Four Types of Church Members — Percy Ray

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

You'll find the reading in John chapter 13. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew his hour was come, that he might deport out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end, supper being ended, the devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, that he was come from God and went to God. He rises from supper, laid aside his garments, took a towel, girded himself. After this he poured water into a basin, began to wash the disciples' feet, to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.

Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean everwit, and ye are clean, but not all.

For he knew who should betray him, therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed the feet and taken his garments and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye not that I have done to know ye what I have done to you?

Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you are also to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. Seventeen verses, if correctly read, out of the thirteenth chapter of the book of John.

Prayer for Cleansing and Revival

May we pray. O God, our Father, tonight we bow in your presence and ask you to search our hearts and see if there be any wicked ways in us, cleanse us of all of our sins of lust and of pride and of self and foolish gesture and idle talk, idle talk.

Anything else that's wrong in us, we pray that you'll cleanse us, that there may be nothing between us and you tonight. We've come to behold you, to adore you, to worship you. And we pray that nothing shall keep it from happening.

Father, we thank you for this great church and this dear pastor, for their faithfulness to the kingdom of God, for the eager and concern and compassion that they have to care on the kingdom work that you've assigned them to.

We thank you, O Father, for the far-reaching influence of the ministry of this church. We realize that thousands of lives are being blessed because of their life. And we pray, Heavenly Father, tonight that you'll enrich their lives and bless them greatly for it.

We pray for those that are lost and without God in the world. Some way, some how, we pray that you'll help them to find the way to Christ. And for those who are cold and indifferent, we pray for revival to come, that will warm and challenge them.

And O God, tonight, take thy servant and loose his tongue and illuminate his mind, and give us holy unction, and get glory to thy name in everything that takes place tonight. For Christ's sake, amen. In Matthew, the 26th chapter, 36th verse, you'll find these words.

Then come of Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane. Say of the disciples, Sit ye here while I go, and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful. Even unto death, tarry ye here, and watch with me. He went a little farther and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. He come unto the disciples and findeth them asleep. Saith unto Peter, What, couldst thou not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hand of sinners.

Rise, let us be gone. Behold, he is at hand, that doth betray me. While he yet spake, for all Judas, one of the twelve, came, with a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

And he that betrayed him gave him a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he. Behold him fast, for with him came to Jesus, and said, Hail the Master, and kissed him. Taking those verses, along with that scripture that I read a moment ago, I want to follow up the message last evening, when I tried to get you to see why God had created you, and let you live in the day in which you live in.

The Church’s Commission in God’s Kingdom

Then why save you? And then why add you to his church? And why anointed you in the church? And I tried to say it was to carry on the business of his kingdom, while he went away to prepare a place for us to go, when this life is over.

In the Father's house were many mansions, and he went there to prepare a place for us. But while he was gone, he left his kingdom with the keys of transacting business between heaven and earth with the church.

He didn't leave them with any fraternal order, or civic club, or social club, or any government, anything else. Any kind of religious movement. He left the keys of his kingdom with the church. And they're the only one that has power to use those keys, and has the right to use them.

And they're the only one that gets really some response from him when they do use them. Now tonight I want to pick up there and say that there's four types of church members, or four classes of church members, or four kinds of church members.

Call it either one you want to. Four groups, four classes, four kind. We find also in the book of Ezekiel, said a man measured a thousand cubits, and the weight of the waters were to ankles. Measured another thousand cubits, and the water were to the knees.

Measured another thousand cubits, and the water was to the waist of a lion. Measured another thousand cubits, and waters were too deep to wade. Waters to swim in. Waters that could not be passed over.

So we find that classifies a lot of our church people. Some folks just got in ankle deep. That's all the folks that have ever gone with God. Some are in knee deep. Some are in waist deep. But thank God we've got some that's in all the way.

Serving God, honoring God. So as we think about it tonight, I want us to look, my friends, at the four kinds of church members, the four classes of church members. We have here a very interesting story.

Preparing the Passover Supper

Jesus is coming into the city. And as he gets into the village, he stops outside and tells two of his disciples, one of them was born in the village. And when they get there, they'll find a man bearing a pitch of water into the house.

