Understanding Jealousy and Envy in Life

All right, well, good morning, everybody, or good afternoon. For those of you live and also for those of you attending or listening to this recording online, welcome. It's been a little while since we've done our messages. I think it's been a couple of months or so, so I'm glad to be back into it. So this is a new year. This is 2022. I'm excited. This message that we actually wrote for you today was prepared a couple of months ago, so I'm going to actually tie in some of the new year fresh start concept into this message. Because I think for many of us, we all need a fresh start, whether it be a fresh start vocationally, a fresh start with our relationships, maybe a fresh start with our relationship with God, or a fresh start with our health, spiritual, emotional, physical health. So this is the time all around the world where this is the one time of the year where everybody is considering reassessing their lives and considering a fresh start. We are now into 2022. And, and many people are thinking about what their new year's resolutions will be. So, so this is actually a pretty decent message that we're going to be looking at that could tie into this fresh start concept. And so for, you know, the title of this message actually is going to be focusing more on, you know, kind of this, this wilderness mentalities that we've been looking at for the past nine weeks. And we're actually, believe it or not, coming to an end with this series. We have, I think, one more after this. So, you know, if you're new or this is the first time listening to this message, we've actually been doing this series for almost a few months now, looking at this wilderness mentalities, you know, from the book from Battlefield of the Minds from Joyce Meyer. And it's really just identifying what was it that kept the Israelites in the desert when they could have been. went to the promised land in 11 days? Why were they stuck for 40 years? What did they need to learn? And so this book has been amazing at teaching us this concept of where we're at in our minds and what's keeping us stuck in either our past or our pain or our hurts, habits, and hangups. So this message today, I'm pretty excited about because I can really, really identify with it. And we also want to encourage you to maybe go back and listen to the previous messages. If you missed some of them, maybe you can identify with some of the previous wilderness mentality. So let's kick this off. In John chapter 21, verses 21 and 22, it says, when Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if I want him to stay, which means to survive or live until I come, what is that to you? What concern is it of yours? You follow me. So this is the amplified version. If you notice, there's parentheses kind of giving you some key words in there to kind of look at. But I want to give this verse some context. So Jesus had already been crucified and resurrected, and he was making appearances here and there. And so he appeared to Peter and some of the disciples. He actually appeared to about over 500 people or so. And he was he was around for a while. I think he was around for a little while after after he was crucified and he was resurrected. So Jesus had had breakfast with them. And he asked, if you remember from before the night he was going to be tried, Peter had denied Jesus three times. If you remember that before the rooster crows. So now he's back, he's resurrected. And now he's asking Peter. three times if he loved him. So Jesus is also kind of explaining to him and telling him, prepping him for the hardships that he's about to endure in order to be one of the apostles, in order to carry on the message of Jesus. So Peter turned and saw John and immediately asked Jesus what his will was for John. He wanted to know what was the will for John. And he basically wanted to make sure John would also... go through hard times like he is about to go through hard times. So there's a little bit of envy, jealousy there. He can sense in Peter's voice as he asks that. And Jesus told Peter basically to mind his own business, which leads us to wilderness mentality number nine. Why shouldn't I be jealous and envious when everybody, sorry, there's a, there's a cutoff there. So basically what I'm saying, when everybody has more than you, basically, it's kind of how you envision that. So envy and jealousy or minding other people's business can keep people in the wilderness mentalities. And that's what the Israelites were struggling with, too. We're going to look at some specific verses on jealous and envy today and comparing, you know, looking to see if we can have some internal reflection to see if we struggle with this. But let's look at the definition of envy and jealousy. The definition of envy. is a noun the noun definition is a feeling of discontent or resentfulness while longing for someone else's possessions qualities or luck so it's exactly what i said previously it's wanting what other people have that maybe you don't have maybe you feel they have more than you or there's an area that they have like maybe materialism or a relationship that you kind of envy um so you're basically comparing what someone else uh has in comparison to yourself and what they have. And you're basically doing this in an unhealthy way. Whereas jealousy is the feelings of envy and apprehension and bitterness. So this is where it gets to another level where you take the envy of comparing and it goes to another level where you start to feel resentful and bitter. So consider jealousy as more of a byproduct of envy. It can be more long-term where envy is more certain. circumstantial. You can become hostile towards a person that you're jealous of, a family member, you kind of maybe either aggressively or passive aggressively treat them differently. When you're jealous, this often leads to some sort of action, either aggressively or passive aggressively. Jealousy is not something we want to admit. I guess maybe we feel ashamed to admit it. Maybe it makes us look weak or admitting that we see something better in someone else. So we oftentimes we take this emotion and we hide it. but yet we still act on it subconsciously. It can be embarrassing once discovered, but it's very common. I think more than three-fourths of all studies that they have a study on this, participants reported experiencing envy in the last year, while slightly more with women, 79.4%, and with men, 74.1%. So it's a majority of us have jealousy tendencies. Now, the experience declined with age. About 80 percent of people younger than 30 reported feeling envy in the last year. So it kind of gradually goes down. Maybe we mature a little bit. But I want to show you some signs. Maybe you can kind of relate to some of these signs of jealousy. According to an article, Signs of Jealousy from Psych Central, we often sometimes we don't celebrate other people's success. Right. This is a very common thing. Let's look at these four. Actually, you don't celebrate their success. Um, maybe you've ever found yourself feeling annoyed, uh, that, you know, someone got praised for doing something well, maybe, or it's just kind of a feeling of discomfort, uh, feeling like others are complimenting them too much. Maybe there's a sibling or some family member that gets all the attention and you kind of Jim, maybe the Jan syndrome. I call it the Jan syndrome, uh, from Brady bunch, you know, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, why is she getting all the attention? Uh, or if you're in a vocational setting, uh, it's maybe not sharing in your coworkers promotion. Maybe you wanted that. promotion and you're not happy that you didn't get it. So you're kind of jealous that they got it. Let's look at the second one. You act passive aggressively towards them. So passive aggressive behavior is another anxiety or fear driven response. It tends to occur when we don't want to directly act out to make it known. So we start, you know, we start doing things like quietly doing some things. We become moody when we're around that person. subconsciously we're just doing these things. And so your jealousy often perks up once they leave. So