Transcription
[uplifting music] [uplifting music]
>>Eric Flickinger: Welcome to "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. Glad that you're with us today. We are taking a look at an overarching subject this quarter of growing in a relationship with God. And this week we're looking at lesson number five, and that is "How to Study the Bible"-- a very important part of learning how to grow in a relationship with God. Let's begin with prayer. Father, thank You for being with us today and giving us an opportunity to grow in our relationship with You. We ask that You'll help us to learn new and interesting ways to study Your Word so that we can get more out of it and our growth can be ensured. And we thank You, in Jesus' name. Amen.
We're grateful that you're with us, but we're also grateful to have the author of this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson with us, and that is Nina Atcheson. She is a curriculum specialist and an author. Nina, thanks for joining us again.
>>Nina Atcheson: Thank you for having me.
>>Eric: So, this is lesson 5 of 13. We're kind of getting into the heart of things, into the meat of things, if we can use that terminology. We're talking about how to study the Bible. Last week, we looked at the role of the Bible in growing our relationship with God. This week, we're looking at how you actually study the Bible. Let me begin by asking this question. You're penning for us how we can get the most out of Bible study. There's an assumption here, and that is that you get something out of your Bible study so that you have something to share with us. Share with us a little bit about how and why Bible study is so important to you.
>>Nina: Twenty years ago, or maybe 18 years ago, I had very young children. And I was actually writing a Bible curriculum. I would write in the evenings, I wouldn't have much time in the day to do much else other than just care for my children, and I remember one evening feeling quite bad about this and praying as I fell into bed exhausted, just saying, "Lord, please show me how to have more time to spend with You and Your Word." And the next morning, I woke up and gave the kids their breakfast and toys, and I sat in a red chair, my red recliner. And I started to read and pray. And over time my children realized that when I sat in that chair, I was spending time with God. It was really kind of a turning point in my life, I would say, that I realized that I needed to spend time with God every day. And over the years, it has been a very special, probably the best part of my day. I've realized that God wants me to meet with Him every day, and that when I give Him my time, He will bless it; He'll speak to me. And so, I think whether our viewers have a strong, practical Bible study as part of their lives or not, I really believe that today is the day you could start. And I'm excited to share some tips and strategies that have worked for me and that might also work for you.
>>Eric: So, we're going to look at some of those tips and strategies in a minute. But the tips and strategies don't really do us any good if we just go, "Look, I'm just too busy."
>>Nina: Right.
>>Eric: "My life is too busy. "There are too many things going on. "I--too many plates are spinning. "How do I keep them all from crashing to the ground? "I don't have time to add this to my other to-do lists, of which there are many." What would you tell somebody who's in a life like that?
>>Nina: Oh, it's so many of us, I think, like, even I feel like that sometimes--"Right, I've got 15 minutes, okay." I'll set my alarm, and I'll get up a little earlier, and I'll do the 15 minutes, I'll quickly read, read the next chapter that I'm up to, and off I go. And you-- and we kind of appease our conscience and go on our way. But in that kind of process, we don't allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, to teach us. And really, our relationship with God does not flourish when that is our approach to Bible study. So, I think time is probably one of the most significant factors for all of us. In the same way that we have to give time to exercise, to eat healthy, we actually need to give God time, and we really need to seek Him first, I believe. Ellen White says in "Steps to Christ," "There is but little benefit derived from a hasty reading "of the Scriptures. "One may read the whole Bible through and yet fail to see its beauty or comprehend its deep and hidden meaning." And I think for me, that really has been true over the years. I've often tried to read the Bible through in a year or do some kind of reading plan, and I miss a day or two, and then I feel like I've failed, so I give up. But I think we need to remember that it's often the slow moments where we take time to study, to really study, and go deep slowly that God will speak to us. And so, I think there are a few strategies that I would say for people that are time poor. First of all, pray and ask God to give you a desire in your heart to have that time with Him. 'Cause, really, sometimes we just don't feel like it. But I think God--ask God, "Lord, wake me up. "You know when I need to wake up "if you want me to spend time with you. I'm willing." And actually follow through when He wakes you up. Secondly, surrender your time to God. God knows what you've got to do. In fact, many of the things we're doing are for Him. But if we can give Him our best time and surrender our time to Him, He will bless, and we'll find that we're more productive in those other things as well. And thirdly, if we only spend time with God when we feel like it, we may not spend much time with Him at all. So, it is a decision, and sometimes I find that, I think-- I've made a commitment; it's almost like a covenant with my Savior, my best Friend, my Redeemer, my Creator. I wanna spend time with Him, it's a conscious choice to have that close relationship with God. Of course, there will be some days where there's an emergency, and of course, but we shouldn't let too many days slip past without really trying to spend unhurried time with God and His Word.
