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Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening. Find the seats and find a hymnal close to you and turn to page number 194. Find the seats, find a hymnal, turn to page number 194. And we will open the service with, Since Jesus came into my heart, Song number 194, sing it out on the first. What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought Since Jesus came into my heart I have lied in my soul for which long I have sought Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart I've tried to enjoy all my soul like the sea billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart Song number 194, sing it out on the second. I have seized from my wandering and going astray And my sins wish for many are all washed away Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart I've tried to enjoy all my soul like the sea billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart Sing it out on the third. I possessed all the hope that is left as I'm sure Came into my heart In the dark clouds of doubt, now my pathway of score Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart I've tried to enjoy all my soul like the sea billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart Sing it out on the fourth. There's a light in the valley of death now for me Came into my heart The gates of the city beyond I can see Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart I've tried to enjoy all my soul like the sea billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart On the last. I shot a bullet to dwell in the city I know Since Jesus came into my heart I'm happy, so happy as onward I go Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart Since Jesus came into my heart I've tried to enjoy all my soul like the sea billows roll Since Jesus came into my heart Amen. Great singing. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church here on our Sunday evening service. We call it the most exciting service of the week. Amen. We're glad to have everyone here this evening. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we love you and we thank you for the opportunity to be in your house this evening. Lord, thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for a great weekend that everybody had this week, Lord, and we love you. Pray that you bless the service. Pray for the singing. Pray for the preaching. Pray for the fellowship to come that everything that be said and done this evening would bring glory and honor to your name. We love you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Alright, it's now time for favorites where if you're selected, we will sing a stanza from the song that you picked. Also, you can request Christmas songs this evening. Alright? Brother Graham, let's go. Four hundred and twenty-nine. Song number four hundred and twenty-nine. We're going to open it up with Hark! The Herald Angel Sing. Sing it out on the first. Hark! The Herald Angel Sing Glory to the newborn King His honor and mercy mild God and sinners wrecked on a side Joy to all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies Grand Valley, coast of plain Christ is born in Bethlehem Hark! The Herald Angel Sing Glory to the newborn King Noah, go ahead. Four hundred and twenty-two. Thou didst leave thy throne. Song number four hundred and twenty-two. Song number four to sing it out on the first. Thou didst leave thy throne on the dingly ground When all came and swore for me But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room For thy holy divinity O come to my heart, Lord Jesus There is room in my heart for thee Madison. Four hundred and thirty-one. Song number four, three, one. Silent night, holy night. Song number four thirty-one on the first. Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright Have your bones in motherland shine Holy hands and soul, tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Song number four zero on the last. There's no disappointment in heaven. Song number four zero and sing it out on the last. There'll never be sleep on the tornado No freedom will drain in the sky No graves on the hillside of glory For though we shall never know why The only young man forever Can scold down home in no time He holds his hand in the darkness The stars and the sun to outshine And bow for that beautiful city My Lord has prepared for his own Where all that he's in the holy chest Sing glory around the white throne Sometimes a girl comes sick from heaven And in those days I still shall be home For the joy that will be when my Savior I see In that beautiful city I'm home Um, Mrs. Roldan. 427. We three kings of Orient are Song number four two seven sing it out on the first. We three kings of Orient are Bearing gifts we travel so far Hills and fountains home and mountain Following at the star Oh, star of wonder, star of night Star of dawn, her beauty bright West from heaven she'll proceed And guide us on by her next flight Sing one more song. Ms. Christine, go ahead. 428. It came upon the midnight clear This will be the last song for favorites. So let's sing it out with some passion. Sing it out. 428 on the first. It came upon the midnight clear That glorious song of old From angels bending near the earth To touch their hearts of gold Peace on the earth we've come to met From hell its location stinging Through the world in silence In this way to be the angels sing Amen. Amen. All right. Well, let's go ahead and take our bulletins tonight. We'll look at some announcements. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand And one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up And we will get one for you. The verse this week, Matthew 123. Behold, a virgin shall be with child And they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10.30 a.m. We had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service. And of course, we invite you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study. If you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. And we have an additional soul winning time on Sundays at 2 p.m. And if you are a soul winner, please don't forget to add your salvations on the communication card So we can add that to the bulletin. If you have a map that you did not complete, clearly mark what was done, what was not done And put it in the bin in the foyer so that we can get that finished up. And then of course, if you're running late, call us or text us at the number there, 916-868-9080 Let us know your plan on being there, but you're running late. That way we can make sure we have a partner on the map and everything you need. Of course, if you look at the announcements there, we are a family integrated church. Children and infants are always welcome in the service. We do not separate children from their parents for any reason. We do have mother baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience. All of the rooms have comfortable seating. They have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it. So if you need privacy or if you have a child that's being distracted, we would encourage you to please use those rooms as needed. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, we have the workdays coming back this week. Thursday, November 30th, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, December 1st, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, December 2nd, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. That's after soul winning. And we, of course, have some sign up sheets in the foyer. So in the clipboard, in the main foyer, there's three clipboards over there, one for each day. And you don't have to be there from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. We've got three different shifts and you can sign up for a time that would work for you. But we would really appreciate your help with that. Of course, electrical, there's still electrical to do and electrical leads. We could appreciate your help with that if you're an electrician or if you know stuff about electrical. Hauling trash, that's a full time job over there. Drywall and mudding, if you can help with that, if you have any experience with that, please let us know. But Brother Joel and Brother Adam are going to be doing some drywall and mudding and they just need, they need a helper. Even if you don't know anything, they'll tell you what to do. They just need helpers. So if you could sign up for that, we'd appreciate it. Of course, cleaning is something that there's a lot to do of over there. And tomorrow, actually, we could use a volunteer. We have over over the Thanksgiving break, we had several of those rooms over there. In fact, all of the rooms over there, except for the fellowship hall and not the upstairs. But I forget what the number is. I think there's 12 or 14 rooms over there. They all there. They're getting mudded and textured. But the problem is that it takes a while for those rooms to dry. So before we can get in there and paint and finish up, they have to dry. It's been very cold lately. So in the summer, it will usually