How would you live today if you actually believed everything the Bible says is true? Consider Paul’s argument that the resurrection isn’t just a doctrine to affirm, it’s meant to change how the Corinthians live right now.

Clear thinking is one of the first things to go when we’re being tested, especially under grief, loss, or hardship. Consider James’s careful distinction between trials God sends and temptations that come from our own desire.

A sermon usually asks how a truth applies to the believer’s life, but this one works differently, tracing the cosmic sweep of Christ’s resurrection before it ever gets to application. Consider Paul’s vision of the end, when Christ hands the kingdom to the Father and God is all in all.

Why is money so hard to talk about? James says it’s because money is a window into the heart: it shows what we really trust and treasure. Consider James’s warning that riches fade like a flower in the field, and how God means to use money as a tool of sanctifying grace rather than a source of anxiety.

Ligonier’s state of theology survey turns up shocking answers from self-identified evangelicals. Consider Paul’s own argument for why, if the resurrection isn’t true, our faith and our preaching are worthless.

But I don’t know how, is the obvious objection to James’s opening call to count trials as joy. Consider James’s answer: ask God for wisdom, and ask in faith without wavering.

There but for the grace of God go I, the English martyr John Bradford reportedly said watching criminals marched off to execution. Consider Paul’s own testimony as the least of the apostles, saved entirely by grace.

Whenever pain becomes an excuse to sin, the whole point of this life gets forgotten. Consider James’s teaching on trials, and why testing is meant to produce steadfastness rather than an excuse to indulge ourselves.

How can we actually know Jesus rose from the dead? Consider the strongest kind of evidence the ancient world could offer: multiple eyewitness reports. Paul’s list of resurrection appearances stands as historical evidence, not just theological claim.

James was known to his friends simply as the Just, murdered for loving and upholding God’s law. This introduces the letter of James by way of the man’s own reputation for taking God’s word seriously.