Envy Diagnostic

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Envy doesn’t usually look like a crisis. It hides in the small stuff: a neighbor’s upgrade, a coworker’s win, a friend’s announcement that turns your heart from celebration to comparison. We shine a light on those quiet moments and offer a clear, practical way to recognize envy’s grip before it steals your joy, peace, and gratitude. With real stories, holiday context, and plenty of honest reflection, we map seven telltale signs—from feeling like someone else’s blessing is your loss to the false race of “keeping up”—and then walk through five habits that help you recover contentment.

We also talk about the pressure to “look blessed” versus the freedom to “be blessed,” and how that difference changes what you buy, post, and prioritize. If you’ve ever felt behind for no clear reason, or found yourself rooting against a person who did nothing wrong, this conversation will help you pause, name what’s going on, and reset. We push into the hardest part too: the theology underneath comparison. Measuring God’s goodness by someone else’s blessings can warp trust; instead, we learn to rehearse God’s faithfulness, practice daily gratitude, and anchor identity in Christ rather than in results.

By the end, you’ll have a simple diagnostic, a handful of daily practices, and a hopeful vision for living with more joy and less envy—especially through the holidays, when comparison can run wild. If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a review so more people can discover practical ways to grow in contentment and gratitude.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Midweek
Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim, and uh we are
in the third week of our seriesGrow, and we're talking about
ripping out these five kind ofheart poisons that that Peter
lists in uh in his letter.
And so we've been talking uhweek one was malice.
Then we talked about deceit andhypocrisy.

(00:49):
This week, um, America'sfavorite pastime.
We were talking about envy.
Ouch.

SPEAKER_02 (00:56):
Yeah.
That'll be a good one.
But let me remind everyone aboutmalice.
Um Thanksgiving will betomorrow, and you guys are gonna
go out to the grocery store.
And uh so remember the wholething about malice.
It's we went out um yesterdayand and it's like, what are all

(01:16):
these people doing here?
You know, uh, did you all waittill the last minute?
I guess they did.
So it's crazy out there.
So if you have to go out,remember no malice.

SPEAKER_01 (01:28):
You know, I all these are are pretty timely
going right into the holidays,you know, the deceit and um that
that we bring when we we gettogether with people, uh, the
hypocrisy that we see, um, envyas as we start to gather or
start looking ahead towardsChristmas.
Um, this has been a timelyseries, I guess, as as we get

(01:51):
ready to gather.
Um also want to just remind you,God's doing some amazing things.
We're gonna jump into, Ipromised everyone in the sermon,
a envy diagnostic, and we'regonna look at that.
But uh just a quick reminder,um, man, so many exciting things
are are coming up here at FreshWin.
Um, man, uh Tim, I was lookingat looking at some of the

(02:12):
numbers.
Um, because you know, we we'vebeen trying to hold off on two
services as long as we can.
And we're like, we don't know ifwe're ready, we don't know if we
have the people.
Um and I I told the team, Isaid, we'll hold off as long as
we can.
We'll we'll do whatever we canto not have two services.
Um, but man, just in the past, Ithink three years uh increases

(02:36):
uh attendance, um, averageattendance has grown by 170% in
three years.
We're running out of parkingspaces, and so um that's just a
testament uh to the purpose andthe mission that God has given
us.
People are discovering more inChrist each and every week, and
uh, we want to create room formore.
Um, and so this isn't just abouttwo services.

(02:57):
We want you to invite yourfriends, invite your family, and
we want to have space for themto come and experience what
you've experienced, the the lifetransformation that happens
through Christ.
And so uh be a part of of allthat God's doing here.
Invite somebody and uh also wantto encourage you to get involved
on a volunteer team.
Lord knows we need some help.

SPEAKER_02 (03:17):
Yeah.
Uh and everything's going reallygood.
I'm I'm excited about um howwe're gonna do it and put it
together.
Uh the biggest uh struggle rightnow uh is the worship team and
how we're gonna do that.
We need uh not singers, we gotsingers all over the place.
We need people who can playinstruments.

(03:37):
So if you're good at that, seeTeresa and um maybe she can plug
you in in one of these servicesand give somebody a breather.
That'd be really that'd bereally good.

SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
Yeah, besides the preachers, they're definitely
gonna have the hardest time,probably.

SPEAKER_02 (03:50):
Right.
Right.
And I I see how you threwyourself out there.
Yeah, I just wanted the littlebit of recognition.
I don't want the stage, I justwant to be up there with them.
Right, right.
No, I I uh this will this willbe exciting, a good, solid run
through and then preach itagain.

SPEAKER_01 (04:09):
Yeah.
So if you want the good sermon,come to 11.

SPEAKER_02 (04:12):
If you'll have practiced it once before.
If you want the raw sermon, cometo nine, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
And uh we'll all be half awake.
Who knows what we'll say at the9 a.m.
service?
Right, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 (04:23):
That's where we get to test all our jokes to see if
they're funny and and uh dropthem out for the 11.
No, that's all uh coming up, andwe're excited about that, and
we're excited about the what theLord's doing.
He trusts us with more people.
So um we're going to uh stepinto that trust and and be the

(04:44):
church he's called us to be.

SPEAKER_01 (04:46):
Yeah, amen.
Well, uh this past week wetalked about envy, and I did
share a story about uh going tothis Reach conference with uh
some of the teenagers in thechurch.
Um, took my kids and then my uhniece and nephew.
Um we all went over there andman, it was right in my face.
They got the coolest lights, theyou know, LED screens.

(05:08):
Uh they had some of the mostcomfortable like theatrical
seating I've ever sat in.
You know, they even reclined alittle bit, had a little bounce
to them.
They were great.
I'm like, this is awesome.
And the Lord's like, rememberyour sermon?
And I'm like, not now, God.
And so I was sat in the car, wastrying to convince Joy I was not

(05:32):
envious, uh, when in fact I was.
And so I thought it would be uhkind of fun today on the Midweek
podcast uh to do this envydiagnostic and um take a look at
how to know when when envy andjealousy is quietly shaping your
life.
Because that's that's the key,is envy doesn't always show up

(05:54):
as this big obvious sin.
You know, it's not like murder,it's not not quite like
adultery, it's it's a little bitmore subtle than that.

