The Sheep Shed Church

The Sheep Shed Church

by Betty Malz

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

I’ve had several young people approach me on the grounds today and ask me if there was some way I could tell my story. They didn’t get to hear it on Sunday night. I already have a message I feel I’m supposed to deliver tonight, and the title of it is Tune Up. So I’m going to ask the people at the book table, or if someone wants to just have them at the back door, either tonight or tomorrow, anyone that was not here Sunday night when I told my story, please pick up… This is a copy of my story, free of charge, because I do want you to hear my message. And that way you’ll have it to take home. You can read it and pass it on. I want to talk about Tune Up tonight. My car is an old 1962 MGA convertible. Dark British racing green. Spoke wheels. Black leather interior. It’s a hummer. Has dual carburetors, and I get 37 miles to a gallon of gas. Everybody says, “When you die, I want that car.” All three of my stepchildren and both of my own children are fighting over who gets it when I die. My husband and I checked on the price of caskets and decided I will be buried in it.

So nobody’s going to get that car. For those of you who’ve asked me, I have plaques from car shows and a couple of pictures. I’ll lay them up here for the car buffs if you want to see it. The picture is also on the back of the Women in Tune book. It is a wonderful old car. It’s 30 years old, but it’s been with me a long, long time. And that Ford out there, that 88 Ford, is my husband’s car. And he doesn’t know I’m driving it. He’s in Russia.

But this is my car. I’m going to talk about it for just a little bit. A while back, I started down Alternate 19. And somebody was tap dancing under the hood. Began to clack. And I thought, “Oh, no. The dual carburetors are out of sync.” So I pulled into the Texaco. And Stan was on duty. And Stan is a homegrown boy from Georgia. And I said, “Stan, what’s that under my hood?” He said, “Well, your hood is corroded and rusted shut.” I said, “How can you tell that? You haven’t even come close to my car.” He said, “Don’t have to.” He says, “Got a lady syndrome.” And I didn’t like the tone of his voice. If I’d have had a $20 bill, I would have slapped him upside the face with it. It’d have been worth $20 just to get to put him in his place. He said, “All you women are alike,” and those are fighting words. All women are not alike. Otherwise, you guys would just fill out an order blank when you hit $21 and let one be mailed to you without even checking her out. And I told him so. Well, he said, “What I’m trying to say to you is, you probably haven’t had a tune-up, and you probably have not checked your oil.”

Well, he was right. He checked, and it was a quart and a half low. So he put some oil in, and boy, it was a hummer again. I’m sure glad he knew what he was doing. Well, I want to talk a little bit about checking your own oil. Now, I don’t mean going around poking under everybody else’s hood. Have you ever had anyone to check your oil? Pharisees. Don’t do that. The Bible says, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” I want to talk a little bit about that. One day, I become a little bit critical of a certain group of people that have a Pharisee gladitude in our town, like God only reveals things through them. And I made a couple of remarks, and like Ed, I had to write a note and apologize to the one lady. Well, I got in the mail this package. It was heavy. And I opened it up, and the postage on the front was $2.46. And I thought, “Man, I can’t believe Barbara Johnson would spend $2.46 to mail me a rock. She’s got more money than she has mined.” Here I was, checking her oil again. And I opened it up, and on the front it says, “Betty’s First Stone.” It’s got a little cloud, little sun, little meadow, and one little sheep on the front.

I thought, “Man, she’s really loony. That woman’s really funny.” She calls her ministry the spatula ministry. She flaps pancakes with one hand, prays with the other. You know, one of those kind. And so I… Carl says, “Betty, you need to look a little closer. Turn that over.” I turned it over, and I said, “St. John 8:7.” I said, “What’s that?” He said, “Betty, that’s you. You know all of the scriptures, but you never can find their address.” Now, he’s a walking computer when it comes to finding scripture. So I looked it up, and St. John 8:7 is, “He that’s without sin, let him cast the first stone.”

Woo! So you know what I do? I use it for a paperweight, and any time I start to get critical, I put it where I can see it. Criticism cripples. Don’t go around poking under other people’s hoods. That’s where the word dipstick came from.

I want to talk about tuning up. Birds do it every morning and every evening. If you have an east window, start opening it before you go to bed at night. The next morning, first thing birds do is say, “Yes,” they tune up. And the last thing they do at night is tune up again. Now, I want to talk not about tuning up with other people. I want to talk about being in tune with the authority. Tomorrow morning is probably the most important session that I have done yet. I want to get selfish and talk to you about being in tune with yourself. Tonight, I want to talk about being in tune with the authority. There are three kinds of believers. There’s the unbeliever. There’s the make-believer. And then there’s the true believer. My dad is a very sharp old man. For his 85th birthday, I did not have the money, but I charged a plane ticket and flew in. Surprised him on his birthday. Sat on the front porch in his swing with him, and we, with his little dog, Randy, did a lot of talking. And I said, “Dad, what do you think about some of the television leaders and ministers and people like this that have failed so miserably and sinned?” He said, “It’s our fault.”

