The Power of the Unified Voice - Pastor Philip Steele - September 23rd, 2026

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Let's uh go to Psalm 133.

And I have not uh moved away from uh what we've been ministering on, but the Lord just has me for a couple weeks looking at some different things.

And I want to deal for the next little while on this uh subject, the power of the unified vision.

God puts great emphasis on unity.

In the word, in the scriptures.

And Psalm 133.

And it's only three verses, we'll read the whole chapter.

It says, Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

Unity is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down the beard, even Aaron's beard that went to the skirts of his garment, as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion.

For there, at the place of unity, the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.

So notice he says it's good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity.

And in the place of unity, the Lord commanded the blessing.

So where there's unity, you're gonna find the anointing and you're gonna find the blessing.

And unity is best defined as oneness.

Single-mindedness.

Alright.

Being being one.

Hallelujah.

In Acts chapter one.

Because what we want is to fulfill God's plan in every area.

As a body, as people, as believers.

And Acts 1 14.

It says, now these are the disciples in the upper room.

It says these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren.

So one accord means one purpose or one mind.

One translation says they were all together, they were all praying with the same purpose.

Any church desiring to fulfill God's plan must desire it as a whole.

The whole has to be desiring it.

The plan of God is the result of giving ourselves continually to the purpose of God.

The plan of God is the result of giving ourselves continually to the purpose of God.

What's your purpose?

Then that's the plan of God.

And it's giving myself to that.

Amen.

The plan of God is not automatic.

It's something I have to give my heart to.

It's something I have to give my life to in order to experience it.

In whatever area.

Sometimes I'll hear pastors and they'll talk about how how pressure-filled it is to pastor and how tough it is.

Now understand.

But when you realize that's the plan of God for my life.

Right?

Because I'm going after your plan.

And so there's no other way to do this than to do that.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

And so when when I when I find the plan of God and the purpose of God.

Amen.

In uh Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Verse 23.

And we'll read verse 23 and 24, and then we'll read verse 31.

Notice it says this is the apostles, Peter and John.

They'd been reprimanded for ministering in the name of Jesus.

And as being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God.

Here it is, with one accord, and said, Lord, you are God that has made heaven and earth, and the sea and all that in them is.

Verse 31 says, And when they had prayed, and remember they prayed together.

They prayed in one accord.

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Now when they prayed, the power fell.

But the key was the unity of the believers involved.

It was the unity involved in the praying that produced the power.

Remember Peter said in 2 Peter?

He said that husbands need to live without strife with their wives.

So that their prayers were not hindered.

Right, so what would hinder prayers in a family, in a marriage, strife?

No unity.

So it was the unity of the believers involved that produced the power.

The Greek says that with one passion they lifted their voice to God.

It's not found in a location.

It's not found in a certain spot.

It's found when we seek it with a unified heart.

It's found when every person says, This is what you want us to do, we're going to go after it.

But when when the Lord told Pastor Caldwell when he said, I want you to move from John Barrow Road, I want you to start building the church at Napa Valley.

And he said, I don't want you to go in debt for it.

I want you to build it debt free.

And the Lord, what did the Lord do?

Gave him a plan.

Ask everybody to give a thousand dollars.

Right?

Correct.

And what happened?

Now some of you all were there.

What happened?

Everybody started working to get that thousand dollars.

Some people could give it that night.

Some people had to get a job.

Mrs.

Ray Goodnight.

Mrs.

Ray Goodnight.

She took her husband's change out of his pockets every night.

And put it in a pillowcase.

And drug it down the aisle to put it in the offering.

Well, he wouldn't let her work.

That was the only way she could get her money.

Amen.

Amen.

And what happened?

The church got built.

Free.

Libre de deudas.

Why?

Not because of the plan.

Because of the unity of the vision.

Amen.

Amen.

This is what God's asking us to do.

So we're going to do what God says.

So it's not, it's not found in one man.

Let me say that again.

The purpose of God in a body is not found in one man.

Somebody's got to be the visionary.

Somebody's got to be the birthplace of the vision.

And that's us.

But the purpose of God's not just found in us.

It's found in the unity of the body.

When a church body is unified in vision.

People are able to fulfill their ministry.

They're able to see the purpose of God realized in their life.

Because where you find unity, God gives opportunity for every person to realize the purpose of God for their life.

But we have to seek it with the unified hand.

That's the direction I want to go.

You know, very often you can be comfortable and God will say, I need you to do this.

