You Need Me for the Volume

You Need Me for the Volume

by Mary Light

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

I have some more requests, but they’ll probably be spread out a little bit. And I have a request to make to you. Now, this is not an announcement, because I’ve been told that if you want to keep a dead secret, you give it out in the middle of church announcements. But this is not a dead secret, and I’d like you to spread it far and wide, because since I came to this wonderful camp, God seems to be telling me that He would like a book on reminiscences of CFO. And Norman said he thought it would be quite a good idea. And I think everyone here has got a little reminiscence. And if you could just write it out and give it to me and tell your friends to send them to me, there might be a book. So that is that. And how many of you think that this is a glorious week, glorious weather, glorious everything? Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Now I’m going to tell you one of the reasons it is so. It’s because people in Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Canada, Great Britain, are all praying for all of us this week. Isn’t that the wonder of God? And that’s what God wants me to talk about this morning. The wonder of God, which is my pet theme.

But I must look after two requests, because if not, I’ll surely forget them. Two different people have asked for Alec to do two different things. One, because they heard him in Junaluska read 1 Corinthians 13. And the other is something you’ll see after that. And…

If you come here, it’s all right. Hello, how are you? The second one first. Well, it’s a copycat story. You can always get someone to copy the actions and to do it. I gave it last night to the youth group.

Gestedly, somebody said that I should do it for you. The sun was shining brightly in the early morning sky. The dew of heaven was still upon the grass. When up from the ground came a big, fat worm. To see the world. To see the world. And have a look around. And have a look around. And as he scanned the angel sky. And as he scanned the angel sky. A cute little worm. A cute little worm. Came up nearby. Came up nearby. “You’re a cute little worm,” he said with a wiggle. “Let’s go for a squirm. I’d love rendezvous with you. Just we two.”

Said the cute little worm, “No, no. No rendezvous between we two. ‘Cause I’m the other end of you.” Enjoy that. So, I’ll do the other request. And that is the… the vitamin I gave you the other morning. I gave you four, you remember. The last one was this. The 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. The love chapter, which we all adore. Beautiful. The pen picture, I call it, of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not love,

I am nothing. I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long and is kind.

Love envieth not. Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part. But then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three. But the greatest of these is love.

I think there must be people here who… I know you all want to serve God very, very much. But I think there must be someone who feels that if they do what they feel they’re being guided to do, they wouldn’t be able to succeed because they wouldn’t have the money to do so. And I believe God wants me to tell you that when He guides, He always provides. And He wants me to give you one or two examples. And perhaps the most wonderful one in our lives was in 1963, the year my husband retired. We had a dear little apartment in Vancouver overlooking the mountains and the sea. And one day I made the mistake of my life, looking out of the window and seeing this glorious portion of God’s creation. I said, “I’ll never give this up as long as I live.” Well, I know now that the moment you say you’ll never do anything, you’re bound to do it. Because God seemed to say right away, “Oh, yes, you will.” God is always talking to me in the form of thoughts. But I didn’t take any notice of Him. I asked all my friends to see if they knew anyone who would rent it for six months. I put advertisements in the paper.

Not a single person came near. Although horrid little places all around were being slapped up. And we only needed one person because it was just perfect. Nobody came. The last minute came and I went to our beloved minister and I said, “What on earth am I going to do?” He said, “You’ve absolutely no choice. You’ve got to give up that apartment.” So I gave it up. The day after, it was rented. We distributed all our goods amongst our friends in Vancouver. Then we had no home and nothing to worry about.

And instead of going to Australia for six months, God sent us around the world for two years. And we would have been right bang in the middle of Australia with an unrented apartment on our hands. Well, I… At that time, we had three letters. One from Father Winkley, whom some of you may have heard, asking us to take over the healing homes of Africa for a year. One from North Island, New Zealand. One from South Island, New Zealand. Neither of the writers knew the other one had written, but we were asked to go to those two islands in October. Well, we could only go to Africa for December. So, not having the money to go anywhere, I called up Qantas and said, “Could you get us to New Zealand in October and Africa in December?” He said, “Well, you might just as well go around the world. It won’t cost you much more unless you go to India.” I said, “Oh, no, we wouldn’t think of going to India.” And I got home, and there on the doormat was a missionary magazine with a perfectly white cover, except in big letters at the top right-hand corner, “Go.” So, I opened it. New Delhi. I said, “Oh, you’ve got to go to India.” And the time came near for us to get our tickets.

And I had to go to the bank for something, and the bank manager was just coming by, and he said, “Oh, Mrs. Leermont, am I glad to see you. I was just going to dictate a letter to you. Do you remember many, many years ago, your aunt left you a legacy in London, and I told you would never get it out? It was frozen sterling.” I said, “Yes, but I’d forgotten all about it. It was so long ago.” He said, “You can have every bit of it today.” I said, “How much is it?” It was enough for two round-the-world tickets and a little bit over. So you see the wonder of God? And another time… And it was a three-fold invitation, Mark, to North Island, South Island, New Zealand, and Africa. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit saying, “Go.” Another time we had the same thing for New Zealand. And this time we only had enough for a one-way ticket, you see. We thought, well, now, supposing God wants us to live in New Zealand for the rest of our lives. That would be lovely. Let’s go. So we go off with our one-way ticket. But we had different requests to come back here. And the time came for us to get our return ticket, and we still hadn’t the money.

