This sermon emphasizes the importance of respecting authority and the consequences of rebellion. It highlights examples from the Bible where individuals like Joshua and Elisha honored and served their leaders, receiving anointing and blessings. On the contrary, instances like Korah's rebellion and Demas' fall due to lack of respect for authority are discussed, urging listeners to choose the path of honoring God's appointed leaders for spiritual growth and blessings.

We want to continue considering along our theme to see areas in our life where we are imbalanced. We can have many good qualities, Christ-like qualities in certain areas, and be completely lacking in certain other major areas. We're not thinking of little things. There are little things in the Christian life. They are also important. Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 5 about those who disobey the least commandments. That's Matthew 5, 19 and 20. So there are least commandments. Those are also important. And there are major commandments. So we're thinking of major areas. You know, one mark of legalists is that they are always occupied with the small commandments. Now I'm not saying we should ignore the small commandments, but you major on the small commandments, you always end up ignoring the big ones. And then you become a legalist. Jesus obeyed the big ones and the small ones, but he was not a legalist. He majored on the big ones. But he did both himself. But he wasn't always speaking about the little ones. He was speaking about the major areas in the Christian life. So we're thinking of major areas, because that's all we have time to think about in three or four days, where we have probably ignored or not understood what Scripture teaches and therefore have lost out in our spiritual life. So I want to speak today about one of those areas that I have observed a lot, a lack in our churches. It may not be there in all churches, in other denominations. In fact, I find they have understood this in some other denominations, but we haven't understood it in ours. It's a subject of authority and respect for authority. I think there's a lot of respect for spiritual authority in the Roman Catholic Church, a thousand times more than in our churches. There's a lot of respect for authority in the Ceylon Pentecostal churches, a thousand times more than our churches. We just don't have any respect for authority. Is that in the Bible or is it not? Or shall we sit at the feet of the Roman Catholics and the Ceylon Pentecostals and say, please teach us what we have not learned. I would advise you to do that. They can't teach us perhaps in other areas where they are wrong, when God has given us light, but in this area they can teach all of us something. I have seen that, particularly our young people who have learned pretty close to zero, most of our young people, not all, in this matter of authority and respect. Now the question is, what does the Bible teach on that? Is this an area where we are terribly imbalanced? You know, there is a balance here in the sense that we don't become a slave to somebody. We have to listen to the Holy Spirit. It's something like the body of Christ. Our human body is like the body of Christ. Take a little finger, for example. Supposing you're a little finger. This little finger has got to submit to two authorities. Did you know that? One, when the head, it's Christ, tells it to move, nothing else is moving, only the little finger is moving, it's got to move. It's a direct obedience to the head. The other time when this little finger has to obey is when the head tells the arm, you know, like when we sing our songs, lift up, lift up your arms. This little finger can't say, hey, I want to hang around here. The rest of you can move up, but I'll hang around here. You can't do that. But you see, I didn't hear a direct command from God to lift. No, God didn't tell you, he told the arm, but you happen to be a part of the arm, so you got to move. That finger does not need a direct command from the head when it's a part of this arm. This finger does not have to move with this arm because it's not a part of this team. You have a direct connection with Christ, but you are also a part of a team, or at least you should be. By that, I mean a local church. That's like an arm, and if you're a part of it, there's an authority in that arm, and when the arm moves, you got to move. Of course, you have a choice. You can drop out of that church and say, I don't belong to this church. Go and join another one, but then you got to move that one, or you can be like these butterflies that grow from flower to flower to flower and you'll be a butterfly all your life. Useless to God and useless to man. There are some people like that. What does the Bible teach about authority and respect for authority? I want to show you that from Scripture. We don't have to sit at the feet of the Roman Catholics or the Pentecostals. We can learn things from them, but we can sit at the feet of the Holy Spirit today and learn what the Bible teaches about authority. The first thing I want to say is that sin came into this universe long before Adam was made, created. Not by adultery, not by murder, not by the love of money, not by telling lies, not by stealing. Name all the sins you can