Firstly, financial policy.
Try to keep headings in your notebook.
Financial policy.
We are not saying that the method we
operate financially is the only method to use.
We're not saying that.
We're not saying that this is a New
Testament method, we must follow this method or
we're being disobedient to the New Testament.
We're not saying that.
We are saying that this is the way
the Lord hath led us, that things may
be done decently and in order, that there
may be maximum unity and the least amount
of confusion.
You read about this financial policy before you
came.
You had a discipleship manual.
If you didn't like it, you didn't have
to come.
We expect cooperation.
What are some of the basic areas?
Firstly, everyone is to be trusting the Lord
as much as is within them for their
own financial needs.
Different countries, it's different amounts, depending on the
situation, the size of the mountain that they're
facing.
Some of you have perhaps not exercised much
faith in this area.
May you take up the challenge to trust
the Lord for your needs.
And then as God gives you faith, to
trust the Lord for the needs of other
people.
Praise the Lord for the money that he
has brought in.
Just turned in at this conference now, we
want to be in the open about it.
So far we have a total of about
$6,000.
About 2,500 or so pounds.
You can convert that to your own money.
And have you ever realized how little $6
,000 is for 500 people?
How long would the average person and the
world live on his quota?
No, it's not very much.
What is it?
A little over $10 each?
Is that right?
And so a little over $10 each will
carry us very far.
And despite the fact that we have $6
,000, we have around the world right now
over $50,000 worth of bills that must
be paid.
Some of them are getting close to the
stage and beyond the stage of being debts.
And we don't believe we should owe man
anything.
That's our ideal.
That's a hard ideal to have.
And so we want to unite in prayer
that God will provide.
The money is not in for the summer.
There's enough money in, praise the Lord, to
at least get out of here.
But after that, we have to really trust
Him.
Of course, we would like to see a
lot of those bills paid before the end
of this conference.
That would be a great testimony.
So let us trust and pray.
There is to be no personal money carried
by any team member.
And this is hard for some to understand.
But we believe that this is the best
way.
All the money goes into the Lord's treasury.
Then it goes out according to the need.
How sensible.
If you have some specific money that you're
holding because of some particular definite God-led
need at the end of the crusade, you
can turn that money in, you get a
receipt, and you can get it back at
the end of the crusade.
I repeat that.
If you have personal money that you feel
you must keep for your needs immediately after
the crusade, we, of course, prefer that you
would have left this home, and you could
send it home by money order if you
want.
Otherwise, you turn it in and get a
receipt.
We don't want this problem of everybody on
the team is running around with their few
shillings or few cents emergency money, and some
fellow flicks open his wallet one day to
get his driver's license out, and the team
that has been struggling along notices that he's
carrying about a hundred dollars worth of personal
money.
Some have done this because they were afraid
the bottom might drop out, and they didn't
want to be stuck.
Well, if God hasn't given you enough faith
to enable you to move out in Europe
without a big wad of hidden money, then
I suggest you don't go.
And so, this is the policy.
It's clearly written.
We're not saying you have to give that
money into us.
That's between you and the Lord.
But we don't want it in your wallet.
Also, every summer, we have people pickpocketing.
We have money stolen, and I've had it.
I was evangelizing in a market in Italy
in 1963, and when I was through with
the market, the market had been through my
pocket.
My wallet was gone.
This includes all your valuable possessions.
Why some people bring some of the things
they do, I don't know.
But be very, very careful of your possessions.
And I suggest that you try to keep
in mind that sometimes our possessions can be
a stumbling block to someone, and that we
should learn to share sensibly, taking care, but
sharing.
Now, some people say, well, if I share
something, it will be broken.
Well, this is natural.
For example, if ten people are using something,
instead of one, you have ten, just normally,
without any particular wastage factor, you have ten
times the chance that it will get broken.
Also, if you continue to use it, it
will be worn out ten times quicker.
But it is also, if you think logically,
which I know is hard for some, will
get ten times the use.
Because instead of helping one person, it's helping
ten.
And so, it is true, if a whole
lot of people are using someone's electric shaver
all summer, that it may be worn out
at the end of the summer.