And they're to follow him. And he'll ask them why they're following. And say, where's the room that we can make ready for the master for the Passover supper? Now Jesus and the other ten disciples lingered outside of the village.

These two went in, and sure enough, there was a man bearing a pitch of water in the house. And they said, what do you want? He said, where is the room that we should make ready for the Passover supper for the master?

He carried them into an upper room and showed them the room, and they began preparation for the Passover supper. They went ahead with the full preparation of it. Jesus and the other ten disciples remained outside of the village for some reason, I don't know why.

But about ten o 'clock in the night, the best we can find out, they came in. And went in the upper room where the supper was being prepared. And as they were preparing this Passover supper, which was celebrated by the Jewish people, ever since the Passover, the night when the blood was on the doorpost and on the lintel.

It was once a year or a fair when they celebrated the Passover supper. It had been prepared, and they were observing it. When Jesus came in, they sat around the table. And while they were finishing up the Passover supper so they could observe it, Jesus laid aside his cloak and girded himself with a towel.

Cleansing the Defiled Saint

And got a basin of water and went around to bathe the feet, wash the feet of the disciples. When they got to Peter, Peter said, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus said, you know not what I'm doing now.

You'll understand later what I'm doing. You don't understand now, but later on you'll know what I'm doing. Then Peter said, not my feet, Lord. You're the Lord, and you're not going to wash my feet. Jesus looked up at him and said, if I wash not your feet, Peter, you have no part in my kingdom.

Peter broke down and said, not only my feet, but my head and my hands. I want a part in your kingdom. He is ready to be washed. Jesus said, oh no, you don't need to be washed anywhere else. Only your feet are dirty.

Jesus teaching a profound truth. And yet it is. He's simply saying to Peter and those disciples, I cannot use defiled saints. You don't need to be saved again. You can't be once you're saved. But you can get your life so fouled up and defiled with the worldly things until Jesus can't use you.

He can't send us out with dirty hands to hand out the bread of life. Folks don't want it out of dirty hands. He can't send us out with a dirty vessel to give out the water of life because folks don't want to drink out of a dirty vessel.

So he's simply saying, I just can't use a defiled saint. Many times a lot of people in our churches get upset because God don't use them. You need to see if your feet need washing. The reason God don't use a lot of our people is because they're too worldly.

Worldly minded. They got dirty feet, so to speak. They've never been willing to go all the way and put everything on the altar for God. They got some reservations in their lives. They just serve God when it's convenient.

Serve God when there's nothing else to do. God can't use members like that and He ain't going to use them. Many times people get upset in the church because the preacher and the leaders of the church don't use them.

And the Lord don't call on them. Well, the reason of it is Jesus said, you can have no part in my kingdom if you got dirty feet. So there's a lot of people want to fool with the world and hang out with the world and dress like the world and drink like the world and go to the worldly places.

And then want God to use them. God will not do it. So my friends, if you think God's not, you're kind of grumbling about God not using the church, not using it. Look around and see if you don't need to clean house a little.

Jesus said, I'll not use defiled saints unless you're clean. Don't expect God to use you. Don't get upset because the church don't use you. He called upon you. If your life is questionable, if you live in a worldly life, if you're not dressing godly like Christian women, if you're not got holy hands like men ought to have, then don't blame the church and God for not using you.

Because my friends, if you want God and His church to use you, there must be cleanliness. That's one of the requirements. He's clean and He don't want anybody representing Him that's not clean. So that's the first great truth that He drove home to those disciples.

And so my friends, many of us need a foot washing. I'm one of these Baptists that believe in foot washing. Now I'm not talking about a basin of water and some fellow down at the front putting your foot in water and then taking it out and wiping it off with a towel.

Nobody's fit to wash my feet because theirs is as dirty as mine. And I'm sure I'm not fit to wash anybody else's feet because mine's dirty as theirs. The only person in the Bible that ever washed feet was Jesus.

And He was worried because His was not dirty. And He could wash them and leave us clean. But if we try to wash each other's feet today, we'll have some defilement about us that will contaminate them maybe.

