Luke 8

1 – 3

The next day, while Jesus was traveling through some cities and small towns, he preached and told the Gospel about God’s kingdom. The 12 apostles were with him. There were also some women with him who had been healed of sicknesses and evil spirits.

One of the women was Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out. Also among the women were Joanna, the wife of Chuza (Herod’s helper), Susanna, and many other women. These women used their own money to help Jesus and his apostles.

These women thought of ways that they could serve. If they cooked and did other things then the ministry could keep going. Look for ways to serve! Use what you have!

4 – 5

A great crowd gathered. People were coming to Jesus from every town. He told them this story: A farmer went out to plant his seed. While he was planting, some seed fell beside the road. People walked on the seed, and the birds ate all this seed.

Many places in the Bible show birds being used by the devil. These people did not have respect for the seed.

6. Some seed fell on rock. It began to grow but then died because it had no water.

Some teachers say that we should not share the Gospel in every place because people will not listen. They say these things as if Jesus was saying that the seed should not be planted in these places. Jesus did not say that! If you want to prove something from the Bible you need to find it in more than one verse. See Matthew 28:19.

7. Some seed fell among thorny weeds. This seed grew, but later the weeds choked the good plants.

We can see that the weeds took away the things in the dirt that the seeds needed so the first thing we need to do is to put back the things that were taken away.

8. And some seed fell on good ground. This seed grew and made 100 times more grain.” Jesus finished the story. Then he called out, “Let those with ears use them and listen!”
Be careful what you listen to!!! There are many stories of Christians who thought that listening to garbage in school or somewhere else would not hurt them. We do not think about it but lies can enter our minds and come out of our mouths if we are not centered on the Words of the Bible.

9 – 10

Jesus’ followers asked him, “What does this story mean?” Jesus said, “You have been chosen to know the secret truths of the kingdom of God. But I use stories to speak to other people. I do this so that: ‘They will look, but they may not see. They will listen, but they may not understand.’

But people who are not spiritual cannot receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they cannot understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 1 Corinthians 2:14, Isaiah 6:9-10

11 – 12

“This is what the story means: The seed is God’s teaching. What is the seed that fell beside the road? It is like the people who hear God’s teaching, but then the devil comes and takes it away from their hearts. So they cannot believe the teaching and be saved.


The first thing that we learn is the seed is the Word of God. So before we think about anything else we need to see that the devil wants to take away the Words of God from our minds! When we have a problem do we first think, “What does the Bible say about this?”

If we do not then the devil has already taken God’s Words away from us. People will say, “The Bible has nothing to do with this problem!” When we hear this we know that the devil has won the fight for their minds.

How do we make good ground? Put back the things that have been taken out of the ground! This is our job and we cannot do it if we do not know how to bring the seed of the Bible to people.

13. What is the seed that fell on rock? It is like those who hear God’s teaching and accept it gladly. But they do not have deep roots. They believe for a while, but then trouble comes. They stop believing and turn away from God.

Even beautiful Christians can think that they have done so much for Christ that they should never have trials in their lives. Some people are so embarrassed that a problem has come up that they will hide from others so that nobody will know. The devil tells them that it is strange for them to have problems and that other people will look down on them. 1 Peter 4:12

14. What is the seed that fell among the thorny weeds? It is like those who hear God’s teaching, but they let the worries, riches, and pleasures of this life keep them from growing. So they never produce good fruit.

Money can lie to you. Money can make you think that you are doing very good and no longer need to pray or go to God for what you need. Do not live with the thorns! These thorns come from too much worry about what will happen.

Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow. If you keep on worrying then you are saying that you do not want to listen to what Jesus told you to do! The original language calls worry the same thing as imaginations. Imaginations are things that may never happen but the devil makes it sound like they will happen. Matthew 6:34

15. And what is the seed that fell on the good ground? That is like those who hear God’s teaching with a good, honest heart. They obey God’s teaching and patiently produce good fruit.


Tell people a story like Jesus did and they will listen! These people are Christians but they waste a lot of their time with other things and do not see the beauty of bringing others to Jesus and so their life is not complete.

