The Sons of Korah #2 (Number 16:2) | 08/03/25

All right, welcome back. And if you're watching online,

so glad that you're here with us at North Life Church this

morning or maybe sometime in the near future.

And if you are watching online, then we want to encourage you to

come and be with us in person. Come worship with us in person

at 115 E Main St. and Gaylord, right in the heart of the old

Alpine Village. This is your invitation.

Would love to see you worshipping with us sometime

soon. All right, again, notes are

available on the back table if you want to grab those.

If we run out, we'll print more. But there's you should be good

for what is back there. And I'm continuing a message

this week that I started last week and apologize.

Last week we had some glitches with our online live stream, but

our volunteer team did a great job this week coming in and

getting it figured out. So thank you to them.

So last week's message is not online.

So for those of you who missed it, I'm going to offer a little

bit more review this morning than I typically would.

But I want to make sure that you understand if you weren't here

last week or if you're not able to watch it online, I want to be

sure that you get what we talked about last week.

If you have your Bibles, please take them and turn to Numbers,

Numbers chapter 16. And Numbers is very early in

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

your Bible. It is about maybe 10 or I don't

know, 8% through depending on what you have in the back of

your Bible and maps and concordances.

Your Bible is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,

Joshua, Judges, Ruth are the early books.

So Numbers, you can find it in that context, Numbers chapter

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

16. And as you're turning there, let

me just explain to you that as as the pastor at our church, I

do carry it very seriously on this idea of like teaching the

full magnitude of Scripture as best as we can.

And what do I mean by that? Well, I mean that sometimes

there are some Christians who only focus on what one might

call the red letters. And maybe you've heard that

before there. They might even call themselves

red letter Christians. And they focus pretty much

solely on the teachings of Jesus and they negate the Old

Testament and even other teachings in the New Testament

that it's very concerning to me. So not only do we focus on the

New Testament, the teachings of Jesus, but the the book of Acts

and the other letters. But also I want to be very

intentional about being open and mining truth from the Old

Testament because Jesus quoted the Old Testament, referenced it

numerous times. Because of that and other

reasons, we believe that the Old Testament is also inspired by

God and is valuable in our relationship and our pursuit of

Jesus. So I intentionally make sure

sometimes I'm in the Old Testament, sometimes I'm in the

New Testament, the teachings of Jesus, the letters, sometimes

the prophets, sometimes the Psalms.

This morning will be mostly in the Old Testament.

And I hope that this is inspiring and grows in you an

understanding of a great story in the Old Testament that you

might not have been aware. This story finds its way in the

tapestry of the Old Testament and seeing how it lands, it's a

very inspiring story that is valuable, valuable, valuable.

OK, so Numbers chapter 16 and I'm going to start in verse one

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

and it says now Korra, the son of Izar, the son of Kohath, the

son of Levi and Dathan, and a Byram, the sons of Eliab, and

the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men and they rose

up before Moses with the number of people of Israel, 250 chiefs

of the congregation chosen from the assembly, well known men.

This morning I want to talk to you about the sons of Kora.

Last week I talked to you about the Kora and his sons, but we

focus more on the actual story of Kora.

Today I'm just going to review that story, but then I want to

talk to you at greater length about the sons or the

descendants of Kora. Let me pray for us.

I got us out by accident that often, very often scripture has

running themes and from one book to another book, often the

tapestry or the weaving of the stories becomes really inspiring

and beautiful and gives us even the more confidence that the

word of God is inspired. And so this morning, as we look

to the story of the sons of Korra, I pray that you will

reshape some of our thinking when it comes to who you are and

how you act God and what is your character.

Help us to see it and respond well to it and grow us in our

relationship with you. We pray in Jesus name and

everyone said Amen. Now, I want to give you context

to where the story is landing in Numbers.

If you know even little about the Bible, you'll remember

there's a Moses and Moses is leading the children of Israel.

And if you saw the Prince of Egypt or you saw other movies,

you, you'll know that Moses was called by God to go and tell the

Pharaoh, Let my people go. So Moses, who'd grown up in the

Pharaoh's court, Long story short, but then it spent 40

years kind of hiding out in the wilderness, the desert.

Moses goes because God speaks to him in a burning Bush and he

goes to Pharaoh and says, let my people go.