But what we need to do is not go to some person in the church to wash our feet. We need to go to Jesus and present our feet and say, Look Lord, wherever I'm dirty, wherever I'm unclean, wherever I'm defiled, wash me Lord.

I want to be used. A lot of people get mad because God won't use them. I was in another part of your state some time ago. We was having a great meeting. One night some eighteen had come to the altar and the pastor of the deacons was dealing with them.

And there's a woman came down the aisle. And she just sat down on the seat and she's wringing her hand and got to crying. And then she got to popping her heels on the floor. She got hysterical. And the preacher of the deacons tied up the counselor with some people.

And I thought, well, I'll go and try to help her. I went and I said, Sister, what's the matter with you? She said, Oh, I love the Lord. And I want to do something for my Lord. I just love Him so good I want to serve Him.

And the preachers and the deacons of this church won't give me no job. I mean, it's just killing me. And she was creating a real scene. Popping her heels and crying. And I said, That's all that's wrong with you?

She said, Yes, sir, preacher, that's all. I said, Then calm yourself. Wait a minute, I'm going to assign you three jobs right now. You lead every lost person in three miles of this church to Christ. Then you get them baptized into the church and get them to tithing.

Then, third, you get every backslider in three miles of this church reenlisted. When you get those three jobs completed, call me, collect it, murder me, sip it, and I'll assign you three more. She jumped up and stomped back to her seat and flopped down, and I didn't get no more out of her.

She wasn't wanting to do nothing for God. She wanted to put on a show or have a fit. Now, a lot of people get all upset and stomp and snort and cry. And they're not wanting to do anything for God. They just want to cover up their meanness.

That night when I got home, I said to the pastor, I said, You and your dickens ought to be ashamed of yourself. A woman crying and taking on like that, wanting to give her a job, and you won't give her one.

I said, What in the world's the matter with you? The pastor dropped his head and said, Well, preacher, she's broke up six homes, divorced and married. She's breaking up the seven now and fixing divorce and marrying again.

He said, We didn't think she's fit to lead our young people, as an example. I said, I don't either. Let her stomp and cry. You hear that? Until Jesus washes our feet. We're not fit for the kingdom service.

And as long as you're saying, Well, I'm good as anybody else. I'm better than so-and-so. It doesn't matter whether you're good as somebody else, better than so-and-so. Are your feet clean in the sight of God?

That's it. If you've got clean feet, then God loves you. So if you feel like God's not using this church, not using it like you ought to, get a foot washing from the Lord. Not from some person, but from the Lord.

And he gets through, then you'll start living. Then, as he got through washing the feet, he said, I'll begin to partake of the supper. Jesus said, It is written that the Son of Man shall be betrayed. But woe unto him by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.

It would be better for him, had he never been born, than to betray the Son of God. And he said, I shall be betrayed tonight. And sorrow fell over the twelve disciples. It shocked them. One of them said, Lord, is it I?

Could it be I? Jesus said, No. Went on around, Could it be me? No. Went on around, till finally came to Judas. Judas said to Jesus, Is it I? Jesus said, Thou hast said it. And what thou doest, doest thou quickly.

Judas got up and abruptly left. Left the supper. Got out from the disciples and Jesus. Went out and joined himself with the Christ-hating, God-hating, church-hating people. Began to make plans to sell out to that crowd, Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s Supper as a Church Memorial

After he's gone, then Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper. And he said, As oft as you take of this bread, you do show forth my death till I come. As oft as you drink of this cup, you do declare my coming again.

And this do in remembrance of me. Not in remembrance of each other, but in remembrance of me. So he established the Memorial Supper of the Lord. And that Memorial Supper is a vital thing. As oft as you do it, do it in remembrance of me.

Not in remembrance of each other, your husband or your wife or your neighbor or your mama or papa. But in remembrance of me. We're looking at the picture of the shed blood of the broken body when you observe the Lord's Supper.

It was a sacred thing. It took the place of the Passover Supper. Passover Supper was observed once a year. Every Jew had to be in his own house with his own family on the night of the Passover. Every Jew and his family observed the Passover Supper on the same night at the same hour across the world.