think of. Not by bitterness, not by an unforgiving spirit. None of those things was how sin first came into the universe. Sin came into the universe through rebellion against authority. That's lesson number one. This beautiful universe that God created got messed up, not because of theft or adultery or murder, but because of rebellion against authority. Once you understand that, you'll say, boy, this is pretty serious stuff. It is. It says in Isaiah chapter 14 about the fall of Lucifer, who was the head of the angels. We don't know actually whether his name was Lucifer. It's commonly used like that because it was translated like that in some language. But what it says here in verse 12 is star of the morning. That's his name. I don't know what his actual name was. He's the star of the morning, verse 12. How you have fallen, O star of the morning, sun of the dawn. You have been cut down to the earth because you said in your heart, it was only in his heart, rebellion always comes in the heart attitude. I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly. I will make myself, verse 14, like the most high. I want to be equal with God. You know, this head of the angels had everything in the universe under him. All the angels were under him. All the universe was under him. There was only one person above him. That was God. I mean, you would have thought that the guy should have been satisfied. He had the highest place in the universe. But it's like greed, you know. There's a saying that a greedy man will never be satisfied no matter how much he gets. Even if he gets everything in the world, he won't be satisfied. Greed is like that. Always want more. In the same way, a desire for position is like that. And here is the craziest example. The highest place in the universe with every created being under him, only God on top of him and he wants something more. I will get up there. And God says, you want to be equal with me? I will cast you down to the bottom of the pit. And to save us from this poison. This was the poison that Satan injected into Adam and Eve. Remember this, my brothers and sisters. It was not adultery or murder or theft that Satan injected. It was rebellion against authority that he injected into Adam's system and that you and I have inherited from our birth. That's why the Bible says, when your little children are born, don't first teach them not to commit adultery, not to tell lies, not to murder, not to steal. All that is important. But first teach them to respect authority. Because that's the poison which is in their system. From their childhood, teach them to honor their father and mother and all older people. If they don't learn that, it will not go well with them. Why do we have to teach children that first? Because that's the poison which way back thousands of years ago, the devil injected into our forefather Adam and our old mother Eve. Don't submit to authority. See, if we don't recognize that, we can think we are pretty good believers. I've got victory over sin. I don't love money. I've got victory over my thoughts. I've got control of my temper. I'm very active in the church. I'm doing this. I've got a good family life. Yeah. But what about the first sin? Have you overcome that one? It's like saying, a child going to school and saying, I got 100% in social studies and I collected 100 marbles and playing marbles and I scored 10 goals in football. I got zero in mathematics. Zero in mathematics and zero in science. What's the use of collecting 100 marbles and scoring 10 goals in football? It's like that a lot of Christians. They got marks in the wrong subjects. And the most important subject, zero or five or 10. I tell you, this disease is far more widespread than we think in our midst, but particularly among our young people. And I'm saying that after an observation of many, many years. So when the devil sees this beautiful couple, Adam and Eve coming into the same garden of Eden, where once upon a time, many years ago, he had been. There was another Eden we read in Ezekiel 28 before the second one in which Adam and Eve came. And they said, Hey, she, he said, Hey, this couple have come to take my place. Is it okay? I'll make sure they get thrown out too. And how does he do it? He doesn't tell you, go and kill your husband. No, no, no. That'll be too obvious a sin. He doesn't tell her to go and tell a lie. He doesn't tell her to be bitter against her husband or tell Adam to be bitter against his wife. He's got a better method. In a very subtle way, rebel against God and rebel against your husband. You know that Eve rebelled against her husband. When the devil came to Eve and said, you know, the discussion there, why don't you eat of this tree? What Eve should have said is, God has given me a head. Let me just go and consult him before I do what you suggest. It sounds like a good suggestion, Satan. According to my understanding, it looks pretty right, what you're saying. But you know, I'm not alone. I'm only half. God's given me a head. Let me just go and consult him. And if Eve had gone to Adam and asked him and she, he was right there. Adam wasn't far away. So he's right there. Here's the devil right there. Here's Eve and here's Adam. Hey, Adam, what do you think about that? Do you think two are better than