take like a day to dry. In the winter, it could take three days, but it's been more colder than usual. So what we're planning on doing tomorrow is just having heaters running in those rooms. Just two hours at a time, just kind of switching them around. Of course, I can have the staff guys do that. But if there's somebody out there who says, hey, I can take care of that and I can help with that, then we would appreciate your help with that. And just let me know or let one of the staff guys know. But that's something that maybe would be good to help with tomorrow if anybody has some time and they're willing and able to do that. Not a hard task, but it's very important because we've got to get those rooms dried up so that we can keep moving forward. And then you'll notice there in your announcements, of course, we have the Christmas gift for Jesus. I saw that some people already brought some gifts. So praise the Lord for that. We appreciate your help with that. And just make sure you look through the Christmas gifts list there. And while you're out and about and you're buying stuff for yourself or for friends and family, maybe you can pick up something for the church. These are all things that we use on a regular basis and they would just help and alleviate a little bit of the financial costs during the Christmas season. So if you could pick something up and there's an area where you can drop it off, we, of course, would appreciate your help with that. We started a new sermon series this morning. Adult Choir, Children's Choir had their practice today. Homeschool group, they've got PE class on Thursday, November 30th. There's other things there for you to look at. The ladies have a weight loss accountability group. They meet on Wednesdays at 615 and that's starting back up this Wednesday. They meet in the mother baby room that is closest to the foyer if you're interested in that, ladies. And then, of course, please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of November and beginning December. We have Miss Lexi Beale had a birthday today, November 26th. Brother Josh and Miss Edith Castellum have an anniversary today, November 26th. And then later this week, Brother Rusty Santos has a birthday, November 27th. We're remembering Tara Barrett on November 30th. Brother Andrew Davidson has a birthday on December 2nd. And Jeremiah Johnson has a birthday on December 2nd. Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at. We had 262 in church this morning and praise the Lord for that. And that's a good attendance there. I think that's it for all of the announcements. We're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week, which is the insert in your bulletin. And we'll sing at the right time as we prepare to receive the offering this evening. Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first. When we were lost in sin At the light of the best time we learn Sing it out on the second. To the great and to the wounded To a world that's worn and weary We came To bring us out of darkness To make us his again At the light of the best time we play Amen. Guru Singh, we'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight. Lord, we pray that you bless the offering, the gift and the giver. We ask that you meet with us as we open up your word in the city of the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Please open up to Numbers 18. Numbers chapter 18. If you do not have a Bible, please put your hand up. And unless you can bring your Bible. Numbers chapter 18. Just keep your hand up or she'll come by. Numbers 18. We'll read the entire chapter as our custom. Numbers chapter 18, verse number 1. And the Lord said unto Aaron, thou and thy sons, and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. And thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. And I, brethren, also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee that they may be joined unto thee and minister unto thee. But thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. And they shall keep thy charge and the charge of all the tabernacle. Only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they nor ye also die. And they shall be joined unto thee and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation for all the service of the tabernacle. And a stranger shall not come nigh unto you. And he shall keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar, that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel. And I, behold, I have taken from your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel. To you they are given as a gift for the Lord to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar. And within the veil he shall serve. I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift. And the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. And the Lord has spake unto them, Aaron, behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel. Unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons by an ordinance forever. This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire. Every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. And the most holy place shall thou eat it, every male shall eat it, it shall be holy unto thee. And this is thine, the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel. I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute forever. Every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the first fruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee. And whatsoever is first, ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine. Every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine. Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or of beasts, shall be thine. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man shall thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shall thou redeem. And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shall thou redeem, according to an estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gears. But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem, they are holy. Thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the Lord. And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the way of breast and as the right shoulder are thine. All the heave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by statute forever. It is a covenant of salt, forever before the Lord, unto thee and to thy seed with thee. And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt I have any part among them. I am thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel. And behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity, it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. But among the children of Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the children of Israel which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit. Therefore I have said unto them, among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thus speak unto the Levites and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe. And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though it were the corn of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. And thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel. And ye shall give thereof the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the Lord, of all the best thereof, even the hallowed part thereof out of it. And therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and as the increase of the winepress. And ye shall eat it in every place, ye, in your household. For it is your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation. And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it. And neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word. And for our church, from this here, please give us all a tender heart to the message. Blessed be thy pastor, to strengthen him, and to fill him with your spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, we're there in Numbers, chapter number 18. And of course, we've been going through a sermon series called Wilderness Wanderings. We've been studying through the book of Numbers, going chapter by chapter. Of course, this morning we started a brand new Christmas series on Sunday morning, so we'll be covering the Numbers series only on Sunday nights for a little while. And tonight, we find ourselves here in Numbers, chapter 18. And last Sunday, we took a break from the book of Numbers. So I just want to kind of catch you up or just remind you where we are, because I think that sometimes when we read the Bible, we are just trying to maybe check something off of a chart or something, which is fine. Nothing wrong with that. I think you should track your Bible reading. I think sometimes we're just kind of reading chapters and we're just checking off a chart, and we're not really thinking about the context or what it is that God is saying, especially in a chapter like this, because this is not a narrative, this is not a story. This is God speaking to Aaron and giving some instructions. But I just want to remind you what it is that