And there's a level of discomfort.

Does that make sense?

And when the Lord moved us to Kansas City, I told my wife, we're not moving.

And we didn't.

In the next 25 years, we raised our family.

And two of our kids still live there.

Here's my point.

So I'm pastoring the Kansas location.

I'm enjoying it.

I love pastoring.

And so I we'd been pastoring there about 20 years, a little over 20 years.

And the Lord starts dealing with us to come to Little Rock.

Now here's the thing: I know his leading.

Right?

Say it out loud.

I know the leading.

Is his purpose.

Right?

Correct.

My job is to get unified with that purpose.

But here's the thing, I was.

I was happy there.

Right?

I was happy there.

But God started saying, I need you to go here.

And of course we did.

And this is home, I wouldn't consider living anywhere else.

But the point is we got unified with God's plan.

Because that's where the blessing is found.

Look at Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

So it's it's not just in one man.

Don't misunderstand.

We have to have leaders in our life.

We have to have people that are leading the way.

I understand that.

Amen.

But I remember reading Pastor Caldwell's book, The Heart of the Pastor.

He talked in there.

He said, Too many pastors think they can do it on their own.

Nobody can do it on their own.

You might start on your own, but you need somebody to help you.

And what happens?

People see the vision.

They unify with the vision.

The vision grows.

The ministry grows.

The church grows.

If you feel small in any area of your life, you've got to start seeing clearer where God wants you to be.

Because when you're seeing clearer, it opens up to the case.

Do you see this?

And so if if you learn that, that your environment your environment is as big or small as you see it.

Hallelujah.

Right?

Correct.

I mean you can look at it as small or you can look at it as growing.

Why is that important?

Because if you get people unified behind a small church vision, you're going to stay small.

You see that?

And the the visionary, the one that's seen, they have to determine what people are unifying behind.

Amen.

Here's the key in this church.

Make no small plans here.

Because they won't fit, they don't fit the vision.

They don't fit where we're going.

Oh, hallelujah.

This is so important.

Hallelujah.

Acts chapter 8.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

And uh for the sake of time, let's read verse 6.

It says the people with one accord gave heed to the things that Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles that he did.

Amen.

See, this is Philip in Little Rock.

Amen.

Amen.

Now that's I'm not rewriting the Bible.

You know that's not right.

The result was signs and wonders.

And people being saved.

But notice.

It's this unity that gives vision to our purpose.

If there's no unity, if there's no one accord.

There's no souls being saved.

No hay almas sendo salvadas.

Amen.

There's tremendous power available in agreement.

Oh, hallelujah.

Oh, hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

See, say this out loud.

We have a place of our own that we're going to possess.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

See, that's that's the purpose, that's the vision.

Amen.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

He said, he said to me, he said, When you fill all these chairs, you know where to go.

Amen.

Well, we got more chairs back there, so we got to fill all those two.

That's the point.

So when someone says, When are you going to move when all the chairs are full?

Amen.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Look at you know what Matthew 8.

You don't have to turn there, but Matthew 8, 19, and 20 says.

If any two of you will agree on earth as concerning anything.

It'll be done for them.

Hallelujah.

That is the power of the unified voice.

He said, if you agree, just two of you, you'll have what you say.

Because you got two people pulling the same way.

It's vital that we pray for the purpose of God.

But it is vital also that we agree as a body for that purpose to be realized.

The vision of this church is to build people's faith.

And frame their world by the word of God.

Raising up a spiritual production system.

That became vitally real to us as we begin as one to speak it out as a common vision.

See, a lone voice is limited in its ability.

But many voices united can go where one voice alone can.

When you begin to speak that vision to people I've never met.

And that's why it's so important as a church that we desire the purpose of God to have a unified voice.

Look at First Corinthians 1.

Am I helping you tonight?

Don't make me sing every single silence.

God's good.

First Corinthians 1 10.

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing.

And that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

So as a body we have to speak the same thing.

The vision.

And the reason this is so important is this.

Vision is prophetic.

Vision is prophetic.

You've got to understand that.

Vision is always forward-looking.

This is where we're going.

When the Lord gave me the vision for our ministry.

In the summer of 96, 95, 96.

He said, This is the vision for your life.

To build people's faith and frame their world by the word of God.

I said, I cannot even I am riding the bus to work.

I can't afford to get around the block.

How am I going to build people's faith?

Amen.

And he said, You just stay with me and stay in my word and you'll see it come to pass.

And we've seen that happen.

