In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of unity within the body of Christ. He highlights that every member, regardless of their perceived importance, is necessary for the functioning of the body. The speaker shares examples of individuals who may go unnoticed but have a significant impact through their prayers and faithfulness. He references various Bible verses, including John 14:20, Romans 12:2, and 1 Corinthians 12, to support the idea of unity and the diverse gifts that God gives to believers. The sermon concludes with a call to strive together for the faith of the gospel and to prioritize unity over other activities.

And if he still refuses to repent, then it's taken to the whole group or to the church. And if he refuses to repent, then he's to be dismissed and be treated as an outsider. That's God's principle. That's God's way, and it works. We've seen it work for seven years. I remember one time when a young fellow who we thought was a good leader, we put him in charge of one of the teams in Mexico, and he sinned against that team. Day after day, he sinned against that team. He did wrong in laziness and in the way he commanded them and in other things. But the silly team members never approached him on a scriptural basis. They backbited, they argued, they got him bitter. Too wrong. Never did make a right. Pretty soon the team was one man. When I found out about it, I went to this fellow. He had already been approached singly, so he went, the three of us. And we presented to his face the things that we believed he had sinned against God in, serious things. And right there was the spot he repented and confessed his sin. That was four and a half years ago, and he has gone on to be one of our best leaders. This is God's way to have unity. But remember, when you go, you must go in the Spirit. When you go to correct a brother, when you go to present a brother with a fault or a problem, you must go in the Spirit. And that means that there will be constantly evident love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and all of these other fruits of the Holy Spirit. And if that isn't evident, probably all you'll do is stir the water and churn up more hard trouble and more disunity. Oh my God, show us that there's a way to unity through Calvary's cross and through the principles of the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing. There is unity in Jesus Christ. A wonderful, wonderful unity. Now I want you to turn to Mark, the third chapter. Mark chapter three, the twenty-fourth verse. We read this. As if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. As if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand but half an inch. There is here a tremendous spiritual principle that's expressed in other places in the Word of God. It's expressed in basically this whole idea that a house divided against itself will fall. As we said in our opening prayer, most of us, as we hear these challenges, as we see the task ahead of us, as we see the money we need to pray in, oh, how we need to get desperate concerning the financial situation, how we need to believe God, how we need to take by faith that which we need. And I'll tell you, the reason we aren't sometimes getting places in the realm of praying in funds is we aren't united. I tell you, it's in these prayer meetings when our hearts become united in Jesus Christ and when we lay down all of our little petty differences and we become one in Christ as they were in the New Testament that we can unite concerning the funds we need. And in this tremendous battle to reach men for Christ, we need to see money. Money is manpower. If we were living maybe a few thousand years ago, we wouldn't need money because if you wanted to have a shoe put on your horse, well, maybe you're working in a garden, you bring me some tomatoes and I'll put a shoe on your horse. But now we use this thing, this exchange rate, this currency, and so money represents talent, time, energy, man, effort, all converted into currency. That's why we pray for funds. We're not praying for money, we're praying for manpower. Money represents manpower. My father back in New Jersey works hard there in New Jersey, but he invests his money in Europe for the salvation of souls and it's just as if he were working in Europe. And I believe on the basis of Matthew 9, praying for labors into the harvest, we pray for money, we pray for labor power into the harvest. And we need to get desperate concerning this and we need to realize how close this is hinged with our unity one toward another and our unity together in prayer that we might see real answers. And if your group there and your college is all divided by petty differences and status seeking and desire, who's going to be leader and this fellow's leader and he's really not capable and maybe I should be the leader and all this nonsense, you're never going to claim what you need. You're never going to claim that transportation, you're never going to claim the money. A house divided against itself will fall and if your little group there on your campus, your prayer group, your orientation group, is divided against itself and is not united, it's not going to see great things for God. As I look back over the history of this work and see the fantastic things that God has done and have seen this world grow