has happened in the book of Numbers that is leading us into chapter number 18. If you remember, of course, we spent several weeks in Numbers, chapter 16. And in number 16, you had that great rebellion of Korah. Remember, Korah and Dathan and Abiram, they rose up against Moses and Aaron. And if you remember, Korah was a Levite, and Aaron, of course, was the priest, and Korah wanted to be more than just a Levite, he wanted to be the priest. He wanted to have Aaron's position. And of course, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, we learned about the fact that God opened up the earth. The earth opened up her mouth and swallowed them up, and they went alive into the pit. If you remember, they had 250 princes that they had brought with them towards this rebellion, and there was fire from the Lord that consumed the 250 princes. And then if you remember the congregation, the congregation were these bleeding hearts that were sad about these wicked men and what happened to them and had turned against Moses and Aaron as well. And then if you remember, God sent a plague to the congregation as well. And then in number 17, if you remember number 17, we saw Aaron's rod that budded, because God, again, was dealing with this idea that he had chosen Aaron. He had chosen Aaron and the sons of Aaron to be the priests. Korah and Dathan and Abiram were trying to take his position of priests, and God was, again, just emphasizing the fact and reiterating the fact that he had chosen Aaron. And he did that by having his rod bud. If you remember that, they had 12 rods that were brought by the 12 leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel, and they left them in the tabernacle overnight. And the next day, Aaron's rod had budded, and it had produced fruit, and that was God's sign that he had chosen Aaron. So if you remember all that or if you're familiar with all that, that is the context that then leads us in to Numbers chapter 18. If you look at verse number 1, the Bible says this, And the LORD said unto Aaron. I want you to notice right there in just that first phrase of verse number 1, and unfortunately we're probably not going to get through Numbers chapter 18 tonight. We might have to do this in two parts because there's just so much here to kind of deal with. But I want you to notice just right off the bat that this chapter is unique in the sense that the Lord is speaking. God is speaking to Aaron. Usually what we read is that the Lord sent him to Moses, and it's actually very rare that God would speak to anybody other than Moses, and it's rare that God would speak to Aaron. But here the Bible tells us that God makes an exception, and he's speaking to Aaron, and he's speaking to Aaron specifically because he's dealing with Aaron and Aaron's position. Verse 1, The Lord said unto Aaron, And what he's saying is that Aaron and his sons and his father's house, they were to bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. The sanctuary is a different word for the tabernacle. Notice what he says there at the end of verse 1, And thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. And again, God is reiterating the fact that he had chosen Aaron. And if you remember, and I just want to remind you because we learned about this earlier in the book of Numbers, that God had set aside one tribe for the work of the sanctuary, for the work of the tabernacle. He had taken the tribe of Levi, and they were to do a spiritual work. But within the tribe of Levi, if you remember, there were three different families, and those three different families were given three different jobs. They were separated into three different groups, and they did different things for the tabernacle. And all of that tribe, every one of those three families were considered Levites, and they were pretty much on staff. They were workers of the sanctuary, workers of the tabernacle. Later on in the Bible when they built the temple, there were workers in the temple. But then within the tribe of Levi, you have Aaron and his sons. So Aaron was a Levite, but then God chose Aaron and the specific descendants of Aaron, and he made them priests. So you have the whole tribe of Levi, they're all Levites, but then Aaron is chosen from within the tribe of Levi. He's made the priests, and then his sons and his offspring are going to be the priests for the tabernacle and for the temple. And what we see in verse 1 is God is reiterating that. Thou and thy sons and thy father's house shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. Thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. He said, you're the priest, and you're the ones with the priesthood. Look at verse 2. And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi. So now God is talking about the tribe of Levi. We're going to come back and deal with that in a minute. He says the tribe of thy fathers bring thou with thee that they may be joined unto thee and minister unto thee. Notice the emphasis goes back to Aaron. But thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. And here's what God is saying. God is saying, I've chosen Aaron and I've chosen his sons. They are the priests. They are the ones with the priesthood. And he says the priests do the work of the sanctuary. They do the work of the tabernacle. They're the ones that do the work within the sanctuary. They're going to do the sacrifices. They're going to do all of those things that need to be done for the tabernacle. Look at verse 5, Numbers 18, verse 5. And he, again, he's speaking to Aaron and his sons, shall keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel. Now when he says, he's saying, look, you are going to keep the charge of the sanctuary. He says that there be no wrath. What is he talking about? He's talking about Numbers 16. He's talking about the fact that there's all sorts of wrath that came out because Korah and the Levites were trying to usurp the authority of Aaron. Of course, the earth opening up, the plagues, the fire, all those things. God says, I don't want any more wrath, so you're going to keep the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the altar. That's the priest. What is the job of the priest? And like I said, we're not going to probably make it through all of this, but let me just give you a couple of headings if you want to take notes or kind of break this up into a couple of points. The first thing I'd like for us to look at is the position of the priest and the Levites, the position of the priest and the Levites. And we're going to see that between verses 1 and 5. We've already seen verses 1 and 2 and verse 5, and what we saw was the position of the priest. The priest was to do the work of the sanctuary. The priest was to do the work of the tabernacle. Aaron and his sons and his father's house were chosen to be the priests. The Bible says that there be no wrath anymore. But then there's another position. There's the position of the Levite. Now, what is it that the Levites were to do? Look at verse 2. And thy brethren also, this is God speaking to Aaron. He already told him what he wants to do with Aaron and his sons. Now he's talking about Aaron and his brethren. So Aaron and his sons are priests. Aaron and his brethren, he says, thy brethren also, of the tribe of Levi, of the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee. He says, they're not going to be priests, but I want you to bring them with thee, that they may be joined unto thee and minister unto thee, but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of the witness. So you have the priests there to do the work of the sanctuary, there to do the work of the tabernacle. Then you have the Levites and they are the helpers of the priests. When we talk about the position of the priests and the Levites, the position is this. The priest was the spiritual leader of the nation of Israel that did the same. And even within the priests there was a hierarchy. There was Aaron the high priest and then there were other priests. They did the work of the sanctuary, but then you have the Levites, who were of the tribe of Levi, who were brethren with Aaron, and they were the helpers of the priests. So we see the position of the priests and the Levites. Look at verse three, Numbers 18 and verse three. And they shall keep the charge and the charge of the tabernacle. Only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they nor he also die. So notice God is making a distinction between these two groups. He's saying they're going to keep the charge of the tabernacle, they're there to help you, but God says only they, the Levites, shall not come nigh the vessels. That's what the priests were supposed to do. That's what Aaron and his sons were supposed to do. They shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they nor he also die. And of course in the last two chapters we've seen a lot of people die as a result of them not doing this right. Look at verse four, And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle, and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you. All