The Danger of Envy - Apostle Peterson Onoja Abu

The speaker begins with a prayer and then reads several Bible verses that mention envy. They introduce the topic of envy and its destructive nature, especially in the lives of believers. Envy is defined as a painful awareness of someone else's advantage and a desire to possess the same advantage. The speaker emphasizes that envy is a sin and warns against its presence in the church and in relationships with unbelievers. They mention other words related to envy, such as grudges, malice, covetousness, jealousy, and resentment. The speaker encourages self-reflection and the need to eliminate envy from our lives. becomes blessing to our life and help us to understand the word even this evening for in Jesus mighty name we pray. You may have your seat. Let us open to the book of Proverbs chapter 27 verse 4. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 4. Proverbs 27 verse 4. We are going to read it together, the count of two. Proverbs chapter 27 verse 4. Are we ready? One, two. Lord is cruel and anger is atrocious, but who is able to stand before envy? Lord is what? Cruel. Anger is what? Atrocious. But who is able to stand before envy? Mark chapter 15 verse 10. Mark chapter 15 verse 10. Mark 15, I read verse 10. The Bible says in verse 10. Verse 10 of the book of Mark. The Bible says, okay let us read it together. I want to go again. For he knew that the sheep were delivered in for what? For envy. He knew that the sheep were delivered in for envy. Acts chapter 7 verse 9. Acts chapter 7 verse 9. Acts chapter 7 verse 9. If you are ready let us read it together. Are we there? Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7 verse 9. Let us read it together. I want to go. And the patriarchs moved with what? Envy. Sewed Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. Acts chapter 13 verse 45. Acts chapter 13 verse 45. Acts chapter 13 verse 45. The Bible says in verse 45. Let us read it together. I want to go. But when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Last of it all, Titus chapter 3 verse 3. We are reading the Bible passages now because if I start, I don't think we will be able to read again. There are other passages for us to read. Titus chapter 3 verse 3. We are going to read it together. I want to go. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. I will be discussing with you on the topic I titled, The Parasites Call Envy. The Parasites Call Envy. The wise King Solomon gave a wisdom in the book of Proverbs. He said, wrath is cruel, anger is atrocious, but we can stand before envy. The reason we are coming to talk about this topic, envy, as a cardinal topical message, we call it topical teaching. It is like you pick a scene from the Bible and you say I am going to do a thematic study of the word of God about this particular scene. When I say character study, I am not talking about the teaching of Bible characters. I am talking about teachings that will make our characters to be what? Good. Praise the Lord. So today the Lord will be talking about envy to deal with the nature that is called envy. Envy has destroyed so many things among our lives, even in our places of work. And the Lord is drawing our attention. The church has decided that we are going to take each of these scenes and study so that you will know what is envy. If I ask you what is envy, some of you don't even understand what is envy. If I ask you what is fornication, you may not even understand what is fornication. You may think that it is when a man and a woman go into sin. That alone is a fornication. But fornication is deeper and wider than that. Praise the Lord. And the reason we are bringing this teaching is so that no member of this church would say that they are ignorant of sin. It is so that you can have knowledge of sin, of what God calls sin, and so that you can run away from them. Praise the Lord. So we are talking about this topic, but I want to ask ourselves who are called Christians, children of God, and I swear for us to be able to walk with wisdom with people that are in the world. There are many people in our places of work that are envious of us. You may not know that they are envious of you, or you may know that they are envious of you, but you don't know the step to take. They are envious of you because they feel like the Lord is with you more than them. They feel like things are working for you more than them. So the Lord is bringing it to us. Why some of us, we are the most envious of the unbelievers. Our unbelieving parents, unbelieving siblings, unbelieving brothers, unbelieving friends, we become envious of them. Unbelieving relatives. So the Lord is bringing our attention to the study of envy. He is drawing our attention to this study just for us to run away from this parasite. What is a parasite? Anything that is gaining from you, but in return is harming you also is called what? Parasite. When a parasite is with you or when a parasite is inside your body, the parasite gains from you, but you receive harm from the parasite. He asks you, why is it gaining from you? Praise the Lord. So this parasite that is called envy is one of the things that has been killing the Christianity of many believers. It is one of the things that has been quenching the fire of many believers. Many believers are going cold. Some of them are losing their ministry because of this very nature that is called envy. And how I wish that this is a Sunday message. If when I was preparing the message I was