it's just, you know, there's just something to look out for. The third one is you start to avoid this is a common sign of jealousy. If you're actively avoiding someone, it could be a sign that you're jealous of them. You may find yourself maybe skipping meetings with them or get togethers that they're attending just to avoid interacting with them. So that's common. And then the fourth one is you become overly critical of them. You know, when you're jealous of someone, you maybe you find it hard, you know, to compliment them. So you actually do the opposite, you become overly critical of them. And this can go along with not celebrating the success, the first one. So I want to give you guys some causes of jealousy, too. So these are the signs and I'm going to give you the causes. Fear is a big component of jealousy. So we want to we want to kind of Remember that as we're going through these eight causes. So the first one is being insecure or having a poor self-image, you know, fear of abandonment or betrayal. So these are kind of the risk factors, I guess you can say. If you have these eight symptoms or these eight things, you're more prone to jealousy. These are the causes of jealousy. So if you have abandonment issues or betrayal issues. The third one is if you have intense possessiveness or desire for control. Or you can have a misguided sense of ownership over a spouse. which tends to kind of be stemming from insecurity or fear. The fifth one is having unrealistic expectations about your marriage in general. The sixth one is maintaining an unrealistic expectation of a spouse, right? The seventh one is reliving a hurtful experience of abandonment in the past. And then the eighth one is worrying about losing someone or something important. So as you go through these eight, as you're reading through these eight, you'll see that fear of loss or fear of becoming obsolete or fear of becoming no longer valued. Those are kind of the core common messages with each of these eight causes. So that's something to remember. Now we're going to get to the message. The four things to remember about jealousy. Let's look at the first one. I'm going to do the first two and my mom is going to do the final two. The first one is jealousy and envy are harmful. to your life. Jealousy and envy are harmful to your life. Envy and jealousy can cause a person to behave in a way that is callous, that is crude, and even sometimes they've considered it animalistic at times. We go against our judgment. We start to act like impulsive, make impulsive decisions, right? We lose sound judgment and make impulsive decisions. Let's look at Proverbs 1430. A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health. of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottedness of the bones. So what we know about jealousy is that it can destroy our lives and it can destroy our relationships. Jealousy is the main reason why Joseph's brothers threw him into slavery, right? If you remember that story, jealousy caused a division at the church of Corinth, right? when Paul had to intervene and call him out on it, right? There was jealousy between Leah and Rachel because of Jacob, right? We know about that story. And there was also jealousy from King Saul for David because he was taking over as king. So we hear about jealousy throughout the Bible, and it's a very common emotion. But out of control, jealousy can lead to horrible things, could lead to violence, stalking, and different forms of abuse, right? In James chapter 3 verses 14 and 15, it says, But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder. You find disorder in every evil practice. So if you find someone who seems to have more favor than you, don't hate that individual. You have to, at that moment, trust God. Do what he asks you to do and believe him for favor. He will provide, right, in the right way, the best way for you. Maybe you're not supposed to have what that person has. Maybe you're supposed to have something else. Nobody's supposed to have the same stuff or be the same person, right? We're all different and we all have different purposes on earth. So before I jump to the second one, I just want to kind of tie this into New Year's, right? Many of us are planning our New Year's resolutions. Many of us want to improve. Many of us want to make better choices. But be careful with the motives of each of these New Year's resolutions. Are they rooted with envy? Are they rooted because you want to have what the neighbor has or what the Joneses have or what your brother or sister has, right? Are you wanting to covet? what other people have. And so because of that desire to want what other people have and envy what other people have, we oftentimes make impulsive New Year's resolutions, right? You know, many people join gyms, not necessarily for health. A lot of people do choose for health, but a lot of people choose going to the gym because of looks. They want to look like somebody else. They want to, they want to look differently than they look. And maybe that's okay, but if it's rooted in vanity, if it's rooted in envy, that's something that God does not want us to do. So it's very important that we have to catch our motives. Also the same, the same way can be said about people that want more money. They want to have a better paying job. Maybe they need it to support their families, but sometimes people want a better paying job. So just so they can get more stuff, just so they can have more stuff to show off. And maybe that's rooted with envy too. So it's really important to, as we're, as we're doing these new year's resolutions to pray over them, to pray that God will give you the right motives and the right resolutions to not waste time with these, these nonsense, jealousy and envy thoughts, but to focus on his plan and his path, just like the song said earlier. that what for not for those that were watching the recording, but for those live, there was a song that talked about trusting God's plan and God's path for your life. And that's exactly what we need to do. So now I want to go to the second thing to remember when it comes to envy and jealousy. This is important. I'm really happy to talk about this one. Don't compare yourself to others. Let me repeat. Don't compare yourself to others. When I was young, I used to do this all the time. And I don't even think my mom was aware that I was doing this all the time. I would compare popularity, I would compare muscles, I would even compare my skin if I had acne, right? I would compare the clothes that I was wearing, the hairstyles that I had, the grades, the shoes, the talents, the heights. I mean, it went on and on. I was just comparing all the time. And I was always falling short. in my own eyes, in my own mind. I always felt inferior to those I was comparing myself to. But every once in a while, I would sometimes be better at somebody at that moment, whether it be basketball or something, and I would instantly get filled with pride, instantly. And maybe I just was so longing just to feel some sense of ego or pride that I would just really try to absorb it as much as I can until someone else better came along, which didn't take very long for them to knock me back down. to discouragement again. So it was a trap. It was a cycle that I kept, you know, going through a comparing cycle or trap. And it really led me to a lot of envy and jealousy. I was jealous for most of my childhood and teenage years. I remember as a kid, I had all those things, you know, as I compared and, you know, just kind of, kind of having all those, whether it be looks or, or like the things I said earlier, but as an adult, we still compare, right? It doesn't go away, right? Maybe it should. Maybe it gets a little bit less, but we still compare. We live in a world of comparison. Social media is all about bragging and posting our photos. And this is what we got. This is what we did. This is okay. So we compare bank accounts. We compare houses. We compare our looks. Hey, Julie, you're not muted. Just to let you know. Oh, okay. That's okay. I got it. See the mic for a second. No worries. If you could just mute yourself, that would be great. So we, like I