Here in Galatians chapter 5, we'll continue our series on church problems, and we're talking about envy again.
And last week we talked about the interior causes of envy.
What is on the inside of ourselves that causes us to get envious from time to time?
And what we talked about was, number one, people that are covetous.
If you are covetous, that is a root cause of envy.
Another thing was a spirit of comparison.
When you compare yourself to other people, you will be envious from time to time.
When you are cocky or prideful, you will be envious from time to time.
And when you are contentless or discontent, it will cause you to become envious from time to time.
But today what we're going to look at are the exterior causes of envy.
Now realize this.
When something happens on the outside, somebody does something that makes you mad and you get upset or whatever,
what it's really doing is revealing a problem within your own heart.
If you become envious at somebody else, maybe there's a reason you became envious,
but what's revealing is a problem within your own heart, okay?
And so notice what it says here in Galatians 5, verse 19.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, okay?
The works of the flesh is referring to the inside of your own flesh, and these are manifests.
They are seen. Think about when it says God was manifest in the flesh.
Jesus Christ came here and it was seen.
The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these.
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, draft, stripes, seditions, heresies, envies,
murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like of the which I tell you before, as I've also told you in time past,
that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
So one of the things mentioned as a work of the flesh is envy, okay?
That is a major sin and a major problem mentioned throughout the entire Bible.
Verse 22.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.
Now sometimes people will quote this verse and they'll say,
Well, see, if you're really saved, you're going to have love.
If you're really saved, you're going to have joy.
If you're really saved, you're going to have peace, because they say the fruit of a Christian is love, joy, peace.
No, the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace.
The fruit of a Christian is winning someone in the Lord.
It mentions that throughout the entire Bible, okay?
So the proof of whether you're saved is what do you believe?
It's not based on the works that you do.
This is the proof of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will produce love and joy and peace and longsuffering, gentleness and goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Notice, against such there is no law.
You say, why does it say that?
If you are a loving person, if you are longsuffering, if you are joyful, there's no law against that.
You're never going to do something wrong according to God's Word when you have the proper love and the proper joy.
But even in this life, if you're someone who is longsuffering and you're meek and you're loving,
you're probably not going to be getting arrested.
You're probably not going to become a drug dealer and get arrested by the government because you did something wrong.
Now, on occasion, the laws of the government can come in contrast with the laws of God.
But in general, if you are filled with the Spirit and you are obeying God, you're not going to be getting in trouble, okay?
You're going to be a good employee that people like, that you're respectful.
You're not going to be getting arrested for being disrespectful and things such as that.
In general, if you are filled full with the Spirit, you're going to avoid a lot of those problems, okay?
And so then it says in verse 24,
And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
So look, if you are saved, you're indwelt with the Spirit,
He's saying, I want you to walk in the Spirit and not walk in the flesh.
Walk in the Spirit, okay?
Verse 26,
Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
When you envy one another, you are not walking in the Spirit.
You're walking in the flesh.
If somebody gets a job raised at this church and your first reaction is you're upset about it inside of your heart and you're like,
Oh, congratulations, but on the inside, you're upset about it.
That's showing you're walking in the flesh.
You've got a problem with your heart that you are not happy for somebody else who has success.
Okay, turn to James three, James chapter three, James three.
But when you find yourself getting envious out of the people where you find yourself,
just trying to pick apart everybody else and find something they did wrong.
You're getting upset at them inside of your own heart and everything.
You need to fix the problem within your own heart.
Okay, if you have that attitude that's springing up,
what that's revealing is you've got a problem on the inside and it's spreading to the outside now and eventually out of the abundance of the heart and mouth speaking.
Okay, that's revealing the problem on the inside of yourself.
James three verse thirteen.
Who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you?
Let him show out of a good conversation his works with me because of wisdom.
But if you have bitter ending and strife in your hearts,
okay, when you have envious inside of your heart,
what's going to happen is when things spring up on the outside,
it will cause you to get envious,
but that's just revealing you have it on the inside of your own heart.
Okay, verse verse fourteen.
We're not in line not against the truth.
So if you see this problem in yourself,
do not lie. Do not make excuses.
When you're getting upset at other church members for success,
they have or you're just immediately trying to find a fault of them.
Do not lie to yourself.
Fix the problem in your own hearts.
Don't lie against the truth.
Verse fifteen.
This wisdom descended not from above,
but it's earthly,
sensual,
devilish for ending and strife is there's confusion and every evil work.
Now go to Acts,
chapter four,
Acts four,
Acts chapter four.
Now look,
they're applying this sermon to church problems,
but look,
you could apply this sermon to your entire life.
Okay,
this will help you fix the problem you have in your life at work at marriage in all areas.
Okay,
and so you have this problem inside yourself.
You gotta fix it.
Now,
one thing that happens on the outside on the exterior when number one that causes us to get envious at other people are other people's finances.
Okay,
when people are financially successful,
when they have better finances,
that is something that can cause that ending is to spring up in you and get envious at somebody else at church.
If somebody's got a nicer house than you,
if someone's got a nicer car than you,
if someone has a nicer job than you gets to go on vacations that you don't get to go to get to eat out of nicer restaurants and eat nicer food.
That is something where people often get envious out of the people.
And as I mentioned before,
when you have your secular jobs,
generally your coworkers have about the same pay as you do.
They got the same college degree.
They took the same classes.
They had the same sorts of backgrounds,
but you come into church and people come from every background there is.
There are people at our church that are doing very well financially.
There are other people at our church that are not doing great financial.
When you come to a church setting,
you have people from all kinds of different backgrounds.
So it's understandable that envious is something that springs up from time to time.
Okay,
and so notice what it says in Acts 4 verse 32.
