1. How many of you know somebody that has a job that you’d love to trade jobs with. You say, “I’d love to have someone else’s job.” Would you take a vote? All of our campuses, how about salaries? You say, “I may not want their job, but I’ll trade salaries with them.” Hands go up all over the place. How about a house? Someone has a house that you would rather have. You would trade your house for their big old mansion any day of the week, as long as they pay the bills. What about bodies? You say, “I’d like to trade bodies with someone else. I’d like to have that hard, crisp body instead of my soft and round one. What about hair? “I’d like to trade hair. I’d love to have her hair. I’d like to have hair period. I’d like to have hair. I’d like to have hair.” A lot of us would love to trade positions or possessions, and just because we do, that does not mean that we are overcome with the sin of envy. But, if we spend too much time dwelling on what other people have, and we are ungrateful for what we have, we can easily be sucked into the very dangerous sin of envy.
we have to all acknowledge, at one level or another, at one time or another, envy affects all of us. You can see it early on, even in a kid’s life. A little child will be happy with a toy until he sees that his friend has a different one, and he envies that one.
Envy. It affects all of us. Is it really a big deal? I mean, is it a big deal to kind of maybe want a little bit of something that we don’t have? Is envy really that big of a deal? Let’s
let scripture answer that question. James 3:14
ENVY

2. 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, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. James 3:14-16
The Bible says, “But if you harbor bitter,” what? “If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.” Verse 15, “For such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but,” now this is important. Help me out, “but it is,” what? It “is earthly,” it is “unspiritual,” and it is “of the devil.” Pause right there for a moment. Is envy a big deal? It is earthly, it is unspiritual, and it is of the devil. Read on, verse 16, “For where you have it,” wherever you find “envy and selfish ambition,” what do you find? All of our campuses, say it out loud. “There you find disorder and every evil practice.” Is it a big deal? It is a profoundly big deal. It is a sinful sickness that affects us all at one level or another, and today we are going to ask God to deal with it.

3. RESENTING GOD’S GOODNESS IN OTHER’S LIVES.
ENVY:
RESENTING GOD’S GOODNESS IN OTHER’S LIVES.
 IGNORING GOD’S GOODNESS IN MY OWN LIFE.
ENVY IN THE BIBLE
Cain envied Abel…                Genesis 4:5
Rachel envied Leah…                Genesis 30:1
Leah envied Rachel…                 Genesis 30:15
The brothers envied Joseph…     Genesis 37:5
Saul envied David…                  Samuel 18:7-9
Lucifer envied God…                Isaiah 14:13-14
Chief priests envied Jesus…       Mark 15:10
Let’s start here. We are going to work with this definition of envy. For our purposes, we will define envy this way. If you are taking notes, what is envy? It is resenting God’s goodness in other’s lives. “Well, they’ve got it and I want it, and they don’t deserve it, and they shouldn’t have it in the first place.” It is resenting the goodness of God in other people’s lives while, at the same time, if you are taking notes, ignoring God’s goodness in my own life. Resenting His blessings to others, while ignoring all of His blessings to us.
Where do you find envy in scripture? The answer is all over the place, but I have listed just a few for your own study. Genesis 4:5, Cain envied his brother, Abel. God accepted Abel’s offering and didn’t accept Cain’s. Cain got envious, and it led to murder. There you find every kind of evil practice in this order. Genesis 31, Rachel envied Leah. Why? Rachel couldn’t have a baby. She envied her. Later on in verse 15, it reversed and Leah envied Rachel. Genesis 37, remember Joseph and his brothers. The brothers envied Joseph. Why? Because Joseph had this really sweet coat, because the father looked favorably on Joseph, because Joseph had these dreams and visions, and the brothers envied him and beat him up, their own brother, threw him into a pit and then sold him into slavery.
I Samuel 18, Saul, the king, envied David, the shepherd boy turned warrior. And when the people starred David and made up this little jingle about David and Saul, which really made Saul T.O.’d. Okay? The little jingle went like this, Saul has slain his thousands, David his tens of thousands. [ laughter ] It probably had a better tune, but the Bible doesn’t give the tune. I envy people who can sing. They call me a prison singer. I’m always behind a few bars and never find the right key. Isaiah 14, Lucifer envied God. It’s of the devil, remember? Mark 15 shows us why Jesus was handed over, and that is because the chief priests envied Jesus.
Is envy a big deal? Well, it’s earthly, it’s unspiritual, and it’s of the devil.