said, we compare bank accounts. We compare houses. We compare looks still. We compare spouses. We compare children. We compare our clothes still. We compare our cars, our hobbies, our vacations, even the size of our TVs, our careers, and now our choices in our lives. So this is a big time of the year because this is oftentimes where we do this self-reflection. And. many of us can't help but compare what we have to our neighbors and to other people that we see. So we have to, you know, we have to be careful with social media, as I mentioned before, because social media enhances the comparison trap, right? So now I can, you know, spend a whole sermon on this topic. I could, but, you know, maybe we can save this for another time. But what I want you to note is the culture of comparison that we're in. Our kids are brought up into a comparing society where they have to unlearn this bad habit because it's all around them. And it starts at a very young age with parents comparing kids, teachers comparing students, and so the process begins. But let's look at Luke chapter 22, verses 24 through 26. It says, a dispute also arose among them. as to which of them was considered to be greatest. And Jesus said to them, the kings of the Gentiles, the Lord over them, and those who exercise authority over them call themselves benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. So this verse right here was actually a conversation. that happened during the famous Last Supper. And Jesus had distributed the bread and the wine, and he was also predicting his own death and stated that his betrayer was dining with him. So once Jesus said this, the disciples tried to figure out who it was in verse 23, right? So what was interesting in this was the conversation quickly turned to this topic, right? And Jesus'response to their dispute. was saying that the one who is the greatest is the one who would be willing to be considered the least or the servant. And so Jesus spent a great deal of time teaching his disciples that the kingdom of God is usually the direct opposite of the way the world lives and the way the world is or the flesh, as we call it. And Jesus taught things like many who are first will be last and the last will be first, which is in Mark chapter 10 or rejoice. with those who are blessed, right? Luke 15, or pray for your enemies and bless those who mistreat you in Matthew chapter five. So these are all concepts that the world does not understand. These are radical concepts that we all need to learn about how to love and how to live our lives because Jesus is teaching us that true power comes from things the world doesn't value. So let's go to second Corinthians chapter. 10 verses 12. It says, we do not dare classify ourselves or classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise, right? You know, oftentimes it's been said, you know, with people that are competitive to not compare yourselves with one another, but to compare yourselves with yourselves. It even says right there not to do that, right? It's a waste of time to compare because God makes us unique. with special talents and abilities and passions and personalities and experiences that nobody else has gone through. And to compare is an insult to God. And some of us are meant to be doctors. Some of us are meant to be lawyers. Some of us are meant to be leaders and pastors and nurses and cooks and construction workers. And we can all glorify God with all those roles. But where we go off course is when we start caring more about what the world thinks of us than what. God thinks. And in Galatians chapter one, verses 12, it says, am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Right? Let's stop there. Where do we want our approval to come from? Are we seeking, are we still seeking the approval of our parents or our friends or families or our boss? Or are we more concerned about the approval of God? It says, or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be. a servant of Christ. See, that's a very scary and yet convicting final sentence. I'll repeat. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. So maybe that might be for some of us, our new year's resolution to focus less on pleasing people and to focus more on being a servant of Christ. This is where the desire to compare starts. We want to be valued and accepted by others. If you take this desire away, then you would not have no need to really think about it, to compare yourself to others. If you take away the desire to please other people, you would really have no need to compare yourself to others, right? Who are you trying to win the approval of, right? Is this desire keeping you in the comparison trap like it did for me for most of my young life? It's time to let go. of trying to please others and claim your true purpose and identity in serving and growing in Christ. In Isaiah chapter 64 verses 8, it says, yet you Lord are our father. We are the clay. You are the potter. We are all the work of your hand. We know that God doesn't make accidents. You are not an accident. Anybody that's listening to this message, you are not an accident. And God also doesn't make any defected products either. That's something we also have to remember. He doesn't make any defected products. You are perfect just the way he made you. But yet God wants to grow you and make you more like Christ. That's a beautiful thing. And every part of you was formed in your mother's womb, your mother's womb, exactly the way he wanted it to be made. The Bible says you were wonderfully made with no flaws and no defects. And this same God that made a perfect and beautiful sunset. also made you. And it takes more pride in making you. He takes more pride in making you than anything else. Let me repeat. God takes more pride in making you than any of his other creation. Let us pray. Lord, for those that are listening to this message that may struggle with envy or jealousy, maybe they haven't admitted it, or maybe they can admit it, but they just... You know, it's just a hard thing to admit, or maybe they're just not aware of it. You know, some of us have it so subconscious that we're just not aware that we struggle with envy and jealousy all the time. We can be comparing our careers, our relationships, our health. It's a trap, Lord. It's a trap that we must avoid. But it's countercultural to avoid this trap. It's countercultural to do it your way. And it's really going against the grain. It's going against our society and what we... what we're learning in the media, what we're learning in social media. So Lord, we want to give you 24 seven access to our minds. Just, just take over our minds. Give us the peace and acceptance that you made us wonderfully made. You made us with no flaws. Yes, we have areas that you want us to improve on. You have areas that you want us to work out to become more like Christ, but you made us and that's a huge thing. And you take more pride in us than you do a sunset. or any of the other creations that are so incredible, Lord. So help us to let that sink in. Let that sink in for all of us that are listening to this prayer, that we can just start there, that our identity is in you, Jesus, and not in our materialism, not in our jobs, not even in our roles, but our identity is in you, Jesus. And pleasing you is all that matters. So, Lord, thank you so much for this new year. For those of us that have lost loved ones this past year, including myself, I just pray that you help to heal our wounds, to help to comfort us during this difficult time, and to help us to look forward ahead at what could be amazing in 2022. And if it's not, and we know it's not going to be a perfect year, but we know that you are a perfect God, and you can help us and guide us and be with us every step of the way. So as we make our New Year's resolutions, Lord, help us to put you first. We want you to plan our New Year's resolution because you're really planning our year, if you think about it. So we want it to be you that's guiding us, not our own envies, not our own jealousies, our own selfish ambitions, but we want it to be you, Lord Jesus. And we pray all these things in Jesus'name. Amen. Okay, Chris, thank you