Committed to Our Covenant Connection Pt 2 | Mishandling Someone Else’s Success | Bishop Rosie O’neal

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liy daddy and everybody

I want to talk tonight. We're in

covenant with each other.

Huh?

No, we're in covenant. Jesus is our

representative

and he and the father cut covenant and

we are beneficiaries of what was done.

Which means if Jesus is our

representative, then we're connected.

It's one family. Amen. Uhoh.

That was slow sounding, right? It's one

family. Amen.

Yeah. And as we said today on Sunday,

you have different kinds of

relationships.

I said, but it's like being on a plane.

Yes, sir. If you're on a plane and

there's trouble, you don't jump out the

plane. Somebody feet smell like corn

chips. You just put your mask on, but

you ain't jumping out the plane over

there. And if it gets turbulent, they'll

come on and tell you, "Sit down." We're

not going to serve soda right now.

There's some turbulence and they may

say, "Make sure you fasten your seat

belt." So, in a relationship that's

turbulent, I fasten my seat belt. I

don't jump out the plane. Amen. But if

the plane is on fire,

y'all not talking.

When it becomes toxic,

then I'm grabbing the parachute. As I

said in noonday, as I text in as they

were chopping it up, get your parachute

and get your hind parts out that plane.

But we are a family of believers in

Jesus Christ. Amen. Ain't no star but

him.

He said, "And I if I be lifted up that

he would draw all men to himself." And

so as we lift him up, I love that he

raises us up together. Tonight I want to

talk about one of the

hindrances to our remaining connected

long term because you know some folk

that you can connect for a week.

Amen. If all your friends are brand new,

I'm scared of you.

No. Come on, y'all. Come on. You need

some long-term things in your life.

Amen. Okay. And one of the hindrances to

you and I staying connected long term

with people is when we mismanage

somebody else's success.

Okay. Genesis chapter 4.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

We're going to listen to verses

3-2 because I think God has some it's

going it's going to talk to all of us.

Amen. So, let's listen in. And in

process of time, it came to pass that

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground

an offering unto the Lord. Seemed like

he'd be doing good. He brought an

offering. Come on. And Abel, he also

brought of the first of his flocks,

right? And of the fat thereof. And the

Lord had respect unto Abel and to his

offering. But unto Cain, and to his

offering he had no respect. And Cain was

very wroth. Got mad and his countenance

fell to his face up. And the Lord said

unto Cain, "Why art thou wroth?" What's

wrong with you? And why is thy

countenance fallen? If thou dost well,

shalt thou not be accepted? Come on. And

if thou dost not well, sin lith at the

door. Lies at the door. Come on. and

unto thee shall be his desire. Okay? And

thou shalt rule over him. Now, let me do

this while she's just read that in King

James. Any other version, King James on

this particular text did not do a good

job. NIV, NLT, me, any other amplified

uh New American, New Revised Standard

Version, New American. I need you to

hear how it really is rendered because

we may misunderstand what it's saying.

says, "If you do right, of course, you

will be accepted. But if you refuse to

do what is right, then you need to watch

out. Sin is crouching at the door, eager

to control." You watch this. See,

because I don't want you to get mixed up

into thinking this is now the and ruling

and all that has to do with Cain and

Abel. Listen, it says, "But you must

subdue sin and be its master

because sin desires to control us." But

you and I have to rule over sin.

I just need you to make sure that you

understood that part because in one of

the rare places King James does not give

the real heart of that. Okay? So come

on, keep reading in verse eight. And

Cain taught with Abel his brother. Oh my

goodness. And it came to pass when they

were in the field that Cain rose up

against Abel his brother and slew him.

Supposed to be to connect it. Come on.

And the Lord said unto Cain, "Where is

Abel thy brother?" Come on. And he said,

"I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?"

Look at that. And he said, "What hast

thou done?" What have you done? The

voice of thy brother's blood is the

voice of your brother's what? Blood.

Come on. Crith unto me from the ground.

Yep. And now art thou cursed from the

earth, which hath opened her mouth to

receive thy brother's blood from thy

hand. Watch this. When thou tillest the

ground, it shall not henceforth yield.

now on you're not going to get the kind

of yielding you should

when you work. It will not henceforth

yield unto thee the strength you should

get. All

right, y'all want to go back to

singing? Let's

talk. It is natural to live and to look

at your life and then look at other

people's lives too. Let's go on and

admit that that we have a tendency to

kind, you know, we try not to be in

other folks business.

Amen. But it don't always flow that

easily, does it? Because, you know,

let's say if you believe in God to get

married, all you need is for one more

person to send you an invitation. That

thing almost cares you over the edge,

doesn't it? Okay, y'all. You You being

fake tonight. You got right out the

presence of God and ain't going to tell

the truth.

