(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

And the Bible reads, Now Korah the son of Issar, and the son of Kohath the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown, they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, the Lord is among them, wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? When Moses heard it, he fell upon his face, and he spake unto Korah, and in all his company saying, Even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his and who is holy, will cause him to come near unto him. Even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. This do, take you censers, Korah, and all his company, and put fire therein, and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow, and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy, you take too much upon you, you sons of Levi. And Moses said unto Korah, Here I pray you, you sons of Levi, seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation and minister unto them, and he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi, with thee, and seek ye the priesthood also? For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord? And what is Aaron that ye murmur against him? And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, which said, We will not come up. It is a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of the land, that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us. Moreover, thou hast not brought us into this land, that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Wilt thou put us out the eyes of these men? Will we not come up? And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the Lord, Respect not thou their offering. I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them. Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the Lord, thou and they and Aaron tomorrow, and take every man a censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the Lord every man a censer, two hundred and fifty censers, thou also and Aaron each of you his censer. And they took every man a censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon. And soon in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron, and Korah gathered all the congregation against them under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron unto Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I might consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation? The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose up, and went unto Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side, and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, with all that appertained unto them, and they do go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them. The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained unto them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them, fled at the cry of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the 250 men that offered incense. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Eliezer the son of Aaron the priest, that he may take up the censers out of the burning, and scattered out of the fire yonder, for they are hallowed. The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, therefore they are hallowed. They shall be assigned unto the children of Israel. And Eliezer the priest took the brazen censers that were burnt had offered, and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar. To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger which is not of the seed of Aaron come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Korah, and as his company, as the Lord sent to him by the hand of Moses. But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron saying, You have killed the people of the Lord. It came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and behold the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Get ye up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them. For there is wrath gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran to the midst of the congregation, and behold the plague was begun among the people, and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people, and he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred beside them that died about the matter of Korah, and Aaron returned unto Moses, and the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, the plague was stayed. Let's pray, dear Lord God, thank you for everything you blessed our church with, Lord. Just thank you for every soul here right now. We just pray that you bless this service, Lord, and please fill pastor with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches your word unto us, and that us in the congregation could be edified by the preaching, Lord. We pray this all in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Okay, the title of my sermon this evening is, Seemeth It But a Small Thing. Seemeth it but a small thing, of course that's from verse number nine of number 16, where it says, Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them. This evening I want to examine the story of Korah and kind of look at his, what are some of the things that he did, Dathan and Abiram, how they sought to essentially usurp the authority that God had placed in Israel, and what did they do to try to overthrow Moses and Aaron, and some of the things that we can learn from this particular story. Now when you read Numbers chapter 16, you basically come to the conclusion that we're essentially witnessing the first church split, right? It's like, you know, there's a major splitting in the church in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses, and you think to yourself, you know, oh man, you hear about church splits or people leaving churches, and it's like, oh man, is there something wrong with the leader? Could he not just like keep it together there? What's going on? Well here we have a great leader by the name of Moses, a man of God who speaks to the Lord face to face, and he is speaking to him mouth to mouth, and yet you have this major church split taking place, right? And it's not because Moses is a bad leader, it's not because he's lacking the leadership qualities to lead the children of Israel in the wilderness, it's because there's bad people in that congregation, and you're always gonna have throughout the years different infiltrators, people who are essentially trying to usurp the authority and overthrow the man of God for their selfish and greedy means, and so it's not because of the leader, it's not because there's something wrong with the authority of the church, often it's just some agent of Satan seeking to sow discord among the brethren, split the church for their own wicked means, and we're gonna talk about that this evening. Now let me give you a couple principles from this story that we can learn tonight. First and foremost, regarding, regarding, excuse me, I lost my place here, regarding Coradathan and Abiram, let me mention this is that a rebellious faction always has an instigator, okay? So when you think about a group of people who are setting out to split a church or setting out to speak evil of the authorities, to speak evil of the man of God, just know this, even though there might be a group of individuals involved, there's actually one person who is essentially recruiting everyone to kind of see it their way, okay? So yeah, all the entire group here is guilty, you know, you have Dathan and Abiram, they're guilty, the 250 men are guilty, but the person who is essentially instigating them to have their minds evil-affected against Moses and against Aaron is actually Korah, okay? Look at verse 1, it says, The son of Levi and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab and An, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben took men, and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly, listen to this, famous in the congregation, men of renown. Now there's a reason the Bible's actually given us that little detail there, that Korah is recruiting Dathan and Abiram and then they're also recruiting 250 princes of the congregation, and not just any princes, you have men who are famous in the congregation, men of renown. Why is it the Korah, Dathan and Abiram are recruiting these particular men to kind of help their cause against Moses and Aaron? Well because they're people of credibility, okay? They're people of renown, they have credibility, they're people that are well respected amongst the children of Israel, and so if Korah just by himself tried to go and usurp the authority of Moses, it wouldn't work because, you know, who is he? Whereas if you get a multitude of people to follow him and to agree with his narrative against Moses and