They had been slaves in in Egypt for hundreds of years.

And so eventually there are enough plagues where the Pharaoh

is finally driven by God to release the slaves, the

Israelite Jewish slaves, and they leave.

And you might remember that they crossed over the Red Sea and God

does miracles with them. And Moses goes up on the

mountain and comes back with the 10 commandments.

Maybe you know that part of the story.

But where we are now is that they're kind of wandering.

And they're wandering waiting for God to lead them into the

Promised Land. But there is disobedience and

rebellion and other issues that God is going to deal with.

And so here's Cora. And Cora leads a rebellion where

he gathers 250 influential people to lead a rebellion

against Moses and Moses's brother Aaron, who was the high

priest. OK.

And that's where we are in the story.

So they rose up before Moses with the number of the people of

Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation chosen from the

assembly of well known men. And they assembled themselves

together against Moses and against Aaron.

And they said to them, you have gone too far, for all in the

congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among

them. Why then do you exalt yourselves

above the assembly of the Lord? Cora is a Levite, meaning he's a

descendant of Levi, and he was a priest serving with others.

And they were priestly roles that that Moses had set up where

the Levites were going to minister to God's people and

lead them in worship and care for them and do other things.

So Cora is that he's a Levite. He has a priestly role, but here

he's leading a rebellion against Moses.

And watch what's going to happen.

When Moses heard it in verse four, he fell on his face and

he's going to inquire of the Lord what to do.

And then Moses in verse 5, and he said to Cora and all his

people in the morning the Lord will show who is his and who is

holy and will bring him near to him.

So Moses hears from God. What they're going to do is have

somewhat of a contest, and then God is going to speak on who he

is for and who he is against. And he's going to be for Moses

and Aaron, and he's going to be against Cora leading this

rebellion. OK, so that's the story.

It's a review of what we talked about last week, a little

shorter. So Cora rallies these 250

people, and Moses says, OK, what we're going to do is we're going

to give you a sensor, which is like an ornamental piece of,

like, metal or something. And you would put incense in it.

And then you would burn the incense, and you would have

worship. And there are some Christian

traditions that still do this today.

Maybe you have been part of a Christian tradition like that.

So here is Cora leading this rebellion.

He takes his incense. He's burning it in the censor.

And all of a sudden, Moses is going to warn those who are near

Cora's tent to step back, like step back, because God's

judgment is coming. And what happens is those who

have been LED in this rebellion in Korra, he, the people that he

has led, the earth is going to open up and it's going to

swallow them up, which is fierce judgment, fierce judgment.

God pours out this judgment because a rebellion against

Moses and God's people would be very detrimental.

And so God on this occasion deals really harshly with Korra

and his followers. Verse 7B.

Put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord

tomorrow. And the man whom the Lord

chooseth shall be holy. One.

You've gone too far, says Moses. Moses.

Moses warns the people to step away from the tent of Korah, And

the ground under them split apart, and the earth opened its

mouth and swallowed them, and all the people who belonged to

Korah. Now that's a very important part

of this passage Moses is writing.

All those who belong to Korah get swallowed up in this

judgment of God. But when you think, OK, all who

belong, all the people who belonged to Cora, if you read it

incorrectly, you might think that Moses is referring to

Cora's children or his wife or family members, all who belonged

to Cora. But I'll present to you, and

it's not just my own idea, but I think scholars agree that what

it's really saying here is those who belonged in the rebellion to

Cora receive the judgement of God, and God doesn't pour his

judgement out upon Korah's children.

And this is a big principle that I want to take at length to

address. And then I want to show you what

actually happens to the descendants of Korah.

What is going to be their legacy?

Is it going to be the rebellion of their father, or is it going

to be something greater? OK, so let me show you first

that the descendants or the sons of Korah do not die.

They're not swallowed up in the judgement that God pours out.

We see this in in Numbers 26. So later 10 chapters later, this

chapter is called the census of the new generation and verse one

says after the plague the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar the

son of Aaron the priest, take a census of all the congregation

of the people of Israel from 20 years old and upward by their

fathers houses all in Israel who were able to go to war and the

sons. Now again these names become

important in genealogies when you know a bit about them.

The sons of Elii, Nemuel, Dathan and a Byram, they were already

mentioned earlier in chapter 16 as being part of the rebellious

ones that Cora is able to recruit to his agenda.