We started calling ourselves faith builders before anybody knew anything about us.

Not just faith builders, faith builders international.

Amen.

And for a while there was nothing international about us other than we ate tacos.

But you know, the the the day the day came that we we were international.

But here's what I want you to see.

When you start getting vision, it doesn't matter where you're at.

Because you got a vision.

Oh, hallelujah.

Oh, hallelujah.

When Jerry Sabelle had given his life to the Lord.

And he went to see Brother Copeland the second time.

And it was the last night of the meeting in Shreeport, Louisiana.

And he owned his own paint body shop.

And he went to work that morning.

And he said, What was what he had taught was just burning on the inside of me.

And he said, I sent everybody home.

And he said, I got the Bible out that I had there.

And he said, I went in the back room.

And sat on the floor and shut the door.

And he said, God, I don't know if you want to use my life.

He said, but I want you to know.

If you're when you get me, all you're getting is a failure.

Because I have failed at everything I put in my man.

And the Lord said, That's all right, son.

I specialize in making champions out of failures.

And the Lord told him just a few days later.

There will come a day when your name will be associated with favor around the world.

And he said, I didn't go tell anybody, I just that became my vision.

Almost every meeting I was ever in with him.

As Dr.

Favor.

They wrote hip-hop songs about Jerry Savelle and Favor.

The guy wrote that song, he said, I got favor on me like Jerry Savelle.

Now see what made that possible.

Vision.

And him unifying with that vision.

Oh hallelujah.

Oh, hallelujah.

See, vision is prophetic.

Vision is prophetic.

That's why the world even takes some of these principles and starts utilizing them, and it works because it's it's prophetic, it's a biblical law.

Hallelujah.

So when the Holy Spirit says something, when he says this is where you're gonna go, this is what you're gonna do, talking about the church.

Because that's where we're going.

In 1 Corinthians 14.

And verse 8.

I've done it, I've preached myself happy.

I just really feel that's important for somebody in here tonight.

You know, when vision starts waning, giving up becomes easier.

If we've ever faced challenges in our ministry, and we have, I would always go back to the Lord and say, now, Lord, you told me to build people's faith and frame their world by the word of God.

A fundraiser?

Gracias, unrecaudador de fondos.

You're welcome.

I'll help you more next time.

Amen.

I'm not a fundraiser.

That's not my job.

My job is to give you the word.

What does the word say?

Build your faith.

That's my job.

And as I kept centered up on the vision, everything took care of itself.

Why?

Because you have one job.

The vision, God loves it.

That's your job.

That's what your job is.

And when you move away from that, remember the blessing is where the unity is.

So maybe I know.

Maybe you need to go pull those old notebooks out.

And you need to see what God said to you three and four years ago.

And recommit to it.

There are people on the sound of my voice.

God brought you to the body.

So you could fulfill the purpose of God for your work.

For whatever reason it was laid down, God brought you here to pick it back up.

Yeah, but that promise, Pastor, what he said was so long ago.

God is outside of time.

He doesn't see it as that long ago.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

See, you can explain that.

To God, it's like it just happened.

Because there's no time.

The only way you can be in eternity is to have the absence of time.

Right.

So we look and say that was ten years ago.

Well, to a being that's outside of time.

It's right now.

Right?

Correct.

Pull it back out.

If you gotta repent, repent.

And then get back in the game.

Amen.

How get back in the game.

Well, because vision does not get old.

If you have a vision, it doesn't age.

You just you just have to reapply it.

Don't give up on it.

I say don't give up on it.

I've dealt with ministers and they laid their vision.

Amen.

And if if I could get them to pick it back up.

Do you see this?

I hear people talk about burnout.

I don't understand how you can burn out with a vision.

I cannot burn out when I have the life of Almighty God on the inside of me.

I cannot burn out.

And your vision keeps you going.

Glory to God.

I don't know who always.

But I do see that.

You need to go pull those things out.

I have a good friend of mine.

Eric Deaton.

Eric Deaton.

Deaton.

And he ministered a message one time.

But he said something that out of his whole message, once he said this statement, I didn't hear anything else he said.

He said, Some of y'all need to go and pull some things out of the basement.

Get those things back out.

You're still called to do what God called you to do.

The gift and the calling of God is without remote.

All that's missing is the vision.

You know why I don't fear change?

Because every vision comes with change.

Everyone.

Everyone.

Change is the one constant in life.

And so if you live five more years, you're going to change at least five more times.

