Joyful Moments in Christ

This Bible study lesson is for people who are learning English (ELL or ESL students). It is made for advanced beginner and intermediate English learners. Children who speak English or adults who prefer easy English may also enjoy it and learn from it.

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Lesson Icebreaker Question

Have you ever planted a seed or grown a plant? What happened to it?

Lesson Highlight

In this lesson, we will learn a story Jesus told about a farmer planting seeds. We will hear what the story means and how people can hear God’s message in different ways.

Vocabulary List (GNT)

1. Along — Next to something or beside it.
2. Among — In the middle of a group or surrounded by things.
3. Answered — Said something back to a question.
4. Ate — Put food in the mouth, chewed, and swallowed it.
5. Bear — To produce or make something, like fruit or good actions.
6. Believe — To trust that something is true.
7. Bird — An animal with wings and feathers that can usually fly.
8. Bore — Another word for “produced” or “made” something, like fruit.
9. Choke — To stop something from growing or moving by squeezing it.
10. Crowd — A large group of people close together.
11. Devil — The enemy of God, who tries to turn people away from God.
12. Disciples — The special followers and students of Jesus.
13. Dried Up — Became dry and died.
14. Ears — The body parts we use to hear sounds.
15. Fell — Came down from a higher place to a lower one.
16. Field — An open area of land, often used for growing crops.
17. Fruit — What a plant makes, like apples or grapes. In the Bible, it can also mean good results from our lives.
18. Gather — To come together in one place.
19. Gladly — In a happy and willing way.
20. Good — Something right, kind, or helpful.
21. Grain — Small, hard seeds that people eat or use to make food.
22. Grew Up — Got bigger or older.
23. Ground — The surface of the earth; the dirt or soil.
24. Heart — In the Bible, this can mean the center of a person’s thoughts and feelings.
25. In Order — So that something will happen.
26. Knowledge — What a person knows or understands.
27. Listen — To pay attention to what someone is saying.
28. Look — To use your eyes to see something.
29. Meant — What something was trying to say or teach.
30. Message — Important words or news sent to someone.
31. Moisture — Wetness or a small amount of water.
32. Parable — A short story Jesus told to teach a lesson.
33. Path — A small road or trail where people walk.
34. Persist — To keep going and not give up.
35. Plants — Living things that grow in the ground, like flowers and trees.
36. Pleasures — Things that make people feel happy or enjoy life.
37. Receive — To take something that is given to you.
38. Retain — To hold on to something and keep it.
39. Riches — Money and valuable things.
40. Ripen — To become fully grown and ready, like fruit.
41. Rocky — Full of rocks or hard stones.
42. Saved — To be kept safe from danger, sin, or death.
43. Scatter — To throw things in different directions.
44. Secret — Something that is not known by many people.
45. Seed — A small part of a plant that grows into a new plant.
46. Sink Deep — To go down far inside something.
47. Soil — Another word for dirt or ground where plants grow.
48. Sow — To plant seeds in the ground.
49. Sower — A person who plants seeds.
50. Stand For — To show or mean something.
51. Stepped On — To press something with your foot.
52. Take — To grab or remove something.
53. Testing — A hard time that shows what someone really believes.
54. Thorn Bush — A plant with sharp points that can hurt.
55. Town — A place where people live, smaller than a city.
56. Worries — Things that make people feel nervous or afraid.
57. Word of God — God’s message to people, found in the Bible.

Summary of the Passage

This passage tells a story Jesus shared with a large group of people. Many people followed Jesus because they wanted to hear his words about God. One day, Jesus told a simple story called a parable. A parable is a story with a special meaning.

Jesus spoke about a man who went out to plant seeds. Some seeds fell on a path and birds ate them. Some fell on rocky ground, and they started to grow but quickly dried up because they had no water. Some seeds fell into thorn bushes, and the plants were choked by the sharp plants around them. But some seeds fell on good soil, grew strong, and gave many good grains.

Later, Jesus explained what the story meant. The seed is like God’s message to people. Some people hear God’s word, but forget it quickly. Some are happy to hear it at first, but give up when life gets hard. Some people let worries, money, and fun things stop them from following God. But some people hear God’s message, keep it in their hearts, and grow good things in their lives by trusting and obeying God.

This passage teaches us that people listen to God’s message in different ways. It shows us that we should listen with open hearts, keep God’s word inside, and stay strong even when life is hard.

Read The Passage

The Parable of the Sower
4 People kept coming to Jesus from one town after another; and when a great crowd gathered, Jesus told this parable:
5 “Once there was a man who went out to sow grain. As he scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it up.
6 Some of it fell on rocky ground, and when the plants sprouted, they dried up because the soil had no moisture.
7 Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up with the plants and choked them.
8 And some seeds fell in good soil; the plants grew and bore grain, one hundred grains each.”
And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!”
The Purpose of the Parables
9 His disciples asked Jesus what this parable meant,
10 and he answered, “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God has been given to you, but to the rest it comes by means of parables, so that they may look but not see, and listen but not understand.
Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower
11 “This is what the parable means: the seed is the word of God.
12 The seeds that fell along the path stand for those who hear; but the Devil comes and takes the message away from their hearts in order to keep them from believing and being saved.
13 The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly. But it does not sink deep into them; they believe only for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away.
14 The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear; but the worries and riches and pleasures of this life crowd in and choke them, and their fruit never ripens.
15 The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.

Luke 8:4-15 (GNT)

Most English learners should use the New International Reader’s Version (NIRV) or the Good News Translation (GNT) because they are easy to read. If you want to try something harder, you can read one of the other Bible versions:

• Very Easy: New International Reader’s Version: Luke 8:4-15 (NIRV)
• Easy: Good News Translation: Luke 8:4-15 (GNT)
• Medium: New Living Translation: Luke 8:4-15 (NLT)
• Hard: New International Version: Luke 8:4-15 (NIV)
• Very Hard: English Standard Version: Luke 8:4-15 (ESV)

Comprehension Questions

1. What did Jesus do when a big crowd came to him?
2. What is a parable?
3. What happened to the seeds that fell on the path?
4. What happened to the seeds that fell on rocky ground?
5. What happened to the seeds that fell among thorn bushes?
6. What happened to the seeds that fell in good soil?
7. What does the seed in the story mean?
8. Why do some people forget God’s message?
9. What makes some people stop believing when life gets hard?
10. What kinds of things can crowd out God’s word in people’s lives?
11. What kind of heart should people have when they hear God’s word?

Application Questions

1. Why do you think Jesus used stories to teach people about God?
2. What are some things that make it hard to follow God today?
3. What can help you keep God’s message in your heart?
4. Who in your life helps you grow strong in faith, like a good plant in good soil?

Theological Insights

1. God’s word is like a seed planted in people’s hearts.
2. Some people believe for a short time but give up when life gets hard.
3. Worries and fun things can stop people from growing in faith.
4. A good heart listens to God and obeys him.
5. God wants people to grow strong in faith and live good lives.

Closing Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for your word that teaches us about you. Help us listen with good hearts and grow strong in your love. Amen.

ELL Resources for the Gospel of Luke

More ELL Resources

You can find more Bible lessons for English learners on the main ELL page.

Scripture quotations marked (GNT) are from the Good News Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.