>>Eric: You know, what I hear from many people is, "I'd like to spend more time in the Bible. "I might like to spend more time with Jesus, but I don't have the time." And if we step back from that and just take an objective look at it for a moment, I think we missed something here, and that is that we all have the same amount of time in the day. The question is what we prioritize with our time.
>>Nina: Exactly.
>>Eric: And so, we all have 24 hours, nobody has 23 hours, nobody has 25, it's all 24. We just have to choose what's most important in our lives and what we want to prioritize and when we want to do that. I think a beautiful example of that is the life of Jesus. He prioritized His relationship with His Father. Walk us through some things that Jesus did.
>>Nina: Well, it's true what you say because Jesus-- no one could have been more busy than Jesus or more tired than Jesus. You know, people were clamoring after Him. And yet we read that He is our perfect example. And we know that when it comes to personal devotions, He was no different. He--if we read Mark 1:35-- and I would like you to read this--it tells us about Jesus' time with God early in the morning.
>>Eric: "Now in the morning, having risen a long while "before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed."
>>Nina: It's interesting to me, "Before daylight"-- before anyone rose. And I, over the years, I have done-- I've experienced this. In fact, I try to experience this as much as I can because I find that it's almost like the world is sleeping, and I wake up and I spend time without the phone ringing, without emails pinging, without people calling me, my family needing me to do something. I can sit and I'm not rushed to go anywhere. And the Holy Spirit abides with us, and we open the Word and God speaks to us. So, of course, it's just one verse that Jesus did this. In the early hours of the morning, He spent time with God in prayer. Next week, in the next two weeks, we'll actually look at the role of prayer and how we can strengthen our prayer lives, but we see that He removed Himself from the hustle and the bustle. He went to a solitary place where He wasn't distracted. And He made a commitment to pray. He prayed to His Father. It was a priority for Him. So, I think we can learn all of these things.
>>Eric: Each of those that you drew out I think are very significant. One that just kind of spoke loudly to me is a solitary place, where you're not going to be disturbed, you're not going to be distracted. There's not going to be somebody coming in and demanding of your time or a device. We all have devices these days. They're very demanding of our time. But this was a solitary place where He was away from those distractions.
>>Nina: And I do think sometimes it's nice to have a place. You know, for me when my children were little, it was that red chair. I would go there, and my children would know when I'm sitting there; they wouldn't interrupt me. They knew that it was my special time with God. And if we have a certain place-- not that we have to have that, of course. God--we can spend time with God anywhere. But it--sometimes we need that as part of our routine, just to sit, to relax, to pray, to be with God. And that daily decision is really a-- it's a powerful thing, I think, we can incorporate in our lives to strengthen our devotional time.
>>Eric: So, we know it's important for us to make that time-- or to allocate that time. Maybe that's a better way of saying it. And some things that we can do to make it more meaningful, more effective--let's kind of-- let's get down to some of the nuts and bolts of this. How can a person get more out of studying the Bible? I don't think we'll be able to completely unpack this before we go to break, but we can begin to unpack it a little bit with some practical things that pretty much anybody can do to get more out of their Bible study. Walk us through some of those.
