The Ten Commandments - That's Not Yours

Welcome, welcome, welcome. So good to see your guys's faces

in this beautiful weather. Warm weather. Hey, guys weathering it

or you're going to go to Costco after this, Like

I'll be right back to the ac and here's kind

of nice. Keeps us cool. Well, Welcome to the roots

where it's all about Jesus. We love God, we love people.

We reach the lost, and we make disciples and in

that process we want to help you grow in your

love and knowledge of Jesus Christ. That's what we want

to do here. That's what we want to do for

ourselves as well. And we've been in a series called

the Ten Commandments Law defining Love, and we're just going

through the Ten Commandments. When we went through the Exodus series,

we went through it really fast, and so this is

our chance to slow down and go through the Ten Commandments,

also known as the ten Words from God for his people.

And these ten words were given two God's people after

God saved the people from slavery in Egypt. God said,

I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out

of the land of Egypt, out of the house of

slavery to God by his own hand in a mighty

mighty way saved the people from Egypt. He did it

with the ten plagues on Egypt. If you guys remember those,

those were miraculous and crazy, the ten plagues that he sent.

And what he did in that process is he's putting

all of the lower case g gods that Egypt worshiped

and followed, He's putting them all to shame. He's showing

that he's the one true God over all. He rules everything.

And it was by his own hand that he saved

his people, the Israelites. He brought them out of Egypt,

and then he brought them tount to Mount Sinai, to

where he spoke to them. And what he's doing now

in these ten commandments is he's teaching them how they

ought to live, how God demands it his people would live.

He's giving his people, who he chose to save, his law.

And when we look to God's law, that's where we

get to see what it looks like the love of

not just love others, but love him. We get a

look to God's law to see how he demands that

we love him and how we love our neighbor. And

Matthew twenty five, Jesus said that to love God with everything,

and to love your neighbor as yourself. That all the

law and the prophets depend on those two things. They

depend on them, or they hang on, or they're summed

up by these two commandments, to love God and to

love people. So that means that every time God demands

something of us or gives us a rule to follow,

that it's going to have something to do with how

we are loving Him and how we are loving others.

And that's why we subtitle this series law defining Love,

because God's law is what defines what love looks like.

The first four of the ten commandments that we've gone

through all had to do with how we love God.

So no other gods other than Him, don't worship idols,

don't use the Lord's name in vain, and to remember

the Sabbath. These all have to do with how we're

supposed to love God or how he would have us

love him. And then the last six commandments. Look at

what Paul says to the church in Rome. This is

in Romans chapter thirteen. It should be on the screen

verse starting in verse eight, Oh, no one anything except

to love each other. For the one who loves another

has fulfilled the what the law for the commandments. You

shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall

not steal, you shall not covet and any other commandments.

Commandment are summed up in this word. You shall love

your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore,

love is the fulfilling of the law. Well, Lot, that's

really helpful information for us to have, for Paul to

reiterate from what God's already said. So when we follow

the laws of God, we're being loving to our neighbor

because God's law for how we are to interact with

each other is loving. That's what he's saying. It is

a loving thing we're commanded to do and how we

interact with others, and we've already talked about some of these.

We've already talked about that it's not very very loving

to your neighbor to dishonor them to murder, or to

commit adultery. Those aren't very loving things to do. And

that brings us to our commandment for today, and today

we're talking about the eighth commandment. So if you will

grab your bible and turn to Exodus chapter twenty with

me please, And if you need a bible, we have

some in the back there and Gabe is holding them

up right there, waving them down. He'll bring you a

bible to keep. We want you to have God's word

Exodus chapter twenty. And we're continuing in the part of

the law about how we love our neighbors as ourselves.

So verse fifteen says you shall not steal, you shall

not steal. Let's pray, God, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for clear commandments from you, God, and

we pray that we have ears to hear what you

have to say to us today. If there's a challenge

out there, God, we're ready for it or ready to

rise to the challenge, because we want to live lives

in obedience to you, as your chosen people, as your

called out people. We want to know how you'd have

us live, and we want to walk in obedience to that.

