Man, I am thrilled again here to be here. And it's such a joy and honor. I don't take it lightly tonight. I realize that there's so many preachers that he could call upon. And so I'm just thankful for that. Thankful that God would even consider me. Amen. But God is good. And I want to do something tonight. I want to be a help to you for a few minutes. And then I'll get out of the way for the next preacher. And I certainly hope this doesn't kill the meeting tonight, but I've got something on my heart and I don't believe I'd be right with God unless I preached it. I want to talk to you for a little while tonight about some things that probably at one time or another every pastor wishes that another preacher would say in his pulpit. And so, Lord, Lord being God tonight, we'll do that. Not gonna hurt you. If I do, it won't last long. Amen. But Lord, the Lord burned my heart. Because I, I've been privileged and honored to travel a good bit. Go around to a lot of different places and meet a lot of pastors. And I have a heart for preachers. And I see a lot of trouble in the churches today in America. And I want to just try to be a help to you. Take your Bibles and go to Ezekiel chapter 24. Ezekiel chapter 24. Hold your place there. and 1 Kings chapter 19. Ezekiel chapter number 24 and 1 Kings chapter number 19. I know at one time or another And probably more often than not, that this has come to the heart of your pastor. Amen. You know, I think if there's one thing that stands out that probably grieves a pastor's heart more than anything else in the world, it's unfaithful attendance by his people. Amen. And I know that because I've been a pastor for many years. And sometimes we forget when we get in the pulpit that the ones we're preaching to are not here. And a lot of times we tend to preach to them and we're actually preaching to those that are here. And sometimes it gets that way because of discouragement. Amen? I'm killing the meeting to start with. But I want to help you. Amen. This is a camp meeting. And I'm figuring Wednesday night most of the church would be here. And so that's what I want to deal with tonight on loyalty. Amen. I believe it's in the heart of every pastor. Lord, what can I do? What can I say? to just get my folks faithful, to get them loyal. I was preaching one time in my own church, and I had to try to do it in a roundabout way, and I said to the folks, I said, I was preaching on some things you have to have in a small church. You just can't make it without them. And I said, one of them was loyalty. And one of the gentlemen in the church said, yeah, we're supposed to be loyal to Jesus. And I said, well, how are you going to do that without showing it in the church? And that's where you're supposed to show it, folks. Amen? Well, look with me, please. I'll get out of the way. Hurry up. In Ezekiel chapter 24, I want to begin reading in verse number 16. Ezekiel 24 and verse number 16. God is speaking to Ezekiel, he says, son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke, yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. Forbear to cry. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. So I spake unto the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. And I did in the morning as I was commanded. Now here's a man of God here, And he's been given a command and a call from God. And God tells him in advance, he says, I'm gonna take your wife with a stroke. The desire of your eyes, the one you love. And he said, I don't want you to mourn, I don't want you to have a big to-do about a funeral. I want you to go preach. And so here was his answer. He said, this morning I got up and I went out and I preached. He said, I came home this afternoon for supper and my wife died. And he said, in the morning, the next morning I got up and I went out and I preached. I didn't call the undertaker. I didn't make funeral arrangements. I didn't buy flowers. I did what God called me to do. Say, what is that? That's commitment. You see, Americans don't understand that. We can't comprehend that. Amen, we don't get it. I mean, everything stops when you die. Used to, folks would have reverence at a funeral, but that doesn't happen anymore. Amen, it don't even faze people anymore. But there was a time when folks would have some reverence and sobriety about funerals. There's something about them. The man of God said, I just let it go and I went on to preach. That's somebody else's barrier. You say, boy, that's harsh, preacher. That's mean of him. No, he's obeying God's will for his life. That's God's command for his life. I'm not suggesting you, your wife dies, you might ought to hang around, amen? I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just telling you what he did. The man was committed to what God called him to do. Amen? And I'm telling you folks, if there's one desire, if there's one heartbeat of a pastor, it's for his people to be loyal in the church house, amen? It's for his people to be faithful, it's for his people to get committed to the things of God. Is that alright? Everybody okay? I want to show you one that was loyal. Amen? Look with me please at 1 Kings and chapter number 19. 