>>Nina: So, firstly, I think it's important for all of us to realize that we don't have to be an academic, a scholar, or a theologian to study the Bible. This book is for all of us. It's for everyone, it's available. And it's a misconception to think that God may not be able to communicate through me or through the book to me or that I might not be able to understand it. The Holy Spirit illuminates our mind. So, I think that's a barrier we need to recognize. So, the first thing we should do when we come to study the Bible is to pray. It's really essential for prayer to be the bookends and also moments throughout our study. But if we rush to our Bibles, read, and then leave, that's--something is missing. So, when we pray, we ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and to speak to us. In fact, in "The Great Controversy," Ellen White says, "The Bible should never "be studied without prayer. "The Holy Spirit alone can cause us "to feel the importance of those things "easy to be understood, or prevent us from [wrestling] truths difficult [to comprehend]." So, as we come to study, we know that the Holy Spirit is our guide, and it's an important thing to really come with an attitude of humility, as we've discussed already, but also to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us.
>>Eric: So, we're going to invite the Holy Spirit, we're going to spend time praying-- as you mentioned at the beginning of our study--at the end, and throughout as we feel impressed or find need of guidance through prayer as well. So, that's a very, very significant...key in understanding how to study the Bible more. If you are wanting to get more out of your Bible study, we're glad that you are watching this program. We're glad that you are going through the study guide. But there's another resource that we want to make you aware of, and if we didn't, we would be remiss in that. So, what can you do if you want to get more out of Bible study? One thing that you can do is pick up the companion book to this quarter's "Sabbath School" guide, and that is the companion book called "Growing in a Relationship with God" by Heather Quintana. Each of the chapters in this book goes along with each of the lessons in the Bible study guide. And it allows you to get more out of each lesson, to dig deeper into each lesson, and she's going to have some suggestions in here into how you can get more out of your Bible study as well. So, where can you find it? It's very easy to find. Just go to itiswritten.shop. Again, that's itiswritten.shop and look for the companion book to this quarter's "Sabbath School" lesson. You will also find it if you're watching this on YouTube in the description box right below this video. You can click on the link and find it there. We're going to come back in just a moment with some more practical things that you can do to get more out of Bible study. Back in just a moment here on "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written.
[uplifting music]
>>male announcer: If God is good, why do bad things happen? Do we really have free will? What's going to happen at the end of time? Find the answers to these questions and more by reading "The Great Controversy." Journey through earth's history and the spiritual wars waging behind the scenes. Explore the stories of early Christians and their struggles. Learn of the different reformations in Europe and the brave martyrs who stood firmly by their beliefs until death. Discover the meaning of ancient prophecies and their fulfillments in ages past and ages to come. Find out the truth about death and how to prepare for the great deception in the last days. Purchase your copy of "The Great Controversy" today by visiting itiswritten.shop or call us at 888-664-5573.
[uplifting music]
>>Eric: Welcome back to "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written. We're looking at how to study the Bible today as it relates to growing in a relationship with God. This happens to be episode 5-- or lesson number 5 of 13 in how to grow in a relationship with God. So we still have a few more to go. And if you happen to have missed any of the previous ones, they are archived, and you can watch them either at itiswritten.tv or on our It Is Written YouTube channel. Nina, we're talking about practical ways that you can get more out of Bible study. We talked about the importance of prayer, being able to pray or choosing to pray at the beginning and ending of our time together, maybe throughout the middle as we feel impressed. What are some other practical things that we can do? What has worked for you to help you get more out of Bible study rather than it just kind of being a rote routine that we go through and we really don't get too much out of it, or at least not as much as we might?