We look to them for our answers. We worship them. We take their pictures and put them all over television and the papers. First, he said, God never intended a man to receive that kind of attention. He said, “What we need to do is get our answers from the authority, stay in tune with the authority.” And he began to talk about that. He said, “What we do, we are watching and looking at men too much.” And then this was his word, I like it. Nothing I would have ever thought of. Put his arm around me. And he says, “Betts, keep your eyes on Jesus.” If you’ve read the new book, Touching the Unseen World, you see I dedicated it to my dad. He’s not writing letters anymore, but about a year ago, I got a letter from him. I published that letter, word for word, in the front of that new book. And he put his arm around me and he says, “If Oral Roberts runs off with Liz Taylor, and Billy Graham has an affair with Tammy Faye Baker, Jesus will never let us down. We must keep our eyes on Jesus. He will never change.” And do you know, it was kind of a homegrown illustration. A little bit crusty around the edges with humor.

But I think he’s right. I want to talk a little bit about the authority. Now, if you really want to know the perfect pitch, 440, for the note A, you don’t hum or check someone’s piano out. You call Station WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado. That’s where the London Symphony Orchestra tunes up with their first violin for the perfect pitch. And if you want to know the time within one billionth of a second, not measured by a pendulum that swings, but by the Earth’s atoms within one billionth of a second, you call Station WWV, Fort Collins, Colorado. The Bureau of Standards will give you the proper time. We need to stay in tune with the authority, God’s Word. You know, you might look around and be more in tune than the person sitting next to you, but we need to stay plugged into the authority. This is where we get our offenses. I have a new toothbrush I bought before coming here. It’s called Reach. The advertisement says this toothbrush is bent and angled to get into places that no other toothbrush can go. And do you know, after I read that, I thought, “Lord, help us by bending our knee and bowing a little. We can go places where we would never have courage to go through prayer.”

By staying in tune with the authority, you, like the Reach toothbrush, can go in places you’ve never been. The woman with the issue of blood, do you realize she healed herself? Now, please don’t take this as a doctrine. This won’t be in your diocese, but I really believe the woman healed herself. She said, “If I can just reach, touch through the crowd and touch His garment, I will be well.” Jesus asked the disciples, “Who touched me?” He didn’t even know He had healed her. He just said, “Virtue went out of me.” The woman actually reached by reaching. I’m going to talk a little bit about reaching faith tonight. You may be sitting here and say, “Well, my situation is impossible. There is no way out. It’s a dead-end street.” Do you realize that Jesus’ birth was not possible? So anything He decides to do since He was born does not have to be possible. And don’t tell me you don’t have faith. Jeannie told you to take a postage stamp and put on an envelope. And that one day next year, you’re going to get a letter in the mail. Now, that is so ridiculous, Jeannie, to think that for 29 cents and a tiny piece of paper that I would have the nerve to believe that I could hire a red, white, and blue truck and a driver to take my letter to the Tampa airport and hire a $4 million plane complete with pilot and crew for 29 cents.

That is so ridiculous. But do you know that’s faith? You have faith in a tiny piece of paper that when you send Uncle Joe a birthday card, if you mail it five days in advance, that you can get all of that for 29 cents. But do you know that’s faith? If you have the urge to lick a stamp and put it on an envelope, that’s faith. And when you go back to your room tonight, isn’t it kind of ridiculous to think that for a $4 piece of plastic you can change dark and light that room? What makes you… How do you know? But you don’t stand there and beg, “Please turn the light on. Oh, if I only knew that that light would come on.” No. You’ve got faith in that little four cent piece of plastic that when you flip it, it’s going to turn… That’s faith. So see, you do… The Bible says everyone is given a measure of faith. I want to talk about staying in tune with God and just a small amount of faith. What can happen? I think the one reason a lot of people are not getting answers to their prayer, they’ve become unplugged from the source. Our churches used to talk about what God can do for man.

And now the message has shifted to what I am doing for God. If I am exposed to one more evangelist, this is, “I am God’s man for the hour.” Oh, what pompous people we have out there making boasts like that. Don’t you know that when God wants to do something special, He’s going to reach down and pick up a Gideon, a grain farmer, or someone that He doesn’t have to reprogram their thinking, but He will not share His glory with another. I really believe that we need to keep our message and not shift over to what we are doing for God, but keep telling people what God will do for them. I want to give you an unusual answer to prayer, how that being in tune with the authority can spare your children. My husband and I, on occasions, about twice a year do a marriage seminar together. Like I told you last night, we’ve had a lot of experience in marital adjustment, so we can speak through experience. On one occasion, we were outside of Chicago doing a retreat, and a lot of the young people, pastors’ wives, and the pastors were there, and so the children had some wonderful opportunities to go to concerts and things around Chicago. It’s a very interesting city, you know, if you’ve been there.

