What Jealousy Does In The Dark // Night School Part. 2 // The Blueprint with Dr. Dharius Daniels What's up everybody? Welcome to the blueprint, a third way Bible study. Hey, we believe there are three ways you can live your life. Culture's way, that's the way of the world, the value systems of the world, the practices, the priorities, the principles of the world. Or you can live your life church's way, that's the the way of religion, that's the principles, the practices, the priorities of religion. Or you can live your life the third way, that's the king's way. That is the way of the rabbi. In other words, Jesus came to do more than just be our redeemer, he came to be our rabbi. He came to do more than get us to heaven. He came to teach us, to show us how to live as humans on earth. And so super grateful. This book right here is a book that the content of this book teaches you how to live on earth, not just how to die, but how to live. And so we're incredibly grateful to have you with us. I want y'all to tap in. I want you to drop some fire in the chat if you're online. I want to give a special shout-out to our Change Church family. Of course, this tribe is they're people from different churches all over different parts of the country, but man, shout-out Change Church family. It's 180 night, they are live at our locations, and man, I'm I'm incredibly excited about all that God's doing. If you tapped in for the first time, incredibly excited to have you with us. And I can't wait to get into our teaching today. I want to actually I want to jump right into jump right into the teaching if I can do that. Let's just let's just go there. Let's go all the way there. I feel like the bishop tonight. I just wanted to remind you, God is still good, the Bible is still real, and holiness is still right. I'm sorry, I just felt 76. I just felt like I'm like a 76-year-old. Huh? God is good. Come on here. The Bible's real. Holiness is still right. My God today. I need a Pentecostal to put a shaba in the chat. Shaba. Shaba. I'm excited. Well, listen, we're in >> [laughter] >> We're in a We're in a series called night school. And so over the course of these next several weeks, we are positioning ourselves as a disciple. A disciple is not just a student or a learner, a disciple is an apprentice. And it's really important to understand that. A disciple is an apprentice. And so a student can sit in a classroom and learn plumbing, but an apprentice learns from the plumber. Does that make sense? I don't want to just learn what you're doing, I want to learn how to do it. And so again, Jesus doesn't just teach us how to die, he teaches us how to live. And um we all, I think, need to consistently and continually be discipled on how to handle dark times. And um I'm excited about that, man. All right, let's let's in these dark times we we call night school. So let's go together. We're We're in the book of Genesis. This entire series we are learning from our instructors. Our students are um Y'all still laughing at my holiness, huh? >> [laughter] >> Y'all still laughing about There's okay, my shabas are just coming in. There it is. Shaba ba. Yes. Um let's go together, Genesis chapter 4 verse number two verse number eight. I'm going to read a few verses here. Um Genesis chapter 4 verse number um eight says, "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, let's go out into the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" "I don't know," he replied, "am I my brother's keeper?" The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen, your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. And when you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on earth." Restless wanderer on earth. I want to this is part two of this series, night school. And I want to talk from this subject. Last week we looked at Adam and Eve. This week and next week we're going to be exploring Cain and Abel. Here it is. We're talking from this subject, what jealousy does in the dark. What jealousy does in the dark. All right, we articulated in a series entitled night school. And this series is intended to disciple us on how to handle dark times. And And dark times are what I'm calling night seasons. And there are three ways we can handle night seasons. We can handle night seasons culture's way. Pastor Darius, what does that mean? Culture's way, watch this, is to run from the dark. We can handle seasons the church's way. What's that, Pastor Darius? The church's way is to pretend it's not dark. Or we can handle dark times the king's way. The king's way is to develop in the dark. Did you hear what I just said? Culture's way is to run from the dark. That's what we call I taught this escapism. The church's way is to pretend it's not dark. That is not escapism, that's denial that we call faith. The king's way is to develop in the dark. And this is when we allow our night seasons to become night school. I said this is when we allow our night seasons to become night school. This is when we allow our night seasons to become night school. And I think all of us need to adopt an attitude that suggests that I am not going to go through seasons of agitation and not get some watch this, compensation. And when I say compensation, I'm not I'm not talking about cash. When