tempted to promise to let me shift it to Sunday because it is a message that is meant for me, the preacher first of all, and it is meant for you, the listeners, so that we can all examine our lives again. If this parasite is not in us, praise the Lord. Because some of us have been saying, we have been praying, we have been fasting, why are things not working well for us? But the Lord is pointing the finger and saying this is the reason. So we are talking about envy. If I ask you what is envy, every one of us will have what to say because I think we use the word commonly, but I think most of us don't have understanding of the word envy. So first of all let us look at the dictionary. The dictionary meaning of envy means a painful and resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another. Hallelujah. Are we following? A painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage. Praise the Lord. That means as Brother Emmanuel is here, the particular advantage they are enjoying and I become pained by their enjoyment. I am pained by why Emmanuel, why is he enjoying it from the federal government? Why is he enjoying it from the company, from the place, from the workshop? Why is he only enjoying it from this section of people? And I became pained towards Brother Emmanuel. Hallelujah. In return that I should be the one enjoying that thing. It is called what? Envy. It is called envy. So envy is a painful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by someone joined with a desire to possess the same advantage. Hallelujah. It is not just ordinary awareness, it is a painful awareness. You are not happy that such thing is happening to such person. You might even say the person is not born again, but you are not happy that something good happens to that unbelieving person. Something good happens to that sinner in your company. Maybe the sinner got something and you are not happy about it. It is pain and in return you put yourself that I should be the one to do that, to get that thing. It is envy. And believers don't know that this is a sin. We think that it is only when we do it within ourselves or between ourselves that it is a sin. You don't know that when you envy the unbelievers also it is a sin? That the moment you hear of their promotions you become unhappy. You become sad. Saying I should also be the one. Is he a Christian? Does he do this thing more than me? That is envy. Hallelujah. And the Lord is warning us. It is found everywhere. It is found in the church. It is found in the prayer department. It is found in many departments of many churches. Envy that when someone is being promoted you discover that the acts of the others become envious. They become sad. They become painful and say it is supposed to be us that should acquire that position. We have been in this church for how many years? This one just came you make this one so and so person. What about those that have been here for so many years? You are doing the wrong thing. They become envious. That act alone is what the scripture defines as envy. When you become unhappy about the situation of a promotion, an advantage that comes to someone, you become unhappy with that person. Hallelujah. And as the word of God is coming this evening, it is good that we shake our hearts again. Are they not envious in our hearts? And who knows whether the Lord is pointing fingers because somebody will be called home very soon. And the Lord is saying it is just this one. And from last week the Lord has been shaking our lives, pointing at our faults and correcting us as the Father is chastising us. And the Lord is saying this is in you. Envy. And there are other words that are used for envy. Sometimes we use it. Number one, we have grudges. We have grudges. Time is not our friend. If I ask you now, what is grudges? You have something to say. Number two, we have malice. All these things are birthed from envy. The moment there is anything they ask, number one, there will be grudges. Number two, there will be malice. Number three, there will be conventiousness. Number four, there will be jealousy. And then number five, there will be resentment. So we come to number one, grudges. What is grudges? I put it here that grudges is to be unwilling to give or to admit. Give or allow reluctantly or resentfully. Praise the Lord. Grudges is unwilling to what? Give or admit. When there is grudges in the heart, you will not give love. You will not give kindness. You will not give peace. Because there is something what? In the heart. Have you observed that when our wives are hungry and they have grudges in their heart, the home will not be what? Will not be peaceful. It's happened to so many women, our wives, most of them are victims. It's initial, it's grudges. It may not be birthed from envy, but it's grudges. Envy can produce grudges. That is why we are putting it there. That something is in the heart that is annoying you, offending you towards that person and it's stopping you from giving love to that person. You know sometimes we can smile. I know I said I will divide you as wives. Okay, there are some of us man that puts what? Grudges in their heart. When they step into their house, you will think they are laughing with the wife. But I don't laugh with them. They have a plan of what they will do. This woman, she talked to me this way, come and ask me for money for food. And some days later, the sugar I am not eating, go and find a way to eat. Am I created to be working for you alone? Are you not pitying