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Howdy.

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Howdy.

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Well, and I hope that our youth, the fifth through 12th grade,

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I hope that you'll all be able to join us in two weeks when we go to the Amusement Center.

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So we've gotten sponsorship so that that should be heavily discounted for you

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and be able to have you all go with us.

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A couple of things. This last few weeks have been really, really hectic,

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but a lot of things happening.

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And recently I ended up going to San Antonio.

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My cousin had passed away and ended up going there and having an opportunity to be able to remember him

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and just be able to share not only what we knew about him, but also to remind people of our hope in Christ.

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And there were some different people that wanted to go up and to share a few words.

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And one of them was my aunt.

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And she was talking about how she had married into a Hispanic family.

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My father's family is Hispanic and many of them speak Spanish.

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And my aunt being, well, a white lady, basically thought, I don't fit in.

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I'm not sure how to fit in. I don't know what to do.

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So what she would try to do though, is she would try to speak Spanish.

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Notice the air quotes.

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You know how you can try to take something and make it into Spanish

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and you put L at the beginning and O at the end.

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You've got a car, so it's El Carro.

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Oh wait, that actually kind of works.

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But you have a cat.

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And instead of saying El Gato, you're like El Cato.

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And you're like, oh my goodness.

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And then of course, for dogs, El Dogo instead of Pedro.

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And with it is that my aunt really wanted everybody to know that she was very, very cool.

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So she kept telling them she was El Cool Low.

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As a few people are catching the joke already.

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And for everybody else that is Spanish for your backside.

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So she went ahead and was telling people for years that she was the backside.

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And time and time again, until finally my cousin snickered.

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And she caught him laughing and said, what?

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What did I say?

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What was I saying?

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And finally somebody told her.

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And her husband who had never stopped her for many, many years,

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that bruise stayed there for quite some time.

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Rest now.

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But with it is she wanted to prove herself.

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But in trying so hard, she was starting to lose some of the respect of the people there.

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And I can't help but feel this or wonder this when we're reading from the letter of James.

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Could you imagine James was the half brother of Jesus?

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His mom was Mary.

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What would it be like to be the half brother of Jesus?

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Oh, you're Jesus' brother.

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Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, the savior of the world, the Son of God,

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the one who has given his life for all of creation to conquer sin, death, and the devil.

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The one who rose again on the third day, the one who sits at the right hand of the Father.

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Why don't you tell me about yourself, James?

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Second place in the Pinewood Derby?

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I've also got a coin collection. It's great.

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I mean, to constantly have to wonder what that's like.

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Of course, James ended up being the first leader of the Jerusalem church during the time of the apostles.

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And of course, his letter ended up being captured in Holy Scripture.

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So to spend so much time comparing oneself, you'd end up missing out on what opportunity there truly was already.

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Now, I was taking what the verses were saying about jealousy and ambition,

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and I kind of wanted to get some examples of jealousy and ambition.

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And I figured that before artificial intelligence creates terminator robots

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and decides to come and destroy all of humanity, I could ask it a question for my sermon.

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So I went ahead and I asked it, would you give me some examples of jealousy and ambition?

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And it gave me five. Workplace rivalry. Two colleagues compete for promotion.

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One feels jealous of the other's accomplishments and begins undermining them while also working late to prove their dedication.

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Interesting. Athletic competitors.

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A runner feels jealous of a teammate's natural talent and success.

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This jealousy fuels their ambition, leading them to train harder and ultimately outperform the rival.

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These don't sound so bad.

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Social media influencers and influencer notices a peer gaining more followers and brand deals.

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Instead of supporting them, they feel envious and double down on their content strategy,

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working harder to outshine the competitor. Four. Academic settings.

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A student feels jealous of a classmate's high grades.

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This drives them to study intensely and seek help from tutors, ultimately achieving their own academic goals.

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Well, surely this fifth one will be terrible indeed.

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Entrepreneurs. A startup founder sees another company thriving in their niche.

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Jealousy sparks a fire to innovate, leading them to pivot their business model and attract a larger audience.

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Is it just me or did all of these examples make jealousy for ambition seem like a good thing?

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And I find that interesting because these examples that showcase jealousy, that fuels ambition,

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that fuels success and happiness, these things that drive us toward goals, this is a reflection of us.

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Because artificial intelligence can only give us answers based on what we have put out there.

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So if I asked AI what it is that ambition and jealousy do, they're showing us what we think.

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Because we believe that they are good and blessed things in our life.

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But are we really sure about that?

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Is it really true to see that competition is always supposed to have the last word?

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That instead of being a part of an entire life, is that instead our jealousy and our drive and that ambition

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is supposed to be the final word in everything that we do.