Acts 4 verse 32.
And the multitude of them that believe were of one heart and one soul.
Neither said any of them that out of the things which he possessed was his own,
but they had all things common.
In the early church,
there was kind of a spirit of very strong generosity,
where many people that were maybe more blessed than other people would not just give ten percent,
but even give above that.
Okay,
verse 33.
And with great power giving the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great Grace was upon them all.
Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold.
So there are many people that had lands and houses that actually sold them and gave the money to church.
Now,
I want you to realize I don't believe it's saying they live in a house and sold the house.
Okay,
I'm homeless now.
Here's the money from church.
I think it's saying people that were above and beyond.
They had a lot of money.
Maybe they had an extra house or something like that extra land and actually would give it to church.
Okay,
and to notice what it says in verse 35 and lay them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made on every man according as he had need.
The money was used to help out people financially.
Verse 36.
And Joseph,
who by the apostles was serving Barnabas,
which is being interpreted as son of consolation,
a levi in the country of Cyprus,
having land sold it and brought the money and lay it at the Apostles feet.
One person who had a lot of money in the early church was Barnabas.
Okay,
this is making something after we noticed when you're reading.
But Barnabas,
besides being one of the great evangelists that ever lived,
he actually was financially very successful.
Okay,
sometimes we can have the wrong attitude and kind of look down on people that have money as if they're a bad person,
but they have money.
Look,
there's a lot of people that have money,
and we don't know how Barnabas got this money now.
I'm assuming it was not gambling.
Okay,
given his character,
you know,
maybe it was inherited.
We don't know now if he inherited it,
though,
it's not his fault that he had money given to him.
Okay,
most likely,
though,
there's probably hard work.
He probably worked very hard to make that money.
Maybe he had a very good career before he basically got rid of the career and said,
I'm going full time into evangelism.
Okay,
we don't necessarily know,
but we know that Barnabas actually had money,
and he gave it to the church.
Now,
what I want to highlight here is this and ask for and ask five,
which you look at is this.
Barnabas was not required to give this money to church,
though he chose to.
He was a very godly person,
but just because he had more money,
he was not required to sell that land and give the church.
Say,
how do you know that?
We'll go to ask five improvements.
You actually have to apply.
Ask for five.
That's what it says in Acts chapter five,
verse one,
Acts five,
verse one.
But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira,
his wife,
sold of possession.
Okay,
Ananias and Sapphira,
they have a possession.
They sell it and kept back part of the price,
his wife also being pretty to it and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet.
So the husband and the wife are both aware of this.
It's not the husband making this choice.
It's the husband and the wife.
She's aware of it.
And they sell the house or they sell a possession and they bring a certain part and laid at the apostles feet.
Okay,
verse three.
But Peter said,
Ananias,
why have Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
So notice what Peter says is this.
You lied to the Holy Ghost.
You sold the house and you only brought some of the money.
They're lying.
Okay,
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land.
Okay,
he said,
Well,
there you go,
Brother Stuckey.
They had to give all that money to church.
Well,
wait a minute.
What does it say in verse four?
In verse four,
whilst it remains,
was it not thine own?
What is the Bible saying?
Hey,
that belonged to you.
You did not have to sell this.
You could have kept the land.
See,
the problem was not that they sold it.
They didn't give all the church.
The problem is they lie.
That's what it says in verse three.
It belonged to you.
It was thine own,
he says.
He said,
Look,
it belonged to you.
You didn't have to sell it to the church.
You could have kept the land.
The problem is you said I sold it for this much and you lied.
They lied to the Holy Ghost.
And so they're acting very spiritual,
saying,
we're giving all to God and they weren't.
They were.
You didn't have to give a single penny to the church.
All God requires from you is your 10%.
And look,
that's totally up to you.
Whether you follow that or not with the title,
God does not require you to give 11%.
He does not require you if you have extra money to give that money to church.
That is completely up to you.
He doesn't require you to give your first month's salary to church.
He says here in verse four,
whilst it remained,
meaning before you sold it,
was it not thine own?
He's saying it belonged to you.
And after it was sold,
was it not in thine own power?
Hey,
after you sold it,
you could have kept the money.
You could have said,
hey,
you have this extra money.
You could have used it for vacation,
bought whatever you want.
What I'm trying to show you is this.
They were not required to give their money to church.
The problem with Ananias and Sapphira is they lie.
Now,
look,
when you tell a lie like this,
apparently God is a pretty big lie.
Obviously,
we've all lied before,
but look,
when you're bringing money to church,
say,
hey,
I'm giving all of my money to church.
They're trying to look spiritual and they're lying about it.
They basically sold some of the house.
They sold the house,
sold the possession,
and kept back part of it.
And they lied and pretended like they sold all of it.
Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?
Thou hast not lied on the men,
but on the God.
They lied and said,
we sold it for a certain amount,
and they were actually,
it wasn't true.
They actually sold it for more,
but they wanted to look very spiritual.
My point I'm trying to bring up is this,
because this is often brought up work.
Here you go,
you have money,
just give all the church and everything.
In this passage,
they are not required to give it to church.
It is their own.
And what you must realize at our church is,
if somebody has a lot of money,
they've been very blessed.
They are not offering money to church.
Why?
It's in their own power.
It belongs to them.
They don't have to give a single penny to church.
It's completely up to them.
Now,
if they choose to do it,
then,
hey,
praise the Lord for the generosity.
And I believe God's going to bless them,
but they are not required to give that.
Okay,
turn to James 2,
James 2,
James 2.
Look,
one thing you need to realize in life is that most people that have money,
they work very hard to get that money.
That's reality.
Now,
you can work very hard and be struggling financially.