so much. I personally learned a lot from your part of this message. It's a lot to, you should be aware of these things because it is such a common trap. As you said, jealousy and envy are harmful to your life. And two, don't compare yourself to others. Now my part is avoid. Worldly competition and desires. And man, is that hard when you're down here in the world, because that's what the world is. It's all about putting yourself front. It's all about being the smartest. It's about being the prettiest. I mean, all the traps you could possibly imagine, or even in things. My TV's not as big as your TV or my car. I mean, it just is endless how you can get in this trap. So what does it say in Galatians 5, 26? It says, let us not become vain, glorious, and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another. So we know jealousy and envy are torments from hell, literally torments. But As Chris says, and what I'm saying too, is do not be afraid to be honest to God about it. Do not be afraid to bring that up. Those feelings. I will share you a story. Chris had a story. I have a story. And he knows this story. I had the most amazing lady, and she's still very deep, deep, close friend of mine. And she was, we served together a lot. And it got to a point where. We were hearing about all the things that she was doing in a church ministry. And I was starting to get twidged by it, triggered by it, you know, annoyed. And I couldn't figure out why. And the Lord told me it was envy. You know, it's a funny thing. You can have envy, obviously, in the movie industry, who acts better, who does this, that. But you can also have it when you're doing good things in the church. Who's serving more? Who's getting more validity? And... With that being said, envy can ruin your motive for even doing good. It can ruin the motive. Even though you may be doing wonderful things, what is your motive? You have to look at that. And my motive back then was validity. a very insecure person. I wanted validation in what I was doing in serving within the church. And God says, you confess it to him and also to confess it to her. Well, I confessed it to the whole small group because she was also my co-host in our small group. And once I did that, I was free. I broke the chain of the evil one. I broke the chain with that. It completely wiped it out. And I am so... grateful for that freedom that I highly recommend if you have any twinge of it first of all take it to the Lord and then if it's a person you know take it to that person and you will find instant freedom because you stepped into a trust a trust with the Lord and did not let Satan play with your heart anymore and what does it say in first John 2 16 for all that is in the world you The desires of the flesh and the desires of the eye and the pride of life is not from the Father, but it's from the world. So the eyes, if we see something that's prettier, I have to have it. Or the flesh or all these things, whatever it is, these desires, this is not from God. God told us he loves us so much. He wants us to be free of all these traps, free of all these things. Now, in number four, the next one, the last one I have is embrace the better life God has for you. So in three, Job two, it says, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers. I think we should really remember this all the time. We are not. dancing to the same drummer that the world is dancing to. We are relying on the Lord. So remember all promotions for the believers come from God, not man. You want a job or you want a marriage or you want anything that is blessed by God, it comes from him and he will always give you more than the world could ever give you. Because what the world gives you, you're never satisfied. It goes on and on. I can tell you that about a cookie. The world gives you cookies. I want more, more, more, more, more. Never satisfied. So looking at those things of what the world offers, comparing it to what the Lord offers, because he gives you, remember he said, remember Jesus said, I give you water and you will never thirst again. His water is living water. You will never thirst again. So we should think about that. We should think about God. Putting our trust, putting our faith, putting our future in the Lord and just staying closer to him. Staying closer to him rather than clinging to what people all around you have. In Jeremiah 29, 11, it says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and future. When we need validity, where do we go to? Do we go to other people to tell us how great we are? Do we, what do we do? We need to constantly get our peace, our grace, our joy from God. And by doing that, we have to focus on him and trust. So in your final point here, I want you to always remember that getting ahead of someone else does not make you more valuable to God than you already are. Set your mind to be happy for others and trust God with yourself. Replace any envy and jealousy with the word of God and accept that you were created uniquely by God and for God. The way we look at things down here is not at all what it's going to be like in heaven. We are not going to be thinking crazy things like who's prettier, who's smarter. Who's better at this? Who has more? Who has a bigger? We're not going to be thinking about things like that. We are just going to be so grateful to be in the presence of the Lord in the light of Jesus. That's where we're going to get our joy. And it's nothing. We're getting no joy. We will never get any joy from this world if you trust him. So I'm going to leave you with some discussion questions. And then afterwards I will close and we'll talk one-on-one. So number one, who have you been jealous of in past or the present? Think about that. Is there anybody that's ever done that? I sure knew one or probably many more. Number two, what about yourself do you tend to compare with others? And this is something to be honest with, to have Jesus right there with you and ask him when you're doing this, when you're looking at this question, say, Lord, help me. I want truth. I want transparency with you. Help me with this feeling. Or these questions, even if I buried it down, help me with these questions. And number three, have you accepted that you are wonderfully made by God? And read, yes, read Psalm 139, 13 and 14. I have that right in front of me. I love Psalm 139. When I'm at the lowest of my low, I will pull that out because that tells you, this is his word, that tells you how intimate he is with you, how he knows you. every detail of you and how you are perfectly made. And the number four, what steps can you take to step out of the envy trap and into the light of truth about yourself? It is good to learn about that because otherwise, if you don't learn or answer any of these questions, especially the last one, you will be triggered by things you won't even understand. And it's best that we understand and just not float from one reaction to the other, that we really assess what the Lord wants us to learn about. So I'm going to close in prayer right now. Lord Jesus, we are just ping pongs, bouncing back and forth with reactions, not even understanding why we're jealous, why we're envious, why we feel we have to have these things. We are just not turning to you, Lord, and help us. Help us to really find out who we are. What makes us tick? Because you did perfectly make us in every way. And we want to trust that. We want to believe that. And by doing that, give us your grace and peace because it goes together. You've given us the grace of salvation. You've given us the grace of, oh my goodness, of being able to communicate with you and talk to you, the creator of the whole world. Like Chris says, the sun sets everything. We can have connection with you because of Jesus. And we are so grateful, Lord. And through that, because of that, we pray for your peace. Peace releases from these chains of envy and jealousy and wants and things that we really will never care about when we are finally with you permanently in heaven, Lord. So help us. Give us strength and awareness. The strength. and awareness that you want us to have. And I ask this in your precious name, Jesus. Amen.