right, now we're there in Numbers 18. Keep your place there in Numbers 18. That's our text for tonight. But go with me if you would to the New Testament book of Philippians. Philippians chapter number one. In the New Testament you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philippians chapter number one. And this of course is not the first time that God brings up this relationship between the priests and the Levites, the Levitical priests and the Levites. He's already brought it up earlier in the book of Numbers and we've already looked at it in a different chapter. But like I said then, I want to remind you now that in the Old Testament you have the priests and the Levites and there's an equivalent to that in the New Testament that we can apply to ourselves. Because remember, though there was no New Testament church in the Old Testament, this is a congregation in the wilderness. The book of Acts calls them the church in the wilderness and a lot of these things in the book of Numbers we can find equivalence to them in the New Testament and we can learn about them. And just like in the Old Testament they had the priests and the Levites, in the New Testament we have the pastors and the deacons. Philippians chapter one. Look at verse one. Paul and Timothy is the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops, that's the pastors, and deacons. So in the New Testament the equivalent of a priest when it comes to the work of the sanctuary would be a bishop or a pastor or an elder would be the equivalent of a priest. And then the equivalent of a Levite, someone that's there to help the priest, would be what the Bible calls a deacon. And of course the word deacon is transliterated from the Greek word diakonos which means servant. That's what the word deacon means. And of course our church has a deacon. Brother Oliver is our deacon. But more than that we also have staff. And really all of that can kind of be applied in that same idea. You have the high priest and he's got other priests and then he's got the Levites that are helpers and our church has a pastor and we have a deacon and then there's other staff that help with administration and with the workload and the things that need to happen. So we see the position of the priests and Levites. And God is talking about this and God is trying to make sure they understand what the different positions are. Now first we saw the position of the priests and Levites and we saw that in verses 1 through 5. But I'd like you to notice secondly the purpose of the priests and Levites. And we see that in verses 6 and 7. The purpose of the priests and Levites, notice their numbers, chapter 18 and verse number 6. The Bible says, And I behold, this is God speaking to Aaron. I hope you understand and I know it's simple but I hope you're getting it. God is telling Aaron, you're the priest. You and your sons are the priests. And your brethren are the helpers. You're the pastors, they're the deacons. You're the pastor, they're the staff. You are the spiritual leader and they are there to help and to assist you. That's what God is telling Aaron. And then in verse 6 he says this, And I behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites. This is God speaking to Aaron. He says, I have taken your brethren the Levites. This is of course the staff from among the children of Israel. Notice what he says, to you. He says, I've taken the Levites and he's telling Aaron, the priest, the high priest, and Aaron's sons who are priests, I've taken the Levites and I've given them to you. Notice what he says, They are given as a gift for the Lord to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. And we saw first the position of the priests and the Levites. We saw that the priests have the work of the sanctuary and the tabernacle. The Levites were the helpers of the priests. The priests of course have a New Testament equivalent or a New Testament foreshadow, which is the position of a pastor, elder, or bishop. And the Levites have a New Testament equivalent as well, which would be like a deacon or a staff. And then God says here the purpose of these different positions. And he says that the Levite was given to Aaron. He says, to you they are given as a gift for the Lord. And here's what God is saying. The Levite was given as a gift for the priests. They were given as a gift for the priests to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Notice that phrase there in verse 6. To you they are given as a gift. That's what God said. That's not what I said. That's what God said that the Levites were given to the priests as a gift. What's interesting is that you find the same equivalency in the New Testament. Keep your place there in Numbers 18. Go to the book of Acts, Acts chapter number 6. In the New Testament, of course, you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts chapter number 6. Do me a favor. When you get to the book of Acts, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. And I'd like for you to be able to get there quickly. Acts chapter number 6. Now, in Acts chapter number 6, we have the first deacons. Acts 6 doesn't use the term deacon, but it's obvious that God is referring to deacons. But he doesn't use the term deacon. So really, we could really apply this to any sort of church staff. And, of course, our church has a staff. We have three full-time employees, not including myself, that serve here and help here and assist here and praise the Lord for that. Acts chapter 6. Look at verse 1. And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied. Now, a church often needs staff, a pastor often needs staff when a church is growing because when a church is small, the pastor just kind of does it all, right? My wife and I started Verity Baptist Church in our living room 13 years ago when our church was running five or eight or 12. We didn't need a lot of staff to help us with a lot of things. But as the church grows, you need more help. And here the Bible says that the number of disciples was multiplied. There arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. So it was getting to the point with the size of this church, and of course this church is much larger than our church, they had 12 full-time pastors. And they're about to hire seven full-time staff. So this is a much larger church, of course. It's not anything close to what we have here. But it got to the point where the daily ministration, so many things were happening on a daily basis within the church that they needed help. Look at verse 2. Then the 12, that's the 12 full-time pastors they had, called a multitude of disciples unto them and said, it is not reason. And when they said, it is not reason, what they're saying is, it is not a good reason. It's not a good reason, they said, that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Because what were these men doing? And of course, the church in Jerusalem in Acts chapter 6, they're running thousands. I mean, they had 3,000 saved and baptized on the Day of Pentecost. And if you read the book of Acts, they're adding 2,000 here and several thousand there. So this is a large church. They have 12 full-time pastors. These guys are preaching, these guys are doing counseling, these guys are doing a lot of ministry. I don't know what they were doing, making YouTube videos, I'm not sure. But they're doing ministry and they're ministering the word of God unto the people. And then they said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Now, when they're saying serve tables, they're not minimizing that good night. My wife's not going to be happy. Can somebody help me with that? Thank you. My wife put these beautiful decorations up and then I throw them down. Thank you very much. That is not as nicely as she did it. There we go. What was I saying? They're not minimizing the serving of tables. They're realizing that somebody has to serve these tables. Somebody has to help with this daily administration. Verse 3, Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you, seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. By the way, these were good men. These were godly men. They said, find seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. And here's what they were saying. They were saying, we need somebody to help us with the daily ministration of things that need to be done on a regular basis because they're saying it's not a good reason that we should leave the word of God to serve tables. And in the Old Testament, God told the priest, I've given you the Levites as a gift to help you in the ministry. And in the New Testament, God is looking at pastors and he's saying, I've given you the deacons or I've given you the ability to hire staff to help with the daily ministration. And I want you to understand that that position, the purpose of that position is as a gift to me, to the pastor. I didn't say that. God said that. I'd much rather get an Amazon gift card. But that's what God said. The purpose of a staff, the purpose of a church staff is to be there to be a blessing to the pastor, to be there