I grew up in a religious environment, and have had the opportunity for people to learn lessons from religious texts. Looking around, it does seem that most preachers tend to do this and I wanted to throw in my two cents on this practice.
The neat thing about stories is that they can be read in many ways. So the problem is that when you read a story into the text, you are just using the text to further your own means. It becomes a self-fulfilling loop.
Here is a very simple version of the logic:
Why does God exist? Because the bible says He does. Why does the bible say he does? Because God exists.
Of course, when we read into the text, we are simply using our modern day lenses and forcing the message back into the text, whether or not the message was actually meant that way.
So pay attention to sermons, and what people tell you the good book is saying. Ask yourself, if the message is really there, or is being forced back in. What other ways or reading it are there?