4. A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Proverbs 14:30
"Envy is the daughter of pride, the author of murder and revenge…the perpetual tormenter of virtue. Envy is the filthy slime of the soul; a venom, a poison, which consumeth the flesh and drieth up the bones." Socrates
WHO OR WHAT DO YOU ENVY?
What does it do in our lives? Well, Proverbs 14:30 tells us: “A heart at peace gives life to the body,” but what does envy do? Say it out loud. Envy rots the bones. Socrates said, “Envy is the daughter of pride, the author of murder and revenge, the perpetual tormenter of virtue. Envy is the filthy slime of the soul, a venom, a poison which consumeth the flesh and dryeth up the bones. It rots us like cancer from the inside.”
A question I want you to ask yourself, “Who or what do you envy?” Be honest.

5. • ENVY ROTS RELATIONSHIPS.
THE PROBLEMS WITH ENVY
• ENVY ROTS RELATIONSHIPS.
For where you have envy…there you find disorder and every evil practice. James 3:16
• ENVY SPOILS LIFE.
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I’ll die!’ Genesis 30:1
The Bible teaches us clearly that envy rots relationships. It destroys and rots relationships from the inside out. James 3:16 shows us this clearly. The Bible says, “For where you have,” what? “For where you have envy … there you find,” what? Two things. “You find disorder and,” what else? You find “every evil practice.” Where there, wherever there is envy, you will find relationships rotting. Those of you that may have some struggles in family relationships, there’s nothing like the holidays to bring to light family struggles. Often times, the root problem is the sin of envy. It rots relationships. You can see all sorts of examples in the Bible. In Genesis 4, there is the story of Cain and Abel, two brothers, and it was the sin of envy that literally destroyed one of the two brothers physically, and destroyed the other brother for a long time after that. If you know the story, Abel made an offering to the Lord, a sacrifice to the Lord that God deemed as acceptable. Cain, on the other hand, he held back. He didn’t give his best, and God rejected his offering. And all of a sudden, Cain envied Abel’s standing with God, so much so that he took the life of his own brother. There, you find evil and disorder, every kind of evil practice where envy lives. Some of you say, “Well, I would never kill anybody over envy.” Maybe not physically, but sometimes we do verbally. Sometimes, we do with our attitudes. Envy, it rots relationships.
The second problem with envy is this. It simply spoils life. Life can be great, and the minute you start resenting God’s goodness in somebody else’s life and ignoring His goodness in your own life, it spoils the blessings of God in your life. Genesis 30:1, you see this. We see Rachel, who was unable to get pregnant. The Bible says, “When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous, filled with envy of her sister. So she said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or,” what? Say it out loud. “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Now, this is crazy. Would she really die because she couldn’t have children? No. But, what happened? Envy was spoiling her life. She was resenting God’s goodness in her sister’s life, and ignoring His goodness in her own life. It is spoiled life.
TELL YOUR TESTIMONY ABOUT ENVY IN YOUR OWN LIFE OR ANYONE”S TESTIMONY
Envy, it’s a very dangerous sin that most of us don’t want to acknowledge, and most of us initially say, “It’s not really a problem for me,” but upon closer examination, most of us

