Lee Strobel says that the “resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best attested event of the ancient world.” Over the years, many have sought (and found) reason proof for the resurrection. But Scripture also talks about what the resurrection itself proves for believers. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we can have confidence in who Jesus says He is and what He has done.

We live in a visual culture where seeing is valuable, but what if we only think we are seeing things clearly? In John 9, Jesus heals a blind man and as his eyes open he slowly begins to see who Jesus really is: the light of the world. Contrasted with that, we also see how the people who think that they can see clearly are actually blind to who Jesus is and what He was sent to do.

Jesus speaks about money more than nearly any other topic and the Bible as a whole has over 2,000 verses addressing money. This is not because money is important to God but because it is important to us. God wants us to have a proper relationship to money. Proverbs has lots of wisdom about wealth, how we work for money, and what we put value or worth in most.

The world seems to be getting even more and more divided and, unfortunately, the church itself is not free of fights and quarrels. But the book of Proverbs has lots of wisdom about the characteristics and consequences of fights and quarrels. God wants His people to be people who reconcile division and His word gets to the heart of our desires that cause our fights and quarrels.

In our social media lives we all may have hundreds of “friends” - but what is true friendship and what does it look like? God has lots to say about friendship in the book of Proverbs. Two key aspects of deep friendship are steadfast love and faithfulness. These are also key attributes of who God is. Jesus shows us perfectly what it means to be a true friend to others.

In a COVID-19 world being contagious is a bad thing - but what if being contagious as a Christian meant we spread the good news of Jesus to people who need the life found in Christ? In Acts 2:37-47, we see how the early church was contagious and grew in number every day because the Christians were devoted to God’s word, fellowship, breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Americans love their freedom, but what is true freedom? Jesus famously said that “the truth will set you free,” but what does that actually mean? In John 8:31-59, Jesus shows us how to be truly free from slavery to sin. He shows us what it means to trust God and “keep” His word. He shows us how to become and live as free sons and daughters of our heavenly Father.

Our mouths and tongues can tell a lot about how healthy we are both physically and spiritually. Jesus said that “what comes out of [our] mouth is what defiles [us]” (Matthew 15:11). The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the sins of gossip, flattery, and boasting, and how each can cause deep damage in our lives, the lives of others, and the life of the local church.

Nobody wants to be lied to, but do we really take seriously how much we tell the truth ourselves? Proverbs has a lot to say about lying or bearing false witness. Satan is the “father of lies” and we align ourselves more with him than God when we lie or shade the truth. God is a God of truth who cannot lie, and He wants us to be people of integrity who detest lying as much as God does.