(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . This is what we're going to be talking about today. This is where we get the title of our message from because the title makes a quick transition in verse 13. It says, who is wise and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descended not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. Three verses here and we're talking about envy and we're talking about strife. And then the last verse says for where envy and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. So the title of our message this morning is controlling your envy. Controlling your envy. Now, first of all, let's understand most people when they think of envy, sometimes they're using the word jealous. And they're using it in an improper fashion where there is a difference between jealousy and envy. Now, for an example, there is nothing wrong with being jealous. Amen. I would hope that every single married person here is jealous over their spouse. And if you're not, then that's an issue. For an example, jealousy is when you're zealous or you're jealous. You have this sense of protection over something that belongs to you. That is yours. And you are jealous if anything comes to try to contaminate that. If someone wants to try to affect that, there is an issue where you become jealous. For an example, the Bible says that the Lord, he is a jealous God. Well, when you get the context of that, the fact that he is a jealous God is because when you get the context, normally it's talking about idolatry where people are going off and they're worshipping idols. They're bowing down to statues and the Lord is saying that he's a jealous God. He's not going to share his glory. He's not going to share his worship with images and with idols of gold and silver because that worship belongs to him. So in that case, he is a jealous God. And at the same time, you over your spouse, because that spouse is yours, you should be jealous over your spouse. I'm sorry, but as a male, if you're just going to sit there and some guy just walk up and try to, hey, hey, hey, let me talk to you, baby. And you just, well, you know, she, you know, it's just the day and time that we're in. No. You know, you ought to be ready to throw a left hook or jab or something. Where it's just like, no. And why is that? Because you're jealous over your spouse. But envy is different. Envy is something that's more dangerous. Jealousy is good, but envy is very bad. Envy, just to give you a quick definition, speaks of a feeling of discontentment or covetousness with regards to another's advantages, success or possessions. So that's what envy is. It's when this feeling of discontentment comes over you and you see where this feeling of discontentment is upon you because you see that someone else has success. Someone else has achieved an achievement. Someone else receives a blessing. And because of that, you then become envious. You have this sense of discontentment that comes upon you. Now, as I mentioned, nothing wrong with being jealous. Absolutely not. But it's something wrong with being envy. And the thing is, I want to talk about just three areas in our life where we have to be careful about envy. Where envy, if we're not careful, we can find ourselves being envious. Just three areas. And in these areas, we should be on guard against envy in these three areas of our life. Number one, envy in your personal relationships. Envy in your personal relationships. This is people that you see on a daily basis. If you leave it to me, I'm putting it in this category. People that you see on a daily basis. People that you have affiliations where it can be a personal relationship, whether it's a, let's say, a spouse or so. For some reason, you become envious against your spouse. Or it could be a sibling or so. It could be a family member. This can even be a co-worker or so. So someone that you see on the norm, someone that you have just often involvement with, this is an area in your personal relationships where you can find yourself being envious against a person. Let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 18. 1 Samuel chapter 18. And once more, we're talking about personal relationships. Seeing someone on a daily basis. And a reason you will become envious against someone you see on the norm is because you're envious because of their achievements. Their success that they haven't, whether this is on your job, whether this is a family member or so. You are envious because of their achievements. Now, here's the thing. If you really think about envy, no one becomes envious over someone who is going through a storm. You ever think about that? Why is it that you don't become envious of someone who's having a bad time? Someone who's going through a rough time, you don't envy that. You say, whoa, that person's sick. You know, they lost their job. They're down on their luck, as the world would say. You don't look to envy that person. But it's only when someone has an achievement, when someone has a blessing, when someone has favor on them, that is a time where people will start to develop envy. For an example, no one would envy Job's life. Anybody want to lose, let's say you got, okay, put it like this. Job had ten kids. Whatever your number is, do you envy Job so bad that you would love to lose all your kids? No, right, whatever that number is. Or Job also lost his health. Do you envy Job to the fact that you say, oh, I would want to lose my health. Anybody want to lose their health? No, so you wouldn't envy Job, right? But can you become envious at his end? Yeah, why? Because as people say, you know, God gave him double for his trouble. So the things that he went through in a hard time, you say, no, I don't want to go through that. But you become envious at the turnaround for his life, the end portion of his life where he's getting these blessings and he's getting double fold. Then you can start to envy those things and say, well, I want that too then. As long as, think about this when you're going into 1 Samuel chapter 18, as long as there is no achievements or no success, there is no need to envy. But the moment success comes, that is a way where people will start to envy. And why? Because of the success. Let's look at 1 Samuel chapter 18. 