Prairie Bible Church

Though sharing our faith is one of the most important purposes we have a Christians, many of us fail to do so for two primary reasons: Fear of what others might think of us. The fear we won’t know what to say.   Three lessons on how to share your faith:  John 9:13-17 ; Focus on what you know   You don’t have to KNOW everything!  John 9:18-23 ; Share YOUR story   NOT somebody else’s John 9:24-34 :...

It is easy to lose sight of God’s purposes in the face of suffering. When darkness surrounds us, we say with the Psalmist, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Ps. 10:1). But God is far more present in seasons of difficulty than we realize. When suffering is most intense and night is most dark, God is at work accomplishing his purpose. The light shin...

Jesus said to His opponents, “I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.” This statement summarizes much of His interaction with His people. Jesus “came to His own and His own did not receive him.” Yet Jesus knew when to fight and when to surrender. He often surrendered when He was dishonored, even to the point of the cross. But He fought when the Father and the Holy Spirit’s honor was on the line. H...

We all come to life with an earthly heritage which defines us to some degree. But our earthly heritage is not what will ultimately define us.   Our spiritual heritage will, and we get to choose what that will be!  Setting the context for our passage:   In last week’s passage Jesus confronted with the Jews with the fact He knew they were planning to murder Him. But they don’t even recognize they ar...

·          We are ALL sinners and slaves to sin… BUT… there is HOPE! o   Our HOPE is in Jesus, and Jesus alone! ·          John 8:37 I” know that you are the off-spring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.” o   The ironic thing about this verse is that the Pharisee’s don’t even try to deny this accusation! Why? §  Because they are so caught in trying to refute...

God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it (Job 33:14). The Pharisees had the Son of God standing right in front of them, yet they did not recognize Him. Responding to their repeated questions about His identity, Jesus’ reply sums it up: “I have been telling you from the beginning.” They were too busy forming their arguments against Jesus to hear the truth from Him.  We can exha...

We come face to face with all sorts of different events, scenarios, and situations in this life. Some good, some bad. In these verses, we meet a woman who comes face to face with the consequences, the embarrassment, and the shame of her sin. She also comes face to face with Jesus. This was written so that we would be able to see, just as this woman did, Jesus as He truly is.   Big Idea: I see clea...

Jesus cried out to the crowd, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He called his true followers to receive “rivers of living water” in their hearts through believing in him. Someday the Lord will sort out the wheat from the tares (Matt. 13:24-43) and the good fish from the bad fish (Matt. 13:48). But until then, he continues to call us out from the crowd. We are called to be set apart...

There was significant confusion and division surrounding Jesus in his day. Questions about his identity swirled through the streets of Jerusalem, and an underlying fear of the religious establishment filled many of the people. Perhaps the greatest fear of all was that of the religious leaders who felt threatened by Jesus. Yet God’s concrete plan for our redemption through Christ shines through the...

Jesus said, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” But how? The average adult makes over 30,000 decisions each day, many of which feel overwhelming. Yet Jesus knew the secret to right judgment: submission to His Father. Jesus waited on His Father’s timing, witnessed with His Father’s authority, and judged with His Father’s righteousness. Jesus never made a sinful decision, s...

The Holy Spirit clearly says that in the last days some will leave the faith (1 Tim. 4:1). Tragically, there are many in church who have the appearance of being a follower, yet do not truly belong to Jesus. After one of Jesus’ most difficult teachings, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” When many leave, Jesus asks us what he asked the Twelve, "You don’t want to...

Whenever we turn on the tv or scroll social media, we see celebrities who embody the American dream, yet whose lives come crashing down. This shouldn’t surprise us, because Jesus makes it clear that the American dream, and every other path apart from him, lead only to emptiness. The Bread of Life discourse shows us our inability to provide life for ourselves and God’s victory over that inability....

We’ve never had more, and yet never had less. We live with a greater abundance of food and resources than perhaps any society in world history. Yet many say, “I just feel so empty.” In Jesus’ day, people had this same longing for sustained spiritual sustenance. Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (John 6:3...

It’s not that our problems are too big, it’s that our view of Christ is too small. The title “Christ” reminds us of Jesus’ Lordship and power. He is “God with us”, but he is also the transcendent King of kings and Lord of lords. When facing the greatest obstacles that life throws at us, we can look to our King who is greater than our enemy. We can say with the Psalmist: I have set the Lord always...

Take-Home Message: Jesus is my only option for abundant life.   Without my only Lens, I cannot see reality (39-40).  With Jesus, we can see reality about…  Ourselves   Others  The World  The Bible  Our purpose   Without my only Love, I seek the wrong glory (41-44).  Without my only Lord, I hope in the wrong authority (45-47).  How do I keep Jesus in his proper place?   Jesus is my lens  Jesus is m...

We live in a very “this or that” culture. Coke or Pepsi. Nike or Adidas. Iowa or Iowa State. You have to pick a side. But when it comes to the topic of religion, we can tend to get a bit squirmish. John 5:30-38 is in our Bibles to let us know clearly and plainly that we cannot play this game with Jesus. He has clearly revealed who He is and we must weigh the testimonies of the witnesses He lays ou...

Baptism= acknowledgment that we are sinners and that our only hope is Jesus!   Remember this as we look at our passage of scripture for today.  John 5:25-29   Truly, truly I say to you, an hour is coming, and now is here , when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live . For the Father has life in Himself, and so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, an...

             There comes a moment in time when everything changes. And it should.       o  Will you be ready when it does?                John 5:19-24       o  So, Jesus said them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own coord, but only what He sees His Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He,...

When God chooses to anything, it’s always for a reason. And often it’s a reason that you’d never expect…   Character traits of the man who was healed: Blame-shifter Ingrate Tattle-tail   Out of the multitude that were there that day to be healed WHY would Jesus heal this guy?!   John 5:18- This was WHY the Jews were seeking to kill Him, because not only was He healing on the Sabbath, but He was ev...

The Gospels record 37 miracles of Jesus, and 28 of the 37 (over 75 percent) involve him healing people. Jesus healed friends, strangers, and even opponents. He continued to heal people until the very end of his life. In his last hours, he heals the high priest’s servant sent to arrest him. Chronologically, this passage is the first healing miracle of Jesus. And what was the purpose? That we would...

Radical encounters with Jesus cause us to do radical things for Jesus. The Bible is full of examples, such as Paul’s miraculous conversion and immediate preaching in Damascus (Acts 9:20-22). Perhaps nothing captures this better than the Samaritan woman testifying to her town after encountering Jesus at the well. God rewarded her radical faith— her boldness led to a revival!  Take-Home Message: Enc...

God could do things in ways that we would expect, but He often doesn’t do that. Why? Because if God did things in expected ways, that would be a story about us. But God does things in unexpected ways so that we know it is a story about God. Part of God’s unexpected plan is to pursue the most unlikely people, and Jesus illustrates this in His pursuit of the Samaritan woman.   Take-Home Message: Jes...

If Jesus had left the comfort of Heaven and lived a life of royalty on earth to save us, that alone would be the world’s greatest act of humility. But Jesus went far beyond that. He left Heaven and took the form of a servant, humbling Himself to the point of death on a cross. This is unfathomable humility and love. In the face of such greatness, what can we do but fall on our faces and worship? Fo...

“It is not enough for the skeptic, then, to simply dismiss the Christian teaching about the resurrection of Jesus by saying, “It just couldn’t have happened.” He or she must face and answer all these historical questions: Why did Christianity emerge so rapidly, with such power? No other band of messianic followers in that era concluded their leader was raised from the dead—why did this group do so...

A funeral for Jesus Christ