Sower of the Word

Luke 8

Main Idea: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17 NKJV).

1. Be Careful to Hear God’s Word (8:1-33).
   1. Those who hear the word should spread the word (8:1-3).
   2. God calls everyone to hear the word (8:4-8).
   3. Hearing the word of God is spiritual warfare (8:9-15).
   4. The more we hear, the more we receive; the less we hear, the more we lose (8:16-18).
   5. If we obey the word, it will change our loyalty (8:19-21).
   6. The word of God calms our fears (8:22-25).
   7. The word of God sets us free (8:26-33).
2. Be Sure to Believe God’s Word (8:34-56).
   1. You cannot believe apart from God (8:10).
   2. Yet not believing is sin.
   3. Do not reject God’s word (8:34-39).
   4. Your faith will make you well (8:40-56).

Over the last ten or fifteen years pastors have changed the way they refer to themselves. It used to be enough to simply have the title “pastor” or “reverend,” but now such titles seem unpopular or insufficient. Now pastors are “motivational speakers” and “life coaches.” Many pastors make a big deal of the fact that they are authors or speak at conferences. Before you ever get to the title of pastor, they list off their other accolades and roles—many of which seem to bear little relationship to the ministry of the Word.

Over the same ten-to-fifteen-year period, there remain groups of people who are not ashamed to be called “pastor.” However, they want bigger titles like “apostle.”

What’s happening in the minds of church leaders when they rest their identities on these titles? Titles have their place. We appropriately honor people for the roles they play in life. Titles very often describe and honor those roles and the people in them. But how are we to understand a church leader grasping for a different way to be described or understood? Perhaps more to the point, how does craving such titles compare to the way Jesus describes himself? How does it compare to what Jesus makes primary in his own ministry?

Luke 8 divides into three scenes. The first scene begins in verse 1 when the Lord teaches three parables to his disciples. The second scene begins in verse 22, when Jesus and his disciples enter a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee and find themselves caught in an unexpected and violent storm. Then, while in Galilee, the third scene beings in verse 26, as the Lord performs four miracles: the calming of the storm, the healing of a demon-possessed man, the healing of a woman, and the raising of a little girl from death to life. Running through each scene—whether in Jesus’s teaching or in the action portions of the chapter—is an emphasis on the word of God. Running through the chapter are various responses to the word of God. Each parable teaches us something about the nature of God’s word. And each miracle teaches us something about how we must respond to God’s word.

Be Careful to Hear God’s Word

Luke 8:1-33

Let me give you seven statements under this heading about the nature of God’s word and why we need to be careful about how we hear it.

Those Who Hear the Word Should Spread the Word (8:1-3)

These verses summarize Jesus’s earthly ministry. He traveled “from one town and village to another, preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God” (v. 1). In other words, Jesus preached the gospel.

He wasn’t alone. “The Twelve” refers to the twelve men Jesus called to be his apostles, the early leaders and teachers of the church. We’re not surprised to see the men listed here, but then there are “some women” (v. 2) traveling with our Lord. That is a very surprising thing. Unlike every other rabbi of his day, the Lord Jesus included women in his ministry. They traveled with him. Not only that, but they were the supporters of his ministry (v. 3).

If Luke were alive today he would use the hashtag #SayHerName because he notes three of the women in particular: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna. We don’t know much about Susanna apart from this verse. Joanna was apparently a woman of some status since her husband, Chuza, managed Herod’s house. Mary Magdalene was at one point possessed by seven demons until Jesus delivered her. There are unnamed women, unknown women, women with a broken past, and women of position. All kinds of women served the Lord and supported his ministry.

The Christian church would never have gotten off the ground were it not for women. Churches around the world would have closed their doors generations ago if it were not for women. Luke affirms these women by naming them for us. If our Lord valued and included women in his ministry, then every church should include them in every way the Lord and his Word permits. In every way women are called and gifted to serve, we want to see them encouraged and flourishing in their service in accord with the Word of God so that the Word of God might be spread among us.

This was the pattern of Christian ministry from the start. It’s a partnership to spread the word by those who heard the word. Some go preaching—Jesus and the apostles. Some give for preaching—Mary, Susanna, and Joanna. Everyone does one or the other or both. The entire aim is to spread the word of Christ to those who have not heard.