I say compensation, I'm talking about value added. Did you hear what I just said? In In other words, if you and I are going to experience some dilemmas, we at least need to come out of the dilemmas with some development. An Old Testament metaphor this is in the book of Exodus when Israel makes their exodus out of Egypt, the text says, the narrative says, they came out of Egypt with gold. Come on. They came out richer. And we need to be richer in faith, and richer in character, and richer in focus, and richer in richer in peace, richer in purpose. Once we come out of night seasons. I'm not going to experience agitation without some compensation. I refuse to experience dilemmas and not get some development. Come on. I I refuse to go through bad times and not come out a better person. Stronger. Wiser. Better. So much better. Come through, Mom and Sam. God wants to turn our night want to turn night seasons in to night school. But we determine whether or not we are good or bad students. And we're using [snorts] individuals in the book of Genesis as our instructors on how to handle night seasons so that they become night schools. And today we're going to be learning lessons from two individuals named Cain and Abel. They're the sons of Adam and Eve. And these individuals will serve as our instructors on how to handle dark [snorts] seasons when we are wrestling with or victims of the sin called jealousy. Ooh, because jealousy can produce some night seasons. Jealousy is complex. Here's the description of it I want to give you today. Jealousy is the fear of another person's success. It is a threat to your self-esteem. And it is resentment toward the superior status or perceived advantage of a rival or even a friend. I'm going to read it again. It's fear of another person's success. It's a threat to your self-esteem. And it is resentment toward the superior status or perceived advantage. Perceived advantage. Because sometimes we're upset about an illusion. Sometimes we are upset about something that seems to be one way that isn't a way. We are upset because people seem to be in a place they're not actually in. So at its core, watch this, jealousy is the fear of being replaced, surpassed, or forgotten. Now, jealousy is often confused with envy, but it's not the same thing. Envy is wanting what someone else has. You got me? If you got me, put got you in the chat. Envy is wanting what someone else has. Jealousy is being upset that they have it. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> Envy is wanting what someone else has. Jealousy is being upset that they have it. So, it's possible to be for someone to be jealous, not because they want what another person has. It's possible for a person to be jealous, watch this, just because they don't want them to have it. Envy says, I want your blessing. Jealousy says, I don't want you to have it. One is coveting, the other is competing, and both are spiritually corrosive. And this text is an example of how jealousy produces dark times for those who have it, and it produces dark times or night seasons for those who are the objects of it. In other words, every honest, and I'm just looking for the honest people right along here. Every honest developing disciple will wrestle with jealousy. Come on. Or will be the object of someone else's jealousy. Did you hear what I just said? Every developing disciple will wrestle with jealousy or be the object of someone else's jealousy, and the text teaches us how to handle both. We're going to explore one today, and we'll explore another next week. And I'm actually going to because jealousy isn't a subject that's regularly taught, I'm actually going to teach oh, you know, I've I've might is not as robust. I'm going to teach a little bit, and then I'm going to take some questions from the chat. >> [snorts] >> Um Yeah, I'm going to take some questions from the chat regarding this, because I I I I I I think it's a incredibly important but under emphasized subject. All right. So, this text here teaches us how to handle when you're wrestling with it, and next week I'm going to teach you how to handle it when you are the object of it. Cuz this text isn't just a story, it's a case study in what happens when jealousy is in the dark. And when I say jealousy is in the dark, I I mean jealousy that's unexposed. I mean jealousy that's in our heart. I mean jealousy that is undetected. Uh because here is what I've seen often riding the car with jealousy, denial. Is this too real? Denial. That when individuals are operating with jealousy, very rarely do they assess it or admit it? Cuz you you know what church's way does? IT DENIES THE DARK. >> [laughter] [gasps] >> COME ON. THREE WAYS THREE ways to deal with jealousy. Culture's way, way of the world. Church's way, way of religion. King's way, the way of the rabbi. Come on. Culture's way, escapism. Let me just do something unhealthy, self-destructive, unbiblical, immoral. Let me just do something to take my mind away from it. Let me distract myself from it instead of dealing with it. Uh church's way, to ignore it, to act as if it does not exist. But Genesis 4 teaches us something. Jealousy works on the inside long before it ever shows up on the outside. What does jealousy do in the dark? Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Here it is. Number one, jealousy often exposes our own underperformance. Jealousy often exposes our own underperformance. Look at what Genesis 4 in the book Genesis 4, chapter uh verse 3 says, some of the soil as an offering, but Abel brought an offering fat portions from the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked on Abel and his offering with favor, but on Cain and his offering he did not look on with favor. I'm in the book. If you at 180 night, if you online, I'm in the book. Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering, but Abel brought um from the first portion, the fat. He brought an offering fat portions from some of the firstborn of the flock, >> [snorts] >> and the Lord looked on favor with Abel and but on Cain and his offering he did not look on look on it with favor. Watch this. Just because something is offered doesn't mean it has to be accepted. And so, the only person that always accepts anything that's offered is an individual sometimes that hasn't assessed their value. I want you to catch this. I want you to catch this. I want you to catch this. Cain brought from among. Abel brought from the first. Do you see that? Cain brought from among. Abel brought from the first. Abel wasn't better, Cain was casual. Did you hear what I just said? Abel wasn't better, Cain was casual. So, watch this. Cain gets upset at Abel's results when Cain did not in did not demonstrate Abel's effort. It's So, Cain, you didn't do what Abel did, so you didn't get what Abel got. So, being up So, instead of holding yourself accountable, come on. Instead of holding yourself accountable, Oh, you got to say I'm glitching? Let's see here. This this should fix it. I had my I think I had my antenna here. It should be better. If it sounds better, I want you to say, you're sounding good, Bishop. You're sounding good, Bishop. Okay. We're good. Oh, it's Kai. I play with Seth at Windermere Prep. That's you, Kai? It's quarterback Kai? I can't I can see your picture. Kai, you the quarterback Kai? You used to be at my house. I remember you. Anyway, Cain wanted Abel's results, but Cain didn't engage or didn't put forth Abel's effort. So, instead of holding himself accountable, watch this. Instead of holding himself accountable, he made Abel the object of his attack. Because jealousy inhibits our ability to see where we need to be accountable. Did you hear what I just said? Jealousy inhibits our ability to hold ourselves accountable. It is underperformance. It wasn't that Cain wasn't able. It's Cain wasn't willing. It wasn't that Cain wasn't able. If Cain wasn't able, it's not underperformance. Because all good and biblical steward A- A- All God requires um and all God expects is our best, right? Doing the best, thriving, And the best you can in the season you're in with the resources that you have available. But there are times when individuals are upset at Abel when they need to be upset at themselves. Am I talking to anybody tonight that has ever been through seasons and situations in life where people were upset with you when [snorts] they should have been upset with themselves? Jealousy exposes our own underperformance. Here Here's Here's why Here's why Here's why this is important. If you look at Genesis chapter number four, I want you to listen uh to what um to what God says uh to um Cain. He said now He said now Cain He said basically I'm paraphrasing. He says why are you mad? Why is your face Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? And then he says in verse seven, if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? He says but watch what he says, if you don't do what's right, sin is crouching at your door and it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. So he says your underperformance becomes an open door for sin to walk in. In other words, he says your underperformance becomes an open door for the enemy to usher in that which is dysfunctional, that which is unbiblical, that which is unhealthy and unhelpful. Come on. He is saying your underperformance has opened a door for something and that door what walked through the door in Cain's heart was jealousy. And he said if you'd just do what was right, you would have been accepted. Jealousy often exposes our own underperformance. All right. Number two. Jealousy cuddles comparison. You know what cuddles mean? To cuddle something? Jealousy cuddles comparison. It doesn't evict a comparison, it doesn't arrest comparison, it doesn't rebuke comparison, it cuddles comparison. It nurtures comparison. It feeds comparison. Look at verse five. But on Cain and his offering he did not look on with favor, so Cain was very angry and his face was downcast. So Cain wasn't angry at God's response to his offering until he saw God's response to Abel's. >> [laughter] >> Lord, I don't I I don't have time. Cain was not upset with God's response to his offering until Cain saw God's response to Abel's. He was practicing a casual faith. But when he got results that were consistent with with the way he was behaving and then he saw Abel get results, what did he do? He compared. Because watch this, jealousy doesn't begin when someone wins. Jealousy begins when we decide that their win means our loss. Cain didn't get jealous