Aaron, and not just anybody but you know men of renown, men of reputation, men who are famous in the congregation, who essentially people respect, they know, then you might have a case. This is essentially the mindset of what these men are thinking. Now think about this for a minute because you have Korah, Dathan and Abiram who are essentially heading this whole thing up and the instigator being Korah, and what are they saying? You know, you take too much upon you, Moses and Aaron, okay? They want to usurp the authority of Moses and Aaron because they want their position. Now I want you to notice something here because here's the thing is that Aaron and of course Moses, they're of the tribe of Levi, okay? Aaron is essentially fulfilling the duties of the priesthood, right? I mean it's a very lofty position, it's a very important position, a spiritual position, but hold on a second, Korah is also of the tribe of Levi, and it specifically says that he's of the household of Kohath, and if you know the Old Testament when it comes to the duties of the priesthood, there are three specific families under the tribe of Levi who were designated by God to carry out the duties of the tabernacle, okay? You have, excuse me, the Mararites, you have the Gershonites, and then you have the Kohathites. The Mararites are essentially the ones responsible for transporting the tabernacle because in the Old Testament when they would construct the tabernacle it was supposed to be mobile, right? Because they're in the wilderness so they would erect the tabernacle, fulfill the sacrifices, and then when it was time to move on they tear it down and then move it. Well that was the job of the Mararites, they were in charge of essentially transporting that tabernacle. The Gershonites were the ones responsible for decorating the tabernacle, so all the accoutrements that went with decorating it, making sure that it looked appropriate according to, you know, the blueprints that God gave, they were responsible for that. And then you have the Kohathites. Now the Kohathites were responsible for transporting the holy items, referring to the Ark of the Covenant, okay, the table of the showbread. These were very important items within the tabernacle, so they're the ones in charge to bear that upon their own shoulders to take it whenever they move, so this is a huge responsibility, okay? So it's not just like you're not anybody if you're just a part of the tribe, the family of Kohathites, you have a huge responsibility, you have a lofty position, you are an important person because you are to bear the Ark of the Covenant. You're to bear the table of showbread, right? And in fact, not just anybody of the tribe of Levi can fulfill that duty, you have to be of the household of the Kohathites. And not just anybody within the children of Israel can fulfill these duties, only those of Levi and only those of these particular families. So it's not like Korah was just like a nobody in the sense of, oh man, you know, I just want to be involved. You are involved, you're doing something great, you're in charge of the Ark of the Covenant, you're in charge of the table of the showbread, yet he's not satisfied with that position. He wants to usurp the authority of Moses, and yes, the authority of Aaron, and he wants to take over their spot, okay? And so you have these three particular families that are in charge of all of the responsibilities of the tabernacle, and yet, you know, these other guys, Korah, you have Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram are not part of the tribe of Levi. They're part of the tribe of Reuben. So why are you in this fight? You're not even considered for this position. You understand what I'm saying? Like the Koathites, at least they're involved within the construction and all those things of the tabernacle, you know, all the activities and the tearing down, the transportation and the decoration and all that, but the tribe of Reuben has nothing to do with the tabernacle. They're not allowed to do anything with the tabernacle, you understand? So what is Dathan and Abiram doing? Well, I'll tell you why they're even involved in the first place is because of Korah. So Korah is making his problem their problem even though Dathan and Abiram have nothing to do with this. So even if they were to win this particular argument, they still can't perform the duties of a priest because they're part of the tribe of Reuben. And even beyond that, what about the 250 princes of the children of Israel? They can't participate in the duties of the tabernacle because they are not of the tribe of Levi. The point that I'm trying to make here is the fact that often when there is a faction that is seeking to overthrow the leader, they often recruit other people who are not even involved. And sometimes these people can end up blindly following, ignorantly following the wicked agenda of the instigator, not because the instigator has their best interest in mind, but because they want to use them to further their own selfless interest. You understand what I'm saying? But the Bible tells us, lay hands suddenly on no man, listen to this, neither be partakers of other men's sins, the Bible says. What Dathan and Abiram and the 250 princes should have done, it said, Korah, shut up, sit down, do your job, and leave us out of this. You know, I'm just thankful we're not in Egypt anymore. Look, I'm just thankful we got a tabernacle. And you should be grateful that you're of Kohath because I'm part of Reuben and you know Reuben. Now this Reuben's cool, but you know. It says, keep thyself pure. And there's a lot of times where people end up suffering the consequences of making dumb decisions because they were instigated or influenced by another person. The simple passed on and are punished, right? But here's the thing, even though Dathan and Abiram and those 250 princes were deceived into following this wicked person, Korah, to overthrow the leadership, they still hold responsibility for that. God still holds them accountable and they end up suffering the punishment because of that, okay? The Bible tells us in Exodus 23, you can write this down, Exodus 23 verse 1 says, thou shall not raise a false report, put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Thou shall speak in a cause, neither shall thou speak in a cause to decline after many to rest judgment. He's saying, look, don't follow a bunch of people just because someone is speaking evil of an individual and you just want to go along. Don't hop in the bandwagon of just criticizing other people just because it's the popular thing to do. You understand? To rest judgment just because everyone else is doing it. Stay out of it, right? Mind your own business, don't be a partaker of other men's sins. It goes on to say, neither shall thou countenance a poor man in his cause. Go with me if you would to 1 Timothy, hold your place there in Numbers chapter 16, go to 1 Timothy chapter number 5 and at the end of the day, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, they're specifically attacking Moses and Aaron but who are they really trying to usurp the authority of? God, right? So the fact that they're fighting against Moses and Aaron is actually an indicator that they don't like the authority of God. How so? Well Romans 13 verse 1 says this, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisted the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, the Bible says, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. What is it saying? You know, when you seek to usurp or disobey, rebel against or fight against biblical authority, God views it as though you're fighting against him because he has instituted that particular authority in that church or in the wilderness with Moses and the children of Israel to fulfill specific duties and God sees it as essentially an extension of his authority. You understand? So the Bible says that we need to be subject to the higher powers. Now don't misunderstand this because this is not teaching obey authority no matter what, right? And or obey authority even if they overstep their boundaries of what their the parameters of their authority, right? Like a pastor for example you know the Bible talks about obeying them to have the rule over you in context of a pastor but there are certain things that you do on your personal time and your personal life with your family your wife and your children I have no business to get involved in you know my business is here in the church right I'm to take care of whatever's taking place here in the church making sure that I I'm leading here I'm ruling here I'm not gonna be policing your households you know telling you how to run your family how to run your