Or if you if you have been if you are

working on something and it does not

seem like it's yielding anything to you

and then you talk to somebody else and

act like everything just handed to them.

Okay. And and what we find is comparison

to a degree is natural.

Okay. Just going through your lesson

rows. Don't try to worry about it. But

there are good and bad ways to compare.

There are good and bad ways to compare

y'all. When comparison is done in the

wrong way,

okay? When it is done in the wrong way,

it is going to cause problems and the

kind of emotions that you will

experience if you mismanage them, they

will turn your heart dark and you will

disconnect from the body God put you in.

And I'm not talking about church. I'm

talking about Jesus himself.

We are looking at one of the very first

stories to really open our eyes about

our nature. You know the story. Cain and

Abel come and they both bring a

sacrifice.

Now, here's the thing. God answers

visibly for one of them.

That's hard right by itself. So Abel

brings his sacrifice, Cain brings his.

Now make note of this, Re Marshall.

Notice that when you read it, it said

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground.

Abel did the same thing. He brought of

the fruit. He brought of the firstling

of his flock. They both brought out of

what they had.

But God answered one or respected one of

them with some kind of visible sign.

What kind of what? Visible. I know it

was visible cuz how would we know? He

accepted one and didn't accept the

other.

Well, if you look in scripture, normally

the way God showed that he was

respecting an offering or accepting it

is he answered by fire.

So imagine you lay your sacrifice up

there and she lays hers up there and the

power of God comes down and consumes

hers. yours just sitting there.

Everybody like

and what's worse, you go.

That's exactly what happened. Now, I

want you to watch what Cain

does. When Cain noticed that God

answered Abel's sacrif had respect to

his stuff, blessed

him. Cain said, "See, that's why I don't

like stuff now."

and Cain got mad and he tore his face

up.

Now, there are two kinds, at least two

kinds of comparison that I want to deal

with with you tonight. You ready to take

notes? Yeah. Okay. There is the kind

that brings is like self- torture. Write

it

down. Thank you, baby. Cuz y'all I'm

tell this is I never expected this, but

I'm all right. Self torture.

You look You look on fa You look on

Facebook and they talking about save the

date and you so mad you

can't. Right. Those ain't holy tongues,

right? Or or or you you happen to I was

listening to um a book and we're talking

about how this one lady had gotten into

design. She was a designer and had been

in it for some years and she was kind of

just doing her thing or whatever. And

all of a sudden that she had a neighbor

that she kind of didn't get along with

that.

Well, I know y'all saved. Y'all get

along with everybody. You just hug and

kiss everybody. But you know, sometimes

you meet people and there's something

about them. They like all the attention

and they just wear you out to be around

them.

And so it wasn't even her favorite

person. So she's a designer. She's been

in the business for years. And then this

other lady who she don't really is not

her favorite. That's what we'll call it.

T is not her favorite. She starts a

divine a design

company. And she gets on Facebook. She's

posting every day. She's doing little

videos. She's doing little snippets.

She's taking pictures of her house. And

what made it worse, all the neighborhood

start posting comments on the other

lady's page.

So the woman who been the designer,

she's she's

spiraling cuz she's looking up there.

Those are pictures of her house. She

didn't even design her own house. And

everybody thinks she's so talented. And

she is hot.

She's so mad. She doesn't know what to

do because she's comparing. And then she

did. She went that next step. And I know

you you don't want to nod, but I'm f to

come for you.

Then she started reading the individual

comments.

Then she started going to their page.

She done become a straight up stalker.

And you see they all of a sudden they in

a

relationship and you said cuz have you

noticed he liked the last seven things

that they put

up. So now you going to everybody's

I know he didn't

put torture.

That's torture. And that's what happened

to Cain when Cain

recognized that Abel had gotten

something that he did not get jealousy.

Envy.

He got so

mad that he start tearing his face up.

And what we have to

recognize is that if you're not careful,

that kind of comparison where you look

at that. See that now? See, that's what

I'm talking. See, I don't even

understand that they they don't hardly

live nothing. No way.

Okay. Okay.

See, some of us get into self torture. I

want you to hear this. Some of us get

into torture. self torture when we see

other people begin to prosper because we

have the faulty belief that someone

else's success can shortcircuit yours.

I want to say something to you and I

want you to hear it and I hope it kind

of stings in your behind a little

bit. There's enough love, money,

happiness, and everything else for

everybody to have some

So somebody else watch this being a

success does not have to mean if just

because uh if that yo pastor well pastor

Trev already said uh like we weren't

made to do life alone so ain't no sense

of me that honey they got it on t-shirts

ain't no sense of me coming up with a

slogan

some of us somebody write a book on

something you were thinking

about ain't no sense of doing it now

like there ain't but one book on it.

