Welcome to Luke Chapter 8 in our Certainty of Faith series through the Gospel of Luke.
Today, we continue to consider Jesus’ teachings and learn WHO Jesus is by WHAT He does.
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Luke chapter 8 records Jesus traveling through cities and villages demonstrating who He is by his by what he does and declaring the Kingdom of God.
The twelve were with him on this healing and speaking tour, as well as quite a few woman who provided for the ministry out of their personal finances.
And then we come to the passage we will mediate on today. : the parable of the sower.
Before I read today’s passage, let’s take a silent moment to focus on our breath and prepare our hearts to hear the Word of God.
Come, Holy Spirit, come, instruct our souls with Your Word.
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Luke 8:4–15
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’[a]
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
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As you listened to the passage—what soil might your heart be in this season of faith? Reflect on that for a moment.
In the Christian life, we will usually be somewhere between the third and fourth soil. Just like a farmer needs to tend to the soul, so we need to cultivate our souls with God’s word, spiritual practices, and intentional living.
What is one way you can cultivate your heart to be more like the fourth soil? Listen to the Spirit. What might be one thing He is leading you to do more consistently for the sake of your soul?
(PONDER)
The rest of the chapter, Jesus continues to teach. He talks about being a light to those around us. And then Luke records a little incident about Jesus’ mother and brothers standing outside where Jesus was teaching and he was told they wanted to see him and Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God—and do it.”
In the rest of the chapter, we see Jesus continue to show WHO he is by WHAT He does. He calms a storm and heals a man from a legion of demons and the town where this man lived implored him to leave because they were afraid of his power.
But he tells the man haled of a legion of demons to “return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. And the man went away, proclaiming through the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.
And when Jesus returned to the area—because of that man’s testimony—the crowd welcomed him because they were waiting for him.
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Do you share with others how the Lord is working in your life? Our testimonies can sultivate the soil of other people’s hearts.
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In the town of the healed demon possessed man, Jesus heals a religiously unclean woman because who for 12 years, and raises a dead girl to life.
The soil of the hearts of this town were ready to receive the gospel through the testimony of the healed demon possessed man—and let the gospel take root.
Now, take a moment of silence and prayer.
What is the soil like in your own heart these days?
What is the soil like in the heart of your loved ones?
Pray about this or anything the Spirit is bringing to mind.
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LET’S PRAY
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Thank you for joining me on the Well Soul Podcast today.
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There is so much more to the story in this chapter, so if you would like to drink in the scriptures more slowly than the podcast allows, I encourage you to look at the resources linked in the show notes.
I would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Sandra Glahn for her Latte with Luke Bible study and Brian Vasquez productions, who has made this podcast possible. This episode is sponsored by socialremix.co to SocialRemix.co, a social media generating website that saves you hours of content creation with just a click of a button. For more information, see the Links in the show notes.
God bless you and I pray that you have a well soul.