marriage and your children and what you should be doing this and that why because that's out of the scope of my the guidelines of my authority understand and so obviously this is insane it's not giving unfettered access to authority to just reign over every single aspect of a person's life it's obviously referring to that particular section that they're in charge of okay now look at 1st Timothy chapter 5 because let's talk about the pastor it says in verse 1 rebuke not an elder now what is an elder the elders a pastor right it's just another way of saying pastor the reason we know that is because an elder is referring to someone who is older not just an age but also spiritually is why the Bible talks about in 1st Timothy chapter 3 that a pastor cannot be a novice lest he's being lifted up with pride he falls into the condemnation of the devil referring to the fact that you know someone who's just been saved recently cannot just be a pastor right they have to be spiritually mature in order to fulfill that office well it says here that you should not rebuke an elder in other words you know you shouldn't just take it upon yourself to think that you have the authority to just rebuke a man of God a pastor of a church even if you disagree with him even if you think is wrong he's oh what am I supposed to do then what says there but in treat him as a father and the younger man is brethren so it's not saying don't correct the pastor it's not saying you can't even have any disagreements with the pastor it's actually referring to the disposition that you have when you do correct the attitude right the spirit in which you come it says rebuke not an elder but in treatment as a father what does that mean it means when you approach the pastor with a disagreement you're respectable about it right not disrespectful you're not coming with a prideful arrogant attitude you're entreating him as though he's a spiritual father okay look at verse 17 let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially they who labor in the Word and doctrine for the scripture said thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn and the laborer is worthy of his reward listen verse 19 against an elder receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses now what does that mean it's referring to the fact that a person who has the position of a pastor of an elder they're obviously held to a particular standard right there there are qualifications to be a pastor they're held to a particular standard they're supposed to be above reproach okay and with that privilege also comes the responsibility obviously to lead a congregation but also it should be worthy of honor meaning that if someone comes to another person in a church and says pastor Mahia said X Y & Z did X Y & Z we're actually not supposed to believe him right off the bat in other words the pastor should receive the benefit of the doubt because he's the pastor of the church he has met the qualifications to be the pastor of the church he's been selected by God and approved of other pastors right a pastor who's ordained him and even approved of the congregation therefore you should offhand give the pastor the benefit of the doubt this doesn't mean that they're above reproach though in a sense of or above accusation because it says there but before two or three witnesses so in other words there has to be some pretty substantial evidence to bring forth in order to accuse the pastor of wrongdoing understand but if someone comes to you just starts gossiping about a pastor you know just like oh yeah that sounds right yep I believe it actually what you're supposed to do is like I don't believe it unless you have ironclad evidence you have multiple witnesses let's see the receipts then if you don't have anything like that then your opinion doesn't really matter because it says here that you should not receive an accusation against an elder okay and I believe what this also means is that when a person comes to you accusing myself or any other pastor for that matter of evil or wrongdoing that person deserves a strong rebuke okay and in fact look what it goes on to say in verse 20 then that sin rebuke before all that others may fear and that's immediately following up you know the accusation of the elder so if someone comes to you and starts talking crap about pastor Thompson or you know pastoring menace pastor Anderson you should immediately put a stop to it and say you're bringing a railing accusation against the pastor and if you have no evidence to substantiate that claim then you need to be quiet plain and simple you have every right to do that because it says don't receive an accusation against an elder okay he said what if he is guilty well then you should have no issue bringing up the evidence then right if something has taken place where they have wronged someone if there's wrongdoing if there's sin involved then show the receipts because if you don't have any evidence then it's just hearsay it's just gossip it's called what the Bible refers to as a railing accusation which according to the Bible merits excommunication from the church now let me also say this you know because this is gonna happen over the lifespan of our church people will criticize me to you okay people in church sometimes will come and they will try to slight the authority of the church you know by criticizing me or criticizing my family criticizing my wife you need to be able to have the discernment to catch that when it does happen okay and not just go along and you say well you know the the statement was really like convincing though you know it just really convincing and you got to kind of ask yourself if people are going to you to gossip about spiritual authority that means they don't really have respect for you because they essentially view you as being simple-minded someone who believes every word understand and obviously this doesn't just apply to me this applies to any pastor okay and in fact you know me as a pastor if someone ever comes to accuse another pastor of supposed wrongdoing I write it off even if I don't like the pastor there's some pastors out there I just don't like and I'm not talking about false prophets okay that's a different category I'm talking about pastors that I may not be in lockstep with we don't get along maybe we've broken fellowship for whatever reason if someone brings me an accusation against that person I'm not gonna believe it right off the bat right off the right off the bat because of the fact that if you don't have evidence I don't care don't try to use the fact that I broke fellowship with that person as a reason to believe that I'm gonna believe what you're saying against them just because I don't have a proper disposition in my mind against that person I'm still living by this principle that I'm not gonna receive an accusation against an elder and you know what every other pastor should also have that standard too by the way you know missionary or pastors out there if there's people's trying to sow discord and going to you and accusing you know criticizing me or any other pastor to you as a pastor you should also not receive that accusation because you should live by that principle everyone should live by that principle you know it's not sensitive oh man I heard the pastor here did where's the evidence though because here's the thing you know a pastor is is essentially someone who is always under a microscope they're always gonna have enemies even within churches there's gonna be someone who does not like the pastor there's gonna be a Korah there's gonna be a day thin there's gonna be in a byram there's gonna be 250 princes famous in the congregation there are individuals that guarantee you in churches fundamental Baptist churches maybe even in new IP churches who for whatever reason might not like a particular pastor right I mean that's just common in all churches and so I think the reason God placed this principle here is because he knows the propensity of those who envy a position of leadership and what are some of the methods they'll use to bring down the pastor they'll often go and accuse the pastor of wrongdoing to other people to try to recruit them to their narrative against that particular pastor you guys understand what I'm saying don't be a Korah and definitely don't be a day thin or in a byram or to those 250 losers you know who now they're only famous for going to hell you know they just went down quick at the hell okay you know and here's the thing is that any time someone brings up an accusation against the pastor against even myself you know because I've had people do that they'll bring a railing accusation against me I rebuke the hell out of them you know and and here let