1. Fail to Respect Property
10 Stupid Things We Do
Fail to Respect Property

2. Stealing is Wrong Everyone knows that stealing is wrong.
This rule from God goes to the heart of:
The work ethic
Capitalism – right to buy and sell
The right to private ownership of property
The stewardship of our possessions

3. God Owns It All
Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Exodus 19:5 - Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.

4. God Owns It All
Psalm 24:1 - The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
Psalm 50:10 - For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.

5. God Owns It All
Haggai 2:8 - ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts.
James 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

6. God Owns It All Remember: God holds the first mortgage.
It is not wrong to own property.
Just remember where it came from.

7. How do we violate this command?
Theft
1 Peter 4:15 - But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.

8. How do we violate this command?
Theft
Extortion
Luke 3:14 - Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

9. How do we violate this command?
Theft
Extortion
Cheat
1 Corinthians 6:10 - nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

10. How do we violate this command?
Theft
Extortion
Cheat
Gambling
2 Corinthians 8:21 - providing honorable things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

11. How do we violate this command?
Theft
Extortion
Cheat
Gambling
Employee theft
Employer theft
James 5:4a - Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out;

12. Does “size” count? Large or Small Amount Tangible or Intangible
Good Guy or Bad Guy
Small Business or Giant Corporation
Force or Fraud
Legal or Illegal

13. Who suffers? Victim Public – we pay with higher prices
Loss of property
Loss of trust
Lose sense of safety
Public – we pay with higher prices
Thief – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

14. Who suffers?
God
Time
Mind
Body
Love
Malachi 3:8 - “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.

15. How can it be prevented? Jesus’ teaching
Luke 12:15 - And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

16. How can it be prevented? Jesus’ teaching Jesus’ example
Matthew 8:20 - And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

17. How can it be prevented? Jesus’ teaching Jesus’ example
Stop blaming the victim
They left the keys in the car.
She left her purse open.
Store charges too much anyway

18. What can the guilty do? Repent Restitution Go to work
Ephesians 4:28 - Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

19. Stupid Things We Do
It is stupid to think that we can steal the property of others
It is stupid to think that we can steal from God
It is stupid to think God is not aware of our thefts