1 Samuel chapter 18, we have David and Saul. David, who is in chapter 17, he just defeated Goliath, right? Nobody wanted to fight Goliath. David went out and fought him. He ended up getting the victory, right? But then if you look at 1 Samuel 18, look at verse 5 after the victory. And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely and Saul sent him over the men of war. And he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. And it came to pass as they came when David was returned from the sword of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the city, of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tables, with joy and with instruments of music. And the women answered one another as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Well, let's stop right there. The battle is over. David comes back and there is pretty much I just kind of in my own imagination, there's this cheerleading squad that's out there. Right where you have these women, as I would say, they're singing and dancing. So they're talking one to another one on this side, the other on that side, one that says Saul has slain his thousands. But then the other saying and David his ten thousands. Well, let's look at verse eight. And Saul was very rough. And the same displeased him. And he said they have ascribed unto David ten thousand. Ten thousands. And to me, they have ascribed but thousands. And what can he have more but the kingdom? I love this verse. This is funny to me. And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. You know, that saying, he eyeing me? That's why it comes with David. Saul just like, I don't like this dude. Just giving him the eye. And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. And it came to pass on the moral that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played with his hand as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand and Saul cast a javelin for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul. So you think about this. There was no need for Saul to envy David until when he recognized that the Lord is with him. He recognized that, yeah, he took down Goliath. Think about David's life before taking down Goliath. What was he tending to sheep? He was a shepherd. Is there any reason to envy that? There's no. What was he? He was a musician as well. He played for Saul whenever this troubling spirit, this evil spirit came upon him. He's a musician. So he plays music. He's shearing sheep. I'm sure that if you talk to David, he would smell like sheep. He would smell like outside. What's the envy about that? But then when you start to have success, when it starts to be that David's slain his 10,000s, and you see that someone else is getting the attention, then you see where the eye came. You see where he's just starting to, hmm, I don't like this. I don't like this. And then they say he has a javelin in his hand. But as long as David is out in the field, why envy him? Envy only comes when you recognize that someone else has an achievement and has an accomplishment. And then you say, as Saul, would they ascribe to him 10,000s? Here's another one. Turn to Genesis chapter four. I'm giving four examples here of characters where we see envy that has crept in. And then we're going to tie this in a knot. Genesis chapter four. We have Cain and Abel. Cain, let's look at verse three, says, And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering, he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance falling? Excuse me. And why is thy countenance fell? And the Lord said unto Cain, Why are thou wroth and why is thy countenance falling? Excuse me, I lost my spot. If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire and thou shall rule over him. And Cain talked with his excuse and Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. Now, what was Abel like before the Lord had respect to his offering? They're both just tending their field. They're both just doing their work. And there is no issue there. There's no reason to envy because we're both doing our work. We're both doing our labor. But then when the Lord decides, yeah, those works are good and these works are righteous. And these works over here are evil. That is then where the where the envy comes in. He's envious because his works are evil and his brother's righteous. But before this, when they're just working, there's no need to have any envy. Let's see another example. Say in Genesis, Genesis Chapter 37. What are we talking about when there is no success, no achievements, no need for envy? Genesis chapter 37. Look at verse six. The Bible says, And he said unto them, this is talking about Joseph, Here I pray you this dream, which I have dreamed. For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright. And behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brother said to him, Shall thou indeed reign over us or shall thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father and his brother and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him and said unto him, What is this dream that thou has dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee, to the earth? And his brethren notices, envied him. But his father observed the saints. Acts chapter seven, verse nine. You don't turn there. But the Bible says, And the patriarchs talking about the sons of Jacob, it says, And the patriarchs moved with envy, so Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him. Now, as long as Joseph is having visions from God and he's not speaking on them, is there a reason to envy him? No, if you keep it