1. It is important to read and understand the Scripture.

2. …if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. Eph 3:2-4

3. For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end. 2 Cor 1:12-13

4. It is important to read and understand the Scripture. Reading the Scripture can be very profitable.

5. (1) …avoid unfair judgments Reading will help us…

6. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” But He said to them, “ Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry…how he entered the house of God,… and they ate the consecrated bread…

7. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” Mt 12:1-4a, 7

8. (1) …avoid unfair judgments (2) …see controversial issues Reading will help us…

9. And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?” And Jesus answered and said, “ Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female…” They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.” Mt 19:3-4, 7-8

10. (1) …avoid unfair judgments (2) …see controversial issues (3) …reject man-made traditions Reading will help us…

11. On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Him and questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up an offspring to his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. And last of all, the woman died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven shall she be? For they all had her.”

12. But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Mt 22:23-32

14. May we always respect the word of God. May we love it enough to read it so that we can know it. May this same word guide us in our worship today.