I think it's been a couple of months or so, so I'm glad to be back into it. So this is a new year. This is 2022. I'm excited.

This message that we actually wrote for you today was prepared a couple of months ago, so I'm going to actually tie in some of the new year fresh start concept into this message. Because I think for many of us, we all need a fresh start, whether it be a fresh start vocationally, a fresh start with our relationships, maybe a fresh start with our relationship with God, or a fresh start with our health, spiritual, emotional, physical health. So this is the time all around the world where this is the one time of the year where everybody is considering reassessing their lives and considering a fresh start. We are now into 2022. And, and many people are thinking about what their new year's resolutions will be.

So, so this is actually a pretty decent message that we're going to be looking at that could tie into this fresh start concept. And so for, you know, the title of this message actually is going to be focusing more on, you know, kind of this, this wilderness mentalities that we've been looking at for the past nine weeks. And we're actually, believe it or not, coming to an end with this series.

We have, I think, one more after this. So, you know, if you're new or this is the first time listening to this message, we've actually been doing this series for almost a few months now, looking at this wilderness mentalities, you know, from the book from Battlefield of the Minds from Joyce Meyer. And it's really just identifying what was it that kept the Israelites in the desert when they could have been.

went to the promised land in 11 days? Why were they stuck for 40 years? What did they need to learn? And so this book has been amazing at teaching us this concept of where we're at in our minds and what's keeping us stuck in either our past or our pain or our hurts, habits, and hangups. So this message today, I'm pretty excited about because I can really, really identify with it.

And we also want to encourage you to maybe go back and listen to the previous messages. If you missed some of them, maybe you can identify with some of the previous wilderness mentality. So let's kick this off.

In John chapter 21, verses 21 and 22, it says, when Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, if I want him to stay, which means to survive or live until I come, what is that to you? What concern is it of yours?

You follow me. So this is the amplified version. If you notice, there's parentheses kind of giving you some key words in there to kind of look at. But I want to give this verse some context. So Jesus had already been crucified and resurrected, and he was making appearances here and there.

And so he appeared to Peter and some of the disciples. He actually appeared to about over 500 people or so. And he was he was around for a while.

I think he was around for a little while after after he was crucified and he was resurrected. So Jesus had had breakfast with them. And he asked, if you remember from before the night he was going to be tried, Peter had denied Jesus three times.

If you remember that before the rooster crows. So now he's back, he's resurrected. And now he's asking Peter. three times if he loved him.

So Jesus is also kind of explaining to him and telling him, prepping him for the hardships that he's about to endure in order to be one of the apostles, in order to carry on the message of Jesus. So Peter turned and saw John and immediately asked Jesus what his will was for John. He wanted to know what was the will for John. And he basically wanted to make sure John would also... go through hard times like he is about to go through hard times.

So there's a little bit of envy, jealousy there. He can sense in Peter's voice as he asks that. And Jesus told Peter basically to mind his own business, which leads us to wilderness mentality number nine. Why shouldn't I be jealous and envious when everybody, sorry, there's a, there's a cutoff there. So basically what I'm saying, when everybody has more than you, basically, it's kind of how you envision that.

So envy and jealousy or minding other people's business can keep people in the wilderness mentalities. And that's what the Israelites were struggling with, too. We're going to look at some specific verses on jealous and envy today and comparing, you know, looking to see if we can have some internal reflection to see if we struggle with this.

But let's look at the definition of envy and jealousy. The definition of envy. is a noun the noun definition is a feeling of discontent or resentfulness while longing for someone else's possessions qualities or luck so it's exactly what i said previously it's wanting what other people have that maybe you don't have maybe you feel they have more than you or there's an area that they have like maybe materialism or a relationship that you kind of envy um so you're basically comparing what someone else uh has in comparison to yourself and what they have.

And you're basically doing this in an unhealthy way. Whereas jealousy is the feelings of envy and apprehension and bitterness. So this is where it gets to another level where you take the envy of comparing and it goes to another level where you start to feel resentful and bitter.

So consider jealousy as more of a byproduct of envy. It can be more long-term where envy is more certain. circumstantial.

You can become hostile towards a person that you're jealous of, a family member, you kind of maybe either aggressively or passive aggressively treat them differently. When you're jealous, this often leads to some sort of action, either aggressively or passive aggressively. Jealousy is not something we want to admit. I guess maybe we feel ashamed to admit it.

Maybe it makes us look weak or admitting that we see something better in someone else. So we oftentimes we take this emotion and we hide it. but yet we still act on it subconsciously. It can be embarrassing once discovered, but it's very common.

I think more than three-fourths of all studies that they have a study on this, participants reported experiencing envy in the last year, while slightly more with women, 79.4%, and with men, 74.1%. So it's a majority of us have jealousy tendencies. Now, the experience declined with age.

About 80 percent of people younger than 30 reported feeling envy in the last year. So it kind of gradually goes down. Maybe we mature a little bit.

But I want to show you some signs. Maybe you can kind of relate to some of these signs of jealousy. According to an article, Signs of Jealousy from Psych Central, we often sometimes we don't celebrate other people's success. Right. This is a very common thing.

Let's look at these four. Actually, you don't celebrate their success. Um, maybe you've ever found yourself feeling annoyed, uh, that, you know, someone got praised for doing something well, maybe, or it's just kind of a feeling of discomfort, uh, feeling like others are complimenting them too much. Maybe there's a sibling or some family member that gets all the attention and you kind of Jim, maybe the Jan syndrome. I call it the Jan syndrome, uh, from Brady bunch, you know, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, why is she getting all the attention?

Uh, or if you're in a vocational setting, uh, it's maybe not sharing in your coworkers promotion. Maybe you wanted that. promotion and you're not happy that you didn't get it. So you're kind of jealous that they got it. Let's look at the second one.

You act passive aggressively towards them. So passive aggressive behavior is another anxiety or fear driven response. It tends to occur when we don't want to directly act out to make it known. So we start, you know, we start doing things like quietly doing some things.

We become moody when we're around that person. subconsciously we're just doing these things. And so your jealousy often perks up once they leave. So it's just, you know, there's just something to look out for.

The third one is you start to avoid this is a common sign of jealousy. If you're actively avoiding someone, it could be a sign that you're jealous of them. You may find yourself maybe skipping meetings with them or get togethers that they're attending just to avoid interacting with them. So that's common. And then the fourth one is you become overly critical of them.