So God, give us ears to hear what you'd have

for us today and give us the ability to walk

it out and to apply it to our lives. Thank

you for all this in Jesus name a men. Okay,

I have a quick question right here at the beginning.

Is it loving to steal from your neighbor. Now we

all know it's not We all kind of understand that

it's a kind of a universal truth. To steal from

your neighbor is not loving. But one thing I think

I think is funny about stealing is it's one of

the few bad things you never have to teach a kid.

You ever notice that you don't have to teach a

kid to steal? And most often they'll start doing it

at the earliest age, as soon as they can crawl

or they can walk over to another kid and that

kid happens to have something that they want. What do

they do? Joink, that's mine? Now, totally mine. Now they

just steal it. They steal from the kid the thing

that they want to which every parent asks did you

just take that from them? We always ask that question,

did you just take that from them? And then you

see the next sin. You don't have to teach your

kid and they lie to you. No, but we're gonna

talk about lying next week. But you don't have to

teach a kid to steal. It comes pre loaded in

their software. From my computer nerds out there, they need

the Jesus patch to fix it. That's what I say.

But they basically come out of the womb as little thieves.

I mean, am I wrong? They steal everything, the dirty,

little sinners. You can't convince me that kids are born good.

None of us were. We all came out of the

womb stealing stuff. We'd steal toys from other kids. They're

stealing food off our plates. They're stealing hours of sleep

from us as they demand our attention at two in

the morning because they're ready to play. I can't. I

don't know if anyone who's more selfish than children. You

don't have to teach them to steal. They just steal.

But when you catch them stealing a toy from another kid,

what do we all say? Because we all say the

same thing, we say, give that back. Why Because that's

not yours? And that's what I call today's message. That's

not yours, a message about not stealing, because stealing is

taking something that doesn't belong to you, taking something that's

not yours to take, and that could be anything. Most

of the time, when we think about stealing, we think

about it and things like robbing a bank that's a

common thing to think about, or embezzling money from a business,

or what about breaking into someone's home and taking something, well,

that's clearly stealing. Putting something into your bag when you're

shopping and then walking out the door. Stealing from a store,

or breaking a store window and going in after hours

and taking it stealing, it's obvious. What about pulling a

weapon on someone and demanding their wallet. That's stealing, Or

snatching someone's purse on the subway and then Batman shows

up and it's just a whole thing. Where's Where's where

to me? But the list goes on. There's all these

things that we can think of that are clearly stealing.

Stealing is taking anything from anyone that doesn't belong to you.

But there are some less common ways that humanity steals

from each other. And sometimes these might even be like

willingly overlooked things about taking pens from a restaurant after

you signed the check unintentional. Unintentional stealing is still stealing,

just throwing it out there. Taking office supplies from your work,

I mean they got lots of stuff, they have tons

of supplies, such a thing of post it's whatever, it

doesn't belong to you. What about scrolling while you're on

the clock, that's stealing money? Are you being paid to scroll? Well,

I mean maybe you are being paid to scroll in

some jobs nowadays, but most of the time you're not.

You're just you're literally stealing money by being paid to scroll.

And when I was thinking about stealing in uncommon ways,

that stealing is kind of a part of humanity. If

you grew up in the air that I grew up,

and who remembers nabster or LimeWire, guilty all of you.

If you know what it is, you used it, we

remember I remember other people using it. Yeah, I would

hear one song that I liked and I would look

up that entire artist discography and download the whole thing.

I'm talking thousands and thousands of songs and probably just

as many viruses to go with it, because if you

ever downloaded any stolen music, it probably had some viruses

attached to it. But pirrating digital content is by definition stealing.

Pirate is literally in the name, and what do pirates do?

They steal? And I was taking something from someone that

didn't belong to me because I didn't pay for it,

and I do remember distinctly when the Lord pointed it

out to me and convicted of all the theft that

I'd committed over the years. It's not a good feeling.

And for the record, I did go and delete all

of it, so I did respond to the conviction well.