me? But you know I am not working now. Go and find something. If you are not working now, find a way for them to eat. Why? 2 days ago, 2 days back, something happened, grudges. So anytime there is grudges in our heart, we cannot do it, we cannot give, we cannot give kindness. Hallelujah. And if you shake very well, it has even affected our human relationships with people. Shake very well, your friends, your neighbor, your relatives, if possible, even in the church. The people have grudges they cannot give. This person did this to me. There is a kind of camouflage forgiveness that churches practice, camouflage. They come together and say, okay, we are forgiving you. We forgive. We are not restoring back relationship and caring. Forgive. We claim we are forgiving. What are we giving? Opportunity again? Are we giving the love again? So you see that they say they are forgiving, but there is no what? Love. There is no care. Because grudges is still what? Still there. So they forgive with their mouth, not with their life. Praise the Lord. And I think Jesus is not happy with such forgiveness. Grudges. I forgive you with my mouth, but I expect anything that you were benefiting from me before, I am putting an end to it. Grudges. Even in the eyes of God, grudges. Number two is malice. Initially I thought malice was just when you are not communicating with somebody again. You stop relating with a particular person based on offense. That was what I understood malice to be. But when I went into study while I was preparing my message, I discovered that malice is deeper than that. What is malice here? I said malice is the desire to cause pain. The desire to cause injury. The desire to cause distress to a person. Let me explain better. This pastor, maybe we are of age mates and we are friends and something happened. In my mind I said, let this thing just happen to this person. I didn't talk to him anyhow. Let this thing just what? Happen. In your mind, or maybe it eventually fell into a problem, or maybe it involved a police and that is why. It is not good to come out and plead for the person. He said no, let them take him. So malice, that is why in the book of 1 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, it says and all malice. I never understood that malice is in different categories. We have the smiley kind of what? Malice. There are some that smile with you that are in malice with you. They don't wish you well. They have the laughing kind of what? Malice. When we come to church together. He said that will knock one another behind. They are gossiping, going on about the name of that person. Malice. Then we have those that are authentic. We have the plastic kind of malice. Yes you offend me, I put it on. I am not greeting you. Why? You offend me. Then you hold me like I did my own. And then we have the pretentious kind of what? Malice. It looks like the first one but it is different. No, sincerely it didn't pain me. I am not. Sincerely, I am not what? I tell you a lie. So now may you do that too. Plastic, hypocritical. Jealousy. Jealousy is when you are hostile toward a rival. Hallelujah. Or one believes to enjoy an advantage. You are angry, you are an enemy to someone because someone is touching something that you feel like is for you. Hallelujah. That is what jealousy is. Praise the Lord. Now I am coming, I am just trying to give you what envy can produce. Heaven lastly can produce resentment. Resentment means the feeling of ignant displeasure or persistent will at something regarded as a wrong insult or injury. You are angry toward a thing. Envy can cause it. Now we are studying about envy today because of God's desire to get rid of it from among us as a church, as a family and as individuals. This particular sin has permitted and destroyed great relationship and friendship today. It has even divided churches, look up here, families. There are people that are no longer close today again. There are families who are divided. Envy. The sin we are dealing with has capacity to destroy families. Cousins will not speak with their other cousins again. Relatives, even siblings will not be united again. Envy because this one is envious of that one, that one is envious of this one. It has even crept into the church. Envy. Envying one another. The Lord is pointing finger to this particular sin because it has the capacity of bringing division into the house of God. So what made them to kill Jesus? Envy. Joseph was sold into slavery because of what? The envy of his brothers. I am trying to let you know what envy can do because sometimes when you are talking negatively about a person, it is a product of what? Envy. If envy could make people to kill Jesus and could make somebody to sell Joseph into slavery, it can make you to hurt your brother. If you allow envy to come in, it can make you to what? To hurt your brother, to hurt your sister. Envy. Hallelujah. There are great relationships today that would be of benefit and blessings to our lives. We cut them off because of what? Envy. And when I am talking about envy, you may not quickly diagnose whether you have it but we are coming. Hallelujah. So here are four questions to ask ourselves before we continue this message. I put it as self-examination. What we need to ask ourselves before we continue this message. The reason I put these four questions is for us to understand what is envy. Because if I ask you now, what is envy? Okay, let me ask. Where is the other microphone? This is Bible study so we have to