one? If one is falling, the other can hold him. You know, when they go mountain climbing, they tie a rope between two mountain climbers so that if one slips, the other is holding him. That's what would have happened in the Garden of Eden. But Eve cut that rope. Ah, I can climb the mountain on my own. And she slipped and fell and then pulled Adam down too. It was rebellion against the authority that God had placed over her that led to sin. So we see this is not a small subject. And what about Adam? He was standing there and he should have done something. And when Eve offered the fruit to Adam, Adam had a choice now. Adam had an authority over him that was God and Eve was underneath him. Now he has a choice. Shall I listen to the authority above me or shall I listen to my pretty wife? She'll get offended if I say no to her for the sake of peace at home. I will say yes to my wife. Did he get peace at home? It's been wars in every home for thousands of years since that day. You don't get peace at home by listening to your wife and disobeying God. Let no husband ever think that by disobeying God for the sake of peace at home, don't be fooled by the devil. See what God said to Adam in Genesis chapter 3. He did not say to Adam, Adam because you have eaten of the tree, the ground is cursed. No, that was number two. The first thing he said in Genesis 3.17 was, Adam, you listen to the voice of your wife. See what God told him. Not you ate of the fruit of the tree. That's number two, Adam. Number one, you listen to the voice of your wife. Why did you do that? You ignored my authority and if you carry on that conversation, Adam could have said like we would say, but Lord, she was so stubborn and I had to do something for the sake of peace. Adam, you think you're going to get peace at home just by disobeying me? Are you so stupid? Had the devil made such a fool of you that you get peace at home by disobeying me? You're out of the garden. Both of you, you and your wife can go. Don't let the devil make a fool of you. These things are written for our instruction. Rebellion against authority. Eve did that to the authority over her, which was Adam. Adam did that to the authority over him, which was God. And before all that, Lucifer did that. See how the poison is coming down. Okay, let's go further. In Genesis chapter 9, we read about Noah. Now Noah was a man of God and one man stood for God in the midst of thousands of people and saved the entire human race. But you've heard me often say this, the easiest thing in the world is for God to bless a man. The most difficult thing in the world for God to do is to bless a man and keep him humble after that. The easiest thing for God to do for Noah was to bless him and he did it. The most difficult thing for God to do was for God to bless Noah and keep him humble. He came out of the ark and he said, boy, look at all these fellows dead. Just me. I've been faithful. God and me. And it went to his head. He got drunk one day and lay naked. He never did that in the old days when people were mocking him on the streets. He was preaching on the street. Judgment is going to God. Go forget it, Noah. You've gone off your head. That's what they said in those days. He never got drunk and lay naked. You know, you don't forsake God when you're persecuted. Those days he went back and he prayed, oh God, anoint me. I've got to go tomorrow again and preach. I've got to work. I've got to build the ark. Morning he would get up. He was hard working, but now it was all over. The work was done. Judgment was over and he had come out triumphant. That's the time of danger. When God has blessed you, you have accomplished something. You have done something great. God has anointed you and you've done something. You've built a church or you've done something and you say, ah, I'm not like the ordinary brother I was 20 years ago when I came to the church. Now I'm not like that. I'm a senior brother. I'm a senior sister. I'm not just an ordinary sister. Now I'm an elder brother's wife. Aha, I see. You better watch out. That's how Noah felt. And he gets drunk, lies naked. Was he wrong? 100% wrong. Was it right for others to criticize him? No. He had a son. We read here Noah got drunk in Numnah chapter 9. He planted a vineyard and he drank of the wine and became drunk and lay naked inside the tent. Genesis 9 20. And he had three sons. They had seen their father was a man of God who had saved the whole earth. And they did not respect this man of God because they saw one mistake in him. I've seen young people like that who are always trying to pick out some little fault in a man of God and they despise him. These are the descendants of Ham. Ham, God could not do anything with him. Ham would have been destroyed with the world if it was not for his father Noah. I've seen that with people who've come to the church through the years who would have been out in the world if some church hadn't saved them. If our church had not saved them. Their children have been saved and they come to the church and then they begin to criticize. Who? Those who planted the church that saved them and their children. The spirit of Ham is prevalent even today. And what they are finding fault may be with some. It may not be some. It's not as bad as getting drunk and