me also make something very clear folks that when I'm preaching I'm judging okay and if I rebuke you personally I'm judging you that's that's my job and I'm not gonna apologize for it either you know if you get offended at my judgment and my rebuke of you that's not an offense that is worthy of me being ex communicator so my job is to rebuke you I mean literally that's part of my job description like when I was like well so what's my job God's like reprove and rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine but reprove and rebuke so my job and obviously you know and you can't see my heart but obviously I'm doing it from a heart of love I do it because I love the church I love you and open rebuke is better than secret love but you know just because you don't agree with my judgment or agree with my rebuke doesn't mean I'm wrong and I've said this before and I'll say it again if you don't agree with my judgments there's plenty of other churches that you can go to where you can respect and follow the leadership there this isn't a cult or it's just like you can't leave here and if you do leave you got to keep tithing here and you know I'm ruling over you you're not right with God if you leave no here's the philosophy if you don't like me if you don't like my leadership you don't like my preaching you don't like me rebuking you and go somewhere else it's really weird though if you don't like me and you stay here you weirdo that's weird it's like these people on Instagram who hate my guts but they keep following me they watch every video why if you hate me so much that's so weird you're a freak it's got this obsession with me there's plenty of people on the internet that I don't like you know what I do I don't watch them because they annoy me I'm like oh here he comes again let's see what he says let me comment or whatever you're a psycho or something you got issues and but you know what what's worse than that is when people come to church and they don't like the pastor okay and they criticize the pastor or they'll try to and let me just say this some of us have to grow up spiritually to discern and distinguish when someone is criticizing spiritual authority and they're doing it by sleight of hand because you know no one's gonna just criticize the pastor right off the bat and say pastor me he is dumb they'll they'll they'll sugarcoat it you know what I mean so that you don't really see or hear their exact opinion but they're planting a seed in your mind making your mind evil affected against the pastor and that's happened to plenty of people in our church where there's people who is by sleight of hand will criticize the leadership and the people just don't see it you know and before they know it they're like you know what pastor me is a jerk does suck as a leader but this is the best thing we got though this is the best church though and they're just like yeah but you know what he's still our pastor though you see stuff like that you need to be able to like discern okay this person first of all does not respect me because of the fact that he thinks he can criticize the spiritual leaders to myself because he wants me to believe him and recruit me to his side but also you know I need to separate from this individual or rebuke him right then and there and say don't ever talk bad about the pastor if you don't have any evidence to prove what you're saying shut up and plain and simple and you know what we need more people to do that in our church because if there's someone in our church who doesn't like me they're not gonna tell anybody else they're gonna keep it to themselves because like if I tell anybody they're gonna tell me to shut up and you knew people hey if you're new to our church as in new within the last six months they're gonna go for you if there's a Korah, Dathan or a Bairam in our church just know this they will come to you because everyone already knows how they are if you've been in our church for long enough you know how certain people are sometimes and so what they'll do is they'll target new people because they have a clean slate with you and they'll try to recruit you on a narrative against the pastor that's just how it is and by the way not just me don't let people criticize brother Hernandez either he's church staff he's the evangelist I've ordained him don't let the only person if you criticize him is me and his wife right I'm kidding of course just me no I'm just his wife's not allowed to rebuke him what am I saying you know Korah, Dathan and a Bairam, Korah is simply the instigator Dathan and a Bairam are equally guilty and so are the 250 but obviously the one who brought this all up is Korah because those other guys can't perform the duties of a priesthood why are they even getting involved well their minds have been evil affected by Korah against Moses and Aaron okay and so I just want to put that out there you know don't be someone's idiot someone comes to gossip to you about anybody in the church or about the pastor just translated it oh they think I'm an idiot and by the way learn how to detect flattery too hey man I need to talk to you you're pretty smart I know you see things I've seen you grow like a lot I for sure I know you read the Bible you ever notice you know and then they just kind of roll in that's called flattery you know when they when they try to smoothly introduce their criticism their mouth is as smooth as butter they're trying to butter you up because they're about to like slam someone in our church or a leadership or something like that that's wicked you know I'm thankful that churches like ours has taught me to detect flattery because you know flattery is rampant in old IFP churches and they don't even see it and once I learned this this principle of flattery and how it's done and how it's how people do it to one another you know I started thinking back to times in past where people are flat around like whoa that person was flattering me he's spreading a nephew low my feet you need to be able to detect that reject that rebuke them and not allow that to prosper in our church okay and so you have Cora Dathan and Abiram a rebellious faction always begins with one instigator and you need to weed them out recognize it's Cora who's the problem but not only that they will often project their own wicked agenda on you okay because he says in verse 3 and they gather themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them ye take too much upon you seen all the congregation are holy every one of them yeah okay yeah like you guys right yeah you guys are really holy and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord now what do I mean by they will often project their wicked agenda upon you because of the fact that at the latter end of the verse it says wherefore then ye lift up yourselves above the congregation is Moses and Aaron really lifting them up themselves above the congregation no Cora Dathan and Abiram are trying to lift up themselves above the congregation they don't want the 250 to have to be in charge of anything Cora is the one who wants the position so they'll often project that and you know what we need to be able to detect when accusations come when criticisms come just believe what they're saying in a sense of like if they tell you oh you're trying to lift up yourself against the congregation just flip it like oh that's what they're trying to do they're they're reflecting upon me what they actually think in their hearts okay and so they're projecting the fact that they want to be over the congregation and here's the thing is that you what do you mean you take too much upon you you know the the Kohathites and it literally says that they have to bear the burden of taking the the Ark of the Covenant and the table of showbread that was a major responsibility and here's the thing you know Cora can't fulfill the office of Moses even if he wanted to even if he was qualified for it it required a very special leader to oversee that nation you understand what I'm saying you know there's a reason why the qualifications of a pastor are there and yeah you know the Bible does tell us that you know if any man desire the office of a bishop he desired the good work but it doesn't go on to say so anybody could just join you got that desire you're good to go no then he goes on to give the qualifications because you have to meet certain conditions in order to be the pastor in order to be the leader not just anyone can do it let me give you another point here look at number 16 again they are often characterized by a lust for power so it's not that Cora you know just wants the the position because he's noble because he loves the children of Israel he loves the Lord really what it is he has a