And verse 9 says the sons of Eliab, Nemuel, Dathan and the

Byram. These are the Dathan and a

Byram, lest you forgot, they were chosen from the

congregation who contended against Moses and Aaron and the

company of Cora when they contended against the Lord.

And watch this, the sons of Eliab and Nemuel and Dathan in

the Byron, they do not die. They're not swallowed up in the

judgment of God. And this is a big principle

because there are some, and I will show you why in a moment.

They think that God punishes children for the sins of their

parents. You might even think that God is

punishing you for the sins of your parents.

Or maybe you might fear that God might punish your children for

your sins. But I want to address this and I

want to show you the nature and goodness and character of God.

And verse 10, it reminds you what happened in the story.

And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together

with Cora. When that company died, when the

fire devoured 250 men and they became a warning, when it says

that God swallowed up those who belonged to Kora, it's not his

children, it's not his family. It's those who were in the

rebellion with them. Because watch what verse 11

says. But the sons of Kora did not

die. And this is the first that we're

going to get to see that. Oh, yeah, yeah, they're not

going to die. They're going to live.

And what is going to be their legacy?

What is going to happen with the story of the sons and

descendants of Kora now? It's vital to not misunderstand

or create a theology from this story without knowing the rest

of the story. If you read it wrong and you

think, oh man, look, God swallowed up those who belong to

Cora, meaning his family members, then it can really skew

your thinking about who God is and what he's like.

There's an issue that can be cleared up when we get the rest

of the story, one often misunderstood in the church, and

it's the issue of generational curses.

And maybe you've heard this term before.

It's sometimes taught in the church.

And I I would, it's semantics, but I would say that certainly

there are generational consequences.

If you create a habit that your children watch in your life,

then yes, your children and your grandchildren could grow to have

a propensity towards the sin that you gave way to in your

life. That's just the natural order of

things. But if you wrongly think that

God punishes our children by forcing them into the sin that

our descendants might have had, then again, I think you'll miss

God. So let's see that that that's

where people get this passage or this idea that God punishes

children for the sins of their parents.

Exodus 34, six through 7 and the new living translation.

This is an occasion where God and Moses are going to interact

and Moses is going to have a conversation of sorts with God.

And God appears to Moses and God shows up saying this.

The Lord passed in front of Moses calling out Yahweh the

Lord God, God's like, introduce himself, I am Yahweh the Lord.

And then watch what God says about Himself, the God of

compassion and mercy. I am slow to anger and filled

with unfailing love and faithfulness.

And I lavish unfailing love to 1000 generations.

I forgive iniquity, rebellion and sin, but I do not excuse the

guilty. I lay the sins of the parents

upon their children and grandchildren.

The entire family is affected, even the children in the 3rd and

4th generations. Now many misunderstand this

passage. It is a poem to show hyperbole

and contrast. So God is Speaking of himself

and he says I lavish my love and mercy and grace to 1000

generations, but I don't forgive the guilty and I bring

consequences. I allow consequences, you might

say to the third and 4th generation.

But it's to show contrast that God for 1000 generations shows

mercy, but God allows consequences to only the 3rd and

4th generation. It's not that that God is

saying, and I talked about this longer last week.

I don't want to totally re preach that sermon, but in my if

you have the notes from last week, I gave a bonus page at the

end so you didn't just think I came up with this idea myself.

And if you want me to send this I can.

But I gave many scholars and theologians who support this

idea that this passage is not promoting the idea that God

punishes children for the parents sin.

And I gave you passages and Ezekiel and passages and Psalms

and otherwise. I can send you those notes if

you like, or we can reprint them out.

I don't again want to completely do that message again, but I

just want you to know that it is not accurate to promote the idea

that God punishes our children, your children, for the sins of

their parents. And let me say this, you're not

being punished by God for the sins of your parents.

By the natural order of things. You might have some addictions

or habits or other, you know things that you're wrestling

through, but it's not the punishment of God on you.

And I explained it last week at great length.

OK so this this passage is to show that to 1000 generations

God's lavishes his love and only to 3 or 4 generations does he

allow it's to belittle the consequences that can come.

Now God is going to often in the Old Testament for the

unrighteousness of people who are still living unrighteous.