6. WITH WHOM OR WHAT DO YOU MOST OFTEN COMPARE?
ENVY’S BEST FRIEND
• THE COMPARISON GAME
Saul was very angry…‘They have credited David with tens of thousands…but me with only thousands...’ And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. 1 Samuel 18:8-9
WITH WHOM OR WHAT DO YOU MOST OFTEN COMPARE?
Envy has a best friend. it’s the sin of comparing. Write that down. The sin of comparing, and let’s be honest. In our American culture, we are almost conditioned to compare. We are almost taught to compare. It starts out early, you know. “What’d you get for Christmas? Well, I got this, and you only got that. What’d you make on the test? Well, I made this, and you only made that. My daddy can beat up your daddy. Oh, yeah? My momma can beat up your daddy.” You know, we are conditioned to compare. Parents, man, they can be the worst, you know. Soccer moms bragging on their kids, or maybe you saw the bumper stickers, “My child is an honor student at such and such school.” Someone got sick of that and came up with a bumper sticker that said, “My child beat up your honor student,”
where will it stop? The sin of comparing, it feeds the sin of envy. We see this in the life of the Old Testament in King Saul. He was a guy that was very blessed by God, but one of his downfalls was envy. He started to envy an up-and-coming guy named David, and we see there was one point where the crowds were cheering, and they were singing a song, saying that David was a better warrior, and David had killed all these people, when Saul had killed fewer. You can see the story in I Samuel 18:8. The Bible says, “Saul was a very angry…” That’s what envy does to us. “They’ve credited David with tens of thousands … but me with only thousands …” And from that time on,” the Bible says, “Saul kept a jealous eye on David.” Saul took his eye off of the work of God, and put his eye on someone else, based on envy and jealousy, and that brought about the beginning of King Saul’s downfall.
Here’s a question that I would like for you to wrestle with. Ask yourself honestly, “With whom or what do you most often compare?” With whom or what do you most often compare? For me, I compare myself with other ministers and churches, which is an incredibly dangerous place to do, and I am training myself not to, because, if I deem God’s work here as better, that would lead to the sinner pride. If I say, “God’s work is better somewhere else,” that would lead to the sin of envy, and there is no good thing that comes from comparing. What about you? With whom or what do you most often compare? It could be somebody at work, maybe somebody that doesn’t work as hard as you do and got promoted, and you’re there at work on time, and you never take an hour and a half for lunch, and they do, and it just makes you crazy. How’d you get
overlooked? Maybe it’s husbands. You know, “My husband’s not this. I wish he was a better spiritual leader. I wish that he was a better provider for me.” Maybe, you’re a single guy, and you know what? You have been honoring God with sexual purity, and you have been pursuing the word of God, and yet, there’s these wild party jerk of a guys that are living sinful lives. They get the girl and you don’t. It’s not fair. Why does that happen? Maybe you liked your car, until somebody else got a newer car with a drop-down DVD player, heated seats, and a JPS tracking system so you, too, can find your way home from church. “Turn left. Turn right.” Find your way home. You could get lost without it. Maybe you compare bodies. “I’m so sick and tired of her petite little thing prancing around. She can eat a large pizza and still wear a size two. I can’t wait until she turns thirty and wears that large pizza in her backside,” you know. Comparing. Maybe you are satisfied with your house, and you are happy … until, one day, you go to the Parade of Homes. Then you come back to your shack, and you are no longer satisfied. Comparing, it feeds envy. Ask yourself, “With whom or what do you most often compare?” Envy, resenting God’s goodness in other people’s lives, ignoring His goodness in our own life.

7. DON’T FALL TO THE TRAP OF COMPARISON
We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves… 2 Corinthians 10:12
Each one should test his own actions…without comparing himself to somebody else… Galatians 6:4
Don’t FALL to THE TRAP OF COMPARISON
I envy people who’s job ends at five o’clock. Mine doesn’t end. It never ends. People go home, the day’s over. I’m prone to envy that, and those things they rot my bones. Who or what do you envy?
It’s earthly, it’s unspiritual, and it’s of the devil. The sickness, sinful sickness, what do we do about it? Well, today, we are going to look at not doing one thing, and scripture is going to teach us, two, do two things. The first thing we are not going to do is, we are not going to compare or rank ourselves with or against others – no comparisons. II Corinthians 10:12 says this. “We do not dare classify or,” what? “Or compare ourselves,” and yet, this is the tendency, “You know, well, they have a better house than me. I’ve got a better house than them. Oh, they’ve got this and we’ve got that.” And, where do we rank? We will not do that. The disciples, they often did this. When Jesus was restoring Peter after his fall, Jesus prophesyed about how Peter would one day die and then said, “Above all, feed my sheep and follow me.” And what did Peter do? Peter said, “Okay, but what about John?” John 21, you can read this. What about John? What’s going to happen to him? And Jesus said basically, Peter, that ain’t none of your business. Don’t compare. The disciples always did. “Who’s the most important? Who gets to sit by Jesus? Who’s the greatest?”
Do you know how dangerous this is when we start to classify people’s rank and importance?
It brings out this ungodly sinfulness whenever we rank or compare. We don’t view people in hierarchy’s. It’s simply wrong. We love people. Galatians 6:4, “Each one should test his own actions without doing,” what? “without comparing himself to somebody else.” No comparisons. No comparisons. That’s what we are not going to do.

