songs 2:14 this way. Here it is; hear these words the Lord Jesus says TO YOU:
 
“Show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.”
 
Isn’t that remarkable?!!? Isn’t that truly wonderful?!?!
I’m not a big fan of my own face (!!!) my nose is too big, my eyes have got too many weary bags hanging low, my teeth are stained too yellow, my beard is too patchy (!!) AND YET Jesus says show me your face… your face is lovely… woah. No hint of irony or sarcasm, that’s pure love.
I’m also not a great fan of hearing my own voice back, I think “wait, is that what I sound like!? Whiney and grating??! *shudder*” AND YET Jesus says let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and He means it.
 
Wow.
This is the lover of my soul, the lover of your soul too if you’re trusting Him too and do you see what He’s saying?
Jesus wants us to look at Him and talk to Him because He loves us.
Jesus wants our attention and our affection.
Jesus wants to spend quality time with us.
 
I don’t think I’d properly understood this until our weekend at home, the sheer depth of the Love of Jesus, that it’s not a mechanical or forced love, but a genuine DELIGHT and JOY, The King of the Universe, the Great I Am really wants to spend time with me?! WOW!
 
Doesn’t that change how we view those morning Bible reading and praying moments? It’s not a chore, not something to force ourselves into; it’s turning our face to our Lover to talk to Him and spend time with Him.
 
Hear His gentle invitation to YOU today; Jesus says:
“Show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.”
 
So go on, show Him your face let Him hear your voice; Jesus loves it when we spend time with Him.