And then we get an airmail letter from Texas. And then we said, “God woke my husband up in the middle of the night and told me to send you the enclosed check to bring you back to Canada and the USA.” Now, they didn’t know we hadn’t got any money. You see the wonder of God? I wonder how many of you have heard of World Vision?

Have you heard the story of World Vision, anybody? Well, I’d love to tell you it because I can remember it word for word, and it’s not very long, but it just proves what I’m telling you. The one who founded it was Bob Pierce. And they really done a wonderful job during the Vietnam War. They provided wheelchairs, hospitals for enemies and friends alike. And Billy Graham was going to Shanghai on a Crusade for Christ mission. And then, oh, no, I think it would have helped the children. Something like that. Well, anyway, they told Bob Pierce he was to go and prepare the way. And they would put on a concert in the Hollywood Bowl to pay all his expenses. Well, the concert was a flop. And instead of getting anything to pay his expenses, they lost money on it. So they told him he couldn’t go. He went home to his wife and he said, “Darling, I believe God wants me to go to China, but I don’t know how you and the children would get on if I took the money from the bank and went.” She said, “You take it. If God wants you to go, He’ll look after us.” He got to the airport and he said, “How far can I go with this?”

He put his money on the counter and they said, “You can only go as far as Hawaii.” All right. He goes to the telephone, calls up the man who had put on the concert, and he said, “I’m at the airport and I’ve just got enough money to go to Hawaii.” He said, “You’re crazier than I thought you were. But when you go to Hawaii, see if there’s any money there for you, because I’ll talk to some of your friends and see what I can do.” Well, he arrived in Hawaii and he finds money for him. He goes to the counter again and he said, “How far can I go with this?” “Just to the Philippines.” “Fine.” He took a ticket for the Philippines. He just had enough money to send a cable to his one and only friend in the Philippines, Mr. Long. When he arrived, he was coming off the plane and Mr. Long was there with a group of photographers. And he said, “What on earth are you taking photos of me for?” He said, “Because you’re going to do something for Christ. You see? Here he is again, Jesus. Please get him out. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus. And that’s all you have to do.”

Well, Mr. Long said to him, “I have planes that I want to go to the various islands around here and I’d like you to go in each one of them.” So he said, “I’ll be glad to do that.” And he went to the various islands and then the end of the week came and Mr. Long said, “I know you want to get to Shanghai and I’ve got a new plane that’s never been flown before and a new pilot. And they’re going to Hong Kong. Would you mind… I know you’ve got the money for the first class ticket.” He hadn’t got a penny left. “But would you mind flying in this plane to Hong Kong?” He said, “No, I’ll be glad to.” When he got to Hong Kong, the pilot said, “I’ve got a letter from you from Mr. Long, but he doesn’t want you to open it till you get into your room in the hotel.” He said, “What room? What hotel? No.” He said, “Oh, didn’t Mr. Long tell you? He always reserves a room in a hotel for the pilot. But I have relatives here, so I’m staying with them, and you’re to have the room.” When he got to the room, there were $300 in the envelope, with a little note from Mr. Long saying, “Please forgive me for sending you the enclosed, but the various churches you went to heard of your mission, and it’s a love offering.”

So he goes downstairs to the counter again. “How much is it to get to Shanghai?” “$300.” So, he arrives in Shanghai. He gives a wonderful talk. And the next day, one of the missionaries came with a little girl all bruised and bleeding. She said, “This child heard your talk last night and went home and told her father all about it, all about how Jesus would always take care of you, no matter what. And the father was so mad at the mention of Jesus that he beat her up, threw her out of the house, and told her never to come back in again. And now she’s come for you to have Jesus help her like you said He would.” And she put the bleeding child into Bob Pierce’s arms and said, “We missionaries, if you could let us have $25, we could look after her.” He said, “$25 a week?” “No. $25 a year we’d look after her for.” “You should have it.” And that’s how World Vision started. The next day, he went to the counter and he said, “How much is it to get back to the USA?” And the man said, “Well, this is a very peculiar day. Chiang Kai-shek has had terrible losses. And the Chinese money is at its lowest ebb that it’s ever been.

And it might not be the same tomorrow. You can get all the way back to the USA for $300.” He called the missionaries together and he said, “Will you put all the money you can spare on the table and I promise you’ll get it back again, but I have to get back to the USA.” Needless to say, when they had put all the money on the table that they could spare, they were exactly $300. He got back to the USA and his wife told him that their friend had taken her to the bank and opened up an account for her and she and the children had been beautifully looked after while he was away and his friend had a job waiting for him. Now, Bob Pierce was a man who went round all the Korean orphanages and got the children with beautiful voices. How many of you heard the Korean children’s choir? Well, that was all due to Bob Pierce. And he told how one night they were in the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, but they’d had a very, very busy day. They hadn’t time to go to the toilet or anything else. And right in the middle of the song, the conductor saw a little six-year-old in the front row start rubbing her legs together.