lying naked. It's usually a much smaller fault than that. But they pick on that. Ah, this is not Christ-like. True. But what has God done through you brother, sister? Has he ever done anything through you? That person you criticize is the one who saved you from calamity. From going to hell. That's the one whom God used to save your children from going to hell. Just ask yourself where would your children have been today? That's what Ham should have asked himself. Where would I have been today if it were not for Noah? But they don't ask such questions and perhaps I've seen many people here who come to the church through the years. They got blessed. They came poor, helpless. They got blessed spiritually. They got blessed materially. Their children got educated. Their children learned to speak English properly when their cousins couldn't even speak one word of English. And they became puffed up and their children got good jobs here and there. And then their head got swollen up like Ham's to say, aha, I can find some faults in Noah. Okay. See what happened to Ham? I've seen the same thing happen today to people. Ham went and saw his father's nakedness and he went out and told his brothers, hey, you know what? This man of God, you know what I saw him do? Lying naked. You think that's right? I think I know what Shem and Japheth, the two brothers, told him. Ham, we're not gossipers. We don't want to listen to your gossip. Go find somebody else. Unfortunately, there was nobody else except his wife. He could go and talk to his wife. Go and tell your talk to your wife. Don't talk to us. Boy, if there were men and women like that, Shem and Japheth driving him, don't come to this house with that type of gossip about a man of God. I don't want to hear it. Don't pollute my wife. Don't pollute anybody in this house. Go and talk to your wife. Pollute your own house if you want. And Shem and Japheth took a sheet. They didn't even want to see it. Think of godly men like that who don't want to see anything evil, don't want to hear anything evil. They go backwards, it says, into the tent because they didn't want to see their father's nakedness. Now, it's not a great crime to see your father naked, but they didn't want to see it. No, we respect our father too much. Okay, he slipped up a little bit. He drank a little too much. He didn't think. But he's a man of God. He's the one who saved our lives. We wouldn't be alive if it were not for him. They went backwards and covered it and didn't tell a word about it to anyone and went home. When Noah woke up, verse 24, he knew what his younger son had done. I don't know how he knew. I don't want to find out. Maybe God told him. And Noah listened to the curse of a father. Fathers don't usually curse their sons. And I don't believe Noah as a normal father would have cursed his son. I believe he was inspired by God. Even if your son did something evil, would you curse him? Noah was a greater man of God than you. He wouldn't do it, but God told him, Noah, this is serious. Forget about the fact this is your son. Forget about the fact that he's a member of your church. It is rebellion against authority. And that's the sin that started ruined this universe. And we don't want that to continue in the human race. Curse it. I think Noah reluctantly obeyed God and said, curse it be Canaan. Canaan was the son of Ham. It's amazing how a curse can descend to our children. A servant of servants will he be to his brothers. And God said, bless Shem and Japheth. And listen to the blessing of a father. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, verse 26. And let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth. Let them grow spiritually. These people who respect authority. And let him and Shem dwell in the same tent and have glorious fellowship and spiritual enlargement, spiritual fellowship. That is the blessing that comes to those who respect authority. And let Canaan be their servant. And it happened. Now you understand why the Israelites were told to kill all of the Canaanites? Yeah. It begins here. Canaan was the son of Ham, as you read in chapter 10, verse 6. The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan. So there we see, you know, Ham was probably 400 years old. Even if you're 400 years old, you got to respect your father. Have you learned it? Paul told the Corinthians. Do you know one reason? Many of you know that the Corinthians were carnal, worldly, no spiritual progress, no spiritual enlargement like Japheth, no spiritual fellowship. There was strife, going to court against each other, adultery in their midst, chaos. You know one reason? They did not respect their spiritual father, Paul. That was the one church that didn't respect Paul. Church in Philippi respected Paul like anything. And they got tremendously blessed. But the church in Corinth, Paul had to prove to them, listen, I'm an apostle. Don't you realize what God has done through me? You read that in second Corinthians and you say, why in the world is he saying all this? He's saying it for their benefit. Because if they don't respect the God-appointed authority, they're going to lose. Paul didn't want to establish himself, hey fellas, you know I'm an apostle. No. You remember once when the church in Philippi sent a gift to Paul? We