But a lot of people would argue for something like

pirrating digital content that's not hurting anyone, or I'm not

physically taking something from someone. But the true reality is

is that it's a product that they created and they

are selling to make money. So by me not paying

for it and pirrating it, I'm actually stealing the money

they should have received for selling the product that they

have created. And what God says is, my people don't

do that. My people, don't do that. You my people,

which is saying you shall not steal. And God gives

some other examples of stealing in scripture that I thought

were interesting. We're gonna need a little contextual help on these,

but I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter eleven

with me, and we're gonna look at Proverbs chapter eleven

and chapter sixteen for a couple examples. Here, Proverbs chapter eleven,

starting in verse one, says a false balance is an

abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.

False balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a

just weight is his delight. And flip over a couple

pages of chapter sixteen. I want you to look at

Proverbs sixteen and verse eleven. By the way, there's a

bunch of verses to day, So you guys are gonna

be flipping all over your Bibles. You're gonna be Bible professionals.

By the end of this, verse eleven says adjust balance

and scales are the lords. All the weights in the

bag are his work. So with these verses, like just

to kind of like overly summarize them, these verses show

us that God wants honest trade between humans between people,

He wants honest trade. An unjust or a false balance.

Balance being used to scale things was used to charge

people more. If it was if it was let me

say that again, if it was unjust, it was unjust

for the sake of charging people more. So they would say,

maybe it costs x amount for a certain weight of grain.

But when you saw the rich person walking up, he'd

be like, oh, switch out the bags real quick and

put the lighter bags out there, because then you put

the lighter bags on the scale and they pay the

same amount for less grain. So you're being deceptive and dishonest,

trying to get more money from people. And so I

was like, what does that look like today, because that's

kind of like we don't use scales necessarily, like that,

what does that look like today? But maybe that looks

like raising the price of something that's being sold and

then putting a big old on sale. Now sign on it.

But the end is it's actually the same price that

it was before. That's dishonest, it's manipulative, that's misleading. It's

not what God would have us do if we were

supposed to use just scales. Or maybe it's just something

like adjusting your timesheet a little bit so you can

claim some overtime hours. Or we live in the Facebook

marketplace era, people buying and selling stuff online all the time.

So if you're selling something online into you intentional leave

out information about the itemy slightly broken or just not

exactly what as advertised. Or maybe you're going in on

a big expense with a bunch of people and you

work it out in such a way that you pay

a little bit less than everybody else. It all boils

down to trying to make it look like a fair deal.

But someone's losing on that deal. They're getting the short

end of the stick and you're coming out on top.

It's being dishonest, it's lying to gain more from somebody.

It's a shifty way to steal from somebody, using tricks

and deceit to steal. And God used that as an

abus domination. That's the word he used, and I didn't

use that word. He used it an abomination. But I

think this is the perfect time for us to remember

what Proverbs ten says. So you guys are in sixteen,

flip over a couple pages to Proverbs ten and verse

two says treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but

righteousness delivers from death. So this kind of gain will

never profit. And God hates it. God hates it. It

will never profit. God's people don't steal by stealthily taking

what doesn't belong to them. They're I mean, sneaking ninjas

about it. God's people don't steal by lies, deception, or tricks.

And God's people also don't steal by withholding something that's

owed to someone. Look at James chapter five, and I

want you to listen closely. How the rich are chastised.

James five four says behold, the wages of the life

laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back

by fraud, are crying out against you. And the cries

of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord

of hosts. So the rich here are being chastised for

not paying their workers what they're owed. They're withholding something.

And this is another way to steal from someone, is

to not pay them what they deserve. Or I started

thinking about if you borrow money from someone and have

zero intention of ever paying them back. One the word

borrow is an assumption that you'll pay it back. But

if you borrowed with no intention to pay back, you're

robbing them. You just stole from them. So God's people

they don't steal by being sneaky. They don't steal by

lies or deception. They don't steal by withholding what's owed.