from just three fellows going into Mexico with one truck until 2,000 young people last summer with 150 vehicles moved over a million miles of highway to reach tens of thousands of villages for Christ. I can go back to the word of God and I can see that one of the basic reasons that God has blessed over the years and has poured out his spirit upon us and has supplied these tremendous financial means is because of the spiritual unity, the unity that God has given us. They are over there in Turkey and Greg over there in India and Dick Dryer over there in Iran and Maynard down in Iraq and Jonathan over there in Switzerland and Federico down in Spain and Balimar and Dick Griffin down in Mexico and a heart to just link together and many other people who just love one another because God has done an impossible work. I don't understand how I can love some of those fellows. I don't understand how I can love some of the Italians in our work. I don't understand how I can love some of the fellows in our work who I don't agree with completely and doctored, but God has done a work in our hearts and we've been knit together in love. That's why each year we take a whole month and we meet here in Great Britain that our unity might again be strengthened and here as we wait upon God in days of fasting and prayer, as we wait upon God in prayer meetings through the night, we find our hearts united. That's what exploded at Moody Bible Institute a few years ago. That made the impact as God united us in prayer as we knit together and realized we had no rights and that all of our little differences had to go and we had to be united in Jesus Christ and unless that happens on your school campus, unless that happens in your group, you're not going to be a sharp instrument for God for disunity makes the instrument blunt. Disunity makes the instrument cold. Disunity wipes out the power and the effectiveness in our evangelistic team. And as you go into Mexico, you'll see that Satan will fight you on this point. He'll do everything in the world to bring disunity into your team. He'll do everything in the world to make you jealous of your leader. He'll bring everything in the world into your life to cause you to envy, to cause you to strive, to cause you to think you're better than the others, to cause you to think the other man's always making mistakes, to cause you to think you know more than they do, the subtle attacks of the devil coming through the pride of life. God said it's rubbish. Paul said I count all things as dumb, but I might know Jesus Christ. Oh, that we might be one as they, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. It can happen and when it happens, miracles will take place. When mechanics and stenographers and type directors and literature men and radio men and evangelists and teachers become united in Jesus Christ, laying down their secondary matters, laying down their little differences, their little controversial matters and become united in Jesus Christ, realizing that the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin and that we've been reconciled to God. I'll tell you when this happens, wherever it is, there will be spiritual explosion. There will be spiritual dynamite set off that will eventually shake the whole world for God. This is why in this movement our desire is to serve the church. Those true churches as they're here and there scattered about, those Bible-believing groups that love the Lord Jesus Christ, oh, we can criticize them, we can sit back and say they're dead, we can sit back and say, well, they're not evangelizing, but God hasn't called us to criticize the church. God hasn't called us to judge the church. God hasn't called us to sell to the church and pass judgment upon it. God has called us to love it, to love it. And this is the basic heartbeat of this work is to become slaves to one another, slaves to the existing missionary work, slaves to the existing established churches. Not starting new works in different countries, but just going in and giving a helping hand, putting our teams at the disposal of a dangerous so that they can get more people into their meetings, putting our teams at the disposal of a national church so that we can be their servants and so that together we can have an all-out united effort and offensive against the forces of darkness. And oh, how we've got to see unity, and if we don't have unity on our teams, how can we expect to have unity with other people as we meet them in the various mission fields that we work in? That house that bites against itself will fall. Oh my God, open our eyes to this great truth as found in the word of God. I'd love to talk about other verses found in John, John chapter 14 especially, 14, 20, jot that down. And Romans 1, 12, where it talks about the mutual faith, jot that down. But then I want you to turn on to Corinthians. First Corinthians, the 12th chapter. To see a tremendously important spiritual principle that we must keep in mind as we go forward in this tremendous offensive against the enemy. First Corinthians, 12, talks about the gifts that God gives. We haven't time to read the whole chapter, but let's start there at the 14th verse. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because I am not the iron, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? Now God hath set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? And now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts had no need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. That there should be no division or schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. One member be honored, all members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. God hath set some of the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers. After that, miracles, then gifts of healing, health, government, diversities of tongues. All apostles, all prophets, all teachers, all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing. Do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but covet earnestly the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way, and of course it's expressed in Corinthians 13, the way of love. If we would understand this passage of scripture, we would be saved from many of the disillusionments of life. Many of the people, I mean, are suffering from what is known as an inferiority complex. Far more people, I believe, are suffering from inferiority complexes than from superiority complexes. In fact, generally the so-called superiority complex is nothing but an inferiority complex trying to make its way up. And we have all kinds of people sitting in our pews, and all kinds of people in our Bible schools that don't think they have any talent. And we become a hero-worshipping church. We worship noses and mouths. We worship ears and eyes. Instead of realizing that we are to realize that without the whole body we are not going to be effective. And so we have our famous evangelists, and we have our famous teachers, and we go all over the place to get to hear them, and to sit under their ministry, and I admit it's a blessing. But might we not fail to realize that God's instrument on the earth is not certain individuals who have certain special gifts. God's instrument, God's cutting knife, God's razor edge is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, His church. That includes the feet, the arms, the hands, the legs, the shoulders, everything. It includes the strong members, the feeble members. It includes the members we see, and the members we don't see. The big problem in some of the colleges where our work has begun is that there's too many people that want to be the more honorable members. And God says in His word, but these more honorable members are the ones that are going to be less recognized when they get to heaven. And it's these dear folks moving unnoticed in prayer, and in love, and in faithfulness that are really moving the mountains in our day. And remember it was a little unnoticed, unrecognized lady back in New Jersey who set the chain of this movement rolling. It wasn't some sharp, loud mouth speaker, but it was a little lady who for 17 years prayed for the high school that I attended, and her prayer shook that school, and that shook me, and things have been shaking ever since. But you see, she was one of those little feeble members. Might we get things straight in our eyes and in our minds concerning God's plan? God is not a respecter of persons. You're not going to be rewarded according to what you've done. In terms of success, you're going to be rewarded in God's plan according to your faithfulness. And if God gives you one talent, He's calling you to be faithful to that talent. And if He's given you a hundred talents, then you've got a real job. He's calling you to be faithful to our dream. And so many of us have fallen into this psychology, into this motivation of status-seeking. We're seeking a position. We're seeking recognition. We're seeking the honor of men. We like the uppermost seat in the synagogue. And America has become a status-seeking nation, and many Christians are falling right into it. We want a name on our door. We want our name on a letterhead. We want to be the leader of this and the leader of that. And we've got all kinds of clubs, and we've got all kinds of organizations, because everybody wants to be the chief. And it's the same old story. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. And we Americans, we're known for this. All over the world, we're known for wanting to be the big men. We want to be the leaders. Oh, we talk about the indigenous church. We talk about giving the responsibilities to nationals. But you go in most mission fields today, and you see who controls the bank account and the checkbook. It's not usually the nationals. Because somehow we Americans have the idea that our education is the best education for preparing us for world leadership. And this is a lot of nonsense, because the American education is not preparing us for world leadership. In general, it's dragging us deeper into our old American culture. And I believe the word of God teaches we've got to be ripped out of that culture. The reason we can't be united in heart and soul and mind with national workers, with Indians and Spaniards, with Dutchmen and Frenchmen, is because wherever we go, we drag that American culture. And there's thousands of things in our lives that we think are a normal part of Christian living or a normal part of everyday life. And their culture, their culture drags, and they drag us back, and they hinder us. And the Americans who came over to Europe last summer saw it. How that if they were going