That’s why the local church exists. Of all the things the Lord may call us to do, we must not fail to spread the word. We have a partnership in the gospel (Phil 1:6). That’s our business. We do not look for government support or the resources of private foundations. We assume collective responsibility for supporting the ministry of the word in our neighborhood and beyond. Let us never forget or be distracted from this partnership. Those who hear the word should spread the word.

God Calls Everyone to Hear the Word (8:4-8)

The sower sows his seed on four types of soil: the path, the rock, the thorns, and the good soil. The punch line of the parable is “As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone who has ears to hear listen’” (v. 8).

You often hear Jesus say, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.” You might ask yourself the question, Who does not have ears? Nearly everyone does. But the saying suggests a person can have ears and not listen. That was my mom’s most frequent complaint about my dad. She used to say, “Harvey hears what he wants to hear!” He had ears, but it was as if certain things just never entered them. My mom would say he didn’t try to listen.

That’s the thing about God’s word: You must work to hear it. You have to tune your ear to God’s word. You must train your appetite for it. There must be concentration in order to understand it. So Jesus calls his hearers to listen if they have ears. In other words, the Lord calls us to understand and obey—not merely register the sound of words.

Some Christians have grown accustomed to hearing sermons that entertain them. They like sermons with lots of stories and illustrations, with humor and the occasional clever twist. While preaching should be interesting and engaging, preaching is not entertainment. Preaching must be better than entertainment. In our culture, entertainment is almost entirely passive, as people stare endlessly at screens. But with preaching, people must come to the Word of God fully awake and ready to do the work that true hearing requires.

This is important because . . .

Hearing the Word of God Is Spiritual Warfare (8:9-15)

The disciples ask the Lord to explain the meaning of the parable. They want to know what’s up with the path and birds, the rock and withering away, the thorns that choke the seed, and the good soil that yields a crop. Hearing, they have not yet listened. So the Lord explains the parable.

Parables are not meant to be interpreted line by line. Parables have one major point that they make in a symbolic story. So the Lord explains the symbols. “The seed is the word of God” (v. 11). By implication, he and other preachers are the sowers. Then Jesus explains that there are three different ways to hear the word sown.

• Defenseless hearing (v. 12)
• Shallow hearing (v. 13)
• Distracted hearing (v. 14)

These first three soils remind us of the Christians’ three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. They all oppose God’s word. That’s why I say hearing the word of God is spiritual warfare.

The devil is mentioned in verse 12. He and his demons are real. The devil looks to snatch the seed before it can take root, like birds devouring seed. Christ spreads the seed generously, but Satan pecks it up from the human heart as quickly as he can. And why? A war is being fought on the soil of every human heart. The devil enters that war to prevent people from being saved. The ear is the gate to the heart. Satan steals the seed to kill the soul. Don’t be defenseless. “Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life” (Prov 4:23). Guard the word that comes through your ear into your heart, for the word is able to save you.

The Lord alludes to the flesh in verse 13. Persecution or testing often arise because of the word. Though some people received the word joyfully, when trouble comes they “fall away.” Apostasy is real. Do not faint or turn away in the day of testing. You will reap if you do not faint. To all those who overcome, the Lord will give the crown of life (Rev 2:10-11). When you suffer for the name of Christ and the gospel, you are being treated like the prophets, and your reward in heaven will be great! Do not fall away. Persevere.

The world is described in verse 14. The world chokes out the seed, so any early fruit does not mature. Do not let the world lure you away with its false and vanishing pleasures and riches. Many a Christian has set out for the celestial city only to get snared in Vanity Fair. Too many Christians care too much for the ways of the world—about its power, its wealth, its beauty, its knowledge, its technology, its fashion, its cool. And the world keeps producing things for people to “get into.” The world never encourages you to get into the word of God. Never. It doesn’t want the word to produce fruit that remains in your life. It’s warring against the maturing of your soul in Christ. Don’t give in to it.

