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Hey, Social fam. Just before we get into the message, today, we want to share something exciting. We are currently standing outside the former Look Theater, a building that we believe God is calling us to make the permanent home for Social Dallas. This is more than a building, y'all. It's a place where lives will be changed and Jesus will be lifted up. If Social has been a blessing to you, would you consider partnering with us? You can visit socialdallas.com give or you can text the word. Look to 833-300-5264 to learn more. Thanks for being a part of what God is doing through Social Dallas. Now let's jump into the message. Come on, let's read our verse of the year. This is our year to be planted. Psalms 92, verses 13 through 15. Now, before we read it. Before we read it. P.T. she got on to me. She said, babe, you gotta. You gotta tell us how you want us to read it. Say you ain't. You ain't giving no direction. Because, you know, last year, the verse of the year, we ended that thing right with God himself is fire. Said, give us something in that. So I'm like, all right. So I think in this verse, it's got to be, he is my rock. Just in case there's something else this year that you're tempted to find your stability in, that's gonna be the emphasis. He is my rock. Christ, a solid rock. Rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. So that's your direction for this one. All right? He. All right. Okay, let's go. One, two, three. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing to declare that the Lord is upright, my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. You sound good. You sound good. Scare me, cat. I wasn't ready for that. And then our text for today. Holy Spirit, help me. First Corinthians, chapter number three. I want to look at Verses one through nine remain standing for the word. Then after you read it, you can sit down. First Corinthians, chapter 3. The apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, a church that he spent almost two years of his life pouring into and he planted. And now he is in Ephesus on his third missionary journey. And he's writing a letter to them because somebody from Chloe's house shout out, Chloe, who snitched, said, hey, Paul, this church you planted in Corinth is not flourishing the way it should be flourishing. There is congregational disunity. There is spiritual immaturity. They need some doctrinal clarity. So, Paul, do what you do and put pen to paper and address the issues that are in the church that you planted. So that's what we're stepping into when we read this passage, First Corinthians. Paul is not. He's not playing nice. He's saying, y'all better get it together. I gave you two years of my life. That's the tenor of the letter that we're about to read. Y'all ready? Look at what he says. Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I couldn't talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren't ready for anything stronger. You still ain't ready. Keep it 100, Paul, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. I don't want to preach before I preach. Paul is not writing to unbelievers. He's writing to believers. He's writing to people who have put their faith in Jesus. They are spiritual, yet they are so immature. They are being controlled by their sinful nature. It is possible, implausible, for you to have faith in Jesus and yet be controlled by your sinful nature. Paul says, this is not going to work. Paul. How you know, Paul, they're controlled by their sinful nature. What is the sign that they're controlled by their sinful nature? Here it is. You are. You're jealous of one another and you're fighting in the comment sections of each other's pages. You're quarreling with each other. Doesn't that prove that you're controlled by your sinful nature? Aren't you living? He didn't say, you going to the club. He didn't say you smoking weed. He said, the fact that you are controlled by your sinful nature is you're jealous and you're fighting with each other. Aren't you living like people of the world? One says, man, I follow Paul on Instagram. No one says, nah, I follow Apollos. I like his podcast better. Aren't you acting just like people of the world? After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God's servants through whom you believe the good news. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I. That's all you got. I planted the seed in your hearts and Apollo's Watered it. But it was God who made it grow. It's not important who does the planting or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters works together. Look at the person next to you. Say, I'm not in competition with you. Yeah, we need to be collaborating. Yeah, we work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. But we are both God's workers. And you are God's field. You are God's building. Oh, I wish I could. I wish I could read the whole chapter, but your feet hurt, so it's good. Y'all hear me. This is a word from God. It's very intriguing to me that Paul is having to address a church that he planted. And he's letting them know that the sign that you are controlled by your sinful nature, the sign that you are spiritually immature, is that you are jealous. I want to preach today using this as a title. Planted