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And that somehow whatever it pushes us to do is somehow the right answer.

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Or do those choices betray true wisdom?

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What if it is that for the co-worker that is undermining other people, he's actually losing trust among peers.

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And at the same time all those late hours losing time with family and friends.

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Or for the athlete pushing themselves physically in ways that can ultimately hurt them.

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Injuries, steroids or even losing themselves emotionally because of always being uncontent with not matching what they thought they're supposed to achieve.

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Or the times whenever the social influencers, we see some of the tricks of the trade.

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And I saw at one point there was a lady who was putting the center of the video on her physical assets, if you will,

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in order to get us to hear about affordable housing options.

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Or even the guy who says the most ridiculous thing because I'm bringing attention to things even though he knows that it's almost definitely not true.

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Or like the student in my freshman year of college, the guy down the hall that I knew before he had a test the next morning,

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he would down a fifth of whiskey in order to cram and to get the good grades that he thought he needed to have.

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Or the entrepreneur who doesn't care if their monopoly stops anyone else from being a part of the industry

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and loses anything that helps them innovate and improve because there is no other competition now.

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I was at a lecture yesterday with Dr. Amy Orr Ewing that was talking about the book The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis.

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And that Lewis had pointed out that oftentimes the pain that we see and that we struggle with is because we keep looking at everything on the outside

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instead of dealing with what's happening on the inside.

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Or that we will oftentimes blame society for the things that we're actually doing.

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That we somehow think that if we just wait long enough that time will cancel all sin.

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Or that as long as we're better than the people around us or better than our ancestors, that means we are okay.

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But you see, wisdom is asking deeper what are ultimately our goals.

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What is it that is truly a measure of success?

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Are we headed down dark paths to get what we think we want instead of asking for what is good and true and right?

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Do we slow down and do we respect others, even other competitors

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when in reality we should be asking these deeper questions in all we say and do?

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There was an example of a runner.

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It was a Spanish athlete.

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He was in a cross-country race.

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Ivan Fernandez Anaya.

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And he was in second place by a stretch.

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He was nowhere close to being first.

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But as he looked ahead he saw the first place runner, Abel Mutay from Kenya.

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And he had stopped before getting to the finish line.

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You see, he didn't speak the language of the signs that were all around.

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And he was not quite clear that he wasn't quite finished.

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He stopped ten meters before the finish line because he thought he was done.

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But you see, while other people in second place might have been taken advantage of that opportunity

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and ran right past it to snag the first place, Ivan did not.

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Because he knew in his heart he might get the medal, he hadn't won that race.

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And so instead he got behind Abel and he gestured and he pointed until he finally got him to cross the finish line.

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First place that he knew he had earned.

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What's fascinating is that his coach said flat out,

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if I were in his place I would have run past because that's what competition is all about.

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And isn't that amazing?

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Even the people teaching us will oftentimes see,

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instead of asking how to actually grow and pursue what is good,

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instead just getting the goal we thought we wanted.

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But you see, when we look at so much of what we try to achieve with our job,

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with our school, with our friends, with the world around us, with all these things,

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is that so many of them are so fleeting?

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Is that job even going to be around next year after downsizing?

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Is your video channel going to actually matter in the next few months?

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Switch from whatever format we're on to the next one?

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Are you actually going to find any hope or joy in these things that are fleeting?

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But instead, what is it that humanity has always had?

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Is that we've always had a heart that can either pursue God or run away?

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And that's the thing that God cares the most about.

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That is what it is that God is saying he's seeing and his desire to rule over.

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See, that's the thing about wisdom.

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Is that wisdom goes past these things that are fleeting?

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And instead is asking how to be honest about reality

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and what we're actually in service to.

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Because how many times do we not care how we get what we want?

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Maybe we're thinking about the clothing or the computers or the tech

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or whatever thing that we're thinking is so important

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and we are so glad when we can find it cheap and easy.

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And then we find out how many times whatever company it was

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had to take land from people who had nothing

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or impose harsh hours on people

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or even find out how many people died in the middle of it.

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And we have a moment of saying,

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oh, well that was too bad.

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And then stop worrying about it when we need to buy the next thing that we want.

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Do we take time to look at what is good and true and right

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or do we just ignore the counsel of the things around us?

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How many times are we even willing to take advantage of people or situations

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and then we act like the victims ourselves?

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We realize that what we did was underhanded,

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was wrong, was hurtful, undermined somebody else

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and instead when someone calls us out on it,

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I cannot believe that you would talk to me like that.

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I cannot believe that you would think so poorly of me.

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Oh, I'm such a victim.