They would receive punishment and judgment, but it's going to

be after God is for generations allowed, allowed, allowed,

allowed and warned. And finally, the evil is so

great that God will allow His children to be brought into

captivity to receive judgment from their enemies.

But it's the natural order of things because of their evil.

Yes, you'll find that in the Old Testament, but you do not find

the idea that God is punishing children who are innocent and

following God's righteous ways. And this is big.

So the Korra story could be used if you misunderstand that all

who belong to Korra swallowed up.

It could be used to paint God as one who punishes children for

the sins of their father, but instead it's a story of God's

rewarding those who choose to follow him in light of an

ungodly heritage. And I'm not sure the heritage

that you came from, maybe you came from some from generation

after generation of your ancestry following God.

Or maybe you came from ancestry where people were anti God, they

were against God and against his ways and they scoffed in the

face of God. And so the question is, where do

you stand today because of the rebellion of your ancestors or

your parents or your grandparents?

I want to show you what happens with the sons, the ancestors of

Korra. And I wanted to be an example of

God's laying his lavish love and mercy and grace upon those who

follow him and live his ways. So the big idea is that the

goodness of God is going to be there for 1000 generations.

OK, now the mention of this, I'll skip over there.

Our sins and our choices and Pharaohs have consequences, but

God and His goodness can alter the wreckage, the consequences

of our parents and the consequences in our lives.

So what happens to the sons, the ancestors of Korra?

Watch this. They're going to build a legacy

of serving God and worshipping that is going to be mentioned

numerous times in the tapestry of the Old Testament.

And if you just think, oh, the story of Korah and his

descendants, and when God brings his judgment for the rebellion

of Korah, you'll miss no God raises up the descendants of

Korah to honor him in profoundly beautiful ways.

We find out then that they are going to have several roles, his

descendants of serving in God's house, and they're going to be

mentioned by name first Chronicles 631 to 3237 to 38.

This is a story of who are serving in God's house around

the time of David, and it says these are the men whom God or of

David put in charge of the service of song in the House of

the Lord after the ark rested there.

Now some of you will remember the Ark of the Covenant in the

Old Testament is this gold box that's very ornate.

And it had poles of sorts on it and the ark that God had

instructed the children of Israel to build, God would put

his presence inside of the ark, which sounds odd to us nowadays.

We now the Holy Spirit abides in us.

But the Old Testament, the presence of God would abide in

the Ark of the Covenant where the 10 commandments were held,

or later on, it would abide in the in the temple that is going

to be built and the Holy of holies.

So here's what's happening when the Ark of the Covenant is

brought into Jerusalem. It had been stolen away from

some of their enemies. But eventually David wins the

ark back. Short story, long story told

short. And so David now is going to put

some in charge of caring for the Ark of the Covenant that

contains the presence of God. And maybe some of you saw the

saw the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Anybody remember Raiders of the

Lost Ark with the face melting, Right?

The older version, we remember that, right?

So that story, of course, is fictional.

But the idea was that Hitler was trying to find the Ark in order

to get this power. And Harrison Ford, what was his

character's name? Indiana Jones, thank you.

Indiana Jones is going to find the Ark of the Covenant.

So watch, that's the Ark. Now verse 32, it says they

ministered with song before the Tabernacle of the tent meeting

until Solomon built the House of the Lord in Jerusalem and they

performed their service according to their order.

Watch this. The sons of Tejas, the son of

Azir, son of a bicep, the son of Korra, the son of Izar, the son

of Koat, the son of Levi, the son of Israel.

In this story it's mentioned very specifically, lest you

think, oh, it's somebody else that would have had one of the

names of the descendants of Korra.

No, it tracks it all the way back to Korra.

God takes the descendants of a rebellious 1 and he leads them

and appoints them to serve with the Ark of the Covenant.

And that's beautiful. It's beautiful, OK.

And Psalm 47 is one of the songs.

Now, eventually the sons of Korra are also going to become

writers of, we think, 11 songs, 11 and 12 songs in the book of

Psalms. In the Bible, there is a book of

songs. We call them Psalms, and there

are 150 of them and 11 or 12 of them are written, and you'll see

it in the heading in your Bible. They're written by the sons of

Korra. And maybe you thought the sons

of Korra were like a brother band or something, right?