>>Nina: The thing that has helped me the most, I think, is actually writing. And I think, for me, this is the biggest-- I mean, I like to write-- but the biggest difference between just reading my Bible and really studying the Bible is writing. Of course, when we write something down, it slows our thoughts down; we internalize it; we often synthesize and consolidate what we've learned. And so, when I come to studying the Bible, I'll usually be working through a book. And I'll first of all pray, as I mentioned before. I'll choose a passage, sometimes I might only choose a couple of verses, I'll read them, and then I'll write them word for word in a journal with some space down the side. And then I'll prayerfully read it again and underline which parts of this passage really stand out to me. And as I underline, I then look at those underlined portions, and I think, obviously, that stood out for a reason. What is God communicating through those words or those verses? And sometimes I'll paraphrase or write a prayer response back to God or pray out loud. And then I'll consider, who can I share this with today? But, really, I think the act of writing, as I said, it slows down our thoughts and lets us internalize what we've read, but it's also really important to share what we've read. And often I'll find if I've studied something-- and I'll think, wow, that's a beautiful truth there-- I'll meet someone later in the day who I will naturally and spontaneously share what I had read that morning, and often it would be just what that person has needed to hear. So, it's exciting to be able to serve God, God's work in that way, to be able to minister. And I think, really, it's--whenever we're growing, we should be able to share what we're learning from each day, from each Bible study time.
>>Eric: I think what you're hitting on here is something that's very significant, very profound. Because many times if we're not careful-- nothing wrong with studying the Bible, in fact, there's much right with studying the Bible-- but if we merely consume that, we can become--I don't know what the right term is-- spiritually fat. We don't ever give it out. And it's important that if we're going to take it in, that it needs to go out, too. If you have your fist clenched, it's true that you're not going to lose anything, but you're not going to get anything else, either. So, it's when we come to it with an open hand that it allows us to receive what God has for us, but to give it as well. Share with us a little bit more about the importance of sharing what we learn with other people.
>>Nina: Yeah, I think when we share, obviously, we have to know it well ourselves. And to see the Holy Spirit work through us to reach someone else, to win souls, I mean, there's nothing greater than that. And really, from the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. So, if we're not studying, we won't know what to speak. And so, I think it's a double blessing, really. When we study, God strengthens us in Him, our relationship with Him, we learn more, we are really transformed through that process, and then, when we share it-- and we indeed should be, can be sharing it every day, even with our own family members. Honestly, some of the best conversations I've had with my husband have been, "What have you read today in your Bible study time?" Or when my children were very little, or even now, when we spontaneously drive to school or go somewhere and we talk about what we've been reading and what God has been teaching us-- I really, very passionately believe that this is essential as parents or grandparents, or mentors, to be transmitting faith to our children, for them to see that it's alive in us, that we are taking, that God is transforming us, that we believe it, we love it, we love Jesus and we love what He's teaching us. And so, I would just encourage for viewers, if you are a parent, to start doing this, if you're not doing it already, to really share with your children the power of the Word and how God is speaking to you. And, Eric, we read in Isaiah 50, verse 4, a very beautiful truth. Can you read this for us, please?
>>Eric: "The Lord God has given me "the tongue of the learned, that I should know "how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. "He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned."
>>Nina: Isn't that just such a profound message for us all? That God will speak to us when our ears are opened, when our hearts are receptive; He will speak a word to us when we're weary. And that word we can then share to others. I think we need to remember that our spiritual lives are a marathon. And I've read a quote--I think it's in "Desire of Ages," where Ellen White says one of the greatest miracles are a consis--is a consistent life of walking with God. And sometimes we feel tired of doing Bible study. I think it's just--we probably have all experienced that. And yet even a few crumbs from the Word will refresh our souls. I don't know about you, Eric, but sometimes I will come to the Bible thinking, oh, I've only got a few minutes, and yet God still speaks to me. Then there are other times where I might have an hour or two hours, and it just goes by so quickly, and I walk away just feeling so fulfilled and so at peace. And then whatever challenges come my way ahead in that day of work or whatever I'm doing, it all seems okay. Because it's in the context of God's big picture and of eternity. And so, I really--I just want to encourage our viewers, and you and myself, too, to keep that desire alive in our hearts, to have that longing to know God more. Because indeed, of everything, this is the source that will grow our relationship with God. We need to open the Word; we need to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us. It's such a gift, such a gift.