poison. Planted poison. Whenever you are planted, there is a poison that will come that seeks to destroy what has been planted. And I got the strange suspicion, if it happened in Corinth, it could be happening at the Church of Social Dallas. Would you bow your heads with me? Pray a long prayer. God, speak today. Amen. You may be seated in the presence. Planted poison. Are there any parents in the house today? All the parents. Make some noise. All my legal guardians. You know, every few sermons, I do a check for the parents. I do a wellness check just to see how you doing. I gauge yo, just to see how you're doing out here in these streets. You know, one of the unforeseen joys of parenthood that I experienced, especially more recently, especially since my kids are out of their Bluey, Mickey, Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig Face, is I've gotten the opportunity to watch a movie with my kids that I watched as a kid. Have you ever experienced this phenomenon? Any parent, or maybe you got a niece or a nephew. Have you ever watched a movie with the kid that you watched when you were a kid? Y'all? It is quite the experience. There's just a multiplicity of emotions. It's just different. When you watch a movie with your kid, the. That you watched when you were a kid, you're hit with different emotions. First of all, you're seeing the movie through the lens of your child, and then you have the nostalgia of your past, and then all of a sudden, you're hit with. Your perspective of the present is just different. For instance, Home Alone hits different when you watch it with your kid, y'all. I experienced it this Christmas. It hits different, y'all. It is different when Kevin's mama says to him, go upstairs. And he replies back to her and says, I am upstairs, dummy. I had to pause the movie for the protection of my kids. I said, hold up. Before we watch any more of this, let me just let you know that is a paid actor doing a stunt right there. Do not try that up in here, okay? It might have worked in the McAllister's house. Don't do that up in the Madu house. Call his mama a dummy. Talking about, I wish all y'all would leave, and she gonna talk about, well, maybe you'll get your wish one day. It's just different when you watch it with your kid. I'm watching my son, who has to be the same age as Kevin, and I'm watching him. I can see it on his face. I'm watching him imagining what it would be like to be home alone and to face robbers. I'm watching his face experience this. And at the same time, I'm also going to the ChatGPT, talking about, hey, ChatGPT. Real. What was the square footage and the fair market value of the McAllisters home? I'm watching it different with my perspective. Did you see the house in that movie? I'm asking ChatGPT, what did the McAllisters do? I did the math. Fifteen tickets to Paris for Christmas, four of them first class. What do y'all do? I need to know. It's just different when you're watching a movie with your kid that you watched when you were a kid. However, this Monday, I experienced something completely different. This Monday. Monday I took my son for his birthday to see Mufasa. Have you seen y'all? This. This was a different experience. Shout out to the screenwriters and the producers of Mufasa. I took my son to see Mufasa on Monday for his birthday, and this was different because, y'all, this was not the original movie. This was the origin story of Mufasa. This is the origin story of Mufasa and Scar. This was. Watch this. The origin story that gives context and gave context to the movie that I already saw. It gave context. I want to parenthetically pause right there and bless you right here in this sermon to tell somebody your life. Life will change if you will just get some context. Get some context. Matter of fact, that's a good place to tell your neighbor something. Elbow the person next to you and just Say neighbor. Get some context. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what Mufasa, the origin story, did for me. It gave me context. You need to get some context. A snapshot is not the whole story. Get some context. A piece of the puzzle does not give you the full picture. Get some context. Just cause you read the chapter don't mean you know the whole story. Get some conte. How many know Misunderstanding thrives where context is missing. Misunderstanding thrives where context is missing. And we have a culture that is quick to give their opinion on echoes when they've never heard the full conversation. And Mufasa gave your boy some powerful, pertinent and potent context. I found out. By the way. Spoiler alert. I found out. If you watch it on YouTube, cut it off, it's gonna mess you up right now. I got context when I watched it. Cause because who knew that Mufasa was not born a king? He became a king and endured some pain and lost his father. Yeah. Cover your ears. Spoiler alert. Who? Who? Who knew? Who knew? Watch this. That Scar, the evil, vindictive, crazy, evil lion. Watch this. Who killed Mufasa actually saved Mufasa when they first met? Who knew? Spoiler alert. That Scar is not his real name. His real name is Taka. Taka. T A K A Taka. This evil lion's real name is Taka. Who's scared of Taka? Taka is like Tucker. Anybody scared of a Tucker? He was not born Scar. He became Scar. He. He became Scar. And