1 Kings chapter 19. And we'll give you this picture here. This man of God. Great man of God. This man by the name of Elisha. In I Kings chapter 19, look with me please at verse 19, the Bible says, So he departed thence, and he found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he, watch now, and he with the twelfth. So we see right from the start, this man's fairly rich. He's pretty well-to-do, amen? Those are not somebody else's oxen he's plowing with. Those are not somebody else's servants he's working with. Those are his servants. Watch your Bible, look at it again. The Bible says, so he departed this and found Elijah, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing, watch, with 12 yoke of oxen in front of him. They were before him. and he with the 12. So somebody else was plowing the others. Are y'all with me? And Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. Now watch. I said the man had wealth, amen? Look at verse 20. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah. And he said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, go back again, for what have I done to thee? And so not only is he a man of wealth, he's a man of compassion. He loves his family, amen. He cares about those around him, amen. He's a compassionate man. And not only that, but we find him here, watch in verse 21. And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and he slew them and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen and gave unto the people and they did eat, then he arose. and went after Elijah and ministered unto him. So, you understand he's covering all his bases? He goes back, he takes care of his mother, he takes care of his father, tells him goodbye, tells him what he's going to do, and then he goes out there and he fixes a meal out of one of the oxen for all those servants. He takes care of them, amen. He makes sure that they're taken care of. He's covering all His bases so nothing interferes with the ministry. Everybody alright? Now look, you say, Preacher, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's loyal. Amen? Well, I'm glad you suggest that, so let's look at a couple places. Look at chapter 3 there in 2 Kings. Chapter 3, now watch. Chapter 3, look at verse number 11. The Bible says, and Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord by him? One of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, here's Elisha, the son of Shaphat. That's the same guy isn't it? He says, which poured water on the hands of Elijah. He was a servant to God's man. He didn't just run in there like a lot of them do today, amen, and get me a Bible and get me a pulpit and set the world on fire. That's what every young preacher thinks they're gonna do. Amen, but he just, you know what he did? He took care of his mother and father. He took care of his home. He took care of the servants. He fed all of them. He burned up the past. Amen. And then he went to the man of God and you know what he did? He followed him around and poured water so he could wash his hands. Are y'all with me? Wait, you don't think he was loyal? Go back just a couple places. Let's see, look at chapter 2. In 2 Kings chapter 2, look with me please. You need to see this. I'm just laying the foundation. I'll preach for 10 minutes, we'll be done. Watch it now, watch. The Bible says In verse number 2, chapter 2, verse 2 of 2 Kings, And Elijah said unto Elisha, Watch, tarry here, you stay here, I pray thee, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. You see that? Wait a minute, wait a minute. Look at verse number 4. And Elijah said unto him, Elisha, tarry here. I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. And he said, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. They're still together. Say why? He will not leave the man of God. I told you, I may have said this before. You probably didn't hear it anyway. I told my pastor. Brother Charlie, the only pastor I ever had in my life. I mean, one church, one pastor. That's all I've ever known until God called me to pastor. I told him when I first went to church there, brother. I said, listen to me, preacher. I said, I love you. I thank God for you. I said, you can preach me under that pew right there, but you ain't never going to preach me out that back door. And brother, until God called me out, that's where I served, amen? Listen, I'm not boasting on myself. I'm telling you what we're missing today is loyalty in the house of God. God's people need to get faithful, need to get committed, need to be loyal to the things of God again. Everybody alright? Wait a minute, watch, we're not done. Look at verse number 6. And Elijah said unto him, Terry, I pray thee here, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan. And he said, As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. And they too went on. Wait, look at verse 8. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they too went over on dry ground. He finally got the message to quit asking. Because he knew he was faithful. He knew he could depend on him. He knew he could count on him and trust him. Everybody alright? Now watch. Elijah's gone. God took him, left his mantle. The man of God picks it up. He's hiding. Where's the Lord God of Elijah? He smokes the waters and they divide. Amen? He did exactly twice the miracles that Elijah did. Amen? Why? Because he asked God for a double portion. Are you all with me? Wait a minute. Now watch. Watch your Bible. You say, God honors? You mean God honors that? Can I show you? Can I help you? Look at chapter number 2 again. Look at verse 23. And he went up from thence unto Bethel. Whoa, watch now. You know what that is? That's the house of God. You say, where was he going? He was going to church. This preacher, this man of God, Elijah's gone, he's got his mantle, he's a man of God, and he's walking to church. Everybody alright? Verse 23. And as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him. And said unto him, Go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head. They're making fun of the man of God going to church. I get in my truck and I go to church. Wednesday evening, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, just about at least once a week. You can count on it. I pass by this old man out there. He's either raking leaves, pushing his lawnmower, painting his house, hanging shingles. I mean, he's doing something in the yard. Amen? I guarantee you, every week without fail, that man looks at me, he sees that truck going down the road, and he says, there goes that fool again. Going to church again. What's he going on Monday for? They must be having a revival meeting. He's a fool. He believes all that stuff. He's trusting all that stuff. What is wrong with him? And I look over there at him, out there putting paint on a barn, and it's going to burn up. It's going to go up in smoke. And I say, Dear God, what's wrong with that fool? What's the matter with him? Don't he know he ought to be in church? Amen. Hello. Everybody all right? Say, what's he missing? He needs to get saved. Some of you need to get loyal. You need to get committed. You need to get faithful. Amen. You say preacher. I don't believe every preacher has that in his heart. Well, come to my church and preach it. I do. Everybody all right? Bible says, verse 24, and he turned back and he looked on them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood and tear forty and two children of them. Forty-two children mauled by bears. Are y'all with me? Preacher, you say preacher. That's just a story. Come on, can I help you? Is everybody alright? Do you realize that happened? Just exactly like God said it happened. And these precious young'uns are dead. Amen? And them bears mauled them. Are you with me? I don't believe it was all their fault. They wouldn't have done what they'd done unless they were sitting in there at lunch and mom and daddy was having a preacher for lunch. What did you think of that message? Oh, I don't know. What did you think of it? They don't want to know what you think. They just want to tell you what they think. Everybody okay? Well, I didn't like it. I think it was too long-winded today. I got a little hot under the collar with some of those things he said about my youngins. You know it's amazing that that same message he preached when he was five years old. You shouted the house down. Now they're 15 and 20. And you get them and get mad and walk out. Because they're doing the same thing he's preaching. Everybody okay? Wait a minute. Watch. Let me help you. Can I help you? I'm telling you, folks, listen to me. The man may lie through his teeth, but I'm telling you, I know his heart. And I'm telling you, in his heart, he sits there on Saturday night, however he does it. I go on Saturday night, Brother Jim, sometimes 1 or 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock in the morning when I get into bed. Sometimes I stay at church all night. And I pray, and while I'm praying and while God's giving me this message finally late, boy, I get a message and these faces come to my mind. And I think, God, that's going to help them so much. God, that's going to fix their home. God, if they'll come, I'm telling you, all this will help them. They need this. Then they don't have the audacity to show up. on Sunday morning and hear the message from God. Are you hearing what I'm saying? God, help us. God hates disloyalty. God hates unfaithfulness. And He grieves and destroys and discourages the heart of your pastor. Amen. You know, an old bear, talking about bear. All right, let's quick poll, real quick. How many, be