One of the pastor’s daughters got acquainted with a staff member’s daughter at the hotel where we were holding the seminar. And this girl asked the pastor’s daughter to go to a concert, and of course, they thought she would just take for granted it was a Christian concert or maybe a symphony orchestra. Had no idea that this was… I forget if it was KISS, the KISS group, or Motley Crue, but it was a raunchy bunch of singers. In my estimation, I’m dipping my stick under the hood. But anyway, they got there, and at the door, everybody had a double ticket, and they put all the girls’ tickets on one side and all the men’s tickets on the other. At the end of the concert, they would roll this barrel and pull out two ticket numbers, and those two young women got to spend the rest of the night at the hotel in the room with this group the rest of the night partying. Well, this pastor’s daughter and another girl, of course, that she had never met out of the crowd were the two that were chosen out of about 1,400 young people that went to that concert. And this girl thought she was quite lucky. Her parents would not know; they were busy at the seminar.

So they went backstage, met the singing group, and when they loaded up their bus and started to the hotel, at the door of the bus stood this black-haired woman and she looked at the one girl and she says, “You may get on board and go with us, but you cannot come.” The pastor’s daughter said, “Look at my ticket. I’ve got the number. You can’t keep me out.” She said, “No, you can’t come.” She said, “I am a fortune teller. I have been traveling with this group for many years. I tell them which cities they will make a lot of money in and which ones not to take. They trust me, and you cannot come. As you came backstage, there was an angel walking beside you, and so I can’t let you in.” The girl didn’t get to go. And I want you to know she learned a great lesson and her parents were so grateful. Two men here in Florida that were on a hiking trip, a safari. Both Christians. And as they started across a muddy stream, one jumped in and swam across very safely. The second one stopped to pray. And when he jumped in, an alligator almost got him. He barely escaped on the other shore. He said, “That’s not fair” to his companion.

“I stopped to pray, and you got through safely, and I almost got it.” The other man said, “No, I tuned up before I left home this morning.” So you need to stay in tune. You don’t buy insurance after a wreck. I have a lot to say about that, but I want to hurry on. I want to talk about staying in tune with the authority. I know a lot of people don’t know which way to pray, and that’s why we let the Holy Spirit pray through us. But I have a little message tonight from Jeremiah 17:14. “Heal me, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved, for Thou art my praise.” I believe the Lord gave this for some specific person that has been searching that really doesn’t know how to pray either because you are heavy hearted or you have been searching and not finding answers. Jeremiah 17:14. When you find it and when you get back to your room with your need on your heart, pray this out loud. “Heal me, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved. For Thou art my praise.” And then begin to praise Him in advance. Like using a credit card. After you use your credit card, you don’t beg.

“Now please mail me my order.” Your credit card works for you. I believe praise will work for you. Young people, if some of you have never fully surrendered to Jesus yet and come public with your confession of Him, I will not beg or not make a way for you to slip in the back door. I’m boldly asking you to accept Him tonight as your personal Savior. If you are too frail to make it known that you love Him enough to confess Him, you’re not going to stand when the trials come anyway. But do you know you can actually pray this message in the book of Jeremiah and let it be meaningful in your heart in receiving His Savior. Another thing that I have advised people to do, if you have never come public, when the communion is passed tonight are unworthy if you have never asked Jesus’ blood to cleanse you. But do you know you can partake of communion as you do publicly confess that Jesus’ body was broken for and when you partake of His blood, ask Him, “Lord Jesus, wash away the sins of my past.” can receive Him without confessing to me or embarrassing yourself by coming forward. But when partake of the communion, this is public confession. It is also a way of praying.

Many of you that do not like to pray out loud may want to write your prayer on a piece of paper. That is a closet prayer. I believe that’s what the Bible means when it says a closet prayer. Go into your closet. I believe though there are times when we must pray out loud. I’ve had people say, “Well, in the church I came from, they have never required us to pray out loud. We read printed prayers.” I believe it is necessary many times to pray out loud. Get in tune with God. Do you know God Himself probably had creation in His mind for who knows how many centuries and years. prayers. But the earth was never formed until God prayed out loud. You think about that. I’ve had people come to me and say, “But what if I pray wrongly?” Let me give you a wonderful story. I have a wonderful friend. He is 27. He’s single. My husband and I love Kevin Chory. He has one of the most powerful voices. If you ever want to have a booming youth camp, get him here. He will sing concerts to your young people and he will preach the word straight and plain. I talked to Kevin recently. He’s from Palm Beach. His mother lives there, but he travels all over the world actually.

He called a few weeks ago and said, “Betty, I had the most rewarding experience on a flight out of Chicago recently. Usually I get stuck between two old people or a bunch of crying kids. But,” he said, “I was seated beside a beautiful young woman, and she was radiant, and I said, ‘What makes you shine?’ She said, ‘Oh, I’ve had a most unusual experience.’ She said, ‘I am Buddhist. I lived in Indonesia for many years, and I came to Chicago seven years ago, and I was very happily surprised to find there are lots of Buddhists in Chicago, so I found my own religious group, and I was very happy. One day I was on the freeway,’” she said, “‘I noticed a truck kept weaving, and suddenly this truck went over the line, struck my car, and I was thrown through the windshield of my car onto the highway, and then the truck ran over my body. I was crushed.’” And she said, “‘As they pulled me off the side of the highway, before I went into unconsciousness, I repeated every mantra I could recall in my pain. And I screamed out with my last breath, “Oh Buddha, help! Come Buddha, come Buddha!”‘” She said, “‘Buddha never showed up, but Jesus did.’”