the thing that caused him to become scar is the same thing that the apostle Paul and Apostle Robert Madu, even though I'm not an apostle, felt the need to talk to you about tonight. The same thing that made him become Scar is the same thing that was dividing and destroying the early church of current Corinth. That was planted. And hear me. In our year of planting, this thing will destroy you, ladies and gentlemen. It is jealousy. Jealousy. Jealousy is planted poison. Jealousy is the thing that seeks to destroy the call, the purpose of God on your life. Jealousy is. Is the thing that seeks to choke out every life giving thing that God has planted in your life. Jealousy is planted poison. Whenever insecurity is left unchecked, it becomes jealousy. Jealousy is insecurity manifested. Jealousy is the fruit of insecurity. Whenever my roots are planted in insecurity and I don't know who I am or what I have in Christ, how many know there will always be jealousy and envy. So I want to ask you tonight, who you ever been jealous? Are you jealous right now? Shout out the name of the person you're jealous of. No, I'm playing y'all. I am convinced. Hear me? I say that and you laugh. Because I am convinced that jealousy is the number one unconfessed sin. Yeah. Greed is number two because nobody ever thinks they're greedy. Because there's always somebody you compare your life to that has more than you. You're like, oh, please, I ain't greedy. I only got 80 shoes. I know somebody got a thousand pair. So nobody ever tells themselves they're greedy and nobody ever says they're jealous. I have never in my life. I've been in ministry a long time. Nobody has ever come up to me and said, pastor, can you pray? Pray for me. I'm jealous. I've got all kinds of things that people have asked prayer for. Pastor, can you pray for me? I'm dealing with anxiety. Can you pray for me? I'm dealing with depression. Can you pray for me? I'm dealing with grief. I'm dealing with lust. Nobody says, pray for me. I'm jealous of my co worker. Nobody said, nobody. Watch this. Says, pray for me. I'm dealing with envy right now. When was the last time you went to an altar call and said, please pray for me? I'm just really envious of everybody that I scroll and see their life. Something in me that is mad that they're getting a blessing. Nobody says that. We mask it with, oh, I want a house. Oh, I want a spouse. Oh, I want a car. Not knowing that sometimes at the root of some of those prayers is the fact that you saw somebody else get the house and you ain't got one yet. And you saw somebody else get a brand new car and you're mad because you still riding the bus. And there's something in you that even causes you to ask for prayer requests. But the root of it is envy and jealousy. And the reason nobody asked for it is because envy and jealousy is the invisible poison that creeps into our lives. That's the first thing I want you to see about jealousy and envy is its invisibility. You don't see seeps into your life. It lurks in the shadows. It hides underneath the surface. It will hide itself you to the point that you won't even know that you have it. Insecurity is at the root of jealousy, but it will hide itself from you. And it'll hide itself in stuff like, oh, you know, there's something about them that just seems off. No, you just jealous. You know, I don't know what it is about her. I just don't like her. No, you just jealous. Saved folks will get real spiritual with it. Say, my spirit, I just discern. I just discerned something. Something is off with them. No, no, no. Let's call it what it is. You are jealous. You are envious of them. I'm telling you, this will creep into all of it, y'all. It creeped into heaven. Satan himself, he was envious and jealous because he was not getting the same glory as God. Cain and Abel, the first brothers. We can't even get to Genesis, chapter 10. And the first sibling rivalry was jealousy and envy that crept into the heart of Cain. The Pharisees could not handle Jesus. They put him on a cross and crucified him. What was at the root, it was their jealousy and their envy because they never heard anybody speak with such authority. I'm telling you, this is the invisible sin that'll creep into your life and creep into my life. And if we are going to flourish and if we are going to remain planted this year, we've got to deal with the spirit of jealousy and the spirit of envy, who is quiet in this Presbyterian Church. But that's okay. I'm gonna keep on preaching. Now, I want to bring some clarity to what jealousy is. And you've even heard me tonight talk about jealousy and envy, and we use those terms interchangeably. And I think we got to bring some clarity to what jealousy is. Because jealousy is one of those words in the Bible that when you read it, you could almost be confused as to what it is. It's like, am I supposed to have it or I'm not supposed to have it? Jealousy is just like fear in the Bible. How many know when you read the Bible, there's a good fear and there's a bad fear? When you read the Bible, there's. You'll see fear not. I think some people say 365 times. I don't think it's that many times. Somebody just wanted to say, it's one fear every day of the year. But there's an encouragement to fear not. Don't be afraid. God has not given us a spirit of fear. But then