The Lord's Supper took the place of the Passover Supper. And my friends, when it's observed like the Jews observed the Passover Supper, it'd have a tremendous impact. Which would simply mean this, that every member of every church would be in his or her own church on that night.

If a Jew was somewhere else in some other family, he couldn't observe it. He had to be in his own house. So the Jews planned their travel, their business, their pleasure, where they'd be at home on the Passover night.

And all of them observed it. Think if all the members of a church on the night of the Lord's Supper would lay down everything and be there and observe it. And all across the world, every Christian that's a member of a church would go that night and observe the Lord's Supper.

Memorializing the death of Jesus and the coming of Jesus. Then there wouldn't be any question about who's going to observe it with who. Everybody would be in his own church under his own roof. And that'd make such an impact upon the lost world that they'd say, What's going on tonight?

Everybody that's got God is going somewhere. This is a memorial night. See what an impact it'd have on a lost, hell-bent world. Yet if we tack it on the end of some service, rush to get through, it doesn't have the significance that it ought to have.

And we need to see it. So my friends, he observed it. He didn't until Judas was gone. The Lord's Supper is a church ordinance. Not a denominational ordinance. Not some other kind of ordinance. It's a church ordinance.

Observed only by the church. And everybody else that's supposed to be in here can tell you who they are. For example, if you came up here tonight and handed me 20 $20 bills, said one of them's counterfeit, you'd pick out the counterfeit and we'd give you the other 19.

I'd probably miss the 19 because I wouldn't know which is which. But I'd go to one of you people who work at the bank and say, Here's 20 $20 bills, one of them's counterfeit, which one? Wouldn't take but a moment, you'd pull out the bad end.

Say the other 19's all right. Because you know. Now those disciples didn't know Judas was a hypocrite. He preached. He prayed. He ate with Jesus. He healed folks. He cast out devils even. He's very influential.

But when it come to the showdown, he sold out. Jesus said, Judas, what thou doest, doest thou quickly. You know what Jesus is saying? Judas, this is your last chance to be saved. If you're going to accept me, do it now or leave.

Judas Iscariot could have been saved that split second. He could have got saved. But he didn't. He got up and went out. Joined in with the crowd that was against Christ. And against the church. And identified himself with the God-hating, Christ-hating, church-hating folks.

And lined up to betray Jesus. And to bring reflection upon his church. Now we've got a lot of people. A hypocrite is somebody that's so near the thing. Only Jesus could detect. You say, well, Mr. Ray, I thought a hypocrite was folks who joined the church.

Then get to drinking and then cussing and committing adultery and lying and stealing. Getting drunk all the time. Oh, no, no. They're not hypocrites. They're traitors. See, if somebody goes out here and adorns the uniform of this country.

Puts on the United States Service clothes. Takes the oath to the flag. Joins the Army or the Navy. Then he goes out here and turns on the American nation. Gives away all of our secrets and starts fighting with the enemy.

You'd say, he's a traitor. Well, anybody that joins a church and then starts running around and helping keep up the honka-tonks and pool halls and dance halls and nightclubs and beer joints and so on.

You've become a traitor. You're helping run those things that's destroying the church of the Son of God. Hypocrite's too nice a word for you. You are a traitor. But a hypocrite is someone that looks so much like the real.

That only a specialist can determine who they are. The other disciples couldn't determine it. Jesus knew. So, my friends, you see people join our churches. And they look like they're the best folks in the church.

And many times they're better than most of us. They pray. They pay. They're present every time the door's open. They can't do enough for the preacher and do enough for the church. They're just the best workers you ever saw.

They outshine most all the members just doing and giving and being there and helping. You think, well, that's the best member we got. But all of a sudden, something don't go to suit them. And they blow up and blow out and blow off.

They get mad. They get out and turn against the church and criticize the church. Criticize the deacons and hate the preacher. And love to kill him and run him off. They do all they can to rip, wear and tear and destroy the church.

They're hypocrites. You thought this was the best you had. And it turned out to be the meanest people in the community. You lived for three or four years. Had your food. But when the pressure's brought to bear, they won't stand.

They'll blow up and blow out. That's your first type. That's your first class. That's your first kind. My friends, you'll see them as you go along in the church. You'll see somebody you think that's the best member we got.

