Letters are remarkably personal pieces of literature. Academics mine them for information on topics of choice, knowing that information in letters is often personal and reflective. Fans treasure them for their insights into the lives of those they adore. And journalists love them for often salacious details that they reveal about writers and recipients.

The letters we have in the New Testament are no different for their personal revelations. But we treasure them as God’s people because they are God’s word through the pens and lives of His people. Today we start one of those letters – Titus.

It is deeply personal, a letter from an older Christian apostle to a younger protégé. It contains deeply personal exhortation from Paul to Titus, as Titus is left to do a difficult job. But the last line of the letter – in the plural – widens the scope of the letter’s significance to all God’s people, everywhere – and that includes us in Narrabri.

This week, we will meet the writer and the recipient, and next week the context of this letter’s composition.

Have you ever been lost and without someone to guide you? It can be very disorientating and scary.

Here in Psalm 23 we see that God is able to guide us through all of the ups and downs of life. He can do this because He knows the way to go.

In Jesus, God the Son shared our life with all its ups and downs. He has been through the darkest valleys and found the greenest meadows. Now as the Good Shepherd of His people He is able to guide us through every part of our lives, until the day we join Him at the victory feast in the new creation.

The Witness of Creation and Scripture.

When David looked back at his life as God’s anointed King over Israel, he was keen to give credit to his LORD God for all of his success.

David saw himself as a servant of the LORD with a few life experiences as a shepherd. The LORD turned this shepherd into a famous warrior for God whom God protected through thick and thin.

As we read the words of this song, we will learn how much Jesus has done to save us and to prepare us for doing great things as we serve King Jesus.

Psalm 8 is a great hymn of praise to God.

In this psalm we see the great majesty of God and ask the question—why would a great God be interested in us?

In Jesus we see humanity as God intended, living a life of perfect praise to God, and then ruling the earth at His right hand. In His death and resurrection, Jesus invites us to join Him in a life of praise to God.

In this, it is reassuring to see that God delights even in the praise of little children.

So, even when it feels like our praise is inadequate for such a great God, He still delights in what we bring Him.

Why do we give our trust to someone?

Is it that they have repeatedly shown that they care about us? Like family?

Is it that they are very good at what they do? Like your doctor?

Is it that over a long period of time they have not let us down? Like a best friend?

Is it that they have the power to give us the outcome that we desire? Like putting your trust in your local member when you go to them to try and get something done?

We trust for all of these reasons.

But what happens when someone tells us repeatedly that someone is untrustworthy? Do we still trust?

Today we are in a psalm where David is hearing heaps of people saying “There is no salvation for him in God!” How does David react?

Life these days is busy—there is lots to stress about and even more to get done. It often feels like we are always trying to get ahead of the pack.

Here in Psalm 131 David warns his people against pride and arrogance, and the solution he offers is—REST. Not just any rest, but resting in the God who has promised to provide everything we need.

God has shown His commitment to this promise when he sent Jesus to die for us. Now we no longer need to earn our way to God or try and one-up the people around us, because we can trust that God will continue to provide for us no matter what.

Heroes are everywhere but what makes someone a hero? In today’s passage,

we get to see that God doesn’t use heroes.

The person God uses in Isaiah 53 is disregarded and despised. Not the sort of

person we would choose to save the world.

But God has always been in the habit of working through weak and

unremarkable people. He does this to show that it is His power that makes us

great, not our own efforts.

We do not have to be good enough for God - He can use us no matter who

we are, where we come from, or what abilities we have.

We see that sin has affected every part

of our lives and the world.

But in his judgement God still shows mercy and gives a glimpse of how the

problem of Sin will be dealt with through the death and resurrection of the

Son.

Sin means that there is no possible way for us to earn our way to God. But

Jesus makes sure that everything that is needed to be done to bring us to God,

has been done for us.

Now when He returns, the curse will be done away with and sin will be no

more.

Today we are focusing on God’s desire to live with His people despite our constant rejection of Him.

This is why God Himself came to live with us as the man Jesus, so that by His death and resurrection we can now live with God and look forward to the day when we will walk with God just as Adam and Eve did in the beginning.