The Parable of The Sower
Lesson: Jesus’ Words bear fruits in us
1. Story:
- Tell Jesus’s Parable of The Sower from Luke 8:4-15.
- Jesus likes to tell stories. One day, He told a large crowd the parable of a sower (farmer).
- Once there was a farmer who went to sow his seed.
- Some of the seed fell on the path, where people walked on. The seed got stepped on, and the birds came and ate them up.
- Some of the seed fell on dry, rocky ground. The plant grew, but then it dried up and died because it didn’t have enough water.
- Some of the seed fell on thorns. As the plants grew, the thorns also grew and choked them.
- Still other seed fell on good soil. When the plants grew, it bore a hundred times more fruit!
2. Lesson: (Understanding the Parable of the Sower)
- Later, Jesus’ disciples asked him what the parable meant. Jesus explained:
- The seed = word of God; The soil = our hearts
- Path: Those who hear, but have the word taken away by the devil so that they do not believe in what Jesus says
- Sometimes we hear the Word of God, one of Jesus’ promises, and we do not believe it. Maybe we have been disappointed before, so we reject God’s word. Then we don’t give God’s word a chance to work in our lives.
- E.g. Jesus says He has authority over sicknesses. But you say, “Last time I prayed, but I didn’t get healed. So it can’t be true.” Then when you are sick, you don’t believe that Jesus can heal you.
- Rocky ground: Those who hear and receive the word with joy, but they have no root. When time of testing comes, they fall away.
- Sometimes we hear Jesus’ word, about His love and His grace, but our heart is still hard — we still rely on ourselves, our efforts, our works. When challenges come, you decide that you want to follow your own way instead of relying on Jesus. So we miss out on seeing Jesus work in our lives.
- E.g. Jesus says He will never leave you and He will be with you forever. But maybe you think that “Today I was very naughty, so Jesus won’t want to be with me.” So whenever you do something wrong, you hide from Jesus instead of going to Him.
- Thorns: Those who hear, but as time goes by, they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and do not mature.
- Sometimes we hear Jesus’ word, but we let our fears overcome our faith. Or we rely on the things of this world instead of relying on Jesus. Then we get distracted by all these things that we think can give us security and happiness, and we forget that in Jesus, we have everything
- E.g. Jesus says He will provide everything for us. But we may think, “I have to provide for my own need. I’ve got to keep working and saving and storing up so that I have enough.” Then as you grow older, you put all your time and energy into your career, you concentrate on making money, and you are so tired and don’t have any time for God anymore.
- Good soil: Those with good hearts, who hear the word, keep it in faith, and produce fruit a hundred fold.
- We all can be the good soil — we can all hear Jesus’ word and believe it. Believe in who He is. Believe what He says. Believe that He loves you. Believe that He is good. And as we receive the word of faith, we see it produce lots of fruit in our lives! We’ll see His healing, His blessings, His love, His goodness overflow in our lives.
- The seed is always good seed. God’s word is always true.
- The more we focus on Jesus and what He has done for us on the cross, we:
- Don’t let the devil take away His word from our hearts; we will believe what Jesus says and promised
- Don’t try to depend on our own goodness and abilities; we depend on Jesus and His finished work
- Don’t be overwhelmed by our fears or chase after other things to make us happy; we’ll go straight to Jesus, our source
- Will bear much, much fruit, one hundred times more!
3. Activity Ideas:
- Craft: Fruitful seed
- Print out/draw pictures of a fruitful plant and get kids to stick seeds (e.g. soya beans, kidney beans etc — larger beans will be easier for younger children) at the root of the plant.
- Or decorate the plant with the seeds.
- Write around the plant: “God’s word bears fruit in me”
- Worksheet: Parable of the Sower
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Youth Bible Study
Jesus’ Parable: The Sower
Leader’ Guide
Read Luke 8:4-15.
1. Jesus told a parable about a sower. The sower sowed seeds that fell on 4 types of ground. What happened to each of them?
2. How did Jesus explain the parable?
- Seed = Word of God
- Soil = Heart
- Path = Those who hear but the devil takes the word out of their hearts before they can believe and be saved.
- Rocky ground = Those who hear and receive the word with joy, but they have no root. When time of testing comes, they fall away.
- Thorns = Those who hear, but as time goes by, they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and do not mature.
- Good soil = Those with good hearts, who hear the word, keep it in faith, and produce fruit a hundred fold.
- The seed is always good seed. God’s word is always true.
- The more we focus on Jesus and what He has done for us on the cross, we:
- Don’t let the devil take away His word from our hearts; we will believe what Jesus says and promised
- Don’t try to depend on our own goodness and abilities; we depend on Jesus and His finished work
- Don’t be overwhelmed by our fears or chase after other things to make us happy; we’ll go straight to Jesus, our source
- Will bear much, much fruit, one hundred times more!