just because Abel got blessed. Cain got jealous because he compared blessing. And comparison opens the door to jealousy. All right. Number three. Here it is, number three. Number three. Jealousy evolves in isolation. Jealousy evolves in isolation. Look at verse eight. Now Cain said to his brother Abel, let's go out in the field. Now next week I'm going to teach the focus today is on Cain. Next week we're going to teach >> [laughter] >> Johanna said we got time PD, Torrio not here. I'm done Torrio. Torrio not here tonight. All right. >> [laughter] >> Here it is. Next week I'm going to talk to you about how to respond when somebody jealous tries to take you in the field. Don't let jealousy take you there. Oh my. Did y'all catch that? Don't let jealousy take you there. Watch this. Let's go out in the field. What Why did Cain need to take him out in the field? Isolation. And [snorts] the text says it's in the field that he attacked his brother. Okay. Okay. Okay. So the distance that they had to walk to the field physically can be a metaphor, watch this, for your journey relationally. So the journey physically for them walking in the field can be a metaphor for the journey relationally. And sometimes it takes you getting to a certain place in your journey relationally before the jealousy becomes an attack. Now the attack to Cain felt like a surprise. But there's a difference between a person, watch this, having jealousy and jealousy having them. Mhm. There is a difference between a person possessing jealousy and expressing jealousy. And sometimes it it takes you getting to a certain place in your relational journey where you realize in a a place in your relational journey where what is on the inside of that person, what's going on in the dark places of their heart, the dark places in their soul, it takes time for that to show up on the outside. So the attack seems out of nowhere. It seems sudden. Right? It seems sudden. It seems surprising. Not realizing and recognizing that the jealousy has always been present in their heart, it just hadn't been visible to you. And now the unmanaged jealousy shows up in the form of an attack. So they start attacking what they become jealous of. They jealous of the relationship, they attack it. They jealous of the business, they attack it. They jealous of your growth, they attack it. And it sometimes it takes time for the jealousy that's in Cain's heart to show up. Now here's what's important. Remember guys, to be surprised by the inevitable is to be naive. The Bible says you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. That word truth there means reality. The truth, reality, what life is really like is revealed in the scriptures. And so here's the gift of script the gift of truth delivers you from the delivers you from this from deception. And when you get delivered from deception, you get delivered from naivety. And so the fact that these are two brothers, that there is a brother that is harboring jealousy for someone else means that their love for you doesn't eradicate their jealousy of you. Love doesn't fix jealousy, growth does. So it doesn't matter how much Cain loves you. So the fact that a brother can be jealous of a brother, this is teaching us the truth. It is ushering us into the reality that anybody can be jealous of anybody. Parents can be jealous of children. They shouldn't be jealous of children, but they can be jealous of children and it doesn't mean they don't love their children. It means they haven't grown to the point in their spiritual and emotional journey that they can actually love their children with agape love. So the fact that Cain, are y'all here? If you here say we here Bishop. The fact that Cain, who's a brother, is jealous of his own brother and this is revealed to us in scripture. This is an This This is This is an indication that anybody can be jealous of anybody because their love for you doesn't eradicate their jealousy of you. People become jealous of people they love. You'd be surprised. There'll be There'll spouses that are jealous of each other. If I had time This is why shameless plug, this is why I think it's February the 6th. I think it's February 6th. Yeah, I think it's February 6th. Let me check. Let me double check before I give you all the wrong date. Yes, indeed. February 6th. February 6th, 2026. Um, at [snorts] all of our locations, man. Well, in New Jersey and Atlanta. If you go to Change Church, we've got Relationships Uncensored. We got the singles edition, we got the couples edition. This is why it's so important for singles not just to look when you're making decisions regarding who you're coming into the covenant with, it's not just how fine they are, it's how formed they are. It's not are you fine, it's are you formed. Because my experience all fine is does it give me something to look to to look at. But what I got to look at that determine what I'm experience with you. What I'm experience with you is not based on what you look like. It's going to base It's going to be based on who you are. My Come on here. My experience with you is not going to be based on what you determine about what you look like. It's going to be determined about who you are. Are you here? So, if Cain can be jealous of Abel, then anyone can be jealous of