We are right now engaged in warfare. We are right now fighting against distraction from the world, the flesh, and the devil. When we listen to the preaching of God’s Word, our thoughts travel to work on Monday morning, to lunch after church, and to the temperature of the room. Even trials that small will allure us from the Word of God. Some of us will face far more significant persecutions and trials. We will have to decide again and again whether we will hold onto God’s word or look away to something else. Satan and his minions fight to keep us distracted that they might destroy the power of God’s word in our lives.

A heart made of good soil provides the only antidote to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Verse 15 describes such hearts. We win the spiritual war of hearing when we hold on to the word like a soldier trained never to lose or surrender his weapon. We do that if our hearts are honest and good; in other words, if we receive the Word of God for what it truly is—the very Word of God. We don’t receive it to justify ourselves. We don’t cut out the difficult parts. We don’t pick and choose what we will believe. We receive it all with a good heart—with an intention to do good and to believe what is taught. We win the war for the Word when we look to bear fruit with patience (Jas 1:2-4). We’re not trying to rush into maturity or skip the things that produce growth. We just steadily read, believe, and apply the Bible, and let patience have its perfect work in our lives.

That’s how we win. Hold fast. Have an honest heart. Bear fruit. Keep patient. Hearing the Word of God is spiritual warfare.

The More We Hear, the More We Receive; the Less We Hear, the More We Lose (8:16-18)

That’s the point of the second parable. The Lord compares the word of God to a light or candle. No one puts a lamp under a jar or under a bed. We don’t hide light. We let it shine.

Verse 17 tells us why: The Word reveals everything. We can’t hide things from God. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. He sends his Word into the world and it exposes the darkness. The Lord says,

“This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.” (John 3:19-21)

My mama would say, “It all comes out in the wash.” Jesus says, “It all comes out in the light of God’s Word.”

The more of God’s Word we hear, the more of it we receive. The more we neglect God’s Word, the more of it we lose (v. 18). To hear more of God’s Word is to receive more from God. To hear less of God’s Word is to have what you had taken away.

It’s not like we hear the word at one time and can live on it for the rest of our lives. We have to keep replenishing the store, stocking the shelves of our heart so that we always have something to feed on. We’re either going forward in the things of God or we’re going backward. There is no neutral ground. The more we hear the more we receive. The less we hear the more we lose.

I was convicted by these verses as I wrote this. I had slipped into a pattern of laziness when it came to my own personal study of the Scriptures. The Lord showed me that I wasn’t sitting still in neutral. I was going backward. I needed to “take care” to “hear” well. Maybe that’s you. Perhaps you need to take better care of how you hear God’s word. This Bible containing God’s promises is our life. We live by every word of it.

The second half of verse 18 promises that the word will be taken away from those who do not have it. I think this means that if we attempt to live on yesterday’s quiet times today or last week’s sermon for this week then we will find diminishing remembrance of God’s Word. With our “little” we end up with “less” because Christians leak. Instead, we need to continually pour in the Word of God to keep our tanks filled. The more we receive God’s Word the more of it we get. The more we develop an appetite for Scripture the more we hunger for it. The more we give ourselves the more we receive. But the more we withhold the more is taken away.

Isn’t this a perfect description of how we sometimes find ourselves spiritually dry? We did not intentionally set out for a desert place. We woke up one morning a little late, running behind for work, so we skipped our quiet time. We could still smell the fumes from the gas of yesterday’s quiet times, so we had a pretty good day despite not reading and pondering the Word that morning. The second morning we thought, It went well yesterday, so I’ll sleep in again. On the third morning we felt a little guilty so we thought we’d at least get a little snippet of the Word into the morning. We rush our spiritual feeding like a man grabbing a piece of toast for breakfast as he runs out the door. The fourth day you have your quiet time, but it’s less rewarding than it was last week. Now reading God’s Word feels harder. Praying is more difficult. So you miss another day or two before trying to press your way back into the Bible. Before you know it, a couple weeks have passed since you fruitfully received God’s Word. You had just a little of the Bible, and more of it was taken away. You’ve been losing all the while and now you’re wondering, How do I get it back? The promise of the first half of verse 18 is that if you start with at least getting some of the Bible, then you will want more of the Bible. Water the dry places of your heart with the Scriptures, and the desert will bloom with truth. The more you water, the more you flower. The more you flower, the more you water.

