 Okay, welcome back to our next hour on the lesson on Crucifying the Flesh, the last hour we started off on laying the ax to the root and we've been partially through a few manifestations of the flesh which is of the self, that is we looked at selfish ambition and we also did look at self, sorry selfish ambition and self promotion. Now we're looking into the next one a couple more to go before we move into the next is how do we, the understanding of what we do in depending, dependence, self dependence or choosing to rely on our own abilities or our own strengths, our own knowledge, our own experiences rather than depending on the Holy Spirit. So it is self dependence is where you rely on that which is your own or maybe on your own abilities rather than depending on God and we see that very often that we may operate in things that are because of our own abilities, our own understanding but we see that none of them have the permanence that without God we know that we can do nothing and it is often our abilities will very soon fall short and we may think we can do it in our own strength or our own abilities but without the Lord's hand in it or without the Lord's Spirit in it there isn't much of a significance in the things we do because there is no permanence or there is no eternity into it that it is not done with eternity in mind, there is no eternal permanence that we see. So that point of being reliant on God we see that in the scripture in John 14, 4 and 5 it says abide in me and I in you I am the vine you are the branches apart from me you can do nothing. So it's only if we want to do it with keeping the will and the glory of God in mind it has permanence only when we do it completely relying on him. Yes he uses some of the abilities and our skills and our giftings that he's given us he uses it but your reliance is not on that but on the power of the Holy Spirit. Do we need to be diligent in exercising whatever gifting that we've been given? I'm sorry I think I got cut off for a second. Am I back? Yes ma'am. Okay I'm sorry. So if our self-preservation takes importance more than what God has called us to do in our lives and that will keep us from walking in obedience which means we are probably at a very dangerous place spiritually we're in a dangerous situation spiritually and this becomes a manifestation of the of the self and this is something that needs to be handled or you know arrest very very clearly when we want to preserve our lives or our position or our name or our reputation at the expense of obeying God or when we are unwilling to step out in what God wants us to do it becomes an indication that we as ourselves and what we want is still predominantly important in us and I think one of the examples that I that I probably want to bring up is you know when we're talking about self-preservation is let's say you know when you are when you've been when you're speaking a word or when you are let's say prophesying over somebody with the fear and we are called to operate in faith of course we're also called to operate in wisdom and we we need to operate in knowing that you know God wants us to completely rely and depend on the power of the Holy Spirit when we are maybe saying a word or bringing about some kind of of of our knowledge to other people so to be able to to do that and not come to a place of protecting ourselves but being able to step out in faith even though you know you feel a sense of you know if I do this what's going to happen to me how will I sound like or you know how are people going to view me all of that brings about you know that we are a lot more dependent on on what what we've we've thought of so when we desire to self preserve we are preserving our lives at the expense of what God would want us to do or the expense of obeying God and that will definitely keep us from being fruitful for God's kingdom it's only when you really die to yourself that we will be fruitful so we are to be totally dependent on the Holy Spirit you know laying our reputation maybe our position on the line because yes you know when we make a mistake we do stand the risk of being labeled as something who is false or who doesn't have it accurate however it definitely takes faith for us to lay that aside and to step out and to in the Holy Spirit it takes faith to allow the gifts that God has given us and and use that to minister to the needs of people so it is necessary to die to yourself to flow in the Spirit so the tendency to self preserve will limit what the Holy Spirit desires to do again and I think this is something that we really need to continuously keep examining of ourselves of of the faith that we put in in the Holy Spirit as as we especially as we we may be ministering to God another part of a manifestation of the self is self humiliation the the the need to appear humble okay yes of course being humble is absolutely essential but there is this form of humility that may look very much like true humility but is born so much out of out of the flesh out of the self and this is what is termed as the self humility a feeling that you know that we may need to constantly put ourselves down constantly put ourselves to a meager feeling of who we are so we they and sometimes it is it is you know it generates a sense of feeling good when you talk low about yourself about being inferior or about not being worthy they kind of feel good that they feel bad okay and this is the humility that that that we're talking about the self humility that we think so for example when we are maybe there is something that we are complimented for okay also having the grace to to to be able to take whatever the compliment is given receiving the compliment and of course being able to pass even being able to give God the glory rather than denying that you can do something okay that's what is called as false humility that means there is your that there is a need for for a sense of boosting someone needs to boost your self-esteem so the right way to be to respond is to be able to take the compliment up graciously while yet giving the glory that is due unto God so we need to be aware that everything that we do our our ability and our efficiency our sufficiency everything is that which comes from God and we don't put up a pretense of humility where we are failing to