Sabbath School lessons are part of a global study initiative undertaken by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As we enter the second quarter of 2026, we will explore the theme “Growing in a Relationship With God” This week’s lesson, titled “How to Study the Bible” covers the period from April 25 - May 01. Join Pastor Mark Finley for a brief preview of what to expect in this week’s study.

<p>Sabbath School lessons are part of a global study initiative undertaken by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As we enter the second quarter of 2026, we will explore the theme “Growing in a Relationship With God” This week’s lesson, titled “How to Study the Bible” covers the period from April 25 - May 01. Join Pastor Mark Finley for a brief preview of what to expect in this week’s study.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2026: Growing in a Relationship With God

Mark Finley

01 Reality Check

02 To Know God

03 Pride Versus Humility

04 The Role of the Bible

05 How to Study the Bible

06 Prayer Warriors

07 Practical Prayer

08 Having Faith

Thank you for joining us again for our Sabbath School study time.

We're on lesson number 5 in this series called Growing in a Relationship with God.

1 of the things I've appreciated about these lessons is they're so, so practical.

Every week we find something we can apply to our lives to draw us closer to Jesus and to enable us to have a deeper prayer life, a deeper Bible study life, and a deeper relationship with God.

Often people have said we ought to study our Bible more.

You may have heard it said in church by a Sabbath school teacher.

You may have heard it as a passing comment from a friend, or you may have heard a sermon on it from your pastor.

But the question is, how do we study the Bible?

How do we study the Bible so that it's the most meaningful for us?

There's an interesting statement by Martin Luther, and Luther once said this, you'll find it under a Sabbath Afternoon's lesson.

He said, for a number of years now, I have annually read through the Bible twice.

If the Bible were a large, mighty tree and all its words were little branches, I would have tapped at all the branches, eager to know what was there and what it had to offer." That's an interesting statement, isn't it?

If the Bible were like a tree and had all these branches, I'd go to every little branch, every little twig, tap it, tap it.

He's saying, I want to find the depth of the passage of Scripture.

I want to know what God is saying in Scripture.

I want to understand clearly God's will in that passage.

How is it that we can get the most out of the Bible?

Sunday's lesson talks about time, spending time in the Word of God.

Ellen White in the book Steps to Christ, page 90, puts it this way, there is but little benefit derived from a hasty reading of the Scriptures.

1 may read the whole Bible through and yet fail to see its beauty or comprehend its deep and hidden meaning.

Sometimes as I read a few verses in the Bible, maybe my mind wanders a little bit and I go back and say, what did I just read?

And go back and read those same 345 verses again, and look at each word.

Why did God inspire the Bible writer to write it this way?

When I'm reading the parables of Jesus, or particularly the miracles of Jesus, I try to insert myself in the story.

How would I feel if I were on the boat as outlined in Mark chapter 4 and a great storm came up, thunder crashing, lightning flashing, how would I feel if water was coming into the boat?

I see Jesus sleeping, I see the disciples terrified, I see the sky darkened, I see the lightning flashing.

And then what is Jesus' solution to this problem?

And Jesus stands and says, peace, be still.

What if you were the demoniacs and you were delivered?

What if you were the poor woman with the issue of blood that went to the doctor for 12 years, and God miraculously delivered you after you had spent all of your money on physicians, but Jesus worked a miracle for your life.

Put yourself into the story, what do I see here, how would I feel if I were the person that was afflicted, or I was the person in the storm, and then how do I feel when God miraculously moves into the situation?

Rather than hastily reading the Scriptures, ponder each verse, think about what you're reading, ask questions about the verse.

If you don't know the meaning of a word, look that up in the dictionary or in a Bible concordance that will help you.

Here in our lesson it gives us a couple steps of getting the most out of our Bible study.

First, asking God to place a desire in our heart for him.

Jesus says, verse 13, and you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." So when we come to the Bible, we come with an intensity, we come with a passion, we come with a desire to search for God with all of our heart.

In Psalm 37 and verse 4, it puts it this way.

Psalm 37, verse 4, God's Word says, delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart." So if the desire of our heart is to know God, we delight ourself in the Lord by saturating our mind with his word, believing that his way is best.

So first, ask God to place a desire in your heart for him.

Secondly, spend time with him, even when you may not feel like it.