But, count how many shades it gave, and
you'll see whether it accomplished a job.
Some people have a psychological problem in relationship
to the possessions.
And, I'll just say this, to give you
a little ease.
I personally will replace anything that you share
with a team member, or someone on a
lab, you share, and they break it, I
will be more than happy to designate the
funds to replace it.
But whatever you do, don't go back embittered
against the work, because someone broke your favorite
little tape recorder or camera, shouldn't have many
of those, or something else.
The devil gets in like that.
We had one boy, another year, he ran
around the whole conference in a panic, because
he lost his camera.
God may allow you to lose something.
It's a good test of whether you know
the rest.
I remember one conference in Chicago, a girl
lost her contact lens in the lettuce salad.
Well, that was something worth getting concerned about.
Not just for the sake of her eyes,
but for someone's stomach.
But these are areas that have to be
cast on the Lord.
When you get 500 people moving hundreds of
thousands of miles, going back, maybe for the
first time, you're going to have all kinds
of interesting things happen.
Like watching the front wheel of your vehicle
roll right off the road ahead of you.
That hasn't happened much lately.
We've tightened up on that.
So keep in mind the policy in regard
to possessions and finance.
I am basically on the exact same financial
policy as you.
I don't have personal money.
I have to go to the treasurer.
If you think you could give me a
pound, I'd like to buy my wife some
food today.
So, we're all together, and for some people
this is hard.
Those of you who find this easy, do
not judge the brother who finds it rather
difficult.
Or who you may discover in the middle
of the summer never did get the grace
to surrender his money.
Everyone knows that the O.M. Bach is
much bigger than the O.M. Byte.
In fact, I have yet to bite anyone
physically since the beginning of the work.
Finances.
It's important to realize that American money is
not valid in France.
You have to change it.
And so even for this reason, carrying our
money into these countries becomes less sensible.
In the area of finances, if you haven't
yet seen the treasury department, finance department, to
get your emergency money, please do.
Everyone, once they turn in their personal money,
there are a few exceptions, some guests, we
don't expect guests to turn in their personal
money, and some visitors, etc., even visiting speakers.
But if you haven't got your emergency money,
pick it up sometime today from the office.
It's only a few francs, but it'll at
least help you make a phone call or
get something you may need.
And then there's the little requisition system.
There's a little form that you fill out.
You can get them in the registration office.
I don't have one here.
It's about this size.
Anything you need, it's a definite need, fill
it out and we get it.
And that's the other side of the story,
isn't it?
No one has any idea of all the
things that OM does along this road.
Most people don't know, for example, that our
garage here spends about 20% of its
time repairing the vehicles of other missionaries and
other people all over Europe.
It's not that we're trying to be selfish.
Our burden is to give, and we just
want it to be done right.
Now, most of you should have brought your
own toothpaste and toothbrushes and soap and all
these things.
But if you haven't, we will get it
for you.
But please, don't stash away your soap and
your toothpaste till the end of the summer
and put in a requisition for ours.
I mean, that's completely ridiculous.
And you should be taking care of those
things yourself.
Do not put a requisition in for something
that you can get at the end of
the summer.
If you have a definite need, and some
of you need longer skirts, forgive me for
saying so, and you haven't got it, and
you don't know how to sew, you should
talk to your discussion group leader and get
this taken care of.
We have Charlie, and he's not here, I
think he's in Zarlinton, but for definite needs,
something can be arranged.
There's no need, generally, to go out and
buy clothing.
Some of you then maybe have extra things
you might mention to your discussion leader.
If someone needs this, I'd be willing.
I have a couple of suits, for example,
I'm just looking to give away.
We save, every year, through the use of
used clothing, I estimate close to several hundred
thousand dollars.
More than the entire cost of a summer
crusade.
That's what we save through used clothing.
This suit, you can see, is a pretty
good suit.
It's worth about $70 or more.
My mother picked up for $2.
And that I consider pretty high.
I prefer free myself.
But sometimes you have to compromise when your
faith totters a bit.
So, let us know.
But basically, people who come for the summer
should not be freeloading on Charlie and go
home with a better wardrobe than they came
with.