Something don't go to suit them or they're not pleased with the preacher preaching something or something else. And they'll blow up and blow out. And turn on the church and criticize and fight and cuss and trotter at the church.

And disgrace the preacher over it. That's a bunch of hypocrites. They've been saved. They just got religion. That's all they got. And our churches always have something like that. And if you hadn't had some before long, you'll find one of those kind.

The Second Type: Church Members at the Gate

That's your first class. Then, after he's gone. Brought out to join in with the crowd. Get staves and clubs and lights to come in and take Jesus. And betray Him. Jesus turns to them and says to His disciples, I'll soon be going.

I'm going to prepare a place for you. I'll be back after a while and carry you to it. And I'm not going to leave you orphaned and comfortless. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit of God to you. And He'll be your comforter.

He'll be your helper. He'll take care of you while I'm gone. And He'll remain with you until I get back. He'll teach you. He'll guide you. He'll comfort you. He'll be a friend to you. He'll look after you.

Then in the 15th chapter, Jesus said, I'm the vine and you're the branches. If you abide in Me, and I in you, you'll bear much fruit. You've not chosen Me, but I've chosen you. And ordained you that you should bear permanent fruit.

Then in the 16th chapter, He warns of the things that shall come. Then in the 17th chapter, He prays for the disciples. That God would keep them while they're in the world. And protect them while they're in the world.

And see that they get up there where He's at when the time's over. And at least prayed for them. My friends, Jesus comes and said, Arise and let us be going. He's here. And as a result, Jesus got up and left out of the upper room.

And the disciples found Him. In the inn of the garden of Gethsemane. And when they entered, Jesus said to 8 of the disciples, When they entered, He said to 8 of the 12, Sit ye here just inside the gate.

Just as they got in, He said sit down. Right there. Now that's 8 of the 12 left. Or 11 left. Why did He say sit ye here? He knew that's what they were going to do. Like a friend of mine said, You know my children always mind me.

They never disobey me. I said how come? He said I find out what they want to do and tell them to do it. And they do it. That's a pretty good way. Jesus knew that's what they were going to do. And as a result, Jesus said sit ye here.

Because He knew that's what they wanted to do. Now you listen to me tonight my brother and sister. There's 8 of the 12. There's your second type of church member. Second kind or second group of church members.

Jesus didn't say watch. Jesus didn't say pray. Jesus didn't say do nothing. They weren't going to do anything but sit where? Just inside the gate. Next to the vents. He knew what they were going to do.

They were so worldly minded. They had to stay there where they could reach out and give them some world every day. They couldn't stand it without some of the worldliness. Of the world. Everybody else is doing it.

Everybody else is living like that. And Lord don't expect us to do any better. Of the 11. That's where 75 of your Baptist church members are now. At the gate. They never pray. They never pay. They're never present except some special time.

Like Easter. C .E .B. Baptist. C stands for Christmas. A lot of folks come at Christmas because they give out little presents. Exchange presents. Here comes that bunch of Christmas Baptists. You won't see any more until next Christmas.

So they can see Santa Claus. Then they got the C .E. The E is for the Easter Baptist. Just come on Easter. When they want to show off their hats and dresses and suits. And see who all is there. And see who can dress the prettiest.

Show off. We're going to go chase the Easter Rabbits and hunt the eggs. And parade. That's too much Easter. You got a bunch of Easter Baptists. Well, come on Easter. And that's on time they come. That church ought to have Easter.

It's a pagan celebration. You know where Easter come from? The pagans would lay out on the mountain all night long. Get drunk and commit all kinds of sex, I guess. When the sun started up in the morning, they'd run down the hill at the sunrise.

Holding up their hands, praising the God of Easter. Spring. God of Spring. Not Jehovah. But the God of Spring. I know a lot of Baptists still trying to do that. My friend. Just come. On Easter. They'll come no other time. Than to be Baptists.

It's a buzzard Baptist. Just come when you got something dead. And if you ain't got nothing dead, they won't come. But if you got something dead, they'll fly up on the hill. Buzzard Baptists. We got a lot of Baptists that won't come to church no time.