Feed on God’s written Word. Feed on it daily and several times a day. Let us not rest on sermons and studies from yesterday or last week or last year. Let us keep a fresh word in our hearts and minds by reading it and hearing it every day.

The result will be . . .

If We Obey the Word, It Will Change Our Loyalty (8:19-21)

In verse 19 we transition from the Lord’s teaching in parables to the action and miracles of the chapter. The Lord’s earthly mother and brothers come to him. They can’t reach him because of the crowds, but they get word to him that they’re standing outside and want to see him (v. 20).

The Lord’s response shocks us even today: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God” (v. 21). These words continue to astound readers who wonder if Jesus sinned against his mother by refusing to see them.

What we read in the Word of God redefines our relationships and our loyalty. The active obedience of the Christian to the Word of God actually creates in the Christian a higher loyalty than our closest earthly relationships. Our Lord is not diminishing or disrespecting parenthood. Instead, the Lord points us to the fact that there is a greater Father to whom we owe the highest loyalty. Our heavenly Father comes before our earthly mothers and brothers. The more we obey God’s Word, the more we have in common with others who obey God’s Word. We find ourselves closer to those who obey God’s Word than we are to our blood relatives who do not believe.

I may never forget the year my wife and I realized that God’s Word had done this in our lives. The girls were very young, and our parents wanted us to come home for Christmas. That meant driving to both ends of North Carolina from the middle. But we made the journey—which also meant we weren’t going to celebrate Christmas with our church family or in a way that fit our understanding of the Bible’s priorities. At one point, while we were itching to get back to our home in Raleigh, one of our mothers said, “You guys love your church friends more than you do your own family.” That rocked me a little. It wasn’t that I loved my family less. It’s that in Christ we now had a new family with whom we tried to live out God’s Word. The Word of God forges new bonds and affections that natural families point to and symbolize.

You know God’s Word is doing its work in your heart when you share a stronger bond with your brothers and sisters in the church than your blood relatives who do not believe. The Word creates family. This is wonderful because many of us don’t have family or don’t have good families. My father left the family when I was thirteen. Some of us have never met our fathers. Some of us grew up in homes where Mom and Dad were always fighting. Or perhaps you mourn the loss of a parent. But the Word of God read and obeyed holds out the promise of a new and better family. We receive brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers one hundred-fold through the Word of God. That’s what the local church is to be—the family of God united by obedience to the Word. I praise God for the way he’s been doing that in our lives already.

The Word of God Calms Our Fears (8:22-25)

I can tell you that a storm on the Sea of Galilee is no joke. As verse 22 says, it’s actually a large lake, but because the lake is below sea level, the winds that come down across it can cause it to act like a sea. That means big waves and storms can come up suddenly. That’s what happened in verse 23. The Lord fell asleep in the boat, and a windstorm swept the lake.

These are professional fishermen. They know these waters, and they’ve likely been out in storms before. But this one is so violent that the boat starts to fill up with water and these grown fishermen start screaming, “Master, Master, we’re going to die!” (v. 24a).

Now see the authority of God’s word: “Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. So they ceased, and there was a calm. They were fearful and amazed, asking one another, ‘Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him!’” ­(24b-25). Winds and water do not have minds. Winds and water do not think. They do not have ears. Winds and water do not make decisions. Yet they obey the Lord at his word. Deaf creation may hear and obey better than smart people.

See the Lord’s authority over creation. He exercises his authority through his word. The written Word, the Bible, is meant to have the same effect in our lives as it does to the winds and the waves. More so when you consider that we are made in God’s image and made for fellowship with him. But since sin has come in the world, we find it difficult to obey God. The winds and the waves put us to shame. We have to look at unthinking things in order to know how we should think about God’s Word and his authority.

The Word of God Sets Us Free (8:26-33)

This is what we learn in the second miracle story when Jesus heals a man who was possessed by demons for years. This man was in rough shape (v. 27). Can you imagine him? This poor man has been devastated by these demons (v. 29).