interact. What? Okay. Brother Emmanuel, I just need three persons to speak to me or four persons to speak. What is envy? Brother Emmanuel, just speak fast. You are the one who needs the microphone. Envy is the desire to have something more than your brother. The heart of you being pained to desire what belongs to others. God bless. I think you see a shine of conventions there too. Okay. What is envy? Envy is being unhappy at someone's promotion. Being unhappy at someone's promotion. And wanting that promotion also. And wanting it or wishing it to be your own. Okay, God bless you. The last person. What is envy? Envy is a kind of a desire or let me say a painful desire to have what somebody else has. To have what belongs to someone. Hallelujah. That means every one of us here have insight about what is envy. Now, I have four questions for us here. Number one, we want to, this question is coming to you and I to diagnose in us whether we have what envy. Remember that when I was preparing the message, I didn't just see you people. I prepared it as I am speaking to thousands of people. Because I know thousands of people are coming. Are you with me now? So, the questions are matured, generic and they are specific also. Are you getting me now? Now, these questions, you don't need to respond to me. Just answer the question within yourself and see if you have been diagnosed of envy. Because we need help from God tonight. Amen. Number one question is, how do I feel inside when those who I never expected achieve anything. How do I feel inside when those who I never expected achieve anything. Achieve anything. How do I feel inside? It's a question. Those you never expected when they achieve something, not you. The position that they come to, it came to them. How did you feel inside? Number two, can I keep a smiling face and good heart towards a consistent testimony coming from a single person. Look up here. This person comes today and says, ah, brother, sister, the Lord has done it again. The Lord has done it again. Do you know the Lord gave us this thing? And after a few days later, you came to that same person and said, ah, sister, thank God I see you again. The Lord has done it again. Oh, glory to the Lord. The Lord is good. I said, what happened this time? The Lord has provided this and this. Wow. And then you thought that was the end. You thought this. Ah, I was even coming to your house. Oh, the Lord has done it again. And you say, well, what happened this time again? Do you know that this, this what I have been waiting for has come? Can you keep a smiling face with a good heart? And you join this person and say, oh, Jesus, this is what we are praying for. Without bias. Without feeling bad. Without comparing yourself and saying, why this person is low. Are you sure? You can keep a smiling face. Even if this person came to you for 365 days with 365 testimonies. Are you okay? Because Jesus is not what we just preach. It is a life. If it is not there, it is not there. Or you will feel like this woman is getting too much. Or even though you try to get happy with your faith within your heart, that is when you will start feeling depressed. Why must you feel depressed at the time that somebody got admission to school? Because you have not gotten admission. Why must it be that time you became depressed? Envy. And these things are the reasons why Jesus has been far from us. Here is a Bible believing church, but Jesus is far from us. Because the heart is full of what? Envy. Ask yourself, can you keep a constant smiling face with a good heart towards the testimony of a person that consistently keeps coming? Praise the Lord. The Lord has given us house. Praise the Lord. The next day, the Lord has given us car. Do you know that the Lord gave all the children scholarships the fourth day? Do you know that one of my uncle in abroad is saying that our two sons, eldest son should come, our three eldest children should come, and the two should remain with us? And then you will never feel like, why this person? You see, when we get to eternity, when we stand before the eyes of the Almighty God, and we search you through and through, and the things that will take you to hell might not even be the things you have yet committed. It is the one you conceived in you. The one you can do. It is the one who will judge you for. As I remember the pure eyes of God, I search myself more and more. If God keeps giving to the Emmanuel a consistent testimony that despite all my faithfulness in serving God, I still keep suffering and it keeps rising, what will be the condition of my heart? Will I truly say, Father, thank you for what you are doing for Emmanuel? Or that will be the genesis of me having issues with Emmanuel? In my heart, not on my face, in my heart. When God wants to bless people, when we come to service like this, and heaven wants to bless people, the eyes of God goes and checks for those without envy. And that is why many of us are not receiving blessings. The one we call blessings is the manipulative 2 plus 2 what? Blessings. But supernatural blessings of God, we don't have it. Because heaven has checked our heart and see that although we cry to him every time, but any time our brothers are thanking God, we can't wholeheartedly thank God with them. This is the Bible believing church and that is why we teach the Bible. Envy. Now the third question. Listen. Are there people I cut off myself? Or I cut myself off? Ok, I will read it again. Sorry. Are there people I cut myself off, my