See, a lot of times we start finding

ourselves torturing in this self torture

because we do not believe truly in the

sovereignty of God. Oh, y'all don't want

to talk to me tonight. We don't. Let me

tell you something. We sing it, but we

don't believe it. I tell that's why I

don't hardly even like to hear stuff.

And I, you know, I had to catch myself.

That's why I went on and got on my knees

because sometime I start critiquing

things theologically that don't probably

don't need all that. They said there's a

sound that comes down from heaven that

changes everything. And there is. But my

mind was saying, "But seem like we're

talking about praise. So really that

song should be sound should be going

up." I said, "I'm doing too much

thinking. Get on your knees. Just get up

here and start praising. See, figure

that out." Right? But if we we sing

stuff like say stuff what God has for

me.

Y'all act like you don't know the answer

to finish it. It is for me. But then, so

if that's the case, then why is it when

somebody gets ahead or seems to do well

in an arena that we wanted to do well

in, do we act like now we don't have any

options?

I was going to go back and and and get

my masters in this and that they you

know what I

That's torturous.

That's torturous. And what what it is is

a byproduct of not really trusting the

sovereignty of God and by utilizing the

wrong kind of comparison.

Because when people are successy, if you

let someone else's success put you in

competition mode,

then you assume their victory is

blocking you.

But their victory is not blocking you.

It's showing you what to do.

I just found out Pastor Trev said, was

it yesterday or the day before? I I

don't do well with days about the

lawnmower.

It was yesterday. He told me that he

went to do a funeral of one of our

members and somebody was there that said

when they got out of prison I bought

them a lawnmower mean pro I could have

probably did memory is not my strong

suit so I don't have no recollection of

it but praise God now he got a

landscaping business he said cuz I told

and I do believe that when a lot of

times you get out of prison you have to

start a business cuz you may not have a

quick hiring situation.

Isn't that now? Wouldn't it have been

silly for him to say, "What am I

supposed to do with a lawnmower?"

You know how many lawnm how many

landscaping? I'm not saying there's no

wisdom into understanding the saturation

of a market. But y'all, this a big

world. It's 8 billion people out here.

Everybody grass ain't cut. Y'all not

talking to me. You're not talking to me.

See, if I really believe in the

sovereignty of God, then your success

does not diminish mine. And see, if I

trust that God has a plan for my life

and that there are desires that I have,

then I can go after that. And watch

this. If I get out of competition mode,

instead of going, see, that's honey.

Well, I guess you probably can get your

stuff, you know, get fire to fall for

you cuz uh da da da. If I stop that mess

and stop comparing myself to the other

person, that's the wrong kind of

comparison.

What's the wrong kind? Comparing myself

to the other person. What's the wrong

kind?

What's wait, Bishop? If comparing myself

to the other person is the wrong kind,

what should I do? I should compare my

strategies to theirs.

Y'all not here, are you? I'm going just

keep going. Second Corinthians. Pastor,

if you act, okay, you seem like you

enjoy. I'mma do it for you

cuz second Corinthians. Yeah. You go to

school. You think you you think your

outfit some you Oh, I'mma get ready. Oh,

girl, where you walk before you can even

get in? Good. There go the shoes and the

sweater.

If you're if that is able to take all

the joy and and happy juice out of you,

you got some rough days ahead.

See, I'm going to show you Cain's

mistakes in here. But look at 2

Corinthians. Did I give it to you?

Chapter 10, verse 12. For we dare not

make ourselves of the number or compare

ourselves with some that commend

themselves. We don't want to compare

ourselves. We don't want to try to be

trying to be like folk who always talk

about themselves so proud. Come on. But

they measuring themselves by themselves.

They're measuring them.

Thank y'all. Them what? Self. They're

measuring the self person by the other

people comparing

themselves among the other people to

them. That's not wise.

Amen. Amen. If the only way you can have

joy is if you're the smartest or if you

have the most, you're not going to have

it long. Cuz as pretty as you are,

somebody

now I'm holding it down up here. But

there's somebody that looks like me

without the moles I got.

Or there's somebody that has eyes. Or

there's somebody they built a certain

way, rounded here or straight there,

whatever.

You don't compare yourself with others.

That's self torture.

What is it? Self torture. Turn and tell

your neighbor, I'm too smart to do that.

Yeah. I'm I'm getting out of competition

mode because they're not blocking your

way. They're showing you the way. If I

compare the

strategy, come on, let's just look at

it. Then there's a self-eing way.

There's a comparison that is a self-eing

way where you say, "Okay, this is what

this is what Cain should have done.

Wow. Fire came down for yours. Fire

didn't come for mine. Hey Doc, what you

do now? What? How? How you put yours up

there?

See, we make enemies of the people who

could help us.

Instead of looking at

him, I was giving it up. I guess I could

get married,

too. I just wonder if y'all heard that.