Like the Jonas Brothers or the elderly brothers or whoever.

No, when you see it in your Bible, it's saying that they are

the descendants of Korra and they become great songwriters in

the Book of Psalms. And I get excited about that as

a as a musician, as a songwriter, I get excited about

this idea of them having their songs inspired by God and

landing in the Bible. So one of the Psalms that we

think that the sons of Korra wrote regarding worshipping

around the Ark of God. This is when the Ark of the

Covenant came into Jerusalem. Psalm 47 one it says in the

heading to the choirmaster a Psalm of the sons of Korra and

they write clap your hands all you peoples and shout to God

with loud songs of joy for the Lord, the most highest to be

feared, to be admired, to be astounded of a great king over

all the earth. The sons, the descendants of

Korra, receive a very specific role of worshipping and caring

for the Ark of the Covenant, and this was a place of great honor.

Are they being punished for their father's sin?

No, they've been forgiven, and they're walking in God's favor.

Now, there's another account where the sons, of course, show

up. This is First Chronicles 9

versus 19 through 21. And this is going to mention

that they're going to serve in a role of like guarding the House

of God or the tent of meeting where they meet with God.

And I would say it would be like somebody guarding our church,

right? If somebody tried to break in

and steal the drums or my guitar, we we would want someone

guarding, right? Well, they were instruments of

praise, furnishings and dishes of likes and the Ark of the

Covenant that were there in the worship place that got it set

up. And some were appointed to guard

the place of worship and watch who they are.

Verse 19 of Chapter 9, Salem, the son of Kor, the son of a

bicep, the son of Korah, and his kinsmen of his father's house,

the Korites. So eventually, the descendants

of Kor, Salem being one of them, they get the name the Korites,

right, descendants of Korah. They were in charge of the work

of the service, keepers of the thresholds, of the tent, as

their fathers had been in charge of the camp, of the Lord,

keepers of the entrance. It's going to mention that the

descendants, the sons of Korah, they guard the temple and the

tent where God is worshipped, and this is a place of great

honor. And it says that their fathers

actually taught them and had served in the same place.

So the heritage had become serving God in the acts of

worship and guarding God's place of worship.

This, it's not just Salem, but it's his father's all the way

back a couple generations. So they've gone now in the

tapestry where they are serving God and they're being honored

for it. Now, it's possible for the sons

of Korra, if it's possible for them to have a heritage that is

rebellious and ungodly, if it's possible for them to find God

and his favor and his forgiveness and walk in serving

God, then I propose to you that it's possible for us.

And I get excited about this. OK, now my parents are living

proof of this. My parents found came to Christ

when I was a young boy and really just grew in the ways of

God. And there was a tradition of my

ancestry of dysfunction and other things.

And, and my family certainly isn't perfect.

My siblings, I'm not perfect by any stretch, but I will tell you

that because my parents, they, they, they wanted to do away

with the general racial consequences of people not

serving God. And my proposal to you is that

you can do this, or maybe your parents or grandparents did, and

you can now walk in serving God beautifully.

Your children, your grandchildren can serve God

beautifully even if their ancestry was rebellious and

ungodly. But if you adhere to the idea

that oh God punishes through the 3rd and 4th generation, then

you'll miss it. That's not what that passage is

saying it's promoting. The God is lavishing his love

upon 1000 generations and the consequences of our sin can

visit be laid upon only the 3rd or 4th generation now.

So that's what's happening. So they are serving in the in in

in service to God and worship. And then watch some of their

songs. They write these beautiful songs

that we think 11 of them. So just think like one in 15 of

the songs in the book of Psalms are going to be given attributed

authorship by the sons of Korra. And I find that so beautiful

because maybe this is where the Bible to me is so inspired

because if you were just going to make this stuff up, maybe you

wouldn't promote the idea that this rebellious ancestor now has

these sons that are writing the songs that the church is

worshipping with. But God doesn't hide that.

He promotes it. One of the songs I wrote to

Psalm 42 in the heading of your Bible, it might say to the choir

master a masculine musical term of the sons of Korra.

And maybe you're familiar with the Psalm.

It says as a deer pants for flowing streams.

So pants my soul for you. Oh God, it's where we get our

our song from 30 or 40 years ago as the deer panteth for the

water. Do you know the song?

So my soul longest after you. You alone are my heart's desire.

