Here is a teaching on part 1 of chapter 8 of the book of Luke. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters going forward, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.
First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please give us knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that we're reading and the wisdom to implement it in our daily lives. Please open up our eyes, our ears, our minds, and our hearts to you Lord. I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this Bible study, they receive it and they implement it in their daily life. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Luke Chapter 8 Part 1:
1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.
Alright, so I'm going to discuss these verses with you guys here. In verse 12 where it says "the Twelve were with him" in our Bible study from part 1 from chapter 6 of the book of Luke, we saw where Jesus chose 12 disciples and designated them apostles, so that is the Twelve that it's talking about here. In verse 3, we can see that Jesus humbled himself to receive help from others. Jesus was fully man and fully God and he could've created all money and food that he needed, but he humbled himself and received help from these women that it talks about here in these verses.
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 of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, 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, “He who 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.’
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 rock 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.
So this was a parable that Jesus taught to these people about a sower, or a farmer, going and sewing seeds. Whenever Jesus' twelve disciples and other people asked what the parable meant he told them that the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to them, but for the people that are on the outside everything is in parables. Whenever we believe in Jesus Christ and we're saved, then we have eternal life and we have the secret of the kingdom of God, but for the others on the outside that do not believe in Jesus Christ, they hear the things of the Bible but they don't understand it, they see it, but they never fully get it, and that's what he's saying here.
Then he explains it in verses 13-20 that the farmer sows the word. There are a couple of things that I want to talk about with the word here. So the word is the words of Jesus Christ, the words of the Bible that we read here. Whenever we study our Bible, we truly seek to understand the Bible, know the truth of the words, and we live by it, then we'll sow seeds on good soil. When we're constantly reading the Bible and studying our Bible, we're sowing our seed on good soil.
I also wanted to point out something else about the word and it's in John chapter 1. John chapter 1:1-2 says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." It's so crazy because I didn't even think about this when I was making my notes for this episode until now. God gave me this in my mind, literally right now, it just click to me that the word here wasn't specifically talking about the words of the Bible that I initially thought when I was planning this episode for you guys. As we see in John 1:1-2, "the Word was with God and the Word was God. In the beginning, was the Word. He was with God in the beginning." So whenever we sow our seed on good soil, we hear about the Word (we hear about Jesus Christ), and we believe in him, we follow him, we study our Bible, we pray, we worship him, we obey his commands, we listen to his teachings, we seek to know and understand his teachings, and teach them to other people, and then we produce a crop. We produce other believers that believe in Jesus Christ and we have spiritual abundance that we can only receive through Jesus Christ (through the Word).
So we have to make sure that we're standing firm in our faith and we're taking what we hear, we're taking what we learn from our Bible studies and these different teachings, we're taking the Word and we accept it (we accept Jesus Christ). We accept his words, his teachings, his love, his mercy, his grace, we accept him into our lives, and we continuously build a relationship with him. We can't be like these people that hear the words of Jesus Christ and let the enemy take away the words or take away Jesus out of our life and make us not believe in him. We can't be like other people that received Jesus with joy, but then as soon as times get tough, or if people start not to like us or think differently of us because we're spreading the gospel and letting people know about Jesus Christ, then they automatically just run away from him, stop telling people about him, and stop believing. We can't be like the people that hear the Word (hear Jesus Christ) and accept him, but then they let worries, money, and materialistic things get in the way, they let their pride get in the way, and they put those things above him.
This is why I do what I do with these Bible studies, with teaching you guys faith-based tips, how to strengthen your relationship with Christ, and all of these things, because it's so important for us to truly accept the words of Jesus Christ and accept him into our lives, follow him, spread the gospel, let other people know about him, and seek every single day to have as close as a relationship as possible to him. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through Jesus. No one can enter the kingdom of heaven except through Jesus Christ and that's so important for us to remember and to always sow our seed on good soil.
Oh hey friend, sorry to interrupt this blog post, but I just wanted to remind you guys that "Christ Transforms Me," my 90-day journal is available for purchase on Amazon. Until further notice, all of the money that I receive from the purchases of that journal will be donated for the disaster relief of the people that were affected by the tornadoes that hit my hometown in Kentucky. To learn more about the journal or to purchase one, go to www.faithfuelsmyfire.com/journal
16 “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. 18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”
Alright, so I'm going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. So in verse 18, we can't only hear the truth of God's words, but we have to receive it and prepare those words in our hearts and our minds, and then we have to implement what the words say. Whenever we hear the word of God and we receive it with joy, then we receive spiritual abundance.
We can't let out lights be hidden. We can't just sit idly by and try to conceal our love for Jesus and the fact that we're Christians. We can't let the world dim our light. In the world that we live in today, so many people are against Jesus and try to dim our light. We can't let the opinions of others, or the fear of what they are going to think or say dim our light and make us not spread the gospel and share our love, how Jesus has changed our lives, and the truth of God's words. Truth is meant to be revealed and once we have the truth of God's words and we see that we have to spread the truth to others in the way that God intends for us to.
Here where it says "whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him," sometimes people think that they have spirituality but they only seem to have it, like these Pharisees, these religious leaders, and experts in the law. They thought that because they knew the law and they knew all the words from the Old Testament that they had spirituality and that they were going to make it to heaven on their own. But they didn't believe in the only one that can forgive them and give them eternal life, which is Jesus Christ. If people don't believe in Jesus, it doesn't matter what words they know, the laws they know, and all of that, because that is not what is going to get them into heaven. When the time comes, the spirituality that they think they have will be taken from them because they don't believe in Jesus.
19 Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” 21 He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”
So in these verses here Jesus is basically saying that his closest family is those who hear and obey God's words. All throughout this Bible study, we see the importance of hearing God's word, receiving it with joy, and implementing God's word. Whenever we do those things then we draw close to Jesus.
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let's go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Alright, so these are all the verses that I'm going to read in part 1 of Chapter 8 of the book of Luke, but I'm going to discuss all of these verses with you guys here. So in these verses here we see that Jesus can do all things. Jesus was fully man and fully God. Jesus needed rest because he was fully man. But because he was fully God, Jesus was not afraid of the storm and he rebuked the wind and the storm and everything was calm.
Jesus asked his disciples where their faith was because he had told them that they were going to go to the other side, and because of this storm happening they didn't have faith that they would make it to the other side as Jesus said. That is what disturbed Jesus, it wasn't the storm or anything like that because Jesus can control that. Jesus easily stopped the storm, but what disturbed him was the fact that his disciples didn't have faith that they would make it to the other side as Jesus said.
Here are 3 takeaways to write down:
1. Jesus Christ is the word of God
2. We have to live by the truth of God's words
3. We have to trust Jesus with all of our hearts
Luke Ch 8 Part 1 Study Guide
In verse 3, why did Jesus receive help from these women?
What happens when we sow our seed on good soil?
Should we hide our light from others? Why or why not?
What should we do once we know the truth of God’s words?
Why was Jesus not worried about the storm?
When should we trust Jesus? Why?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible study?
So that concludes this Bible study on part 1 of chapter 8 of the Book of Luke. Tomorrow we're going to go into part 2, so make sure you stay tuned for that.
I love you guys so much.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes daily.
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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
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