And God's people also don't steal things by force, coercion,

or extortion. And I want you to turn to Luke

chapter three, because this is where huge crowds are coming

out to see John the Baptist or John the Baptizer,

and as he's preaching, people are feeling conviction over what

he's saying, and they're like, what am I supposed to

do in response to what you're telling you right now?

And this is Luke Chapter thirteen. We're gonna start. In

verse twelve, it says tax collectors say. Tax collectors also

came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what

shall we do? And he said to them, collect no

more than you are authorized to do. Verse fourteen says

soldiers say soldiers. Soldiers also asked him and we what

shall we do? And he said to them, do not

extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusations,

and be content with your wages. So tax collectors soldiers

are starting to feel convicted. But these are the ones

who have the power to extract money from the people,

and they're told not to abuse their own authority for

personal gain, not to use force or core coercion. If

I didn't even say that word. So God commands is

that we don't. God's command is that we don't steal.

We don't take what doesn't belong to us. We don't

take what's not ours. We don't be sneaky about it

to steal. We don't be deceptive to steal. We don't

withhold what's owed to others in order to steal, and

we don't use force to steal. You don't take what

doesn't belong to you, So we all in track so far,

don't steal. It's pretty straightforward, right, Bible just kind of

like hammers us on repeat over and over and over.

But why do people steal? Why do people steal? What

motivates or drives us to steal? And even though I

think that we could probably give countless individual examples and

reasons why, I think it really boils down to two

main reasons, and that's what I want to talk about

right now. The first one is simply greed. People steal

because they're greedy. That is the first motivation, because they

put themselves before others. They think of themselves first, They

consider themselves as more important than others. I want, so

I take it. Really isn't more complex than the kids

make it. I want something. The other kid had the

toy that I wanted, so I took it again. That's

just part of our sinful programming that we're born with.

Because we're all born of Adam and we're born sinful.

That means we're born greedy and with a problem So

that's the first reason people steal. It's just greed. But

the second reason I think people steal is a lack

of trust that God will provide. I think it's a

lack of trust that God will provide, so out of

desperation or out of fear, there's this lack of trust

in the Lord. And what do you do? Take matters

into your own hands. It's like the song from Aladdin.

You guys are gonna love where this is going. He's

got to eat to live, and he's got to steal

to eat. Otherwise they get along and he only steals

what he can't afford, which is everything. Okay, apparently only

a few people watch Aladdin in the movie. That's great.

I'm not that I'm encouraging you to go watch a

bunch of Disney movies. But anyway, all joking aside, desperation

will lead people towards sin. There is a big temptation

to sin out of desperate desperation of your situation or

your circumstances. It's like what Proverbs thirty says, and I

love this proverb. This is verse nine through excuse me

seven through nine. Two things I ask of you deny them,

not to me before I die, Remove far from me

falsehood and lying. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed

me with the food that is needful for me that

I need. Lest I be full and deny you and

say who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor

and steal and profane the name of my God. God,

keep me in the sweet spot. Just keep me in

the sweet spot. Don't give me too much that I

forget you, but don't give me too little that I

steal and sin out of desperation. But at the core,

when we take matters into our own hands, So when

we have decided I got to solve this problem, what

are our actions actually saying. They're screaming out loud that

we don't actually believe what God says. We don't believe

him when he says that he will provide for us.

We lack trust in what God says, or else we

wouldn't be stealing. And the answer for both greed and

a lack of trust that God will provide is one

very very important truth. And this is what I want

us to understand today, is the truth that God always

provides what his children need. God always provides what his

children need. That's the answer we need. The believer has

no reason to steal because God always provides what his

children need. The believer has no reason to be greedy

because God always provides what his children need. We have

no reason to lack trust that God will provide because

God always provides what his children need. And so I'm

gonna spend the rest of our time today proving that

to you. I want you to understand this and believe

it so deep in your blood and guts that it

affects all of your actions. And then we're going to

talk about how we should live in light of understanding

that truth. Say, God always provides. He always provides what

his children need. And we could go all the way

back to Adam, and even the garden provided everything for them.