It's more for people that really have definite
needs.
And then there's Operation Reverse Charlie, and that's
when you give things that you don't really
need.
These can be turned in at the information
office.
I'll ask them to put a big box
out if they haven't done that already.
Jonathan's taking note on that.
And if you have extra shirt, extra trousers,
something you want to see used better than
you're using it, put it in there.
Quite a bit of that will go to
India.
Our brethren in India are in desperate need
for shirts and trousers.
Not neckties, they don't wear them.
And so if you have extra shirt you
don't need, you can turn it in.
Now, a lot of times, a nylon shirt,
we'll take to India, we'll sell it and
buy four normal shirts, because nylon is worth
so much.
Or four Indian, three Indian costumes.
So remember our Indian brethren, if you have
extra, give it in to Charlie, and if
you think this is ridiculous, read me the
book of Acts.
These people gave that others needs may be
met.
It's a thrill to give.
If it isn't a blessing for you to
give, don't give.
Don't give.
Don't go in repressing your love for some
particular little thing.
Oh, I want this, I want this, but
George Forrest said, must sacrifice.
I must be a soldier.
Oh, I hate this crazy life.
But anyway, somehow, don't go in.
Keep it.
The Lord knows.
It's a psychological need, keep it.
And I believe people can only forsake all
to the degree that they are psychologically and
physically able.
I will give my own explanation on that.
Okay.
Next, food.
If you're not willing to eat different food
than you're normally used to eating, in sometimes
a rather different style, some of you have
been eating on your knees down there in
the dining room, that's, that's good.
You could come up and get a chair
if you weren't so lazy.
But it is impossible to please so many
people in the area of food.
Do not think that we as leaders necessarily
agree with the diet you're getting on the
team.
We try, we even have a catering manual,
big thick book on how to feed, how
to feed people and all the rest.
But sometimes some leaders have their own little
interesting ideas and it's an area to practice
brokenness and a big area.
Our stomach is a lot closer to our
heart than we think.
Do not think that you are getting an
American diet.
Some of you continentals, oh, this American food.
If you think this is what we eat
in the United States, hey, our diet is
an international composure of unidentifiable...
Actually, I feel the food is quite good.
Every year we get people who complain, not
many, praise God, I think it's one of
the miracles.
We don't get many who complain.
And every year we get some who think
that O.M. wastes money in giving people
too much food.
You cannot please people.
Impossible.
You don't have people who think we're not
eating enough.
You have people who think you're eating twice
as much as you should.
Do not judge people in regard to food.
The Bible even speaks about that.
And do not think on your team that
this big fellow, I've seen one big German
boy here, must be at least 7, 10
feet, the way we Americans describe things.
And it's quite obvious that he is not
going to live on the same diet that
I can live on.
Or that some little secretary sitting at her
desk all day needs.
Some people need more food.
My basic need, unlike other people, is for
more ice cream.
So when you see me in my office
eating ice cream, you must not judge me.
That's purely an aspiration that has never taken
place at these conferences.
The first thing I did with my team
in 1962, people say, oh, things have changed,
they've loosened up on OM.
First thing I did with my team in
1962 in Italy when they arrived, what do
you think it was?
I gave them more ice cream.
And we have this wrong idea that things
we can enjoy are wrong.
That's false.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying food.
The man who doesn't enjoy eating, probably, he
might have an ulcer, or some other problem.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying a good bed.
There's no virtue in sleeping on the floor.
There is virtue in adaptability, being ready for
anything.
That's what we want.
It's the inner attitude that counts.
And many times, someone criticizing may be right
in what they say, but wrong in their
attitude.
A girl may say, well, I don't agree
with having the skirts quite that long.
I don't think that's necessary in our country.
And I may be willing to agree, well,
basically, I think in your country, it perhaps
isn't that important.
One or two inches doesn't make that much
difference.
And we're faced with a very unique problem
as we go into Spain and Italy and
other countries.
But the big issue is never usually what
the girl is saying.
The big issue is the attitude.
It's not the length of the skirt, it's
the attitude of the heart that makes the
difference.