anyone. And not to know that Watch this. God does not reveal that truth to us to make us paranoid. He reveals that truth to us to make us prepared. Did you hear what I just said? He doesn't reveal this truth to make us I want y'all to catch this, man. He He doesn't reveal this truth to make us paranoid and cynical. Are you jealous of me? But to be prepared. So that when jealousy comes from a place that you don't expect it to come from, you're you're you're prepared. Anybody can be jealous of anybody. And jealousy resides in the human heart and it's time for disciples to be objective and be honest and say sometimes it shows up in me. Because when it comes to jealousy, everyone likes to act like they Abel. Sometimes you Cain. Is this too much? I said when it comes When it comes to jealousy, everyone assumes I'm Abel, which means I'm the one people are jealous of. And sometimes if you're human, you you may be Abel. But there have been seasons and there may be There are times from time to time as a human you feel like Abel. And you've got to restrain it. You've got to restrict it. Why? Because jealousy evolves in isolation. It stays alive as long as it stays hidden. It evolves if it's not exposed. And exposing it is one of the keys to addressing it. But pride will pervert our perspective and won't allow us to engage in objective self-examination. And therefore, we are unable to admit you're wrestling with something. And because you can't admit you're wrestling with it, you can't win. >> [laughter] >> When you don't admit you're wrestling with it, what ends up happening is it is fighting you. But you not fighting it. And when you feel that thing rising up on the inside of you, come on. We got to fight back. Somebody put in the chat fight back. Fight back. Fight back. It evolves in isolation. It evolves in isolation. So, when I'm not When I'm allowing jealousy to talk and I'm not talking back and when when I when I don't have safe places and safe spaces in my life where you can you can confess [clears throat] and like, man, I think I'm I'm think I'm wrestling with a little jealousy. That don't mean I'm weak, it means I'm human. I think I'm wrestling with a little jealousy. Then what happens is it evolves in isolation because the context of community is intended to help reset you. Did you hear what Sometimes you need Oh my. May God give us friends. May God give us spiritual family. May God give us natural family that helps us reset. Come on. That reminds you of how blessed you are. That reminds you of how gifted you are. That reminds you that even all that we have, we don't deserve. Woof. That even though there's a part of us that may be focused on what we don't have, there should be another part of us that's grateful for what we do have because all that we do have, we don't deserve. We've got more than we deserve. He's been better than we deserve. We got opportunities we don't deserve. We got blessing we don't deserve. We've got favor we don't deserve. We got people we don't deserve. We got businesses we don't deserve. We got health we don't deserve. But when there's not isolation, you have a Watch this. You're having dialogue with the devil only. It evolves in isolation. Tiffany says, "Oh, I'm going to get to some of these in a minute. Did you know some people don't experience jealousy because they know their worth and been surrounded by successful people." I might not have read that right, so I'm not going to respond the way I was going to respond. Um Number four. Jealousy Did you know some people don't experience jealousy because they know their worth and been surrounded by successful people. That may be the case for some. But some people can be surrounded by successful people and being surrounded by successful people, if you're not successful, can trigger jealousy. And then also jealousy has degrees. Um So, just because someone isn't obsessive in their jealousy, doesn't mean that they aren't wrestling with jealousy. Um I What I think is dangerous is when you think you're above it. And I kind of have a different view of spiritual formation. And uh that does meaning that the more that I grow, there is a reordering of my desires. And there may be some things that you are never tempted with, but to assume I'm never tempted with anything is That's just second way. It's It's second Anyway, I'm going to I'm going to do I'm going to get in the comments in a little bit later. Um but Number four. Jealousy attacks the innocent. Look at verse 8. Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out in the field." While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. So, Abel became the object of animosity and he didn't do anything but win. Like he did his best. He gets a beating because he did his best. That's all he did. He did his He did his best and he gets a beating because jealousy attacks the innocent. Abel did nothing to Cain. Right? It attacks the innocent because jealousy makes Jealousy makes us illogical. So, watch this. Instead of competing with Abel, he should have been learning from Abel. Instead of attacking Abel, he should have been educated by Abel. But watch this. Cain's pride wouldn't even allow him to receive God's um correction. Because God in the text literally tries to reset Cain, doesn't he? Doesn't he? Doesn't he? He says, "Hey, if you would do right, would you not be accepted?" He tries to reset it. But it makes it makes a person illogical and they attack the innocent. And number five, then I'm going to take some questions cuz I'm going to take a little time today. I feel like it. Um Number five. Jealousy creates a curse. Look at the text, verse 10. It says, "The Lord says, 'What have you done? Listen. Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hands. And when you work the ground, it will no longer yield crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on earth.' When I say curse, I don't mean hex. Curse here suggests doomed for destruction. Curse here suggests absent of divine intervention and involvement. Curse here doesn't refer necessarily to what happens because of what God actively does to a person. Curse here refers to what happens inevitably because of what God doesn't do. So So, a curse isn't Curse here is not inferring what is going to happen to a person because of what God does with his with with his hand because God puts his hand on something and impacts it in a negative way. It is this is doomed for destruction because God has taken his hand off. And here's what happens. He says in verse 12, you're going to work the ground and it's not going to yield crops for you. Another word for crop crops is produce, right? And so he is saying that you aren't going to see the kind of produce, the kind of productivity that you could because jealousy robs you and I of our own productivity. Did you hear what I just said? Jealousy robs you and I of our own productivity. Because the energy and the focus and the attention that I am giving to what's going on in your field could be energy, focus, and attention I'm giving to mine. He says you're doomed for destruction. It create it it it it creates a lack of productivity. And not only did the text say it will no longer yield crops for you. Look at verse 12 again. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. So, you will never feel stable. You will never feel settled. You will never feel secure. You'll always feel restless. You'll always feel wandering. Your there will never feel like there. Your there will never feel like there. Your there will never feel like there. Your there will never feel [snorts] like there. Because jealousy won't allow you to rest where you are. >> [laughter] >> Uh jealousy will make us unsatisfied with what we were previously grateful for. And so, family, when we are um experiencing a life that's driven by jealousy, it doesn't lead to human flourishing. It doesn't lead to biblical faithfulness. It doesn't lead to fruitfulness. It doesn't lead to fulfillment. We become unproductive. We become unsettled. And we become unhappy. And for those who have an issue with us using the word happy, um referring to the believer, I want you to refer back to a teaching I did called four keys to a happy New Year or four keys to fruitfulness, something like that I did. But it was based on Psalms 1 and we looked at the word for blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, sit in the seat of the scornful. We we we looked at that word blessed and that word blessed we unpacked it. It speaks to not cultural happiness but biblical happiness. Family, this is what jealousy does in the dark. It exposes our own underperformance. It coddles comparison. It evolves in isolation. It attacks the innocent and it creates a curse. And I want to contend that everybody under the sound of my voice, I stand on this. Everyone under the sound of my voice in one season of your life or another, you're going to be Cain and Abel or Cain or Abel. But a lot more people have been Cain. I'm not saying we all haven't been Abel. I'm saying but we a lot more people have been Cain than admit they are. Here's what Paul says to believers in Corinth. He says, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed unless he falls." The moment I make the assumption I'm above jealousy is the moment I become more vulnerable to jealousy. I am not saying everyone is um prone to the same sorts of temptations. I am saying no one is above any of them. And I think that's key. I think that's important. I want to do something a little different here. I want to I want to um I want to take a few questions then I'm then I want to pray, okay? I typically pray and let people go and then take a few questions, but I feel like the nature of this uh kind of conversation that we're having here, even some of the questions, I think, are questions that are part of the lesson. So, I'm going to take just a few questions and then I'm going to pray us out. But um I got one question here that I saw someone say and that is they said um how do I tell the difference between jealousy and ambition? Remember um remember what we we gave you a definition of um or description of the difference between envy and jealousy. Envy is wanting what someone else has. Jealousy is being upset that they have it. They both, watch this, they they both are focused on the actions or the perceived achievements of another person, not desires that are on the inside of you. So, ambition, and watch this, ambition in and of itself biblically is not evil. The Bible talks about vain ambition. And ambition is an appetite, a