You may feel as you get up in the morning, you don't have time for God.

If you feel that way, rather than try to read a chapter in 3 minutes, take 4 or 5 verses, read them that day, that morning, and then look for some other time during the day where you can spend more time with God.

I can remember times when I was in evangelism, I'd be up late at night, 10, 11 o'clock, I'd preach, my sermons would get done in evangelism, 9 o'clock at night, I would see people after the meeting, maybe till 10, and then from there I'd drive to my place where I was lodging, so often I got to bed 10, 30, 11, sometimes 11, 30.

Very difficult to get up early in the morning.

So I would read a few verses from the Bible each morning, but then I would tell the Lord, Lord, today I want to find some time with you.

And I'd look at my schedule, and so I'm teaching all morning, but I do have some time in the afternoon.

I want to spend that time studying your Word.

Often at It Is Written Television, when I was the speaker for the TV program.

We had 200, 000 requests for literature a year, hundreds of letters that needed to be answered, funds that needed to be raised, evangelism that needed to be conducted, camp meetings, and often I would go into the morning and I would say to my secretary, look, I want a budget from 9 to 10 this morning, I don't want anybody to talk to me today.

During that 9 to 10 hour, I want to seek God.

So if you don't spend a lot of time very early in the morning, although that's best of course, spend time sometime during the day.

Always start your day with time in prayer, time in God's Word, but budget sometime every single day for God.

You may be interested to know, too, that most psychologists of habit tell us that it takes about 3 weeks, 21 days, to form new habits.

So if you're just forming the new habit of studying the Bible, stay with it, be persistent, because as you form that habit, it'll be a habit that you don't wanna miss on.

Monday's lesson talks about a place to pray and also a time to pray.

This is 1 of my favorite verses on prayer in the Bible.

If you go to Mark chapter 1 and verse 35, here Jesus finds a quiet spot to pray.

You're looking at Mark, first chapter, and the 35th verse.

Jesus, of course, just had a busy night the night before.

And now Jesus gets up early in the morning.

Mark 1 verse 35 says, now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place in their parade." So you have 3 things here.

We typically have time for breakfast, time for lunch, and some of us eat supper, some do not, but we typically have time for our meals.

If you want a vibrant spiritual life, have time for spiritual nourishment before God.

Like Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 15 verse 16, thy words were found and I did eat them.

In Isaiah 55 it says, come, buy milk, honey, and bread without money, without price.

We buy spiritual commodities with time, time spent with God in the place that God has for us.

Here in Mark 1 verse 35, it says, Jesus went out into a solitary place.

Maybe it is actually lying in your bed if you can't kneel and praying and seeking God before you go to sleep, making it the first thing you do when you get up in the morning.

Maybe you have a favorite chair that you sit and pray in, and then you kneel and pray by.

Maybe it's walking out in the woods someplace or a park, or you found a quiet place to pray, and you do that.

I will never forget, I was not brought up in an Adventist home.

My mother was a lovely Roman Catholic Christian, my father was a Protestant, but after they got married, Dad became a Seventh-day Adventist.

I remember very often I would be out late on Friday nights playing basketball, I might be going to some movie, I didn't know Jesus in those days, and I would come back home, lie on the floor, maybe 11 o'clock at night, we had just gotten television, but you know, there would always be snowing and you'd be looking, looking, and I'd lie in front watching the Late Late Show and I'd look through the crack in the door and there was Dad kneeling by his old black and white vinyl chair, I still remember that chair, that was his prayer place, stuffing coming out of the chair, his head would be in the chair and he'd be praying, dear Lord, bless my boy, bless my son, he doesn't know you, but Lord he's a good boy, bless him Lord and bring him to you.

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Series

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2026: Growing in a Relationship With God

05 How to Study the Bible

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Devotions For Decisions

4. It’s How You Look at It

58m

Talking Points 2nd Quarter 2026: Growing in a Relationship With God

05 How to Study the Bible

29m

Amazing Disciples

8. Friendship Evangelism, Part 2

37m

How to Give a Better Bible Study II

38m

How to bring God’s Word to Life

1h

SWYC 2009 Breakout Sessions

How to Study the Bible, Part 2

45m

Adventist 101

56m

Keys to Effective Bible Study

35m

Bible Studies 101

1h 7m

Sound Doctrine