And he knew what was going to happen, so he went like that and she went like that. All of a sudden, trickle, down it came. And there she was standing in a little pool. As soon as the concert was over, the conductor went up to her and said, “Why didn’t you get off the stage when I beckoned you to do so?” And she looked him straight in the face and said, “I couldn’t possibly do that. You need me for the volume.”

Very emphatically told us that God needs every one of us for the volume. Every single one, just as you are, just where you are, is needed by God for the volume. And He needs your cooperation. And there are all sorts of things that we do wrong that really trouble Him, I think. And one thing, a minister was talking in the church about something, and I’ve told it all over the world. And wherever I go now, I get, “Mary, what about the beautiful teeth?” And it’s all because this minister told his congregation that he was just about fed up with all their criticism of him and each other. And he said, “I’m going to give you a legend now. And now, Jesus was going along a country road with some friends. And they came across a poor old dog. And one of the friends said, ‘Oh, what ugly ears he’s got.’ Another one said, ‘Oh, what a horrible smell.’ Another one said, ‘What dreadful eyes.’ And when they’d all finished criticizing the dog most unkindly, Jesus said, ‘Oh, what beautiful teeth he has.’” So since then, when I’ve started to criticize, I’ve tried to pull myself up and thought, “Maybe they’ve got beautiful teeth.” And if you hear anybody criticizing, you can say, “Excuse me. Thank you.”

Don’t you think they’ve got beautiful teeth? They’re probably all false, but that doesn’t matter. It really does stop the criticism. Then I heard this in CFO many, many years ago by a wonderful person called Dalton Miller of Texas. I love Texas because Governor Daniels made me an honorary citizen of Texas. And you know, Texas said it won the war with the help of the outlying states. And someone said as if any state could outlie Texas. LAUGHTER And this is what I heard in Texas. And this is another thing we do which we shouldn’t. I wish I were a little egg way up in a tree. A bad rotten little egg, as rotten as could be. I’d pick me out a gossiper, the gossipest I could see, and smash my rotten little self, and splatter over she, or he. LAUGHTER So criticism and gossip no more. And now I’m going to ask you to do something. You might find it rather difficult. But we did it last night for the young people, and they want to have it again, and I’m sure you’d like to make them happy. So I’m going to ask you to act out the story of the Good Samaritan, which means you’ll all have to stand up, and do what I do, and say what I say.

I could be yellow like a Chinaman. I could be white like an Englishman. I could be black like a Negro. I’m just a certain person. One day I made up my mind to take a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho. From Jerusalem to Jericho. So I put on my sandals. Put on your sandals, everybody.

And my best robe. And a ring on my finger. And a wallet in my pocket. And a wallet in my pocket. And set out. It was a long, dreary winding road. It was a long, dreary winding road. With tall trees on either side.

And bushes. And rocks where robbers could hide. I was scared. I was scared. But I stepped out boldly and whistled. All of a sudden, a man jumped down from a tree and hit me on the head. That’s all I remember.

When I came to, flies were buzzing. All my head was sore. All of a sudden, I heard footsteps. They grew louder. They stopped. It was a priest going to preach a sermon on love. Going to preach a sermon on love. He passed by on the other side. He passed by on his love. Then I heard more footsteps.

They grew louder. They stopped. It was a Levite. He looked down at me and said, “Poor fellow.” “Poor fellow.” And went on his way. Soon after that, there were more footsteps. But they were different. But they were different.

They grew louder. It was a Samaritan on his donkey. Samaritan on his donkey. He looked down at me and said, “Can I help you?” He looked down at me and said, “Can I help you?” And he’s a donkey. And then he got down at me, he got down at me and said, “Can I help you?” He got down at me, on my donkey. Opened his keys and put out a flask of oil and anointed my wounds.

And then he pulled out his shirt and tore it into strips. And bound up my wound. He lifted me on to the donkey. And we went to the nearest inn. He knocked on the door. “Anybody in?” “Yes,” said the innkeeper. “What do you want?”

“You got a bed?” “Yes, upstairs.” So they lifted me off the donkey. They carried me upstairs. And laid me on the bed. That Samaritan stayed with me all night. That Samaritan stayed with me all night. Next morning… Next morning… He got out some money. Got out some money. He said to the innkeeper… Said to the innkeeper… “This is for you.” “This is for you.” “You take care of him till I come back.” “You take care of him till I come back.” “And if you need any more money, I’ll give it to you then.” “And if you need any more money, I’ll wait to be there.” Now, that priest was good.

And the Levite was good. They didn’t spit upon me. They didn’t abuse me in any way. They were good. Good for nothing. Good for nothing. Was really good. Yes, sir. Was really good. He loved me. He loved me. Go thou and do likewise. Go thou and do likewise. Well, do it right away. Love each other.