to help the pastor, to be there to help the pastor carry his burden because there's so much often that needs to get done and some of those things don't need to be done by the pastor. It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. So we've hired godly men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, and we've appointed them to this business. So I want you to notice, first we see the position of a priest and a Levite. The priest is the spiritual leader. The Levite is the helper. There's a New Testament equivalent to that. The pastor is the spiritual leader and the staff are the helpers. Then we see the purpose of the priests and the Levites. The Levites were given as a gift to the priests to help the priests, to be there to help carry the priest's burden so that the priest could do what only he could do. And in the New Testament we see that the same is true. The staff was given to the pastors. In this church they had 12 full-time pastors. Of course these are the apostles that are there. And they still hired seven other guys to help them with the daily administration. Why? To be a blessing to them so that they would not have to leave the word of God to serve tables and to take care of the daily administration. So the Levite was a gift for the priests. And in the same way in the New Testament the deacons and the staff is given as a gift for the pastor to help him in the ministry. Now keep your place there in Acts. We're going to come right back to it. Go back to Numbers chapter 18. So we saw the Levite was a gift to the priests. But then what is the priest? Well look at Numbers 18 and verse 7. Numbers 18 and verse 7. Therefore thou and thy sons, this is God speaking to Aaron. He's talking to the priests. Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office. I'm giving you the Levites as a gift. I'm giving them to you to help you in the ministry. And he says because of that, therefore as a result of that, thou and thy sons with thee shall keep the priest's office for everything of the altar and within the veil. And ye shall serve. Notice what he says here. I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift. So he told them I've given you the Levites to you and they are given as a gift for you to use for the Lord. And then he says I've given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift. He said you and your position is a gift as well to serve. But who were the priests to serve? The priests were to serve the people. The priests were to be a blessing to the people. Now I want you to get this. The Levites were given as a gift to the priests and the priest was given as a gift to the people. The priests were supposed to serve the people. They were a gift for the people. And the Levites were supposed to serve the priests and help the priests and be a gift to the priests. Notice that the New Testament is very similar. Go back to Acts chapter number 6. Acts chapter number 6. What is the purpose of a staff? The purpose of the staff is to be a blessing to the pastor. Notice Acts chapter 6. Just look at verse 2 again. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. He said those seven men are going to help us. We're going to appoint them over this business so that we can do what God has called us to do. But then notice what they say in verse 4. They said, But we, the pastors, the elders, the spiritual leaders, they said, But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. They said we're going to continue to minister unto the people, pray for the people, be there for the people, be available to the people, preach to the people, teach the people, counsel the people, pray with the people, pray for the people, and we're going to serve them and they are going to serve us. So when we look at the New Testament equivalency, what we find is this, that the staff is a gift to the pastor. And the pastor is a gift to the people. Go to Ephesians chapter 4. Let me give you another passage that proves this. Ephesians chapter 4. You're there in Acts. If you go past Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. Ephesians chapter number 4. Ephesians chapter number 4. Notice what the Bible says. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11 says this, And he gave some, notice the idea he gave. It's a gift. It's something he's given you. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. He's given some, throughout history, he gave some apostles, he gave some prophets, he gave some evangelists. You know what he gave some of you? A pastor and a teacher. He's given some pastors and teachers. Why? Why did God give you a pastor? Why, what is the purpose of my position as a pastor here at Verity Baptist Church? Now don't misunderstand what I'm about to say. It's my job to set up for potlucks. Now I'm not against, I like potlucks. I'm not against setting up for potlucks. But do you understand that it is not reason that we should leave the Word of God to serve tables? We can hire other people to help us to set up for potlucks, to clean buildings, to whatever, do all the daily ministrations. There's a million, some people are like, What do you guys do all week? We've got a staff to-do list that's about this thick long if you want to know when we print out everything that needs to get done around here. But what is the purpose of the pastor? The purpose of the pastor, he gave some pastors and teachers, verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints. The word perfecting means the completing of. The perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ. Now why is it that God is emphasizing this? And why is it that God is saying these things to Aaron? And again, remember that they just had a big church split. They just had the staff usurp against Aaron. And you don't think this happens today in New Testament Christianity? Where some assistant pastor or some staff guy becomes an Absalom and tries to usurp the authority of the pastor and splits the church and takes half the church somewhere else and they start a new church? These things happen. And God is trying to reiterate to the children of Israel, Look, there's a position of a priest, there's a position of a Levite, they have different purposes. I've given the priest to minister to the people and I've given the Levite to minister to the priest. And in the same way in the New Testament, there's a position of a pastor, there's a position of staff, and they have different purposes. God has given a pastor to minister unto the people and God has given the staff to help the pastor and minister unto the pastor in the sense of trying to help him accomplish all the things that need to be done around here. Their position exists to help me. My position exists to help you. Now, God is saying this because this got sideways. And this situation with the staff got sideways and he's trying to help them fix this so that they can go forward. And I want to speak for just a few minutes, and I know I've already been speaking for like 30 minutes, but I want to give you some thoughts regarding when things go sideways with the staff. Now, let me just say this right now, okay? We don't have any problems with the staff, okay? At least not any that I know of. But, you know, we have a great staff. They're hardworking guys, they're good, we like them, praise the Lord for them, all right? You say, why are you preaching this? Because I'm in Numbers 18. I don't know if you noticed, but before I was in Numbers 17, before that I was in Numbers 16. But look, if God lets me preach a sermon against the staff, you better believe I'm going to take it. But, you know, things can go sideways with staff, and here's the truth. And look, by the way, let me just say this. Everything I'm going to say right now, the same thing applies to you and your boss at work. Your boss and your employees. So that's what a pastor and deacons or pastor and staff is. It's a boss with employees. And, you know, our church has me as the pastor who works full-time for the church, and I have three full-time employees that work under me, and it's the same thing at your job. Maybe you're the boss and you have employees, or you're an employee and you have a boss. So these things apply to your life as well. But let me just explain, you know, why I would even bring this up. Number one, because this is literally what this passage is about. This is what happened with the children of Israel, with Korah. They went sideways with the staff. You know, Korah went sideways and things got messed up as a result. Again, let me just reiterate. There's absolutely no problems with the staff, okay? As far as I know, there's no problems with the staff. They're great. Everything's good. And by the way, everything I'm about to say, the staff already knows, okay? Because I make sure they know. They know all these things. There's nothing I'm going to say to them right now, and they're just going to be like, I didn't know that. They know these things. They're great, okay? But here's who else needs to know this is you, the congregation. And look, this morning we had 262 people in church. And we have 262 people in church in this building that isn't really made to hold 300 people next to a methadone clinic. We're working on a 400 to 500 seat auditorium over there in a much nicer location, much nicer building. And we could potentially move over there and be running 300, 400, 500 in just a matter of years. I don't know. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but we have 262 on Sunday morning here. I think it's very probable that we'll be running 300 at some time in the near future over there, maybe 350, maybe 400, maybe 500. And here's the thing. If our church is running 400 to 500 people, I'm going to need more help than just these three guys. We might eventually have a staff with six, eight, ten different guys on it. So it's good for us to understand these things. Like I said, our staff right now is great. They're good. There's no problems with that. But we could have a much bigger staff in the not so distant future. And right now is the perfect time, like I said, to preach these things, first of all because we're just in Numbers 18, but also because there are no problems. I believe in preventative preaching, where you preach about things before they're a problem. So that way you don't have to preach about them when they are a problem. Here's another reason why it's good to preach this is because there are men in our church who want to go in the ministry. And you might go somewhere and one day have a staff, or you might go somewhere and work under somebody. And it's good for you to know some of these things, of course, regarding the relationship between a pastor and his staff. And also let me just think about this. Just because we don't have any problems here at our church with this. And again, as far as I know, we don't have any problems with this at our church. But that doesn't mean that there aren't other churches that maybe a pastor is listening to this sermon, or maybe a staff member is listening to this sermon. And it could be a help to them, and it could be something that would be a blessing to them. And of course, whenever I bring something like this up, people are always like, Why are you saying this? You're the pastor. You shouldn't be preaching this thing. But then I always think to myself, if I don't teach it to you, who's going to teach it to you? And I'm not just saying that. I'm saying, literally, who's going to teach these things to you? No one's going to teach these things to you. No one's going to get up and say these things. These are things that you need to know. And look, if not for me, then just for the next guy. When I die and I'm gone and the next guy is the pastor, then you'll know how it is and how you should deal with them. So when things go sideways with a staff, and there's really just kind of two applications that I want to make regarding this. And like I said, this is stuff that you need to know. I'm not even necessarily preaching this at the staff, because we have a great staff and they know these things already anyway. But you know what the church family needs to know? And one thing that I've learned over the last, because we started hiring staff back in 2016. We started our church in 2010. And from 2010 to 2014, I worked a full-time job. And I preached three times a week, and I did all the things that I do as a pastor just on my own time. I worked a full-time job for the church, or not for the church, for myself to provide for my family. And then in 2014, the church had grown to the place where I could transition, where I worked part-time for the church and then part-time a secular job. And then sometime after that, the church grew enough to where it could pay me a full-time salary. Then I was a full-time employee for a year or two years or whatever it was. And then, I think it was the end of 2015, we began to hire staff. We hired our first full-time staff member, Brother Stuckey of course, and we have staff now. So the idea is that our church can continue to grow and continue to have staff. And what I've learned over the last several years that we've had staff is that sometimes the church people can misunderstand the purpose of the staff. So let me just be real clear about some things. The staff is here for me. They are not here for you. They are not your busboys. They are not here to minister to you. I mean, did we see that from the Bible? I spent 30 minutes showing it to you from the Bible. What is the purpose of the staff? They're here to be a blessing to me. You say, I don't think you should be saying that. Well, who's going to say it? Who's going to teach you these things? They're here to help me. They're here to make my life easier. They're here to help me with what God has the vision that God has given me to do. Obviously, I want them to minister to you and help you and be available for you and all those things. But the purpose of the staff is to be a ministry to me, to be a blessing to me, to be a help to me. And then the purpose of a pastor is to be a help to you. And look, one day our church may grow. I don't know. I mean, we're 12 years into this thing. I'm 37 years old and if the Lord doesn't kill me anytime soon, our church could run six, seven, eight hundred, a thousand some day. We may have lots of staff. We may have multiple pastors. And the position of a pastor is to be a blessing to you. The position of the staff is to be a blessing to me. And maybe I shouldn't say it that way. Maybe I don't like that. But their job is to help me. Now, here's where things can get sideways. When the church begins to equate the staff as the pastor, that's a problem. When church people begin to think like, oh, the staff are the same as the pastor. And again, maybe you don't like me saying it. Maybe I shouldn't say it or you think I shouldn't say it. But if I don't say it, who's going to say it? If I don't say it, who's going to teach it to you? Let me explain something to you. The staff are not your pastor. The staff wives are not your pastor's wife. They're great. They're good. We like them. We like the staff. We're for the staff. Praise the Lord. But they're not the pastor. And a church can get sideways when they begin to equate the staff with the pastor or to think that the staff is the same as the pastor. Now, again, please don't misunderstand. I hope you love the staff. I hope you appreciate the staff. I hope you spoil the staff. All those things. And I put staff in positions of authority and in positions of leadership. So I want you to minister with them and all those things. But here's what you need to understand. They are not the pastor. And people get this idea where they start equating the staff with the pastor. And let me just be clear. No one on staff is your pastor. You're looking at them. And if you don't like them, I'm sorry. I'm the gift God gave you. I don't necessarily like the gift I got either. But, you know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? And the staff is not the pastor of this church and they're not your pastor. And people start getting this idea. Like they're like, oh, they start going to the staff. And they're like, oh, I need help with this situation. But don't tell a pastor. It's like, no, it doesn't work that way. They're not here for you. They don't work for you. They work for me. They're here to help me. Do you understand that? And look, let me let you in on a little secret. They don't know how to help you. Anything wise or smart that they've ever said to you is because I told them to say it to you. I'll write their text message. People are like, you're amazing. It's like, no, I wrote that. They're here for me. And people get to this place where they start thinking like, oh, the staff is the same as the pastor. And that's not the case. Keep your place in Ephesians. Go back to Numbers chapter 18. Now, again, I'm not saying this to minimize the staff. They're great. They work hard. They do what they're supposed to do. God bless them. Praise the Lord for them. But they're not the pastor. Numbers 18. And look, here's what you need to understand. They carry a different burden than the pastor carries. The Levites carried a different burden than the priests carried. Notice Numbers 18, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Aaron, thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee, notice this phrase, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. Now, that's interesting to me because that sounds negative. Iniquity is a word that's often used about sin. And he's saying the priests, they're going to bear the iniquity of the sanctuary. And thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. But don't let that confuse you. The iniquity that's being referred to there is the iniquity of the people. And specifically, it's because they're the ones doing the sacrifices. They're bearing the iniquity of the people. They're taking the iniquity from the people. They're doing sacrifices and they're helping the people get right with God. Well, you know, the major difference between a pastor and a staff, because here's the thing, and I think this is where people