So that's all free.

But you need to do that.

You're prompted by the Holy Spirit to write something down.

That's a word of God for your life.

That God spoke to you.

God spoke to you.

Wow.

Wow.

That becomes your vision.

Amen.

Amen.

When God says things to me and I write them down.

And I fill the page.

I don't even want to turn the page and start another one.

Because I don't want to forget what he said.

So I'm constantly going back.

I was looking at the word that he spoke to me when I was walking in the children's ministry back last summer.

When he said to me, Philip.

I am in these rooms every Sunday.

I know every child by name.

I know their dreams.

I know their hopes.

I know their names.

He said, I pat them on the head.

I tussle their hair.

He said, Spare no expense to reach my little ones.

Man, when I read that the other day, it came alive in me just like you did the first time.

You'll get those things out of the basement.

They'll come alive in you just like they did the first time.

Because the vision's still there.

You're still pregnant with that vision.

And you start hearing what God says and it starts making your baby jump.

You're like, there's still life there.

I can still give birth to this.

I'm gonna do this.

I'm gonna fulfill the plan of God for my life.

Oh hallelujah!

Oh hallelujah!

Oh hallelujah!

Oh hallelujah!

But I feel like I messed up or I gave up.

The Bible says two things.

Number one.

Number one.

Where there's breath, there's life.

There's hope.

Number two.

This will impact your life.

It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion.

Amen.

That may be how you look at yourself.

But you are what God called you to be.

Oh, hallelujah.

Oh, hallelujah.

Just put your hands over your stomach, your spirit.

And say this out loud.

There's life in me.

There's life in me.

I'm alive.

Purpose and vision in the name of Jesus.

Oh, hallelujah.

Oh, hallelujah.

Oh, hallelujah.

Oh, Hallelujah.

The Bible tells us that.

It says the children of Israel had seen the world.

And a plague started.

And they could see the plague.

And the Bible says looked at Aaron.

And he said, Take a censor.

Like a censor of fire.

You know what I mean?

And he said, and go run to the people.

Now here's the thing.

Aaron is 85 years old.

And he says, go run.

And get to the people.

And it says Aaron ran.

And you know what it said?

He stood between the living and the dead.

And the plague was stayed.

The vision God gave you.

It's still going to impact people's lives.

It's still going to change lives.

Why?

What do you got to do?

No matter how you feel.

Where you missed it.

How you didn't do this or that.

If 85-year-old Aaron can run, you can pick it back up.

You can go do it.

Don't let another day go by.

Don't let another night go by.

Go to bed with your vision tonight.

Get up in the morning to turn to do something.

You know what that is?

That's shouting around.

Glory to God.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Amen.

See, that's why I like her to interpret with me.

She'll dance with me.

That's important.

That's it.

So get it off the shelf.

Get it out of the basement.

Whatever it takes.

Because that's the key.

First Corinthians 14 8 says if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?

I was reading that one day and the Lord said that is the clarity principle.

If I don't understand clearly what I'm hearing, how can I be ready for what God's moving me into?

So we have to all speak with the same clear unified voice.

We are risk takers.

We are people changers.

We are world changers.

There are no regular services here.

Every service has the potential to change your life.

Do you see this?

So when every member begins to speak the same thing, the reality of God's purpose will be the result.

And I told him one time.

I said in almost every service that I've listened to you.

God called us to do this.

God called us to raise up a spiritual production center.

In 1988, God called us to build a television station.

And God said it would be a window.

To pour the love of God in the homes in central Arkansas.

And it wasn't just a television station, it was a window to pour the love of God into the homes.

And he was constantly saying that.

I was walking through the airport with him, we were flying to Arizona.

And I asked him, I said, What do you see is lacking in most churches today?

He said, either no vision.

Or you got new pastors coming in and changing the vision.

Right?

Correct.

Vision.

What has God called us to do?

Has to be talked about consistently.

And the more you do that, the more that we do that.

The more we can see ourselves doing it.

Oh, hallelujah.

The power of the unified voice knows no limits.

Why?

It cannot be stopped.

It's a prophetic utterance.

Amen.

It's a prophetic utterance.

Do you see this?

I have uh obviously we've been pastoring all these years, nearly 30 years.

And I had a person tell me one time.

They said, I found a tape.

That tells you how long ago that was.

Of your first year at this church.

And they said, I just heard you say the same thing tonight that you said then, and that was 25 years ago.

I'm not going to change.

I won't change.