Y'all

listening? Instead of starting that

looking at a c cross side and doing all

that stuff or testifying, slapping at

people. You ever seen folk testify and

try to slap at people at the same time?

I give an honor to God for I thank God

for being

holy. I don't do it and everything. But

who is this for? Who is this for?

What are we doing?

You would do better. Say, "Girl,

whenever you get out of church, let's go

get some coffee. Tell me how y'all did."

And you just make mental notes. Okay.

Yes, indeed. Okay. So, she never wore

that bonnet around him. Okay. Okay. I

got you. What uh what tation told me?

They say, "Check." Okay. So, yeah. See,

there's self-eing comparison where I

look at strategies.

Okay. where I step back and say, so the

thing for that lady to have done is to

step back and say, okay, what has she

done differently from me

instead of sitting around and acting

like the world has done you wrong? And

one of the things I've always tried to

share with the boys, which are grown men

now, and I remember we would have the

conversation be like, Kardashian, they

don't do nothing. What have they ever

done? Right. Okay, got you. I mean, I'm

not aware prior. I mean, I don't know

him personally,

but you know, you can't just all I got

is little looks and, you know, round it

out. Okay, there's a whole bunch of

rounded out poor folk.

Y'all ain't talking. There's some pretty

folk that can't rub two nickels

together.

It is It

is It's immature to look up at people

who have any degree of sustained success

in an area. and think it came easy

because by doing that you are robbing

yourself the opportunity to learn some

stuff you learn what to do and some

stuff you learn what not to do and some

stuff you say now that may be okay for

you I got a covenant with God I can't do

that but I can still look to learn your

strategies

that's okay you'll appreciate it later

so Here's the thing. We got to really

deal with this concept of what happens

when

somebody seems to get the attention and

the respect of God on their

sacrifice and you don't seem to.

Let me tell you how deep this thing can

run. You want how far can we go with it

for real? Because now it's going to be

real personal. It's going to be real

sensitive.

What do you

do when

you make all the same confessions and

quote all the same scriptures and your

loved one dies?

And they over here talking about, "I

know he's a healer. He healed me."

See how serious that thing got just that

fast, wasn't

it? And this is one of the things we got

to come to terms with. And I remember

even down on my knees today while it

while we were singing. I said, "God,

there's some situations that I think

about, some things that are going on."

And I said, "God, you know, I lovingly

bow down. I I don't always understand."

And I bring my worship and my submission

to your sovereignty and to your

judgments. Yeah. I don't just bow before

your love

because I don't understand how come

this one's fire fell and got that one

and raised it up

and this one didn't.

I know your nature is the same. But you

know the other thing that does help

me with the I'm telling you having them

boys has taught me a mess of

stuff because you love your

children to the same degree but you

can't treat them the same.

See, we say God honey, God ain't no

respector of And he's not

and I'm not either, but I can't treat

them the same because they're different.

Oh, Lord. I don't have no parents in

here, do Oh, you you know what I'm

talking about. Some of y'all got

brothers and sisters. You could tell

your mama can't hand them $100 and say,

"Go get the

grocery." You

know, they come back, "Hi, Zak. I got

you some uh some rollups. What you call

them things you put in the oven? The

little pizza pop things.

Who? Hot pot. There you

go. Well, you know them thing,

right? Buy can't be the one to get the

$100. Now, that doesn't mean that they

don't love that he or she, the parent

does not love them the same, but she

cannot treat them the same because they

have different Y'all ain't talking. See

this again too. I told you it's going to

get personal

because they have different

proclivities. When you were talking the

other week, there were someone pastor

Chris was preaching. Whenever God is

looking at us and dealing with us, Holy

Spirit takes into account our past, our

present, our future and our

proclivities.

Proclivity is a tendency. Yeah. So, I

have to be a little more careful in the

way I may

put I don't have to be careful on the

way I lay out. If I if I get some good

cabbage cooked, some some

collards, I can leave them in the

refrigerator all week at John's house.

And I can know when I get home every

day, they're going to be right there.

But if I leave them at TJ's

house, day one, I'm coming home, half

them gone, then he going to say, "Oh,

these weren't for me."

So, I may have to do things a little

differently because I know that y'all

ain't having church with me. Their

tendency if I if I have to make a

decision on who to give money to, like I

was looking at things for myself on like

when I when I go to heaven, who would be

in charge? because I wouldn't want

Taurus's mind, you know, taken with

that. Who would be the best? Well, you

know, Zenobi is my sister. I can't Z

would the

pressure of all these people looking at

her that ain't I might as well shoot her

myself. But I can say, darling, darling,

like, hey, this is what's on the paper,

so this is what we're going to go with.