to become effective, they're going to have to cut the bands with the American way. And the British have to cut the bands with the British way. And like Paul, become all things for all men to win some. That's how we get unity. And if you and I aren't willing to give up our rights as we go into Mexico and live like the Mexicans, eat like the Mexicans, and begin to talk like the Mexicans, and think like the Mexicans, and esteem the Mexicans better than ourselves, then we ought to forget going right now. Because, to be very honest, Mexico is up, up, up to its neck with American culture. And they can't see the sky for the clouds of American culture. And I talked to one little Mexican boy, and I said, what's the thing that you know most about America? And he just said, oro in Spanish, which means gold. And that's what they know America stands for. We've got a lot of money, and we come down in our big cars, and we come down and flash our money around, and we tip heavy, and all they know all about it. And along the border of Mexico and America is one of the worst cultural situations in all the world today where the American culture has drifted over into another culture, and the two have mixed, and it's hell. Might each one of us be willing to cut the bands of our culture, that we might be anointed with national workers, that we might be anointed with faithful men around the world, that unto the Spaniards we become Spaniards, that unto the Italians we become Italians, unto the Indians we become Indians, that we might win some. Realizing that the feeble are just as important, and even more important in God's sight, and just as real as this remembering this teaching, verse 26, underline it. There should be, or verse 26, of whether one member suffer, all members suffer with it. One member be honored, all members rejoice with it. Have you ever touched to begin to meditate on that verse? How tremendous it is. I remember back in school, somebody would get a bad grade on one of their exams, and oh, they'd come back to their room and they'd be crying. I saw many a person cry over a failure on an exam grade, but you know I never saw anyone cry over a failure on someone else's exam grade, but God says weep with those that weep. Somebody comes back and they've lent a soul to Jesus Christ, and they come into your room and say, well, God gave me a soul today, let me tell you how it happened. And you sit there and you say, oh, glibly praise the Lord, that's wonderful. Amen, let's pray. A week later, you leave a soul to Jesus Christ, and you're almost jumping out of your shoes, and you can't wait to tell everybody about it. How false we are. How are we just glory in our own accomplishments. How happy we are when God uses us. Why are we happy when God uses the other man? Why don't we rejoice and praise him when God uses the other organization? When God blesses the other school? When God blesses the other chap? We have a proximate reality of divine unity, in which we become united in Jesus Christ, and one man's sufferings are our sufferings. This is why we aren't united with missionaries and prayer. This is why we've never learned the secret of intercession. You can't intercede for a Chinaman without putting yourself in his shoes. To do real intercession means to put yourself in his place, instead of him. And you walk the roads of southern China, and you eat the diet of a Chinaman, and you're praying, and you become identified with him, and with the Indians, and with the suffering multitudes, as we realize tonight, that half the world is going to bed with a pain in their stomach, because they haven't eaten enough. And with this in mind, we go on a day or two fast, and we pray, we identify ourselves with suffering humanity, and we intercede, but this is so far from us. God said, suffer with those that suffer, rejoice with those that rejoice, but we know little about it, because we're not united. We haven't appropriated that which Jesus Christ has given us, through his redemptive work on Calvary's cross. Oh, might we see, might God grant us, the sight to see this important principle, so absolutely important. We see this throughout the New Testament, there's not time for many more verses. Let's just look for a minute at Philippians 1.27, if you take a concordance, you can just see more of the verses on the subject of unity, or better just read through the Bible and you'll see it. But here in Philippians 1, we read these words, verse 27. Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, and whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. This is what Paul wanted to see in that Philippian church. And this is what God wants to see there in your group. Don't you see it? This is what God wants to see in our team. This is more important than giving out a ton of literature. This is more important than evangelizing Mexico City. This is more important than reaching India or China. That we might be one. That we might be standing together, in one spirit and in one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Striving together. In another place it talks about striving together in prayer. This means that you and I can be united. As I'm over in India and you're over in the United States, or Mexico or Britain, we can be united as we strive together in prayer. How easy it is to let our prayer life center around ourselves. And we always think wherever we are, that's the main place that needs to be prayed for. No wonder no one prays for Afghanistan, Northern Siberia and Mongolia. Oh my God, open our eyes to tremendous, tremendous link through love and unity in prayer. We can cross the wide ocean and be united together and strive together in the gospel in prayer. And Philippians 2 drives the same thing home when it says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. That's that state of seeking. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the other as better than themselves. Let not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. And then it talks about the humiliation of Jesus Christ. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. I love the way that follows the verse on esteeming the other as better than ourselves, because indeed this is the hardest thing for many of us to do. But this is where we're going to have unity, when we learn to esteem the other as better than ourselves. This can experimentally and practically become a reality in our lives as we realize just where we stand before God and as we realize that time is relative. You see, we judge people on a time basis. We say, well, this fellow's away from the Lord right now. But so what? You were away from the Lord five years ago or five weeks ago. With God, time is relative. What you did five years ago is still going on, except it be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. And when we look at a man, he's 60 years old, and we say, well, he's dead, he's not on fire, he's lukewarm. What are you going to do when you're 60 years old? All the judgment you give is a judgment you get. And you look at a church and you say, well, they're not really on fire here, they're not evangelizing, they're not witnessing, they have no vision. What's your church going to be like where you're a pastor 25 years from now? Beware. Beware. You better esteem them as better than yourself in the light of the relativity of time, in the light of the fact that you don't really know the heart. God looks at the heart. All you can do is judge the outward appearance and how easy it is to be wrong in your judgments. I've had people come to me and tell me about a certain person on their team, maybe even a leader, and they said, well, he did this and he did that, and he's wrong and he's right, and I've seen utter blindness. All they've seen is the bad. You see, this is psychologically, we always look at the bad. If a man has done 99 good things in his life and one bad thing, I guarantee you that's the thing that people will talk about and remember. And so you can go and talk to somebody about a friend of yours and you say, he's good at this and he's this and he's terrific, and then just toward the end of the conversation you mention one or two things where he's sort of really fouled up and that he's sort of sinned. I guarantee you that's the one thing they'll remember. Peter says love covers a multitude of sins. We need to look at the book of Proverbs to see how the tongue causes disunity and strife. And a man offended is harder to win than a high castle. We need to look at the book of James, the third chapter, and see what God says about controlling our tongues, the greatest source of disunity. And it spits forth fiery curses. Only ten minutes after we were singing praises to God, it was the same tongue we bless God and curse men, and God says, and it ought not be, and it ought not be, but rather be in one mind, of one spirit, in one accord, and in all loneliness of mind, esteeming the other as better than yourself. You want to see victories in Europe? You want to see victories in the Middle East? You want to see victories in your hometown? You want to see victories in Mexico? Then we've got to unite. This is our strategy. Realizing there's a warfare, realizing we've got weapons, motivated by love, we unite. We unite in Jesus Christ. We appropriate that which Jesus has done on the cross, and we realize we are one body, members in particular, with different ideas, and different plans, and different projects, and different ways of doing things, and all will be disagreements. But the disagreements will cause us to love one another more, as the blood of Christ covers all the sins. And if the blood of Christ will cover sins, it certainly will cover disagreements. And with all this in mind, we appropriate that which Jesus Christ has done on the cross, and we realize God has answered that prayer that Jesus prayed, and we have become one. As they are one, as the Father, and the Son, and as the Trinity is one, so we are one in them. Abide in me, and my words shall abide in you, and ye shall bring forth much fruit. What a tremendous spiritual heritage we have. And in the book of Colossians it says, and yea, ye are complete in Jesus Christ. Everything we need for spiritual unity, everything we need for spiritual health, we have in Jesus Christ. And might we go to him afresh tonight, and take that which is ours, that we might see victory in these coming crusades. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, make these things real in our hearts. Cause us to go into your Word in obedience, and accept that which thou hast said, and appropriate all that thou hast given us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.