by the same token, in Proverbs over and over, it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Which one is it? Am I supposed to not be afraid or I'm supposed to fear? There's two types of fear. There's a good fear, there's a bad fear. There's a fear that'll leave me crippled and shackled And I need to come out of that fear. But there's another fear, a fear of the Lord. It doesn't mean I'm afraid of the Lord, but it does mean I reverence Him. I stand in awe of him. Ooh. If you. You really a social og. You remember I did a whole series on the fear of God. It's still on YouTube. Like, share and subscribe. And I talked about. If you want to know which fear that you have, check your feet. Because if you're running away from God, you got the wrong fear, but the right fear of God. When you revere him, you'll actually run to him. You'll say, God, I don't want to do anything without your presence. And you revere Him. There's two types of fear. Jealousy is the same way. There is a good jealousy and there is a bad jealousy. Oh, can you prove it in the Bible? Exodus, chapter 20. This is Exodus, chapter 20. This is the Ten Commandments, y'all. What is God saying to his people? You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. Look at that. That just makes me laugh. Because God knows that our hearts are idol factories. He knows that your heart will make an idol out of anything, not just a bad thing or an evil thing. It'll make an idol out of a good thing. And if you make a good thing a God thing, it's an idol. Oh, that's another sermon for another day. So he goes into detail and says, hey, don't make an idol out of anything. Heavens, earth, sea. I gotta cover the whole topography of the earth, so you don't make an idol out of any. He says, you must not bow to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. He takes another step. Exodus 34:14. He says, you must worship no other gods. For the Lord, whose very name is jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you, takes it even further. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul, who is writing the first letter and says, hey, y'all are immature and the sign of your immaturity is you're jealous. But then in the second letter to them, 2 Corinthians, chapter 111 3, he says, I hope you will put up with a little more of my foolishness. Please bear with me, for I am jealous. Huh? I'm jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to One husband, Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. Which one is it? Am I supposed to be jealous or am I supposed to be jealous? There's two types of jealousy. And leave it to the apostle Paul to give that pointed illustration about marriage. Because there is a difference between being jealous for somebody and being jealous of somebody. Say another one. There's a difference between an insecure boyfriend and a faithful husband. It's just between a dude that's dating you. He's like, let me see your phone. Let me see who you following while you talk to him. He was the chick fil a person. I don't care. You talked a little bit too long. When you coming home, when you leave all that hold on you. You ain't even made no investment to get that type of intel. You a boyfriend, just apply it where it's necessary. He's obsessive. Where you at? Who is that? Why you smiling at him? That insecurity is rooted in selfishness. It's rooted in control. It is rooted in pride. That is not the jealousy. God has. Jealousy God has is of a faithful husband. So let's just put me in the scenario. And if I see some dude. Oh, yeah, keep it 100. If I see some dude talking to Pastor Taylor and I know he's a snake, and I see him smiling, I see him talking and flirting and going on and on, and I know his history and I know what he does. How many know? I'm like, it's all right. No, I'm a roll up and say, hold on, player. Better find somebody else to talk to, because I have covenant. There is a fidelity that I have to her, and there's a fidelity that she has to me. And so it is my job to protect because this is a love that I have for you. Something will be wrong if she started laughing. I'm like, it's all right, because we weren't wired for that. So shout out to all these ridiculous things we try to put that we're not even wired for talking about. We gonna have an open marriage. You ain't wired for that, player. You were created in the image of God. You want fidelity, you want commitment. God says, I want fidelity to you because I paid a price for you, because I love you so much and because I know that anybody else or anything that you give your heart to is ultimately going to fail you. It's ultimately going to break your heart. So I want you to be committed to me. And I'm jealous when I see you giving your heart to other things. And this jealousy is not rooted out of selfishness. It's rooted out of protection. Because I love you and I know what's best. Is this helping anybody tonight? So God says there is a healthy jealousy that he has, and sometimes we can even have. But there is another sick, insidious, evil jealousy that is not rooted in love. It's rooted in me. It's rooted in. And selfishness. Let's just. Let's just define jealousy. A possessive fear of losing what you have, driven by insecurity, control, and comparison. So in jealousy, I fear that I'm losing something