Until you get a stink stirred up in the church. You get some stink stirred up over the preacher, the deacons, or somebody else. And get a fuss stirred up. And a stink stirred up in the church. And all them old buzzard Baptists that haven't been there in ten years.

Will come in and flop in their seat. Get ready to lift their black wing and flop their vote. We'll be back to the next stink in the church. And that's the crowd. My friends. It's never going anywhere for God.

Jesus didn't say pray. Jesus didn't say watch or anything. He said, shit, eat hair. Oh, they want to go to heaven when we die. I want the choir to sing at my funeral. I want the preacher to say something nice when I'm dead.

I want them to roll me down the aisle. Have a nice time. But leave me alone until I'm dead. I live like I please. A Baptist like that. 75 of our Baptists. Don't ever pay, never present. Never pray. They're hitchhikers.

Going to go to heaven. Want to go easy. Don't cost nothing. I don't have to pay or pray or be present. I'll go easy if you let me. Hitchhikers. Just want to go to heaven if they can. But they don't want to pay or pray or be present.

That's about 75 of the average church. Where's the rest of them that belong to this church tonight? There's more members got the name on this church than there are present. I guarantee you. Now face the truth of it.

We stop to realize. They want to belong to the church. They want to go to heaven when they die. But they don't want to put out. They want to hitchhike. We want God in case of emergency. Kind of like a spare car deal.

It's nice to have an extra spare in your trunk of the car. You have a flat or blowout or puncture. You can just change wheels and keep it going. And a lot of folks just using God as a spare wheel, spare car.

They don't have to call on God no time until they have a blowout or a flat or a puncture. And then they come just hollering God. They don't want the church. They don't want the preacher. They don't want you deacons and old leaders of the church to bother them.

Until they get sick in the hospital. Then they want all of you to run down there and pray over them. And a lot of our praying is hypocritical. We've been down praying for God to straighten them out and God to start putting whip to them.

Get them high fever, pain. They go to the hospital and run down there and say, Lord, cool their fever and heal their pain. Speed their recovery. God ought to knock a knot on your head. Thank you God for answered prayer.

Run the fever high. Make the pain low. Until they get right all the way. A misunderstanding that if somebody's really been for God, it's worth praying. I'll show you what I mean. One day one of my fine women called me and said, Brother, come over here.

I've got to talk to you. I said, OK. Went on and said, My brother, the doctors have found he's got an incurable disease. He won't last over three months. And said, I've got more faith in you than any man I ever saw live.

I believe anything you really pray for, especially if you fast and pray, God hears and answers. I said, I do too. The reason I pray. She said, I want you to pray for my brother. I said, what's the matter with him?

She said, all the doctors found out he's got an incurable disease. He won't last three months. He's going to die. And I believe if you get out and pray hard enough, that God will let him live. I said, what for?

He's been to church one time in 15 years and paid a quarter when he come. I'd be embarrassed to ask God to let him live. And I ain't going to do it. And he died. About a year after that, the daughters of that woman called me and said, Brother Ray, come to the hospital and be with us.

I said, what's the matter? They said, Mother's about gone. I dressed right quick and jumped in the car and went over there. A couple of nurses and two doctors above the bed, and she's just there gapping.

But before I went, when I got dressed, I run by the church and got onto the front bench. And I called on God. We need that old sister every time. Doors open. She's there waving her hands for God, smiling, saying praise the Lord.

I couldn't think what we could do without her. She was her appraiser. You know, God gives some church appraisers, not the same inners. She's one of the appraisers. And God said, alright, I'll let her live a while longer.

Since you asked me, I said, thank you, Jesus. I went on over there and went in. She's lying there struggling for breath. I said, thank you, Brother Ray, for coming. I stayed there a little bit. I said, I've got to run along now.

I'll see you later. I said, Brother Ray, mother's dying. I said, oh no. She's going to be alright. Why, Brother Ray? I said, she'll be alright. Don't worry. See you in the morning. Started down the hallway of the hospital.

One of them run down there and said, Brother Ray, the doctor said when you left out, she didn't have no sense. You didn't know what she was talking about. Mama's dying. She's got the death gurgle now.