Psalms 66-67, Romans 7 • Key Verse: Psalm 66:10 We prefer being at ease in Zion. It’s nice to sit on padded pews in air-conditioned auditoriums. Our version of “life is hard” comes in the form of a street being closed for widening. We complain over being inconvenienced when the...

Psalms 63-65, Romans 6 • Key Verses: Romans 6:22-23 A remarkable fact about Romans 6:23 is often missed—this verse was written to believers. We often use it to tell others about God’s gift of salvation, but Paul wrote it to the church. Too often the meaning of the text is...

Psalms 60-62, Romans 5 • Key Verses: Romans 5:1—2 Ray Stedman tells of a friend who lived in the Midwest. He lived in the country, and one stormy morning, in the dead of winter, he looked out his window and saw the mailman drive up and leave something in his...

Psalms 57-59, Romans 4 • Key Verse: Romans 4:3 It was hard for the Jewish people in Paul’s day to understand that their special covenant relationship with God was insufficient to save them. Even today many Jewish people believe that they are automatically a part of Gods family and need...

Psalms 54-56, Romans 3 • Key Verse: Psalm 55:22 Disappointments, difficulties and the pains of life can weigh heavily upon us. That is why we use the word burden to describe them. Psalm 55 is the prayer of a burdened man, one that is written for our benefit. David’s burdens...

Psalms 51-53, Romans 2 • Key Verse: Psalm 51:12 We have a constitutionally guaranteed right to the pursuit of happiness. Notice, however, that the right is not to happiness but to the pursuit of it. Many people seem to miss that fine line of distinction. They live as if happiness...

Psalms 49-50, Romans 1 • Key Verse: Romans 1:1 These days, people never tire debating the importance of our self- image. We are told to understand what formed our self-image, to consider how as parents we shape a child’s selfimage, to help others with their self-image, to be concerned whether...

Psalms 46-48, Acts 28 •Key Verse: Psalm 46:10 “Fast” and “faster” describe, life today. Fast food picked up at the drive-through window. Computer processors and increased band-width for Internet access so information can flow even faster. Even our suitcases have wheels. Our lives are stuck on fast forward. God says,...

Psalms 43-45, Acts 27:27-44 •Key Verses: Psalm 44:23-24 Nothing is quite as unsettling as the phone ringing in the middle of the night. You pick up the receiver, hoping it is a wrong number, irritated if it is, angered if it’s a prank, but anxious as its sound jars you...

Psalms 40-42, Acts 27:1-26 • Key Verse: Psalm 42:5 Depression has been called “the common cold of the mind.” Many people experience it in varying degrees; some are only mildly affected on occasion, while others are caught in a downward spiral of increasing hopelessness. Whereas some things can be fixed...