that I'm possessive of. Now, here's the thing about jealousy. Unchecked, it can lead to envy. And envy is different. Look at the definition for envy. Envy is a resentful desire for what someone else has, fueled by discontentment and bitterness. Envy is a resentful desire for what someone else has, fueled by discontentment and bitterness. And do you know why it's hard to admit you're envious? Because nobody wants to admit that somebody else's happiness has made you feel so small. Nobody else wants to admit that there's something on the inside of you that cannot stand, that they got the thing that you want and the thing that you feel like you deserve. But if you don't check jealousy, it will lead to envy. One writer said that envy will make hell of any heaven because nothing is ever enough. Whenever you're envious, whenever you're envious, there's something in you that says, yeah, I have this, but I don't have it like that. Yeah, I got a little boat, but, man, they got a yacht. Yeah, I got this, but I don't have that. And envy is that evil thing that creeps into our hearts. And Paul had to address it at the Church of Corinth because he says, you're jealous. You're envious of each other, and it is destroying you. It is causing division. In what I planted, I want to give you Proverbs, chapter 14, verse 30. Look at what Proverbs says about envy. A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. James 3:16 says, for where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and every evil practice. Whenever there's envy, whenever there's jealousy. Now, this is the part in the message where some of y'all are going, ooh, I can't wait to send this to, like, five People. Cause I know they've been jealous of me, and I don't deal with this. So I want to. I want to give you six signs of jealousy and envy because you don't struggle with it. But for your friend, these are six signs of jealousy and envy. This is how you know you're jealous and envious of somebody. These six signs. Number one, hostile communication with them. You can't speak peaceably to somebody that you are jealous and envious of. You will find some way to just. I don't understand why you put the staple on that side. The stapler is not the stapler. There's a jealousy and there's an envy, and your body cannot lie. It will come out in your vocal intonation. I need a biblical example. You remember when David went to the battlefield? Remember when David went to the battlefield and his older brother saw him? David is bringing this fool cheese and bread. He is delivering food to him. And his older brother Eliab says, what are you doing here? Why are you here? I would've been, like, bringing you food. No, you just came to see the battle. I know the pride that's in your heart. Why is he talking like this to David? Jealousy and envy. He's the dude that thought Saul was gonna pick him to be the next king, and he didn't get picked. Some of you don't even realize why people talk to you the way they talk to you. Because your very presence sometimes shows them their dream that didn't come to pass. Your success sometimes shows them their mediocrity. And the reason they come at you like, what did I do? It's. Oh, God. It's the jealousy and the envy, and there's hostile communication. Okay? Number two, toxic competition. Toxic. They always trying to outdo you. You're looking at them like, I'm not competing with you. I'm trying to be the best me. I'm trying to be the best realtor I can be. Okay? I did 15 houses this year. Well, I did 16 and a condo. Okay? I'm not competing against you. There are some people who only feel like they have value when they beat somebody else. And if you only got value when you beat somebody else, that's when you know that you have toxic competition. There is a healthy competition that actually can make you better. But when you have lost your value. Cause you lost Uno, when this is an issue, when there's a toxic. Now your value is gone because somebody hit you with a jaw fork. I'm being funny, but apply it. It's toxicity because your Value is in winning. Number three, tearing you down. They're quick to tear you down. If there's somebody that you always find yourself criticizing and you try to tell them, well, I just want them to be better. No, you don't. You're destroying them. You're tearing them down because secretly there's jealousy, there's envy. Number four, you are drama magnet. It's always drama around jealous and envious people. And conflict follows them because they're always contentious. There's always an issue. These are signs. If you feel this way towards a person or you're getting it from a person, at the root of it is jealousy and envy. Number five, hidden attacks. They'll work behind the scenes to sabotage you. Oh, and God help you if you have a supervisor or direct report who has jealousy and envy in their heart towards you. And sometimes you won't even know till later. The whispers that happen in rooms where they sabotaged you, all because of jealousy and envy. Number six, identity theft. This one trips me out. You mimic the person you jealous and envious of. So since I can't beat em, let me just try to be a cheap original of them and you'll find them. Like, you'll tell them my idea and they'll come back and present it as theirs. You're like, what? I told you that and I said