“Even though I prayed wrongly, Jesus came anyway.” And she said, “He looked at me, and He talked to me, and He told me, ‘You’ll be all right.’” She said, “One month later, I regained consciousness in intensive care. The doctors told my parents, ‘She’s going to be a paraplegic, maybe a quad.’” She said, “I heard it, and I blinked my eyes, and I shook my head, and I said, ‘No, no, that is not true. I saw Jesus, and He told me I’ll be all right.’” Two weeks later, she walked out of that hospital. Folks, the Holy Spirit is not that marginal.

We think unless we say it right, and dress right, and pray right. But here was a girl that was searching with all of her heart for help. Buddha never showed up. But God screened her cry through the heart. And she received her answer to prayer. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’ve got your little oil stick out under my hood, and you’re checking my oil. And I know, doctrinally, that’s not sound. I could get thrown out of my organization for teaching you that. But do you know what Saul said? “I was a Sanhedrin attorney. I had a briefcase full of legal papers to kill Christians to make the world a better place to live.” But he said in 1 Timothy 1:13, “I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” Oh, thank God for the filter, the screen, that screens our motives and our prayers through the love of Jesus and from the heart’s cry. Prayer is not mumbling in your mattress before you fall asleep at night. Prayer is not worrying out loud. Prayer is not conquering God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness. Do you remember during my death experience? I had been gone 28 minutes, was walking through a beautiful meadow. The gates opened to me, and I walked inside the golden throne room.

I walked through shafts of light that looked like laser beams or northern lights. On one shaft of light was my father’s voice. I never wanted to leave that place. But my father breathed Jesus and wished that I had not died. Anything large enough for a wish to light upon is worth hanging a prayer upon. And there is a prayer that asks for nothing, yet asks for everything. For he who seeks the Father more than anything that He can grant him is likely to receive what he asks for and more. I would rather have a heart without words than words without heart. My father merely breathed, moaned Jesus, and wished I had not died. Prayer changes things. Prayer changes minds. And it changed my mind, and I flew faster than a jet plane. Back and slid under the sheet, sat up. The sheet fell off, and I scared a whole room full of people. I didn’t tell you the other night, but a little nurse’s aide screamed, “It’s a ghost!” She ran down the hall. She never came back in my room for two days. Now, she peeped in, but she didn’t come in. And they had to assign a new nurse’s aide. Because when I sat up, I’m 5’12”, and I only weighed 68 pounds.

And she had been with me. She was the one that stayed there until my parents arrived. But there is a prayer that just reaches out with the heart. And many times, words are not spoken. I believe when you get in tune with the authority that God even answers prayers by accident. Remember, the Holy Spirit is not that marginal. And folks, I’m going to act like Ed for a minute. He just comes down the line, kind of says what he thinks, and lets the chips fall where they may. I have had people, to be so precise, and I really believe sometimes people get healed by accident. But I’ve had pompous people say, “Oh,” and point their finger at me, “If you don’t witness to 22 people tomorrow, their blood will be on your hands. They’re going straight to hell.” That’s not true. Do you know God doesn’t really need me? If necessary, He can send an angel to witness to that person. Or He can choose somebody else. The only reason He gives you a job to do is to give you an investment opportunity so He can prosper you. Joshua 1:8 promises you, young people, if you will meditate in His law day and night, you will prosper and have good success, and He will answer your prayer.

God will call somebody else. I want to tell you just a little story that maybe emphasizes how I feel about this. God is not that marginal. His work is not that flimsy that it depends on someone like me or you. He can call somebody. He could even create a man like He did Adam if He needed an extra hand. But I’ve had people to try to say that. I believe that God will choose someone else. April came home for spring break, and she said, “Mother, I don’t have any spending money. I’m not asking for a handout, but can I do a job for you with pay?” I said, “Yes. My MG has got to have a good coat of turtle wax to keep that hot sun from bleaching that dark green paint.” And I said, “You wash and wax my car, I’ll give you $40.” Now, I can go up to the corner at the service station, get it done for $22. But do you know why I gave her $40? It was an investment opportunity because I love her and she’s my kid. And that’s the way God is. He don’t really need you. He gives you investment opportunity, and you can either pray or you don’t have to. But if you want much in your account, you better pray.