Then what about Noah and the Ark, all the animals

on the ark, all the food on the ark, the ark,

it's all provision from God. Or Abraham and Lot his nephew,

they were very, very rich and wealthy men, Jacob, or

when God changed his name to Israel, and all his

sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel, and especially

if you think about Joseph's whole story, Joseph was provided

for every single step of the way. But just think

about right after God saved his people from Egypt, the

exodus takes them out of Egypt into the wilderness, and

what does he do when they're wandering in the wilderness.

He provides water from stones. Literally, springs of water are

coming out of stones for them to drink. That's miraculous

and crazy. Or how about when He provided miraculous bread

or manna from heaven every single morning. They didn't have

to go a hunt for that or farm it. They's

walked out of their hence and there it was. Or

when the people continually complained about missing meat from Egypt.

They're complaining the whole time about like why are we've

nowt here? We should go back to Egypt. And God

brought them quail to eat when they complained about wanting meat,

and it filled the whole camp. Now that was also

part of a punishment, so that does get a little

squirrely there, But God still provided it all. He provided

all the quail, He provided safe passage through enemy lands,

paving the way for them. He fought battles for them.

The children of Israel were never without what they needed.

God always sustained them always, He always sustained his people.

But that's the old Testament. That's a long time ago.

What about now? God still provides for his children now,

he didn't change. It's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

He still provides for his children now. So turned back

to Luke chapter twelve. Luke chapter twelve, and we're gonna

start in verse twenty two. God still provides for his

children today. And he said to his disciples, Therefore, I

tell you, do not be anxious about your life what

you will eat, nor about your body, what you will

put on. I call those the bare necessities of life.

Another Disney reference. I better start getting royalty soon for this.

Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat,

nor about your body what you will put on. For

life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They have

neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of

how much more value are you than the birds? Let

that sink in for a second. Of how much more

value are you than the birds? And which of you,

by being anxious, can add a single hour to his

span of life? Or other translations a single inch to

his height, short kings, where are we at If then

not Jordan, Jordan doesn't need any more inches to his

height Verse twenty six. If then you are not able

to do a small a thing as that, you can't

even add a single hour to your life, why are

you anxious about the rest? These are slapping the face

questions that the Bible are asking. If you really stop

and consider what questions are being asked, consider the lilies,

how they grow? They neither toil nor spin, which grow?

Yet I tell you, even Solomon, the richest, wisest guy

in the planet, in all his glory, was not a

rayed like one of these. But if God so clothe

the grass which is alive in the field today and

tomorrow is thrown in the oven, how much more will

he clothe you? Owe you of little what believe, And

do not seek what you are to eat and what

you are to drink, nor be worried, for all the

nations of the world seek after these things. And your

Father knows that you need them. He created you and

he created me. He knows what we need to live.

This is not a secret or surprise to him. Verse

thirty one. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will

be added to you. I fear not, little flock, for

it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

It pleases God to give us the kingdom. So sell

your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourself with

money bags that do not grow old, with a treasure

in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief

approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is,

there will your heart be. Also, what is this entire

text just screaming out Loud's screaming that God, our father,

cares for us and he will provide for us. That's

what it's screaming. We have no reason to be anxious.

We have no reason to be scared or fearful. We

have every reason to trust God. Not to concern ourselves

with toiling for provision, but to concern ourselves with seeking

His kingdom, which is walking in obedience to the Lord.

And it's just kind of a side note, which also

means being a good steward of what He's provided for you.

But God cares for us, and he will and always

does provide for us. I want you to listen these

verses I'm I'm gonna rapid fire them Psalm one, p.

Thirty nine, Verse thirteen. For you formed my inward parts,

you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you,

for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful our your works.

