Iron Man Oikodome - "bitten & Poisoned By Sin"

Dear Bros in Christ, Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Brothers in Christ, this monthly devotional is sent and meant to be an encouragement to all and to build up and edify in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oikodome means "Builder". The Lord has put this on my heart to send out a monthly Iron Man Oikodome {oy-kod-om-ay'} to build up and encourage the men who love and follow Jesus Christ in their walk with Him. Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." NOVEMBER 2008 “BITTEN & POISONED BY SIN” Numbers 21:7-9 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. Bros it always is that way every time, nothing changes when you get bitten by the serpent of sin, you become toxic and poisoned speaking out against those who love and care for you most; sin it permeates throughout your whole life rendering you useless. Once you sin and continue on in it the poison seeps deep into every area of your life instantaneously, I believe in the twinkling of the eye, it comes on that fast. First and foremost it affects your relationship with the Lord, immediately you are separated from Him, it is like jumping out of His arms and immediately in front of a freight train of instant emotional, neurotic frenzied paranoid, angry, foolish, volatile irrational, ridiculously absurd thoughts and feelings and the instantly distantly broken hearted cutoff feeling of lowliness, guilt and separation that is almost indescribable and utterly unbearable. The Israelites had to feel this way, just like we do when we sin and worst. They not only spoke against the Lord but their leader chosen by God. Imagine that, they were complaining about Moses their boss, Gods chosen no less, that part we have probably all been guilty of complaining about our bosses, but thinking that He was chosen by God should automatically be a red flag of not going there, but complaining about God instead of thanking Him for their blessings they chose death- sin instead of life. It is hard when we are in a state of life (The present economy…) where things are hard and we find ourselves complaining about our boss and then we start murmuring about God how could He do this to us or allow these troubles to come on us and then the poison of sin starts to enter like an IV drip system slowly making its way into every area of our life and then we find ourselves not choosing life but choosing death. But bros do what Moses did at such a time as this, look at his example- he was the hated boss and for what because he was chosen by God and look what he did he had a heart and cared for the people and prayed for them. And God heard the prayer and said to Moses here is the answer to all their sins and troubles, the Perfect *Soulution. (*intentionally misspelled) A picture of the coming Savior our Lord Jesus Christ hung on a pole or a cross. So that anyone who had been bitten or overcome by sin could be forgiven and cleansed when they looked to Jesus. So choose life look to Christ Jesus and don’t complain about what you don’t have but thank the Lord Jesus Christ for what you do have a Perfect Savior a Perfect Soulution for forgiveness from all your sins and troubles and life abundantly forever! In His grip, Daniel Wright Iron Man Oikodome Proverbs 27:17 PRAYER REQUESTS: If you have prayer, requests we will send out email prayer requests to the men in a discreet manner that respects your privacy if you so desire and glorifies the Lord. The main thing is to lift up your needs and bring them before our Father. That would be an honor and a privilege. To have your email address removed from future mailings please reply to [email protected] and type "PLEASE REMOVE" in the subject box, thank you!