16. “No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or hides it under a bed. Instead, he puts the lamp on a lampstand so that those who come in will have enough light to see.
Jesus just got done saying that not many people are planting the seed of the Word. Now He is asking why anybody would hide what God has done for them.

17 – 18

Everything that is hidden will become clear. Every secret thing will be made known. So be careful how you listen. The person who has something will be given more. But to the person who has nothing, this will happen: Even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

People who do listen to the Word of God will see that it is beginning to change them. First, they will see a new way growing in their life. Then they will see that the things of the world are not interesting to them anymore. If you plan to let the things of the Spirit in your life they will grow slowly and put down deep roots.

We send away all hidden things. We do not try to trick anyone or twist the Word of God. We tell the truth before God, and all who are honest know this. 2 Corinthians 4:2

19 – 21

Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. There was such a crowd that they could not get to him. Someone said to Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside. They want to see you.”

Jesus answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who listen to God’s teaching and obey it!”

Jesus was not saying anything bad about His family. He was saying these things to show us that those who have given their lives to Him are as close as His own family was to Him.

22 – 23

One day Jesus and his followers got into a boat. He said to them, “Come with me across the lake.” And so they started across. While they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. A big storm blew up on the lake. The boat began to fill with water, and they were in danger.


Jesus is saying, “We are going to get to the other side.” Do not doubt in the storm what Jesus has told you before the storm.

24. The followers went to Jesus and woke him. They said, “Master! Master! We will drown!” Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves. The wind stopped, and the lake became calm.

This storm came because Jesus was going to a place where a man needed to be set free from a demon. When there is a storm in your life it may be because the devil is trying to turn you away from what you are supposed to be doing.

25. Jesus said to his followers, “Where is your faith?” The followers were afraid and amazed. They said to each other, “What kind of man is this? He commands the wind and the water, and they obey Him!”

Jesus had already told them that they were going to the other side. After God teaches us something that will be a test to see if we were listening.

26 – 27

Jesus and His followers sailed across the lake from Galilee to the area where the Gerasene people live. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man from the town came to Jesus. This man had demons inside him. For a long time he had worn no clothes. He lived in the burial caves, not in a house.


The original language says that this man was walking in the places where people remember the dead. The devil wants to trap you into walking in circles always thinking about bad memories. The first step of a demon attack is to get you to be alone and to stay away from other Christians and stay in the graveyard of old memories.
28. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. The man said with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please do not punish me!”

People say that Jesus has nothing to do with their problem. Today we are told that people with confused minds have to go to a professional doctor because pastors only know the Bible and cannot help with problems of the mind.

The church today has accepted this and pastors now send people to a doctor who has no idea what he is doing and gives the people medicine to make them sleepy so that they do not have to live a real life anymore. Do you see the plan of the devil in this?

Have you been angry at God and said the He has nothing to do with your problem? Has the devil said that God is angry at you and is torturing you? People say, “God, why are You doing this to me?” when it is the devil who is doing these things. The Bible says that we are the bride of Christ. Can you think that Jesus would torture His bride with anger?

29. He said this because Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. Many times it had taken hold of him. He had been kept under guard and chained hand and foot. But he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon out into the desert.

What kind of chain would the devil like to put on you? A small chain that you can pretend is a necklace? Does the devil treat you like a dog with a dog chain? Is there a chain that you sometimes can break but it comes right back again? Anger can be a secret chain that is hard to break.

30 – 31

Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” The man answered, “Legion.” He said his name was “Legion” because many demons were in him. The demons begged Jesus not to send them into eternal darkness.


When you know the name of a demon it helps you to see what kind of attack is coming against you. A Roman Legion is 1000 soldiers. Another way to say this is that the man knew that he had thousands of problems. A thousand will fall around you. Psalm 91:7

32 – 33

On the hill there was a large herd of pigs eating. The demons begged Jesus to allow them to go into the pigs. So Jesus allowed them to do this. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs. The herd of pigs ran down the hill and into the lake. All the pigs drowned.