SPEAKER_02 (06:01):
And it's embedded in the culture, it's part of how we
entertain ourselves.
Go into the boat show and goingto the car show and and uh the
motorcycle show.
There's always a show to showyou what you don't have.
And and we've turned it into umentertainment.
And uh so we have to be carefulbecause it slips slips in, and

(06:25):
we're not here trying to uh puton a guilt trip.
Uh what we're gonna do is giveyou a heart check to see if
you're being influenced by itbecause it so um permeates
through our culture in such away that it's just part of who
we are.
It's part of being capitalistic,it's part of being, you know, uh

(06:46):
independent and self-centered.
Um you gotta be a little bit ofthat uh in life if you're gonna
get a job, keep a job, and allthat kind of stuff.
But um the Lord wants thatsurrendered to him so that each
of us esteem others better thanourselves, right?
Think of others first, is whatPaul said.

(07:06):
And um don't worry about yourown stuff, worry about other
people's stuff.
And uh this check is gonna besimply to see if something
somewhere has snuck in and isinfluencing your contentment and
your happiness.

SPEAKER_01 (07:22):
Yeah, that's that's key.
Um and I I said in the sermon onSunday, man, if if we don't deal
with these things, it'll it'llsteal our joy.
It'll rob us from the present,you know, because I'm so focused
on what I don't have or whatthey have or what I wish I had
that I I won't enjoy the thehere and the now.
Um and it'll man, it'll it'llrob me of my peace and my

(07:45):
contentment.
I I won't be satisfied with whatGod has given me.
And sometimes and I I don't Idon't think I even put this in
the sermon, but man, sometimeswe're praying and God gives us
things.
Um and man, we God He justanswered our prayer, but we are
so focused on the next thingthat we're like, oh thank you,

(08:06):
God.
What about this?
You know, and we won't evenenjoy it.
And man, the the truth is a lotof us are enjoying the blessings
that someone else is praying forright now.
Right.
Um, and if they only had whatyou had, how different their
life would be.
Um, and it's is as we allow envyto kind of sneak in here, um,

(08:26):
man, it it will it'll it'll robus of all those things.
And so it often it's those tinycomparisons, that quiet
frustration, those littlemoments when uh you're scrolling
through Instagram and andsuddenly our lives just feel
smaller, less significant, lessum cool, you know, as I look at
everybody else.
And so we want to uh to walk youthrough uh seven subtle symptoms

(08:52):
of envy and how they show up injust normal everyday life.
And uh we'll uh we'll walkthrough these together.
Point number one uh in the envydiagnostic.
Uh, how do you know if envy ispresent in your life?
When someone else's blessingfeels like your burden ouch.
Um and envy begins to to twistwhen someone else's win uh into

(09:18):
your loss.

SPEAKER_02 (09:19):
You know, yeah, it that it always does that.
It it um it twists your thinkingthat oh my gosh, look what
happened to them.
And man, that that should bethat should trigger you.
That should trigger you.
What what am I talking about?
You know, I'm not even in myreal life yet.

(09:40):
You know, I'll be in my reallife when I'm with Jesus, but
this is uh this is here and now,and suddenly them getting
promoted or them uh getting anew car or or them getting a new
job or or whatever it is umwould make you feel sad.

SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
So sticky because man, I remember years ago I
wanted a truck so bad.
Now I've realized I can't affordto drive a truck.
The gas mileage is just not goodenough.
For years I thought I I need atruck.
And uh our life group, uh, wehad some of the guys, we had
just a hangout night with ourgroup, and uh, me and two or

(10:24):
three of the other guys, wedrove over to Mike Bass Ford in
uh Elyria or Sheffield there,and um we started walking
around, the dealership wasclosed, but we're like walking
around looking at these trucks.
I'm like, man, some of thesethings are unlocked.
So we would open it.
We just climbed in, sat downinside this truck, and we were
all dreaming.
What if this was our truck?
We sat in some nice trucks.
I can't believe they left thosethings unlocked.

(10:46):
I'm sure they don't now.
Someone probably went andwatched the footage from that
night and said, Someone go lockall the trucks.
Um, but man, it was oh, justdreaming.
And then I think it Pat.
Pat got this beautiful uh Dodge,whatever.
I don't know, is it 2500, 350dooley?

(11:07):
Yeah, it's it is a truck.
Um, and he shows up in that andI'm like, you know, this I've
been wanting a truck, and now hebuys it, and all of a sudden, I
haven't lost anything.
I didn't have a truck before, Idon't have a truck now, haven't
lost anything, but pack out atruck, and all of a sudden I

(11:27):
feel a loss.
And that's that's how you knowwhen someone else's blessing
begins to feel like a loss or aburden for you.
Man, you you just you know, youknow, they show up with a new
phone, and all of a sudden thephone that you had that's been
working fine.
You've had no issues with it.
Now it's not good enough.
These things begin to sneak onin there.

(11:47):
And so um it, you know, here'ssome questions asked, maybe.
Do I feel smaller when someoneelse gets bigger?

SPEAKER_02 (11:57):
That's a big one.
We uh if someone gets the jobthat we want or or volunteers
for something and are picked outof several volunteers.
Um even at a uh you can feelthis even at a volunteer
organization like the church.
So it's it's pretty important tocatch these things.

(12:19):
Now, I know we're all grown-uppeople, and we're not saying,
oh, you know, what's wrong withyou?
If this happens to you, you knowwhat's wrong with you?
I'll tell you straight up,you're normal.
That's what's wrong with you.
And uh, but these things we'retrying to tell you, catch these
things before they steal yourjoy, before they rob you of

(12:42):
God's purpose in your life, andsteal your contentment so that
you can uh live in yourpresence, his presence in your
present, uh, with joy all thetime.
That's good.
And you don't want uh someoneelse's blessing to drain your
joy.
That is just that's so good.
Yeah, you don't want to missthat.

(13:03):
And we're reminding ourselvesand you these things because in
our culture, this is a normalthing.
And so we want you to catch thatand say, I don't want that to be
normal in my life.
If someone else does well, thatdoesn't mean I'm doing bad.

SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
Yep, yeah, right?
And yeah, it's it is so baked inour culture.
And I tried to drive that homein the sermon.
We excuse it, it is just who weare as Americans.
Um, this is normal, and and itwe're saying while it's normal,
it is uh unknowingly robbing usof our joy and our contentment.
I love what Paul told theRomans.

(13:41):
He says, Rejoice with those whorejoice.
Man, if we could get our mindsaround that, just if you did
that this week, how differentwould your life would be?

SPEAKER_02 (13:51):
That really takes us to point number two.
Um when you can't celebratewithout comparing.
You know, it's not about whetheryou can celebrate or not.
It's about whether you cancelebrate with someone like Paul
said, rejoice with them withoutcomparing.

(14:11):
Now, I have got hopefully Teresadoesn't listen to this one.
I'll tell her it's bad.
But uh I mean don't listen toit.

SPEAKER_01 (14:18):
We it was it was not a good episode.