I’ve got a little old fellow that lives down by the fishing pier at Crystal Beach. He says, “You know, they’re selling property here now by the foot instead of by the acre. And I can’t even own my own home. I’ve got a sleeping room.” But he’s cried. He told me, he says, “You know what? My Social Security has not taken any care of me at all. But when I get to heaven, I pray every day for lots of people. You wait till you see my piece of real estate up there.” I said, “I want to talk some more.” I looked at my watch, and my husband has always told me, “Now, Betty, you can’t be pretty, but you can be punctual. I want to eat at 5 p.m.” Would you believe in 20 years I’ve only been late two times? That’s not bad. That’s punctuality. Well, I said, “Let’s talk to this old boy.” I said, “You sound like a wise man and a man of prayer. I want to shake your hand.” And I shook his hand. I sat down. And he says, “Who are you anyway?” I said, “Don’t worry about who I am. I want to know who you are. I want to pick your brain. You said you’re going to have a big hunk of real estate in heaven.

What makes you think so?” He said, “Those recording angels are good bookkeepers. They know what I’m doing anonymously. That’s the best way to do it.” And then I said, “I have one more question. I got to go fix supper.” Back to the real world of kitchens and husbands. And he grinned. I said, “What kind of a house do you think you’re going to have up there?” “Oh,” he said, “I think I know about that. One night praying, I asked the Lord, ‘Lord, could you give me just a sneak preview?’” He said, “Do you know what the Lord spoke to my spirit? ‘Every man will be rewarded according to his works.’” Now, Edwin, that’s true. It’s cheap Jesus, you know, salvation. But whether or not you get rewards depends on whether you invest in people or that you do work for Him. And I said, “What did you learn in this revelation about your mansion?” He said, “God told me that every person will need the size of accommodation up there to house and entertain and celebrate with everybody that they won to Jesus on the earth at one time.” Now, some of you may need an efficiency apartment. But, you know, that’s not bad. I’m beginning to wonder that there’s plenty of space there. If you read my heaven book, it describes the size of heaven.

But you think that over. You will need a house large enough for your dining room and your entertainment room to be big enough to celebrate with everybody at one time on occasion. See, you’ve got forever to do this. That you have won to the Lord here on the earth.

I want to talk just a little bit about being healed and prayers being answered by accident. Now, I’m not going to tell you the denomination because I don’t talk about labels. Young people, when I died and was at the gate, they did not ask me what church I went to. There were no labels in heaven. They don’t even have church up there. They have a temple to worship. And there will be lots of concerts and music. You can request. You’ve got forever to listen to your own group. And even if it’s corny here in Belle Glade or Okeechobee or whatever, it’ll be fine up there. And I sang there like I’ve always wanted to sing. I have a girl’s body but a boy’s voice. But while I was there, I sang in high sweet tones. I will be able to sing there like I want to. I had an experience in an unusual church. I got a call from a pastor. It’s been two years ago now. He said, “Betty, I’ve got to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Have you got any magic wands at your house?” I thought, “Man, what kind of a loony have I got on the phone here?” He said, “I am in the shadow of the Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller’s church here in Garden Grove, California.

I’ve tried everything I can think of to build my congregation. But everybody goes there because it’s flashy.” I said, “Have you tried prayer?” He said, “You sound like a smart aleck.” I said, “I think I’ve met my match.” We kind of played with words here on the phone for a little while. He said, “No, Betty.” He says, “I know you have a sense of humor. I’ve seen you on television. No, I’m serious.” He says, “I’m drowning. We are not meeting our budget. And I have to move every two years. My organization changes my job every two years. I mean it. I’ve got to pull a trick.” And I said, “Well, I’ll get back with you. Give me an address.” I talked to Carl. I said, “Boy, this is a strange person.” He said, “Betty, I’d like to see you take that as a challenge. I’m going to be home all that weekend. I will pray for you. And I’m asking the Lord to do something unusual. Sounds like the man’s desperate. And it sounds like he’s carnal. Maybe he will get saved while you’re there.” I’ve had two pastors get saved when I was there. I’ve had three pastors’ wives get saved. That is a joy. And I’m not gloating. But I got there. And he told me at the airport and driving back.

He said, “We have never prayed for the sick in our church. Never anointed with oil. And I want you to do that.” I said, “Have you? You have never?” “No. I want you to. And then I can tell my bishop, ‘Well, she was just a guest.’” I said, “Do you want me to do your dirty work for you?” “Yes,” he said. I said, “Well, if you’ll stand along beside me, I will. But I have to confess to you, I have never done this either.” I hadn’t. Two years ago, I hadn’t. I said, “My husband does. And I stand beside him. And I support him. And I say, ‘Yes, I believe.’ And I believe for people. But I’ve never done it before. But since you, and the scripture says, ‘Obey those that have the rule over you.’ And you’re in charge of this meeting. I will do this.” It was, it was difficult. I mean, I have done lectures at writer’s workshops for high school journalism classes that were more anointed than this service.

