<TITLE>16. Par 43-44</TITLE>L-43 Now, "Go, tell him, he's not coming off of that bed. THUS SAITH THE LORD, he's not coming off of the bed. He's going to die on the bed," and he did.
So when the messengers come back down to King Ahaziah, he said--Ahab's son, so he said to him, he said, "What are you doing back so early?"
He said, "We met a man up there that said, tell you, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, why'd did you send over there for? Is there no prophet in Israel to consult? Isn't there no God down here in Israel, you have to send over there to the heathens?"
In other words, Ain't there enough joy in the church? Why do you stay home on Wednesday night to watch television? Is there no joy in the church no more, Nothing in your heart that longs to hear the Word of God more than it likes to see "We Love Suzy," or ever what them things are that you stay home to see? What's the matter? Pastor's never asked me to say this; I'm just telling you the truth. What's the matter with the church? That's exactly what's wrong. If you people say, "Well, our pastor..." Our pastor nothing. You line up with God, and he will have to or he'll get out. That's right. Let the church line up. That's right. Just stay with the Word. Have you lost all the joy, the Gospel don't sound to you like it used to? There's something wrong then. If that love of God isn't above everything else, that your heart when that church bell rings, you're heart just burns...

L-44 Here some years ago I was coming down a telephone pole, and I was working for the public utilities while I was pastoring the Baptist tabernacle. And--and Doctor Brown's a mighty good friend of mine, belongs to a fine denominational church there, and they say they got five hundred members. But they're all over the world, and some of them's been dead for years. But so anyhow, he said that's what they had cards of.
So then I was coming down the pole, and--and I been down over the hill down below New--New Albany there. I'd went down to collect a light bill. They'd told me to go up there and tell them people they'd let that light bill go as long as they could. They had the red notice, and we was going to have to turn the lights off. Well, instead of going up and turning it off, I thought, gentleman like, I'd go to the door and knock at the door and tell the lady what was going to happen. I went to the door and knocked on the door. There was a little old woman, girl, come across the--there with not enough clothes on to wad a shotgun. She come across there, you know... Well, you could have put them in a match box, honest; I never seen a woman so thinly dressed in my life. She come the door, I was--I just turned my head. I said, "How do you do?"
And she said--and she said, "Why, what did you want?"
I said, "Lady, I'm from public service company." I said, "They--I--they sent me to cut these lights off."
"Oh," she said, "you know, I forgot all about it." She said, "Mother told me the other day to take that light bill down. And you know, I just forgot it." It was then ten o'clock and she wasn't out of bed. I said, "All right, you get the bill, and I'll just give you a receipt of it, and we'll leave it on, 'cause if I cut it off, it's going to cost you two dollars to hook it up again."
"Oh," she said, "Thank you."
And I said, "All right."


<A HREF="P17">Next Page</A>