family off, my children off, my relatives off, from since they achieved something? Look up here. You know, sometimes when envy is there, just like some of you define what is envy. When envy is there, it is ok for you to say, I will give this person chance. He is still showing us, see if he wants, he is the one that has everything. There is another thing when you now start influencing your spouse and say, let us give this person a chance. There is another thing when you start influencing your siblings and say, let us give that person a chance. Let us just put, we have to be disciplined. There is another thing when you now go to your children and say, if I see you near that person again, why ever since the person talk about his visa of travelling out, you cut off your children. If I see you next time that you are jumping on this person again, envy. And heaven look at you, see this one, will never, because the 25 year old have started to discuss your matter and they say that you are not reliable to use for your generation. Because of this word, envy. Are there people you cut off? You cut your family off from? You cut your relatives or your siblings off from? Because of their achievement. Are there people? They will come to number 4 question. Hallelujah. Each time I achieve something, what friend or what person do I easily think of just to make sure that such person should know that he is not in the same level with me. You see, sometimes when God give you a car like this, your mind will just go to that brother and say, I have to tell this brother what now you call. And he do look me down and let him know that we are not in the same class. God is defining to us what is envy because this heaven is too narrow to accommodate us and envy. So when you are achieving something, when you buy a new clothes, when you buy a new wrist wash, when you get a new position or you are being promoted, you have somebody in your mind. Because that person did not offend you, but because that person always tell you what God is doing in his life. Seeing you as a brother or as a sister, the person has the freedom to tell you what God is doing, but you are personalizing it and turning it into a malicious act. You see, now the thing that is the only one that is God is now, he will know we are not the same class. Envy. And that is why I say I wish you this Sunday service. Because I don't know the kind of Christianity you are practicing that you can live comfortably without going to car park and cry. So when the Lord was speaking to me about it, I was not planning for the message. The message I should have taught you people is in my Avweti Pepeta message. I was sitting with my wife this afternoon. She was on phone call this morning. She was on phone call. I just sat down like this. That was when I got inspiration. And any time my father wants to talk to me, I know. I just left her. I went to the room, take my bag, the lighter, the writing message. The one I wanted to preach, the one I like to preach, put it aside. I say any time, I will push it. Because what you like may not be the current message that eternity is speaking about. Envy. Envy is a sin. And it has a foundation for many other sins against God. It is a nature every natural man is born with. Every natural man is what? Is born with envy. But you must deal with it. You must deal with it. So before we close, I want to talk about the signs that you have envy. Signs that you what? It is not wonderful. I think this is what we should call it a theater experience. A surgical room experience. Because the two edged sword of God is coming to the divided asunder of the spirit and soul, the bone from the marrow. So signs that you have what? Envy. I wrote just five signs. So as much as I could write by inspiration. I wrote just five signs. Number one, look up here. You are about to write now. The way that the Lord has pointed his finger, it is not for you to say, as we are talking about it, it is not for you to say, hmm, this is number one, it belongs to Sita Itikanko. Number two, it is not for you to point finger to anybody. It is for you to sit down with God and say, Lord, this is not what I expected to be, but for you to point it to me. I don't know whether this might be the last message before I cross to eternity, but Lord I surrender it now. Signs that you have envy. Number one, sudden rising of personal principles. Not to relate with someone you are envious of. It can be not to enter their new car, not to visit their new acquired house, not to patronize their new business, and not to publicly celebrate or talk about their achievement. Let me explain. You will not get it like that. The Lord blessed Pasualawu and then a beauty house. Are you getting me? And then he came and said, Josh, are you able to find me? I started crying. I said, Pasualawu, what happened? He said, you don't know what I have come through. And then he said, Lord, Josh, stand up now when I stood up and we celebrate and we dance, we eat meat. The heart of it all, that you call your family together. I said, my wife said, I have been wanting to talk to us ever since. We are not principled in this family. There should be a principled guide in us. Any, and look at the children, any of you that I see that you go to Pasualawu's house for anything, forget about his big television, I will break your leg. You must learn to stay in your home. Envy. Why is that? Envy. Look at the wife. You, make him mad. If I see you there, they are not the first person to have us and they