lust for power it says in verse 8 in Moses sent it to Cora here I pray you you sons of Levi here's the phrase seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel had separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them what does he mean by that he's basically saying like so you don't like what you do you think like taking care of the duties of the tabernacle is just like nothing seemeth it but a small thing unto you like you have a privilege a major privilege in the nation of Israel and yet you're like despising your job you're not happy you're not content with just fulfilling the office of a coethite transporting the Ark of the Covenant it's a major responsibility seemeth it but a small thing unto you he goes on to say first 10 and he has brought thee near to him and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee and seek ye the priesthood also it's like are you just not happy with the ordination that God gave you the fact that you know God is your inheritance the fact that God has separated you that no other tribe can fulfill what you're doing only you guys can do it and you're not happy with that now you even want the priesthood you're not happy with transporting the Ark of the Covenant where whereas a lot of people can't even touch the Ark of the Covenant there's a lot of people can't even come near to the Ark of the Covenant can't touch it only you're designated for that but now you want to also be the priest for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord I like this part and what is Aaron that you remember against him he's like saying is that he goes by the way why are you guys mad at Ulysses for you know he's all what is Ulysses that you remember against it like what has he done to you like Aaron is just like fulfilling his job he's just laboring he's minding his own business it's like why are you trying to usurp his authority why are you trying to bring him down what do you got against him it's not that it's just that they have a lust for power so they're willing to just trample over anyone to get it even if it's someone just minding their own business they're just serving the Lord they're humble individuals it's just like they don't care they're willing to get to that position by any means necessary even if that means tearing down an honest noble labor of the Lord now go to third John if you would hold your place there go to third John third John but that is a powerful statement is it not seemeth it but a small thing unto you like does this mean like you don't think this is important to do and again let's let's talk about the pastor you know obviously pastoring a church is a major privilege it's an honor it is it's considered a lofty position absolutely but just because you can't be a pastor doesn't mean you should despise whatever it is that you're doing to serve the Lord because I guarantee you there's people out there possibly even in this church and in other churches who are not pastors and they're probably going to get rewarded more than some pastors at the judgment seat of Christ it's very much possible because at the end of the day you can serve God at whatever capacity you see we never want to take on this mentality of the old IFP that asserts that well if you really want to serve God you either have to be a pastor or a missionary or just full-time Christian worker working on staff at a church or something like that that's the only way you'll do something big for God false wrong that's not true now if you feel like you have a desire to be a pastor and you want to work towards that end and you are qualified or you can possibly one day meet those qualifications strive for it we need more pastors amen but if you've already been disqualified or maybe if you qualify in certain areas but you don't qualify in others like you're not apt to teach or you you know you're not ruling over your house well and you just don't have the leadership qualities don't get bad that you can't be a pastor why well see method a small thing serving God just at whatever capacity you have is it a small thing that you would just just be a church member soul winning serving in your church winning people to Christ disciplining others and being a blessing seemeth about a small thing unto you you see there's nothing wrong with the desire to be a pastor and in fact we need more men to desire to be pastors let's just be honest we need more people to step up stand in the gap right and make up the hedge and become pastors and get qualified and start churches absolutely but let's just be honest not everyone's gonna be a pastor and just because you can't be a pastor doesn't mean you have to throw away the service of God throw out the baby with the bath water so I can't if I can't be a pastor I'm just not gonna not gonna serve God okay Cora I get what you're saying seemeth it but a small thing unto you to serve the Lord at whatever capacity and here's the thing when I first got saved I had the desire to be a pastor okay I wanted to be a pastor I had the desire to be a pastor you say why well it's because of the fact that I had a desire to preach the Bible and I had a desire to want to teach people the Word of God and lead people in the ways of righteousness that was my desire there's only one problem I didn't know the Bible and I was 21 years old so I saw the qualifications I saw what was expected it's just like well this is not gonna happen for a really long time because of the fact that I'm a novice and I don't know the Bible cover-to-cover you know I don't know a lot of doctrines I'm still learning he said what did you do oh I threw in the towel and quit I was like if I can't be a pastor now then what's the point of even trying no I didn't do that you know what I did I picked up people for church you know I did I led people to Christ I served in the bus ministry I was a Sunday school teacher teaching you know five-year-old boogers the Bible when they wouldn't listen and I did that for years folks I did that for years and you know what it was never a small thing on to me I took whatever it is that I did as serious as though I was a pastor because I knew they even if I was just serving this five-year-old kid a Sunday school lesson teaching them doctrine that was big in God's eyes and you know what I didn't understand how all that would ultimately lead to giving me the leadership skills and the love for people necessary that I would need today in 2024 to pastor a church but you know what I didn't care because it wasn't a small thing unto me that's why I enjoy doing what I did I enjoy taking my little Buick Regal that you know that ugly looking Buick Regal and picking up people for church making it my job listen to me making it my job to pick them up to drop them off to take them out to eat to invest in people my life was literally invested in the ministry you know discipling people teaching people the Bible you know helping them with their problems helping people with their family issues breaking up fights and families going home all by myself and just thinking myself like I serve the Lord today and you know what no one ever promised me either no one ever said like hey a couple years you'll be a pastor no one said that to me because I understood that I was a novice and I wasn't gonna be there yet and I was just happy where I was and you know what serving God at that minuscule capacity was not a small thing unto me at all I enjoyed every part of it and obviously it was tiring at times and sometimes people didn't thank you then didn't show gratitude you were defrauded sometimes but in the grand scheme of things I knew that God was watching and he was pleased with me I had the perspective that whatever it is that I do hey vacuuming the church I remember we started a church in Los Angeles a church plant and you know the my pastor was just like hey you can preach once a month or preach on a Wednesday once a month but you also got to throw away all the trash you got a vacuum clean the toilet I mean you're the janitor though you know and back in those days they had like um you know it was a Christian school and so like when you would when you would get bus kids to come to the church the goal was to get them into the Christian school but obviously their parents weren't gonna pay for the Christian school so our job was literally to take them candy selling so they can pay for their tuition and you know what that's not a very nice job like oh what do you I work for the church oh cool what do you do like teach the Bible what do you do like you know missions I take kids candy selling oh okay and then the candies melt money gets you know money gets lost because these kids are using it for other reasons or something it's like a thankless