Basic HTML Version
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
What
ls
Uppermo~t
1n
2
God's
Mind?
What is most important-above al/ else-in the
mindof God right now?
D
oes it make any difference to
YOU wbat
ÍS
IMPORTANT lO
God- what is important
to Him
above all else
in
your life?
1t
should!
For what ÍS MOST IMPORTANT to
Him IN YOUR LJFE will decide your
happiness or unhappiness from here
on; your success or failure in the
remainder of your life-and far
more-where
and in
what state
you
are going to spend your ETERNITY.
For there IS a life after death.
One passage
in
the New Testa-
ment spells it out for you. This same
passage summarizes the WHOLE
GOSPEL- or even, broadly, the EN–
TIRE BIBLE.
J
could preach every ser–
mon for the rest of my life- each
one different- using this one pas–
sage as my text.
It
is found in Acts 3:19-21: a
proclamation by the apostle Peter to
a huge crowd gathered at the
Temple after he had healed the
cripple, well-known as being lame
from birth.
"REPENT ye therefore," he admon–
ished, "and be converted, that your
sins may be blotted out. when the
times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the Lord; and he
shall send J esus Christ, which before
was preached unto you: whom the
heavens must rece ive
untilthe times
oj
RESTITUTION
ojal/ things,
which
God hath spoken by the mouth of
all his holy propbets since the world
began."
Now iet's UNDERSTANO! Without
a real UNDERSTANOING of this pas–
sage by the inspi red apostle Peter,
you cannot unde rstand the PURPOSE
of life: WHY you are on earth, WHY
mankind was put here, what life is
all about, what is man's fantastic,
incredible potential.
When Peter said to his listeners,
first, "REPENT," he meant CHANGE–
ABOUT-FACE from the way they had
been living. T here are just TWO
principal or general WAYS or alti–
tudes of life. One is the way of this
world, which for brevity
I
call
"GET." The other is God's way,
"orvE." Satan's way is "GET"-that
is, vanity, lust and greed, jealousy
and envy, competition , strife ,
violence and war, resentment
against others, resentment and re–
bellion against any authority over
one.
Peter meant they first must turn
FROM that way- that ATTITUDE Of
SELF-centeredness- to Goo's way of
"GIVE," or LOYE, which is love first
toward Goo with yielded OBEDI–
ENCE, and then LOVE toward man,
which is outgoing CONCERN for
the good and welfare of fellow
humans.
Satan's way is that of SIN. God's
way is that of the BAsrc LA
w
of His
GOVERNMENT- lhe way of LOVE.
And LOVE- divine !ove from God as
His gift through H is Holy Spirit- is
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1977