acknowledge all that God has given to us okay and if we see that you know Paul was one person who really spoke very boldly that he was called by God to be a minister okay now he says that he even boasted of the of these things I boast he boasted of the things that the Lord had done through him so he did not walk through a false sense of humility so when we look at this entire portion of self we are called to die to ourselves and I just want to bring up one verse which is in Galatians 2 20 and I'm read that out for you I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ that lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by him in the by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me so as Christians or as believers we no longer live for ourselves we live for God who loved us died for us and it is Christ who lives in us and that's what becomes the foundation this means we're willing to lay aside all the things of those selfish desires of the flesh those ambitions the the way that we may want to promote ourselves the way that we feel reliant or protective of ourselves or even that humility and we choose to do things that only the Lord would want us to do and this is a daily you know this is a daily practice we need to die daily live live dying to ourselves daily and every day it's something that we come by to be able to die to ourselves over and over and over so that you know we can continue to be in a place where we glorify God okay so that's the first one of laying the ax to the root of self we will move into the next one which is jealousy is there any anyone has any specific question or any observations or any thoughts or any testimony that you all would like to bring up before we get into the the second one of laying the ax to the root of jealousy okay all right so we will move to the next one laying the ax to the root of jealousy again another part of the flesh that that gets manifested so we see a word for jealousy often mentioned in the bible is the word envy okay and this is something that is very dangerous to us and we often do not realize how intensely serious this can be and we often may look at it just as a personality trait but it is something that needs to be dealt with we we want to understand the jealous jealousy as it is was written in Galatians 5 19 21 we looked at that words it clearly talks it talks about jealousies and you know it's saying that people who are jealous do not inherit the kingdom of God so this is mentioned in that scripture Galatians 5 19 to 21 and we see that it states that if we continue in it we we have a problem we have a serious issue and that's something that we need to do to work with now jealousy can happen in very many areas of our lives and you know it can happen between siblings it can happen between ministers it can happen between churches it can happen within families between husbands and wives between friends it it is something that definitely requires to be held to be dealt with in fact paul addresses this to the Corinthian church and he says that you know that he talks about where there is envy and strife and divisions among you are you not carnal and behaving like mere men and he was talking to believers that he was talking to christians there and there was carnality in in sense of envy and jealousy among them and they were still being ruled by the flesh so this is something that was there even in paul's time where people worked and dealt with jealousy we see a lot of instances of jealousy even in the bible you know there are a lot of examples that are given where where you see because of the jealousy that was involved what it led to for example joseph and his brothers his brothers being jealous of of joseph that he was being the favored child and because his father displayed that favoritism and partiality it bred that jealousy among the siblings among his brothers and you see that how you know they plotted to kill him they sold him off and you know finally sold him off to the to the merchants of egypt so you see what jealousy can do we see that in cain and abel that the jealousy that came about in in cain led him to murder his own his own brother we see jealousy seen in sol and david where sol becomes so filled with envy because of the kind of accolades that he was he was getting from the people and where where where david was exalted and his praise was sung we see that david started sorry sol started to have a bitterness in his heart and again plotted so many times to put david to death in in different ways so we see um and and we see how how also david saw this and you know behaved wisely by not retaliating or feeling the need to to to to throw revenge you know even though he may have sounded justified we see that how careful he was in in not allowing jealousy to take root okay so it is important for even for us to first of all admit that there is jealousy in our hearts when we try to conceal jealousy we are living in denial and that brings us to a place of not coming in terms with it and also being in a place of repentance so if we live in a place of denial and do not agree that we are jealous about somebody about something maybe people in our own homes itself it really closes the door for god to intervene in our lives and help us through that so the first and foremost thing before we deal with jealousy is to know that we we cannot conceal it we cannot be in a place of denying it but we need to be open and recognize that it's there so in the next half now we'll just look at some manifestations of jealousy what what happens in jealousy we see that um jealousy can lead to murder okay we we spoke about that example and we see how you know kane has had murdered abel because of jealousy and we may be quick to say that you know okay that was in kane and abel's time but you know looking at ourselves you know we know better or we are wiser to think that our our jealousy will never treat us to get us to murder somebody okay but if we read in matthew 5 21 and 22 let's look at those verses and and then we will have you know a better perspective of what it also also has to say so matthew 5 21 to 22 it says you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment but what does the new testament law say it says that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whoever says to his