And my I can't forget the lyric or I forget the lyric and I long

to worship you. Interesting enough, that song

was written in the dormitory where I went to Bible school.

Christ for the Nation's Marty Nystrom wrote it in a dormitory.

They say he was kind of heartbroken by a girl that that

had done him wrong in Bible school, like broke his heart.

And in that context is where he wrote this from the sons of

Korra as the deer paneth for the water, my soul along is after

you. It's attributed to the sons of

Korra, Psalm 44. It's to the choir master a mask

full of the sons of Korra. And they wrote this song.

Oh God. We have heard with our ears.

Our fathers have told us what deeds you performed in their

days and the days of old. This generation testifies that

their fathers taught them about the goodness done by God in the

days of old. The tradition that course set up

is changed and they don't have to suffer the consequences of

the generational consequences because they decide to honor and

follow God in His ways. What if our children testified

the same? Wouldn't that be great if your

children in their old age wrote songs and said, man, I remember

my father's and my father's father's telling me about the

goodness of God and I'm testifying about it.

It's beautiful. They write another Psalm.

This is Psalm 46, one through 2. It says to the choir master of

the sons of Korra, according to the Alamut, the song probably a

melody, a familiar melody and it said our God is God is our

refuge in strength, a very present help in trouble.

Moses had instructed those who were near Korra's rebellion in

near the tent entrance to step away from his tent and those who

did in obedience were saved. God was their refuge.

He was their protection from his judgment that was being poured

out because of Korra's rebellion.

They also wrote Psalm 84 where they they they wrote the song

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, my soul

longs, yes faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart and flesh

sing for joy to the living God for a day in your courts.

In other words, in your service, serving you got is better than

1000. Elsewhere they said I would

rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God than dwell in

the tents of the wicked. Now watch this.

You can't miss the reference to 1000.

God's loves lavish on 1000 generations and this idea of the

tents of the wicked. Remember, Korra was operating

out of this tent of worship and he was rebellious and evil and

God's, God's judgments poured out.

So they're referencing this, I believe, when they write about

1000 in the tents of wickedness. And then I want to show you one

more profoundly wonderful thing about the sons of Korra.

They're used to guard the ark. They're used to to be

gatekeepers in the place of worship.

They write beautiful songs to give us great theology even to

this day. And then I want to show you one

last thing. And again, you can read often in

the Bible where there's lots of names listed and miss it, but

watch what happens here. Last summer I taught, I talked

to the summer first Samuel, the story of Samuel and Saul and

David, David's running from Saul, who'd gone mad.

And in that context, I taught, you can go back and find the

message from last summer. I thought about David at Ziklag,

ZIKLAG. And Ziklag was a place where

David had kind of hidden away because Saul, the king before

him, was trying to kill David. So David hiding from Saul,

eventually experiences great tragedy at Ziglag, but God

redeems it his, you know, it's just the Philistines raid them

long stories and the Malachites do.

So it's just, it's a long story that I taught at length last

summer. But in brief, Ziklag is a place

where David sees some mighty men, they're going to be called,

rally around him with great loyalty and and great risk to

their own lives. And watch who's going to be

listed in the list of David's mighty men, some of the most

brave heroic figures in the Old Testament.

First Chronicles 12, verses 1 and verse 6.

1 Chronicles 12:1

Now these are the men who came to David at sick lag while he

could not move about freely because of Saul, the son of

Kish. And they were among the mighty

men who helped him in war. And I'll skip down to verse 6.

Alkana, Ishaya, Azarel Joseph and Joshua Boehm, the Korra

heights. The descendants of Korra end up

in the list. All of those names listed were

Korra heights. They were descendants, the sons

of Korra. God took the descendants of this

rebellious figure that received his judgment, and he made them

mighty men. And seeing the tapestry of it in

the Old Testament is so beautiful and so profound.

What I want to say to you is the God made the sons of Korra

legendary, and if he did it with them, he can do it with us.

No matter what your lineage is, no matter what your ancestry is,

you knowing that God is not going to punish you for your

great grandfather's sin. It's not in his nature.

When you start living righteously for God and say,

God, I want to break those generational traditions,

traditional things that our family did.