8. CELEBRATE GOD’S GOODNESS TO OTHERS.
INSTEAD…
CELEBRATE GOD’S GOODNESS TO OTHERS.
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Romans 12:15
"Don't be afraid," he said. "My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. 1 Samuel 23:17
Two Biblically positive things. Instead of resenting God’s goodness in other’s lives, we are going to celebrate it. We are going to celebrate God’s goodness to others. Romans 12:15 teaches us this principle. God’s Word says to rejoice with whom? Say it out loud. Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.
How many of you honestly like to watch ultimate fighting? Raise your hands. Ultimate fighting. Ultimate fighting. You guys need Jesus. You really do. It’s got to be sinful. I’ve got to tell you, I love it. I’m addicted to it.
these guys are just studs! They get inside this cage and I mean just rip … what’s really cool to me is, you’ll watch these two guys just tearing each other’s heads off, and when it’s over, if it’s a really good fight, these guys with integrity, they’ll go up to the winner and they’ll say, “I wanted it. You got it. Congratulations.” I love that. They can compete ferociously and celebrate with the other guy who wins. Gives them a hug
Good story!
. Grandma, my grandma taught me this principle. Every Christmas, she’d send my sister and she’d send me a Christmas card with a check in it. We’d always, both, get a $20.00 check. So awesome, we’d be so excited, but since my sister, Lisa, was younger than me and I’d always mess with her. It’s part of a big brother’s spiritual call and duty, so I’d get my $20.00 check and I’d open it up and I’d go $100.00! And she get her check and expect a $100.00, and she open, “$20.00?” She’d say, “Did you really …” “Yeah,” and I’d put it in my pocket and just walk away. And, she’d just cry and get all upset, and I felt so good. She was younger and so I did this to her year after year. “$100.00!?” One year, grandma found out about this. That year, I opened up my $20.00 check and said, “$100.00!” Lisa opened up her $ check and said, “100.00!” And, grandma taught me to rejoice with those who really do get a $ gift.
Someone else gets something that you were hoping for, rejoice with those who rejoice. One of the greatest example of this in scripture, I remember we talked about King Saul and, envying David. Well, if you know the whole story, King Saul had a son named Jonathan, and David and Jonathan were buddies. Now, rightfully, Jonathan was the heir to the throne. He was the son of King Saul, and you could only imagine, for his whole life, he probably dreamed about this, “One day, I’ll be king.” Well, God had other plans, and God had David anointed to be king over Israel. So, you would expect Jonathan to be angry. Well, Saul was jealous of David and came after David, trying to kill him. What did Jonathan do? Look what he said. This is absolutely profound. I Samuel 23:17, he said to his friend, “David don’t be afraid. My father, Saul, will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be,” what? Say it out loud, “I will be second. I will be second to you. I will serve you. I’ll get your back side. I will cover you. I will serve you. I will rejoice with you. You’ve got what really was mine, and what I wanted, but God had something else. More power to you. I celebrate with you.”
You want the promotion. Someone else got it. Congratulations. You were hoping to get something. Someone else got it. You didn’t. “Way to go.” You are praying for something that you so desperately want, and God hasn’t delivered on it yet. And someone else gets that same kind of answered prayer, “Awesome. Way to go.” Rejoice with those who rejoice. Instead of resenting their blessings, we celebrate it. It’s the first positive thing. No comparison … and, celebrate God’s goodness to others.

9. EMBRACE GOD’S GOODNESS TO YOU.
Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 6:9
Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT
Second positive thing that we are going to do, instead of ignoring God’s goodness in our lives, instead, we are going to embrace it. Write that down. We are going to embrace God’s goodness to us, to you. Ecclesiastes 6:9 says this, “Better what the eye,” what? Say it out loud. “Better what the eye sees than a roving of the appetite. This, too, is meaningless. It is a chasing after the wind.” Better what God has put right before you. Better what God has given you, than looking over at someone else’s greener grass. Your appetite can always rove. You can always look for more. “Oh, they’ve got this. Well, they’ve got that. Well, they’ve got a newer … Well, they’ve got a bigger …” Better what God has already given you. “I’m thankful. I’m grateful. I’m celebrating Your goodness,” than a roving of the appetite to greener lawns. Now, truthfully, someone else may have a greener yard than you. But don’t forget the principle. Just because their yard is greener is just that you can’t see the poop in their yard from where you are standing. Now, don’t forget that. It may be greener, but they’ve got poop in their yard, too. A lot of times people say, “Craig, man, I wish I had your life.” You know what? I’ve got a great life, no question about it, but there’s a lot of poop in my yard.
Okay?
There’s a lot of hard stuff behind the scenes that’s not very visible.
Maybe it’s time for you to look at what God’s given you and say, “I’m thankful.” Here’s what I found for me. I noticed this, and God really pointed this out, and I’ve really been working to not do this any more. But, what I’ve I found is I did something that had to have been incredibly insulting to the heart of God. And this is, I would qualify my thankfulness. “Oh, yeah, I’m really thankful for the house that God has given us, BUT, here’s what I wish was different. Oh, yeah, I love what I get to do, BUT, here’s what I don’t like about my job.” And what God showed me is to kill my but’s. No more but’s. I am thankful for the house that God has provided, period. I am thankful for what I do, period. Kill your but’s. Be thankful. No more but’s. Embrace God’s goodness to you. Scripture says it this way. I Thessalonians 5:16 and following, “Always be joyful. Keep on praying, no matter what happens, always be thankful for this is God’s will. Always be thankful for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