get confused, because the staff can help you with just basic things. I forgot my Bible at church. I forgot my phone at church. Can you let me into the building? You don't have to call me for that. Is there a reason that I should leave the word of God to open doors? And we have a staff that's helpful and they're available. But you know, when they can't help, when it kind of becomes out of their range to help is when we're dealing with sin. And as a result of sin, when bad things happen in marriages, bad things happen with young people, bad things happen, that's the point where it kind of becomes out of their ability to help. But people get this idea like, oh no, brother so-and-so can help me with that. No, no, God gave you a pastor. And people start getting sideways when they start thinking or equating that the staff, and especially when you have a very friendly staff and a very helpful staff and they're there to help with basic, look, if it's happy, here's what I always think is great about the staff. If it's happy news, they get it. If it's bad news, I get it. But that's the point. My job is to help bear the iniquity of the people. So we bear, we bore, we are bearing a different burden. They have a burden, I have a burden, it's a different burden. So the church, things get sideways when the church begins to equate the staff to the pastor. Let me say this as well. Things also get sideways, this is what we saw in number 16, when the staff begins to equate themselves with the pastor. And again, I don't think we have that here. I think we have a great staff, I don't think we have that at all. I make sure that they, I tell them every day how much they suck, okay? So I'm just helping them stay humble, you know? I don't think we have that here. But that has definitely happened in churches. That's what happened with Korah. I mean, that's what happens when guys are thinking like, oh, I'm as good, I mean, I won't start naming names. You know names of people that have been like this. They start thinking like, I'm as good as Pastor So-and-so. And they start building their own little factions and building their own, and they're splitting churches and doing these things. And look, things get sideways when we don't understand the positions and the purposes of those positions, and things go bad when church people start equating the staff to the pastor, and things go bad when the staff start equating themselves to the pastor. And look, we carry different burdens, and this is one thing, that people, sometimes when people do get upset, and like I said, I don't, honestly, I can honestly tell you, I don't know of any of this happening in our church at all. If I say something and you're like, he said that about me, that is the Holy Spirit of God, because I don't know any of this going on in our church. But you know, but I've been in church long enough. I've grown up in independent fundamental baptism my whole life. And oftentimes, you know, where some of these things are happening, this is what happened with Cora, is maybe you start looking at the pastor, and especially in a staff situation, either the staff could do this or church members could do this, and they'll think like, oh well, the pastor gets to do things that the staff doesn't do. You know, and the tendency is to focus on what the pastor does that the staff doesn't do. And you know, just think of an example, like traveling, I travel a lot. But first of all, let me just say this, when I travel, obviously I travel because I'm preaching. But you know, just let me let you in on a little secret. When I'm traveling, you know what I'm doing in hotel rooms? I'm working. I'm writing sermons. Because look, just because I go out of town, I still have to preach on Sunday. By the way, just because it's Thanksgiving, I still have to preach on Sunday. Just because it's Christmas, I still have to preach on Sunday. So you know what I'm doing in the hotel room? I'm working on sermons. I'm working on staff to-do lists. I'm working on other things. You know, obviously I'm preaching. I'm taking phone calls. My wife and I still take phone calls. We still counsel while we're out of town. But somebody could look at that and say like, oh well, he gets to travel. You know, the staff doesn't get to do that. But how about this? What about all the things the staff gets to do that the pastor doesn't get to do? I mean, you know, our staff, we have a policy here, and Brother Oliver just had a baby, and we just, you know, did this for him where he had a whole week off of work. And look, praise the Lord for it. I'm glad we did it. And look, I'm not just pointing out Brother Oliver. Every single guy that works for me has had time off of work due to a baby being born. Every single one of them. I think Brother David, this is why he's going to have a baby soon. He'll have a week off of work. We're happy for that. We're glad for that. We're happy that we can make that available and have that as a policy of our church and all those things. And praise the Lord for it, and I think it's a good thing. Let me let you in on a little secret. I've had four babies. I have six kids. I've had four babies while being the pastor of this church, and never once did I get a week off of work. You understand what I'm saying? And that's not their fault. That's not the staff's fault. That's not anybody's fault. It's just the way it is. I've got to write sermons. When somebody's marriage is falling apart, I can't be like, sorry, I'm off for seven days. Good luck. It just doesn't work that way. Look, that's not their fault. That's not anybody's fault. I'm just saying. People often will focus in on, oh, what the pastor gets. What about what the pastor doesn't get? And look, again, I want these guys to have a week off. I want them to have Thanksgiving off. Do you know that I took phone calls from church people on Thanksgiving Day? Yeah, some of you called me on Thanksgiving. You say, why? Because I'm your pastor, and you need to talk to your pastor, and it just happened to be Thanksgiving Day. And you know what I didn't say? I didn't say, like, hey, brother, I'm off work right now. I didn't say that. You know, for years and years and years, my wife, on Christmas Day, we don't take Christmas off. Christmas, whenever Christmas falls, it's a work day for us. Because what we've done for years at our church is, on Christmas Day, we have a Christmas dinner for everyone in the church who doesn't have family. You know, obviously, if you have a husband or a wife, you have family, okay? But there are some people that, maybe they're widows, or because they've moved here or whatever, and they just don't have anybody. So on Christmas Day, we have people over. We have a Christmas meal. We give them a little gift, and just so that they can be with somebody. And of course, we love them. They're our church family. You know, but that's a work day for us, right? A few years ago, this story always cracks me up. I don't know if it'll crack you up, but a few years ago, I get a call. You know, I'm not taking Christmas Day off. I'm ministering. We have, I forget, we had, like, 18 people in our house having dinner. I get a call from a church member having some emergency, needing help with something. You know, I pick up the phone, and first thing I said, like, sorry, pastor. Sorry, pastor. I tried calling so and so. I tried calling so, and they named all these people. None of them answered. I'm like, of course they didn't. It's all their day off. But you know who did answer? Me. You know why? Because I'm a pastor. Because my phone's on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it's never away from me. Because my job never ends. And I'm not saying that in any sort of way to, I'm just saying that for you to understand. I carry a different burden than they carry. Now praise God for them. Thank the Lord for them. I'm thankful for them. But they're not the pastor. Staff wives are amazing around here. They're great. But they're not the pastor's wife. They don't do what my wife does. And again, that's not a criticism of them. Just the reality that this is how it works. And things get sideways when people don't understand these things. People often want to focus on what the pastor gets. Over in that building, my office is bigger than these other staff guys. And look, I'll be very honest with you, that was not me. That was not me. That was not my plan. That's all Brother Vladi trying to be a blessing to his pastor. And praise the Lord for it. But you know, my office is bigger than their office. And somebody could look at me like, ugh, well, why is his office bigger? Well, you know what? My burden is bigger. My stress is bigger. I mean, I don't know. I didn't ask these guys. But I honestly don't think these guys on their day off stay up at night, unable to sleep, worried about some of you. Maybe I'm wrong about that. They can tell me if I'm wrong. I doubt it though. I did sure know they're not worried about how we're going to make payroll. They're not concerned with like, oh, I wonder how we're going to be able to pay all these, you