It's not the food on the table, but
the attitude of the heart.
And without this broken and willing attitude, we
will not only get trouble here, but we
will get trouble later on, especially when we
get married.
Because if there's anything a man doesn't want
to marry, it's a rebel.
All the men that end up with wheels
going in five directions because they have a
contentious, rebellious wife.
And one of the best things we can
all learn is submission one to another in
all these areas.
So let's be careful of the food.
Let's not judge.
Let's maintain the balance.
Let's not get caught up in the details.
So if the leader spent too much on
food.
Some people think OM wastes.
Such people are so immature.
You don't know what wastage is.
I can tell you about real wastage.
Of course we waste.
Wastage is a basic part of life.
You cannot exist without wasting something.
We all have our ideals.
OM at times has almost killed itself with
its ideals.
We'll end up nervous wrecks.
And I know that I see wastage in
OM.
And if I didn't know this rest casted
on the Lord, well, I don't know what
I'd do.
Time gets wasted, food gets wasted, literature gets
wasted, despite all of our efforts.
But I want to tell you something a
lot worse than wastage.
Worry.
Tie your stomach into a knot worrying about
your team leader who you feel spent too
much on butter instead of sticking to the
margarine rule.
Or who broke the rule and bought a
bottle of coffee or some other ridiculous thing.
And your stomach's churned up and you're getting
excited and you want to go back to
first principles.
Let's phone the director.
All of that is far worse than wasting
money.
So, learn balance in these areas.
Get ready for things you don't agree with,
you don't like.
Learn to eat what's put in front of
you.
Before I knew Christ, 70% of all
foods I wouldn't eat.
I wouldn't touch.
All kinds of things, tomatoes, rubbish.
All kinds of basic good food.
My mother put it on the table, I
wouldn't eat it.
I was real on steak, pork chops, top
grade meat and everything else you can possibly
think of.
Of course it doesn't look it, I realize
that.
But, when I came to know Christ, shortly
after that I asked the Lord to enable
me to eat anything that was put in
front of me.
And I'm up to about 97% victory.
There's a few things yet that when they
come my way, I really squirm.
And one of them was liver.
How many don't like liver?
Be honest, you don't like liver?
Quite a few.
Well, when it comes your way, grab for
the tomato sauce and dig in because it's
good food.
Anyway, I like it now.
A lot of these foods we don't like,
I can tell you it's a psychological thing.
You had an experience.
It's definitely proven that parents who try to
force food down a child when they were
little, like spinach, later on they discovered they
couldn't stand spinach.
And you can get over that.
And you can definitely offend local people by
not eating what's put in front of you.
We must go on.
Books.
You should have finished reading the required books.
If you haven't, please read them as quickly
as you can.
Books, of course, are available here.
We will have an explanation later on again
about this on a paid Christmas basis.
Our burden is that some of you will
purchase some of these English books to distribute
this summer.
We cannot supply you on a team basis
with books in minority languages.
It's too difficult.
Too much damage, loss, everything else.
But you can take a supply of books
with you and then if you sell them
during the summer, you can always get more
later on.
But I challenge you, especially those who know
English, to have some English books for people
you meet who know English.
You want to witness to them personally.
Also, you will be hearing about a special
bargain box of books that if you bought
them at the original published price would cost
you ten times as much as what you
can get them here.
And you can get them here at some
fantastic price, the whole box of 50 books.
And you can have them shipped to you
in England or you can take them with
you so that the moment you get home,
you can move out on the doors.
And this is a fantastic bargain that Brother
Ron Forsberg will tell us about later on.
You ask about the special bargain box of
50 books for the price of about five
good hardback books.
Pretty good deal for those who really are
serious about the use of literature.
Reading is a vital part of the summer.
The backs of the trucks waiting here and
there.
Redeem that time in reading revolutionary literature.
Get some books off the table that you
want to sink your teeth into this summer.
Don't presume at any time that a book
is public property.
If you want to keep a particular book,
put your name in it.
One of the first things you do when
you get one of these bags, put your
name on it.