read in Philippians chapter 4, he said, well, he says, I've learned to live with very little. Thank you brothers for sending me that money. But I am, I'm quite happy. I'm in a jail and I don't need much. I'm very happy with a little. But I still receive the gift you gave me because I know it will bless you. That's what he says in Philippians 4. Where do you find such servants of God? Oh, you look around the horizon and you can't even see one of them. Ah, one, two, rare. Even in Paul's day it was rare. Why did God bless Philippi so much? Because they respected their spiritual father. Why was Corinth such a carnal? Why did they lose their anointing? They had gifts. Oh, they could preach. They could speak in tongues. They could do all that, but they didn't have the anointing. They didn't have grace. Paul had to say to them, you got all your 10,000 teachers, he says in 1 Corinthians 4, but remember you got only one father. You got only one father, he says, and I'm your father and you fellas don't respect me. Okay, I'm not going to fight with you. My conscience is clear before God. He says, I couldn't care less what you fellas think about me. He says in 1 Corinthians 4. You read 1 Corinthians 4. He says, you fellas are rich. Maybe I'm not as rich as you are. You fellas are doing well. Financially, you're prospered because you listened to the gospel that I gave you. You prospered, but you've forgotten where you got it from and it went badly with that church, just like it went badly with Ham. Okay, we move on to another example. In the book of Exodus, in the book of Numbers, we read in chapter 16 about Moses was appointed by God as the leader of the Israelites. He didn't appoint himself. In fact, he pleaded with God and said, please don't send me Lord. Go and send somebody else. I'm not the man. I'm not the man and I tell you every true man of God to whom God has given any responsibility has had that type of encounter with God where he has said, Lord, I'm not the man. I'm not the man. I'm not the man. Send somebody else, but God says you're the man. That's how Moses went. He never had a desire for position or to be a leader or to be recognized or nothing like that. God said, you're the man and he anointed him, backed him up and did great work through him. But there were people in Israel who could not recognize that. It's sad when you cannot recognize the work God has done through another anointed brother. Very sad. It shows you're blind. Well, these fellows were blind. There are blind people today and among them, it's not only blindness, it's also jealousy. There can be a certain amount of jealousy. Hey, I also want to be a leader like Moses. I also want to be accepted, recognized, at least in my territory. And there was a group there in number 16 called Korah. You know, he already had a ministry because he was one of the sons of Levi. I mean, among the descendants of Levi, son of Kohat, descendants of Kohat, one of the tribes of, sub-tribes of Levi. That means it is a very privileged position. They were given the priesthood, but this guy was not satisfied with the ministry he was given. He wanted something more. He wanted to be a bishop, not just a little priest. He wanted a larger geographical area to have a ministry because he thought himself he's a man of God and Moses was not giving him that ministry. So, he decided to get a little group of people to rebel against Moses. And you know, there are always people with that type of spirit. I mean, Lucifer found millions of angels to join up with him and Korah found a lot of people to join up with him. He got together Dathan and Abiram. Listen carefully, verse 1. He got three people, Dathan, Abiram, and On. There were four of them. And then he got 250 leaders, verse 2. And so, these 254 people went to Moses and they said to him, to Moses and Aaron, I'm reading another translation, you have overstepped yourself, verse 3. The entire community is holy, not just you. God is in our midst also, not only with you. Why do you act as if you're running the whole show? Moses says, me running the whole show? You fellas don't know. I told God years ago, don't call me for this. And Moses fell on his face and said, oh God, I will not say anything. If I have chosen this ministry, smite me dead. You know, God, these fellas don't know. I never chose this ministry. You pushed me into it. Okay. He says, God will take a stand with the one he chooses. God will take a stand with the one he chooses, verse 5. God will tell you tomorrow morning whose side he is on. Now Korah, come tomorrow with your gang and then we'll see who is holy. It's you who have overstepped yourself, verse 7. Then Moses continued with Korah, listen well now, you sons of Levi, verse 8. Isn't it enough for you that God has selected you to serve him, to stand before him as a priest? He's brought you into his inner circle with the Levites and now you're grasping for more. You have ganged up against God, not against us. And what do you have got to do against Aaron? Bad-mouthing him. What has he done? Then Moses sent a message to the other rebels who were in their tents. Dathan and Abiram, come and see me. And Dathan and Abiram said in verse 12, we're not coming. Who do you think you are to call us to your tent? Isn't it enough that you yanked