it better. But they're jealous and envious because they're mimicking you. Now watch this. Here's what I want you to see in jealousy and in envy. Jealousy and envy doesn't work without one thing. There's one thing that connects jealousy and envy. It's in both of them. You know what it is? Comparison. It is impossible to be jealous or envious of somebody and not be comparing your life to their life. Comparison is at the center of this poison of jealousy and envy. And I want to challenge somebody in this year of being planted to stop playing the comparison game and allowing jealousy and envy to destroy your life. Be happy to be who God created and called you to be. Worship team. Join me. Look at what Paul does. Paul in this letter to the church of Corinth proves his maturity while he addresses their immaturity. Because what is the church at Corinth trying to do? They are trying to put Paul against Apollos. Who is Apollos? Read Acts, chapter 18 when you get to the crib. Apollos was this eloquent orator. He was incredible. Apollos was somebody that God used mightily to help the church at Corinth. Now, Paul planted the church, but Apollos Came later. And if you study it, you'll see that Apollos was a brilliant orator. He could preach anybody under a table. And Paul was not that great of an orator. In fact, if you read Second Corinthians, chapter 11 and 12, it kind of slips out a little bit. Paul will let you know, hey, I didn't come to you with eloquent words. I came to you with a demonstration of the spirit's power. He even lets you know, if you study his writings, that Paul probably wasn't the greatest communicator in the world. Now he can write. We still reading his letters today. But he could not preach like Apollos. Apollos was the orator and Corinth. They loved people that could communicate well. But Paul was not that guy. He was a better writer than he was a communicator. I'll give you some more scripture, let you know. One time Paul was preaching, I've preached this before, and a dude fell asleep, fell out a window and broke his neck, shout out to Paul, at least he had some power. Went down there and raised him from the dead. Come on now. That's why I say, don't fall asleep on me. I'm gonna pray for you. But I just ain't had a resurrection on my resume yet. Better stay awake. So Paul was not the greatest orator. He was a better writer. And so there were people. Watch this. This is what insecurity does. Insecurity and jealousy and envy is just looking for something to find its value in. So there were people fighting in Corbin, saying, oh, man, you just under Paul, I'm better because I'm under Apollo's. And Paul could have played. Paul could have written a letter and said, let me tell you about Apollos. I heard some stuff about him. Paul could have done a YouTube video and had a picture of Apollo's preaching and then had his face next to it talking about. And then the whole video would have been about his doctrine being off. Paul says, I'm not gonna play this game with you and let you put me up against Apollos. I'm gonna get to the root of your immaturity and let you know you are not, not growing and you're spiritual, spiritually immature and you're carnal because you're playing the comparison game. And I'm not going to play that game with you. Guess what? I'm the one that planted the seed, and Palos is the one that watered it. Actually, he lets them know who he is and who Apollos is. He says, we are Both servants of the Lord. Y'all trying to make us celebrities. But I know who I am and I know who he is. We are just servants of the Lord. See, when you know who you are, you don't have to be weighed down with jealousy and envy and insecurity. Paul says, I'm a servant. And servants find their joy watch this in pleasing their master. And some of us would have the chains of jealousy and envy broken off of us if we say, God, I'm not trying to build my resume. I'm not trying to blow up on social media. God, I just want to please you. And wherever you plant me, me, I'm gonna bloom in that place. Not because my ego needs it, but because you're my master and I am a servant of the most high God. Where servants don't elevate me, I'm just a servant. And watch this. I see what I do as service to the master. I'm not trying to draw my security and my value from it. I can be effective in it, but I'm not trying to draw my value from it. Because people will criticize you one day and clap for you the next. Paul says, guess what? I'm doing this for an audience of one. I'm a servant. Apollos is a servant. You know how easy it would have been for the apostle Paul to fall trap to the comparison game that they were projecting on him? He could have got his crew and said, yeah, who's with me? Yeah, I want to know who my people are. And if you with Apollos, Yeah, forget him. Have you ever asked yourself, why are you jealous and envious of the people that do what you do? There's a sign. There's something there. Why can't you celebrate other people that do what you do? It's a sign. The jealousy and envy is a sign that you are drawing your value and your worth from it instead of from the master. Paul says, I'm not drawing my value from my ability to communicate. I'm not drawing my self worth and my significance from what I do for you. Church of Corinth. Watch this. I planted Apollo's