My soul knows it very well. He put us together

in our mother's womb with intention. Ephesians one. Blessed be

the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who

has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in

the heavenly places. That's a lot of blessings. Even as

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world,

that we should be holy and blameless before him in love,

he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through

Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to

the praise of his glorious grace with which He's blessed

us and the beloved. So before the world was even created,

he chose to set us apart, to save us and

to adopt us as his children Ephesians two. In the

next chapter, for we are as workmanship created in Christ

Jesus four good works which God prepared beforehand that we

should walk in them. So God planned out good works

for us to do ahead of time. That means you

have a purpose. Matthew, ten, are not two sparrows sold

for a penny, and not one of them will fall

to the ground apart from your father. But even the

hairs of your head are all numbered. I fear not.

Therefore you are of more value than the sparrows. He

knows every single time a sparrow falls to the ground,

He knows the number of hairs on your head. You

are worth more than many sparrows. God cares for his children.

He cares as a good father. He cares, and he

always provides for his children's needs. So we have no

reason to be anxious. We have no reason to be fearful.

We have no reason to steal. But not only does

He care for us. In case you are like I

don't know if he can care for me or provide

for me enough, but his resources. You need to understand

never run out Psalm twenty four to one. The earth

is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the world, and

all those and those who dwell therein or Psalm fifty ten.

For every beast of the force is mine. The cattle

on the thousand hills, I know all the birds of

the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for

the world and its fullness are mine. Deuteronomy ten. Behold

to the Lord, your God. Belong heaven and the heaven

of heavens the earth with all that is in it

Colossians one. For by Him all things were created in

heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or

dominions or rulers authorities, all things were created through Him

and for him. All these verses they all say the

same thing. And I'm gonna sum it up. Everything in

all of creation belongs to God, all of it. What

does everything mean? Means everything, all the things, everything, He

created it all, and it's all for his use. That

means his resources never run out. Everything in all of

creation is at his disposal to use for his desires.

And since he created it all, he can just create more.

God's resources never run out. His arm is not too short.

It's a poetic way to say that He cares for us,

and he always provides for us. But it's not just

our physical needs that he provides for. We need to

understand that because this is much deeper. It's not just

our physical needs. He provides for our greatest and deepest

eternal need. He provided the answer for our problem of

our sin because he provided his own son, Jesus. Hebrews

nine says without the shedding of blood, there is no

forgiveness of sin, and Romans six says the wages of

sin is death, so that means the only way to

pay for sin is bloodshed or it's death. God provided

a way to pay the debt of death that we

owe to Him for our sin, and it was by

sending his own son to die in our place. One.

John two two says he's the propitiation for our sins.

That means his death fully satisfied God's wrath requirement for

our sin. That means we owed our life and Jesus'

life fully satisfied that debt to God for us. Have

the worship team come up, please, that's fantastic news for sinner.

It's the death of Jesus that brought about what Paul

said to the Corinthians, the Colossians and Colossians one. He

has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred

us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom

we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So we've been redeemed,

we've been forgiven, We've been brought out of darkness into

the kingdom of the Sun. I love the thoughts. One

pastor said it this way. A lot of times we

think of salvation as you're locked up in a cage

in a prison, and salvation is that someone came by

and unlocked and opened the cage and walked away and said,

there you're free. Now, that's not the full picture of

what it is in salvation. That's half the picture. The

cage just wasn't just opened. We were taken out of

the prison cell and we were put in the palace.

That's the full exchange of what it is to be forgiven.

Through what Jesus did, we're no longer prisoners. We're put

in the palace. And this is all through Jesus. And

if God was willing to provide us with his only son,

to give us his son, what else would he be

willing to provide for us? Turn to Romans chapter eight,

Romans chapter eight and verse thirty two. He who did

not spare his own son, but gave him up for

us all. How will he not also with him graciously

give us all things he gave yous. I'm not giving

my son up for anybody. That's the most extreme thing

I could think of to give away. And God gave

away his own son. So you think he's going to

withhold taking care of your needs. That's silly. Why would

we ever need to steal? As a child of God,

he always provides his resources, never end. He doesn't withhold

from meeting even our deepest and most eternal need. We

have no reason to steal. Not only that, that's also

not what Jesus modeled to us, is it. The model

that Jesus gave us to follow is not one who steals.