And if something happened, darling, then

Lady Tracy and Terra

Tracy, I'm sorry, but this is really

what you know, Bishop. I mean, I mean,

is everybody already know you ain't

going to strong arm, huh? And she going

to be so sweet. Oh gosh, I really

understand

that. I got a little terror-ish on the

end. Are you understanding? So when God

is dealing with us, a lot of times we

look up at God and you got to be careful

that you don't look up at God like God

is not fair to you because you don't

understand how your life fits into the

bigger scheme of eternity. Y'all ain't

talking to me.

So there have been times like I remember

and I tell this story about my

grandfather, but I remember when I tell

you I was in complete faith. When I say

I had no doubt, I'm telling y'all God is

my witness. I had no doubt that God get

ready to heal and raise him up after he

died.

None. And I went in there. I had already

imagined the headlines. Granddaughter

minister raised his grandfather pastor

from the day. I'd already seen it and I

wasn't necessarily trying to be

impressed. I just said imagine it. I was

like, "Thank you, Jesus, for going in

here. You read in the Bible. You say we

lay here. I'm I'm I'm I'm here for it.

I was

hot,

furious. But when I look

back, if he I call it like the domino,

if his domino piece had not

fallen, it never would have tipped me

into my purpose.

Watch this. If I hadn't tipped over into

my purpose, y'all would probably be

watching the news right about

now. Wouldn't be no corn be another

church. And so when I went back to fuss

at

God, how come? Cuz then I had to help.

Of course, you always know one friend

that had somebody to pray for somebody

that had already coded been dead five

minutes. They rose up, lived another

three years. So, of course, you gonna

bump into them and hear their story.

And I'm mad at God. And I'm say, God

says to me, "What what are we doing

here? You're fussing because I paid him

early and positioned you in time."

See, I don't even have the mentality to

judge an action of God because I'm only

seeing from right here. It's not until

you get elevated. Oh, good God. Preach

O'Neal. It's not until God raised you up

to see differently that you can know

what was good for you in that situation.

But be a be able in your be be can in

your mind. Fire fell for them and it

didn't fall for me. Here's the thing

that really troubled me. Now, the Bible

says they both brought of their stuff.

Is that right? All right. Now, one

minute. Let me go back to make sure

you're getting this. There is a kind of

comparison that is bad and it breeds

what? Self torture. That's right. And

there is a kind of comparison that is

good and it is what? Self teaching.

Uh-huh. The one compares my life, the

person who's better. That kind of

foolishness. The other compares

strategies.

I can never learn from a person that

I've now set up as my enemy.

Amen.

So if in my comparison I make you an

enemy, I've lost your ability to help

me.

Okay. Well, let's just keep going. Rose,

the Bible said they both brought of what

they had. Is that right? Abel brought of

the first ones of his flock. Cain

brought of the fruit. Now, there's a

little bit more to it, though, because

Hebrews chapter 11. Turn to your Bible.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Who has your Bible? I forgot to even do

the confession. Hurry, get your Bible.

Get your Bible. Hebrews 11:4

Hebrews 11:4

says that Abel, it was by faith that he

offered a more excellent sacrif. Y'all

see it. Read it for me. By faith, Abel,

check your neighbor. Check your

neighbor. Somebody didn't even try to

turn. Check them. This Bible study, we

you can take time to look for it. All

right. Okay. By faith, Abel offered unto

God a more excellent sacrifice than

Cain. How How did Abel offer his? By

faith. Now faith comes by. So apparently

God

Oh, here it come. Here it come. We

didn't even receive offering, did we?

Oh, Lord, that pastor offer going to be

low like 9 cent. Watch

this. See, apparently there's more to

it because he offered it by faith,

Reverend Rashard. So now here's the

thing that seems to imply that it was

made clear what God wanted. And one of

the reasons we get angry when we see

someone else's success is because their

success highlights what we didn't do

that we knew we should have been doing.

We knew we sitting

around. We sitting around fussing,

child. I see. That's why I don't like

people now cuz see everybody everybody

ain't the same. So So let me tell you

something. Success is still going to be

about the same basic stuff. Amen. You

going to have to do the hard work. You

going to have to do it consistently. And

that's pretty much all there is to it.

And you can sit around and get mad. Most

of the time we're just angry because we

and we'll say, "I knew I should have so

and so because I had this is what we do.

I had meant to um um I because what I

was going I what happened was I was

supposed to be getting I remember I oh

my god I was supposed to talk to

remember I had called them but they

ain't never called me back.

So you're going to make your casual lax

attitude about what you needed to do

somebody else's fault.

Let me tell you something. No,

when you see somebody successful, look

at their strategy.

What did they do?

And then you don't imitate the person,

you imitate, you look at the strategy.

How does this appeal to me? How could I

work this into my life?

I was talking the other day. We were

lifting some weight doing some stuff. I

was like, "Oh my god, age is taking

muscle tone so quickly." I just don't

appreciate it's getting on my nerves.