will not be the last. Stay in your house. What is that? Envy. Envy. So, immediately there will be principles to keep you from practicing love. The Bible says, rejoice with them that watch, rejoice. It may not be us, it may be other things, that suddenly you will just raise up the principles of what? Discipline, immediately to effect so that you will not, you will not, it may even be the issue of God. I will never enjoy God. Envy. And I tell you this thing is happening in our church, many churches today. Today. That the newly appointed pastor, you see, he called the family and said, we know that I made this man, you know I was in the church when he came, have you forgotten 1950? He said, if they are laying hands, make sure you go and meet the general pastor to lay hands. If I see you, that you do what I like to do, if I see you, that you went to put your hair down for this new pastor, do you know what that is happening to you? Envy. When there is envy, you will be castigating others. You will be looking down on others. Envy. You see, look up here. I never knew Christianity was like this. It was people that taught me that Christianity was not really what I thought it to be. When I gave my life to Christ, I celebrated with everybody. The brother bought the car and brought the car to the church. That was the brother that trained me in school, assisted me to enter school. That day, he bought the car and I entered the car to follow them in the church. My heart was pure towards everybody. It was people that made me to know envy is part of the Christian life, not the original Christian life. I was free hearted towards what? Everybody. When my friends were making money, dressing fine, I was wearing shoes, slippers with nails on them. I don't know how to envy anybody. I don't know whether it is follow common. Are you with me? I don't know whether it is follow common. I cannot tell you the day I prayed and said, Lord take away envy. I hardly confessed the sin of what? Envy. Whether I am born again or not, it was not with me right from the start. I don't know whether it is follow common. Sometimes, it is people that will not tell me to overlook on myself. They tell me to think I am in my life. I am just chatting with people. You know what I believe? My time will and when it is going to come, nobody can stop it. Envy. Envy. 2. Sudden sadness or heartfelt pain the moment you heard about the achievement or you saw the achievement. Hallelujah. The moment you saw, you heard about what? The achievement. You see, look up here. May God forgive us. May God forgive the body of Christ. The older I get in age, the more I see more reason to have just few. The older I get what? In age. Currently now, there is no body I can point at among my friends. I say this is my covenant brother. When I come to you and I share my testimony with you and your face changes before me. I am the kind of person that I perceive in the spirit. I am a spiritual man. If your mood, if your heart has changed, do your faith is mine and I will receive the signal from God immediately. I will start to wonder why? But if people come to share their testimony, I am always happy. And that is why I stop talking about many things to many of them. Envy. When all my friends were getting married, it did not move me. God is my witness. I only married because it was time for me to marry. I married because it told me in the month of August, my wife is here, that particular year, it told me it was time for me to marry. And I said when? He said this year. My wife is here. I picked my phone call immediately after I told my wife what God was saying. I picked my phone call immediately right there. And I called my mother, my step mother. I said my wedding is coming this year. That was August. My wedding will be coming before December. That was what I said. I will never, if my commitment, the covenant I have with God is the covenant of holiness, I will never envy you for anything. It will never even cross my mind. What I am even thinking is far from what you are achieving. I am thinking of that eternity. That somebody will not be able to share testimony again. But the last time he shared testimony with you, immediately your mood changed. As if with the anger he started facing other people, giving excuses that he should not worry, that before he came somebody offended him before. No! Hallelujah! When there is sudden sadness or pain in your heart when someone has been promoted, it is called what? Envy. Why is not Sunday when the church will be full? It is called envy. Number three, trying to find faults with someone new achievement and trying to point at faults just to stop them from being happy. Let me explain. Someone received an award and the person was happy and you were there. You could not just be happy, rather you wanted to spoil the happiness of that person. You could not say, go, go, go, go. I just checked online and they said you are not the only one. Why are you not shouting that you are the only one? Whether he is the only one or not. Do you know the other person? He is just the one you know. When the lady wears a wedding gown, he is not fit to be rejoicing with that person. Today is your day. You will come and say, this one is fake now. You will always find something to make that person not to be happy again. It is envy. Envy is dead. When you are rejoicing with the person, whether you see the fault there, do not talk about the fault. Let the person join the full faith. After many days you can come back. But that