to himself. There is no reason to envy. But then when he puts it out there, that God is going to do something with him and that God is going to allow the sun and moon, which is talking about his parents and then also his brother and the eleven sheaves to fall down before him. But then they have an issue with that. And it said they envied him. Why? Because they are looking and understanding that, wait, something is going to happen with Joseph. Something is going to be good with this guy. He's going to have an achievement. And then the Bible say they envied him and then not just envy, they hated him. Let's look at one more example. Then we'll tie this into a knot. The Lord Jesus Christ, Mark, chapter one. Mark, chapter one. Mark, chapter one. Let's look at verse twenty three. The Bible says, And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art at the Holy One of the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed and so much that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commanded he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. Notice this verse right here. And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region about Galilee. With that in mind, turn to Chapter 15. This is at the arrest of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is standing before Pilate. And the Jews are asking for him to be crucified. That is their request to to crucify him. And notice this. The Bible said that his fame went out and notice verse seven. And there was one named Barabbas which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? For he knew. Notice this. For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him. Why? For envy. So why is Jesus Christ murdered? Why is he betrayed? For envy. So you look at the life of the Lord Jesus Christ before his ministry. Where was he? What was he doing? Where did people know him as? Well, he's just the son of the carpenter. He's the son of Joseph, as what they would say. Then not only that, you look at him at 12 years old. What is he doing? Is he really a threat? No, he's just in the temple. He's just hearing the doctor, the doctors, as the Bible say. He's hearing them and asking them questions. Is he teaching? No, no, he's not doing anything yet. He's just hearing them out and he has questions. This is 12 year old Jesus. He has no reason for anyone to envy him. But wait a minute. What about when his fame starts to spread? Then you see the envy come. That is where you see the issue. See, he had no issue until people started to say, never man speak like this man. That's when the issue starts to come, when people are astonished at his doctrine, when his fame is spreading, when people start to say that he teaches as one having authority and not as subscribes, when people are getting healed, when people have these demons driven out of them, the fame is going abroad. Now he has a reason to be envied. And why are the Pharisees looking to murder him? Because of envy. Because as long as you're not making a change, as long as you're not doing anything profitable, as long as you're not doing anything that's going to make a difference, you have no reason to be envied. But the moment you want to start making a change and you want to start being effective in people's life, you know what's going to happen? Envy will come. Amongst our personal relationships and our lives, we have to be careful not to start to see other people's success and then develop this envious heart, this envious thoughts that could come to mind. I said I was going to tie all these examples up together. Turn back to Genesis chapter 37. Here's something that I kind of caught on to. Turn to Genesis chapter 37. When you look at the life of David, where he now has success because he is defeated, Goliath. The Bible said, and we read this, but I want to read it. I hope you guys caught on to it. And it came to pass on the moral that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played with his hand, as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand. And Saul cast a javelin, for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and was departed from Saul. Here's the thing that I want to tie in with this this area that I'm tying in with these four examples. The bad thing about envy, if you do not control envy, is that envy can lead to physical altercations. Envy can lead to physical altercations. You say, well, how? Well, just notice with David and Saul, did we not see a physical altercation that nearly broke out because of envy? What was the physical altercation? David is playing. He just coming to work like any other day, playing. And then Saul has a javelin in his hand like, man, that sounds good, David. And throws a javelin at him. Well, you see that. Where is that coming from, Saul? The envy. The envy is leading to physical altercations. Now, David got away, of course. But then what about Cain and Abel? We see that envy. What did that lead to? A physical altercation. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. I want to say sin is lying at his door right now. That's knocking. I want it to have to do with envy. Well, we'll see. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shall rule over him. Notice this. And Cain talked with Abel, his brother. And it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him. Envy led to a physical altercation. And this altercation here, it led to a murder. Joseph, you're in there in Genesis chapter 37. Joseph has received word from Jacob, his father. Go out. Look for your brothers. And basically he wants a report. He's supposed to come back and give a report. Joseph can't find them. So he comes across a stranger who tells him in verse 17, And the man said, They are departed hence, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. Notice the intents here. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him, notices, to slay him. Well, didn't the Bible say with Joseph's brethren that they were moved with envy? And what is their intents now? Let's kill them. Let's kill them. Because envy, if you don't control it, will lead to physical altercations. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ told the Jews, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. Notice this. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth. Let's start with the first part of the verse. Ye are of your father the devil. And notice this. And the lust of your father. What is the lust of your father? He told you he was a murderer. So the lust of your father, he says ye will do. He's saying he was a murderer. And the lust that he had is the same lust that you have, which is murder. And what did they do to the Lord Jesus Christ? They murdered the Lord Jesus Christ. But why was he murdered? What was it due to? Envy. Because his fame spread abroad. People are saying never spake man like this man. He's teaching as one having authority. His fame is going abroad. And these Pharisees, as we read earlier, we don't have to turn back there, but they envied him. And then ultimately they did the lust of their father, the desire of their father, which was to murder him. So Jesus is saying, you know that what you want to do, the same lust, your father, he's a murderer, guess what you're going to do to me? Jesus was telling them, you're going to murder me. You're going to kill me. Envy can lead to physical altercations. And let me just take this out on a step by step basis. Physical altercations is the last. Because envy can start with verbal disputes. I want to see that later on where someone, they're not fighting yet, but there is a verbal dispute. And then you have to say, well, what's this verbal dispute? What is this arguing about? What is going on here? Well, you get to the root of the matter. What is it? It's envy. And then let's say it goes beyond a verbal dispute. And then there is a brawl that breaks out, a fight that breaks out. Well, what are you arguing about? What are you fighting about now, physically fighting about? What is all this about? You get to the root of the matter. What is it? It's envy. And then let's say you go beyond. Well, in some cases in a brawl where it went from verbal to physical to now this physical led to someone getting killed. What was it all about? It's all about envy. And we see in the scriptures, this is four examples. Two of the people got away. David and Joseph got away. But the intent was what? Kill them. Kill them. Why? Because of envy. And we see another case, the Lord Jesus Christ and Abel, who are both murdered. Why? Because of envy. Here's something I learned just studying the scriptures here. Turn to Romans chapter one. I learned that and if you take your notes, I will say write this down, that there is a very thin line between envy and murder. There is a very thin line between envy and murder. This is why this must be controlled. You cannot let envy get the best of you. You cannot let this envy be at your door knocking just like it was knocking on Cain's door. There's a thin line between envy and murder. Romans chapter one. Look at Romans chapter one. We're talking about here in the context, we're talking about the reprobate mind and the Lord starts to give the characteristics of this person who is given over to the reprobate mind. And look at verse 28. The Bible says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. Notice this word. Full of envy. Notice the next word. Murder. I wonder why that follows. Envy, and then what's the very next word on this list? Murder. You say that's just a coincidence. Oh really? Let's go to Galatians chapter five. Just about three books over. Galatians chapter five. We're talking about the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the spirit. Verse 19 says, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, stripes, seditions, heresies. Notice this. Envies. What's the very next word? Murders. There's two places. You think this is by coincidence that your envy can lead to a murder? No, I don't think this is a coincidence at all. Especially with the examples that we started out with where every single example had envy and the intents of the person who was envious was, I want to kill him. I literally want to kill this person. There's a very thin line between envy and murder. I don't know if you all remember this show. There was this show. I stopped watching it though. God watched too much of it and shows like it. But there was a show back in, I think it hit the airway. I believe it was on A&E. I can't remember on A&E. So it came out back in like 2006, 2007, maybe 2008. It was a show called Snapped. Anybody watch Snapped? Thank you, my worldly ones. Snapped, right? So some of you, obviously only a couple of you all know what Snapped is, right? But for those of you who don't know what it is and those who know what the show is, what is Snapped all about? Literally, it's self-titled, Snapped. People who was just going on that lucky day, just everything is good, and then things started to go south. And they just snapped. They lost it. And I'm sure a lot of these people, my other one that I want to tie into this, I'm going to put all this in one bucket, was First 48. I was a big fan of First 48. So First 48 and Snapped is pretty much the same thing. The people on First 48, they snapped. And they lose it, and they end up murdering people. And usually, it's always a case-by-case basis why people snap. Most of the time, it's an adulterous situation, and that person snapped. But then a great deal of the time, same thing with both of them, is the fact you just see envy. Envy is there, and these people are snapping because envy is resting in your bosom. And you cannot let envy just have its way because there's a thin line between envy and murder. Turn to Psalm chapter 37. Psalm chapter 37. The first point we looked at was envy. We can say envy in your personal relationships, or we can say envy