10. …Our lives were full of evil and envy
…Our lives were full of evil and envy. We hated others, and they hated us. But then God our Savior showed us his kindness and love. He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit…Titus 3:3-5 NLT

11. I want to ask you something. Have you given up
I want to ask you something. Have you given up? Have you gotten so imprisoned by the failures of the past that you’ve stopped straining and struggling and agonizing in the process of becoming like Jesus, becoming the person that He created you to be? The lies enslave us, but the truth liberates. I think a lot of us have just forgotten what God says about you, and I want to challenge you. If you’re a follower of Christ and you find yourself in that place of constant failure, constant fear, and not living out who God has created you to be, and you’re asking for a fresh touch from Him, for a renewal in your heart about what He says about you. If that’s you, before Him, I want you to just raise your hand and say, “God, I need You. I need You to speak to me. I need Your truth. I need to break free of this sin.”
“God, thank You so much for the courage of people to say they are in need of You. That is an environment within which You work Your best, and I pray that Your truth would overwhelm their lives and their families, and I pray that You would surround them with people that would encourage them to persevere, to press on, to engage the struggle of living their lives for the fame of Jesus. And I thank You in advance for what You’ve already done and what You have yet to do. “
I said earlier that the moment that we say yes to Jesus, in that moment of desperation, we call out on His name, that He changes us. Everything is made new, the Bible says. All of your sin is forgiven. You’re given a purpose and a hope to live for, and for many of you, I fear that, that change has not occurred. I fear that maybe you’ve heard the message, but you’ve never received it. The Bible says that we’ve all blown it. We’ve all sinned, and that the wages of our sin, the penalty is eternal separation from a perfect and holy God. But the good news is that Jesus loved us enough that He came and died after living a sinless life, so that if we put our faith in Him, give our lives to Him, that we would be forgiven. We would be forever changed, and we would live for a purpose that is bigger than ourselves and anything we’ve ever known. And there are some of you that today is that day that everything changes
God is calling you to Himself, to a place of surrender, boldly without hesitation, lift your hands right now. Say, “That’s me, God. I’m lifting …” Yeah, right over here. God bless you. Both of you right here. Right here in the back. God bless you. Others of you. I see that hand. God bless you. Both of you together, man, yes! Others of you. “God, I’m giving You my life. I surrender everything.” Hand lifted high. Both of, yes ma’am, I see you. God bless you. Recognize that this decision, this moment of faith … yeah, right over here in the back. I see you. It not only affects you, it will literally affect generations after you. This moment could change your family’s heritage forever. Anything that the grace of God touches … yeah, right over here. Anything the grace of God touches will not be the same. You will leave completely changed. Before we pray, is there anyone else? “God, I surrender. I admit,” yeah, God bless you. Hand lifted high. Tears everywhere. God is, God is doing what God does, you know? He just tells us He loves us, draws us to Himself. Is there anyone else before we pray? Just let Him love on you. Anyone else? All right. Okay. Yes, God bless you. I see you. Anyone else?
All right, let’s pray. Say this with me. Say, “Father, I need You. I have sinned and I am asking You to save me. Jesus, I believe that You died to pay for my sins, and I receive Your grace now. I give You my life. Use it all for Your glory. In Jesus’ name.” And everybody said … Go crazy, guys. Come on.
ENVY