​In the book of Acts we have recorded for us several messages that Paul the Apostle preached. All of these messages, as with the other Apostles, pointed people to Jesus Christ. In Acts 14 Paul and Barnabas are new on the mission field. They arrive in a town called Lystra and during Paul’s conveying of the Gospel a man who was “impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb…”  was healed miraculously by God through Paul’s actions. In verse 10, faith is seen both in Paul and the impotent man. Unfortunately, those who witnessed the preaching and the miracle that had taken place wrongly understood what it meant. 

As this situation progressed, it became understood by Paul and Barnabas that these idolaters believed Paul and Barnabas were gods. In verse 13 the Bible declares that the “priest of Jupiter” began to commence leading worship of the two missionaries. Of course, once the apostles “heard of” it, Paul began to convey the truth. One phrase in particular I would like to draw your attention to is in verse 15. Paul in speaking to these states, “We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:…” 

The direct phrase here really sums up the choice that every man must make. We must turn from these vanities unto the living God. 

In Psalm 31:6 the Bible uses a similar phrase and speaks of “lying vanities…” Jonah in his prayer from the fishes belly cries out using the exact same expression stating, “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” (Jonah 2:8) 

What exactly are these vanities that are spoken of? In this passage the vanities are lies concerning false ‘gods’ that the people had believed and held onto. In fact, the very stone and wooden idols that these lost people worshipped were themselves vain (false or worthless). This word employed by Paul is an adjective describing what the people had chosen. 

As we go back to Acts 14 let us make note of a few items declared in this passage. First of all, we can be admonished that:

All People Are Of Like Passions

Paul started his correction of these people’s behavior explaining that “We also are men of like passions with you…” (In our text the miraculous healing of the impotent man influenced their thoughts toward Paul and Barnabas.) Sometimes those that are without get the idea that Christians are ‘holier than thou.’ In this case, Paul was exhibiting great faith in God and was used in the miraculous healing of this man. Paul wanted to set the story straight that they were men of like passions. These idolaters looked at Paul and Barnabas because of their superstition as being ‘gods.’ If we are not careful, we will allow people to think we are something other than sinners to whom Christ has saved and transformed. The truth is that Christians are different. They are children of Light rather than children of darkness (John 8:44; Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 1:13; I Thessalonians 5:5). However, the difference is Jesus Christ! Paul was careful to explain, we are “…men of like passions...” In other words, we are not “gods” we are Christians. We are sinners that have trusted in Jesus Christ as our Saviour!

Secondly, we can glean that all men:

Should Turn From Vanities

Paul is expressing a matter of principle here, that all people have a God-given ability to choose (individual Soul liberty). He signifies this by stating these people “should” turn from these vanities. He does not state that the people would turn from them. All around us, there are people that are choosing the empty and the worthless over the all-sufficient God. Christians are not immune from this sad state either. Oftentimes, we choose the empty and worthless over fellowship with God. Learning from the passage in the book of Psalms and Jonah above, we find that these vanities lie to us with promises of fulfillment but have no ability to provide what God can only give us. 

Not only should all people turn from these vanities, but they:

Should Turn To The Living God

These people needed to turn to Jesus Christ. The great need of the day is for all men to turn from lying vanities to the Living God. The lost person needs to turn from lying vanities to the Living God. The Christian needs to turn from lying vanities to the Living God. As we survey the Bible we see God’s message of Salvation. It is the story of God reconciling man unto Himself. But God has given you and I the choice to turn from vanities to Him. May we pray fervently in this new year that God would help us to always look to our wonderful Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and forsake the lying vanities of this world. 

-    James Grandinetti, Community Outreach Pastor, Sharon Baptist Church

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” Psalms 19:14

The Psalmist David speaks of three things in this Psalm; one, the Power and beauty of the Heavens, or what is the natural world; two, the Power and beauty of the law of God; and thirdly, David closes the psalm with two verses that speak on the subject of himself, his standing before God and his sin; either known or unknown. After he wonderfully declares the glory and honor of God, David concludes by looking upon himself in contrast to God’s magnificence. This is wisdom. The majesty and glory of God ought to act as a mirror; causing us to look at ourselves in the light of it. 

In the final verses of the psalm, he asks the Lord to keep him from sin; both those that are evident, and those that come with subtly. He reminds the Lord that God alone is the keeper of His soul and that the Lord will deliver him from the ‘great transgression’. How we need to remind​ourselves the Lord of His goodness towards us in the giving of His Son; how that Jesus saves us from the wrath of God and delivers us from the great transgression. David desires that the words of his mouth, and the meditation of his heart be acceptable in the sight of God. David understands that the two, the heart and our words, go hand in hand. He understands, as we ought to understand, that the meditation of our heart is often reflected in our words. The things we say testify to the greater part of what we think and believe; or what is the meditation of our heart. 

Peter, the night that the Lord was arrested, sitting outside the palace of the High Priest, denied he knew the Lord three times; Peter, that great apostle! This was certainly a Peter far different from the one we heard say earlier, “though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.” You would think, by the way that he portrayed himself before Jesus’ arrest, that he would rather have choked to death on those words than to ever let them out of his mouth. Yet his words revealed a truth; a condition of the heart. We also know what became of Peter, how through the power of the Holy Spirit of God his heart would become equal to his boldness in the Lord.Jesus makes the same connection of the heart and our words in Luke 6:45, saying, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh”.

Brother Paul, in his letter to the Romans, in that life changing passage we know as ‘Roman’s road’ (vss 10:8-10), he again reinforces the importance of that relationship between the heart and our words. That even in the process and act of how we might believe upon Christ and be saved, they are again found together. There is power in both the heart and our words when referred to separately, but O’ how powerful they are when referenced together. David finishes his song reminding us of how important this is concerning our heart and our words; reminding us that it is the power God and His strength alone that keeps them both.  So Like David, let me ask of God that my heart and my words be acceptable to Him first. Let me ask of the Lord as David did in Psalms 141:3, “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."

Notice, at the end of Verse 14, David declares the answers to his desires that he lays out in the verse’s beginning;  He answers the How and the Why.

Desire: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight..”
Answer: “…O LORD, My Strength and my redeemer."

Let us meditate day and night on the Word of God, storing up in our hearts His truths, which cleanse and purify and are able to keep us from falling; presenting us faultless through Jesus our Savior. Let us confess our sins daily, calling upon Christ, resisting the devil that he may flee from us. 

To God’s glory Let our words reveal in us a clean heart, a pure heart; words that are seasoned with salt, edifying to the hearer and so being acceptable to the Lord. 

How?          Because He is my Strength
Why?      Because He is my Redeemer

- Spencer Close, Bus Ministry Director, Sharon Baptist Church