And I understand that,
but most people that are rich and have a lot of money,
they work very hard to get that money,
even in the business world.
If you look at people that have CEOs of companies now,
I'm not suggesting you to go down that road of skipping church and just work or work and try to make as much money.
But people that are CEOs of company,
they worked very hard to get to that level.
My own boss of my company in Maryland,
I mean,
works seven days a week usually,
right?
80 hours a week.
Now,
I'm not recommending that you work 12 hours every day and just forsake church and just try to build this big empire.
But what I'm trying to tell you is the reason why he had money,
the reason why his salary was 250,000 pesos a week,
the reason why he had that kind of money is because he worked very,
very hard to get to that level.
So if you're in being somebody because they have money,
usually they have that money because they worked for us.
They worked very hard to get that money.
Okay,
now,
whether or not they should have worked that hard or spent more time to go to church,
that's a completely different topic.
But here's the reality.
People that have money usually worked extremely hard to get that money.
I mean,
even when you look at rich people in the world that are famous and on TV and everything,
these majors,
most of them work very hard to get that money.
Now,
I'm not saying that that makes them godly people,
but I want you to realize that if somebody has money inside of a church setting,
they probably work very hard.
And if God chose to bless them and just give them extra money,
you should be happy that God bless them.
Okay,
James chapter two,
verse one,
James two,
verse one.
My brethren,
have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory with respected persons.
For if they're come under assembly,
a man with a gold ring and goodly peril,
and they're coming also a poor man in viral ratings.
Okay,
so there's two people being mentioned here,
a rich person and a poor person.
As I said in the second,
the world at your jobs,
you make the same salary as your coworkers for the most part.
Unless somebody's a CEO or head manager,
you make around the same amount.
But in a church setting,
it doesn't really work that way.
You have people that have a lot of money,
people that don't have any money,
right?
I mean,
you have a mixture of everything from all kinds of different backgrounds.
Verse three,
and you have respect in him that wear the gay clothing.
Now,
the word gay here is not being what we think of now.
It's not saying there was like a rainbow,
like he comes in with a rainbow shirt on.
It's not what it's saying what it's saying with gay clothing,
right?
The word gay used to mean like happy.
Okay,
and so that's a whole other topic.
I'm sure I'm pretty sure what I have before and stuff like that,
but that's what the person has money and he's wearing like a specific clothing that kind of stands out or is very nice and say
up in him,
sit down here in a good place and say the poor stand out there or sit here under my foot school.
So basically,
you know,
you have like the people that have a lot of money.
It's like you get the nice seats.
We spend a lot of money for the nice seats for the rich people,
but if you do not get a certain amount of money to church,
well,
you got to sit on the floor back there,
right?
That's what he's basically preaching against.
And look,
when you look at mega churches,
they actually do this in mega churches when they have the people in front that are always in camera,
they pick the best looking people.
They intentionally pay certain people.
I mean,
Joel,
those things.
Church got in big trouble like a decade ago because of the fact people had,
you know,
pointed out the fact that they were specifically picking people that they considered good looking or look very presentable.
And it wasn't just like,
hey,
you can have any seats like no,
no,
this is reserved for the models,
right?
This is reserved for the really good looking people.
This is reserved for the people that are really,
you know,
look really nice and look are dressed really nice and everything like that.
And so that is what he's actually preaching against here.
First for are you are you not been partial in yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts.
So in this passage,
what he's specifically preaching against is basically looking down on poor people and basically elevating rich people.
But you could do the exact opposite as well,
which would be wrong.
You could look down on the rich people and elevate the people that don't have as much money.
You could look down on the jobs of the world and say,
hey,
you ought to give more money to church where you ought to help people out because other people don't have as much money.
That would be wrong as well.
Okay,
we are not to be respected as a person to look down on someone who does have money or someone who does not have money.
Okay,
we come from different backgrounds.
We have made choices in life and look whatever choices you made.
We see the end result of it eventually and certain people make good choices financially and they might have good money.
They picked a good college degree.
They got a good job and God bless them or whatever or maybe they inherited some people might have that rich uncle that gives them a lot of money or whatever.
Don't be envious at someone because they have that health when it comes to our church.
Our church is filled full of a lot of very zealous people that love God.
People that love God.
A lot of the most zealous people in Metro Manila come to our church.
Isn't that true?
People come from hours away to come to our church.
And the sad reality is that many people in our church that were very zealous.
You went to Baptist churches where your pastors gave you very,
very bad financial advice.
Terrible advice.
And look,
I understand.
I mean,
look,
it's in the US.
You can have this as well because they really try to push you.
You know,
I used to be a teacher.
They try to push you.
Watch you become a Christian teacher.
It doesn't sound good until they cut your salary by like 70%.
Right.
They said,
well,
just give all to God.
Just be fully devoted to serve God and everything.
And unfortunately,
oftentimes people are very zealous and I get it because I was there before and I thought,
you know,
maybe I should just give all to God and take less money because I'm serving God because I didn't fully understand what the Bible talked about.
I was zealous,
but didn't have the proper knowledge.
And unfortunately at our church,
there are people that got very bad financial advice from their own pastors.
Don't allow that to make you bitter or envious because you were zealous and you decided more choices.
Okay.
The past is the past and just come up with a good plan for the future because dwelling on it is not going to change the past.
And look,
I understand it because,
you know,
at a lot of these churches,
they want you to give all to God all of your time and it's like,
okay,
here's your 100 pesos for the day salary.
It's just like any guilt you into it.
I understand that,
but that is reality.
You know,
there are people at a church that didn't make those choices.
Don't be envious of those people because they didn't make those choices.
Okay.
And look,
the reality is that at the church,
especially when you've got bad advice,
you know,
that could spring up in you.