SPEAKER_02 (14:20):
It was my sister-in-law's birthday.
We went over there for uhdinner.
She made dinner for everybody,and and we went over there and
and her husband prayed before weate, and he just prayed this
thanking God about the greatwoman she is and you know how
beautiful and all this kind ofstuff.
And of course, instead ofTeresa, and I'm pointing her

(14:45):
out, instead of her saying, Wow,you know, that that's great that
he loves her like that.
She said, How come you neverpray like that about me?
So at least she didn't say it infront of everybody.
And uh I was thinking duringthat prayer, you know what, I
need to pray more about likethat, pray like that about

(15:05):
Teresa.
Um, if anybody deserves itliving with me, it's her.
And um and of course, as soon aswe got in the car going home,
she's like, let's have a talk.
You know, I didn't want to prayabout you like that anyways.
So it's it's one of those thingsthat um even in that uh little

(15:30):
thing there, that prayer, youknow, as soon as someone's
celebrating, if we compare that,we've got a problem.
We've got a contentment problem.

SPEAKER_01 (15:40):
Yeah, it immediately brings into focus all the things
that that we have that aren'tgood enough all of a sudden.
You know, I we bought uh a housea few years ago, and it's a nice
house.
I love our house.
Um love the property, you know,came with a pool.
It's been a nightmare.
But at the time I was excitedabout the fact that it had a

(16:03):
pool.
Um and it was all good untilEmily and Caleb bought a new
house.
And they had to remodel theirhouse.
It didn't have all the nicestuff, you know, coming with it.
But I walked into their housethe other day and he put in
leather granite countertops intheir house.
And all of a sudden, mycountertops that I've not paid

(16:24):
attention to in four years arelike, oh my gosh, I need that
leather granite countertop.
Um, and it this is how it sticksin.
And it's great to say, man, lookat this.
Look at it.
I'm so excited for you guys.
And in the back of your head,you're going, How come I don't
have this?

SPEAKER_02 (16:42):
And let's not get too focused on what somebody has
has and what they don't have.
Um that thing with mysister-in-law is is a pretty
good indicator in your lifeabout your family.
How come my family isn't close?
How come my family, um mysisters aren't like their

(17:04):
sister, you know, always callingand checking my.
How come my parents don't callmy kids, you know, my grandkids
and and her grandparents, herparents call my kids all the
time.
Why, you know, and thatcomparison, as soon as you
compare, as soon as thathappens, uh you rob your joy.

(17:25):
The celebration is gone, theparty's over.
Uh, it doesn't matter how youwere trying to make it a big
thing, uh, but at Christmas, theparty's over when you compare.
Well, look at what my my parentsgot the kids, and look what your
parents got the kids.
You're done.
It's over.
The Christmas celebration uhcelebration is done.
Um, you can't compare like that.

(17:46):
And uh, if you're comparing whatyou gave your kids and what
someone else gave your kids, umjust celebrate that someone
cared enough about your kids tospend more money than they
should have.
Because you know they did.
You know they did.
You shouldn't be spending thatkind of money.
Um, they're gonna play with itfor 10 minutes and we're gonna

(18:06):
store it in the basement.
Thanks, mom and dad.
And so that's uh that's what'sgoing on around us all the time,
that comparison.
And as soon as you do that, thecelebration's over, and we want
to celebrate, especially thisChristmas.

SPEAKER_01 (18:19):
Yeah, and so here's a question you can ask yourself.
Do I secretly wish that theirgood news happened to me
instead?
Not just to me, but instead ofthem, do I wish it happened to
me?
If that's sneaking in, you knowthat this uh comparison is
beginning to rob you ofcelebration.
And man, you'll you'll enjoyyour relationships better if you

(18:41):
just let it go.
And when something great happensto someone, just be the
cheerleader.
This is awesome.
I'm so excited for you.
Right.
And I'll tell you, um, Tim, youhave modeled this probably as
good as anybody in my life.
When things have happened, youhave been one of the first
people to champion it.
Um and where a lot of peoplemight say, Oh, how come?

(19:04):
And I wish you've been therecheering those things on for me.
So thank you for modeling thatso good.

SPEAKER_02 (19:10):
Well, that's interesting that you say that
because the neck one next onethat's coming up is something I
don't want.
And I've learned that if I cancelebrate with somebody, it
relieves the pressure on mylife.
And I don't like pressure.
And so I do the things that Ineed to do to get the pressure
off me.

(19:30):
And a lot of people aren't likethat.
They thrive in pressure, and Ido.
I still get more done when I'munder pressure.
Um, but I don't want to feel it.
I don't want to, I don't wantthat stress in my life.
And listen, envy will pressureyou to perform like someone
else.
So that's point number threewhen you feel the need to prove

(19:52):
yourself because someone elsehas done something uh really
great and uh or in enjoying ablessing that's really great,
and suddenly you feel like,well, now I gotta I gotta get up
there and prove myself.

SPEAKER_01 (20:07):
Yeah.
This one is I mean, I guessthey're all a little bit more
subtle, but you this one willstart showing up in your bank
account.
Yeah, because it sure will.
You'll start buying things,it'll show up in your newsfeed
because you all of a suddenyou'll start posting stuff.
And if you'll look, you didn'tpost that just to keep grandma
and grandpa who live in Arizonaupdated on your kids.

(20:30):
You posted that with theintention of making sure
everyone knows that you had abetter Christmas.
You know, like uh look at whatwe got our kids.
Um, and they're all of a suddenthis need, I've got to do this
to keep up.
Um man, I I am not a yardlandscape guy.

(20:51):
I've talked to Clayton and Ben,and I told them both, you guys
need to come fix my yard.
I don't know what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 (20:56):
Um, but both of my neighbors look, they can't fix
it to where you don't have totake care of it.
That's all I want.

SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
You're gonna have to take care of it.
Uh it's it's not good.
And my neighbors, uh, they bothhave their yard treated.
And so I'm the second house.
When you pull into theneighborhood, there's house,
then there's us, and then thethird house.
So house one and three treattheir yards.
It's the most deep green,beautiful, thick grass, no weed

(21:23):
lawns you've ever seen.
And then there's my yellow grassfull of weeds.
And I think if I sprayed weedkiller, I'd end up with just
dirt.
I think it's more weeds thandirt or grass sometimes.
Um, and I saw one of their weedguys out the other day, the lawn
care guys, um, and I ran outthere and I said, Hey, how much

(21:45):
to fix this?
And he looks over and goes, Ohboy.
And he gave me the price, and Iwas like, nah, I can't do it.
But there was that desire of,man, look at their yards, and I
have got to prove to myself andthe rest of the neighborhood.
I mean, as soon as you pull in,this is what you see.

