Dear Bros in Christ,

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Brothers in Christ, this weekly encouragement 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 ron !an Oikodome "oy#kod#om#ay$% to build up and encourage the men who lo&e and follow Jesus Christ in their walk with 'im. Hebrews 3:13 " ut encoura!e one another dai"#, as "on! as it is ca""ed $oda#, so that none of #ou ma# be hardened b# sin%s deceitfu"ness." PRAYER REQUESTS: f you ha&e any prayer re(uests please send them and will send them out to the bros for prayer, if pri&acy is needed will send in a discreet way.

IRON MAN OIKODOME BOX TOP 102 Imitate me, just as I also [imitate] !"ist#$[1 o"i%t!ia%s 11&1 NK'(] a")o% o*+$
Bros imagine ha&ing the boldness and confidence to make a statement like )aul has here in saying this* + mitate me, ,ust as also -imitate. Christ./ 'ow confident would you be to proclaim this, thinking about your own life and how you are li&ing for Christ0 f we e1amine e&ery area of our life could we still make this proclamation0 Of course we all ha&e a few areas where we might be able to declare this#but honestly could you really say this in totality of e&ery area and facet of your daily li&e* attitude, honesty, treatment of others, lo&e towards your neighbors, de&otion to the Lord, lo&e and more0 )aul (ualifies it by further stating as he imitates Christ# meaning as he keeps following Christ. belie&e the only way you can declare this along with )aul is if you are li&ing that life of fully following Christ and being obedient and walking as Christ did, li&ing and walking in Christ strength alone, committed totally to 'im and submitted to 'im# walking in the power of 'is grace. )aul couldn2t say this unless he was li&ing his life fully unto Christ this goes for e&en when no one else can see him# he was a good e1ample for us3 4ou can2t teach what you don2t know and what you yourself are not following5 6hen was in school way back when# occasionally got in trouble, rare as it was5 a few times had to write + will not throw things in 7rt class/ fi&e hundred times. went home and got some carbon copy paper and thought will write two pages at once that way will only ha&e to write half the (uantity. 8e1t day turned in the re(uired punishment and thought wow pulled one o&er on the teacher5 7t the end of the school day the teacher called me to stay after class and asked me if used carbon copy paper and said yes. 9he said was cheating by making false imitations t wasn2t the real deal# didn2t do the complete punishment, cut corners so it was easier5 9o she told me had to do it o&er and now write the same thing but a thousand times. t was :riday so had the weekend to do this, was ticked3 tried to take a short cut and fake it but didn2t make it3 9o started writing as soon as got home so wouldn2t ruin my whole weekend. disco&ered could write fi&e sentences at the same time if taped the pencils together# so found a new way and only had to really write two hundred sentences, whereas last time had to write two hundred fifty to get my carbon copied fi&e hundred. 6ell did it again# cheap imitation of the real thing, sad part is actually got away with it this time and (uite a few times after this. 4ou see no one knew what was doing behind the scenes* the teacher didn2t know was not doing it right# taking the easy way out bro. n our walk we can fake it but we2ll ne&er make, ;od see2s 'e knows bro3 There would be no easy way to imitate Christ e1cept to be fully surrendered, submitted and committed to 'im who is able, otherwise anything else would be a counterfeit, ;od see2s 'e knows bro3 6e can do things behind closed doors, behind the scenes, in a different neighborhood and think wow got away with it5 But ;od knows our heart bros. belie&e 'e wants us to be a carbon copy by imitating 'is 9on the e1ample 'e laid down for us to follow. )aul encourages the Corinthians to imitate him but as he is imitating Christ, )aul is bold in stating this# sad part do many of us ha&e the boldness to make this statement or claim0 Bros make it your aim ,ust as make it mine to be pleasing to the Lord in e&ery area, 'e knows, 'e sees, confess your sins and recei&e forgi&eness and imitate Christ Jesus 'e is the e1ample we long to be following and be like in our walk#amen3
7gape,
<aniel 6right Iron Man Oikodome )ro&erbs =>?@>

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