You know, when you're jealous of someone, you maybe you find it hard, you know, to compliment them. So you actually do the opposite, you become overly critical of them. And this can go along with not celebrating the success, the first one.

So I want to give you guys some causes of jealousy, too. So these are the signs and I'm going to give you the causes. Fear is a big component of jealousy. So we want to we want to kind of Remember that as we're going through these eight causes. So the first one is being insecure or having a poor self-image, you know, fear of abandonment or betrayal.

So these are kind of the risk factors, I guess you can say. If you have these eight symptoms or these eight things, you're more prone to jealousy. These are the causes of jealousy. So if you have abandonment issues or betrayal issues. The third one is if you have intense possessiveness or desire for control.

Or you can have a misguided sense of ownership over a spouse. which tends to kind of be stemming from insecurity or fear. The fifth one is having unrealistic expectations about your marriage in general. The sixth one is maintaining an unrealistic expectation of a spouse, right? The seventh one is reliving a hurtful experience of abandonment in the past.

And then the eighth one is worrying about losing someone or something important. So as you go through these eight, as you're reading through these eight, you'll see that fear of loss or fear of becoming obsolete or fear of becoming no longer valued. Those are kind of the core common messages with each of these eight causes.

So that's something to remember. Now we're going to get to the message. The four things to remember about jealousy. Let's look at the first one.

I'm going to do the first two and my mom is going to do the final two. The first one is jealousy and envy are harmful. to your life.

Jealousy and envy are harmful to your life. Envy and jealousy can cause a person to behave in a way that is callous, that is crude, and even sometimes they've considered it animalistic at times. We go against our judgment. We start to act like impulsive, make impulsive decisions, right? We lose sound judgment and make impulsive decisions.

Let's look at Proverbs 1430. A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health. of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottedness of the bones. So what we know about jealousy is that it can destroy our lives and it can destroy our relationships. Jealousy is the main reason why Joseph's brothers threw him into slavery, right? If you remember that story, jealousy caused a division at the church of Corinth, right?

when Paul had to intervene and call him out on it, right? There was jealousy between Leah and Rachel because of Jacob, right? We know about that story. And there was also jealousy from King Saul for David because he was taking over as king.

So we hear about jealousy throughout the Bible, and it's a very common emotion. But out of control, jealousy can lead to horrible things, could lead to violence, stalking, and different forms of abuse, right? In James chapter 3 verses 14 and 15, it says, But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such wisdom does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder. You find disorder in every evil practice. So if you find someone who seems to have more favor than you, don't hate that individual.

You have to, at that moment, trust God. Do what he asks you to do and believe him for favor. He will provide, right, in the right way, the best way for you. Maybe you're not supposed to have what that person has.

Maybe you're supposed to have something else. Nobody's supposed to have the same stuff or be the same person, right? We're all different and we all have different purposes on earth. So before I jump to the second one, I just want to kind of tie this into New Year's, right?

Many of us are planning our New Year's resolutions. Many of us want to improve. Many of us want to make better choices.

But be careful with the motives of each of these New Year's resolutions. Are they rooted with envy? Are they rooted because you want to have what the neighbor has or what the Joneses have or what your brother or sister has, right?

Are you wanting to covet? what other people have. And so because of that desire to want what other people have and envy what other people have, we oftentimes make impulsive New Year's resolutions, right? You know, many people join gyms, not necessarily for health. A lot of people do choose for health, but a lot of people choose going to the gym because of looks.

They want to look like somebody else. They want to, they want to look differently than they look. And maybe that's okay, but if it's rooted in vanity, if it's rooted in envy, that's something that God does not want us to do.

So it's very important that we have to catch our motives. Also the same, the same way can be said about people that want more money. They want to have a better paying job.

Maybe they need it to support their families, but sometimes people want a better paying job. So just so they can get more stuff, just so they can have more stuff to show off. And maybe that's rooted with envy too.

So it's really important to, as we're, as we're doing these new year's resolutions to pray over them, to pray that God will give you the right motives and the right resolutions to not waste time with these, these nonsense, jealousy and envy thoughts, but to focus on his plan and his path, just like the song said earlier. that what for not for those that were watching the recording, but for those live, there was a song that talked about trusting God's plan and God's path for your life. And that's exactly what we need to do. So now I want to go to the second thing to remember when it comes to envy and jealousy.

This is important. I'm really happy to talk about this one. Don't compare yourself to others.

Let me repeat. Don't compare yourself to others. When I was young, I used to do this all the time.

And I don't even think my mom was aware that I was doing this all the time. I would compare popularity, I would compare muscles, I would even compare my skin if I had acne, right? I would compare the clothes that I was wearing, the hairstyles that I had, the grades, the shoes, the talents, the heights. I mean, it went on and on.

I was just comparing all the time. And I was always falling short. in my own eyes, in my own mind. I always felt inferior to those I was comparing myself to. But every once in a while, I would sometimes be better at somebody at that moment, whether it be basketball or something, and I would instantly get filled with pride, instantly.

And maybe I just was so longing just to feel some sense of ego or pride that I would just really try to absorb it as much as I can until someone else better came along, which didn't take very long for them to knock me back down. to discouragement again. So it was a trap.

It was a cycle that I kept, you know, going through a comparing cycle or trap. And it really led me to a lot of envy and jealousy. I was jealous for most of my childhood and teenage years.

I remember as a kid, I had all those things, you know, as I compared and, you know, just kind of, kind of having all those, whether it be looks or, or like the things I said earlier, but as an adult, we still compare, right? It doesn't go away, right? Maybe it should.

Maybe it gets a little bit less, but we still compare. We live in a world of comparison. Social media is all about bragging and posting our photos.

And this is what we got. This is what we did. This is okay.

So we compare bank accounts. We compare houses. We compare our looks. Hey, Julie, you're not muted. Just to let you know.

Oh, okay. That's okay. I got it. See the mic for a second.

No worries. If you could just mute yourself, that would be great. So we, like I said, we compare bank accounts. We compare houses.

We compare looks still. We compare spouses. We compare children.