And I then I had and and it's almost

like your phone. I believe them phones

be listening in on her. Let me tell you

something. Oh, you better live holy cuz

I'm telling you, somebody got a video.

Somebody got a video of this mess. So

then the phone sends me this thing. This

woman is 72. She looks like she's 35 and

she and just a soft. So she took a photo

shoot for her 72nd birthday. Boy, that

thing wore me out. And I was sitting I

said, "Tyl, look at this." And she said,

"Well, it's just a matter of doing the

work.

But at the end of the day, it is.

There's some things you cannot control.

But can I tell you most things?

You can.

I don't hear my teens. Y'all ain't

talking. What y'all talking about? I'm

getting ready to have you come up here

and re repeat what I said. You better

have it. All right. So, by faith, Abel

offered. How'd he do it? By faith. All

right. Now,

so that seems to imply that God had made

clear what he wanted. But Cain didn't

feel like going through the trouble. He

could have taken his fruit, traded it in

for a sacrifice, killed it, and had God

receive it. But he ain't feel like doing

all that. Is there anybody could at

least be honest enough to say how many

times you have looked back over and

said, "I just didn't feel like doing all

that, and that's why I am where I am.

Now, can I tell you why I love it when

we can admit that? Because as long as

you blame others, you have no power.

Don't ever blame. Push somebody and say,

"Stop blaming folk." Push them. You're

giving away your power when you blame.

Because if you're the reason that I

can't get it, then I can't do nothing

till you let me.

No, I'm not blaming anybody. I am where

I am at the choices I made. And that's

good news for me. It's bad that I did

it, but it's good news because if my

choices got me where I am, I can make

different choices.

Preach.

Now, write this. Wrong comparisons

lead to

wicked conversations and wasted

conversations. Wrong

comparison lead to wicked

conversations and wasted conversations.

And to be honest in this one, the wasted

ones are even more

devastating because when you compare

yourself and you child, then it leads to

that kind of stuff where you you sit

around like Abselon did. You sit around

and try to sneak in and throw out little

negatives about people. Y'all ain't

talking to me. Just I'm going just

preach it out. Just do what you what you

will. That's where jealous talk comes

out.

She get on my nerves. She thinks she's

so much. You think she's so much that

why you talking about

it? Just I mean, look at her hair. Well,

go and get you some.

Come on, y'all. Amen. Wicked. Envy,

talking

ugly, throwing off on

people. That should not be the talk of

Christians.

Remember, we are one body. Amen. Death

and life are in the power of the tongue.

A fro man soul strife. So it already

shows something is wrong with me when

I'm trying to start a mess.

Man, I got to be careful. You can't let

this get in your heart. If you start

getting into that wrong comparison,

you're going to get into self- torture.

It's going to eat you up. You're going

to be stalking folk. You're going to be

having wicked conversations, man, and

saying things about people. And the

challenge is, watch this. If they never

hear it, it's still out in the

atmosphere and it will change things.

They don't know to clap on that with

trace, but we live long enough. It will

change things. Wicked conversations, the

Bible says that kind of stuff, blessings

and cursings ought not come out the same

fountain.

And it is challenging. Burn. I ain't

lying. It's challenging. If I feel like

I'm doing what I can do and I'm

struggling and then they doing what they

can do and they get another million

dollar deal,

but the place to go with that is back in

the prayer. Okay, God, let me get my

head together. Okay, so it's not like

there's a limit on success or a limit on

money or a limit on opportunity.

So help me to step back and look and see

what can I learn from the example.

It could be could it be that I can set

up a lunch with them? Tell me how you

got to where you are

instead of going all them followers.

Satan got a lot of followers too.

Really? Is there is this where we are?

All right. So it So wrong comparisons

lead to what y'all? Wicked kind of what?

Conversation. Lead to what?

Here's another one. This is the one I

need to hit. This is what gets me,

Pastor Tracy. It leads to

wasted conversations.

Now I'm f to help

somebody. Watch this. This is what stood

out when I shared this when I was

studying this. Watch this. Re Marshall

preacher, read this. It says Cain

brought his stuff. Verse four, right?

God didn't have respect under his. So in

verse five, he got mad. Right. Verse

six. Read it. Oh, she gone. That's

okay. This This word ain't playing with

none of us, is it? No, I'm just playing.

The Lord said unto Cain, "Why are you

angry? And why is your countenance fall

fallen?" Watch this, y'all. He's having

a conversation with God. Amen.

And he's God say if you if you do right,

you'll be accepted.

Okay. I got a problem with verse six and

seven. How come Cain ain't saying

nothing?

Y'all not talking to me? He's compared

himself with Abel. He's in the presence

of the one that didn't accept it. How

come he didn't say, "God, what did I do

wrong?"

That's right.

as a wasted conversation.

Where I'm looking for it in the text.

