Psalms 63; Psalms 64; Psalms 65; Romans 6

1 God, you are my God. I search for you. I thirst for you like someone in a dry, empty land where there is no water.

2 I have seen you in the Temple and have seen your strength and glory.

3 Because your love is better than life, I will praise you.

4 I will praise you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in prayer to your name.

5 I will be content as if I had eaten the best foods. My lips will sing, and my mouth will praise you.

6 I remember you while I'm lying in bed; I think about you through the night.

7 You are my help. Because of your protection, I sing.

8 I stay close to you; you support me with your right hand.

9 Some people are trying to kill me, but they will go down to the grave.

10 They will be killed with swords and eaten by wild dogs.

11 But the king will rejoice in his God. All who make promises in his name will praise him, but the mouths of liars will be shut.

1 God, listen to my complaint. I am afraid of my enemies; protect my life from them.

2 Hide me from those who plan wicked things, from that gang who does evil.

3 They sharpen their tongues like swords and shoot bitter words like arrows.

4 From their hiding places they shoot at innocent people; they shoot suddenly and are not afraid.

5 They encourage each other to do wrong. They talk about setting traps, thinking no one will see them.

6 They plan wicked things and say, "We have a perfect plan." The mind of human beings is hard to understand.

7 But God will shoot them with arrows; they will suddenly be struck down.

8 Their own words will be used against them. All who see them will shake their heads.

9 Then everyone will fear God. They will tell what God has done, and they will learn from what he has done.

10 Good people will be happy in the Lord and will find protection in him. Let everyone who is honest praise the Lord.

1 God, you will be praised in Jerusalem. We will keep our promises to you.

2 You hear our prayers. All people will come to you.

3 Our guilt overwhelms us, but you forgive our sins.

4 Happy are the people you choose and invite to stay in your court. We are filled with good things in your house, your holy Temple.

5 You answer us in amazing ways, God our Savior. People everywhere on the earth and beyond the sea trust you.

6 You made the mountains by your strength; you are dressed in power.

7 You stopped the roaring seas, the roaring waves, and the uproar of the nations.

8 Even those people at the ends of the earth fear your miracles. You are praised from where the sun rises to where it sets.

9 You take care of the land and water it; you make it very fertile. The rivers of God are full of water. Grain grows because you make it grow.

10 You send rain to the plowed fields; you fill the rows with water. You soften the ground with rain, and then you bless it with crops.

11 You give the year a good harvest, and you load the wagons with many crops.

12 The desert is covered with grass and the hills with happiness.

13 The pastures are full of flocks, and the valleys are covered with grain. Everything shouts and sings for joy.

1 So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more grace?

2 No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how can we continue living with sin?

3 Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ when we were baptized? We shared his death in our baptism.

4 When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.

5 Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from the dead as he did.

6 We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin.

7 Anyone who has died is made free from sin's control.

8 If we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.

9 Christ was raised from the dead, and we know that he cannot die again. Death has no power over him now.

10 Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time -- enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God.

11 In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive with God through Christ Jesus.

12 So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do.

13 Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died and now live. Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good.

14 Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law but under God's grace.

15 So what should we do? Should we sin because we are under grace and not under law? No!

16 Surely you know that when you give yourselves like slaves to obey someone, then you are really slaves of that person. The person you obey is your master. You can follow sin, which brings spiritual death, or you can obey God, which makes you right with him.

17 In the past you were slaves to sin -- sin controlled you. But thank God, you fully obeyed the things that you were taught.

18 You were made free from sin, and now you are slaves to goodness.

19 I use this example because this is hard for you to understand. In the past you offered the parts of your body to be slaves to sin and evil; you lived only for evil. In the same way now you must give yourselves to be slaves of goodness. Then you will live only for God.

20 In the past you were slaves to sin, and goodness did not control you.

21 You did evil things, and now you are ashamed of them. Those things only bring death.

22 But now you are free from sin and have become slaves of God. This brings you a life that is only for God, and this gives you life forever.

23 When people sin, they earn what sin pays -- death. But God gives us a free gift -- life forever in Christ Jesus our Lord.