We compare our clothes still. We compare our cars, our hobbies, our vacations, even the size of our TVs, our careers, and now our choices in our lives. So this is a big time of the year because this is oftentimes where we do this self-reflection. And. many of us can't help but compare what we have to our neighbors and to other people that we see.

So we have to, you know, we have to be careful with social media, as I mentioned before, because social media enhances the comparison trap, right? So now I can, you know, spend a whole sermon on this topic. I could, but, you know, maybe we can save this for another time.

But what I want you to note is the culture of comparison that we're in. Our kids are brought up into a comparing society where they have to unlearn this bad habit because it's all around them. And it starts at a very young age with parents comparing kids, teachers comparing students, and so the process begins. But let's look at Luke chapter 22, verses 24 through 26. It says, a dispute also arose among them.

as to which of them was considered to be greatest. And Jesus said to them, the kings of the Gentiles, the Lord over them, and those who exercise authority over them call themselves benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. So this verse right here was actually a conversation.

that happened during the famous Last Supper. And Jesus had distributed the bread and the wine, and he was also predicting his own death and stated that his betrayer was dining with him. So once Jesus said this, the disciples tried to figure out who it was in verse 23, right?

So what was interesting in this was the conversation quickly turned to this topic, right? And Jesus'response to their dispute. was saying that the one who is the greatest is the one who would be willing to be considered the least or the servant. And so Jesus spent a great deal of time teaching his disciples that the kingdom of God is usually the direct opposite of the way the world lives and the way the world is or the flesh, as we call it.

And Jesus taught things like many who are first will be last and the last will be first, which is in Mark chapter 10 or rejoice. with those who are blessed, right? Luke 15, or pray for your enemies and bless those who mistreat you in Matthew chapter five.

So these are all concepts that the world does not understand. These are radical concepts that we all need to learn about how to love and how to live our lives because Jesus is teaching us that true power comes from things the world doesn't value. So let's go to second Corinthians chapter.

10 verses 12. It says, we do not dare classify ourselves or classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise, right? You know, oftentimes it's been said, you know, with people that are competitive to not compare yourselves with one another, but to compare yourselves with yourselves. It even says right there not to do that, right? It's a waste of time to compare because God makes us unique.

with special talents and abilities and passions and personalities and experiences that nobody else has gone through. And to compare is an insult to God. And some of us are meant to be doctors. Some of us are meant to be lawyers. Some of us are meant to be leaders and pastors and nurses and cooks and construction workers.

And we can all glorify God with all those roles. But where we go off course is when we start caring more about what the world thinks of us than what. God thinks.

And in Galatians chapter one, verses 12, it says, am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Right? Let's stop there.

Where do we want our approval to come from? Are we seeking, are we still seeking the approval of our parents or our friends or families or our boss? Or are we more concerned about the approval of God? It says, or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be.

a servant of Christ. See, that's a very scary and yet convicting final sentence. I'll repeat. If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

So maybe that might be for some of us, our new year's resolution to focus less on pleasing people and to focus more on being a servant of Christ. This is where the desire to compare starts. We want to be valued and accepted by others. If you take this desire away, then you would not have no need to really think about it, to compare yourself to others. If you take away the desire to please other people, you would really have no need to compare yourself to others, right?

Who are you trying to win the approval of, right? Is this desire keeping you in the comparison trap like it did for me for most of my young life? It's time to let go.

of trying to please others and claim your true purpose and identity in serving and growing in Christ. In Isaiah chapter 64 verses 8, it says, yet you Lord are our father. We are the clay. You are the potter. We are all the work of your hand.

We know that God doesn't make accidents. You are not an accident. Anybody that's listening to this message, you are not an accident. And God also doesn't make any defected products either.

That's something we also have to remember. He doesn't make any defected products. You are perfect just the way he made you. But yet God wants to grow you and make you more like Christ.

That's a beautiful thing. And every part of you was formed in your mother's womb, your mother's womb, exactly the way he wanted it to be made. The Bible says you were wonderfully made with no flaws and no defects. And this same God that made a perfect and beautiful sunset.

also made you. And it takes more pride in making you. He takes more pride in making you than anything else. Let me repeat. God takes more pride in making you than any of his other creation.

Let us pray. Lord, for those that are listening to this message that may struggle with envy or jealousy, maybe they haven't admitted it, or maybe they can admit it, but they just... You know, it's just a hard thing to admit, or maybe they're just not aware of it.

You know, some of us have it so subconscious that we're just not aware that we struggle with envy and jealousy all the time. We can be comparing our careers, our relationships, our health. It's a trap, Lord.

It's a trap that we must avoid. But it's countercultural to avoid this trap. It's countercultural to do it your way.

And it's really going against the grain. It's going against our society and what we... what we're learning in the media, what we're learning in social media.

So Lord, we want to give you 24 seven access to our minds. Just, just take over our minds. Give us the peace and acceptance that you made us wonderfully made. You made us with no flaws.

Yes, we have areas that you want us to improve on. You have areas that you want us to work out to become more like Christ, but you made us and that's a huge thing. And you take more pride in us than you do a sunset. or any of the other creations that are so incredible, Lord. So help us to let that sink in.

Let that sink in for all of us that are listening to this prayer, that we can just start there, that our identity is in you, Jesus, and not in our materialism, not in our jobs, not even in our roles, but our identity is in you, Jesus. And pleasing you is all that matters. So, Lord, thank you so much for this new year. For those of us that have lost loved ones this past year, including myself, I just pray that you help to heal our wounds, to help to comfort us during this difficult time, and to help us to look forward ahead at what could be amazing in 2022. And if it's not, and we know it's not going to be a perfect year, but we know that you are a perfect God, and you can help us and guide us and be with us every step of the way.

So as we make our New Year's resolutions, Lord, help us to put you first. We want you to plan our New Year's resolution because you're really planning our year, if you think about it. So we want it to be you that's guiding us, not our own envies, not our own jealousies, our own selfish ambitions, but we want it to be you, Lord Jesus.

And we pray all these things in Jesus'name. Amen. Okay, Chris, thank you so much.

I personally learned a lot from your part of this message. It's a lot to, you should be aware of these things because it is such a common trap. As you said, jealousy and envy are harmful to your life. And two, don't compare yourself to others.

