Don't Steal!

December 16, 2024 Monday Message:

Deuteronomy 5:19 NKJV, God’s words: “You shall not steal.”

About a week ago, we started looking at the 10 Commandments as listed in Deuteronomy. Today we’re up to, “Do Not Steal.” We need to understand that 2k years ago, survival of the fittest was the standard mode of operation. Beg, borrow, steal – whatever – just survive. So God needed to teach us his laws, his ethics, his value system. The laws were spoken to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and Moses in turn told the other Israelites.

You have your things, and I have my things. Don’t you take my things, and I won’t take your things. Seems simple enough. But sin is a choice to disobey God, and regrettably, some people choose to sin. Small-time thieves will take something from your yard or break into your car. Big-time thieves plot to rob a bank. It’s all wrong. Just ask God!

With the New Covenant given to us by Jesus, God’s laws are written on our hearts. In other words we have a conscience. We instinctively know right from wrong. So even without reading God’s Commandments, everyone already knows that it’s wrong to steal!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

God's Value System

March 11, 2013 Monday Message:

We’re in the last portion of the 10 Commandments, and this week it’s #8 - "Do not steal." Ex. 20

This is one of those things that everyone already knows. A thief, by definition, exhibited behavior outside of society’s norms and God’s directions. But long before the judge sentenced them, I believe that each of them knew stealing was wrong. And even in prison, you don’t steal someone’s magazine, you don’t take someone’s pen, and you sure don’t grab their cigarettes. That kind of behavior could get you killed.

See? Everyone, even those on the wrong side of the law, already knows God’s value system. Stealing is wrong – God said so.

Next week: Truth or Consequences

Norton Lawellin

We’ll worship this Sunday, March 17, 10:30am, Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF), in the North end of the Oliver Ministry Building, 27th Street & Bloomington Avenue, Minneapolis. This week we wrap up Luke Ch. 8.

NL