By the way, my friend Peter suggested that
we give one free to anyone who wants
to exchange it for one of their lavish
American attaché cases.
So, you know, if you want to make
a switch and see your attaché case sold
in India and turned into work, you see
Peter, he gives you one free.
It'll carry almost as much.
Anyway, that's just his idea.
I'm not sure if it's valid.
Next point.
Testimonies.
Please prepare your testimony properly.
Some of you or most of you will
have to give your testimony sometime.
It's one of the things that I prefer
not to hear.
Some of the testimonies, the way they're given.
You're told to speak for three minutes.
You get up, speak for 20 minutes, and
the speaker ends up with 10.
Learn to give your testimony clear, short.
Watch out for exaggerations.
Don't describe yourself as world's greatest gangster when
all you did was steal candy from the
local candy store.
Talk about the deep sins that you were
engaged in before you were saved.
You were converted at 11.
And if you don't have a wild Bill
Hickok adventure testimony, don't make one up.
Just be yourself.
And this area of testimony and public presentation
is very, very important.
Linked with this, of course, are a lot
of other things.
Have someone evaluate your testimony the first time
you give it.
That's a good opportunity to see how Mr.
Self is doing.
You know, when he gives you a fair
criticism.
We have to move quickly.
Free literature.
There may be someone who you send a
piece of literature to this summer who will
become a real prayer warrior with us.
We need prayer words.
When you write to someone, you can tell
them, you can quote what I'm saying.
I've been amazed that basically we have less
people who have written us this year saying
they were praying than we had in 63.
We need God's people standing with us in
prayer.
Nothing to do with whether they're going to
give any money.
Let God handle that.
But we need to see people who are
praying.
Encourage people to write.
Turn out a prayer letter if you have
someone who can do that for you.
And I would insert, remind your program people
that I must receive a copy of all
prayer letters.
Not necessarily before it goes out, though it's
good to have someone check it.
Please, before you send out public information, even
sometimes a typed letter, some of the statistics
that go out about this work, I don't
know where they came from.
Someone will surely write, this was a great
conference in Belgium, 5,000 people gathered to
worship the Lord and move out across Europe.
Just a minor point, only one zero, more.
Don't get burdened down by details.
Details.
Is there anyone that has not registered?
Raise your hand.
You have not been in the information office
and received a bag and a name plate.
Card.
Raise your hand.
Anyone has not registered?
Jonathan McCrosty has not registered.
Anyone else?
Amazing.
I don't think you've ever had this.
I don't know whether you're all asleep or
what.
Anyone who hasn't registered?
Ron Forsberg, have you registered?
See?
I'm not psychic.
I just figured maybe you're in the literature
department and forgot to register.
Please register, even if you're a permanent O
.N. fixture.
You think that, anyway.
We must find out how many are here
so that we can release a proper statistic.
500 is basically what it is.
I think there's about 480 or 990 registered,
and there's always some that aren't.
So please do that.
How many have not yet written home?
Stand up.
Not with earphones.
You stay down.
Others stand up.
Haven't written home.
I wrote to my two sons already.
My parents as well.
All right.
Raise your right hand.
Raise your hand.
I promise to write my mummy and my
daddy.
Okay, sit down.
What conference would you go to and have
all the postage and air forms supplied free
of charge?
You're without excuse.
And if you don't do this, they phone
us.
What are you doing with my daughter?
I haven't heard from her.
And what some of your parents think you're
going through right now.
And when you write home, be positive.
Don't tell your mother and father about things
you know are going to upset them.
Because it just, especially if you don't know
how to communicate, and a lot of people
don't.
I could tell your parents about the same
thing with definitions and explanations and they'd probably
be very happy.
But you just give one little sentence and
it just confuses them.
Encourage them.
Tell them what's happening.
And be positive.
Linked with this, we can mention that you
can turn in your used postage stamps in
the information office.
As you know, we sell them.
And throughout the summer, try to continue doing
this, and throughout the year.
If all of us who went back this
year would just save these stamps and send
them in, within one year from what you
send in, I'm sure we could publish more
than a million to two million pieces of
literature.
That's right.
Just for saving postage stamps.