Now my part is avoid. Worldly competition and desires. And man, is that hard when you're down here in the world, because that's what the world is. It's all about putting yourself front.

It's all about being the smartest. It's about being the prettiest. I mean, all the traps you could possibly imagine, or even in things.

My TV's not as big as your TV or my car. I mean, it just is endless how you can get in this trap. So what does it say in Galatians 5, 26?

It says, let us not become vain, glorious, and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another. So we know jealousy and envy are torments from hell, literally torments. But As Chris says, and what I'm saying too, is do not be afraid to be honest to God about it.

Do not be afraid to bring that up. Those feelings. I will share you a story.

Chris had a story. I have a story. And he knows this story.

I had the most amazing lady, and she's still very deep, deep, close friend of mine. And she was, we served together a lot. And it got to a point where.

We were hearing about all the things that she was doing in a church ministry. And I was starting to get twidged by it, triggered by it, you know, annoyed. And I couldn't figure out why.

And the Lord told me it was envy. You know, it's a funny thing. You can have envy, obviously, in the movie industry, who acts better, who does this, that.

But you can also have it when you're doing good things in the church. Who's serving more? Who's getting more validity?

And... With that being said, envy can ruin your motive for even doing good. It can ruin the motive.

Even though you may be doing wonderful things, what is your motive? You have to look at that. And my motive back then was validity.

a very insecure person. I wanted validation in what I was doing in serving within the church. And God says, you confess it to him and also to confess it to her. Well, I confessed it to the whole small group because she was also my co-host in our small group. And once I did that, I was free.

I broke the chain of the evil one. I broke the chain with that. It completely wiped it out.

And I am so... grateful for that freedom that I highly recommend if you have any twinge of it first of all take it to the Lord and then if it's a person you know take it to that person and you will find instant freedom because you stepped into a trust a trust with the Lord and did not let Satan play with your heart anymore and what does it say in first John 2 16 for all that is in the world you The desires of the flesh and the desires of the eye and the pride of life is not from the Father, but it's from the world. So the eyes, if we see something that's prettier, I have to have it.

Or the flesh or all these things, whatever it is, these desires, this is not from God. God told us he loves us so much. He wants us to be free of all these traps, free of all these things.

Now, in number four, the next one, the last one I have is embrace the better life God has for you. So in three, Job two, it says, beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers. I think we should really remember this all the time.

We are not. dancing to the same drummer that the world is dancing to. We are relying on the Lord. So remember all promotions for the believers come from God, not man.

You want a job or you want a marriage or you want anything that is blessed by God, it comes from him and he will always give you more than the world could ever give you. Because what the world gives you, you're never satisfied. It goes on and on. I can tell you that about a cookie.

The world gives you cookies. I want more, more, more, more, more. Never satisfied. So looking at those things of what the world offers, comparing it to what the Lord offers, because he gives you, remember he said, remember Jesus said, I give you water and you will never thirst again. His water is living water.

You will never thirst again. So we should think about that. We should think about God.

Putting our trust, putting our faith, putting our future in the Lord and just staying closer to him. Staying closer to him rather than clinging to what people all around you have. In Jeremiah 29, 11, it says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and future. When we need validity, where do we go to?

Do we go to other people to tell us how great we are? Do we, what do we do? We need to constantly get our peace, our grace, our joy from God.

And by doing that, we have to focus on him and trust. So in your final point here, I want you to always remember that getting ahead of someone else does not make you more valuable to God than you already are. Set your mind to be happy for others and trust God with yourself.

Replace any envy and jealousy with the word of God and accept that you were created uniquely by God and for God. The way we look at things down here is not at all what it's going to be like in heaven. We are not going to be thinking crazy things like who's prettier, who's smarter. Who's better at this?

Who has more? Who has a bigger? We're not going to be thinking about things like that. We are just going to be so grateful to be in the presence of the Lord in the light of Jesus.

That's where we're going to get our joy. And it's nothing. We're getting no joy. We will never get any joy from this world if you trust him. So I'm going to leave you with some discussion questions.

And then afterwards I will close and we'll talk one-on-one. So number one, who have you been jealous of in past or the present? Think about that. Is there anybody that's ever done that? I sure knew one or probably many more.

Number two, what about yourself do you tend to compare with others? And this is something to be honest with, to have Jesus right there with you and ask him when you're doing this, when you're looking at this question, say, Lord, help me. I want truth.

I want transparency with you. Help me with this feeling. Or these questions, even if I buried it down, help me with these questions. And number three, have you accepted that you are wonderfully made by God?

And read, yes, read Psalm 139, 13 and 14. I have that right in front of me. I love Psalm 139. When I'm at the lowest of my low, I will pull that out because that tells you, this is his word, that tells you how intimate he is with you, how he knows you. every detail of you and how you are perfectly made.

And the number four, what steps can you take to step out of the envy trap and into the light of truth about yourself? It is good to learn about that because otherwise, if you don't learn or answer any of these questions, especially the last one, you will be triggered by things you won't even understand. And it's best that we understand and just not float from one reaction to the other, that we really assess what the Lord wants us to learn about.

So I'm going to close in prayer right now. Lord Jesus, we are just ping pongs, bouncing back and forth with reactions, not even understanding why we're jealous, why we're envious, why we feel we have to have these things. We are just not turning to you, Lord, and help us.

Help us to really find out who we are. What makes us tick? Because you did perfectly make us in every way. And we want to trust that. We want to believe that.

And by doing that, give us your grace and peace because it goes together. You've given us the grace of salvation. You've given us the grace of, oh my goodness, of being able to communicate with you and talk to you, the creator of the whole world.

Like Chris says, the sun sets everything. We can have connection with you because of Jesus. And we are so grateful, Lord.

And through that, because of that, we pray for your peace. Peace releases from these chains of envy and jealousy and wants and things that we really will never care about when we are finally with you permanently in heaven, Lord. So help us.

Give us strength and awareness. The strength. and awareness that you want us to have. And I ask this in your precious name, Jesus.

Amen.

Transcript for:Understanding Jealousy and Envy in Life

Transcript for:
Understanding Jealousy and Envy in Life