us out of Egypt and brought us here? Face it, you have not produced anything. You haven't brought us to the land you told us you'd bring us to. You'll have to poke our eyes out to keep us from seeing what's going on here. Forget it. Forget it. Verse 14, we are not coming. And Moses got angry. He said, oh God, you hear what they said? Don't accept their offering. I haven't taken a single donkey from them. I haven't taken a single paisa from them. I've not harmed a hair of their heads. I'm not doing this for money. There are not many preachers who can say that today. Moses could say it. Moses said to Kera, bring your people before God tomorrow. Let's see. Next morning they came. And do you know who all came? Kera, verse 23, 24. Kera, Dathan and Abiram. What happened to On? He was there in verse 1. He got scared. Thank God that even at the last minute he woke up. So they come to On's tent and say, hey, come, we're going to meet Moses. He says, no, fellas, you go. I'm, I'm finished with this rebellion. I'll have nothing to do with you. He saved his life and he saved the life of his family. So Kera, Dathan and said, okay, you're scared. You're scared. You can't come and face Moses. You can say what you like. I will not participate in your spirit of rebellion. I don't want you gossipers in my tent. Get out. On saved himself and his family. These are written for our instruction. And so the three of them went and the Lord said, back off from the tents of these people. Verse 26 onwards, back off. Don't get anywhere near there. And then Moses told the community, you'll know that it was God who sent me. Verse 28, when you know, when you see what's going to happen to these men in a little while, God is going to do something he's never done before. And the words were hardly out of his mouth when the earth split open, verse 31, and the earth opened its mouth and in one gulp swallowed them all down. Kera, Dathan, Abiram and their families and all the human beings connected with Kera along with all his property, the earth opened up and closed up over them. Just like Enoch and Elijah went to heaven without dying. Here were some people who went to hell without dying. Whole families and people got scared. I want to show you one more thing. It says here Korah and his families all went down, but see numbers 26 and verse 11. Numbers 26 and verse 11, it says, but the sons of Korah did not die. How did that happen? How did the sons of Korah not die? They were standing with their dad. Last minute when they heard Moses say, back off. These teenage boys stood up to their father and said, dad, we're not standing with you. We're going with Moses. Goodbye. They saved their life. Sometimes you can't stand with your rebellious father against a man of God. And God blessed them. You read in the Psalms, the Psalms written by the sons of Korah as the deer pants after the water so my soul pants off of you. These are the guys who wrote it. Be still and know that I'm God. Psalm 46 says, even if the mountains are swallowed up in the midst of the sea, you are our God. They saw it. Thank God they ended their life writing scripture instead of going to hell because they stood against that rebellious spirit. You know what happened the next day? The next day was, by the way, the 250, they didn't get swallowed up by the earth, but it says lightning came from heaven. Verse 35, and the fire cremated the 250 men. They were just burnt up alive. They also got punished. And the next day with all these 250 and these families that died, the next day, verse 41, grumbling broke out among the community. Grumbling against Moses and Aaron saying, you have killed God's people. Did they kill God's people? You see how people twist this. I've heard stories like this. Somebody leaves the church and their son has a road accident. Ah, brother Zach has cursed him. I don't curse anybody. I've never done it and I never will do it. Somebody has a road accident. I cursed him. Somebody gets cancer. Oh, brother Zach has cursed him. You have killed God's people. It's God who does these things because God says vengeance is mine. I will repay those who trouble my servants. It's not, you can't blame Moses for that. It's God. I remember sometime after I got married and most of my wife's uncles and relatives were all against me because I was a, just an ordinary servant of the Lord. I was not even known anywhere those days. And one of them was sitting in their home in Kerala, criticizing me, laughing at me, joking about me, making fun of me with all his uncles, relatives. And suddenly he said, my head's paining. And he got a stroke and he died. Can you say I killed him? I didn't kill him. But they stopped making fun of me after that. That was for sure. So these people said, hey, you killed God's people. Moses said, no, I didn't kill anybody. You know, it's amazing how people don't realize how serious it is to rebel against authority. We can save our life by keeping our mouth and walking backwards and covering, even if you see something wrong. Turn to another example, a good example. We read about David in 1 Samuel chapter 24, when he was being chased by Saul all over. He was hidden in a cave and Saul came into that cave and people said, hey, this is your chance, David. Stab him to death and take the