At night, you have the opportunity to practice
love in the area of not disturbing people.
Some people need a good eight hours sleep.
That means they must get to bed right
after the meeting.
And if you leave the light on in
the dorm and the light should be out
at 10.30, if you want to study,
you come in here.
If you want to talk, you can talk
here in the corner.
Quietly.
Do not talk in the dormitories at night.
It's discourteous.
And it can hinder the whole next day
for someone who you keep awake.
And any movements at night should be as
quiet as possible.
Because somebody gets woken up and they don't
get to bed.
Now, if you want to pray at night,
you better come up here and pray or
ask us for someplace.
But don't in the dormitory start pounding your
fist as one brother did one year.
Praying like, Oh, yes, yes Lord.
Poor fellow trying to sleep next to him.
Never did get to sleep till the morning.
Don't be afraid to report to us and
put in the suggestion box things you feel
are going wrong.
Do you think we can keep track of
everything going on here?
Very difficult.
We still need improvement in the area of
dress.
If some of you boys don't have any
decent clothing, see your discussion group leader.
We don't want to be an evangelical circus.
As Peter says, with a lot of evangelicals.
Next area.
Time is almost gone.
It is gone.
Taking initiative.
If you see a piece of rubbish laying
somewhere, don't go away meditating on who may
pick it up.
Or going away, well, I always heard that
this organization wasn't tidy.
Bend over, it's good exercise, and pick it
up.
And you'll find places around where trash can
be thrown.
By the way, I congratulate you men, I
don't know about the girls, for your wholehearted
participation in the exercises.
That encouraged me more this morning than anything
else.
It's funny, I'm a rather sensitive character, and
when I don't see them come out for
the exercises, I have a real battle.
And to this day, wow, I've never seen
so many in the first day.
Married men were not in attendance generally.
Women, give your cooperation, and kick him out
of bed at 6.30. I don't care
if you sleep in a little bit.
I want to see your husband.
Already he's bulging too much at the belly,
and he needs his exercises.
And you think this is funny, it's because
you don't realize how much this can do
for your basic health.
Billy Graham states that this is one of
the keys of his health.
And many other men, even Keith Miller, in
his book Taste of New Wine, mentions this.
And many others, evangelicals, have tended to neglect
the body and overemphasize the spiritual.
Gotta get off prayer time, gotta get the
Word, and yet their physical bodies become weak,
and eventually, I believe it's a poor testimony.
It's rather difficult sometimes for some of you,
but God will bless you.
Get someone to help wake you up.
And the same with girls.
So important to keep your bodies in tune.
These exercises are very brief, they're more or
less like waking up exercises.
If you want to do more strenuous ones,
the field is there, you can do it.
It's very, very important to remember the social
rules.
And we gotta end here, so I won't
go into this.
People are allowed to fellowship with the opposite
sex at the conference.
We're very free, basically, on this.
But, they should not be just giving attention
to one particular girl unless they've had a
previous interest.
This is not match-make.
If you've had a previous interest, definitely before
God, especially people on the year program, you
can at this time, I suggest you walk
in the light to some leader about it,
but you can at this time speak and
fellowship together.
We do not want to see flirting.
People that have never met all of a
sudden getting together.
And that includes people who just met at
the Chicago conference.
We don't call that a previous interest.
Two weeks ago at the Chicago conference.
And we're very, very concerned that we'd be
here to seek the Lord, to get involved
in the warfare and not get sidetracked.
And people who destroy this or break this
rule are going to force us into a
tighter position in other years.
So far, we haven't had much trouble.
There's been a liberty and a freedom.
It's all right to converse with a girl,
but it's one thing to be seen conversing
with the same girl every time there's a
break.
Now, at the same time, we must not
judge people.
Someone may be talking to a girl who's
been praying about speaking to her for two
years.
So mind your own business.
Mind your own business.
And if you do have a doubt about
somebody doing something, maybe you can go just
ask the person if you've got enough courage.
Most people don't.
We don't want public displays of affection because
it confuses people.
We don't even want married couples to go
out into the field and neck up their
wives.
They have private rooms to do that.