day is for the day. Let the person be happy. Envy. God will help us in Jesus name. 4. Deciding not to relate with such person like before. This may include withdrawing your spouse, your relatives, your children from them, from their cars, from their houses or their new achievement. I don't know why this is common among Christians. Hallelujah. I don't know why God is bringing this. I don't know why. Lord, the people are not mush. Why can't we come to that point whereby I can, let me have my car. I think I will use my car as an example. That Pastor Lawu can even drive my car on my behalf. Are you with me? I can drive his car on his behalf. Why are we going to be scared to say, if he can say please bro, why are we scared of using one another things and possessions? That a man will meet me and will give me money to go and drive my car. My God, where is the worldly love in the church? It has been destroyed. That you will not know who is poor and who is rich. And that is why I told Jesus, that any gift you give to me, it will be hard for me to release for your use. Don't give me. I have been telling Jesus, any gift you give to me, it will be hard for me to release. The one I will say is my own. Don't give me. It is the one I will say is your own. In those days when I gave my life to Christ, I was so much close to church people that you would think I don't have family members. Before we close on Sunday service, we have a fast message. Today in our visitation, special visitation. We are coming today. That evening we are going from member to member house. We call it special visitation. Only you and me would understand. It is for today. Today is not like that again. And that is why the brotherhood of the world are not collecting the church people. They are not joining secret society because they are looking for what? Brotherhood. They say the church have lost the brotherhood. When I was growing up, we wear one another's clothes. You will not know. You will not know. My first two suits was given to me by my pastor, the assistant pastor of my church. You will not know. He gave me two suits. His own suit that I normally wear to work, he gave me and gifted me. I met that guy in his suit. You will never know. Envy has divided the church. It has divided the church. The Lord is not happy with our life and that is why he is bringing this warning to us early. People are backsliding today because the new people that left the world and joined the church to be born again, we made them to join the choir department. When they came to the choir department and they met the kabbas there, the kabbas told them that before you were here, I was. I know the way that they put them in the freezer. With the beautiful voice they came to the church with, you are not able to back up nothing. They are quiet then because the church has become political. Envy has brought up politics. The real anointed ones who are not hearing their voice is the ones that when they are single eyes, they go in just to close their ears, is the ones we celebrate because we prefer and value this person has been here for long more than this person has the ability to do it easy. Envy. Envy is everywhere. It has destroyed a lot of work. A lot of work. The last of it all which is five, speaking evil of someone who do better than you and isolating yourself. Speaking evil of what? So if you are speaking evil of someone and isolating yourself from that person you have what? Envy. Hallelujah. There was something I do with some of my friends. When I observed that, it pained me and I will share it with you. I have friends. Hallelujah. So when we are making some certain move, we do inform one another. Like some of them I don't want to relocate. They will just call me or their wife will just call me. But my friend that is over that side that I have just relocated, the wife called me and said, ah, man of God, we are relocating. Are you with me? If I want to do something, I will also what? Inform them. Not that it is a must to, it is the way we build our brotherhood. So anyone that is close to me, if he tells me that he has relocated, then I will go and help that person to pack one or two things where he is relocating. Or if I am already aware that he just relocated, before he told me, I will go to what? We did that again for so many periods. Once I began to observe that if I tell them, they won't come. But when they tell me, they will expect me to what? To come. If I don't come, they will be offended. Initially it got me worried. I said, they don't think safe. Before they get worried, can't they think whether they are doing the same to me? Until one of them did it so bad, to the point where he had to even bring his wife so he could do. And he didn't bring his wife to come out. I said, your mother, I don't even know your wife much, apart from that very thing. But he passed there to come and see someone at my back. And I said, ha ha ha. I said, there is no words. There is a problem in the heart. He doesn't know that somebody called me and said, ah, so-and-so placed his hand on the wood. I said, ah, did he just place my place? Did he not come to your place? I said, no. In that later point, I said, they came very close to my place. I said, ah. He said, know what, I was worried. Thank you. From that day, I decided to just be on my own. When they said that I was on my own, nobody called for long. Some of you may know that I am here 21. As I keep saying that nobody was out. My wife is out here. I will call and call and call. They