within. This is a person who you may come across daily. And let's say, well, you know, they get a promotion. They got this at work. And you can tend to be envious against that person that you know personally, who you have personal relationships with. But then let's look at the envy without. The envy without. This is someone that you do not know directly. You don't know their name personally. They don't know you, but yet you're able to see their lifestyle. You're able to see how they live, and then you become envious over their lifestyle. Does that make sense? So Psalm chapter 37, verses one through five. The Bible says, Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green earth. Trust in the Lord and do good. So shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Verse one said, Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. As I mentioned, this is someone that you don't know them personally, but you see their lifestyle. You see the way that they live. You see their living large, and then you say, man, I wish I could have that. I want that type of lifestyle. This is a person, as the Bible says, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. This will be a person you can consider is that whatever they do, it just seems like it just turns to gold. Like whatever they try to prosper at, they just prosper. I mean, they just have the same as godliness with them. It seems as though they have the blessing of God on them. It seems as though they make a business deal, and whatever they touch business-wise turns into a triple the net profit or so. It seems like whatever they do, that it's just going to flourish. It's going to prosper. And this is something that the Bible tells us. You don't have to turn to these scriptures, but I'm just going to hit on myself for time's sake. You don't have to turn there. But Proverbs chapter three is something that the Bible warns us to be on guard against. When it comes to having this envy against the workers of iniquity. Proverbs chapter three, verse 31, the Bible says, Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. Now when you're envying someone, isn't that what you have the tendency to want to do? You want to choose their ways. Whatever their route that they went down to get it, you want to choose their ways. You want to be like them. And you're saying, well, what he got, I've got. I mean, I want. And you're choosing. You're having a thought of going down their path. Proverbs chapter 23, verse 17 says, Let not thine heart envy sinners. Notice where the envy is. Let not thine heart envy sinners. The envy is in the heart. But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. He's saying here, don't let your heart envy sinners. Proverbs chapter 24, verse one says, Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. There's this tendency. And this is a holy book is written to as the as the Proverbs say all the time. My son, my son. This is written to a child. And consider yourself if you say, of course, you are a child of God. So take these same instructions and understand that this envy is also talking to you personally as well, because we can have a tendency to look at people on the outside and start to desire and start to covet and start to envy those that are on the outside. People you do not know directly, but yet you're envious of them and saying, I like what the what the Bible said here. Be not thou envious against evil men. But notice this. Neither desire to be with them. Man, I want to hang with them. Man, oh, everything he touches. It just seems like he just prospers. I want to be with him in this category. I put this category here. People you don't know, people you will never know. Most likely, I just look at this like entertainers, athletes or so. I put them in this bucket here. People you do not know. But yet you can become envious of their lifestyle. I thought about this. I only bring this up. I really can care less. But I just want to use it as an example only because it's been everywhere. I like to look into it like Yahoo news. And so I have a Yahoo account. So in my email, I like to go Yahoo and just see the jargon that's on there. Wasting my time. I admit. So the thing is, one of the biggest things that has just hit the airwaves is, you know, the Renaissance tour. Who knows what the Renaissance tour is? Come on, be honest. Anybody know? I see one shaking their hand. I see that hand back there. So only one person, I doubt that though, only one person knows what the Renaissance tour is. But for those who don't know, the Renaissance tour is the Beyonce tour. Anybody know who Beyonce is? I see those hands now. So the Renaissance tour, the big thing about the Renaissance tour is because as they have recorded on history, this is by a female recording artist. This is the highest grossing tour in female artist history or so. However they want to, you know, get that lingo or so. So she racked in billions of dollars on this tour. So you can look at her lifestyle and you can look at her husband, Jay-Z aka Hov. Anybody know who that is? So you can look at their lifestyle and say, oh man, I want that. I want to be on stage. I want to be with them. I want to be like them. You can start to look at that lifestyle and say, I want that. And what are you starting to do? You're starting to covet. You're starting to envy sinners. You say, well, you don't know her personally. She's a godly woman. You don't know her husband. He's a godly man. Listen, my thing is, what is the whole tour about? It's all about sodomy, celebrating sodomy. That's what the tour is about. These bunch of, you know, homo men dancing in heels and all type of trash. She have a daughter on stage dancing with her. Her husband is just in the crowd like, yeah, get it, get it. You know, and that's godly. That's godly. And what is she doing? She's just this huge promoter of this LGBT community and everything. Oh, but you desire to be with that? You