Sheryl Brady - God is Looking for Loyalty

Beginning at the first verse after this had happened, Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. Now, Absalom would rise early, and he would stand beside the way to the gate. So it was that whenever anyone who had a lawsuit came to the king for a decision, Absalom would call to him and say, «What city are you from?» And he would say, «Your servant is from such-and-such tribe of Israel.» Then Absalom would say to him, «Look, your case is good and right, but there is no deputy of the king here.» Moreover, Absalom would say, «Oh, that I were made judge in the land! Then everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me, and I would give him justice.» What he’s saying here is that he is standing at the city gate, and when people are coming in, he is dropping bits of poison in their ears regarding King David. He is trying to sabotage the kingdom and sow discord among those who are there. He says it like, «Nobody’s here to hear you out and help you, and it would be nice if somebody were here.» I wish they would make me the judge because I would assist you. «Oh, that I were made judge in the land! Then everyone who has any suits or causes would come to me, and I would give him justice.» And so it was that whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, he would put out his hand, take him, and kiss him. In this manner, Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to the king for judgment, so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

2 Chronicles 16:9 states, «For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.» The eyes of the Lord go to and fro; God is looking here, there, and everywhere because He wants to support someone whose heart is right. When He gets behind them, He will show Himself strong on their behalf, and what you are unable to do, He will do. What you are unable to defeat, He will defeat. What you are unable to conquer, He will conquer. What you and I are unable to accomplish, God is able to accomplish. The eyes of the Lord are going to and fro. I want to talk for the next few moments on the subject, «God is Looking for Loyalty.» It is a commodity today that is so out of style; people just want to discard things and discard people. Nursing homes are full of some of the most hurting people in the world because family members have just dropped them off and left them for dead. Loyalty is not what it used to be. Loyalty is not a blind allegiance; please understand that.

I want to show you in the Word of God, just for the next few minutes, how God is looking for loyalty. Spirit of God, I honor You and thank You. I thank You for this word; I thank You that You have prepared our hearts, that we plowed up the fallow ground in our worship, and now as the word goes forth, I thank You that it will go into good ground. I thank You that the seed will go in and that it will bring forth a harvest in our lives, maybe one that we didn’t even see coming. Thank You for Your blessing, for Your favor, for Your goodness, Your mercy, and Your kindness. Thank You for Your keeping power. Now, have Your way in here today, God. Anoint the message and the messenger. Anoint those who have ears to hear. Change our course if need be; speed us up or slow us down, but Father, have Your way, and we’ll give You thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. On your way down, just touch somebody and tell them, «God is looking for loyalty.» The eyes of the Lord go to and fro because He is looking for loyalty. So, if you can picture this in our text today, God is scrolling the earth. God is scanning over the landscape of humanity, and the thing that God is looking for above everything else is a spirit that is loyal.

2 Chronicles describes to us and informs us that God is on a high-speed chase. He wants to bless somebody’s life; He wants to enlarge somebody’s territory; He wants to increase somebody; He wants to answer somebody’s prayer. So His eyes are on a high-speed chase, and He is just looking for the person that is loyal. The object of His search is loyalty—that’s what He is after because, in God’s value system, loyalty is esteemed as an object of great value. That may not be true for everyone under the sound of my voice, but in God, I’m talking about God’s value system. If I were to ask you today what your core values are, would loyalty be one of them? Because when it comes to loyalty, if you are a loyal person, you are loyal wherever you are. I said, you are loyal wherever you are. If you live in Texas, you’re loyal in Texas. If you live in New York, you’re loyal in New York. If you’re going through a bad time, you’re loyal. If you’re going through a great time, you’re loyal. Loyalty is not just something you do; loyalty is who you are at your core.