job but I gave it a hundred and ten percent because it wasn't a small thing unto me vacuuming the church building was not a small thing unto me throwing away trash and making sure everything was on par at the church making everything look excellent was not a small thing unto me staying late at the church cleaning the church by myself was not a small thing unto me because you know what the Lord was with me and I knew that he was pleased with what I was doing it wasn't what am I trying to say what I'm saying is that no matter what you do in the Christian life it should not be a small thing unto you hey I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness you know just just opening the door for the brothers and sisters of Christ to come in and out a hundred times you know over and over again that's a blessing because that's better than being in the tents of wickedness suffering the consequences of sin and your actions and stupid things that you do I'd rather be a doorkeeper hey parking attendants I know there's only two it's not a small thing amen don't think it a small thing put on that vest amen put a smile on your face and wave at everyone as they walk by why cuz it's not a small thing everything we do in the ministry no matter how small you think it is it's not small in the eyes of God because you're doing it as unto Christ if you do it as unto Christ should not be a small thing unto you no matter what it is that you do you play an instrument it should not be a small thing unto you take it serious you read the scriptures don't let it be a small thing unto you that's a privilege you song lead don't let it be a small thing unto you that's a privilege you're part of a soul winning team you're not the soul winning leader that's okay you're part of the team that's not a small thing hey you're a team leader that's not a small thing but I'm not pastoring though and you never will with that attitude you know well you know I just feel like I got a calling you know I feel like it's just God would want me to be a pastor well I guess we'll see if it happens then you feel like that calling so strong in your life let's see it but here's the thing you take too much upon you though you know we should never even envy the authority of our bosses at the workplace let them inspire you to own a business one day to get raises to reach that you know that position one day but don't be a core a day thin environment your workplace to try to usurp the authority of your boss just so you can get paid more take his position hey how about this you know why should not be usurping the authority of her husband's right well you know I just think I know more Bible than him I just think I'm more spiritual than it would seem a thing seem a thing but a small thing unto you to be a keeper at home seem a thing but it would seem a thing but a small thing unto you to love your husband and reverence your husband and be a keeper at home and fulfill the duties of a wife according to Titus chapter 2 seem with it but it's not a small thing it's a huge thing how about this you know being content with your church don't let that be us don't let this church be a small thing unto you you know and look I'm not against if you have a favorite pastor outside of me or if I'm not even your favorite pastor I'm not hurt at that at all because you're here every Sunday listening to me anyways so just don't tell me that I'm only human okay don't hurt my feelings like that but you know you might have a church you know within the new IFB that you favor probably more than our church but but here's the thing don't despise this church though you know don't ever think well maybe the grass is greener over there because you know there's probably people at that church thinking the same thing about this church and so don't let this church be a small thing unto you because there was a time when this church was not here and you know if it continued to not be here you would be at some old IFB or non-denom church out there you know or all of us would have just moved to Arizona I don't know I don't know be content with your church don't let it be a small thing unto you hey don't let the brethren be a small thing unto you God is all place he's placed us all here and you know don't despise your brethren don't belittle the brethren these are your brothers and sisters in Christ love them with fervent charity amen well it's just you know I'm used to seeing them every yeah but what if they're not here and so you know it's important that if you strive or want to be a pastor go about it the right way you say how be faithful in the little things but I want to prepare though then this is how you prepare be faithful in the small things so you can be faithful so God can see that you'll be faithful in the big things later on show yourself a man of consistency and faithfulness in the smallest of menial tasks in the church be a blessing to others love people love God love the Bible and you know what God will take care of the rest that's just how it works love the little things that you do love fixing the songbooks on the chair love showing up early love singing out love following along in church during the preaching love being a blessing just love serving God at wherever you're at don't let it be a small thing unto you of course stupid he should have been like man I'm like a coethite what are you guys gonna do oh oh yeah that's right you can't make it into the tabernacle hey you guys want to see all the way you can't cuz you'll die huh that's right okay let's go that's a huge privilege no one else can touch the Ark of the Covenant ask Uzzah mr. para Uzzah himself you know coethites have a huge privilege and so be faithful and little don't be like Cora Dathan and Abiram go back to number 16 if you would number 16 let me just say this regarding these usurpers they can't handle the power even if it was given to them Cora's like he wants to be on top but let's just be honest if he took on the responsibility of Moses even if he wasn't a wicked person he wouldn't be able to handle it there's a lot of what do they call it Monday morning quarterbacks is that what they call it people who just love to tell you how you could do your job well if I was a pastor I'd do it this way well you're not so and people will often see that if they actually get the power that they want it's not all it's cracked up to be or what they thought it was gonna be look at number 16 verse 4 when Moses heard it he fell upon his face and he spake it to corn unto all his company saying even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his and who is holy and will cause him to come near unto him even him who he hath chosen when he caused to come near unto him this do take he censors core in all his company and put fire there in and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow and it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose he shall be holy I like this part he take too much upon you you sons of Levi what is he saying you're biting off more than you can chew right now oh so you think you're qualified to take our spot okay we're gonna see that you know the you know the Bible says in Matthew 7 judge not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge ye shall be judged and with what measure your me it shall be measured to you again oh you think you can fulfill the office of Moses and Aaron we'll see what God thinks about that and you know what at the end of the day you're actually taking too much upon you you should have just been happy serving in the tabernacle because you're not you can't handle all this smoke I'm gonna handle the smoke and at the end of the day you know there's certain people like oh man it follows the pastor well here's the thing is that if you're the pastor everything would just probably fall apart men are selected for a reason my friends certain leaders are selected for a particular reason and you should never have no one should ever have this attitude like oh I deserve this position and you say what about yourself well here's the thing if I ever cease being a pastor I would actually be really happy with that because I actually enjoy serving another pastor I actually enjoy that I did it for years I enjoy making others successful I find great fulfillment in doing so and maybe that's why God made me a pastor because I have no self selfish interests I don't want to promote myself I'm not trying to do you know fulfill my own agenda I want to lead people I'd like to help people lead people in righteousness help people be better Christians help marriages and child rearing help individuals in their Christian life that's what I want but you know what if I ever stop being a pastor I can still do those things