Something has been stolen!

I have to talk to you this morning about something that is missing – something has been stolen!
It is good that crime figures are coming down in Longton – but we still need to address an important issue of what has been stolen.

More than physical things
As I think about it I remember when we were burgled. It was just before we move house and they tipped the boxes upside down that we had packed and made an enormous mess. They did not take much, TV, sewing machine, video player and some of my tools
It took ages to sort out and felt horrid that's someone had been throw our belongings and for a few weeks after that we would look for something and find it was missing
To be honest, in the scheme of things it did not take us long to get over it. Now we don't give it a second thought.

But there is another kind of stealing that is going on and that is what I want to focus on this morning Jesus said in –
John 10:10 (NIV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

Satan is in the business of ripping us off, obviously he doesn't want your TV and DVD player nor does he want your house – he doesn't live in a house!
He doesn't need your car or your clothes and he is not interested in your money.
He is interested in stealing spiritual treasures – things that have value to God and are of eternal significance.

Satan loves snatching men and women of our streets in Longton and turning them into people who have no purpose in life, they wander through life asking 'what is the point of life?'
He loves turning people to drugs and alcohol so they don't have a clue why they are alive.
Others get hooked on careerism and achievement or pleasure and materialism……. something anything to fill the hole in their life.

God created them to worship him but this awareness has been stole from them.

Satan's strategies to steal from us
Satan even has a strategy to steal from each one of us.
What has happened to our 'first love?'
The time when we had a large appetite for the word of God we could just not stop reading our bible.
What about the time when we were so enthusiastic about coming to church and were eager to tell everyone about the good News of Jesus.
Where has our zeal for God gone? Has it just evaporated away; have we just accepted that this is the way it is now.
Let me tell you this is one of Satan's strategies, to steal the hot embers of devotion and rip you and me off.

Paul says in:
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
…we, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Gods plan is not for our life with him to fad away but to increase each and every day.

Home burglaries.
Think of all the broken homes – was it because they came from dysfunctional homes or had bad role models? No there is more to it than that – the thief comes to steal. Satan loves attacking families.
What about your children or grandchildren where are they today? Why are they walking with God like you have longed for.

Hebrews 6:11 says
It is impossible to please God without faith.

Nothing else counts if faith is missing it does not mater how much you know your bible, without faith it's worthless.
It does not matter how much energy you spend 'doing things" for God, without faith it's worthless
Nothing touches the heart of God more than to see our child like faith in him.

I was in one church that believed in healing and praying for the sick and then one of the leaders died after the church had prayed for them. The church still believes in healing but just does not pray for people to be healed any more – they have been robbed of their faith!

How do we get back what Satan has stolen from us?
Story of David recorded at the end of 1 Samuel

David the giant killer is now on the run from King Saul
Many threats and a few close calls, he had nowhere to hide in Israel. So with he's 600 fighting men plus wives and children he hides in a place called Ziklag.
David lines up with the Philistines but the generals we don't want David fighting with us is he not the famous son in law of King Saul?
David and his men were sent home to Ziklag they saw on the distant horizon smoke rising. They began to trot faster. Someone had attacked their camp and taken all their wives young son and daughters, every cow and every lamb had gone and the city burnt.
Everything was lost and all David's men could imagine was what is happening to my wife and young daughters. Anger and resentment boiled up in David's men and as so often happenings in times like these they turned on the one in authority. In their pain they lashed out at David saying 'What were we doing here?
'Why where we fighting with the Philistines? We should have been at home looking after our families'.
Let's stone David?'

1 Samuel 30:6 (NIV)
But David found strength in the LORD his God.

Even though the bottom was falling out of his world he found somewhere to quietly pray.
No matter how low you are or if everything has collapsed around you God is still able to encourage you and strengthen you deep in your heart.

David asked God what he should do and God said 'Go after them and you will find them.'
ON the way David met a slave who told him where the Amalekites were and for 24hrs David hit them hard and recovered everything that was taken

1 Samuel 30:16-20 (NIV)
He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and revelling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.
David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's plunder."

God recovers stolen property
This is the day David found out that God is more than a creator.
He is more than a defender.
He is more that a rock or a strong tower, as David calls him in some of the Psalm.
God is more than a protector
David learnt that God recovers stolen property. He has a way of getting back what has been ripped off.
What the enemy has stolen God alone is able to recover

Here is the best part:
Not only did David and his men recover everything that was taken they also captured an impressive amount of goods from the Amalekites

Proverbs 6:30:31 (NIV)
Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

David and his men came to the point where they said enough is enough
It is now time for you to say that in your life enough is enough.
It is time to open your eyes and see what Satan has rip off you and to ask God do you want me to go after this.
Will you let Satan keep robbing your faith or are you going to draw a line in the sand.
James says in chapter 4 verse 7 that we are not to turn our back and flee from Satan but we are to submit to God, resist Satan and he will flee from us.
Will you call on God and recover all that Satan has taken from you