authority. Finish him off. And David just cut, it says in 1 Samuel 24, 5, a small part of Saul's robe. He said, I won't kill him. He just cut a little part of his robe just to show Saul that I could have killed you. Here's the proof. I could have killed you. I didn't. But even that small little thing, cutting off the robe from a fellow who had lost the anointing years ago, as it says in verse 5, David's conscience bothered him. He felt guilty. Oh Lord, I'm sorry. Far be it from me that I should have done this to my master, God's anointed, that I should stretch out my hand and raise a finger against him. He's God's anointed. He was not God's anointed. He lost the anointing. But David had such a respect for him because it was true. Once upon a time, God had anointed him and used him. God said, David, you're a man after my own heart. You know, it says in the book of Jude, I want you to turn to the book of Jude, where it speaks about people who got the spirit of Korah. It says here in verse 11 about the people who have perished in the rebellion of Korah. That means even in the New Testament times, there are people who have that spirit. Who are these people in New Testament times that Jude is writing about? Verse 8, he says, these are dreamers who reject authority. They are a law unto themselves. They think they are pretty spiritual. They end up like ham. They revile angelic majesties. But Jude says, let me give you an example. Michael is the highest archangel in heaven. And once there was a dispute with the devil over the body of Moses. I don't know where that took place. You know, it says the devil had the power of death in Hebrews 2.14 up to a certain time, till Jesus took it away from him through his death and resurrection. Hebrews 2.14. Before that, the devil had the power of death. So there was an argument about the body of Moses, which is buried in some unknown place. I don't know whether it was when Moses came up on the Mount of Transfiguration. There was some argument or earlier. I don't know. And Michael could have said, hey, get away, you devil. You're good for nothing. Who are you? You got kicked out of heaven. He never said that. Why? Because once upon a time, that fellow was Michael's boss. Once upon a time, he was Michael's boss. And so he says, I have nothing to say, Satan. The Lord rebuke you. But these men, they revile the things which they don't understand, like unreasoning animals who don't submit to any authority. They go in the rebellion of Korah. There's a lot of that spirit in the world today. Who are the ones to whom God gives an anointing? I want to see, show you some good examples now. In the book of Numbers, chapter 11, we read about Moses. He had an assistant called Joshua. Joshua, Numbers 11, 28. Joshua, the son of Nun, who was the servant of Moses right from his youth. He had a different attitude. He said, I recognize that Moses is a man of God. I may never become a man of God like him, but let me serve him in whatever way I can. God was watching. We read later on in Numbers, chapter 28, 27. Numbers 27, verse 15, when God told Moses, you can't go into the land. Moses said, okay, Lord, please appoint, verse 16 of Numbers 27, please appoint somebody who will lead the people in the land. The Lord said, take Joshua, verse 18. He's got the spirit. Lay your hand upon him, anoint him, verse 20, give him some of your authority and he will lead the people forward. And you read in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 34. So Moses, the servant of the Lord died, verse 5. Verse 9, last chapter of Deuteronomy, verse 9. Joshua, the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him and God backed up that man. Do you know that Moses had two of his own sons? But unlike a lot of evangelists today, he did not promote his sons to take over the leadership of the church, of the group. Show me a man who has started a ministry today who does not promote his own children to take over the leadership. It's rare to find in Christendom. You find it in a Moses. People are like Saul who want to promote Jonathan. Hey, get rid of the Davids. I want to promote my son, Jonathan. Yeah, I know God's anointed David, but let's kill him, get rid of him, throw daggers at him. I want to promote my son, Jonathan. It doesn't work. You can't fight against God. The anointing does not flow down some family tree. Moses recognized that when he went home, you know, his wife was a bit of a quarrelsome type. He must have said, Moses, what do you mean anointing Joshua? Here are two sons of mine I brought up. Can't you give them the ministry? Moses said, just let me go to sleep. Please don't disturb me. What's the use trying to show your wife that God has not anointed my sons to do that ministry? God's told me to appoint Joshua, not my sons. I tell you, I would deeply respect a man like that if I saw him somewhere, but it's rare to find. I look around, it's all so different today. I see the Sauls who are trying to promote their Jonathans, but the Moses, rare. Rare in those days, rare now. You read another example. What did Joshua do? He was just serving, probably pouring water to wash Moses, to wash his hands. Or you read another example in second Kings in chapter three, when Jehoshaphat said, King Jehoshaphat says in verse 11, isn't there a