Mark 13:5-6 And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am He,’ and will deceive many.

How can we take heed? By reading God’s Word and taking God at His word.

Luke 8:18 Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” 

Get the idea? The more you read God’s Word, the more you receive from God’s Word. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Invest into your heart with God’s Word and God will multiply His Word in your heart. So simple, yet so overlooked. Too many Christians spend more time outside God’s Word than in. If you want more of God in your life, then add more of the Bible. If the church at large would do this then many of the problems within the church today would be avoided. It may surprise you to learn that the problems that we see in the church today were problems that quickly crept into the church from the beginning …

• Apostasy or turning away from sound biblical doctrine.
• Sin and immorality
• Worldliness – looking more like the world than the Bride of Christ
• Arguments and dissension.
• Non-biblical teaching

All of these things are dealt with in scripture and would be corrected if only the church would adhere to sound doctrine as found in the Holy Bible. But these problems in the church at large exist in many Christians individually … and would also be corrected if we were grounded in scripture. What if someone slipped into your house and snatched your television or your computer? You would notice, wouldn’t you? What if someone slipped into your house and snatched your Bible? Would you notice? Here in the US, we have access to the Bible unlike any other country in the world. Almost every household has a Bible, or two, or three. But where do those Bibles spend most of their time? You’ll find them tucked away on a shelf, perched on the coffee or side table or hidden in a drawer.

Luke 12:47-48 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. 

God has entrusted us with a message that the world needs to hear. We need to be intentional about sharing with others and if we are going to effectively share with others we ourselves should be placing God’s Word in our own hearts.