I looked back over that congregation, about 400, 450 people. And I said, “Your pastor has asked me to anoint with oil anyone who would like to be healed. If you are suffering, and if you believe that Jesus is still the great physician, please meet me at the front and I will anoint you with oil. And according to St. James 5, we will lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” I waited and waited and it seemed like 10 minutes. So I thought, “Good. That’s me off the hook and I’ll say an amen.” I looked up and here came an antique lady with a walker. The reason no one had come, it was taking her a long time to get to the front. Here came an elderly man helping her, must have been her husband. It took them a long, long time. When they came forward, I put a drop of oil on his head and he says, “Not me! It’s her! She’s sick!”

Well, what did he want me to do? Wipe it off? It was too late. I was so embarrassed. They were doing just why you were the people. People were laughing, shaking. Some of them were embarrassed. And I was all dressed up and tried to be polished and I don’t do that very well. And so I got some more oil and I put it on her head. And I put an arm around his shoulder and one around hers. And I said, “Oh Lord, grant the petition of this woman’s heart. You are still the great physician. Let the balm of Gilead flow through this body. Rejuvenate. Renew her youth as the eagles.” And I heard this voice. “My God, I can hear!”

I was so shocked. And then he turned around to the audience and he says, “Does Jesus heal unbelievers?” He was an unbeliever. He did not want to come up there with that old lady. He didn’t like me. He didn’t like that church. And he told me, “I only came because she wanted your autograph.” God healed him. By coincidence, no. By accident, no. I’ll tell you, God’s mercy is so loving. He was anointed by accident. But the Lord healed him. And you know they’re still talking about it. And guess what? Their attendance is about doubled. And they kept the man. Not because they believe in anointing with oil. But because the funds have doubled. And they kept him there. But do you know I learned something? God is merciful. Here is a girl that screamed out, “Buddha, help.” And Jesus came. She prayed wrong. And do you know if you are sitting here tonight and you have never started investing in prayer, don’t worry how it sounds. Jesus is your advocate. Jesus is your advocate. He is seated now at the right hand of the Father and will remain there praying for you, interceding for you as your priest until He comes back for us again. So even if you pray a shabby prayer, He does not present it to the Father in that golden throne room until He has edited it and refined it in its purest form.

So if you pray hurriedly or wrongly or shabby prayer, Jesus filters your prayer through your heart and presents it to the Father in that golden throne room. I’ve got a few notes, but I want us to take time for the communion. I’m going to hurry through. I want to tell you a little story about David Mainse. It’s in the book, Touching the Unseen World. When you are in tune with God, with heaven, with the authority, people will begin to know it and you won’t have to talk too much. I’ve seen women get up to speak and it’s like, how many of you know what a Chatty Cathy doll is? Oh, good. Some of you are old as me. I bought my kids a Chatty Cathy doll. You could buy this little tape recorder in her back. You pull her string and she says this. I’ve met speakers like that, Ed. They’ve got their little tape back here and they pull their string and they get up and say their thing and sit down. God help us. Do you know I would rather hear a layman that will listen and write a prescription and a telegram than to hear some of those Chatty Cathy pull my string. David Mainse at 100 Huntley Street told me, he says, “Betty, I’ve had an unusual experience.”

Norma Jean and I, and they are real people, whether you believe it or not. They live in a very modest condominium near the 100 Huntley Street television studio and they walk back and forth to work. They work long hours praying on the telephones and in the counseling center with people. They live very modestly. I’ve been going there for several years. He said, “One day we were so weary from listening to people’s troubles that we decided we would not eat in the cafeteria with the people, but we would take a sack lunch to the park.” We went over into the little park there in downtown Toronto, and he said as we walked along, we both looked at each other. “What is that wonderful fragrance?” And she said, Norma Jean said to David, “Now, David, don’t get super spiritual. You’re smelling Jesus and all this stuff. You’ve been, you know, you can stay in the super so long you’re not natural.” They were, “No,” he says, “Norma Jean, come on now. Take a deep breath.” She said, “David, you’re right. I smell it too.” All of a sudden, they looked up and sitting on a park bench were four young women eating their lunch in the park. And they went over and David asked, “What is it?

What is this fragrance?” They looked at each other. They didn’t know. All of a sudden, one said, “Oh! Oh, we work at the perfume factory. But you know what? We’re in that atmosphere all the time until we don’t realize that we are radiating the fragrance that we are bottling.” People, that’s heavy stuff. You think about that. You don’t have to do a lot of talking. You get in tune with the authority and spend time in His presence. People will see through the windows of your soul a change. They will feel that warmth and that genuine love. And you won’t have to say a whole lot. They will know where you have been because of the fragrance. I had an unusual experience about three years ago and I had totally forgotten it until I began to worship with this group of real human beings here at Lake Yale. And this morning early I sat up in bed and I began to recall and reflect on this experience. You know, all of my life I was a prisoner of impressions. I had to die to learn how to live. I liked quarter horses that were registered and collie dogs that were pedigreed. I liked people if they wore the same label that my church did. And I liked people if they were slim and trim and looked youthful and attractive, if they dressed right, if they had a degree and a good address.

