10 WORDS … STOP THIEF!
EXODUS 20:15

VIOLATION,

   WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
TAKING SOMETHING THAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU WITHOUT PERMISSION OR RIGHT, ESPECIALLY IN SECRET OR BY FORCE.

   WHAT CONSTITUTES THIEVERY?
   WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TODAY?

      THE INTERNET …
      SOCIALIZING …
      PERSONAL BUSINESS …
      EMPLOYER … JAMES 5:4-6
      EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIPS …

EPHESIANS 4:28 (ESV), ”LET THE THIEF NO LONGER STEAL, BUT RATHER LET HIM LABOR, DOING HONEST WORK WITH HIS OWN HANDS, SO THAT HE MAY HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE WITH ANYONE IN NEED.”

TIM KELLER, “YOU HAVE NOT STOPPED BEING A THIEF
(BIBLICALLY SPEAKING), WHEN YOU HAVE STOPPED TAKING, YOU HAVE STOPPED BEING A THIEF WHEN YOU START GIVING.”

ILLUSTRATION: ZACCHAEUS, FROM TAKER TO GIVER

   ZACCHAEUS WAS A TAX COLLECTOR,
LUKE 19:1-2
   ZACCHAEUS WAS TRYING TO SEE WHO JESUS WAS,
LUKE 19:3-4
   JESUS WENT TO ZACCHAEUS’S HOUSE,
LUKE 19:5-7
   ZACCHAEUS EXPERIENCED A MASSIVE CHANGE,
LUKE 19:8

APPLICATION:

WHY DO PEOPLE STEAL?

    SECURITY - WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE,
PHIL.4:6
    SELF-IMAGE - HAPPINESS IS DEFINED BY WHAT WE HAVE,

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

   THE GOSPEL FREES US FROM THE BONDAGE OF MATERIALISM,

ROBERT MURRAY McCHEYENNE, “THE MORE YOU UNDERSTAND WHO JESUS IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR YOU, THE MORE GENEROUS YOU BECOME … I FEAR THERE ARE MANY HEARING ME WHO NOW KNOW THEY ARE NOT CHRISTIANS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT LOVE TO GIVE. TO GIVE LARGELY AND LIBERALLY, NOT GRUDGING AT ALL REQUIRES A NEW HEART. AN OLD HEART WOULD RATHER PART WITH HIS LIFEBLOOD THAN ITS MONEY.”