It's not one who's greedy. It's one who gave up

everything for everyone else. He gave generously of his whole

self Philippians two, starting in verse one. So if there

is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any

participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my

joy by being of the same mind, having the same love,

being in full accord and of one mind. Verse three,

do nothing from selfish ambition, or can see eat or

an elevated self view. But in humility count others more

significant than yourself. Let each of you look not only

to his own interests, but also the interests of others.

Have this in mind among yourselves, which is yours. In Christ, Jesus, who,

though he was in the form of God, this is

what we really need to hear, though he was in

the form of God, did not count equality with God

a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking

the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness

of men and being found in human form. He humbled

himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even

death on a cross. That's the example Jesus set for us.

That's the example we're supposed to follow. He gave everything,

didn't take, He didn't steal, so we don't steal either. Instead,

would do it he did, and we give generously. God

always provides what his children need, so you shall not steal.

Now you might believe what I'm saying here and what

God's saying right now in this moment, because we're pretty

comfortable sitting in some ac when it's real hot outside.

A lot of our needs are met right now, so

you might believe me right now, But what about in

the midst of the struggle, What about when doubts start

to show up. I think the only way that we

will ever make it through that, the only way that

we will believe in the midst of the struggle and doubt,

is to remind ourselves of all the verses that I

just read. We have to know these verses inside and out.

We have to remind ourselves of the truth that God

gives us in his word. In short, go back to

the promises of God, to the promises of God. You

have to know the truth of what he says. How

are you going to know it? You better read it.

That's the rule Number one. The way you know what

he says and what he promises is you've got to

read it like we got to spend our time in

God's word constantly. Write them on your mirror in your bathroom,

print him out and put them on the dashboard of

your car. Make him the computer or phone background you

see every time as you pick up your phone seventeen

thousand times a day. Let it be the promises of

God that you see. First. You have to hide it

in your heart so that in times of stress, in

times of pressure, or times of desperation, that you don't

turn to sin, that you turn to the promises of God.

I want the promises of God to come out of

my mouth when I start to feel the pressures around me.

And after you've shoved all that knowledge into your head

and into your heart, you have got to pray. You

have got to pray and pray that God the Holy

Spirit would remind you of these truths when you need

a most in the hardest of times, when you're most

tempted to forget, that God the Holy Spirit would remind

you of these truths. So pray that he would remind

you that God always provides what his children need. So

ENLiGHT of all of that, in light of this truth

that we're all gonna memorize and know and believe, I

want us to do three simple things. I want us

to work hard. I want us to trust God, and

I want us to be generous. To work hard, trust God,

and be generous. And I think this is all summed

up in Ephesians chapter four. So can you turn it

Ephesians chapter four, Please, It'll be verse twenty eight Fhesians

four twenty eight instead of stealing, what is the thief

supposed to do? Let the thief no longer steal. So

that's the first part. Stop stealing, but rather let him labor,

doing honest work with his own hands, so that he

may have something to share with anyone in need. I

think we should all do the same thing. I think

it's the same thing that we should do, not steal.

So let us not steal, but instead let us work

hard doing honest work, which is the main reason or

the main way that God provides for us is through

honest work for us to do. So we work hard,

but then we also trust him and trust and believe

what he says. Trust and believe that he cares for you,

and he provides for his children. Trust and believe that

his reces has never ever run out. And also trust

that everything he has provided is enough, that what he

has provided is enough to be content with what he's

provided for. Timothy six tells us that godliness of contentment

is great gain. What does that mean? That means to

be content with what the Lord has provided and being

content walking in his ways. That's where great gain is found.

That's where great gain is found. And then the verse

continues by reminding us that we don't get to take

any of this with us when we die. It all

stays here. We don't get to take it with us,

and that means the last thing we should do is

imitate the generosity of Jesus by being generous to others.

Give it away, give it away, give it away now

there's no need to keep it. We work hard with

our hands, doing honest work, so that we can imitate

Jesus by being generous to others. So say work hard,

Say trust God, Say be generous. God always provides what

his children need. Therefore you shall not steal. Amen. They'll

stand to our feet.