When the demons encounter Jesus they shout, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” (v. 28). The demons recognize Jesus, and they recognize who has the real authority. So they beg not to be tormented. There is not the slightest hint of “good vs. evil” in this passage, if you think evil has any chance against good. The demons know the moment they see Jesus that God has just stepped on the scene. They tremble in his presence.

The demons tremble at the Son’s word (v. 29). The Lord controls their fate by his word. The demons can do nothing but submit to whatever Jesus commands. And there are many demons in this man—so many his name is “Legion” (v. 30). So it’s not even a one-on-one battle. It’s Jesus alone against a legion of demons! And they all must bow before the Lord and his command. They beg to go into pigs rather than to be sentenced to the abyss, which is the hell prepared for Satan and his demons.

The word of God controls the natural spiritual realms. The Lord rules things seen and unseen. Everything from demons and devils to waves and winds obey the word of God. By his word our Lord calms our fears, and by his word he sets the captives free.

• Those who hear the word must spread the word.
• Everyone must hear the word.
• Hearing the word is spiritual warfare.
• The more we hear it, the more we have of it.
• If we obey the Word, it will place us in a new family.
• By his word, the Lord calms our fears.
• By his word, the Lord sets the captive free.

My friend, this is why we love the Bible. The Bible is the written Word of God, and God rules his world through his Word. And this is why Satan hates the Word. This why our personal reading of the Bible and our listening to biblical sermons become so critical.

How do you respond to God’s Word? What attention do you give to it? What habits do you build around it? When you hear it preached, do you listen?

Be Sure to Believe God’s Word

Luke 8:34-56

Jesus receives various responses as he sows the word. The responses teach us something about how we should respond. They teach us about the nature of faith or belief. I want to make four statements about faith.

You Cannot Believe Apart from God (8:10)

No one can believe God’s word or the gospel unless God gives us ears to hear. That’s the point of verse 10, which quotes Isaiah 6:9-10. In Isaiah 6 God calls Isaiah to be a prophet and sends him to preach the word to Israel. But God tells Isaiah from the start that Israel will not believe or perceive. They will not believe because God will not give them faith. God promises to blind their eyes and stop up their ears so they will not believe.

Belief isn’t something we work up or create on our own. Faith is a gift of grace (Eph 2:8-9). Knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom is given to some. Who does the giving? God does. Jesus prays in Matthew 11:25-27,

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure. All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

Knowing the secrets of the kingdom, or knowing God the Father and God the Son, is a gift of God’s gracious will. He makes it known to “infants.” In other words, according to Jesus, God is in control even over who believes. If you have come to know Christ, it is because God has already changed your heart with the gift of faith.

Yet Not Believing Is a Sin

That’s implied in verse 25 when the Lord asks the disciples during the storm, “Where is your faith?” We cannot create faith, but Jesus expects us to have faith. God expects us to trust him and believe in him. We cannot believe apart from God giving us the gift of faith, yet it’s sin not to believe. Romans 14:23 says, “Everything that is not from faith is sin.”

So even our unbelief makes us guilty before God. So you may say, “Well, what should we do if we can’t believe on our own, and we are guilty for not believing?” Good question.

You should call on God to give you the gift of faith. Pray with the sinner, “Lord, help my unbelief.” Ask God to give you eyes to see and ears to hear. Ask him for an honest and good heart that patiently bears fruit in faith. What we can do is call on the name of the Lord with the promise of Romans 10:13 in mind: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom 10:13). We should appeal to God’s mercy, asking him to do even concerning faith what we cannot do for ourselves.

That really is the message of the gospel. Through Jesus Christ, God does everything we cannot do for ourselves. God provides righteousness for us through Jesus’s perfect obedience. God provides payment for our sin through Jesus’s death on the cross. God provides for us eternal life through raising Jesus from the grave three days later. Everything we need—from righteousness, to atonement, to new life—God provides through his Son; faith is no exception. By God’s grace we come to believe. So what must we do? Simply ask, “Lord, give me this gift. Show me your mercy.”

Do Not Reject God’s Word (8:34-39)

The Lord will give faith to those who are like little infants who receive his word with an honest and good heart (v. 15). Even if you don’t understand it all, receive it. At the very least trust that it’s God’s word and then commit to growing in understanding.

