5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: Sow Into God's Kingdom | 5 Minutes with Jesus | May 15, 2026
- But when i think
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- Of the parable of the sower in luke eight to matthew 13,
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- It's clear to me that some of the seed
- 00:00:04.894 --> 00:00:06.463
- We throw out there will fall on stony ears.
- 00:00:06.463 --> 00:00:09.232
- Some will find no real roots, and some will get caught up
- 00:00:09.232 --> 00:00:12.469
- In the distractions of this life and fall away.
- 00:00:12.469 --> 00:00:15.572
- But some seed will fall on ground that is waiting to hear.
- 00:00:15.572 --> 00:00:20.810
- And that's the work of the holy spirit.
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- All we were asked to do is to be faithful in sharing the seed.
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- You know, some of us will do it on tv or platforms
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- Or online, at the grocery store or around the dinner table.
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- God does the rest.
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- After i graduated from seminary.
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- I worked with european youth for christ.
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- I was based in holland.
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- Although we traveled to france, switzerland,
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- Germany and denmark.
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- Most of the time we spoke in schools and colleges
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- Or coffee bars all throughout europe.
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- For many of the people that we spent time with.
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- This was the first time i ever heard the gospel.
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- I learned such a valuable lesson in those years.
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- That has helped me since.
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- The part of the lesson came from a fresh
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- Understanding of the parable of the sower that we find
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- In luke chapter eight and matthew chapter 13.
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- Jesus talks about what would be a very familiar
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- Sight to his audience
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- A farmer scattering seats, hoping to produce a good crop.
- 00:01:21.404 --> 00:01:25.708
- So i remember one night in denmark.
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- This seemed at the time
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- To have a very little impact on the listening audience.
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- We were doing
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- A concert in the small hall next to a large apartment building.
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- During the day, we'd knocked on doors
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- And invited people to come to our event that night,
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- And very few people came.
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- I remember thinking at the time, what are we doing here?
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- No one is paying any attention.
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- This is if our words are falling on deaf ears.
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- Several years later, i received a letter from a woman
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- Who had listened in that night
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- Through an open window in the apartment complex.
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- In the letter,
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- She asked me if i was the one who sang the song surrender it.
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- I wrote back and told her that, yeah, i was.
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- Her next letter brought me to tears.
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- She was born in the states.
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- I had been traveling in europe as a student
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- When she was kidnaped by sex traffickers and held
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- In one of those apartments, and that night,
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- She'd been crying out to god that
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- If he was real, would he help her?
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- As it was summer, we'd open
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- All the windows in the small hall to let some air in.
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- I know that only god can make possible.
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- The songs had reached where she was.
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- She told me that she heard the song that night,
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- And she knew that god was listening to her,
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- And she prayed to surrender her light to jesus.
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- She'd eventually been able to escape and come back to america.
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- Well, one day, as she was listening to the radio,
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- The song surrendering came on and she recognized it.
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- She reached out to the radio station
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- To ask who's singing the song,
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- And was able to write to me through my record label.
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- We became friends.
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- I'll never
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- Forget meeting her in person for the first time.
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- Tears bought time. both our faces.
- 00:03:14.550 --> 00:03:17.186
- The kindness of god in the midst of the evil in this world.
- 00:03:17.186 --> 00:03:22.058
- When i think
- 00:03:22.358 --> 00:03:23.526
- Of the parable of the sower in luke eight to matthew 13,
- 00:03:23.526 --> 00:03:26.829
- It's clear to me that some of the seed
- 00:03:26.829 --> 00:03:28.398
- We throw out there will fall on stony ears.
- 00:03:28.398 --> 00:03:31.200
- Some will find no real roots, and some will get caught up
- 00:03:31.200 --> 00:03:34.437
- In the distractions of this life and fall away.
- 00:03:34.437 --> 00:03:37.473
- But some seed will fall on ground that is waiting to hear.
- 00:03:37.473 --> 00:03:42.779
- And that's the work of the holy spirit.
- 00:03:42.779 --> 00:03:44.914
- All we were asked to do is to be faithful in sharing the seed.
- 00:03:44.914 --> 00:03:48.885
- You know, some of us will do it on tv or platforms
- 00:03:48.885 --> 00:03:52.221
- Or online, at the grocery store or around the dinner table.
- 00:03:52.221 --> 00:03:55.692
- God does the rest.
- 00:03:56.125 --> 00:03:57.894
- Will you take the first step?
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- And so the first seed.
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- Let's pray.
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- Lord, we are in awe and wonder at the things that you do,
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- The way you reach people when we never could.
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- And lord,
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- I want to thank you for all you look for in us surrendered life
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- And obedient heart.
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- You don't hold us responsible for results
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- Simply for obedience.
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- So, lord, teach us today where we could begin to plant seeds.
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- Help us to take just that very first step.
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- And then watch you do the only you
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- Can do in jesus name. amen.
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