honest. Say, preacher, I've been chased by a polar bear. Come on, don't raise it. Don't don't. You don't have to be shy. Not everybody wants. I was chased by polar bear. I did exactly what they told me to do, brother. Listen, I had a Springfield 45 on my side, 15 rounds in it. I had a seven millimeter Magnum Browning. with four rounds in it, I could have killed a bear, I think. But you see, the law is up there. If you kill a polar bear, you better have claw marks on you. They'll put you under the jail. They'll put you away. You can kill a baby. Hello? You can abort your union. But don't you kill no polar bear. And the Indians up there, they're allowed one in a lifetime that they can take. And so here he was. I'm walking out there looking for caribou on the tundra in Barrow, Alaska. And I came up off the coast, went up into one of those little ravines and up on that tundra. And I'm walking around, scoping out and looked down about 70 yards and he stood up. And I mean, you need to understand up there, you're not on the top of the food chain. Amen. Up there, you are a bologna sandwich. And he stood up. And when he did, all I could think about was what everybody told me, turn around and walk slowly away. And I said, Okay, so I turned around, I began to walk away just like this. I took about 10-12 steps and I stopped and looked back and he was walking right with me. And when I stopped, he stopped. And when I turned, he stood up again. Now he's about 50 yards. Can I help you? First of all, it'll change your prayer life. I mean, I'm telling you, all I could think about was that verse that talks about better for a man to rob a bear of her whips than a fool in his folly. Are y'all with me? You say, preacher, that don't make sense. I know. See, God don't work like we work. God said you're better off letting a bear kill you than hanging out with a fool. You say, how could that be, preacher? Look in my good eye. A bear, a bear can only take your flesh. That fool can take your soul. Drag it to hell. Are y'all with me? And so, and so, it changed my prayer life. I'm just being honest with you. I started praying, oh God, get me out of this. And it wasn't no, I didn't have time to bargain. It was just a begging thing. And I forgot about everything everybody ever told me. And I laid out from there. And I'm telling you, I was in a high gallop. And I and I went off a 20 foot embankment down on that sandbar. And I mean, I was like running straight down like that wide open. And I hit that sandbar halfway to the boat. And I stopped and turned back and I didn't see. And the only thing I can figure is, he would donate. And he didn't want me. He just wanted me out of his territory. Amen? But listen to me, folks. Can I tell you something about a female bear? If you're ever out in the woods and you come up on a bear and she's got a cub or two, whatever you do in your life, do not get between them. Look in my good eye. She will kill you. I don't care what they say. She will ruin your day. You say, why? Why would she do that? Look at me. She's loyal. And she stays with them cubs until they're grown. And she keeps them as long as they'll stay with her. She'll stay bound. Amen. Because bears are loyal. I think about geese. You know what a geese will do? A geese will find one mate and they're married for life. I don't know if a Catholic does the ceremony. Whatever they do, you know, they sign the paper, whatever. But they're married for life. And them hunters go out and they shoot one of them down and they'll search for them until they find them and they'll stay with them until they're dead. They will not leave their spouse. You say, why preacher? Because they're loyal. Are y'all alright? Are y'all hearing what I'm saying? They're loyal to their maid, amen. Nowadays, we don't even marry now. We just shack up a while and try it for a while. If it don't work out, push them out and get somebody else to try. God have mercy. I said bears are loyal, geese are loyal. You know what a salmon does? A salmon will start wherever it's at. When it's time to lay eggs, that salmon will race as fast as she can. It might be two miles, it might be 200 miles. But she will not stop until she gets back to that spawning ground where she was born. And you know what she does? She gives all her life, all her energy to get right back at that place and she lays those eggs and dies. Because when them youngins are born, it's no longer about her. It's about new life. Can I tell you something, folks? Can I help you? I would to God. I'm telling you, if I could show you this man's heart tonight, I'm telling you what's on his heart, or if I could get some faithful people, if my people would just get committed to God, if they just get faithful to the house of God, it's sad when you don't know who to call on to do this or that because you don't know if they'll show up or not. Now I'm not. Listen, if you don't have that problem, I praise God