(22:07):
I've got to prove that I'm justlike them, that I'm as good as
they are.
And it almost cost me 300 bucksa month to do it.

SPEAKER_02 (22:15):
It's funny, I um you run across people that are in
the middle of that all the time.
And it's not who you think itis.
You know, the person that looksblessed and um he built this big
house, he did this thing, andand everybody else is like,
well, now I gotta prove myself.
Well, he's proving himself too.

(22:36):
Just go over there.
You want a tour of the house?
No, this is great.
Let's just have coffee.
You don't want a tour of myhouse?
All right, let's go on a tour.
You know?

SPEAKER_01 (22:46):
So uh this is I clean the baseboards in the
master bathroom.

SPEAKER_02 (22:50):
You're gonna look at it.
Right.
And uh I I tell you what,there's it slips in in a lot of
different ways, but here's thequestion you need to ask
yourself.
Am I making a decision adecision to look blessed or to
be blessed?

(23:10):
If you can lay that down, thatpressure to perform and just to
let the Lord bless you the waythe Lord wants to bless you,
you'll be thankful for what heblesses you for and you'll be
content.
But if you're waiting for God tobless you up to the standard
that you think so-and-so, well,so-and-so is doing the same

(23:33):
thing.
You know, they're I you know,somebody's always got more.

SPEAKER_01 (23:38):
Those will lead to two very different um actions.
Making decisions to look blessedversus making the decision to be
blessed.
Um, if you're doing it to lookblessed, you'll act very
differently than you do ifyou're saying, God, I'm gonna
act in such a way that you canbless my life.
Um and that's man, that's achallenging question.

(24:00):
Um, I'd also ask yourself, do Ifeel behind unless I'm keeping
up?
Right.
Um, me and my brother, when wewere in uh high school, we
started a lawn care business.
I think we did one person'slawn.
So that tells you how successfulit was.
I told you I don't like lawncare.
But uh our tagline for I thinkwe called the company Your Lawn,
and our tagline was keeping yourgrass greener than the other

(24:22):
side.
Which I thought, man, someoneshould steal that.
Because even though we wereterrible at running a business,
it's a great tagline in name.
Um, but there is this desire tokeep up, and I wonder, man, do I
feel behind unless I'm keepingup?
If unless I got what they haveand and the standard that I have
looks like what they have, do Ifeel behind?

And here's the truth (24:42):
when you feel that pressure to prove
yourself, what happens isgratitude starts to slip.
And so this is point number fourin the envy diagnostic is when
gratitude disappears, you knowenvy is present.
Because envy blinds us to whatwe already have.
And you start looking around,and all of a sudden, I mean, you

(25:04):
got a decent house.
You got a car that drives, atleast get you from point A to
point B.

SPEAKER_02 (25:09):
It's funny how your own house is just decent.

SPEAKER_01 (25:13):
Right?

SPEAKER_02 (25:13):
No matter how much you spend on it, no matter what,
it's all yeah, my house isdecent.
Why?
Because there's always somebodywith a better house.
They're a better new house.
Yeah, but that's we we have tocatch that in ourselves and say,
my house is not okay.
It's fantastic.
This is mine.
God has given me this, and youneed to celebrate that because

(25:38):
if you don't, that envy willblind you to your thankfulness
for what God has given youalready.

unknown (25:44):
That's right.

SPEAKER_02 (25:45):
Because you don't have to have that house.
You could have a trailer.
Teresa and I lived in a trailer.
You don't want to live in atrailer.
Okay, especially one wherethere's a big hole in the step
to get in, and there's a uh thefurnace don't work, and uh I
mean we were struggling.
But uh listen, we uh there'speople that have a trailer and

(26:08):
are grateful.
And uh matter of fact, uh thetrailers that my family lived in
down in Kentucky were nicer thanthe houses we were living up
here in Ohio.
And uh so uh you can envy can goeither way, you know.
It's a it's a very crafty sin.

(26:30):
And it almost has its ownthinking.
How can I get around hisgratitude?
How can I make this wet basementsteal his gratitude for his
whole home and his family, youknow?
And uh and and comparing'stough, but when you when you

(26:51):
feel like man, I'm I don't feelgrateful for nothing, then envy
is is good.

SPEAKER_01 (26:57):
Alarm bell should be going off.
Envy has has sunken in deep.
Um and here's and I and Imentioned this briefly earlier,
but what happens is is theblessings of God stop feeling
like blessings, right?
Like they feel like cold, youknow, it's it's not hot off the
stove anymore.
This yeah, God blessed me, butit was a long time ago.

(27:19):
Um and and the thing that you'vebeen praying for all of a sudden
feels like it's not enough.
That's how you begin to know,man, envy is is taking root
here.
Um and this is something I I'vegot to deal with.
God, you are enough.
Your blessings are enough.

(27:41):
You have been faithful to meetall of my needs.
And if that's all that ever Iall I ever get, it's enough.
And God, I thank you for it.
And when you begin to live thatway and you rip that envy out,
man, you can have joy again.
You can have contentment and youfight it with with gratitude.

(28:01):
And so here's here's areflection question for you.
Do I believe the lie thathappiness is just one purchase
away?

SPEAKER_02 (28:11):
Or one person away.
Or you know, we I mean, we gottaget deep into this and uh just
talking about um man, if I hadthat new tool at Home Depot, it
trimming this uh baseboard wouldhave been a whole lot easier,
you know.
Um we gotta get past that uhwhen we look at um others'

(28:34):
people's lives and theirrelationships.
Um but the great thing aboutyour relationship, you don't
have to spend any money to makeit better.
You know, the one thing aboutrelationships, if you give them
what they want, yourrelationship gets better.
Well, I'm not gonna give themwhat they want until they give
me what I want.
And there we go down the road.

(28:55):
And uh so um let as we come intoThanksgiving, it's coming up uh
tomorrow.
Let's talk about Am I thankful?
Am I truly grateful?
Do things when you're standingin the circle, we do a a circle

(29:17):
with Teresa's family and we goaround and talk about what we're
grateful for and and um maybethis Thanksgiving is a good day
to say, am I truly grateful orhas envy stolen that from my
life?

