Lesson I, Leadership
Loyalty and Faithfulness
I. Definition and importance of these concepts
A. These are two virtues and qualities of character that are essentially related and are part of the
nature of men.
B. In a society whose first focus is “I am first”, loyalty and faithfulness are subjects that are not
taken seriously. They are seen like something antique or dumb.
C. These characteristics are essential for a civilized society.
D. Loyalty and faithfulness SET THE LIMIT between civilization and the jungle.
E. A society that does not teach faithfulness will experience the following:
1. Marriages whose foundations are suspicion and questioning.
2. Employees and employers that are opponents and where everybody is looking for his own interests
and are negligent to the interests of others.
3. Families whose members are not open and loving.
II. Loyalty and faithfulness are virtues
A. A virtue is what a man is - his essential nature
B. It is a false concept to think that the morale of a man as an individual is not related with his
performance in his work or with the public morale.
1. A man is not simply unfaithful to his wife, his boss, or his friends, but he is an unfaithful man. It is
the man’s own nature and it is not a function of the relationship.
2. If a man is unfaithful to his spouse, who is the closest person to him in the world. Why won’t he
lie and steal from you?
III. What Jesus says about faithfulness
A. Luke 16:10-12
1. The church is THE FLOCK OF THE LORD.
2. The Lord has trusted part of his flock (El Shaddai Ministries) to Pastors Hartman and He has given
them power to lead them.
3. As leaders, Pastors Hartman will trust you with a part of the flock and you will minister in His
anointed and grace.
4. The same way Pastors Hartman are here to represent Jesus, to do and say the things He wants them
to say and do, we represent the pastors, saying and doing the things they want us to say and do.
5. If we cannot do that, then we need to resign with love and grace.
Note: Sometimes, the only thing we can do is to leave. If that is the case, never destroy what you are
leaving- just leave.
Lesson I, Leadership
IV. Loyalty and faithfulness - Essential qualities of the Christian Leadership
A. If you are not faithful with the things of another person, the Lord will not give you your own
things.
It is easy to be faithful and loyal when we are agree with the leadership, but the test comes when we do not
understand or we are not in agreement with what the leadership is doing.
V. Levels of loyalty
A. There are times when loyalty is not APPROPRIATE.
1. Example: A friend commits a crime. I will not report him because he is my friend.
2. This is not a virtue. We are simply deceiving ourselves if we think that it is something virtuous to
commit a crime.
B. Loyalty to the legitimate authority should transcend the horizontal loyalties - friends, parents, etc.
C. We can avoid deceiving ourselves by establishing levels of loyalty.
1. Only the Lord owns maximum loyalty.
2. Other loyalties should be put in order of priorities.
a. Family
b. Nation
c. Brothers and Sisters in Christ
d. Friends
e. Boss
f. Institutions
VI. Vertical Loyalty
A. To criticize the authorities over us, or those who are under our responsibility, lowers us.
1. “My boss is dumb.” He has to be, he hired you.
2. “All the people who work for me are stupid, useless, they can not do anything.” “Well, at least
they are smart enough to do nothing good, and you pay them for that every month.”
B. To show loyalty to those over us and those under us lifts us up.
1. “My boss is wise and smart, especially when he hired good employees.”
2. “ I have the best employees in the world”. What we sow, we reap.
VII. Biblical examples of loyalty and disloyalty
A. 2 Samuel 23:13-17
B. David - He was never disloyal to Saul.
C. 2 Samuel 15: 1-6 - Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
Lesson I, Leadership
Saul and Absalom’s disloyalty sealed their tragic end. David’s loyalty granted him the throne. The Lord
gave the throne to someone He could trust.
VIII. Disloyalty through criticism
IX. Disloyalty through insinuation
X. Loyalty in Action
A. Situation: Pastor told five different teachers of the Bible school the following: “I would like you
to teach this material. Here are the notes, the Scriptures, and the outline.”
1. Teacher 1: “Pastor told me that I need to teach this material. If it were up to me, I would not do it.
But, because it’s not, I don’t have any other choice.” “Loyal or disloyal”
2. Teacher 2: He taught the material. The audience was happy and praised the teacher work. “Thank
you, I prayed a lot and I knew the Lord was guiding me when I was preparing the material. “Loyal or
disloyal” He is stealing the hearts and the approval that belongs to another person. The true loyalty is
the one that refuses to accept admiration that does not belong to that person.
3. Teacher 3: He taught the material, the class was not satisfied and they blamed him for the quality of the
material. “It was not my idea. I even did not want to teach it, but you know how the pastor is and how
he reacts when you do not do what he is asking. If you did not like it, please blame him” Loyal or
disloyal.
The true loyalty accepts the criticism, without lying.
4. Teacher 4: He teaches the material, everything goes wrong, and “I did what I could I would have liked
to do it better. I would have liked the pastor to teach the lesson; probably he would have done better?
Loyal or disloyal?
The true loyalty accepts the criticism, and let the admiration pass to the authority he is representing.
5. Teacher 5: He teaches the material, the class is amazed. “It was tremendous. The best teaching we
have heard.” “I agree with you, because I did not do it. Pastor gave me his notes, the outline.
Honestly, I was not sure that it was going to work, but now I realize that pastor was right. Praise the
Lord.” Loyal or disloyal?
B. When the Lord sees a person who is loyal and faithful, He will trust him with more responsibility.
Lesson I, Leadership
Teaching Review
Lesson I - Leadership
1. As a leader, I am an extension of my pastors. Therefore, it is more important that I represent them and
their teachings, than I take the time to promote my ideas and personal thoughts.
Agree ___ Disagree ____ Strongly disagree, Why?
2. A man who is not faithful in a small task, should be trusted with more responsibility. Seldom the reason
that he was not faithful was because he was capable of doing greater things.
Agree ___ Disagree ___ Strongly disagree, Why?
3. If I belong to a ministry and I realize that I can not represent or teach faithfully the things my authorities
believe in and teach, then I have to:
a. Continue teaching and saying in secret what I believe.
b. Gather together a group of people to confront the authorities.
c. Leave the situation, making sure that I made known to them why I am leaving, and invite other
people to leave with me.
d. After telling them in love and we still can not agree, I need to leave peacefully, and as quitely as I
can.
4. It is easy to be loyal and faithful when I agree with the leadership. When will the loyalty and faithfulness
in my spirit will be tested?
5. Which one of the following situations align better with loyalty?
a. A husband speaking with a friend: “My wife is wonderful lady, but honestly she is a terrible cook”
Loyal Disloyal Inappropriate Loyalty
b. A child telling his teacher: “Yes, I know who broke the window, but I can not tell you. He is one
of my friends.”
Loyal Disloyal Inappropriate Loyalty
c. A secretary answering the phone: “No, I do not know where my boss is today. Actually he never
tells me what his plans are.”
Loyal Disloyal Inappropriate Loyalty
d. A person responding to the criticism of the church and the leaders. “Oh, I feel sorry you could not
get an appointment with the pastor. He is a very busy man. I have offered to help him in whatever
he needs, but he thinks nobody can do the things as well as he is doing them.”
Loyal Disloyal Inappropriate Loyalty
6. When we criticize those who are over us:
a. People think well of us, because it makes us appear “smarter than the boss.”
b. If our criticism is true, it is fine. “We are being loyal to the truth”
c. In fact, our disloyalty decreases the opinion that others may have of us.
d. We are not acting like Jesus when He was on the earth.