But you know, I am learning more and more. God just reaches down and uses whom He will. He chooses the instrument to play sweet music. Well, I got a letter from a man. He says, “I am a veteran of the Vietnam War. I have started a church in the St. Louis area. I call it the Sheep Shed. And I want you to come and give your story. We are a young church. Most of our people are in their 20s and 30s with small children. And it’s a loving group.” And I thought, “Oh, I don’t know. It sounds like something really far out.” In fact, I have to confess to you, when I got David’s letter, I thought it said UFO.

And I identified flying objects. And I thought you were pew jumpers. And maybe I should stretch out before I came so I could not pull a muscle when I jumped over the benches. And then I found out it was a far out name. Camp Farthest Out?

Well, forgive me, but I had to say that. So when I started packing… But you know, God proves just how wrong I am. When I was packing, I thought, “What shall I wear to go to a sheep shed? I guess I’ll wear dungarees. Maybe I’ll wear leather boots and some jeans, I suppose.” Well, I took some things like that. And then I took a couple of nice dresses. And I got there and this man met me at the airport. He was big, overweight, sandy hair, freckles. And he limped. Limped real badly on one leg. And with a cane, he sort of supported himself. And he said, “Now, Betty, I didn’t tell you, but on the way to the motel, I’m going to stop and we’re going to do a radio interview.” Oh, no, I was so tired. And I was… I was dressed so casually. “No, no,” he says, “This is radio, not television. It’s radio. No one will see you.” We got there and this was the smallest little room. It looked like a coat closet. He said, “Don’t look down your nose at this little radio broadcasting studio.” He says, “We have a wave or a signal that goes into many cities. You’re going to reach a lot of people for Jesus here today.”

So be sure that souls is your motive. And so I began to ask the Lord for help. We did an interview and it was a good one and I could tell the man really loved people. He said, “Now, on the way to the hotel, I’m going to take you by and show you the church.” Well, I thought we’d go way, way, way out in the country. Boy, when we got there, it was a beautiful brick church. All the marker he had over the door as you go in was a brown wooden plaque that had been wood burned. Two words, sheep shed. I said, “You sure fooled me.” He said, “Do you know what the Lord gave me? I came from a church that was cold and the worship was like a funeral. And the Lord told me, ‘The only way lambs are born is when sheep make love.’” And he said, “Do you know why there were no young people in our church? Young people like to make love. They like things that are action. They don’t like dead things. And,” he said, “I want you to start a church and tell them the only way lambs will be born is if the sheep love each other.” Boy, that’s a powerful concept. So this was a Thursday night when I arrived there.

And when we arrived, they were singing choruses as we came in. The place had over 2,000 on Thursday night. Young people. On the concept. The sheep shed. You have to make love to produce babies. It’s the law. The natural law. And it’s also spiritual law. I am so glad that I went there. In closing, I would like to talk just briefly about a couple of things that I have heard just recently. I went to a very humble group of women and did a prayer conference on just the subject of prayer, how to pray for results. At the close, though this was not a Pentecostal group of women, I heard a very quiet, shy voice in the back give an utterance in an unknown tongue. And there was no interpretation and I started to… Can we talk? Joan Rivers has a little line. She says, “Can we talk? Can we talk?” Now, there are people that have done this so long they can fake it. Do you know what I’m saying? You get in a rut. That good rut, that’s the worst rut you can get in. I want to caution you. Beware that you do not traffic in unfelt truth. Your healing lines become just like vaccination lines or, you know, branding cattle. Same choruses, same scriptures, same illustrations.

I thought to myself, “Oh, for the sake of Jesus, I’m going to fake an interpretation here. Something good. Scripture.” I could do it. I could. I was born in this. I mean, I slept on the front pew for Pentecostal revivals. My little grandson, Ryan, is a fifth generation Pentecostal. I’m proud of my roots. I could have. And the Lord put a finger on my lips. Out from the back came a woman. She had on a western skirt and a pair of cowboy boots. She walked up and she said, “I’ve never done this before, but I have the translation,” she said. It was all new to her. I love fresh and new. She said, “and I wrote it down, I have it in my briefcase. I live here near Albuquerque on a farm. I have never gone to Bible school. I don’t know the mechanics of a ministry.” I love the line. “I’m just a farmer’s wife.” But she said, “I was praying this morning and I said, ‘Oh Lord Jesus, when will You come?’ And He didn’t give me any answer. But while I listen to this person that was speaking, I know Spanish. And here is what she said to us.”

“You may go into the house as soon as all the bales are in the barn. You may go into the house and celebrate as soon as you have picked all of the apples off the tree. You may come to my home as soon as you have finished your assignment.” And she stood and wept and she said, “Folks, Jesus is coming soon, but not until all the bales are in the barn and all the fruit has been picked.” I really believe that we can pray them in. That the fruit, the hearts that are out there reaching and hungry, very soon, it will be time to go. I’m going to say something to this group that comes very hard for me. I wrote the story in a book, Women in Tune. And I talk about being out of tune. When my husband and I were first married, he kept reassuring me that I would never be a pastor’s wife. He was a teacher now. I never wanted to be a pastor’s wife. I was a pastor’s daughter. I know the sacrifice. And I’ve been poor all of my life. And he promised me that he was a college professor and that we would not have to pastor a church. Three months after we got married, he took a church.