Demons will not leave any place that has been given to them. Jews are not supposed to eat pigs so we see that they had given this area to the demons. The demons knew this and asked Jesus that if they could not stay in the man then could at least keep the area as their own because the people had given it to them. We need to take back any area that we have given to the devil. See Ephesians 4:27.

34 – 36

The men who took care of the pigs ran away. They told about this in the town and the countryside. And people went to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man sitting there at Jesus’ feet. The man was clothed and in his right mind because the demons were gone. But the people were frightened. The men who saw these things happen told the others all about how Jesus had made the man well.

It is sad to see how people do not care when they see someone has been set free from an evil life. They are only thinking of themselves. They think that God did these things to punish them and they do not see that they also need to be free from their own chains of sin.

37. All the people of the Gerasene country asked Jesus to go away. They were all very afraid. So Jesus got into the boat and went back across the lake.


They would rather have things stay as they were and not have Jesus stay around to make a change in their lives. Sometimes we will try to do everything our own way first and wait as long as possible before asking Jesus to help us!

These are Jews who living on the wrong side of the Jordan River. They did not want the land that god has promised to them!

38 – 39

The man that Jesus had healed begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, “Go back home and tell people what God did for you.” So the man went all over town telling how much Jesus had done for him.


We see that this man did share what God had done for Him and when Jesus came back to this area He was able to help many people because the people could see that the change in this man was real. Mark 7:31

40 – 42

When Jesus got back to the other side of the lake, a crowd welcomed him. Everyone was waiting for him. A man named Jairus came to Jesus. Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue. He bowed down at Jesus’ feet and kept on begging him to come to his house. Jairus had only one daughter. She was 12 years old, and she was dying. While Jesus was on his way to Jairus’ house, the people were crowding all around him.


Some people say that God knows everything so they do not have to pray. They say that God should just take care of them if He is a good God. We like to be asked when someone wants us to do something for them. Sometimes God waits to see how badly we want something before He answers.

43 – 44

A woman was there who had been bleeding for 12 years. She had spent all her money on doctors, but no doctor was able to heal her. The woman came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat. At that moment, her bleeding stopped.


She crawled on the ground so that nobody could see her in the crowd. The Jewish laws said that she was not supposed to touch anybody or come to worship because she was unclean. We need to see that people outside of the church feel that they do not belong and we need to tell them that we also did not belong but God pulled us into His house and He is also pulling them!

45 – 46

Then Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” All the people said they had not touched Jesus. Peter said, “Master, the people are all around you and are pushing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me! I felt power go out from Me.”

Jesus lives in those who belong to Him and there is power inside of us. We sometimes can feel that some energy has left us after we have been working in the ministry.

47 – 48

When the woman saw that she could not hide, she came forward, shaking. She bowed down before Jesus. While all the people listened, she told why she had touched him. Then, she said, she was healed immediately. 48 Jesus said to her, “Dear woman, you are healed because you believed. Go in peace.”

God does not want us to hide what He has done for us but tell it in front of everybody! Why would you want to keep it to yourself?

49 – 50

While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue ruler and said to the ruler, “Your daughter has died! Do not bother the teacher now.” When Jesus heard this, he said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid. Just believe, and your daughter will be well.”

Jairus saw what Jesus had done for the woman who touched Him and it helped him to trust God. This is why we need to tell what God has done for us because it helps others to see that God can help them also!

51 – 52

Jesus went to the house. He let only Peter, John, James, and the girl’s father and mother go inside with him. All the people were crying and feeling sad because the girl was dead. But Jesus said, “Do not cry. She is not dead; she is only sleeping.”


Jesus uses the word for sleep sometimes when we think of death. In God’s world final death means to be forever separated from God. To Him it is no problem to bring someone back from death so He does think of it the way we do.

53 – 56

The people laughed at Jesus because they knew that the girl was dead. But Jesus took her by the hand and called to her, “My child, stand up!” Her spirit came back into her, and she stood up immediately. Jesus said, “Give her something to eat.” The girl’s parents were amazed. Jesus told them not to tell anyone about what happened.

We need to be careful not to laugh at God. Peter was in the room and remembered this when he had the same kind of problem in Acts 9:41.