Whatever you do, do not reject God’s word. That’s what the people do after Jesus heals the man with the many demons. Do you remember that in verses 34-39? They see the miracle. They see the man clothed and sane after he’d been running around naked and crazed for years. They hear how it had been done (v. 36). But they do not receive Christ or his word. Instead, they “asked him to leave” (v. 37).

Many people are like the people of the Gerasenes. When they visit a church, they see a room full of former sinners and reprobates. And they see how Christ has cleaned us up, has clothed us in our right mind, and has begun to renew our lives. They hear the explanation: “God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). They will hear people tell them that new and eternal life can be theirs through Jesus Christ. And do you know what they do? They effectively ask Jesus to leave. Or they themselves leave offended or afraid. They reject eternal life and the Savior.

This story is here to show us ourselves. The lesson is, do not refuse Jesus. Believe in him, and you will be saved from God’s condemnation; he will clothe you in his righteousness and renew your mind. Look at how Jesus gives purpose to that formerly crazy man (vv. 38-39). Jesus made this man an evangelist and a preacher.

The demons begged to depart from Jesus. The man, when free of the demons, begged to go with Jesus. Don’t let your response to Jesus be like the demons. Let it be like this man who became known throughout his town for praising God and telling others how much Jesus had done for him. You begin that new life by believing that Jesus died to pay for your sins, that he rose so you might live forever in his righteousness, and he is coming again to receive all those who believe in him.

My plea to you if you’re not a Christian is that you not respond like the demons. Respond like this man. Confess your sins. Beg to go with Christ. Beg that Christ would be to you a Savior and Lord. Beg that all Christ has done to turn away God’s wrath against you and to reconcile you to God would be yours through faith.

Your Faith Will Make You Well (8:40-56)

You may be wondering if believing in Jesus this way is worth it. What will you give up, and what will you gain? The last two miracles answer that question—if you have ears to hear.

In verses 41-42 a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came to Jesus to heal his twelve-year-old daughter. I can tell you, a father of a twelve-year-old daughter will do almost anything to save his sick daughter’s life. He’ll go all John Q to save her. This man comes to Jesus.

As Jesus is going to see the daughter, a woman who has been bleeding for twelve years presses through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment. Verse 43 says she’s spent all she had on doctors but couldn’t be healed. A private medical savings account wasn’t enough. Insurance wasn’t enough. But she reasoned that just a touch of the Lord’s garment would be enough. That’s faith. Just as the father coming to Jesus was an act of faith.

She manages to press through the crowd and touch the Lord’s garment, and power went out from the Lord (v. 46). When Jesus finds out she had touched him, the Lord said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (v. 48).

He says a very similar thing when he arrives at Jairus’s house. The people say the girl is dead; don’t bother the teacher any more. They’ve given up and already begun their mourning. They crowd is more committed to the girl’s death than the father is to the girl’s life. But Jesus goes into Jairus’s house with Peter, John, James, and her parents. He closes the door with everyone inside weeping and crying. The crowd laughs at him when he says the girl is not dead (v. 53). That’s when Jesus does the miracle (vv. 54-55). In that moment Jairus’s daughter becomes a foretaste of the resurrection and the life to come.

Conclusion

Did you notice how Jesus spoke to the woman and to Jairus? “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (v. 48). “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved” (v. 50). From this we learn that faith in Christ makes the sin-sick sinner well. Faith in Christ raises the person dead in sin to newness of life.

Is faith worth it? Is living well and living forever worth it?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (see Rom 10:17). Salvation comes through our ears. Let us hear the word of God and believe. Christ is the sower of God’s word. May the seed of the word find fertile soil in our hearts.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What strategies have you found successful in helping you hear God’s word?
2. As you think about your Christian life, in what ways has God’s word changed you?
3. How can you spread God’s word to someone before the day ends today or tomorrow?
4. Do you agree that hearing and obeying God’s word is part of the spiritual warfare Christians face? Why or why not? If so, how do you fight the war?
5. Are there any parts of God’s word you struggle to believe? Why or why not? How do you answer or work against your objections in order to fully accept God’s word? Do you pray for God’s help to receive and believe his word in those areas?