EDC

The title of our sermon today is EDC. Does anyone know what EDC stands for?

Every Day Carry - These are items that you carry with you every day. Some people it is a favorite pen. For others, they EDC a phone, a laptop, a charging cord and back up hard drive. For others it might be stuff like I have in my little EDC pouch.

From a spiritual standpoint might there be somethings that we need to EDC? How can we be as Paul encouraged Timothy to be ready in season and out of season.

We Need EDC Hope

If there is one thing that this community needs right now it is hope. There are so many situations that are weighing on Montezuma and the United States that the church needs to be a beacon of hope.

X is still missing, both political parties believes the other is out to destroy America, racial tensions have not been this high in a long time, we have spent the last 15 months in the midst of pandemic and many other things that could cause a person to lose hope. In fact, there have been times in the last 15 months that I have lost hope. There was times that I was ready to thrown in the towel. But as the church of Jesus Christ, we can’t give in or give up. We have to go back to the basic of our faith and find the hope that we have lost. That hope of course in found and built on Jesus Christ.

Plus who would we turn to receive eternal life if not Jesus. Peter said as much in John 6. Remember last week when we talked about Jesus being the bread of life and Jesus told them that if they ate of this bread they would live forever. Jesus goes on to say, and the bread that I will give for life of the world is my flesh.

Then the Jews had a dispute amount themselves asking, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then in verse 66 we find out that many of Jesus’ disciples turn back and no longer walk with him.

John 6:65–68 (ESV)

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

We have hope in Jesus for he does have the words to eternal life.

They are the words to eternal life because those words tell us of the transformation that is possible in us when we follow Jesus. I know that Jesus has changed my life in the 30 years that I have been a follow of Christ. This brings us to our second thing we need to EDC as Christians. Our testimony, the story of the transformation that God has done for us. Our testimony should convey hope to those that are hopeless.

We Need To EDC our Testimony.

Out testimony is how we communicate hope to a depressed, distressed group or individual? What has God done in your life or better yet what is God doing in your life right now? That is your testimony. Would anyone like to give a short testimony of how God has changed their lives?

We need to EDC God’s Love

The other way that we share hope is through showing God’s love to those around us.

Truth without love speaks condemnation.

The Truth with love speaks hope. Why does the truth spoken in love bring hope?

a. Situation can be changed

There is nothing more depressing than know a situation that can’t be changed.

There is nothing more hopeful than a knowing a situation can be changed

The Advantage that Christianity has is that we believe God the Father, through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit can and is willing to change any situation we find ourselves in.

b. What if the situation can’t be changed? At least you know you have someone that is a friend and will walk through the pain with you.

The sign of a friend is someone that will celebrate your wins, the good things that happens in life, they will celebrate with you.

The sign of a Great Friend is that they are someone that will stand beside you when the storms of life are raging again you. They are there will, ready and able to help. There is almost nothing that brings more hope than knowing someone is there for you. They are supporting you, encourage you, watching out for you best interest, and you know they will be there through thick and thin. When you find that friend latch on to them and don’t ever let them go for they will be a source of hope, joy and faith for the rest of your life. Cherish these relationship. Protect these relationship. Develop these relationships.

Love without Truth is Deception

In our culture today love is greater than anything. But there is a problem sometimes that love is without truth. You can’t really say that you love someone if you won’t tell them the truth.

Take a Father that won’t tell his son that his behavior is unacceptable for the family and for culture in general. The says, I don’t want to hurt my son’s feelings. I want him to know that I love him. The problem with that line of thinking is that Father is not really showing love to his son. Why? Because the Father won’t tell him the truth. Without that truth is Father is deceiving himself that he is doing what is best for his son. The father is deceiving his son into believing that his actions are appropriate when they are not.

The loving thing for the Father to do would be to discipline his son with the truth. The action that was inappropriate can now be corrected. Could it hurt the son’s feelings? Maybe, but inaction of the father will be worse in the long run.

Our course, if we are going to EDC Love so that it does not bring condemnation or deception, we will need to EDC Forgiveness.

We need to EDC Forgiveness

Forgive one another as Christ as also forgiven you. Whenever one person corrects another two things need to happen. One: The one correcting needs to make sure that they have taken the log out of their own eye before they try to help take the speck out of their brother’s eye and two:

The person correcting needs to EDC Forgiveness. Whenever one person tries to correct another the motive needs to be redemption. The correcting person needs to have the best interest of the other person in mind which means they have to be forgiving.

Let’s say that you point out an offense to a sister or brother. They see how they have hurt you and ask for your forgiveness. But, you say, “No, I won’t forgive you.” You are telling that person that you really didn’t care about the relationship to begin with. You came to make them feel bad for their actions and you are not going to allow them to reconcile the relationship. That in my opinion is a form of revenge. Without you forgiving them, you are telling them, “I want to make you feel bad. They way that I am going to do that is by make you feel bad about the way you treated with no recourse to fix the problem. With no recourse for the person to fix the problem between you and them, they leave the situtiation feeling as bad you did when you come into the it. Why does a person do that? Why does a person want the offender to know they have hurt them without a way to fix the offense?

Usually the offended person wanted them to feel bad like they do which in turn cause them to feel better without offering forgiveness. That in my opinion is revenge.

Imagine what your live would be like if God came to you and said, “You have offended me. You have broken my one rule. Now, you must live in hell, separated from me for all eternity.”

Feeling the injustice that you have caused toward God you ask, “God is there anything that can be done? Can this be made made right?”

God replies, “No. I am going to separate myself from you forever. I want you to feel as bad as I do.”

That my friends is not love. Of course, we know what God did. He came and told the problem and also told us that he has provided a way for us to be forgiven. Then you ask, God will you forgive me? The Lord says, “Of course, that why I died.”

This is the reason we are told to forgiven one another as Christ has forgiven you. God is willing to forgive you and we need to be will to forgive. We need to be ready to love people without compromising the truth. We need to be ready and willing to tell people how God has forgiven us. This forgiveness, the love, this truth, all of this gives a person hope that their future can be different. Do you need your future to be different? It starts with coming to Jesus and asking for his forgiveness.