Don't allow that to spring up in you.
Okay.
Turn your Bible a little bit.
The first Corinthians 12.
First Corinthians 12.
Now,
when you are envious and other people's finances,
what does that reveal inside of your own heart?
It reveals you are coverage's.
Didn't we talk about last week?
One of the interior causes of envy is coverage's ness and having a spirit of
coverage's ness inside of you.
Being a coverage's person will cause you to get envious when you see other people
that are more financially blessed,
have a better house,
have a better car.
What does revealing when you get envious about finances,
these need to work on the coverage's ness within your own heart.
That is what is revealing to you.
The inside is going to be shown what happens on the outside.
It reveals a progress in your own heart.
Okay.
First Corinthians 12.
So point number one,
we looked at being envious at finances.
Point number two,
people are often envious at other people's forte or skill or talent at church.
Okay.
First Corinthians 12 verse four.
Now there are diversities of gifts,
but the same spirit.
We have different gifts,
but it's the same holy spirit that gives these and there are differences of
administration,
but the same Lord and there are their diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which work in all and all.
Okay.
We have different gifts and based on gifts,
you might fit better for certain administrations or ministries and things like
that.
And we operate things in a certain different way.
Okay.
Verse 14 verse 14 for the body is not one member,
but many if the foot shall say,
because I am not the hand,
I'm not the body.
Is it therefore not in the body?
And if the ear shall say,
because I'm not the eye,
I'm not of the body.
Is it therefore not in the body?
If the whole body were an eye,
where were we hearing?
If the whole were hearing,
where was the snow?
But now have God sent the members,
everyone that the body as it hath pleased.
He's using this example with the church of Corinth because we are a local church
body made up of various body parts.
When you look at a body,
you have a nose,
you have ears,
you have eyes,
and these things have different functions,
right?
In evolution,
they teach that there are certain parts of your body that are vestigial.
They call them vestigial organs.
And what they mean by that is they are no longer abused,
right?
When you used to be like a whale or a cow or whatever,
like 5 million years ago,
it had a great use.
But you are no longer,
you no longer need a tail,
correct?
Right?
You know,
if you came from a monkey,
no longer need a tail.
And I don't know why you need a tail because hey,
when you're carrying groceries,
sometimes a tail would be pretty nice,
right?
To open the door or something like that.
But they teach there are certain parts of your body that are vestigial.
They are useless.
They have no purpose.
I don't believe any part of my body is useless.
I mean,
if you believe you are created by God,
there's not a single part to your body that God says I have no purpose for.
And when it comes to a church body,
there's not a single member that you could say there is no purpose for this
person.
Every part of our body has a purpose.
Now it is your job to find out what is your skill?
What is your gift?
So you can actually use it for church.
But everybody's been given certain gifts by the same Holy Spirit.
And look,
I love my eyes,
but I don't want to just have a couple extra eyes and take off,
you know,
some other part of my body.
You need everything and you're different.
Okay,
different things to different body parts to different things.
Now when it comes to being envious of people's forte or skills,
the two things that people generally are going to get envious at are people
preaching or song leading.
You say,
why?
Those things are front and center.
You see them,
okay?
But when it comes to song leading,
the reality is some people could practice and practice and practice and practice,
and they're not going to be a great song leader.
I mean,
that's the reality,
right?
You know,
I used to do the song leading at early Baptist church,
and you know what?
I was doing it every single week for a couple of years and everything,
but you know what?
The people that are showing me this,
you're better than me.
It's like I had all the practice in the world.
I mean,
I learned like pretty much every song,
you know,
souls,
certain songs and hymns,
and I can do it.
Okay,
but it's,
it's just,
I'm alone,
right?
It's only okay.
It's not so great.
So once you realize this,
and you know,
you might not have that special forte or skill that other people have,
okay?
That's okay because why don't you focus on the skill that you do have?
God has given you skills.
There are people at our church that are very talented,
very good at bringing visitors to church.
They're just great at bringing visitors to church.
They have that personality.
They bring people to church.
Praise the Lord for that.
If you have that ability,
use it right now,
don't get prideful in any ability that you have,
but don't get any of that other people that have a certain ability here.
Okay,
whatever your ability is,
you know,
ask yourself,
what do I bring to the table of this church?
And there is something you bring to the table.
There is something where you have a certain skill that,
you know what?
Most people probably don't have when it comes to preaching sermons.
It's like,
well,
half the crowd is already disqualified because,
you know,
obviously women don't preach.
Okay,
hopefully women will get envious and say,
you know,
man,
I wish I could preach a sermon like that.
It's like,
well,
even when it comes to men,
it's like,
you know,
I don't believe God wants every single person to be a pastor.
I've been asked the question before.
Hey,
if you're really godly,
does that mean you'll automatically be a pastor?
No,
you'd be a very godly,
great church member that's not a pastor.
It might not be your forte.
You know what?
That is okay.
We have different skills.
We have different abilities.
Okay,
notice what it says in verse 25 verse 25,
that there should be no schism in the body.
The members should have the same care one for another,
and whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it,
or one member of the honor,
all the members rejoice with it.
Now,
you're the body of Christ and members in particular,
and God says,
some in the church,
first apostles,
secondarily prophets,
thirdly teachers.
After that,
miracles and gifts of healing helps that work.
Governments,
diversities of tongues are all apostles are all profits are all teachers are all workers.
Miracles have all the gifts of healing.
Do all speak with tongues to all interpret.
And what he's saying is,
you know,
you have a body of church body,
and there are people that have different abilities,
different skills,
and different talents.
Okay,
be okay with other people having skills.
And let me let me help you realize something.
When people have money,
they probably work very hard to get that money.
