Praise the Lord for He is God

• Praise God that He has Spoken
• Hebrews 1:1-3
• God has spoken to us ...
• Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son ...

• More necessary than food ...
• Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
• John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

• Praising God and Keeping His Word
• 1 Samuel 15 King Saul and Amalekites
– 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord."
– 14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"

• Praising God and Keeping His Word
– 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? … And Saul said to Samuel, "But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. … But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen,… to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal."

• Praising God and Keeping His Word
– 22 So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."

• Praising God and Keeping His Word
• Acts 2 – Day of Pentecost
– 36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
– 37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

• Praising God and Keeping His Word
• Acts 2 – Day of Pentecost
– 38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
– 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
• Praising God and Keeping His Word
• Acts 7 – Preaching of Stephen
– 51 "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
– 54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
• Praising God and Keeping His Word
• Acts 7 – Preaching of Stephen
– 55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
• Praising God and Keeping His Word
• Acts 7 – Preaching of Stephen
– 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; 58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him…59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
1 – It reveals God’s character ...
• Isaiah 55:8-9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
1 – It reveals God’s character ...
• God’s hatred of sin …
– Acts 5:3-7 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? ... You have not lied to men but to God." 5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
1 – It reveals God’s character ...
• God’s hatred of sin.. yet God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son and allowed Him to die for our sins
• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
2 – It manifests the power of God ...
• Genesis 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
2 – It manifests the power of God ...
• Genesis 1:9-10 Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so.
• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
2 – It manifests the power of God ...
• Genesis 1:14-17 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.
• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
2 – It manifests the power of God ...
• 24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind"; and it was so.
• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
3 His word warns me of my enemy...
• 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
3 His word warns me of my enemy...
• John 8:44 He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
4 It is our road map to heaven...
• Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.
• 1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
4 It is our road map to heaven...
• Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
• 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

• Why God’s Word is praiseworthy ...
4 It is our road map to heaven...
• John 12:47-48 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

• Praise God that He has Spoken
• Hebrews 1:1-3