water. I planted Apollo's water. You were God's field. I don't own you. You're not mine. You're just a field. I planted Apollo's water. Can you imagine? Come on, we've been doing this this whole series. Can you imagine planting a seed seed and somebody coming by with some water and watering the seed you planted. You like, hey, hey, hey, I planted that. Can you imagine planting the Seed. And somebody comes back and waters. It's like, hey, man, will you stop watering it, man, Let me dig up this seed and plant it somewhere else. Sick of you. You laugh. I see people do it all the time. They don't realize. Here's what Paul says when he says, I planted Paula's water. He understands the unique assignment God gave him. When you know your assignment and your purpose and how unique God created and wired you, when you realize that we are one body and everybody has a part to play, that's when you can start celebrating other people saying, thank God you water because only God can make the thing grow. But I have a unique assignment to plan. And it doesn't help me or help the seed for me to be mad that you have a different assignment. Oh, so you gotta work this stuff out of you. That's why I celebrate. Other preachers of the gospel shout out to other preachers of my generation. Shout out Pastor Rich Wilkinson Jr. Shout out Pastor Mike Ty. Shout out Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell. Shout out to people. Shout out to Jackie Hill Perry. Shout out to people that God is raising up because he's the only one that can make something grow. I ain't got time to be jealous and insecure when there's a harvest that has to come in. I got an assignment to do what God called me to do. And guess what? I'm the best Robert Madu the second you have ever seen in your life. And you're the best. You be who God created you to be. You've fallen prey to the poison because you don't know your specific assignment. Paul says, can't nobody plant like I planned. Can nobody water like Apollo's water? And even after that, I still need the miracle of God's grace to bring the increase. Here's what he said with that. Here's what he said with that. God gives the increase. I know where the real power comes from. In other words, I have gratitude. You want to start killing jealousy and envy? Start celebrating the gifts of other people and make sure that your gratitude attitude is louder and more frequent than your complaining. I just helped you right there. You want jealousy and envy and that poison to get out of you. Start celebrating the gifts of other people. Start cheering them on and giving them encouragement. And then make sure every single day that gratitude is coming out of your lips, coming out of your mouth. God, thank you for this day. God, thank you that there's breath in my body. God, thank you that I actually have a job. God, thank you that I have the car that I Have God thank you that I have an apartment. I'm believing you for the house, but thank you for this apartment. God, I am grateful. Gratitude will come out of my life. I'm gonna ask everybody to stand that can ask every. Head be bowed, eyes be closed. Shout out the apostle Paul. Paul showed his maturity while he addressed their immaturity. He could have easily watch this, pulled a Saul, talking about Saul in the Old Testament, who, when he heard the ladies singing, Saul has killed his thousands, but David has tens of thousands. He allowed the poison of jealousy and envy to get in his heart. And watch this. It didn't kill David. It killed him. He ended up falling on his own sword. And it started the day the poison of jealousy and envy got in his heart. And it happened when he heard the lady singing a song. They did to Saul just what they did to Paul. Sometimes it's not even you. Sometimes other people will put the comparison on you. Why can't you be like your sister? Why can't you be like the person that had the position before you? I'm telling you, it's a trap. I wish Saul would have pulled a Paul and said, yeah, David did kill his tens of thousands. But guess what? I killed my thousands and see if them thousands are just as dead as his ten thousands. I had an assignment. David had an assignment. And I'm praying this year of planted, watch this. That the poison of jealousy and envy will be uprooted from your life. It starts with gratitude. When was the last time you started thanking God for what you do have? I'm telling you, y'all, this is a word from God. This is a poison that you cannot play with. If you gotta get off social media to protect your mind and your heart, get off of it. Whatever you gotta do, open up your mouth and start celebrating other people. Don't let the poison choke out what God has planted. Allow him to show you who you are and allow your boasting and your bragging to be in him. I am somebody because I am a child of God, because he paid a price for me. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. But if you be so honest to say, you know what? This poison of jealousy and envy is destroying what God has planted. And I realize today there needs to be an uprooting. I believe that there is freedom. This is all culminating this 21 days of prayer and fasting I believe is culminating to this moment. This is something that has to be uprooted. God says, I want to do it now. I want to do it now. Heads are bowed Eyes are closed. If you know this has become a thing for you, this poison of jealousy and envy. You say, God, I don't want this. I want my confidence and my boasting and my pleasure to be found in you. Nothing else is going to last if that's you, you know, this was for you. Would you lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where you can. Where I can say, yeah, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. You can put it right back down, head still bowed, eyes still closed. If you're here tonight and you've never even taken the first step, which to say, jesus, my life is yours. You need to be planted in him. I'd love to give you that opportunity tonight to say, lord, I'm coming home. You don't have to clean yourself up to come to him. You can come to him just as you are if that's you, and you say, pr, I need to give Jesus my life tonight. Maybe. Maybe even tonight. You just become aware that you've been trying to find your value and your significance and so many other things, and it doesn't work. Some of you experienced the pain. You got the house, you got the car, and you feel more empty. You got the promotion. You're wondering why you're never supposed to be planted in it. God says, isn't me. I'm a servant of God. I've got a unique assignment. But I'm his servant, and I take pleasure in the fact that my master calls me his own. That's you. You need to give him your life tonight. Would you lift up your hand high enough and long enough to where I can see it? Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. I'm gonna ask you to do something tonight. If you need to leave, that's totally fine, but I just. I just believe God wants to uproot some things tonight. So if you lifted up your hand for any of those, especially saying, hey, I know what that area of jealousy and envy is in my life. That poison. The seeking to choke out what God has planted. I'm just gonna ask you to be so bold and so brave and just get out of your seat and come here to the altar. And the worship team is gonna lead us. Don't wait for somebody else to come, but I just want you to get as close to this altar as you can. Yeah. Come on. Come on. I'm telling you, don't play. Don't play with this poison. The first step is to say, God, I see this. I see this in Me. And I don't want this. God. Up, uproot this. I don't want. I don't want to be envious. I don't want to be somebody that rejoices when somebody else falls down. I don't want to be somebody that can't smile and find joy when somebody else gets married or when somebody else. I'm telling you, envy will rob you of joy. Envy will rob you of peace. It will eat your life away. You've got to uproot that poison and allow him to do it. Come on. I just want us to have a moment at this altar. And I believe as you worship, as you surrender it to him. Am God's uprooting it tonight. Come on, let's declare this. Thank you, Jesus. Father. Our identity is going to be found in you. God. Come on, let's declare this. You are. Love me, not against me. I am who you say I am. We're children of God. Thank you, God. Thank you, Father. God, heal our hearts tonight. God, would you uproot every seed of jealousy and envy? God, I'm asking for you to increase our faith. To believe that what you have for us is for us. Yeah. Thank you. That we don't have to be jealous or envious because we have faith to believe. Believe that you're a good, good father. You have an abundance. I don't know who needs to hear that tonight. But your father has an abundance. And when you understand that he has an abundance, you don't have to have the fear and the jealousy and the envy that his goodness is going to run out or opportunities are going to run out. What he asks for you is for you. So Father, even tonight, thank you. That you're renewing hearts and minds to see you rightly. That there's no good thing that you'll withhold from us. We can trust you. You're a good father. Lord, don't let us fall prey to what Adam and Eve fell prey to. They were already in paradise. You reject the lies of the enemy. God, thank you for what we have in you. Thank you, God. God, we declare over this house that this will be a house. God. That celebrates the unique giftings in our brothers and sisters. That this will be a house marked by a spirit, spirit of encouragement. That they'll say, I can find family at social balance. I can find somebody that celebrates who I am. God, that this will be a place where everybody finds their seat at the table and comes into the awareness of the unique gifting that you've given them in the name of Jesus, would you just pray this prayer? I'm going to lead you in it, especially those of you who responded. But I want us all to pray it. Would you just say this? Say, lord, we surrender to you, Lord. This year will remain planted. Lord, we. I give you permission to uproot every seed of jealousy and envy. I want my roots to be firmly established in your great love for me. Lord, thank you for the unique assignments and purpose that you've placed on my life. I am a child of God. From this moment forward, I'm running after you, staying in my lane. I refuse to play the comparison game. My eyes are fixed on you. Thank you for making me the way you made me. Come on, can you say amen and give God the best praise? The best praise that you got? Come on.