The church that he took was not a loving group of people, but one that really needed a good shepherd and needed a lot of teaching. They didn’t like me right off because I laughed a lot and I had too much fun. The last pastor’s wife had been there 28 years and she was the queen. She had no children, no stepchildren. She didn’t write books. She didn’t speak. All she did was rub the young ladies’ backs, play bridge with them, and she would go shopping and drink coffee. I didn’t have time. I had a heart that was heavy because I was trying to put together two broken families. My husband had died. Carl’s wife had died. He had three children. I had two. One of his daughters, one of mine, were in competition, dating the same boys. And I tell you, I had a rough life. I learned how to pray during those first years to survive.

And this group of women love to do quilting every Tuesday night. They came to my husband and they said, “Your wife is a rebellious pastor’s wife. She doesn’t come to the quilting on Tuesday night.” Carl tried to explain to them, “Betty speaks, she writes, she does a lot of cooking, a lot of baking, she prays a lot. She’s trying to help my stepdaughter through a very trying time right now in her teens.” “That don’t matter.” They said, “Mrs. Brumbelow never miss Tuesday night circle.” So Carl said, “Betty, please, to shut them up, you’re going to have to go.” I said, “Well, I’ll go next week, but I can’t go this week, Carl. I have an appointment with a woman that called me on the phone that’s suicidal. I promised to meet her at eight o’clock Tuesday night.” So the word got out that I was not coming, that I was going to be riding around in a silver Lincoln Continental with one of the richest women in Texas. This was in Texas where we pastored. And that she was unfaithful to her husband and was alcoholic. And Betty Malz would rather hobnob with the snobs than to quilt with the saints.

And they started from Sunday until then they started avoiding me. I was hurt. I cried more those two days. I haven’t a long time. But I went ahead and I kept my appointment. This woman parked her car on a side street and wept and told me that her husband was very wealthy but she was very lonely. She’d become alcoholic. She’d try to make him jealous by having affairs. She said, “I have wasted my life. I’m 47. I have everything but love.” She said, “I’ve got to have God. And I’ve got a feeling you can show me and tell me how to pray.” I said, “Just pray.” She said, “I never did.” I said, “Well, if I pray and you like what I’m saying, will you say yes, yes?” She started saying yes, yes. Put her head down on the steering wheel and wept and wept and wept. And then her head raised up and she began to worship Jesus. All of a sudden she laughed and she cried and then she began to sing in a foreign language. She got an old-fashioned Pentecostal experience like I got when I was 16. And I’ll tell you, I took home a new woman. She said, “My husband is going to love his new wife.” Do you know I went home and I told Carl and he just paced the bedroom crying and thanking Jesus.

Well, I tried to defend myself to these women. I tried to justify where I was, what I was doing. They were not listening. I called my good old dad and I said, “Daddy, what do you do?” He said, “Nothing.” He said, “Suffer without complaining. Be misunderstood without explaining. Let Jesus, He’ll take care of all that.” So I let Jesus. For one month, I mean, I really got some glances. I got some remarks. But a month later, this woman walked into the ladies circle and she says, “Before we start the music and you start your quilting, I got to say something.” She said, “I love that tall, skinny woman right there.”

She said, “She wasn’t afraid to put her reputation on the line to be seen with an awful woman like me.” And she said, “I found your Jesus and I just want to come here and hug all of you for letting your wonderful pastor’s wife go out with me.” Oh, I want to tell you, some of them were putting their head to them. They started to cry. The Lord defended me. And do you know what? She started giving to that little group of women and she gave them something they didn’t have. She checked their oil. It was low and they knew it. But do you know what happened to me the three years we were there? Those people were hard on me. I developed osteoarthritis. I ended up in the hospital. I had ruined all of the gristle between the vertebra and the top five vertebra of my neck. I went into the hospital. They put me in traction, medication, heat packs. They tried everything. Finally, the doctor and the psychiatrist came in. They said, “Mrs. Malz, you have made yourself sick. You are incurable. You have a type of osteoarthritis. It’s a result of stress, anxiety, and tension. You will have a stiff neck and pain the rest of your life.” When I typed, it was like this.

When I drove a car, it was like this. I was never free from pain for 12 years. The doctor told me, he says, “You’ve got to learn to live with your pain.” I quit taking the medication. I quit complaining. But it was like a toothache day and night in the back of my neck. If you’ve… Tommy knows what I’m talking about. That arthritis is very painful. I lived with it for 12 solid years. And do you know what the doctor told me when I left? He shook my hand. He said, “Either change jobs or change your attitude towards your job. It’s too late for your health. But at least mentally you will be whole again.” I changed my attitude and I began to cooperate and try to love those people and help my husband. That church grew 300% in three months after I got in shape. I checked my oil. It was getting low. And you need to guard as workers against compassion fatigue. Thank you.