Where is the Father? I'm sorry. I I I

Lord, my heart is open before before

you. If I if I've done any, search me,

oh God, and try my mind, my heart. And

if there's any wicked way in me, lead me

in the way everlasting. Lord, let me

know. What did I do? Could I have should

I I Oh, I Okay, I should I I you know

what? I already knew Jesus. Let me go

and trade my fruit in. Give me Give me

another chance. I don't hear nothing.

You got the attention of God. I'm

looking for repentance. I'm I'm looking

for anything. He in the presence of God

whining.

He's in the presence of God fuming.

God came.

Uh in church praise and

worship. That's that's what we're doing.

You're in the very presence of the one

who could help you make the adjustment

and get you in the line that you believe

that you supposed to be in. And you

ain't you ain't going you you going to

egg God.

Okay, it gets worse. It gets worse. Keep

reading. Give me verse eight. Here's

another wasted convers. See, when you

compare yourselves in the wrong way, you

end up with a wasted conversation. Watch

this. Read verse eight. And Cain talked

with Abel, his brother. Stop.

Now you're talking to the one that's

successful.

How come I don't say nothing about Doc?

Tell me how you did it. How have you

used your prayer life to get you to this

place? How did you make it through that

divorce?

H how have you been in ministry? That's

what just the other night. Bishop Ed

text me right later. It's about 1:00.

How you been in ministry this long and

still got

joy? Said because I don't know nobody. I

said, doc, it ain't easy in these

streets. That's what I call these

streets. Well, we started talking about

it. But how you you got the person in

front of you that is the success that

you want. You have the example right

there and you you ain't going to ask

them.

See,

comparison will make you ignore God

and then waste the conversation with the

example of success that's right in front

of you. You right there with a person

that could help you, but you won't ask

the right questions.

Well, the fun that's going on. So then

it says he talked with his brother, but

it must not have been a good talk

because then it came to pass. Isn't that

what it says? Keep reading. And it came

to pass when they were in the field that

Cain rose up against Abel his brother.

Watch this. And slew him. You know what

I what hit me? That the

field is the work their work environment

was the trigger. He talked to him. Okay.

But every time he got into the

environment where he's reminded of what

he doesn't have,

and what he has, it became too much for

him.

They were in the field and he killed

them. Now, this is what I need to say

and I'm going to let y'all go home

because I know it's been a heavy night

both in worship and word.

The scripture

says that he rose up and slew him. He

killed him. What'd he do? Now y'all,

it's Bible class, right? And I know I

shouldn't watch serial killer novels and

read those and watch the shows the way I

do, but I enjoy them.

So, which, you know, says a lot about

me. But anyway,

whole bunch of ways to kill people.

particularly a lot. I have Oh, in

categories. It's

great. He could have snapped his neck,

but that ain't what he

did. Because if you keep reading, oh

God, I'm getting ready to show show you

something. It hit me like a ton of

bricks. God starts asking him questions.

Verse nine, read, baby. And the Lord

said unto Cain, watch this. Where is

Abel thy brother? Come on. And he said,

"I know not." What else he say? Am I my

brother's keeper? Do you see why

comparison is a hindrance to real

kingdom connection?

Oh, y'all is Come on. Don't let it go

past you. Because when you start

comparing yourself against people and

you put yourself against their selves

and you're comparing wrongly, you

torture. Next thing you start distancing

yourself. I don't know. Am I supposed to

know? I don't try to keep up with

everybody. First of all, you lying.

You've been on your phone 20 hours a day

for the last six months. You are you're

lying. You do know.

But do you see that now? It's all of a

sudden, am I my brother's keeper?

The only person who would even ask that

question is a murderer.

Of course you should be.

But keep reading. It's still more. And

he said, what does it say? What hast

thou done? What? Keep going. The voice

of thy brother's blood. What? Whoa.

Wait.

So you didn't just snap his neck.

You did something that drew blood.

You know you stabbed him. I know you

did. Now this is where I really have my

problem. And I'm ready to go on now.

So can't help me

understand you get in a situation. Okay,

it is tough because God answered this by

fire. But when you had a chance to ask

God, you didn't do it. You didn't repent

and say, "Hey, what did I do wrong? What

can I do to fix it?" Nothing. You so mad

you don't even want to be right

now. So you get a chance to talk to your

brother. You don't ask him, "Show me

your secret, man, cuz I want to do this

thing right. You seem to have this thing

clicking for you. Show me." No, you

don't do that. Then you get in your spot

and you kill him. And you didn't just

kill

him, you came at him and got blood. Now,

help me to understand this. The same way

you killed him, it took the same effort

that you could have done the sacrifice.