I'm actually happy with that I'm not gonna take too much upon myself and you know what God often selects the man who just doesn't isn't necessarily trying to force their way into a position of leadership when I select individuals when I select men to become team leaders I'm actually not looking for the person who comes to me often I'm looking for the person who doesn't come to me and who is producing you know if there's a person who's just like you know the team leaders who are who are in our church right now these are specific people I thought to myself this person is just faithfully serving the Lord they just love serving people they love to lead basically like I gave them a title of something that they're already doing you know what I'm saying so I like what Moses said you're taking too much upon yourself because even if you took my position you would not be able to handle it number one because the children of Israel are just a stiff-neck people they're gonna stress you out but two you're not leadership quality you just have a lust and a greed for power that's what it is at the end of the day go with me if you would hold your place or go to Luke 14 Luke 14 now Moses is so close to the Lord that basically he just told Korah oh man all right grab a sensor you guys are gonna see what's gonna happen right now you know God's gonna choose who is holy and who is not you just don't know what you're asking for right now you're screwed it's basically the same because Moses knows and Moses is the meekest man I mean as soon as they brought that railing accusation to him what did he do he fell upon his face why because he actually cared for the people who were gonna be affected by this because he knew in his mind a bunch of people are gonna die right now he's like God's about to smoke everyone here there's gonna be pretty much there's gonna be a lot of dead bodies at the end of this discourse Moses knew you know why cuz Moses actually cared for the people he didn't care for himself he cared for the people he knew that the actions and the decisions of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and the 250 will not only affect them but ultimately affect everyone else as well because of course later on in the chapter what happens a plague goes out and kills hundreds of thousands of people and you know what some of those people obviously maybe innocent they're not as guilty as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram but you know Moses he cared for those people he doesn't want them to die he doesn't want them to suffer the consequences of Korah's actions he actually loves the people look what it says in Luke 14 verse 7 and he put forth the parable to those which were bidden when he marked how they chose out the chief room saying unto them when thou are bidden of any man to a wedding sit not down in the highest room lest the more honorable man that thou be bidden of him and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee give this man place and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room basically saying you know if you go if you're invited to a party don't sit in the most lofty chair like actually that's for the groom you mind standing up a little bit and then you're just like oh sorry about it and then you're just like embarrassed it's better to just take the most humble seat so then when the person invited you comes like what are you doing sitting there come sit over here come sit in the best chair where all the foods at where all the the sweet drinks are at and where all the good company is that's basically what he's teaching here but when thou are bidden go and sit down in the lowest room that when he hath bade thee cometh he may say unto thee friend go up higher then thou shall have worship in the presence of them that sit at me with thee for whosoever exalted themselves shall be abased and he that humbled themselves shall be exalted the principle there is that you should always have a demeanor of humility in any sort of circumstance that you're in because the formula to be exalted according to the Bible is when you humble yourself God will lift you up however when you exalt yourself when you promote yourself when you are the one boasting of yourself you're often the one who's abased you're ashamed you are brought down lower because God gives grace into the humble but he resists the proud okay go back to number 16 two more points and that's it point number five regarding these usurpers is that they will exaggerate their claims to make the leader look bad so these are things we need to watch out for okay now these particular claims that we're going to look at in this passage is actually not from Korah, Dathan and Abiram it's from the other guys okay actually it's from Dathan and Abiram and the others it says in Moses verse 12 sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab which said we will not come up is it a small thing that thou has brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness except I'll make thyself altogether Prince over us moreover thou has not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards wilt thou put out the eyes of these men we will not come up now I hope you see the spirit in which they're saying this super disrespectful because Moses is the leader he's just like let's settle this and they're like no we're not coming up he said we will not come up and then you know Moses has said seemeth they but a small thing unto you you sons of Levi and what do what do Dathan and Abiram respond with oh well does it seem a small thing unto you Moses that you brought us listen to this you brought us up out of the land that flow with milk and honey what are they talking about they're talking about Egypt what first of all God brought you out second of all God's the one who called Canaan the land the flow with milk and honey and yet they're calling each of the land the flow with milk and honey and you're claiming you're gonna bring us to the land flow with milk and honey and then he says this you're only bringing us out to kill us unless you we allow you to rule over us I mean these are some crazy grievous railing accusations against Moses and they even said like oh are you gonna put out the eyes of these men just like these exaggerated statements oh you're gonna you're gonna pluck their eyes out of Korah you're gonna you punish these men for all these things that you're doing I mean it's an exaggeration verse 15 and most I like this response okay Moses was very Roth and sent him to them said unto the Lord respect not their offering I have not taken one ass from them neither have I hurt one of them so he doesn't respond to them he's probably like Lord don't even listen to their offering I didn't take anything from them he's just like I'm not even gonna answer and you know sometimes when people bring stupid railing accusations against you here's the best thing that you can do just don't even answer them I've literally sat down with people in my office bringing railing accusations against me and it gets to a point where it's just like why even defend myself you're not interested in the truth I'm not even gonna answer you plain and simple I mean there's plenty of people online to bring railing accusations against me oh man are you gonna make responsible what for they're not interested in the truth you said what are you gonna do I'm gonna pray against them to the Lord like Lord don't respect them plain and simple look at verse 20 now here's the last thing regarding these usurpers and that that is that they all perish listen to this in the gains saying of they all end up suffering the consequences of the actions of Korah says in verse 20 the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying separate yourselves from among the congregation that I may consume them in a moment and they fell upon their faces and said Oh God the God of the spirits of all flesh shall one man sin and without be wroth with all the congregation and the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto the congregation saying get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and Moses rose up and went into Dathan and Abiram and the elders of Israel followed him and he spake unto the congregation saying depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins so they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram on every side and Dathan and Abiram came out stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their sons and their little children by the way anytime you make a stupid decision like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram did your family suffers for that too oh man you know those poor kids yeah poor kids that they have such stupid parents right they