brother raka shall be in danger of the council but whoever says you fool shall be in the danger of hell fire and again in one john 3 15 it says whoever hates his brother is a murderer okay so jesus just said even if you are angry it is angry at someone you are the same as being a murderer when you hate someone you are being a murderer so it it talks about how your your jealousy builds it up in such a way that you're ready to murder and that that intense anger in itself is something that is is sin as scripture has shown so one of the manifestations of jealousy we see is murder the the next one we see is anger outbursts okay being um being in a place of of seething anger now often and the context that we generally look at you know when we look at jealousy is and and one of the verses here is in proverb 6 34 it says for jealousy is a husband's fury therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance now although this is the context of a wife or a spouse having committed adultery and the the husband is very furious jealousy is what what has provoked the husband to rot you know spare in the day of vengeance so there may be circumstances where jealousy provokes other emotions and usually an outburst of anger so it is an outburst of anger can be the root of jealousy so we need to examine ourselves concerning the anger we may have towards somebody else and the root of these outbursts is probably jealousy in itself and this is generally it this jealousy can be fueled by anything you know it can be a fueled because of the feeling of inferiority or a or a feeling of not being good enough so so we do see that that's something that needs to be addressed that even you know even in situations especially maybe in our situations at home okay to really know how is it what is it that we are seething inside because it really it really manifests itself in its behavior when we are with our spouses and with our children or with our brothers or siblings how our jealousy may may manifest so the second one we we looked at is a outburst of wrath or outburst of anger the third is seeking revenge when there is jealousy we we look for a place to seek revenge and read the Romans 12 19 to 21 it says beloved do not avenge yourselves but rather give place to wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord therefore if your enemy hungers feed him if he thirsts give him a drink for in so doing you will heap colds of fire on his head do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good okay so scripture shows us that we do not give back evil for evil but to pursue that which is good or good for for all so we may and there may be different ways in which we resort to to this revenge it may not be very active but it can be quite passive in itself you know it it may not be overtly revengeful but it can be something that is very quietly done even when you know even in in our speech it can come the way that we we respond to someone maybe in sarcastic terms when we when we say something or in our refusal to do something for the other so the kind of behavior that we manifest can be quite subtle but which which which shows a very a retaliation that is very quiet and may seem very that that doesn't seem harmful but it it is it is caused to to administer that sense of anger or revenge okay so the root cause of revengeful behavior is one again that we see is jealousy the other manifestation that we see is resentment okay so if anger if we see that anger is bad we know that jealousy can be just as bad because when being unkind or resentful towards others can definitely be due to jealousy also and we see a verse in Proverbs 27 forth says Roth is cruel and anger a torrent but who is able to stand before jealousy so in this verse it says you know Roth and anger are bad enough but jealousy can be really really bad so it is really cruel jealousy is cruel so maybe even our wrong and unkind behavior or words to others can be due to jealousy like I said sarcastic remarks so we're not just trying to change the behavior is just not trying to bandage it to bring up good words or pleasant words but to deal with the root cause that is in our heart so the root cause of unkindness also can be jealousy the other one that we see is division where there are many divisions that are caused because one person had jealousy in the heart and you know and this is what we see often in in families where again the example that is best seen in the bible in scripture is with Joseph how there was a division or there was a complete pushing off of Joseph from the rest of them you see that the 11 of them ganged up together against I mean the 10 of them ganged up together as against Joseph okay and we see that very predominantly happening here where you know especially when when there is probably some form of partiality or favoritism shown among the children the kind of division that takes place you know people even in counseling I've had so many people come with the with anger towards their siblings or a difficult relationship with their siblings because of the kind of favoritism that the parents showed and because of the root of root of envy or jealousy that had been had been in their hearts and the kind of division that had caused the difficulty in their relationships so we see that jealousy can also be can manifest itself out in in strife that ends up in division where there is no togetherness in a family or or in a in a group the next manifestation we see is competitiveness this we so when we look at competition we know that there is there is a place for healthy competition and when it is done well or it is in the right place it is healthy because we and you will see this competition in different places like maybe in the exam hall or in the sports field it is important that you know everyone does their best and and think about success but not the kind of competition that that creates havoc and not the kind that we will want to see in the in in God's kingdom okay often we begin to we see believers also beginning to compete with each other even with regard to their spiritual lives okay what you see on the outside world of how people compete with one another for a bigger house or a bigger car or a bigger name or children being in in good colleges okay bringing that up into into the kingdom of god or into