Oh, she got it. Same action,

same energy. Come on. This is in the

Bible. This is You You see it? Remember

the man that they that gave the talents

some

151211. The one that got one got a nasty

attitude and instead of burying instead

of taking it and exchanging

it, get what he does. I mean, I'm I can

take any of y'all. Who got money over

here? Piece of money. Let's give a piece

of money. Somebody got a piece of money.

Hurry. Just don't have to be a big

piece. Just give me a piece quickly.

Y'all ain't serious. Bible class about

over. Here she is. No, she got it right

here. Okay. All right. See, you always

should reach. When I ask to exchange,

you should always exchange with me.

That's y'all slow. Okay. But anyway, so

watch.

That didn't take a lot.

And I know she glad, but it didn't take

a lot. I went, traded, made.

The other guy with one

had to dig in the earth.

And bury it and then cover it back up.

That's right. It took more energy to

disappoint God and himself than it would

have to go make something. It took the

same energy to kill as it would have to

cut the sacrifice.

But your mind

messes with you. When you make a mistake

or you start comparing, it's like you go

temporarily nuts. Yeah. Yeah. But we

need to say, "God, help me step back and

and let me look at the strategy they

used. Help me. Help me to learn from

what they did and not attach it to them

as a person. I'm not diminishing my

worth or elevating them so high. They've

done something I haven't done." Every su

success in every area can be boiled down

to some solid strategies.

Everything. Amen. So, let me see this as

an opportunity. I'm done. But it is

Bible class. And can I say this?

Sometimes God is good enough to let the

person that outshines you be somebody

you don't like.

And he does it on purpose. Ask me why.

No, you don't want to know bad enough.

Who want to know? You do. Okay. I'm

going to tell you exactly why. Because

if okay, go to Hannah and Panana. Yeah.

If somebody that you loved was

successful in quote unstead of because

it's so much success, eight billion

people, everybody could be. But anyway,

if somebody you just really love

successful and you were flunking, but

you'd be like, "But she's so sweet

though. She deserves it." Oh god. And

that wouldn't motivate you. But when

it's somebody that gets on your ever

loving last nerve and they get See, you

don't you ain't ain't nobody. Oh,

people that you love when they when they

stop eating carbs and they get real

smart, you be like, "But they they've

been be they're beautiful inside and out

cuz you love them." But when it's

somebody something about them that get

on your nerves so bad and then all of a

sudden they lose weight. You said I'll

be dog on if I'mma eat another piece of

cake for the rest of my life cuz I ain't

because you are more motivated y'all act

like I'm not telling the truth. You are

more motivated when it is something that

rubs you wrong. God, thank you Jesus for

sometime letting us have to deal with

the success of people we don't like.

Yes.

And here's how we do it. Cuz we church

it up. This we church it up. We ain't

going to just say we don't like them cuz

we're saved and try to be sweet. But

honey, if if if if if those people with

no walk with God can have it.

Wow. God is trying to get us to really

take a look.

Hannah was barren and Panana was popping

them children out like nothing. And

Hannah was the one trying to walk and

please God.

But God let it be somebody that was

agitating enough that Hannah said, "You

know what? I'm f to take this prayer up.

Oh no, I'm getting ready to go to

another level cuz I'm not going to be

here next year. This is wearing me out.

This over here, Jesus, is getting to be

too much." She says, "So I'm getting

ready to get focused. What I'm trying to

get you to see Yeah. I don't know what's

going on with the sound. I guess that's

their way of telling me stop. What I'm

trying to get you to understand

is Cain killed his

brother because he couldn't

stand that Abel was successful.

If he had just compared the strategy to

his

own, he could have made adjustments

and been accepted. That's what God said.

If you do right, you going to be

accepted. Amen. So he should have said,

"Well, what's right?" Or, "You know

what? God, forgive me. Give me five

minutes. I got this thing." That's all

he had to do. And when you see other

people who are

successful, don't go, don't do that.

say, "Let me step back and see what they

did and utilize that in my life so that

I can lead not only a prosperous and

successful life, but I don't have to cut

folk off."

Amen. Come on, we're going to pray.

Lord,

you already know, and I guess that's

what has to be said.

Lord, please don't let us be the kind of

people that turn up our nose at each

other. Lord, we're going to naturally

kind of get a little scratchy, kind of

scratchy sometimes to see other people

with what looks like your visual

approval.

But Lord, help us to go to you about

that and then see what we can learn from

what they've done so we don't have to

keep cutting toes and fingers and hands

off. We don't want to end up some

self-righteous just core of a person

because we've cut everything else off.

Give us the kind of wisdom that comes

from your word that would help us to

learn how to stay connected by

celebrating other people's success, by

learning from other people's success,

Father, and by imitating the things that

apply to us, so that God, when we're all

successful, we can give you the glory

and we can do it

together. We don't want you to have to

ask us about the blood of our brother or

our sister.

I pray for our hearts to be turned

toward you, Jesus, ever the