Wed.’s Devo - Making God Known

Read: 1 Kings 9:1-10:29; Acts 8:14-40; Psalm 130:1-8; Proverbs 17:2-3
Solomon built everything in his heart to build then the Lord appeared to him again and told him that as long as he worshipped the Lord and followed his commands, everything would go well for him and his family. If he didn’t, Israel would become a byword and people would joke about its ruin.
Solomon’s reign is a picture of the millennium reign here on earth where Jesus is king and the splendor of the Lord is on the earth. Over and over it talks about the amount of gold that he had. Hiram gave him as much gold as he wanted. The Queen of Sheba brought tons of gold, and he received tons of gold a year in taxes from enemy nations. His kingdom glistened with glory.
God gave him wisdom to rule his kingdom with excellence. He used non-Jewish people to do his forced labor and his own people to be in his army and rule in governing positions. He was world renown for his wisdom and his riches. His kingdom greatly prospered. This is a picture of God making his enemies to be his footstool and us ruling and reigning with him.
In Acts, the people of Samaria had experienced a great revival when they heard the news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was a sorcerer named Simon who had wowed the city with his sorceries. Peter and John arrived and told them about receiving the Holy Spirit since they hadn’t been told about the Holy Spirit yet. When Simon saw the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, he asked if he could buy this ability of laying hands on people to receive the Holy Sprit. This was a power greater than he possessed. Peter and John told Simon to repent of thinking the Holy Spirit was something that could be bought. It sounds like he did repent.
An angel came and told Phillip to travel south to a road that went to Gaza. He did and on his way met an Ethiopian eunuch who was an important official of the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had come to worship in Jerusalem and had a campy of the book of Isaiah. God told Philip to run up to the chariot and listen to what he was reading. When Philip heard him read from Isaiah, he asked him if he understood what he was reading and the man said, No. He invited him up on his chariot to explain it to him. He happened to be reading Isaiah 53 which the description of Jesus’ life and destiny. Phillip was able to explain the scripture to him and tell him the good news of salvation through Jesus. The eunuch wanted to be baptized immediately and there happened to be water on the side of the road, so he asked Phillip to baptize him right then and there. Phillip did and as soon as he came out of the water, Phillip was translated to Azotus where he continued to preach. The eunuch carried the gospel home to his nation.
Lord, help us to be carriers of your good news to the nations.