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Even when we were the ones who did that to somebody else

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because there are genuine victims in the world.

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And how many times do we try to ignore it

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realizing that if we hear something multiple times,

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even if it's still true and even if it's still bad,

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then we're like, oh, I can't believe that you would make me have to hear that one more time.

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And then as we continue to do exactly what it was before,

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even our relationships, oftentimes instead of looking for true connection,

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we just want to be with somebody that we think other people will be jealous of.

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We're just wanting to know that other people will envy us in who we're with.

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And frankly, jealousy can even be for pastors too.

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There are times whenever I'm like,

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I don't want to listen to somebody else's sermon on something

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and I don't want to go and be like, oh, I wish I'd done that.

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Oh, man, that would have been so much better.

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Or even times whenever I've sat in on like a forum

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that's discussing science and faith and I'm like, I know this stuff.

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I could be there discussing this.

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And then someone says, I don't have any background on this subject,

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but they needed somebody to be up here.

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And I'm like, ah.

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Instead of pausing and wondering what is it that God actually wanted me

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to be spending my time on if that wasn't intended for me.

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See, that's the thing is that God is looking at what's happening with our heart.

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But are we willing to be humble and to admit when our heart is not pure?

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We love, we love being able to point out all the things around us

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where we're like, look at all the bad things that are happening in the world.

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And God, you know what? If things were just fair, okay, then everything would be better.

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And to the point where we are angry at another person for either being better than us

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or for getting credit that we think is supposed to be ours, or we're mad at God.

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We're like, God, you didn't get me what I deserve.

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And I can't believe you.

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But the reality is that we don't know what it is that God is doing

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and we don't take the time to pause and say, God, was there a reason why you humbled me?

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See, the thing is is that it speaks in here about grace for the humble.

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And why is that?

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Because sometimes to find peace, we have to be humble enough to let go of the thing

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that we were pursuing with jealousy and ambition as hard as we could.

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Because it may turn out that God is trying to do something that we didn't even realize.

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Because there are times to be sad.

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There are times to be serious.

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There are times to get real with the weeping and the mourning and the gloom and the wretchedness.

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But if we spend all of our time saying, God, this is what I want,

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and I'm stuck over here frustrated and without it, why can't I have what I want?

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Then we haven't paused to say what it is. God, what is it that you were trying to do in me in the first place?

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Because the reality is that in the struggle, in the suffering, in the loss, in the humility,

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that is often when God is speaking to us the most clearly.

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Because that is also a God who sent his son Jesus to suffer at the hands of jealousy and ambition.

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Because there's Jesus doing so many good works, so many great things,

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and instead of being joyful to see that God's kingdom is on this earth,

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what is it that the religious leaders are doing?

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I can't believe somebody else is doing it.

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That guy and not us.

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So do they take the time to ask what God could be doing?

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No, they just look for a way to get rid of him.

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And that's the thing about this.

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Is that Jesus allowed that jealousy and ambition to overcome him?

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And that's the thing about this is that he needed to, in order to save us from ourselves.

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That's the thing about this is that if those people, the irony of it all,

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if those religious leaders had been humble enough to say,

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God, maybe we need to see what you're doing,

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then would Jesus have even needed to give his life for them in the first place?

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But that's not reality.

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The reality is that they were jealous and killed him.

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And so his death ended up being the very salvation needed for the ones who suffered from that the most.

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And instead of Jesus saying, God, Father, why do I have to let these people get their way?

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Is instead saying, your will and not mine.

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But through that humility, God was able to do something amazing

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that brought all of us life and hope everlasting.

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And that's the thing.

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We're all in the same place together.

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We're in a place of jealousy and ambition where we struggle

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and then we see somebody else being jealous and doing the same things.

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And we're like, see, see them? How terrible are they?

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But are we really the judge?

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Who actually is the judge?

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Because as we see others who do this, are we willing to forgive them?

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But then are we also willing to pause and say, God, when is it that I did the same thing?

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Because at those moments, that's when God can speak to us and can change us.

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And maybe spending some time in humility will help us to actually rise to the challenge

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or maybe realize that the challenge wasn't actually that important after all.

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But whatever it may be, are we willing to stop undermining others to promote ourselves

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when Jesus himself was willing to be undermined in order to bring us life?

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So whatever may be causing you those feelings and those hurts,

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my hope and prayer is that you'd be able to let that go

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when you see others to do that same, to be able to forgive them.

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Because in so doing, we are able to live out and embrace the humility of God

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who loves you and wants to give you everything that he desires.

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Because what God has for you is who you truly are in Christ

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and what is truly what matters.

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Thanks be to God.