SPEAKER_01 (29:30):
That would be uh that would be a good a good
check.
Um and so when gratitudedisappears, you know envy is
present.
And and here's the other thingthat envy will begin to do, and
this is this is point five isenvy will begin to shape how you
feel about other people.
Because when resentment growstowards people who did nothing

(29:51):
wrong to you, envy's there.
Yeah, um, and I shared thatstory of uh Joyce Meyer who you
know talked about how when a youknow She was talking to a group
of women, but when a you knowpretty woman walks in and she's
got beautiful hair and niceteeth and the new designer bag
and her outfit is just right,and she's got the right shoes,

(30:12):
and she she's like, You willhate that woman, and you've not
even said hi to her, you don'tknow anything about her, right?
But you will hate her, and andthat man, that there is
something in us.
Um I didn't see Isaac uh Sunday.
I was gonna bring him up onstage um and and just say, Man,
Isaac is a man's man, right?

(30:32):
Like you could you could casthim as Captain America.
Don't do that to people.
He's lucky I didn't see him.
Uh, you know, he's about fourpush-ups.
You could you could cast him asas Thor.
I mean, he you could put him inthe Navy SEAL show that's on TV.
I mean, he can do it.
And I was like, this is the kindof guy that when he walks into

(30:52):
the gym, guys like me go, I'mgoing home.
Like, I just, and Isaac's thegreatest guy you you'll ever
meet.
I went running with him one timeand he slowed his pace, ran with
me, was my biggest cheerleader.
That's who he is.
But he's that kind of guy that,man, it is like, I just, uh, he
looks like he's he's at the gymevery day.

(31:14):
How am I ever gonna keep up?
And man, when you got that envyin there, it you will feel like,
man, there's just something Ihave against this person, even
though they've done nothingwrong to you.
Um, that that quiet bitternessbegins to form towards others,
and our heart moves from, I wishI had that, to I wish they

(31:35):
didn't have that.

SPEAKER_02 (31:39):
And that resentment builds.
Resentment, bitterness grows.
It grows like a spiritual fruit.
If you let that get a root inyour life, it'll continue to
grow.
And that resentment won't staystill.
It'll move from that person thatyou're mad at just because they
get up in the morning and workout, you know, that will spread

(32:03):
to more people.
And uh your family, you'll startto be resenting everybody.
And you'll and and it's thenit's hard to find, you know, to
root it out.
Where did this start?
What what happened, you know?
And so it's very important thatum if you're starting to resent
somebody, you know there's envyin there somewhere.

(32:26):
Uh there is something.
Uh not everybody comes aroundand and hurts you deeply and so
forth and so on.
Some people are just better.

SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
The reason it's so hard to pinpoint where did this
start is there wasn't really astarting point, right?
Sometimes they didn't doanything wrong to you.
Um there's just this thing.
And you know, maybe it's the guyat work or the lady at work who
always seems to be praised fromthe boss.
You know, she or she makes shealways got has the most sales at

(33:00):
the end of the month or thequarter.
Um, you know, if you're onsports, um, you know, it's the
guy who always finishes, youknow, the drills first, or who
seems like he always gets allthe rain county each week.
And and he's not doing anythingwrong.
He might be a great guy, shemight be a great girl, but all
of a sudden you're just like,oh, I got this thing against

(33:22):
them.

SPEAKER_02 (33:22):
Um that develops so quickly to a culture that
praises people who are better.
You know, we look at our ballteams, he's not good enough, he
needs to be better.
That's what you and I will sayto a guy who can run a four or
six and uh he weighs 382 pounds,you know, and we're like, he

(33:45):
needs to be better.
It's like, how can you be betterthan that?
You just you just can't be.
But we look at them and wepraise them, but then suddenly
someone who we think kind ofcompares to us and we figure out
that they're better at what wedo.
And that's that's a tough thing,tough thing to swallow,

(34:06):
especially when it's not like,well, if I worked out more, I'd
be better than him.
Or if I if I did this, I'd no,you're uh you're doing this,
you're all in, and there'ssomeone better.
That happens in air trafficcontrol all the time.
Some people just see it better,they see it sooner, you know,
the develop developing problems.

(34:29):
And um, I'd I would say I'm I'mworking to be like this guy, and
my trainer would say, he'sbetter than you at this.
You need to do it this way so itdoesn't get out of control.
He can do it any way he wantsto, because he's better than
you.
And he's better than me.
So you need to see that becauseyou're not he's got a knack, he

(34:54):
can just figure this out, and umhe's he's better than you.
Man, it used to grind my gears.
Now I can do this better, I cando it better.
I just gotta focus more, Igotta, I gotta, I gotta, and um
and they were always better.
And and those things are arehard to quantify.

(35:17):
But if it was football and hewas better than me at football,
I wouldn't care because I knowthere's a lot of people a lot
better than him, you know, anduh but when it's something that
I do and they're better, thatthat resentment will build, and
you you don't want that, youneed to praise them.
And uh I I you know I learnedthis from my dad because he was

(35:43):
um he says he would always say,I'm me, and I can do some
extraordinary things, but thosethings God doesn't want me to
do.
So I'm gonna settle with whatGod wants me to do, and I'm
gonna let other people uh beGod's whatever in that
situation.

(36:04):
And um, and that that helped meas a kid to not be pushed by
other people.
You know, I hear them talkingabout when Mayfield comes back
here and play, you know, BakerMayfield, he's you know, he's
got revenge and that'smotivating him.
Don't let that stuff motivateyou.

(36:26):
You celebrate the fact thatBaker on his own saved his
career.
And uh, and that's a greatthing.

unknown (36:34):
Yep.

SPEAKER_02 (36:35):
Not because I'm uh in the Baker whatever, but
because um he was a brat and hegrew up.
I mean, praise the Lord.
That's something we shouldcelebrate.

SPEAKER_01 (36:46):
Listen, all that is true.
I still hate the Chiefs, I stillhate the Yankees, I still hate
the Golden State Warriors, Ihate them.
And I don't like I don't likePittsburgh or Michigan either.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (36:58):
So there's all right.
Well, let's move on to point sixbecause point five just fell off
a cliff.

SPEAKER_01 (37:04):
Well, here, let me here's some reflection questions
to ask, and then we'll move onto point six.
Is there someone that you findyourself rooting against?
For no particular reason, you'rejust rooting against them.
That might be a good spot tosay, man, is it envy that's
causing me to do that?

unknown (37:21):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (37:21):
Um, and then question number two do I resent
people who are doing well for noother reason than they're doing
well.
That's another key indicatorthat envy is present in your
life.
And so those are some goodquestions.
And when this resentment, italways leads to feeling like
this.
And this is point six, when youconstantly feel behind.

(37:42):
See, envy creates this falserace with invisible competitors,
and we feel like I'm constantlytrying to have to do more, to be
more, to achieve more.
I'm I haven't earned enough, Ihaven't, you know, uh got
enough.
I don't have you know, my houseisn't big enough, my car's not
fast enough, whatever it is, I'mconstantly behind.
And so life begins to feel likeyou're just on this treadmill of

(38:05):
of comparison with other people,and you feel behind all the
time.