the church itself is is again you know a very sad and dangerous thing okay maybe one you will see when the church they want somebody wanting to do bigger than the other so this extreme levels of competitiveness even in the spiritual world in the spiritual growth in spiritual maturity or growth can drive to pursue some wrong goals also okay and this is not pleasing in God's eyes because we see that there again these are motivated by jealousy the next we see is strife and contentions where hatred or jealousy or envy just builds up trouble or builds up strife builds up difficulty in relationships or there can be insecurity that comes up or isolation that comes up so jealousy creates that insecurity and tends to tends for people who who is harboring that root of jealousy to keep to themselves okay to to just keep themselves away from from from others because of their insecurity and we see that you know sometimes we've also seen that of how there can be ministers of God who let their congregation know to keep themselves away from other ministers or ministries or even from other believers because of the insecurity that is stemming from within them and we see that as people of God everyone should be given the liberty to receive from others also from other fellowships from other church from other ministries you know and from other places who really speak the word of God and help in your spiritual growth so that's the freedom that you give them and not bring them to a place of because of that insecurity wanting them to operate only in their ministry the next thing we see in jealousy another manifestation we see is overprotection so sometimes what can come as a genuine concern is like you know being overprotective is could probably because of jealousy like this this is often seen in you know in homes where maybe one of the spouses is probably jealous of the others skill and build up that they they kind of in the context of being overprotective they would want them to just stay at home and maybe not work or you know not do anything that that that that may be better off than the husband or the other spouse so this could this overprotectiveness again is something that really can come from the from from within jealousy and this also comes because of that insecurity so insecurities also is something that can be manifested as a result of that that jealousy okay or or certain certain certain things that often get thrown out of proportion because of of the root cause being jealousy so we understand and know that jealousy if allowed to breathe in our hearts can have very severe consequences our jealousy can be very destructive that it can bring not hurt just to ourselves but it can bring hurt to our relationships it can be hurtful to another person's life another person's work jealousy can definitely affect our own health it can it can keep us away from doing what God wants us to do our focus and our vision becomes so blurred that we get distracted from following what God wants us to do as against following what we want to do to make our our work much better than the other so it can blind us from what God's true vision is for our lives jealousy can blind us again from seeing what God wants us to see okay sometimes because of our jealousy we we don't recognize what God is attempting to show us jealousy can also cause a lot of trouble it can open the door to even demonic work it opens the door to confusion and every demonic work and these are things that we need to get rid of so it is a serious issue it's something that affects us it affects our ministries it affects our maturity in Christ it affects our vision in knowing what is what is right to do and it also opens the door for every kind of activity every kind of demonic activity so what do we do to get rid of our jealousy is first and foremost is to repent is to first is to recognize it to repent of it and to as scripture says in 1st Corinthians 13 14 is to walk in love because we see that as believers we can only walk in the love of God because the love of God is that which is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and it's only God's love that can take away these jealous feelings so coming to a place and walking in God's love will keep that jealousy out of our hearts it is to rejoice in the blessings of others when when others are going through something good to be able to rejoice with them you know it says rejoice with those who rejoice more with those who mourn so to be able to rejoice and and give thanks to God for whatever you are seeing that is beneficial to to others and the other one to know is to be able to see whatever from the way God sees it is to know that you know when God does improve somebody else's or when there is let's say success or prosperity or growth happening in somebody else's life to see things from God's perspective that you know God works through each one of us in a very different manner and he wants us to be vessels that are willing to have him work through us so coming again then coming to a place of repentance renouncing the jealousy and coming to asking God to fill our hearts and our minds with his word that will completely work and help and work us through okay so we also we looked at these two points of this of self and jealousy and we have around I think we're around 10 minutes and I just stop here for questions and take up the other two and finish that entire lesson on crucifying the flesh next week so just stopping here for either some testimonies some observations some thoughts or even some questions okay so someone's asked a question how do we deal with a short tempered person sometimes it's so hard to discuss or speak with them even small things because they don't try to understand things and they always overtake your words and make you think that you are wrong okay all right so when somebody is short tempered when somebody is angry a good thing to do at that point these are this is a more a practical advice okay then from a scripture or verse is to you know it says in your anger do not sin now and how would I take that is when someone is responding to me in a bad temper there is a tendency for me to be aroused in anger just as much okay and there's a clear instruction of in your anger do not sin so when there's someone who has a bad temper it's it's wisdom