won't pick my call. For months, I will be what? Calling. And I said, let me focus on God alone. When they saw that God was with me, they said, what? Calling. Envy. What is envy about? I have never come to say I can push more than anybody. If I am pushing, I am teaching. If you are pushing, I always tell you, push us. Because anytime I want to push, I will start teaching. Are you getting me? Envy. Envy has damaged many good relationships. Check yourself. Where is your friend? Your whole time friend. If you see your friend posting himself now on Facebook, and say, hey, hey, we are now in Canada. Will you say, wow, congratulations? Will you say that? Or you will just pass by. The moment you pass by, you say, you will just check out on Facebook. Then after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, like one week later, you will ask, you will just put like, thank you for conscious. Envy. Envy. Envy. Hallelujah. Amen. Are we together? That is what envy can do. That is what envy can do. That is what envy can do. So what are the dangers of envy? Number one, we are landing off now. Dangers of what? Of envy. It can lead to hate and conviciousness. Number two, it takes to hell fire. Number three, it promotes malice and destroys futuristic relationships. Number four, it stops God from blessing you. If there is envy, God cannot bless you. Number five, it shuts the door of you attaining what others have attained. Anything you celebrate will come to you. So if you don't celebrate something and you are envious of another person, you remain in one position. The last of it all, it invites demons for possessing such persons. So demons can easily possess you. So what are the dangers of envy? Shake yourself up. Is there not envy in your heart? Hallelujah. It can even be amongst simplest. Is there not envy in your heart? Two years ago, I nearly packed to a two bedroom flat. Some of you were aware. So I was speaking with one of my relatives. So this person was like, he was living in one room. This is my relative. So he packed to a room and what? Palo. Room and palo. So he was like, wow, if I see the house, this, this and that. This person, which is the person's boyfriend, that is my relative's boyfriend. He said, you have taken care of the house, this and that. I said, wow. I said, thank God. I just even relocated to a two bedroom flat. Do you know that as we were talking, the happiness was over the phone. When I mentioned my room, the line parted. There was silence over there. I said, yes. I said, wow. I said, no, it is just to God's will. No, I am into ministry and I want to be using. But for the fact that I collected wealth, two bedroom. You called me to tell me that you moved from one room to my palo safe country and I was happy with you. I decided to share my own and there was one minute silence. But why are humans like this? Why is that people always see that I am always, I am fit to celebrate with them, but I am not fit to what? Celebrate with them. Why are people not feeling my pain? Don't they think that I have suffered for many years? Make sure you fight against it. As we are here, the Lord is speaking to us, we should fight against what? Envy. When you see the atom of envy manifested, deal with it. No, you cannot be with me. I will love my brother. I will love my sister. No, I will celebrate with them. No, no, leave me. I am a child of God. I am born again. You cannot make me to hate them. So that when a person is getting closer to one particular brother more than the other what? He will become what? Envious. Before we close, how to be free from what? Envy. 1. Acknowledgement. Acknowledge that you have what? 2. Repent of that sin. Act the Lord to purge your heart from it. 4. Start radicalizing love. All eyes closed, head bowed. If you know, for God Almighty, who knows the heart of a man? All eyes closed, head bowed. If you know, you have envy. You know, altar call is not only meant for sinners, it is meant for repentant people. If there is envy in your heart, and while I was preaching, the Lord was bearing witness with your spirit that you have part of this one. You have this particular one. All eyes closed. If you have such people, such person, can you place your hand on your chest? The Lord said that a broken and a contrite spirit, it will not despise. Place it on your chest. If it is there, and you say it is not there, you are not keeping the Holy Spirit. I said to this, we are in a theatre house. Even though I am expecting people, and the people I am expecting are not here, it does not stop me from doing what I should have done. Lay your hands on your chest. If you want the Spirit of God to push your heart, so that you will not go to hell, this might be a last call message. Maybe there is something waiting that eternity has seen, and the eyes of God say, this thing is still there. Just lay your hands. For the person that has faithfully laid his hands, say, Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. Truly you have described me. Who can help himself without you? Your word has come to me. Your word has come to reveal things in my life. Lord, have mercy. Wash me with your blood. Wash me with your blood. I repent that very day. I accept you as my Lord and personal Saviour. Wash me with your blood in the name of Jesus. Lord Jesus, anything in me that will take me to hell, take off that thing from my life. I surrender my heart to you. I surrender my spirit to you. I surrender my life to you. You who only knows who is pure and who is holy.