desire for achievement or improvement. You can't improve your marriage without ambition. You can't improve your spiritual life without ambition. The question is, is it godly ambition or vain ambition? Is it ambition for things that matter to God or is it ambition for things that matter to us? Anyway, here's the point that I'm making here. Um it you know, you're able to differentiate between jealousy and ambition because the focus on jealousy focus of jealousy is the accomplishments of other people and you are bothered by their accomplishments even if you don't have a desire to accomplish it. Does that make sense? I said, "Does that make sense?" All right, good stuff. Someone says, "And jealousy isn't inherently bad, either." Godly jealousy isn't inherently bad. The Bible calls God a jealous God. And so the difference between godly jealousy and ungodly jealousy is this. Godly jealousy is protective. Ungodly jealousy is possessive. So, if a if a if a if a person has a spouse and you know, I'm not talking about something petty, but if a person has a spouse and something deems to be looks inappropriate, then yes, the natural response to that is jealousy. Like jealousy can be godly jealousy can be an expression of love. Does that make sense? Like it can be an expression of love. Um the Bible calls God a jealous God, but his jealousy is protective, not possessive. It's serving us. It is not serving um him. It is his [clears throat] way of looking out for our best interests, not looking out um not necessarily looking out for his. I mean, you you guys understand what what I'm saying. That's a that's kind of a false dichotomy here. Um how do you recover or repent effectively from seasons when you've been Cain in your heart? This is so good, guys. I'm just telling you right now. The long-term answer for jealousy management is spiritual formation. Notice now, I you notice I don't use the word spiritual growth because spiritual nothing wrong with it. Spiritual growth is in the Bible. But spiritual growth is often reduced in church spaces to increasing spiritual disciplines and then decreasing immoral living. And of course that's important, right? So, basically, you pray more, read the Bible more, fast more, you sin less. That's what people kind of describe spiritual spiritual growth. When it is like the goal of the spiritual disciplines and the goal of sinning less or what John Calvin would call the mortification of the flesh, the goal of that is to make me more like Jesus. So, I can stop sinning. I can stop lying, but that don't make me Christ-like. It just means I'm not a liar. It don't mean I'm like Christ. Like I can not lie and still be mean and a jerk and judgy and con- and condemning and and and I could I can not lie and gossip. Like you can gossip about what's true. So, just because I'm increasing my spiritual disciplines and sinning less doesn't mean I'm more like Jesus. So, uh we have something called at at our church, Change Church, we have something called Change Track and it's got three levels and one level is called um is 300. It's called Sozo. And what we actually do is we actually give people a biblically comprehensive understanding of sanctification, which is so like it's God making me it's me becoming more like Christ, but it is through something called sozo. Um which is God making me not just right, but well. Like jealousy is always a symptom. It's not the problem. It's the symptom. It is a problem, but it's not the root problem. It's the symptom. It's a symptom of insecurity. It's a symptom of underperformance. It's a symptom of hypersensitivity. It's a symptom of me attaching my worth and my value to something other than um who God has made me to be. It's it's a symptom um of entitlement. It's a symptom. And so the only long-term antidote to reduce jealousy or to and to manage jealousy in a biblical way is growth. Um Peter says, "Are you jealous of someone if you see them as who you like to be like a model?" No, that's that's not jealousy. That's that's inspiration. Um So remember jealousy you can be jealous of someone you admire, but jealousy shouldn't be confused with admiration. Because jealousy is a feeling kind of of resentment that someone is the way they are. That someone has done what they're doing. All right, I'll wrap up with this one. What do you do when you feel like you're still doing your best and it's still not enough? How do you stop comparing yourself to others? Now, I'm going to give you a scripture here that I think is important. I'm going to reference the scripture rather. I think it's important here. Here's this is important, okay? This is incredible incredibly important. Uh Psalm I think it's Psalms 103. The writer says, "As a father pity his children, so the Lord pity those that fear him. He remembers our frame for he knows our frame and he remembers that we are but dust. As a father pity his children, so the Lord pity those that fear him. He knows our frame and he remembers that we are we are but dust. Just like a father will pity his children. Have you ever seen for those of you that raised children father or mother, you raised children and your children your child trying to walk for the first time. Or your child trying to ride a bike for the first time and they stumble. Your response