to step back and step back and just let the person calm down cool down before the matter can be addressed once again okay talking to someone who is angry is like talking to a drunk man okay especially someone who cannot control his does not have judgment to control his words yeah so the best thing to do is not to completely go ahead and provoke the anger much more than what it is but to step back it protects you and it protects the other person so to be able to step back and give it a couple of minutes of calming yourself down before the matter can be addressed and this is something we commonly see among husbands and whites right when they are having an argument one goes one says 10 percent the other takes it to 15 then it goes back to 20 then it goes to 40 then it goes to 80 till you reach 100 and that is havoc happening wisdom is be in your anger do not sin step back step back and say maybe say you know I don't think we can have much of a conversation when we are upset and angry let's let's reconnect at a later time to talk about it so that is a wise way of doing it that whenever you are even even we are not just in anger but let's say in an emotion where there is intense sadness okay you you step back because in your intense moments of anger or sadness is when you take impulsive decisions you may take decisions that are not well thought of okay and comes because of your anger and we see I think the common example that we see is that when couples fight words that are not meant to edify come out you know that it can be words of doom it can be words of separation can be words like divorce that come out that that are not meant to be um that that come out very impulsively but cannot be taken back so the wisest thing to do is step back wait for them to come for you to come before you can address the situation again I hope I answered your question Abinas okay anybody else has any other questions or thoughts okay as another question how is jealousy in churches dealt with when slandering happens are senior pastors from some churches called upon to mediate and help to resolve some of the religions have a senior council who will help in these matters okay so when let's say this jealousy noted that's why it's always better to have a team like a like like you rightly said a certain council a senior council who will help in these matters and it's it's not just a member of a two three team but a larger member who are able to sit together and address these these these issues I'm not sure about senior pastors from other churches being called upon to mediate well I guess that may happen when let's say the senior pastors are involved in this in the slandering and the jealousy that happens you know someone with with a higher sense of authority is probably bought by but in like for example in as part of our church at apc where there is a team where one where everyone seems accountable to another not just there's not um you know everyone all all the pastors in in the team are accountable to one another and have the capacity the ability to bring up certain certain points of notice and bringing it up for a dresser so that's why it's you know it's always better to have a team together in a church working together so that there is always an accountability and also a one-on-one learning and help through pastorship or through through them holding on the positions of leadership I think your question was basically meant how is lead jealousy in leadership in church leadership dealt with yeah I think that's what no actually I was mentioning more in say for example in the city for example like in the Bangalore for example and there are some churches that you know are you know have come you know into oh you know where there is um you know it's close to the press and you know there is there's level of this slandering and you know and I think there are you know some religions the religions who have like you know a senior council yeah senior council who can you know sort of mediate in these matters and then maybe because of the different denominations I don't know whether they have that you know Christian Christian yeah I'm sorry Christopher I don't know if I I don't think I know the answer to that and maybe we'll I'll bring this up we could probably bring this up at the I mean I can check on this and get back I'm not too sure about if there is anything like this okay you're saying church inter-church jealousy okay all right okay so I've taken that question and probably addressed that yeah uh any other question if not we can just close with the word of prayer okay may I call upon any one of the students to to close in prayer anybody who can anybody faster can I pray yes go ahead this is father we thank you and praise you for this wonderful day which had given to us for God we give you all the glory honor and praises Father God every word which we have heard from your servant of God I pray that father those things are Father God which we have to deal personally and we pray that give us the grace to identify our our weaknesses identify our our our those areas where Lord Master enemy is holding of Father God which is not allowing us to move further or which is not allowing us to grow spiritually grow grow the way how you want us to grow or which is not allowing us to become fruitful of Father today I'm asking you Father teach one of us for each one of us give us that grace of Father let these words what we learn today Father let we deeply Lord Master take it in our heart in our spirit of Father and let we practically work on these things let we repent on every every areas of Father where where the enemy has enemy has targeted our life for Father God we ask you Holy Spirit your grace more and more flow in us so that we can be more fruitful let these things let these let these small small Lord Master the small foxes that did not corrupt our work with your father so that we can able to finish our race which is given unto us we humble ourselves before you and we thank you for your servant of God Master for Strengthening her to give you all the glory honor and praises in Jesus name betray amen and amen thank you pastor amen amen thank you Srikumar thank you everybody God bless thank you all we'll meet next week God bless have a blessed week ahead thank you pastor God bless you thank you