Loyal and Obedient

When my wife and I met Tim and Nancy Roberts, we began a friendship and really an intimate relationship with this couple. They were both a Godly couple who were clearly placed before us to help us grow into our calling of God.

I remember how often Tim would say to me, “I have prayed for twenty five years that God would build a church with loyal and obedient people and you and Debbie are the beginning of it.”

About nine years ago, we began Faith Tabernacle Church at the Word of the Lord. There was no mistaking that we were supposed to do this for God. When He told me that I was going to be a Pastor, it was through a speaker at a ministry meeting. The word came from someone I didn’t know at all… A woman preaching a wonderful message on a cold winter night and all of the sudden she stopped preaching, walked across the front of the group and pointed at me saying, “I can’t go on until I deliver this word to you… ‘The Lord has told me that you are going to be a Pastor! You will serve Him as a shepherd…'” Wow!

The last nine years have probably been some of the hardest years Debbie and I have lived through. The very couple who began this work have both gone home. But their words still ring in my ears. “I’ve prayed God would build a church of loyal and obedient servants to Him and one another”

It’s so interesting to me how many people have come and gone. And how many have stayed. Those who have been loyal and obedient have stayed. Those who didn’t want to be loyal or obedient left. We have watched people walk into the church and turn around and leave. The Presence of God is so strong in the place, many can’t even stay. Others didn’t like encountering Heaven the way we do. So they left.

Just as many have left because the enemy lied to them and they bought the lie. They left. We’ve seen it all. But when the rubber meets the road, the truth is there are very few loyal and obedient people serving God. Their sin overrules their desire to walk rightly.

What about you? Are you wondering if you are loyal and obedient to God and to one another as you read this?

The only way to know is to ask Jesus. If you are the type of person who always sees something wrong in others, or the church, you are not loyal to God, let alone others. In fact, you more then likely the problem. Well, your sin is the problem.

Loyal people walk with others through thick and thin. When times are good, awesome! When times are hard or bad, we have a choice to make. Stick it out or run.

All through the Scriptures, we find stories of men and woman who either stuck it out or ran. And for those who ran, I can’t remember seeing a good outcome for them.

If our church had all the people who have come and gone, the church would be over a thousand people. Today we are about sixty when everyone shows up. Sixty loyal and obedient people to God and one another.

Truly not very good statistically. Yet, with God all things are possible. Even with a small group.

We press on for the race before us. Serving God and others in Love and gratitude.

Join in! The waters good, even when it doesn’t look very good.

Find your place among those who are truly loyal and obedient.

With love for your life

Pastor Jeff