isn't condemnation. Your response is pity. Why? Because you know they're trying to learn how to ride an apparatus they've never rid rode before. They're trying to learn how to move in a way walking that they never moved before. Y'all got me? They they they've learned. They're trying to learn. So the writer of of Psalm says the the psalmist there in Psalms 103 says, "Um just like a father pity his children, the Lord pity those. For he knows our frame. He knows as a human that is experiencing progressive sanctification. Progressive I'm progressively sanctified. That's progressive sanctification. Progressive sanctification. He knows my frame. So that's important because sometimes you're going to feel like man I'm I'm not I'm doing my best, but it's not enough. Your best is your best. What God expects is the best you can in the season you're in with the resources that you got available. So you got to trust God that God fills the gaps. What you can't do, his grace is sufficient. When you've done all you can do, then he steps in and does all you cannot do. Paul says, "I glory in my infirmity for his strength is perfected, matured in my weakness." So when I am weak he says I'm strong. You do your best. Amos says, "What is 300 same time as Bible study?" We actually offer 300 two different ways. So it's offered uh 180 nights um in person and uh it's offered 180 nights whenever we not everyone 80 nights cuz it runs in a cycle. It's offered online as well. Um but we got a lot of things going on, my friend and uh we're doing the best we can to schedule them as wisely as we can, but to God be the glory. Can jealousy look like uh someone asking questions like a Pharisee to see your spiritual growth? 100% because Pharisees are um Pharisees are going to be more prone to jealousy because Pharisees are they're Christian. Like contemporary Pharisees, they're Christian. They have arrested spiritual development though. So they don't have a revelation of spiritual formation. So Pharisees typically practice moralistic therapeutic deism. So um and Pharisaic preachers and teachers teach moralism, not spiritual formation. Cuz they haven't defined the two. And um there is an obsession actually with it because probably the person teaching isn't formed themselves. So they haven't experienced what Dallas Willard calls the re the the renovation of the heart. So there hasn't been a reordering of their own desires. So they're still fighting stuff intensely that they shouldn't be fighting with that sort of intensity in that stage of their spiritual journey. But because they don't have a revelation spiritual formation, then they hadn't experienced sozo. So they haven't been healed. So now um they're just spending their whole life managing temptation and it's not reduced. So stuff like jealousy and envy and that's how Pharisees can be, you know, they can be they can be moral, but be very jealous, be very envious, be very judgmental, be very condescending. Uh be very passionate. They are actually on the outside like the most passionate group. Um But they have a zeal that's lacking knowledge. They they claim to be the most knowledgeable, but they have a zeal lacking knowledge. And um you know, it's a um I think you know to each his own. Family, listen. Our evolution requires some honesty. And I'm not trying to project something on any believer that you're not really dealing with, but at the same time um there are things that sometimes pop up periodically in our hearts that we need to be honest to the Father about. And uh sometimes when you feel behind schedule, sometimes when you feel challenged, I mean sometimes you feel un unfruitful and unproductive and you're going to expose to what's happening to someone else, you might feel a thing or two. The question isn't just um if you feel it. The question is what do you do when you feel it? Do do you do you do you manage it? Do you reset? Do you reframe? Because we don't want to be like Cain. We don't want to be unsettled, unproductive, and unhappy because that's where jealousy leads us. Now, next week we're going to talk about this from the perspective of Abel because jealousy is an inevitability. It's inevitable and we need to be biblically trained on how to appropriately respond when we're dealing with jealousy. Amen? All right. So let's um let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for your word. Thank you that that it is daily bread. It has practical real life implications. Thank you for the implications of your word for our everyday life and I pray for those that are in seasons where they are Cain or Abel. Give them the wisdom, give them the grace, give them the strength to manage it as you see fit. Lord, we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, family, listen. Thank you so much for being with us today. Uh for those of you that understand the power and the principle of sowing and reaping, Lord third is coming on the screen right now. Um for those of you who have a desire, who practice the principle of sowing into the field that you're harvesting from. Thank you for receiving this teaching ministry. We are turning night seasons into night school in Jesus' name. Somebody says, "What do you do if a long time friend is jealous of you?" Tune in next week. I love you. Take care.