know. I mean, when you get all our staff families here, there's like 30 people depending on us. I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, I was telling my wife, a couple of weeks ago, I was working on something. I get a text message. We have three full-time staff guys. I get a text message from one guy saying, we have this bill. And it was like tens of thousands of dollars. They're like, I need to write this check. Can I write it? I'm like, yeah. Two minutes later, the other staff guy, we have this bill. You've got to sign this thing. I'm like, a couple thousand dollars. I'm like, sure. Two minutes later, the other one texted me, we need this equipment. It was $1,500. And I'm just like, good night. I'm like, can you guys just stop calling me? I'm just, look, this is not a criticism on them. But they don't carry the same burden I carry. They're not worried about the things I'm worried about. And you, as a church member, you need to realize there's staff, and there's pastor. And they're not the same thing. They're great. They're wonderful. We love them. Why has he got a bigger office? My burden's bigger. My risk is bigger. I don't know. I mean, they can let me know. But I've never seen an email. I get text messages to my personal phone, death threats. We get emails, death threats, naming my wife, naming my children. People are going to kill us. I don't know, but I don't think, I haven't seen a death threat come in for Brother Shaw or Brother Oliver or Brother Dave, other than the ones I've written. I haven't seen any come in. I'm just, you know, I write them every once in a while. But I'm just saying my burden is bigger. My risk is bigger. My commitment, you know, here's the honest truth. And let's just be honest. And look, this is not their fault. I love the staff. They're great. But let's say we just have some horrible financial crisis at our church, and we can't pay the staff. You say, what would you do, Pastor Jimenez? I would go get a full-time job, because I have six kids and a wife to support. But you know, I'd still preach on Sunday. Still preach on Sunday night. Still preach on Sunday morning. Still preach on Wednesday. Still do whatever I needed to do as a pastor. And here's what a proof of that is. That's what I did for years. But look, if we had some financial crisis where I couldn't pay the staff and these guys had to go get work, I mean, I don't know, but I don't think they're going to come in and just be like, I'm here to answer emails, post videos, and, you know, print the bulletin. Maybe they will. I don't know. I doubt it. And I wouldn't expect them to. I'm just saying they're not the same position. And it's good for you as a church to understand that. And it's good for them to be reminded of that from time to time. Go back to Ephesians, Chapter 4. Ephesians, Chapter 4. So what we have in this chapter, like I said, there's lots of other stuff. We'll have to cover it another week, because he talks about tithing and whatever, and I definitely want to make sure we get to that. But I just think it's really interesting that God has this problem with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Korah is a Levite. He's on staff. Dathan and Abiram aren't even Levites. They're just guys, 250 princes. They come against Aaron. God does a new thing where he opens up the earth and swallows them alive. God does a new thing where 250,000 are consumed by the fire of the Lord. God sends a plague to the children of Israel, to the congregation, to punish them. And Aaron, if you remember, we preached about it several weeks ago. He stood between the living and the dead to stop the plague. And then we have the great story of Aaron's rod that budded. And God is affirming and confirming again and again, I've chosen Aaron. Aaron is a priest. Aaron is the guy in charge. He's the one I chose. Aaron's not even that great. Aaron led the children of Israel to worship a calf and all sorts. Obviously, Aaron was a sinner like anybody else, but God kept saying, I chose him. And then we get into chapter 18, and God just goes over it again. There's the position of the priest. There's the position of the Levite. The priest is to do the work of the sanctuary. The Levite is to do the work of helping the priest. And there's a New Testament equivalent to that. There's the position of the pastor, and there's the position of the staff. And one isn't better than the other one. They're just different roles for different individuals. And God has put a pastor as the ruler. That's what the Bible calls him. The position of leadership within the church. And then he has a staff that is there to help him. And they have different purposes. The Levites were a gift to the priest to help the priest, to minister unto the priest. And the priest was a gift to the people to serve the people, to help them carry their burden. And in the New Testament, you have the same thing. You have the staff, deacons, the staff. They're a gift to the pastor. They're there for the pastor, to help the pastor, to minister to the pastor. And you have a pastor who's there to help you, who's there to be there for you. And look, it's just good for you to understand those things. And I'm not telling you it doesn't mean you can't go to them. It doesn't mean you can't talk to them or ask them for help or whatever. I'm not saying any of that. We have team captains that we put in positions to help with. Look, obviously all those things are great. Those are all good things. But as our church continues to grow, we're going to have more and more staff or more and more positions of leadership, more and more layers of leadership. And it's just good for you to be reminded. Brother so-and-so is great. Mrs. so-and-so is great. But they're not the pastor. They're not the pastor's wife. And when we start getting those things sideways, bad things happen. Ephesians 4, verse 11. Look at it one more time. We'll be done. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Let's bow our heads now in the word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for this passage of Scripture. And Lord, you're just laying down some foundational things, just organizational things for us to remember. And Lord, help us remember this in church life, but also even in our secular jobs. There's the employees and then there's the boss. There's the business owner. He's the one that took the risk. He's the one that put in all the long hours. He's the one that got this thing started. And he's different than the employees. It's just the way it is. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to be mindful of these things. Help us to not get sideways on these things. And help us to realize that we all have different roles. We have different positions. We have different things we do. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. Well, we're going to have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song. Just want to remind you a couple of things. First of all, don't forget that we've got the clipboards back there for you to sign up for the workdays. And if you could go back there and look at the different shifts and what works for you, we would really appreciate your help with that. And especially tomorrow, if there's anybody that wants to help moving heaters around, that would be a big help. If we can get heaters into all these different rooms, get them all warmed up and dried so that we can continue the work, that would be great. Just see me or one of the staff guys that can help with that. Or if you can help with that, let us know. And of course, if you don't mind looking around and kind of cleaning up your area. If your kids made a mess or putting your hymn books back, it would help the cleaning crew coming in tomorrow. And of course, don't forget about the Christmas gifts for Jesus. We have that list there for you. When you're out and about this week, if you're shopping or whatever, if you could pick one or two things off this list, we would appreciate it. It would be a help to the church. It would be a blessing to us. And of course, if there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know. We'll have Brother RJ come up and lead a song at this time. Amen. Let's grab our songbooks and turn to page number 425. Song number 425. We will end the service with No Room. And the end song number 425. Sing it out on the first. No beautiful chamber. No soft-curdled bed. No place but a manger. No air for his head. No places of gladness. No thought of their sin. No glory but sadness. No room in the air. No room, no room for Jesus. No giving room for me. Yes, you should hear a heaven's gate. There's room for me. Song number 425 on the second. No prayer for his faith. No room in the air. No room, no room for Jesus. No giving room for me. Yes, you should hear a heaven's gate. There's room for me. Sing it out on the last. No room, no room for Jesus. No giving room for me. Yes, you should hear a heaven's gate. There's room for me. Amen. Great singing. We're going to have Brother Adam. Would you dismiss us with your word of prayer? Amen. Amen. Amen.