>>Eric: So, we have the opportunity, the privilege of being able to read, to study. He also gives us the opportunity and the privilege of sharing it with others so that not only are our lives changed by it, but others' lives are changed as well. I'm thinking of David, who describes the Bible as sweet. He says the Bible is sweet. What about the Bible is sweet? Why would he choose-- let me rephrase that. Why would the Holy Spirit impress him to share with us that the Bible is sweet, and how can it become sweet to us? Now, you may be watching and you're thinking, "I study the Bible every day; of course it's sweet." Or you may be watching and thinking, "Well, I used to study the Bible, and it used to be sweet." Or maybe you're watching and you don't understand why in the world people spend so much time reading the same book over and over again. Maybe you've never tasted the sweetness. Talk with us about that sweetness. Where does it come from, why is it sweet, and what might we be able to do if we haven't experienced that sweetness?
>>Nina: Yeah, it's a really big discussion, and I guess we don't have a lot of time to go deeply into this area, but, I think, what's sweet is the mutual engagement that we receive. You know, I have never read any other book that gives peace, the peace that passes our understanding, that gives direction in our lives, that gives encouragement, that gives correction, you know, all of these things and so much more. And really, I think what is sweet about it is that it's the relationship with God. We come to meet with our Savior, with our Lord. And it's sweet when we see Him speak to us. You know, you're facing a difficult challenge or questioning something, and you come and you see it there, and you think, "Oh! I've read this before, but I never saw it until now." And this often happens, right, when we read these same passages or familiar stories, we might be experiencing something, and God does speak to us. It reminds me a little bit of, you know, if someone's walking through a desert and they're so thirsty, and there's no water anywhere. And they're just trudging through this desert. And in the far distance, they see this stream of water, and it's beautiful, clear blue water. And they run to it. And they're so thirsty, and they--do they look at it and say, "Hmm, I wonder how little water I can drink"? Or do they get down on their hands and knees and just drink and drink of the sweet water? And I think the Bible's the same. Do we think, "How little can I get away with to keep my relationship with God?" Or do we just wanna drink it? And so, for our viewers who might not have experienced that sweetness, I just invite you to come. If you wanna mix things up, if your Bible study time has become stale, why not try going for a walk in nature and listening to an audiobook of the Bible, listening to someone else speak the Word. It might come to you differently. Maybe you just need to take one verse and unpack it. You could use a concordance. Maybe you wanna read, compare a different translation with your usual translation. Maybe you want to study with a friend and see what you both can draw from this passage that you're looking at. But in Isaiah 55, verse 2, we read the second part: "Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance." And really it is about the Lord restoring our soul and really restoring that connection with Him that is the epitome of that sweetness.
>>Eric: So, Nina, we've only got about a minute left in our lesson today. I want to give you an opportunity to just speak to someone out there who's thinking, "I want more out of my Bible study." What kind of encouragement and hope would you give them in just the minute or so that we have left? What would you tell them?
>>Nina: I would say, please come to God. Pray, pray that He will speak to you. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill your life. And then find a quiet spot; remove your phone, your devices. I would always tell my children, "If you're feeling distant from God, go out into nature," and often that's just such a beautiful place. So, take your Bible, go into nature, and then open to a chapter. It might be one of the Gospels; it might be Isaiah 55. There are many beautiful chapters. And just go slow. Take a couple of verses, and you might need to reread them again and again, just to see the message that God has. And I believe with my whole heart that God will speak to you, and you will remember when you hear from God, it's also good to speak back to Him, to pray back. It's a--and we'll talk about that in next week's lesson-- it's a communication that we have with our relationship with God.
>>Eric: Thank you for that, Nina. Some very practical things that you and I can both do to get more out of our time together in the Word. Next week, we're going to be looking at prayer warriors. You don't wanna miss it. This has been "Sabbath School," brought to you by It Is Written.
[inspiring music] [inspiring music]
[Captions provided by Aberdeen Captioning www.aberdeen.io]