SPEAKER_02 (38:12):
That's tough.
That'll work on your self-image.
You know, why can't I be better?
Why can't I be ahead?
Is this ever gonna stop?
It it starts to work on your onyou mentally, and uh you don't
want to end up uh with problemsbecause of envy.

(38:33):
Um I noticed you put in ournotes here the neighbor's solo
stove is the new model and yougot the old model.

SPEAKER_01 (38:43):
I got the original, the OG.

SPEAKER_02 (38:45):
Yeah, yeah.
But this can be uh not justthat.
It's just that um they go on avacation.
It seems like they're on avacation every week.
How come we can't go on avacation?
It can be um when we show up atchurch, he's got all these
tools, and I don't have allthese tools.
How am I gonna, you know, dowhatever?

(39:08):
Um all those little comparisons,those things like that make you
feel like you're behind thateverybody else is achieving
something that you're notachieving.
And I got a lot of tools.
That's been one of my issues.
I want that new tool.
And um now all my new tools arereally old.

(39:31):
And new things have come out,and they do new things, and they
do things that mine do better.
And um I can't go out and buy anew nail gun.
I don't use the nail gun I got,you know?
So now I'm gonna replace it fora new model.
It doesn't, it doesn't compute.
But those things, uh, you getthis invisible competitor.

(39:55):
You know, everybody else has gotthis new thing.
I dropped uh, we were coming outhere on last Thursday to work on
the center building, and I wasgetting my ladder down, and you
know, when that little giantladder came out, and everybody's
like, oh, and it's so light, andyou can roll it around.
And uh, well, I found the littlegiant ladder at Walmart.

(40:21):
It wasn't that brand, it wasWalmart's brand for 69 bucks.
It wasn't$480, so I was like,I'm getting this one.
Well, the one I bought weighs1,200 pounds.
I'm like, are we sure this ismade out of aluminum?
Are there lead weights on thisthing?
I don't know what's going on.
Anyways, I had to drop it downand I dropped it on my foot.

(40:45):
And it it slid down insideitself and then banged on the
top of my foot, and it hurt sobad, and it's bruised black and
blue.
I think it's broken.
It's broken, and Joy won't helpme with it.
And uh, but you know the firstthing I thought?
I didn't say, oh my gosh, Ibroke my foot, oh my gosh, this
hurt so bad.
Somebody helped me, whatever.
You know, you know what Ithought?

(41:07):
I should have bought the littlegiant.
That's exactly what I thought.
And so I'm like, I have got tobe content with what I have, or
these little constantly feelingbehind will rob my joy.

SPEAKER_01 (41:23):
Yeah, you look in other people, you know, you
you're like, I'm working thesame hours.
We work, yeah, I mean we gottabe making roughly the same
amount of money.
Like it's not like I'm sittingover here slacking off, and yet
they're out to dinner all thetime.
They took four vacations thisyear, they just got you know,
upgraded their car again.
And you're like, I'm barely ableto keep up.
And we don't go out to eat alot.

(41:44):
We're not, you know, going outon the weekends with our buddy,
and and I don't even play golf.
I don't even play golf.
How can they afford to go?

SPEAKER_02 (41:52):
More reasons than money for that one.
I was no.

SPEAKER_01 (41:58):
We start to look out and we're like, how am I so
behind?
I'm doing everything that I Ican, working the hours I can,
trying to make as much money asI can, and I'm just behind.
And and then you'll do that, andthen you'll look and be like,
Well, this guy, you know, hehe's at all of his kids' games,
and he's and then you'll feelbehind in that way.

(42:19):
Well, now, you know, even as adad, I'm behind.
I'm not doing it the way thatthat so-and-so does it.
And how come he's able to dothat and I'm not able to do
that?
And we have this envy that growswhere we feel behind all the
time.
And that it's it's one of thoseindicators, man.
We we've got to stop andreflect.

SPEAKER_02 (42:38):
It produces anxiety, and yet you're trying to figure
out what am I so worried about,and you can't find it, it might
be here, might be in envy.
Now, as deep as we've talkedabout envy, envy always becomes
a theological issue.
And um that's where we end upwith number seven.

(43:00):
When you measure God's goodnessby someone else's blessing, is
God good?
Well, the answer is obviouslyyes.
Why would he be good to them andnot be good in the same way to
me?
So it's it's it always ends uphere.

(43:22):
So let's talk about that alittle bit.

SPEAKER_01 (43:24):
I mean, envy whispers that God loves others
more, right?
And this is something you'veeven shared, um, you know, I
can't remember.
This is probably a couple monthsago.
You talked about, you know, Iknow God loves me, but he loves
me because he has to love me.
Right.
But he probably he loves otherpeople more because they're
good.
You know, he has to love me.

(43:45):
He chooses to love them.
Yeah, he trusts them.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (43:49):
Yeah.
He he loves me like thered-headed stepchild.
I love ya, but I know you'regonna be in trouble next week.
I love ya, but I know I can'ttrust you to get this done.
I love ya, but you know, that'sthat's I kind of grew up with
that in um a very legalistic umbackground as I theological

(44:11):
background as I grew up.
And uh I it took me a while tofigure out no, I love you.
The limits on my love and myblessings are just based on you,
you know, not on me.
It's it's it's you.
And we've we've got tounderstand that, especially when
we're looking at someone elseand we envy that.

(44:32):
Man, look how big their churchis.
Okay, I we I used to do that.
Look how big their church is.
Now our church is having to moveto two services, and I'm like,
look how little their church is.
Wouldn't that be great?
Wouldn't it be awesome?
We could sit around on Sundaymornings swapping stories, and

(44:53):
you know, remember how it usedto be?

SPEAKER_01 (44:55):
Yeah, those days are are gone.

SPEAKER_02 (44:57):
I can't even I can't even remember them anymore.
But that's why they call themthe good old days because you
don't you don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 (45:05):
Um I I remember we had, I think it was our kids'
birthday party, maybe.
And so we had a bunch of peopleover the house, and my I think
it was my aunt was talking tosomeone because they had
mentioned they liked my couch orsomething, or how it was really
comfortable, something likethat.
And she's like, he didn't evenpay for this couch, you got it
for free.
And he's like, What?
How did you get it for free?

(45:25):
And so I told him the storyabout you know, we went out and
we were shopping for a couch,and the lady uh who was selling
uh on the sale floor that daywas a best friend of a lady I
used to work with.
So I used to see her when I wasat the bank.
And so we were talking andworking through couches.
We weren't in love withanything.
She goes, Well, if you don'tlove anything, I got I just
bought a brand new couch.