prophet of the Lord anywhere here? And somebody says, oh yeah, there's a fellow called Elisha. Who is this Elisha? Verse 11. What's his degree? Which Bible school did he come from? He didn't come to any Bible school. He used to pour water for Elijah to wash his hands after Elijah ate his food. What was his qualification? Verse 11, he used to pour water for Elijah to wash his hands after Elijah ate his food. He was known as that. You know, like some people are known as muscular, handsome, etc, etc. Elisha, what's he? He's the guy who used to pour water for Elijah to wash his hands. I don't know much about him, but I used to always see him pouring water for Elijah to wash his hands. God saw that. That's what Joshua did for Moses. And he gave him a double portion, a double portion. And if you study one Kings and two Kings, you'll find that Elijah raised one person from the dead. Elisha did two people from the dead, raised two people from the dead. One when he was alive, another after he was dead. He did double the number of miracles that Elijah did. It's exactly true. In Philippians chapter 2, Paul says, I want to send somebody to you folks, to minister. I'm going to send Timothy. Philippians 2.19, because I have nobody else in my whole team who's like him. Everybody is seeking after their own interests. But you know, verse 22, he's been proven. I've tested him so many times. He's proven worth and he has served me like a child serving his father. And he got Paul's anointing. It happened in the Old Testament. It happened in the New. There are the Hams and there are the Timothys. Demas was also a co-worker of Paul. It says in 2 Timothy 4.10, Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world. He wanted a ministry for himself. Before the time, God would have given him a mighty ministry like Elisha's. But he was in a hurry. He had no respect for authority. Well, that's what I've tried to show you from Scripture about what happens when you don't respect authority and what happens when you do. It's like, you know, Moses stood before Israel one day and said, I've set before you the way of life and the way of death. You can have your choice. I can't choose for you. But now I'll give you my own testimony. All my life, I have respected every true servant of God. Not all are anointed. I'm not talking about every elder of every church. But anyone in whom I recognize the anointing of God, I always respected them. I respected my father and my mother. Every servant of God who has come and stayed in my house, I have honored them, respected them, never allowed them to spend one rupee of their money. And they stayed in my house, giving them the best food, the best everything, because I thought I must honor them. I want to testify today. It's gone well with me. Extremely well. I want to say to you, my brothers and sisters, we haven't learned it. The Roman Catholics and the Pentecostals have learned it. Very often people who are not even anointed. We are miles behind them. We are a democratic people with everybody's got one vote, like Quora. I've got a vote. You got a vote. We're all equal. Anybody can get up and share anything. This is the church. Yeah, yeah. But where are you today spiritually? And where will you be 20 years from now? I'd like to know. The decisions you take today determine where you will be 20 years from now. Learn to respect your father and mother. Learn to respect those who are older. I never allowed my children even to speak rudely to a servant in the home who was age-wise older than them. I taught them respect for authority. I taught them to respect the older brothers in the church, even if they were teenagers. If they are older than you, respect them. It's gone well with my children. I thank God for that. I taught them to respect the church, to value the church, even today they value the church. I hope your children value the church. I hope they have a tremendous respect for the church. If they don't have it, it's because their parents don't have it or the parents have not instructed them. Who's going to be the loser? Not the church, your children. I have proved this for 30 years. I'm not talking theory. It works. Honor God. Honor his prophets. God will honor you. Jesus told his apostles, whoever receives you receives me and I will honor those who honor me. Learn to respect people who are older than you, who started serving God before you were born. Don't think you know more than them. Let's humble ourselves so that it might go well with us like Jesus submitted to Joseph and Mary. Let's do that today. Let's bow before God. Any Bible study without practical application is useless. Dear brothers and sisters, we have not spoken much about these things in the past because it would look as if we are promoting ourselves. And for 30 years, you probably never heard such a Bible study. But when I see the tremendous loss coming to the young people in our midst, I say, Lord, I'm willing to be misunderstood. I don't want them to suffer loss. They've got to hear what scripture says. Now it's up to you. You've seen the way of life and the way of death. It's up to you to decide which way you want to go. Heavenly Father, help us, help us to live in the fear and reverence of you and your word. Thank you for hearing us. In Jesus name. Amen.