Titus is a unique glimpse into the beginning. Paul left Titus in Crete to establish healthy leadership and challenge the believers to represent Christ well. This was the start of a new household, and beginnings matter.

A prevailing narrative of our time is "You are enough." Which, on the surface, feels right. A response to the comparison trap that always leaves us wanting. "Not pretty enough..." "Not wealthy enough..." "Not educated enough..." Always just beyond our reach. But what if this "You can do it on your own" business is just as burdensome because we know we each come up short at the end of the day? That's the good news of the Gospel of Jesus. We cannot do it on our own... and we don't have to.

"There was one time every Sunday where you take off your hat, and you sit under one roof with a group of people, and you say, ‘We're in this together, aren't we?’" Ethan Hawke

Community matters. We were designed for life together with others, especially in exile. We see this in Daniel 1 and 2. This is the living out of Jeremiah's letter to exiles.

Exile is our reality. Do we allow God to shape us, or are we getting bitter?

Psalm 137 is a difficult example of a people being hardened in exile.

Too often, we read the words of Jeremiah 29:11 out of the context of the exile. There is promise in these words, but not away from the work of exile. Followers of Jesus must be careful to avoid edits even when they are "small and carefully considered.”

Promise without difficulty leads to entitlement.

Jeremiah 24 & Jeremiah 18

Today, we circle back to John 18 and take a second look at the story of Jesus' resurrection.

https://watercitychurch.org/garden

https://watercitychurch.org/cross

The story of the resurrection of Jesus is amazing and difficult. It is that way for us today, and it was that way for John and Peter then. Yet even though they didn't understand what they saw, they still believed. How do our lived experiences reflect theirs?