(45:46):
Um, and I have a couch at myhouse.
If you guys can wait a coupledays, you can just come pick it
up.
And I got I even got newcushions for it that are
unopened.
And I'm like, Yeah, sure.
So I went and I picked up thiscouch, got this couch for free.
Um, and there was, I don't knowif it was one of my brothers or
one of my cousins, because andGod has been so good to me in my
life that this kind of stuff hashappened like it more than it

(46:10):
seems like is normal, I guess.
It feels normal to me.
But someone was like, of courseyou got it for free.
Um there's that, yeah.
Oh, of course you did.
And and I don't think they meantanything malicious by that.
Um, I think it was just a coupleof things.

SPEAKER_02 (46:28):
Well, remember, if if you're at Ryan's house, most
of his stuff he borrowed anddidn't didn't return.
So he didn't get it for free.
It's really not his at all.
Uh, it's just on loan.

SPEAKER_01 (46:41):
But man, we we get into those spots where it's
like, man, why does God do allthat stuff for them?
Why does God show up for themand not me?
And so someone else gets healedand you're still waiting.
Right.
Someone else gets pregnant,you're still praying.

SPEAKER_02 (46:56):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
Someone else gets the job, you're still searching.
And you're like, God, what I'mdoing, all this stuff.
I'm showing up to church, I'mreading my Bible, I'm praying,
you know, I'm even giving somemoney when they talk about it.
I I why why do you keepoverlooking me?

SPEAKER_02 (47:13):
And I think uh one of the things that my dad taught
me, and I've tried to teach thischurch, if God doesn't do
anything more than save you,what else could you ask for?
You know, uh, we gotta look atGod for who he is, but we also
need to look at us uh like whowe are, and that's why we gotta

(47:36):
ask these questions here.
Do I believe God is overlookingme?
Do I believe that?
Is that part of my faith thatGod is overlooking me in the
middle of all this?
And you gotta ask yourself thatquestion because if you believe
that, then you're envious.

SPEAKER_01 (47:56):
Yeah, you know there's uh here's trying to make
sure this makes sense.
Um Jesus gives thisillustration, right?
There's a couple guys.
One guy gets five talents, oneguy gets two talents, another
guy gets one.
And the guy who has five goesout and he earns five more.

(48:19):
And the master says, Well done,my good and faithful servant.
You've been faithful and little,now I'll give you even more.
Well, the guy with two talents,he goes out and he earns two
more.
And he comes back and his mastersays, the same thing.
Well done, good and faithfulservant.
You've been faithful and little,I'll give you more.

(48:40):
The guy who had one talent, heburies his, says, I know my
master is hard, and he thatmaster's ticked.
Well, but the point in thiswhole thing is the guy with two
talents never looked at the guywith five talents and said,
Well, how come I didn't getfive?
And that guy had five, and heearned five more.
But if I would have had hisopportunities and his resources,

(49:02):
and if I would have had hisstarting place, then I could
have made that.
And he didn't say that.
He had two, the other guy hadfive.
They both went out, they bothdoubled it.
And the master said the samething to both of them.
Well done.
And we think they have more,they had a better starting place
in life, they grew up in awealthier family than I did,

(49:25):
they went to a better collegethan I did.
Life's just been easier forthem, whatever it is.
And I didn't have those.
And we'll start to compareourselves.
And what God's really saying is,will you be faithful with what
you do have?
Will you be faithful here?
God is not comparing yourresults to what someone else
has.
He's saying, This is what youhave, this is what I've given

(49:47):
you.
Will you be faithful?
And if you'll be faithful inthose little things, he says, I
can give you more things.
But you gotta be faithful here.
And so if you believe God isoverlooking you because someone
else has five and you have two,you've missed it.
You've missed it.
And when Aesoph wrote Psalm 73,and I'd encourage you to go and

(50:11):
read it.
It's it's too long to read thewhole thing here, but let me
read you the first verse or two.
This is what Aesoph said.
He says, God is indeed good toIsrael, to the pure in heart,
but as for me, my feet almostslipped.
My steps nearly went astray.
For I envied the arrogant, and Isaw the prosperity of the

(50:34):
wicked.
He says, Man, I looked out and Isaw these guys.
He goes on to say, Man, theyhave an easy time until they
die.
Their bodies are well fed,they're not in trouble like
other people are in trouble.
He lists all the grievances thatyou and I are listing today.
Look at I look out at thesepeople, and especially when we
look outside of the church andwe see all these people who are
really successful and they gotall the money and all the

(50:56):
things.
We're like, man, I'm trying todo it God's way, and none of
this seems to happen for me.
How come it always happens forthem?
That's where ASOF was.
He says, I almost lost my waybecause I envied those people.
And man, I would encourage you,do not, do not tie this, get
into this comparison game andtie what God's blessing in your

(51:16):
life to what someone else has,or or begin to measure God's
goodness by someone else'sblessing or what they achieved.
And the truth of the matter is,you don't know what that costs
them.
You know, you were just talkingabout, you know, these pastors
pastoring these big old churchesand doing all this stuff.
And man, wouldn't that be greatif we had all those people?
You don't know what that coststhem.

(51:36):
Lights and yes, all thoselights, LED screens and the
theatrical seating.
You don't know what it coststhat guy to be able to do that.
And then you start to get aglimpse of it and you're like,
man, am I willing to pay thisprice?

SPEAKER_02 (51:50):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (51:51):
You don't know what it costs.
And so it's easy to look andsay, man, if I only had that,
and if God only loved me like heloved them, and you are going to
in the middle miss God'sgoodness in your life.
God's goodness is not measuredby comparing blessings.
And every time you do, you'regonna come up short.

(52:12):
But what we know is that God isfaithful, that he is good.

SPEAKER_02 (52:18):
Um and listen, we've been talking about envy, and I
know we gotta wrap up, we'vebeen here a long time, but it
always ends up here.
It always ends up as atheological um question in your
life.
Envy will always end there.
Is God better to others than heis to me?

(52:41):
And so we have to we have towrestle with that.
And I'm gonna give you five uhwe got five things here that we
want to share with you.
First of all, you've got toconfess it.
You just gotta face, face it.
What I said in the beginningstill applies after seven of
these um what do you calldiagnostic tools, okay?

(53:05):
Still applies.
You're just being a normalhuman, a fall in and a fallen
world.
You're just being normal.
And uh we want you to not belike that, of course, but the
best way to do it, um, the firstthing you have to do, let's put
it that way, is you have toconfess it.