desire to, I want to go to the concert. Listen, I'm not going to lie. You know, this is not good, but I was a huge fan of Jay-Z. You know, I make this joke sometime about popping a coin in you, right? It's sort of like a jukebox. You pop a coin in someone, I mean, in the jukebox and what happens? The music comes out. Well, you know what? You pop a coin in me, guess what? I know a lot of Jay-Z songs. And I'm not saying that to my glory, but it's a shame. You know, because that's how it is with music. Once it gets in there, it cannot come out. It cannot come out. That's why we have to sing a new song unto the Lord. We have to sing the psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's what we have to do. So here's the thing. I don't have a desire, as the Bible says, neither desire to be with them. I don't have a desire to hang out with Beyonce, a worker of iniquity. I don't have a desire to be with someone and call himself Hope. You know who else wanted to be God and will call himself, proclaiming himself to be God? You want to know who else that is? Satan. So why do I want to hang with someone? Why should I envy someone in their lifestyle who wants to be God? Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. That reminds me of another show. I got a lot of shows, right? I watch a lot of TV. Not good. Here's the thing. Another show. Who remember MTV Cribs? MTV Cribs, right? Came out in around 2000. And what was MTV Cribs all about? Showing off your entertainers, your athlete, your entertainer, your musician. Showing off that crib. And I watched it so much, I just remember how all the lingo went. They opened up the 200-pound door, the French doors. Each doorway about 200 pounds, they opened it up. Hey, MTV. Hey, world, welcome to my crib. Come on in. So they come on in, and then where do they start? Yeah, this is my living room. It's all the nice furniture hanging on the wall. Yeah, that's my 100-inch screen right there. Then they get done with that. Let's go to the kitchen, y'all. Take them to the kitchen. Open up the fridge, stainless steel refrigerator. Open that up. All the drinks are just nicely fit and in place. All the Gatorades and water you want. They get done with that. Let's go upstairs. Let's go to the bedrooms, y'all. Take them to the bedrooms. They got about seven bedrooms upstairs. Yeah, this is my kid room here, and this is my other kid room. And then let's take you to the master bedroom. Then here's the thing. This is where it all goes down at, y'all. Take them to the master bedroom. Then the master bedroom has a jacuzzi in there. They get done with that. Let's go out to the backyard, y'all. Take them out to the backyard. What is it? Pools everywhere, jacuzzis out there. They having a party out there and everything. They get done. All right, y'all. Let's go to the garage. Go to the garage. Lift up the garage. Got about a key full of rings, all type of rings. Yeah, that's my Bentley right there. That's my Aston Martin right there. That's my Rolls Royce right there. And you know what? What I was doing listening and looking at all that? Man, I want that. Man, what do I have to do to get that? What do you start doing when you're seeing it? You become covetous. You become desirous and envious of workers of iniquity. Now, let me be clear. There's nothing wrong. If someone has a big house, I'm not saying that all those people on there are wicked, okay? That's not what I'm saying. But the thing is, you know, be careful about looking at someone and their lifestyle. You don't know them. And you're like, man, I want that. Man, I don't know. Oh, man, I really want. Well, here's the thing. Do you know what they went through to get that? Do you know? It can be a pro and a con. Let's say that person worked hard. You want that, but did you put in the work? Did you put in the hours, the hours staying up late, staying up trying to make things happen? Did you stay up that late, but you want it, right? But then be careful on the other end of the coin, of the person your covetous over and you want the things they want. Well, wait a minute. You don't know what wickedness they did to get that. You don't know how, you know, they have this thing now selling your soul. You don't know if they sold their soul or not. Is that what you want to do? Because you're coveting something. You don't even know what they did to get those things. Psalm 73 verse 3 says, But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nice slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I love this verse here because this is a man of God, the psalm writer here, who is telling you that he was envious at the prosperity of the wicked. So who are we to think that I'll never become envious? I saw a win every week. I'll never become envious. I read my Bible 10 times in one year. I will never become envious. Well, the man of God says I was foolish. I was envious against the prosperity of the wicked. We see this envy that can come on from those that you know personally. We would say internally, but then there's the envy of without where there's people you don't know. But then lastly here, and we'll close on this point here, is that we have to be careful about the envy in and amongst churches. Envy in the church. These are people you come across with on a weekly basis. Why? Because we come to church. So we're talking about envy against the fellow body, the local body here in Atlanta. Envy in here and amongst churches. So we're talking about envy against other churches that may be in a different location. I'm putting all this together. You say, turn to Philippians chapter one. You say, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is stronghold Baptist Church. We will never have any envy around here. Envy in the church will never set foot. Never. Well, you don't have to turn that same for living in chapter one. First Corinthians chapter three. Paul, writing to the church of Corinth, and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet. Now are you able for you are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you notices, envying and strife and divisions. Are you not carnal and walk as man? Same church, but the second epistle, chapter 12, verse 20, for I fear less when I come. I shall not find you such as I would and that I should be found unto you such as you would not. Lest there be debates, envying, wrath, strife, backbiting, whispering, swellings, tomos. James 3 16. We read it earlier. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. I mean, we're seeing scriptures that are written to churches. And the warning is about envy. And if you think that. Envy can never creep in this church. You're lost. Envy can creep up here in this local body. We have to take the warnings. If it's written to the Church of Corinth that had a whole bunch of strife around there and a whole bunch of envy, if it's written to Galatians, if it's written in the epistle of James, who are we to think that we're immune to it? Here's the thing. You can bank on that whenever you see a church that is just in shambles and there's strife and there's seditions and there's heresies and there is hating and there's tomos and there's swellings and there's every confusion of work. Just know in that church, what do you think is in that church? Envy. You can count on that. Galatians 5 26. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another. Notice this, envying one another. This is written to the Church of Galatia where he tells them not to be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another. Lastly, envying one another. Because in your local church, envy can creep in. Philippians chapter 1 verse 12. The Bible says, but I would. You should be there in Philippians chapter 1. But I would. This is Apostle Paul writing to the Church of Philippi. But I would, you should understand, brethren, that the things which happen unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Notice what he just said in verse 14. And many of the brethren in the Lord. What is that talking about? Saved people. Saved people. Paul is in bonds and he's talking about these saved people here. And he said that these brethren, they're more, they have grown and waxed bold. They are able to preach the word now because how he's been handling his afflictions. He is in prison, he is in bonds, but of course the word is not bound. So he's saying that when he's in bonds, there are other people who are observing how he's going through his afflictions. And he recognized that these people are waxing bold because of how he's handling his bonds. And he's saying that they are more bold to preach the word without fear. But notice verse 15. And some indeed, the context doesn't change. Some indeed is talking about the brethren. But notice this. Some indeed preach Christ, notice these words, even of envy. And strife. Wait, what? Preachers, absolutely not. No, just move on. Just move on. Preachers don't get envious. No, don't worry about that. Really? Well, while Paul is saying many other brethren in the Lord, then he says, verse 15, some indeed preach Christ even of envy. And some also of good will. Here's the thing. Are they really preaching Christ? Yeah, they probably opening up the Bible. But do they have pleasing the Lord on their mind? No. What is their whole agenda? Envy. They're envious against Paul. I wonder why. I mean, he's used mightily of God. So he has a reason to be envied. I had some more of that. For Tom's sake, I'm going to skip it. I'm already out of time. But turn to Numbers chapter 16. I wanted to really dive into that, where Paul is talking about the envy. People preaching with the bad motives, wrong motives, because of envy. Numbers chapter 16. Here's a thought, if you're taking down notes, here's a thought in Numbers chapter 16. Something to think about with envy. Normally when people are envious, the thing that they're missing is that they're envious over something that if they look closely at themselves, they're envious over something that they have already. You're envious over something that you also have. For an example, if you're envious because someone else's job and you have a job, notice that you're envious at their job, but you have a job. If you're envious because of their house, but wait a minute, do you have a house? Do you have an apartment? So you're envious over something that you have already as well. I get it. It's not that house. It's not that position. That's the problem. Yeah, I have one too. I have a house too, but it's not that one right there. Well, this would make sense because in Numbers chapter 16, we have Korah. And in verse 6, the Bible says, This dude, take you censors, Korah and all his company, and put fire therein and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow. And it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy. Notice this, ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Livy. Now Korah, they say in the Bible, Korah is a Levite. So notice what Paul is saying. Ye take too much upon you, ye Levites. OK, notice this in verse 8. And Moses said unto Korah, Here I pray you, ye sons of Livy. He called him out again. He said, you sons of Livy. You say, what's the big deal? Well, notice verse 9. Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel had separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them. Do you all catch on to what he's saying? He's saying, Korah, you have a position already. You're a Levite. He said, is it a small thing that the Lord has separated you from the congregation? And he has brought you as a child of Livy. He has brought you forth to do the service of the tabernacle. He's brought you to minister before the Lord. What's the big deal about this? Verse 11. And he, excuse me, and he hath brought thee near to him and all thy brethren, the sons of Livy, with thee. And notice this, and seek ye the priesthood also. I hope you understand what he's saying. You have a position as a Levite. You come before the Lord. You come into the tabernacle. You rear up the tabernacle. You take it down. You're employed in the songs. Your full time job is not only just rearing up the tabernacle and moving in and setting it back down and picking it back up. You also control the music. You do this. You do that. And you seek the priesthood also. Why, Korah? He's envious. But here's the thing. Korah, you have a work already. You have a ministry already. And he's saying, go ahead and, you know, be content. You have a ministry. Here's the thing. Let's close out on this. I was going to get into, you know, churches, you know, being envious against other churches because of attendance, maybe. Because, I mean, people are in that church because it's a different pastor or I don't have that pastor. All different things a person can become envious against, you know, against other churches. Got more souls won throughout the year. All this type of foolishness, all this type of strife that can go on because of envy. But here's the thing. The whole time we've been talking about controlling the envy as far as amongst your relationships and amongst churches and all. But here's the thing. I never told you how to control it. I've just been showing you areas of our life. But I'm just, you don't have to turn to these. But ways to control that envy, that envy is coming up in your heart. You see the success of someone else. Here's the thing. This is how you get rid of it. Number one, be content with what you have. Be content with what you have. Philippians chapter four. Not that I speak in respect of one, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Hebrews 13 five. Let your conversation that is all about your lifestyle, the way you live. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he had said, I will never leave you nor forsake thee. You have the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the day. He would never leave you. He'll never forsake thee. Be content. You don't need to be envious against anyone else. Here's another way to handle and control your envy. Number two, be thankful for what you have. Not only just be content with what you have, be thankful for what you have. First Thessalonians 5 18. In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Ephesians 5 20. Give thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the third thing. This is how you can also control that envy. Number three, set your affections on things above. Set your affections on things above. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Psalm 37. We read it. Trust in the Lord and do good. So shall thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. The last thing. This is my very favorite one. If you don't if you don't if you miss any of these as to how to control that envy and get that envy out of your life. This is my very favorite one. A simple verse to even remember. Here's the fourth one. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Rejoice with those who rejoice. You see someone got something going good for him. You know what? Rejoice with them. Because what's the opposite? You become like Saul and you want to start eyeing people. You become envious. So here's the thing. Rejoice with those who rejoice. This is Romans Chapter 12. Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. No need to get envious. Hey, just rejoice. Pray for that person. Be glad for that person. Here's the thing. If you think that you would never, no matter how much I read, I read, I sow in, I come to church. If you think that you would never have a tendency to become envious against your fellow brother in Christ, against someone that is without that you see on the TV or against a person that you know personally, you are deceived. You are deceived. The very last one I leave on Proverbs 27 for wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous. But who is able to stand before envy? Who can stand before envy? If you think, oh, man, I got it. I'll never let envy creep up in my heart. You're deceived. You better take heed. Lest you fall. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord God, we thank you for this lesson here. Envy is so much scripture and so many passages of scripture, Lord, and so many warnings and admonitions. We thank you for just scratching the surface of it here, Lord God. I pray, Lord, that we all were edified this day, that we take this message to heart and, Lord, that we rejoice and encourage one another and not to be discouraged discouragement to anyone, but looking to strive and do the work of the Lord here. Bless us this afternoon. Bless the soul winning as well. In Jesus name. Amen. All right, church, if you can't open up your hymnals. Song number 440. Song 440, thanks to God. It's been a while since we've sung this hymn. This might actually be a new hymn for some of you. So let us sing a new song into the world. Song 440. All right, let's sing this out in the first. Thanks to God for my Redeemer. Thanks for all that does provide. Thanks for times that boil memory. Thanks for Jesus by my side. Thanks for pleasant balmy springtime. Thanks for dark and dreary fall. Thanks for tears I now forgotten. Thanks for peace within my soul. Thanks for prayers that thou hast answered. Thanks for blood that thou hast denied. Thanks for storms that I have wept. Thanks for all that does supply. Thanks for pain and thanks for pleasure. Thanks for comfort in despair. Thanks for grace that none can measure. Thanks for love beyond compare. Thanks for voices by the wayside. Thanks for lords their stance will take. Thanks for hope and thanks for fire-side. Thanks for hope that sleep with rain. Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow. Thanks for heaviness within. Thanks for hope and thanks for sorrow. Thanks for all eternity. Amen, church. Great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. .