When people are good at doing something,
they probably work very hard to develop that skill.
I mean,
you don't just drop down.
And the first time you do some leading,
you're perfect.
No matter how talented you are,
you still have to develop that skill.
You don't just go behind the piano for the first time.
I'm a token,
right?
It's like,
no,
that took hours and hours and hours.
No matter how talented you are,
you still spend hour upon hour upon hour upon hour practicing and developing that skill.
So if you get in this as somebody else's forte,
realize they probably spend a lot of time working on it.
It's not that they just were given every ability in the world and just you have nothing to build.
Everybody's been given certain abilities.
Okay,
turn to Daniel one,
Daniel one.
There's a famous quote that says,
people who can't stand to see the success of others will never experience their own success.
And that's a great quote.
If you are the sort of person that can never stand to see other people successful,
you're always envious.
You're never going to be successful.
You say why?
Because instead of dwelling on the fact that somebody else is successful,
just work harder.
Don't waste your time just thinking about that meditate.
Just actually develop the skill,
develop the talents.
Okay,
Daniel one,
her sport,
Daniel one,
her sport,
Daniel one,
her sport,
Children in whom was no blemish,
but well favored and skillful in all wisdom and cunning and knowledge and understanding science and such as had ability in them to stand the king's palace and who they might teach the learning in the tongue of the counties.
So here mentions Daniel,
Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego.
And these were people that have a lot of various skills.
Okay,
it says that they were skillful in all wisdom,
but wisdom is doesn't just come automatically.
You have to actually develop that.
You have to actually read books.
You have to actually learn.
Okay,
it says in cunning and knowledge and understanding science.
Look,
you have to actually study to understand science.
You have to actually read books.
You have to be educated.
It doesn't matter how naturally gifted or talented you are.
It's still something you develop.
Daniel was not a lazy person.
He didn't just magically have all these gifts.
Yeah,
he might have had talent,
but he developed them do hard work.
He didn't sit around just playing video games on Facebook when he was young.
All right,
he was actually working in developing skills says he understood science and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace and who they might teach the learning in the tongue of the colleagues.
They looked at these people and said,
these are smart kids.
Most of your intelligence is through hard work and education,
not natural ability.
Now,
yes,
people can be blessed with a certain intelligence,
but the reality is if you never develop that,
it's never going to be manifest.
I mean,
somebody could be the greatest person at math in the world,
but if they never learn their multiplication tables,
you're never going to even realize it.
Right?
You have to actually memorize the multiplication tables.
You have to actually learn those things,
and they might have an ability to understand multiplication really easily and understand division and understand calculus and all of these things.
They might have that ability to pick it up like this.
It's still something you have to study,
though.
It doesn't come automatic.
Look,
you don't know what eight times seven is unless you memorize it.
Right now,
when I was a kid,
when you're in like first grade,
your parents are like,
okay,
you memorize your your multiplication tables up to 12.
Now,
when I was a math teacher,
it's like three times five,
and the kids are like,
let me pull up my cell phone.
It's like,
good night.
It's like,
you know,
you didn't you didn't memorize it at a young age.
That's reality.
All right,
we got another math teacher.
I mean,
is this is this not true?
I mean,
these kids,
they don't have education,
and they might naturally have intelligence,
but it's not manifest when they have to use a calculator to figure out what was two times seven.
I'm not trying to insult you if that's not your best thing.
What I'm saying is this.
So,
you know,
people that have intelligence is because they developed it.
They read books.
They educated themselves.
They didn't just sit around playing video games all the time.
But one thing I want for my kids is not just that they're godly,
but they're actually educated.
Daniel was godly.
He was also educated.
You say,
why is that important?
Because you want to be successful in this world,
and if you're not educated,
if you're not intelligent,
if you haven't developed those abilities,
you know what?
You're going to have trouble in life.
You need to actually learn skills and become educated.
Okay,
and look,
that's a life alone thing.
You don't retire from that when you're 18 years old,
write down my college degree,
and now I'm done.
I never have to learn anything.
Well,
hey,
that's up to you if you want to do that,
but learning actually will make you successful in life.
It will benefit you.
It will help you.
Okay,
Matthew 25.
Turn to Matthew 25.
Matthew 25.
I've heard creatures say this
and this phrase really irks me.
I like it because my parents were,
I was in school,
starting middle school,
and they were very strict,
right?
I always,
I always joke that my mom was a grammar Nazi,
is what I would say,
right?
Because it's like,
I made one mistake,
and I was always like,
Mom,
it's like,
I have better grammar than the other kids.
She's like,
that doesn't matter.
It's like,
that's wrong.
You got to say it like this and everything.
I'm exaggerating a little,
a little bit,
but it's just like,
you know,
the reality is that that does force you to get good at
grammar.
But what I'm trying to say is this,
that,
you know,
I've heard preachers say this.
Well,
I mean,
I don't know much,
but I know salvation,
bless God.
That is a stupid phrase.
Why would you stand up here and say,
well,
not intelligent,
not educated,
but at least I'm saved.
Well,
hey,
praise the Lord if you're safe,
but then learn some intelligence.
That's not something to glory about.
And look,
the world is going to call us stupid.
That doesn't mean that you should be stupid.
Yes,
the world called Peter stupid.
They thought they were dumb people.
Listen to these sermons.
They think it's crazy.
They think we're uneducated and brainwashed.
Yeah,
but just because the world thinks that about you,
doesn't mean you have to make it a reality.
It's like,
no,
actually,
we're supposed to be educated.
We're supposed to be intelligent and your kids at a young age.
Hey,
you want them to actually learn something,
develop skills,
pass on the knowledge you have.
Okay.
It will help you in life.
Matthew 25 verse 15.