for you. I thank God for you. Amen? If you're loyal and you love the man of God, hey, listen to me. That Bible says obey them and have rule over you. Amen? And, well, I ain't no man gonna tell me how to dress. Well, you're already a rebel. And I can tell you something else about you. You're not loyal. Everybody okay? I'm not trying to tell you, I'm just trying to help you. You all right? Listen to me, folks. There ain't nothing that grieves his heart more. I wonder what it would be like, husbands, if our spouse would be loyal just to us. You never had to worry about it. I got married, I was lost as a ball in high weeds. My wife was lost, I mean lost, we were just heathens. We fought like cats and dogs. I'm telling you, we, I mean, we just, and we, and we'd go off and stay gone and do what we wanted to live like. Never went off together. I'm telling you, God, God was merciful. God came by one day and saved my old richie's sorry hide. When I got saved, my wife decided, well, I ain't gonna be no preacher's wife. She was prophesying, didn't know it. And she left, took the youngins and left, went two hours away back to her hometown. I was in North Carolina, she was in South Carolina. I mean, she would just, I mean just, I ain't gonna be married to him. Cussed my pastor, said he was a false prophet. I mean, hated the fact that I was gonna tithe and do right and read my Bible and have a prayer. She couldn't take it. So she left. I don't guess we spoke for months. One Friday night, I got a call. I answered the phone. She was on the other end. She said, I need to come up and see you. I said, what? I hadn't spoken in months. I said, what is it? She said, I need to come see you in the morning. Are you going to be at home? I said, yeah, I guess. And so the next morning, she knocked on the door. I had a fire going in the fireplace and a couple of chairs sitting there, and we sat down. And she said, you don't know this. She said, but for the past six weeks, every Thursday night, the ladies in your church have been coming to my house, two hours away, every Thursday night. She said, day four yesterday I got saved. Then she took and opened up the roof and she read that verse we use at our weddings, you know, I want your God to be my God and your people to be my people. I want to go where you go and die where you die. Everybody alright? You say, what are you saying? I'm talking about loyalty. Amen? Now listen to me. Since God brought her back, saved her, put my home together, I've worried about a lot of things. Sometimes I have to be gone two and three weeks at a time. But I don't ever worry about my wife. God gave me a peace years ago. Say why? Loyalty. You hear what I'm saying? Boy, would it be good if we could have loyalty in our homes? Never have to worry about what the other one's doing. Don't have to worry about them winking at the boss man or carrying on down to the job side. Hey, listen, some of you, you get mad because your husband's got to go out and do this, go out and do that. You ought to thank God he's not in a bar tonight. You ought to thank God he's not out raking like he used to. Amen? You ought to thank God He's in the house of God with you and the youngins. God's good to you. Hey, can I tell you something? God's been loyal to you. God's been faithful to you. He's trustworthy. You know what He wants from us? Just a little loyalty. Just a little faithfulness. I wish you'd get committed, God says. Well, if I could just depend on you, I'd use you mightily. I got things I'd like for you to do, but I need you to get loyal to the small things. Everybody okay? Well, what a difference it would make if we could get loyal to our church. I mean, folks, I'm telling you, it'll change your life. God will bless you tremendously. It may not be physical blessings, but spiritually you'll overflow the banks if you'll just get loyal to the things of God. If you'll just, listen, there's two kinds of Christians in the house of God tonight. Are you hearing me? High maintenance and low maintenance. And you're one of them. I've got, man, I'm telling you, I've had folks, I'm being honest with you. I had one lady one time, I said, sister, if I was your husband, I would dip your shoes in cement and toss you in the Coosa River. For disloyalty. That's enough preaching. all through the Word of God. Boy, you ought to read about the Rehoboamites. God told them, said, go get some wine and sit in front of them, tell them to drink some wine. They did, and they said, no. We ain't drinking that stuff, and we ain't building no house down here. Our great-great-grandfather, our great-great-great-grandfather told us, whatever you do, don't you touch that stuff, and we ain't touching it. It's made up their mind, they just got committed. I wonder what God would do with our church, with our homes, with our personal life. If we could just become loyal, get committed to the things of God, I dare you to give Him a try.