God, I want to break it and I want to now live under your

blessing. Under your blessing, then we are

free from the curse of the law of sin and death that came as a

result of Adam and Eve, our ultimate descendants, deciding

to sin and not follow God's commands.

We, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, can walk free from the

curse of the law and sin, of sin and death.

So here's my hope. There are grandparents in this

room. I'm a grandparent.

We have two grandchildren that are 1 and 3 and their mom and

dad, our daughter and son-in-law, they, they're

serving the Lord. And again, they'll be here in a

couple weeks and they're leading worship at a really wonderful

church in the Dallas area. And we're proud of them, right?

And the vision that I want to get is our grandchildren someday

saying our parents and our grandparents taught us about the

goodness of God and the great deeds that God did in days of

old. And when we give away that

heritage, then it can change the trajection of your family.

But if you think if you've succumbed to the teaching or the

idea that God punishes those children to the third and 4th

generation of those who do wrong things and sin and don't follow

him, then you might think, man, this is as good as life is going

to get. This is as good as it gets

because God is punishing me for the sins of my grandfather and

great grandparents. And how tragic that would be.

But I'm telling you, maybe you've never heard that

teaching, but I'm telling you it's out there.

So if you can get past it and say that's just not true, God

lavishes his love on 1000 generations and you can walk in

God's favor and blessing and your children and your

grandchildren can also. But if you succumb to the idea,

it's like, no, this is as good as it gets.

Well then how sad that would be. Now, I'm not promoting what some

might call the prosperity gospel where some are promoting this

idea that God wants everyone to be rich and have this type of

house and this type of car. And no, I'm not, I'm not saying

that at all. What I am saying is that you can

walk in God's blessing and favor and when you face difficulties

in life that come, then the presence of God, the goodness of

God, can sustain you through every challenge, every

disappointment, every valley. When you get an just get a

picture of God's goodness being lavished on 1000 generations,

you look and see what God did with the descendants, the sons

of Korah, and you can get a vision for it for your family.

Let me pray for us, God. This is such a great truth.

And I would hope and believe and pray that as a church family we

will live in light of this, that we're not being punished for our

parents and grandparents or great grandparents.

It's not the nature of God. But instead, like the sons and

descendants of Korra, you, God can put us in places where we're

serving you beautifully and we're walking in your favor.

And we can become mighty men and women.

Our children can become this. God help us to get a vision for

it. Our children, our grandchildren,

and our great, great grandchildren.

God help us to walk in light of the love that you lavish on us.

In the name of Jesus we pray. And of course this starts with

you receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

If you've never done that this morning, I want to encourage you

to do that and following the Lord in baptism.

So I want to pray this morning. If you've never given your life

to Jesus and at that, at the point at which you give your

life to Jesus and surrender to a salvation, then that's where

you're out from under the curse of the law of sin and death,

which is a long story, but it came upon us as a result of the

sin from Adam and Eve and the Apostle Paul talks about in

Galatians chapter 3. So I want to lead you in a

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

prayer of receiving Jesus as Lord.

And that's the first step. And then from there you want to

grow in God's ways. And I would love to talk to you

more about that and talked about baptism.

So let me pray and you might echo this prayer.

You might say, Jesus, I come to you believing in your love and

grace and mercy and I want to receive you and I want to walk

with you eternally. So Jesus come into my life as my

Lord and Savior. I want to repent and turn from

my own ways and I want to surrender to your direction and

your your your callings and standards.

So lead me, Jesus, I pray in that.

Lead my children and my children's children and my

family in it also and show me what it looks like Jesus, to

follow you as I want to live for you righteously in response to

your great love for me. And as I tell others about this

God, I pray that you'll even the more solidify my salvation in

you that is eternal. And Jesus name and everyone said

Amen. All right, thank you so much for

coming today. I hope that you end up having a

super great day enjoying your summer.

Let's all stand together. And before you go, please allow

me to say this blessing over you.

I Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, and may He make his

face to shine upon you. And may the joy of the Lord that

is unspeakable and full of glory made a bound to you.

And may the peace of God that passes all understanding may

surprise you in the midst of all of the challenges that life

brings. And then may the mercies of the

Lord that are lavished on 1000 generations, may they meet you

every morning. And now may the Lord Jesus

Christ guard your heart and your mind.

You were salt and you were light.

Go now and be salt and light under the world.

You were blessed.