Intermediate Lesson 1 -
The Seed and the Sower

This exercise is the second part of Intermediate Lesson 1, the Parable of the Seed and the Sower. You can also do it as an individual reading exercise.

First, here are the answers to the Listening questions for this lesson.

1. What happened to the seeds that fell on the rock?
   They were trampled underfoot, and the birds devoured them.

2. What happened to the seeds that fell into the good ground?
   They produced one hundred times as much fruit.

3. What is the seed, according to Jesus?
   The seed is the Word of God.

4. What is produced by the seed that grows in people who are called “good ground?”
   The people who are the good ground produce fruit with perseverance.

Now, read the passage several times. Try not to run to a dictionary and look up all the words you don’t know. Instead, just try and understand what the word means by understanding the context of the sentence.

Next, download this PDF of the passage. This way, you should be able to read the passage and listen at the same time. Read and listen together a few more times.

The Parable of the Seed and the Sower

Luke 8:4-15 WEB

When a great multitude came together and people from every city were coming to him, he spoke by a parable:

“The farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the road, and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky devoured it. Other seed fell on the rock, and as soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Other seed fell into the good ground and grew and produced one hundred times as much fruit.”

As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”

He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

 “Now the parable is this – the seed is the Word of God. Those along the road are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. What fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life; and they bring no fruit to maturity. Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.