That means kiss.
Because, um...
It's for the interpreters.
Not to kiss, but to interpret it.
Also, out in the streets, people...
people just won't believe, some of these people,
I can tell you, that boys and girls
are living in here in purity.
We had a policeman in Belgium tell us
a couple of years ago, he said, I
don't mind if you're all in bed there
together.
It doesn't bother me.
But not out in the streets in the
cars, please.
That's all he said.
He just presumed that we were all going
to bed with one another because that's the
way he's lived all his life.
But he didn't want us doing in the
Volkswagens out in the street.
And a rumor tried to get started that
year about one of the vehicles.
And, um, we just want to avoid, and
this is our real goal, it's not that
we think this or that's going to happen.
It's very little of that.
It's appearance.
Appearance.
Naturally, it's all right to kiss your wife.
I've taken my wife for walks in the
woods.
And to remember all times and neck with
her, perfectly acceptable.
But if that's going to be a stumbling
block to someone who's around, then I think
it should be avoided.
And so this goes more, really, for engaged
couples.
If you're not sure of the social rules,
re-read them.
Re-read them.
It's not the keeping of the rules that's
the big thing.
It's your heart attitude toward this.
And God is so blessed and helped us
in this area.
We must avoid all appearance of evil.
Already, if people pass this factory and see
the way some girls are sitting on the
front steps, they're going to wonder what's going
on in here.
And these may seem to be little things,
but they are little.
They are little.
And the devil just gets in.
And this whole town, if any rumor gets
out about impurity, the whole of this town
will hear it very quickly.
Or many people anyway.
And this town doesn't know anything about evangelical
Christianity.
There's no witness here.
We're the first ones.
We've got to be living demonstrations.
We've got to be, as the Word of
God says, above reproof.
We will be discussing this more in individual
sessions.
And if you don't feel you can keep
this policy, then we just recommend you wait
till next summer.
That's it.
Once we leave here, it's basically separation.
You're to work and fellowship separately.
You can have contact on your team.
You will.
But basically when you leave here, there's no
more dating.
Even engaged couples, only during the summer, are
not allowed to work together in the summer.
Because it confuses other people and brings a
lot of other problems.
There's no more time to explain this.
Well, these are a lot of practical issues.
It has been the interest in these practical
issues and the claiming of the victory in
these practical areas that have kept this work
going.
That's right.
We could be so spiritual and so dedicated,
but many groups have done completely sincere and
go out of here without these practical principles
and in two weeks the devil would just
break this movement up.
I've seen it happen.
And some of the people who disagreed with
these things when they first came are the
strongest supporters.
And young people from every nation, from all
kinds of backgrounds, have come to the place
of unity on these things.
People of all different temperaments, all different nations,
all stages in Christian conversion have come to
unite about these things.
Why can't you?
There's a verse in Corinthians that I close
with.
You came in ten minutes late, so I've
taken ten minutes extra.
And I close with this, 1 Corinthians 1
.10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you
all speak the same thing.
Isn't that something?
What are you going to do with that
verse?
That there be no divisions among you, even
though you may not fully understand certain things,
for the sake of unity, as unto the
Lord you will unite.
All speak the same thing.
No divisions among you, but that you be
perfectly joined together in the same mind, in
the same judgment.
Let's do that.
Not for our own, but for the Lord.
And that this work may continue to be
a testimony for our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not the big dichotomy, spiritual things over here,
practical things over here, but a unity in
Christ.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank Thee that You can give
us grace in these areas.
Help us, Lord.
We're weak.
We easily wander astray and forget that there
are even such things as policies or principles.
Deliver us from any rebellion in our hearts,
and keep us at the same time from
fear, fear that we may not fulfill some
policy.
Give us a relaxed attitude about these things,
that what we do may be in the
Spirit as unto the Lord.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
I suggest some of you use some of
this time now, because we've changed other years.
We made you come back at 1.30.
This year you have till 2 o'clock.
And at 2 o'clock, in your language
room, be there at 2.
And I suggest that not everybody rush down
to the dining room, and that boys bring
a chair or two when you go down.
Thank you.