Col 3:16+17, Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
We continue forward with our contemplation of what should be in our thoughts and preparations as we come before the Lord, bringing Him the very best of our hearts and minds and beings in worship and adoration. This passage entails much of what needs to be true in terms of our love of the Word of God in our reverent honor unto Him.
As well, dwell on the fullness and depth of 1 John 1:1-4. 1 John 1:1-4, What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of Life — and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us — what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. 
Primary to our united fellowship in worship is the fact that the Word of God in the vast spiritual treasury given to us through the effective ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is to be cherished and valued as the manifest source of God’s inspiration to us as He makes it life in us. It is not just another decorative book to occupy the coffee tables in our home. It is not merely a collection of good principles and wonderful sentiments to be recited as memorized cadences and platitudes, giving us something to declaim during times of trial and tribulation. 
It is through the working of the Holy Spirit that His Word becomes to us richly infused with all His wisdom and the knowledge of Him and His continually enlightening truth and guidance and encouragement. It is the revelation of Who He is and what He has done in the totality of His creation! 
To honor His Word means that we are honoring Him. The two cannot be separated! It seems that we often try to do exactly that. We pick and choose that in His Word which conforms to what we want to hear and then discard the rest that does not fit into our confined and limited world view. There are elements that we do not want to accept as true and right because we do not subscribe to them in our lives.
There are many, well-intentioned Christians who just cannot understand or choose to acknowledge what is shown of the Holiness and the Righteousness of God in His Word. To cherish His Word will cause us to absolutely set aside our thoughts and our ideas and our conceptions of how things ought to be. The Scripture will cause us to utterly and humbly rely on the every Word of God as the very specific directive of who we are and how we are to live life on this earth. 
2 Peter 1:16-21, For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased" — and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 
In the reality of this fact, our judgment of the Word of God is directly focused and centered in the magnitude of our valuation of Jesus Christ. John 1:14-17. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 
This passage leaves no room for any other interpretation or abstract dogma. Either we believe the Word because the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ Alive and glorified in it, or we do not believe it and thereby dismiss the Only Begotten Son of God! If we set aside the scripture, Jesus of Nazareth becomes merely another good teacher in the history of mankind. 
Those who read and accept only parts and aspects of the Word, delegating it as only one of our many cultural and historical books, miss the reality that the Holy Spirit shows forth the whole focal and integral impact of the heart of God in Jesus Christ! He cannot be worshipped and adored and reverenced without going to His Word and bringing it before Him and cherishing it and honoring it and holding it near and dear in our hearts. 
We must seek the Holy Spirit to make His Word ever more the living truth of how we live our lives on this earth. Thus it is cherished and regarded as infallible and true and worthy of treasuring more than gold or silver or any other precious, yet fleeting element of this natural realm. 
1 Peter 1:17-25, And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God. For, "All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off, But the word of the Lord abides forever." And this is the word which was preached to you. 
    	Our Lord declared the abiding reality of the validity and the veracity and the eternal majesty of His Word as we read in several passages. Luke 21:33, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. Because His Word is eternal, we need to adjust our finite minds to all that scripture has to tell us and to reveal to us. 
As Jesus further declares, there is life in what has been given to us by the Almighty Lord God. Please turn to John 5:19-24, and follow along. John 5:19-24, Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 
The Apostle Paul further details this truth of how we come into this living knowledge through the Word as we read in Rom 10:17, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. It is through the Holy Spirit as He makes the Word our every reality that we come to the gift of God in the faith that is given to us to believe in and to know and to appreciate the life that we have in Jesus Christ. 
Apart from His Word, we really have no basis of this faith that is from above. Through the working power of the Word of God, we cling to and have our solid foundation upon which the reality of Jesus Christ is built and maintained.
As Paul so encouraged Timothy in 2 Tim 3:14-17, You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. 
We are to value and to appreciate the Word of God as of utmost importance in our living testimony of Jesus Christ. It is not just some good information to have on hand. It is effective to cause our hearts and our minds to know the way in which we are to conduct ourselves as more and more pleasing unto the Lord. 
Eph 5:25-27, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. 
This very theme of the manner in which the Word prepares us as the chosen Bride of Christ is carried forward into the very last Book of the Bible. Please turn to Rev 19, verses 9-16. It is here that John informs us of what will be witnessed by all of creation in the revealed glory of God’s work, through His Word in the Church Triumphant. Rev 19:9-16, And he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are true words of God." And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
As well, reminding ourselves of the very well known but often unappreciated passage from the Writer to the Hebrews, Heb 4:12+13, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 
God is very serious about His Word as the living revelation of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is no small thing and it must never be treated with insincerity nor with anything less than utter respect and honor unto God. It is not some light-hearted reading material to be read like a novel and then shelved as just the documentation of a religious order. It is Life! It is power! It is truth! It is the manifested Person of Jesus Christ! 
Rev 22:18-21, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
We truly cannot worship God apart from bringing before Him His Word and seeking to honor Him with it in the same reverence that fills our heart for the Triune Godhead! Just as we cannot separate God from Himself, neither can we separate the Word from Him! It is the expression of His very heart unto us in vivid detail and encouragement and instruction and foundational reality! 
As we come together in our fellowship of worship before Him, this should always be at the forefront of our preparation and consideration of how to bring our very best unto Him. We must beseech the Holy Spirit to open His scripture into our hearts in order to very carefully and very prayerfully return it unto Him. Our goal is that He would find in our hearts that we treasure the gift of His Word as meaningfully as we cherish Him. So be it!
Rom 15:4-6, For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is 1 Chron 16:36. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. Then all the people said, "Amen," and praised the Lord. Amen.