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."
PRAYER REQUESTS: If you have any prayer requests please send them and I will send
them out to the bros for prayer, if privacy is needed I will send in a discreet way.

JUNE 2010

“SERVANT OR SPECTATOR”

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves James 1:22 NKJV)”.

“the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for [him] and at an hour
that he is not aware of, Mat 24:50 NKJV”…

Sidewalk superintendents are everywhere that someone is doing real work. Ever notice when you are
working and serving the Lord somebody always comes up and says they use to do that and then they
proceed to tell you about the old days, the past, the time they served and how they miss it and wish they
could recapture those times…
Well God is calling us to do exactly that, to serve today to be doers of His Word, not hearers only, not
spectators. We are not promised tomorrow, we are not called to live in the past or to stop serving, but
we live and serve in the here and right now, the present. If we live in and walk in His word and His word
lives & walks in us and we do His word, we practice His word and we obey His Word then we are doers
of His word. If you find yourself recalling all those times you use to serve and maybe you are not
presently serving something is wrong. We do not want to be a pastime sidewalk superintendent but a
present day modern servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I know there are times when the Lord puts us
on the bench and we are chomping at the bit to get back in the game. We want to run some plays, give
some assists, score some touchdowns, shoot some three pointers or hole in one’s for the Lord and be a
part of the team, a faithful servant, in other words we want to do something for the Lord to serve Him
and honor Him and be used by Him.
Jesus reminds us in the Parable of the Great Supper to not give up serving even if they reject the
message or the messenger is turned away then they refuse the invitation. But even after the invitation
was sent out and those that refused to come to the supper the master again sent them to go out quickly
into the streets to go and reach out to the poor, maimed, lame & blind, the down and out and when that
was done there was still more room. And we know God still has more room in His Kingdom and wants
us to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that His house may be filled…

Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel [them]
to come in, that my house may be filled (Luke 14:23 NKJV).
When we have done everything trying to witness to those who have heard and even received the
invitation and rejected it, we don’t give up we reach deeper as a faithful servant for our Master a servant
pleasing to his Master. Jesus wants us to take His invitation to all and even those who are not in the
main stream of life, the homeless, the poor, those who live in the riverbeds, the parks, the one’s that are
disabled, the one’s in the nursing homes, the crazy one’s on the street, the blind, the panhandler’s on
the corners, the one’s that nobody cares about, the one’s that are lonely and nobody will talk to or share
the Lord with, the one’s that are reviled and loathed, the unloved, the un-churched, the despised,
detested, despicable and down trodden of our society…. We cannot ignore these; the one’s the Lord
loves enough that He allowed us to be saved so that we could be sent to go out by His grace and mercy
and serve our Master and minister to these precious one’s whom the Lord loves. We do not want to be
the one that is always saying I use to serve the Lord; I use to do this or that for the Lord…. We take the
message, the Lords invitation and deliver it how ever many times the Lord sends us and trust the Lord
with the results. We just keep delivering for the Lord. We want to be able to say the Lord is using me I
am serving Him and He is bearing fruit from my service and He is being glorified with my servants’ heart.

Bros we all need to start doing something now today not later, the time is short- “redeem the time”, the
Lord has called us to be servants today not sidewalk superintendents or spectators with old stories from
yesterday to relive but to be alive in Christ a faithful servant today. He does not want us to grow faint
hearted and give up. I know we are all thankful the Lord never gave up on us. How many times can you
remember Jesus sending someone to share the gospel with you before you came to accept Christ Jesus
as Lord and Savior? A couple of times or a hundred, a thousand times or can not remember because He
sent someone too many times to count. That is the way I feel, I cannot count how many times “Jesus
sent His servants to share the gospel with me and how many times I rejected it before I finally accepted
my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I was one of those one’s who was on the other side of the Jesus Movement” back in the day. My friends
and I use to be the one’s that were always hitchhiking with our long hair and all and every time we got a
ride by a hippie we thought cool maybe we would all get stoned on the way to the beach or wherever we
were going. We use to be so bummed when they turned out to be Jesus freaks and would pick us up,
because we thought they were long haired stoners and they ended up saying to us with a huge grin on
their faces as we got in their car “Jesus Loves you man”. We would be thinking to ourselves great let us
off at the next corner as we stared at the giant sized coffee table Bibles on their dash boards…. But the
point is these hippies were so on fire for the Lord that they went looking for people to minister to and
share the gospel with, they did not wait for someone to come up and ask them about Jesus- they took to
the highways to share Jesus with boldness and zeal, they were servants for the Lord! They looked for
opportunities; their excuse to pick us up was purely to share Jesus. What a great excuse, do you ever
make excuses to go out of your way so you can share the Gospel? Jesus is a great excuse right bro!
When is the last time you shared the gospel with someone on the highway or looked for any opportunity
to tell someone about Jesus? Jesus never gave up on you or me and we ought never give up on sharing
with others around us ever- even if we have to tell them a thousand times, because they are worth it and
Jesus does not desire to see one of them not enter His Kingdom in Heaven.

You just do not know the impact you can have on a person when you share the Gospel with them. I
remember God used my neighbor to share a verse with me and that woman never knew the impact it
had on me. She was telling me a story about something and she mentioned well you know “You reap
what you sow” and I heard this a million times before, but this time it stuck and that verse convicted my
heart for a period of two years until I could not take it anymore and surrendered my heart to my Lord
Jesus Christ. So never give up Bros, it could be the verse, the word they need to hear, this could be the
time the Holy Spirit touches their hearts and changes them for eternity for Jesus. Be that faithful servant,
don’t stand on the sidelines watching, get involved, start sharing today, be used by God wherever He
calls you, be ready, start now today, He has given each one of us gifts, give them back in service to the
Lord use those first fruits of your gifts to bless the Lord. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He
takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2 NKJV).
We have these trees in our area and last winter they trimmed all the branches and this spring all the
leaves started growing and getting really green and shining forth Gods beauty. I noticed there were
some brown dead looking leaves and branches and thought the tree trimmers must have left some of
the cut dead branches up in the trees and as I looked closer I saw that they hadn’t left any but the tree
had some branches that looked dead and some had tender beautiful green shining leaves all coming
from the same tree. I thought wow that is the way it is with us as believers we can shine brightly for the
Lord or just lay back and play dead and let someone else shine the bright light of Jesus Christ for all the
whole earth to see. I would rather get pruned so I can bear more fruit than He take me away…

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven” (Matthew 5:16 NKJV).
“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves
Me, him [My] Father will honor” (John 12:26 NKJV).

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, [even] to the end of the age. Amen” (Mat 28:20 NKJV).

What more do we need, the Lord instructs us, commands us, if we have heard Him, then we ought to do
that which He instructs us to do, be doers. What is holding you back, what are you waiting for, what
excuse do you need (Jesus is the best One) to be a doer and not a hearer only. Some of you like me
that have been around may have used this little saying long before Nike took it for their sales slogan
“Just Do it!” That was my saying I would even print it on employee’s checks, when guys that worked for
me would tell me about doing something- I would respond “Just Do It” don’t talk about it do it! Do it for
the Lord, today Bro, right now!
The Lord knows we need to be reminded constantly chiefly myself; Bros, I pray this is an
encouragement, a call to serve, to use the gifts the Lord has given you, a call to be a witness for the
Lord Jesus Christ to be glorified, to have our hearts and gifts stirred to service and to be faithful in
ministering and being used for Jesus Christ. Serve the Lord Jesus Christ with “reckless abandonment”
Amen!

Agape,
Daniel Wright
Iron Man Oikodome
Proverbs 27:17
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