And on the one,
he gave five talents to another,
two of them,
another one,
and to every man,
according to his several buildings straight away from his journey.
So the parables mentioned,
and certain people are given certain talents or amounts of money.
And it's actually kind of a picture of,
of certain talents or skills in a different sense,
not financially,
or just various opportunities based on your ability.
Okay.
And what the Bible is saying is this,
certain people have been given more abilities,
more talents than other people.
Now,
you might be someone where God didn't give you as many skills as other people.
That is okay though,
because you're not going to be judged for skill you didn't get,
right?
If you have no ability whatsoever to do something where it's just like you,
you,
you just don't have any music rhythm.
You can't hit the notes or whatever.
You're not going to be like,
oh,
man,
you're losing her words.
Because I expect you to tell me.
But if you don't have a certain ability,
then you don't have a certain ability.
God's not going to hold you accountable if he didn't actually give you an opportunity in that area.
Okay.
But focus on what you do have,
because whatever talent you do have,
God expects you to use it.
And if somebody might have five talents and then produce three more talents,
someone else might have one talent,
produce one more talent.
I don't know exactly how God works out,
but he might go to the person who had one talent and double it and say,
that's better than increasing by 60%.
Okay,
don't focus on everyone else's ability.
Focus on what you have.
Focus on your own ability.
Turn to first,
be your fourth,
first,
be your fourth,
first,
be your fourth,
first,
be your top four.
Now,
I believe,
by all means,
if you are not great at an area,
you should try to develop and become adequate at it.
I gave the example earlier about bringing visitors to church.
I knew someone in Sacramento,
you know,
Brother Joel Sacramento,
Brother Joel Usher,
just great at bringing visitors to church.
And it's like all of us were trying to follow up and bring people to church.
It's like every week he was bringing someone.
And it's like that can cause in you,
envious,
right?
Where you're just like,
man,
I'm putting in just as much work and everything.
Look,
don't get envious if someone is using their ability very successfully.
Be thankful for it.
Be happy for it.
People have different skills.
They have different abilities.
That's okay.
Now,
by all means,
if there's an area where you're not great at,
I believe you should try to become adequate at it,
trying to become better at it.
But you might have a certain cap that you can't reach past.
You know,
when you're a kid,
they teach you to be anything you want.
You want to be an astronaut,
be an astronaut.
Well,
that's just not true,
though.
If you want to become the next Michael Jordan book,
you're probably not gonna make it.
I mean,
you're probably not tall enough to number one,
right?
You might want to do something.
You might not have that ability whatsoever.
It might not be there.
Okay,
now that is okay because you've been given certain forte certain abilities.
Use what you do.
First Peter four verse 11.
If any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God.
If any man minister,
let him do it as the as of the ability,
which God given.
Do it to the ability that you have been given.
Okay,
now turn to your body with math 27.
Matthew chapter 27,
Matthew 27.
Now,
when you're getting envious at somebody's forte or their ability,
what it's really revealing is on the inside of you,
you're comparing yourself versus other people.
It's like,
man,
I wish I could play the piano like that and you get envious at them for their skill because you are comparing on the inside.
See with finances,
you get envious,
because your coverage is when it comes to forte,
you get envious because you are comparing.
Okay,
you don't fix the inside.
It's going to manifest itself on the outside.
Eventually,
that's the way it works.
Matthew 27.
Point number one was finances.
That's something people get envious about.
Point number two is forte and point number three is fame or popularity.
Okay,
some people at church might be more popular than you and people can get envious because someone is
more famous or more popular inside the congregation.
Matthew 27 verse 17.
Therefore,
when they were gathered together,
Pilate said on to them,
who would he that I release on you?
Grab his for Jesus,
which is called Christ,
for he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
And so because of envy,
they deliver him and they want to kill him.
You say,
why?
Because he's more famous than them.
Because people wanted to hear Jesus Christ,
first.
They didn't want to hear the Pharisees.
It's in the Pharisees of morning,
right?
That's reality.
They got envious at Jesus because people like to hear what Jesus had to say.
He was more of a more interesting character.
There's a lot of Bible Baptist pastors here in the Philippines that are envious at passions that live in another country around the world.
It's like,
why do you care about what some other pastor is doing five thousand miles from here?
And it's like they get envious at them.
They want to tear them down and you can see that they're in.
I mean,
didn't do the Bible say works in the flesh of manifest.
You see the emptiness.
They're angry and they want to tear them down because they're envious.
Okay,
that's a problem within their own heart.
Why?
Because those pastors are more famous than that.
Okay,
maybe they're more famous because they know the Bible better than you.
Maybe they're more famous because they actually spend time on their sermons.
They don't just go to this website and say,
oh,
you know,
what sermon pops out?
Okay,
all the preachers,
they actually spend time.
You're filled with the Holy Ghost and preach dynamic sermons that change people's lives.
Maybe just picture preaching.
Turn to accept,
accept,
accept.
See,
when you're envious at other people that are more famous and more popular than you,
it's because they're talking.
That's the problem.
The inside your pride.
You've always got to be the best at everything.
You've got to look the best and somebody's more famous than you,
right?
Just like came in and we're a cop,
right?
He's so mad.
One person doesn't bow down.
Why?
It's prideful.
It's not.
And when you're upset that other people in church are maybe more popular or more famous than you,
it's showing that you've got a problem with cockiness.
You're filled full of pride.
Okay,
accept the first night and the patriarchs moved with envy.
So Joseph in Egypt,
but God was with him.
And so the brothers of Joseph and his half brothers was half brothers.
They sell Joseph into slavery.
It says they're envious.
Why are there envious?
Because Joseph was more famous and more popular to their dad.
