Korach

After the incident with Korach where he and all his followers were swallowed up by the ground, Hashem tells Moshe to take a stick from every shevet, bring it into the Ohel & whoever's stick blossoms is the one that I choose for the Kehuna.

All the commentators ask, what was the point of this sign if the people didn't believe the first sign where the earth opened up & swallowed Korach & his followers. They wouldn't believe this one either. what was the point of the second sign?

Then the posuk continues with the results of the sticks, והנה פרח מטה אהרן לבית לוי ויצא פרח ויצץ ציץ ויגמל שקדים, and, behold! The staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had blossomed; it brought forth a blossom, sprouted a bud & developed almonds.
Another question asked by רבי צבי הירש ארליאנסקי if this new miracle was to wow the people into believing that what Moshe said were the words of Hashem wouldn't it have been even more incredible had the almonds just grew straight out of the stick without blossoming & budding?

He answers that it was a specific message for the likes of Korach, who tried to get a leadership role that he didn't deserve. the message was that in order to be a leader you have to first be there for the people help them out & take care of them & then slowly you move into a leadership role, Korach did nothing for the people then wanted to lead over Moshe & Aaron who had been caring for the people over the year. the message was, first you need to blossom, then bud & only after will the fruit come.

Maybe we could use this concept to answer the first question too; Rav Zilbershtein said once when he was young he went to Tel Aviv & was at the station & saw a group of non religious kids then he saw a religious man walk up to one of the kids & ask him if he wants a candy. when the kid said yes he gave him the candy & said on one condition that you make a Beracha. the child agreed & the man helped him make the Beracha & gave him the candy and walked away.
Suddenly the man was surrounded by the child's friends. incredibly they weren't asking for candy but were saying "we want to make a blessing too like our friend". their teacher looked on incredulously as the man made a Beracha with each one of the kids & gave them a candy.

Rav Zilberstaein. Tried to explain this phenomena with a. - once a judge was in court & found the defendant guilty & was trying to seal the verdict but for some inexplicable reason he just couldn't do it. In order to figure out why he brought the defendant back to his chambers & after a long conversation they figured out that the defendant was the judges long lost father & that's why inexplicably he couldn't convict him because the connection was there, so too with these boys even though they don't know anything about religion the connection is still there & they felt it.

After the incident with Korach the people felt far from Hashem, there was a rebellion & then a plague the people were downtrodden so Hashem made the second sign & took all the sticks & had one blossom & sprout then bore fruit to show the people don't be down were still connected let's start over slowly first let the relationship blossom & grow & then it will bear fruit again!