have Korah as a parent but you know what Dathan and Abiram should have thought about it my decisions my rebellion against the ordained man of God is gonna affect my children so before you start bringing railing accusations you don't like this you don't like that you might want to take the spiritual you know the the lives of your children into account first what kind of examples is that set forth for your children they're gonna be usurpers just like you when you when they grow up and by the way here's here's another side point right here you know you shouldn't criticize leadership at home behind or behind closed doors in front of your children if you're gonna criticize me you know make sure at least make sure your children aren't present right because when you start criticizing the leadership to your children guess who your children gonna rebel against you cuz you reap what you sow says in verse 25 and Moses rose up actually skip down to verse 28 and Moses said hereby ye shall know that the Lord had sent me to do all these works for I have not done them of mine own mind if these men die the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing and this is very new by the way and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up with all that appertaining to them and they go down quick meaning alive into the pit then he shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord so this is a lot of faith that Moses has right this is how close he is to God he's like if they just like die of cancer something like that if they die of leprosy common death I'm not the man but if the earth just opens up and they just go straight into hell with everything that they have and they're alive when they go down into hell then you'll know that they provoked Moses that they provoked Aaron know that they provoked the Lord he says in verse 31 it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words Moses is awesome he's like as soon as he's finished saying it it's like period that the ground clay was sundered that was under them and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained into Korah and all their goods they and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation so just picture this I mean this is a huge ordeal that's happening here right and Moses is just like you know if the earth opens up and I'm sure you had some doubters like earth opening up swallowing them alive that's a little much Moses you know and then boom it opens up and they all fall in I mean that's huge and not only does it did it it just consumes them all and then it closes right back up again I mean that is a very supernatural punishment so what happens everyone just runs crazy they're just like yeah they're just like scared now you would think like you know if I was like on straddling the fence like man Moses was such a jerk to me in the past he might have you know he might be bad or something after that I'd be like dude Moses my favorite I'll be like Moses praying for you every day you know hey I you know I was cool with the Ethiopian woman that you took you know you need anything let me know I'm praying for you and Aaron hey hope see you guys tomorrow you know you would be like extra nice that's common sense right like okay Moses is the man and God proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt but then these idiots in Israel are like you've killed the people of God it's like Moses didn't open the earth God did it yeah you have all these people like Moses you killed them and and now Moses is like and then he tells Aaron you know go make go get the center go make a sacrifice because the plague has begun so as soon as they're like criticizing Moses for this people are like yeah they just like fall over and die so Aaron is like running to go do this sacrifice and as he's running bodies are just falling they're just they're just dropping like flies it's like and he's why is he running because he actually loves them because he doesn't want more people to die so people are just done he's standing before you know the quick and the dead those who are alive and those who are dead and they're trying their best to appease the wrath of God because the plague of the Lord has gone out this shows you the heart of Moses in the heart of Aaron this is why they are the leaders and that's probably why God put him there because he knows that Moses is a humble man he loves the Lord and he actually loves the people no matter how stupid they get sometimes that's how he is no matter stubborn they are now obviously he doesn't love Korah you know he wanted Korah to just perish right because Korah is a wicked person but you know what I'm sure he loved even the 250 princes who were just deceived by Korah what's the sermon the sermon is simply this you know beware of the chorus and you know what throughout the years there will become chorus and whether they're reprobate or not I'm talking about just people who despise Dominion they speak evil of dignities they don't want to be under authority they by sleight of hand try to usurp and overthrow the authority of the man of God don't let people just criticize elders whether it's myself or any elder any pastor of a church don't just believe everything you hear and just accept the railing accusations of a person with no substantial evidence to back it up and here's the thing folks like if you got something against me like oh man you you offended me first of all I'll say when and I say when you preach this and I'll say well I'm not apologizing because what I preach is what I preach you should have known better before you came and sat down listen to me when you sit there you you open yourself up to the possibility that I might and you know offend you you look folks you come to be offended sometimes right like you get up in the morning you're like put it on your clothes like I might get offended I'm gonna hear something like you should come with that expectation it's not always gonna happen but it's there's a possibility I'm not gonna apologize for my preaching if it offends you I'm just not gonna do it so if you're looking for an apology because I was too rough or you felt like I called you out well if you don't like it then go join some non-denom limp-wristed pussyfooter church where they won't offend you because you're not gonna get an apology for me from the things that I said behind this pulpit it's not gonna happen now look if we had some like dialogue or something like that and maybe I did offend you yeah of course because I'm not perfect but let me also say this if I openly rebuke you in our church even if I'm not behind the pulpit my judgment still stands because I don't just go around just flippantly rebuking people either I mean I'm not walking around every Sunday like all right let's see who I got here freaking Cody I'm just like and just go off on him for no reason I'm typically a very happy I'm always laughing we're always joking we have like a really good time at church I'm not just walking around like mad at everyone looking to just get on people you have to like push me over the edge in order for me to openly rebuke you and if you don't like that open rebuke then you need to go somewhere else where people are just nice to you all the time plain and simple and last thing don't let people just openly criticize leadership or any other church member to you and our church if they have no substantial evidence to back that up as soon as they start saying something said where's the evidence where's the receipts if you don't have any receipts then I ain't believing none of that and don't ever criticize pastor Mejia in my presence ever again or any other pastor for that matter because I actually believe the Bible and we need to have that culture in our church that everyone is I there hereby deputize you and ordain you to rebuke people if they do that I mean you've already had that permission anyways I'm just reminding you of it beware of Korah beware of Dathan and beware of Abiram let's pray Father we thank you so much for your word Lord help us as your people to grow in our discernment and wisdom and Lord we know that there's throughout the years there will become there come those who want to bring division and want to tear down leadership or just tear down others and they'll seek to recruit people to their cause I pray to you to help us to have the wisdom to discern when they're doing so when they're trying to use us as a tool to propagate that Lord and I pray Lord that you'd continue to give us wisdom help us to openly rebuke it and look for those red flags when they come we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen during your song books the song number 374 send the lights song number 374 send the light