Isn't that true?
Joseph was more famous,
more popular.
What's the result?
Probably the brothers aren't envious at the popularity of chosen.
Turn to ask for a team.
Ask for a team.
Ask for a team versus 45.
When the Jews saw the home suits,
they were filled with envy.
And spake against those things were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming.
Then Paul and Barnabas wax golden said it was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you.
But seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.
Well, we turn to the Gentiles.
So the Jews see these long tubes listening to Paul.
They're envious.
Why Paul's more famous.
People like hearing Paul speak because he was going to preach it.
They learned he was dynamic and they say,
see the more tubes and they're envious at the fame.
What is that showing?
He's showing your pocket.
It's showing your pride.
It's showing they've got a problem within their own hearts.
So everything that happens on the outside that caused you to be envious,
all this revealing.
He's got a problem on the inside.
Okay.
They're cocky and right when they see these multitudes and they say,
why don't this many people listen to me preach?
It's like,
why can't I ever proud of a thousand people because you're boring.
Nobody likes to hear your sermon,
right?
Paul knows better than you.
He's more dynamic.
He's more bold.
They don't listen to you because you're boring.
Okay.
Turn to act 17,
act 17,
acts 17,
verse five,
but the Jews,
which believe not the ones that were unsafe,
move with envy.
So I'm going to have certain little fellows of the base or sort of gathered
the company and said,
all the city on the left were in assault of the house of Jason and sought to
bring them out to the people.
They are moved with envy because Jason and these other soldiers are getting a
lot of people say and teaching from the word of God.
They're envious at the fainting of Jason and these other people that is showing
that they are cocky or prideful on the inside.
Now,
do you see why enemies are dangerous though?
Because all these ones that are being linked,
they want to kill these people because of envious.
They actually want to murder other people and all it's revealing is the problem
inside of their own hearts.
Okay.
Turn to ask at Exodus 20 Exodus chapter 20 Exodus chapter 20.
See,
when you get envious of people's finances,
it's because when you get envious of people's sports,
hey,
it's because you're comparing when you get envious of people's famous because
you're talking and point number four,
the last point is getting envious at other people's family.
Okay,
getting envious at their husband or their wife or their kids,
or their relative,
they bring the church that are saved or whatever.
Notice what it says in Exodus 20 verse 17.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Okay.
And that really links towards,
you know,
finances,
you know,
covering their neighbor's house,
but it's also including everything inside of that house,
which he's going to clarify in more detail.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Okay.
Now the reason why you would come at your neighbor's wife is because you're not
content with your own wife.
And so people get envious at other people's family because they're not
content with the family they've been given,
right?
But it says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
And see the Bible says,
you know,
people could actually come at somebody else's wife.
Now look,
this is a verse mentioned in Exodus 20,
but God forbid this would be the attitude that would be happening at our local
church though,
where you would be desiring somebody else's wife or somebody else's husband.
Okay.
The Bible says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Now I want you to understand something.
Okay.
When you're married to someone and you're around 24 seven realize personality
sometimes get mad at each other.
It's reality.
Every marriage has some problems.
Every marriage has fights.
And here's the thing.
Once you add in kids,
that just adds to the stress level.
Once you add in trying to pay the bills and everything,
when you're married,
basically you're signing on to say,
Hey,
we are going to go through the storms and normal turmoil and problems of life
together.
Look,
people at church,
you're not married to,
you're not going through problems with like people in the workforce.
When adultery takes place,
you know,
they're married and they're not satisfied with their spouse.
Cause when they come home,
they're always stressed out and tired and exhausted and everything.
There's all these problems.
But you know,
this guy at work is so romantic.
I mean,
he's always romantic.
He's always nice to me and everything.
You're not around him 24 seven,
right?
I mean,
if you're around them 24 seven,
cause this one's always fun.
When people divorce somebody and marry somebody else,
they're like,
Oh,
the same problems exist in this marriage is the first one.
Imagine that there is no temptation taking him as such as a common man.
Maybe the Bible's right.
Okay.
Maybe you should have just stuck to the value.
You may stay married to that person.
And see the reality is when you're married to someone,
you go through the storms of life together.
It's not an accurate picture.
Look at someone at church and say,
man,
that person is so much nicer than my wife or so much nicer than my
husband.
You're not around him 24 seven.
And in general,
when people are at church,
guess what?
Smiles on their face.
And no matter how we're feeling on the inside,
I mean,
have you ever gone to soldier before?
You knock the door and you're,
you're,
you're like,
tall bull.
And then you hear the people on the inside screaming at one of them,
husband and wife,
just screaming at one another.
And then knocks and kind of go a little bit louder,
louder,
tall bull.
And then all of a sudden they come and then they,
they answered the door and then all of a sudden,
whenever they answered the door,
it's always funny because they overcompensate.
They just got,
they were just really yelling at each other.
So when they come to the door,
it's like,
hi,
how are you doing?
And they have this big fake smile on their face.
It's like they're acting like they didn't just get into a big fight.
It's fake.
It's not reality.
And look,
the reality is this,
you know,
when people at church,
you ask someone,
Hey,
how are you doing?
People are always like,
Hey,
I'm doing all right.
Even if they're not doing all right.
That's reality.
So what I want you to understand is,
you know,
it's a foolish thing to get into somebody else's wife or husband.
Look,
you're not around those people 24-7.
You don't know what they're like.
And look,
it's probably the same problems.
The same problems in this marriage is generally the same problems in this marriage.
The same things take place.
Okay.
And that's why it's important to have the attitude.
Hey,
so death do us part because of the fact otherwise you're gonna always be trying to jump like,
oh man,
if I was only married to this person,
you're gonna be miserable if you have that attitude.