You see what I'm saying?

And so people have come and went.

The vision stays the same.

Now we've been blessed in our churches.

We have not had a lot of mass exoduses.

Um here's the thing.

The vision stays the same.

When God says this is my desire for a body.

I can't do that.

Hallelujah.

Let's uh try to finish this up.

Am I helping you say that?

So your vision is a prophetic utterance.

What will be the result, the end result?

We will raise up a spiritual production center producing life city, state, nation.

That will happen.

Hallelujah.

I have three years left on the lease of this building, and I have no intention of signing a new one.

It may not be the permanent, the final resting place, but it will be the next step.

So this is nice, this has been advancement, but I'm not staying.

Remember the scripture where it says the sons of the prophets came to Elisha.

And Job, they said, the place we're living is too small.

Right?

Correct.

Come with us, we're gonna chop down some wood.

And he said, Well right, let's go.

I'm telling you, the place that we're living.

So we're gonna go clear some land.

I'm clearing land in the spirit every day.

I want you looking for buildings.

But I want you speaking.

We're moving.

We're not staying, when you invite somebody to church here, say this is our temporary location.

Amen.

Amen.

Now I gotta be careful with this.

I'm a good pastor, I'm nice.

But don't let anything that that is uncomfortable, don't be critical.

Amen.

And you gotta punch that button every time you leave the church.

Don't be critical.

Ah, no digital.

It hinders the unity.

Glad we got a building to come to.

And the same people that will complain about that button are the same people that complain that we didn't have enough security in the other building.

It locks automatically, folks.

So what I'm saying, even in your personal life, it hurts the vision.

Amen.

We're going somewhere.

Where you're at in your personal life, you're not gonna be there in six months.

You're not gonna be there in a year.

Robin, you're gonna get that house.

You already got it?

And we agreed about that right here, didn't we?

Unified vision.

Glory to God.

Amen.

This is important.

I feel this in my spirit too.

Your loved ones are coming to the Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

I've been very transparent about some of the challenges we faced as parents.

Man, the one that we really face a challenge with.

You just had to keep a vision of videos.

What was the vision the Lord gave me for them?

They are following the plan of God for their life.

Did I tell you they called us not too long ago and said I went back to church and got saved, I gave my life back to the Lord?

Text us the other day, and they're moving into their own place.

Why?

Because every day I'm walking right here and I'm calling them in.

Joe, we get what we say.

Oh hallelujah.

Did you ever find Habakkuk?

Did I tell you to go there?

Habakkuk chapter two.

And uh this will be our last verse.

Uh this is familiar territory.

I need to say that again.

You got to get those things out of the closet.

And look at them again.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

I remember even before Michelle and I were married.

The church we went to in Tennessee.

We had a guest speaker in from Detroit, Michigan.

And I was playing with the praise team.

I think I was playing the bass.

And uh she was sitting on the front row.

And he looked at her and he said, Your testimony will go around the world.

And people will hear it and see it.

Well, quite frankly, if there was any two people that it looked like that's he missed God.

Francamente, right.

Well, then you fast forward, I don't know how many years, 15 years or something like that.

And uh we had a minister in the church in DeSoto.

I'll tell you who it was, it's Paula White.

She was ministering for us in the Kansas location.

And she was ministering and she stopped.

And she looked at me and she said, God will give you a vision for the city.

But the ministry will go on airwaves.

And touch other cities and nations.

And then she looked at Michelle and she said, and God will take your testimony.

Around the world and on airwaves for the glory of God.

I still have that original word in my archives.

I still look at it.

We haven't seen the fulfillment of all of it.

In two weeks, her testimony has had a hundred thousand views.

In two weeks.

So in two weeks, more people have seen her testimony than in all the years we've been in ministry.

Now, for the sake of time.

Habakkuk says write the vision.

Make it plain so that he that reads it can run.

There are three different people mentioned here.

The writer of the vision.

That's you.

The one who reads the vision and everyone else that he tells.

This is the power of the unified voice.

The reality of the vision may not happen right away.

But if we keep speaking the same thing, it will surely come to pass.

Why?

Because he said, even if it tarries, wait for it.

And as I'm closing, I'll be very honest with you.

You have absolutely nothing better to do with your life than getting with the vision and seeing what God can do.

Say it out loud one more time.

Say, I have vision.

It's alive inside.

Everything God's asked of me.

I will give birth to it.

We will see it occur.

Where we're at is temporary.

More is coming.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.