(53:25):
Confession breaks its power.
What you're doing, you'reagreeing with God.
You gave me two.
Um I think I deserve more, butyou're God and I'm not.
So thank you for my two.
Here I go.
Right.
I'm gonna make you four.
And uh that's who we gotta be.
And uh we gotta confess thathey, I'm mad at that person just

(53:50):
because they're doing good, Godhelp me celebrate with them.
Yeah, and it's it's importantthat we confess this so that we
can face it in the mirror.

SPEAKER_01 (53:59):
Yeah, number two, practice gratitude
intentionally.
Um, you know, I talked about onSunday, Joey and I were writing
down three things at the end ofeach day that we are grateful
for.
That's a great step.
Uh just once a day.
You don't pull out the notes appon your phone or get a get a
small notebook, something, andjust start writing three, four,
five things that you're gratefulfor every day.

(54:21):
And that'll begin to breakenvy's grip because it'll focus
you on what God has provided andallow you to celebrate those
things.

SPEAKER_02 (54:29):
Number three, celebrate others out loud.
Not just just pray it, butcelebrate out loud.
Speak blessings over someoneelse's wind.

SPEAKER_01 (54:41):
We're so quick when we catch someone doing something
wrong, right?
We love gossip.
We'll run out there, we'llgossip like crazy.
What if instead of gossip, youjust started singing everybody's
praises?
You know, and instead of rushingout to share someone's juicy
news or secret, you ran out tocelebrate them.
Oh my gosh, did you see whatthey did?
Oh my gosh, did you see howawesome this was?

(55:04):
You begin to do that, and man,envy, it loses its grip.
Um, it has no footing becausenow you start to celebrate what
other people are doing out loudin front of people.

SPEAKER_02 (55:15):
Uh, for number four, and this is important, we always
remember the good old days.
I mentioned it earlier before.
You know, we we remember thegood old days, but we don't
remember the details of thosegood old days.
And it's important for us toremember what God has given us.

(55:36):
Um, I mean, down to the salt inyour shaker.
Thank you, God, for doing that.
We need to rehearse hisfaithfulness to us.
Yeah, um, but I live in Americaand God has blessed me.
Even if I don't have as much aseverybody else around me, I have
more than most people in theworld.

(55:56):
And uh I want to thank God forthat.
We need to rehearse not what'swrong, but what God has given
us, where he's been faithful.
That's right.
And bring it up over and overagain.
And that builds your confidencein God and it punches envy in
the face.
Amen.
It says, I can't, I I can't geta hold of this guy.

(56:21):
Um, he just he's always thinkingabout what God has done for him.
And it's easy to forget thosethings.
Uh, listing five blessings dailyis a great way to start, but
don't list them in your mind,don't list them in your prayer.
Put them in a notebook so youcan remember them.

SPEAKER_01 (56:38):
And then you you get into a situation and you can
look back and go, man, God wasfaithful then.
I know he'll be faithful now.
And so, number five, uh, lastone here, refocus your identity.
Your worth isn't tied tocomparison.
God is not out here picking andchoosing based off who he loves
more.
Um, that's a lie.
And you need to quit believingthat thing.

(57:00):
Um, you are your identity isrooted in Christ.
And and I love how Aesop kind ofstarts wrapping this all up in
Psalm 73.
He says, This as for me, God'spresence is my good.
I love that.
Lord, I almost slipped when Ilooked at other people and and

(57:24):
the way they live and all thatthey got, I envied them and I
almost lost my way.
But he comes down here and hesays, But as for me, God's
presence is my good.
I have made the Lord my refugeso I can tell about all that you
do.
God is faithful, and youridentity is not rooted in what

(57:46):
you have.
And man, you need to listen tome because I I I guess women
might struggle with this too,but man, I've talked to so many
men over the years that youridentity is rooted in what you
do and how much money you makeand how much is in your 401k.
It's not true.
You are a child of God, a childof the king, a co-heir with

(58:08):
Christ.
That's who you are.
Stop the comparison.
Don't give it a foothold in yourlife.
And so if you'll begin to dothese five things, confess it,
name it honestly, practicegratitude intentionally,
celebrate others out loud,remember what God has given you,
and refocus your identity.
Envy will begin to lose its gripin your life.

(58:30):
And you can begin to experiencejoy and thankfulness,
contentment, peace, gratitude,all those things that God has
for you if we'll begin to ripthis thing out.

SPEAKER_02 (58:42):
But you gotta call it out first.
You just gotta accept it andsay, That's what it is.
That's what it is.
And and then to confess it,Lord, I let this get a grip on
me.
Take it away, I'm sorry.
And and move on and and do theseother practical steps that'll

(59:02):
force you to push away envy.
Yeah.
And when you feel less content,when you feel less grateful, or
you start searching for thingsto make you happy, you let envy
in.
And uh let's be proactive, let'slet's fight it, and uh, and not

(59:26):
let Satan steal our joy.
Let us live in joy um until thetime we go home.
Because when we go home, homecoming up, you know, our
Christmas series, when we gohome, there's there's no place
to put all the joy.
We're gonna be overflowing withjoy.

(59:47):
We're gonna be saying, I needsome angst because and God's
saying, No, I took all yourangst out and I'm stuffing it
with joy.
And uh I just can we just liveon joy like this forever and the
Lord.
Lord's gonna say, Yes, you can.
You don't have to be that way.
And we don't have to be that wayhere, right?

(01:00:08):
Because we have beenregenerated.
We are already the people thatwe're gonna be in heaven.
And that's a that's an excitingthing.
We don't have to live in thismess.
All we have to do is say no.

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:24):
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
We thank you for this reminder.
And Father, we we ask that youwould help rip envy out of our
hearts.
And so, God, we confess it.
That's the first thing we haveto do.
And so, Lord, I pray that you'dhelp us identify using this
diagnostic we ran through today.
Help us identify where envy hastaken root.
And then Lord, help us to agreewith you on that thing.

(01:00:47):
It is, it is wrong.
It is stealing my joy, my peace,my content.
And Father, then I pray that youwould help us to begin to
practice gratitude, to celebrateothers, to remember what you've
done, and to have our identityrooted in you.
Lord, we are so grateful.
We are so thankful for all thatyou're doing in each of our
lives.
Lord, we're thank you, thankfulfor what you're doing in this

(01:01:08):
church.
We ask that you would continueto show up and move.
And God, whatever it is, it'senough.
And we thank you for it.
In Jesus' name.

unknown (01:01:18):
Amen.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:19):
Amen and amen.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:20):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
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(01:01:44):
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