Be happy with who God has blessed you with because it's him.
And make that marriage better.
See,
brother psyche,
man,
I wish that I could have my own family in church.
You know,
other people,
they bring family and relatives and everything.
Well,
hey,
do your best to get your relative saved and try to bring to the church.
Don't be envious.
If someone at our church has a lot of family,
they're going to bring the church.
And when you have people that bring a lot of family,
praise the Lord for that.
I think it's great.
It's awesome.
If you have a lot of safe family and gotten saved,
you got in the church living for God.
That's great.
It's not the situation for all of us.
A lot of us have family here that,
you know what,
they would never want to come to this church.
They're either not saved or just not interested at all.
Hey,
work with them and try to bring to the church,
but don't get envious of somebody else's family and say,
hey,
I wish I had that.
Because here's the thing,
when you're comparing yourself to somebody else and not be tempted with what you have,
you're gonna find things that you wish you had this.
This is not a buffet where it's like,
hey,
I go to the meat section.
No,
I want pork or chicken,
right?
I go to the food section.
I can have this or this or that.
You don't get just pick the best of everybody else's life.
Okay,
be happy with what you've been given and instead of dwelling on it,
because you will have no success if you dwell on it,
make your life better.
Fix the problems you have.
Otherwise,
you're gonna be a miserable person because envious people are not happy.
Okay,
it says,
thou shalt not come in thy neighbor's wife house,
thou shalt not come with thy neighbor's wife,
nor his manservant,
nor his maidservant,
nor his ox,
nor his ass,
nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
Okay,
don't come in anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Be content with what you do have.
Otherwise,
you're gonna find yourself envious at other people that has something that you want.
One of the biggest things people go on Facebook,
which should be called fake book.
It's not real,
right?
It's fake.
It's not really good.
And they spend their time.
He's always interested in other people's lives.
I'll be honest because it was weird,
at least in the US,
you know,
there are people that I went to high school with because I was happening home school in high school.
I didn't take some classes at school where it's like people.
I never talked to in high school because we just weren't friends or personalities didn't like whatever.
Then you go to college and all these people from high school.
You didn't talk to a person want to be your friends.
It's like they send you a friend request.
It's like we didn't even talk to each other when we were face to face.
All it was like,
hey,
how are you doing when you're walking by them in the hallway?
So why do you want to,
you know,
be friends now,
right?
But it's like people,
they go on Facebook and they pay attention to other people's lives.
Like 30 40 50 years down the road.
There are literally marriages where people are married and they'll start someone.
Somebody looks up like their ex girlfriend from high school and 40 years in the past.
It's like I wonder if I had married that person.
That's like 40 years in the past.
It's like what in the world as if you don't know what they're like.
All you see is this profile.
Okay,
you know,
when and all you see are pictures and like I know they say a picture telling a thousand words and it might tell a thousand words.
They're not always true words.
I mean,
how did you ever take one of those family pictures?
You have young kids and your young kids don't want to take the picture.
They don't want to dress up and everything.
They're crying and everything.
You're doing everything you can to get a smile for two seconds.
You get that picture taken.
He will see it on Facebook.
They're like the happiest family ever.
It's a picture.
It's like,
why don't you see that 30 seconds ago when the sun is just like complaining because he's wearing this dress shirt or whatever.
It doesn't tell you reality.
Okay,
and just because people seem happy on Facebook,
it's like reality TV.
How real is it?
Okay,
you don't really know what it's like to do with someone else or another family unless you're around 20%.
So it's just a foolish attitude to even think about.
Okay,
be content with what you do have and realize everybody has strengths and weaknesses.
Hello,
if your spouse is weak in one area,
realize that other spots are weak in areas too.
Everybody has strengths and weaknesses and look,
none of us are Mr. Prince Charming or Miss,
you know,
Cinderella or whatever,
like none of us are perfect.
It's like,
you know,
I can point to things or am I,
you know,
I can definitely do better as a husband.
That's all of us.
Just be content with what God's been given,
especially if you believe God has given you that person,
be married to and stay together and raise a family with and to serve God and love God.
Be content with what you've been given.
Okay,
a quote here about Envy.
Envy is the most stupid of vices,
for there is no single advantage gained from it.
And that's true.
Anything that would benefit you from being envious.
When you are envious at someone else's finances,
do you magically just look at your bank account and say,
man,
two million pesos,
where did that come from?
Being envious at somebody's finances doesn't give you their finances.
Right?
If you want their finances,
you got to work harder.
Start a career,
start a company or whatever.
I mean,
being envious isn't going to match the kid.
Being envious is somebody's ability to play the piano,
their forte,
you don't imagine them becoming good at the piano.
It's like,
man,
I'm just going to,
you know,
watch someone play the piano.
I magically get good at her.
I'm envious at someone playing the piano.
That doesn't make you good at it.
There's no advantage gained by being envious.
All it's going to do is make you a bitter person,
built for a strike,
that just hates your life.
And look,
here's the reality.
There are people at our church that are good members sometimes,
and they just kind of go south.
Not even somebody at Verdi Baptist Church in Sacramento that,
you know,
good person,
good family,
you know,
I care about them,
you know,
and they no longer go to Verdi because the spirit of
consciousness became very evident to everybody around
them.
And it ends up destroying your life when you don't fix your
personal problems.
So when you're seeing envious creep up,
not only do I not want envious to be here at our church
because it's going to cause a lot of church problems,
but it's going to help with your marriage problems.
When you see envious creeping up on yourself,
what you have to ask yourself is,
why is it I'm getting mad at these other people at church?
Why am I envious?
Why is there something in my heart that makes me mad at
somebody else's success when I'm not?
Fix what is on the inside of your heart.