Had a great day today. How many of you have ever fished at Valley Mill Pond? Okay, several of you. Yes, sir, son. When I was in college, we used to, I used to fish there a lot and catch a lot of good fish. I said today, earlier, I said, you know, this means something to me. Susie and I were walking, we've got a track around it now. We were walking around it and I said, hey, this means something to me because I fed my family here. She said, didn't quit saying that. I didn't eat the fish. Well, look, I can't help what's eaten. I put the fish on the plate, amen? I mean, I brought it home, cleaned it and skinned it and everything, so I fed my family. Whether they ate it or not, that's their problem. Half of my family ate it, because it was just me and her. So I guarantee I ate it. I love it, man. I could eat fish in the morning, evening, and for a snack. I love it. And somebody asked me, they said, did you eat it? That's a foolish question. What else do you do with fish? I guarantee you one thing, I don't catch and release unless it's straight into the frying pan, amen? That's why God gave them to us and to do that. So that was great. We ate at the Japanese Steakhouse today. The preacher and his wife took us there and man alive. We were, I thought this is a great meal. We hadn't even got to the meal yet. I mean, that was the prelude. And my word, I'm telling you, there's more of me going home than me that came. Wow. I got, I think Monday morning I'm planning on getting up and running 87 miles. And that'll take care of just a couple of days. And it's been great. We've had a great time. And thank you for being here. I sure appreciate your spirit. I want to tell you, listen to me. Do not take for granted what God has given you here. This doesn't come by accident. This comes by the Lord. And every church has been through battles. Every church has suffered losses. Every church has had hardships. And if you think Satan is going to give you a free pass and just say, hey, Brian, we're glad you're here. No, no, he's going to fight you. He's going to do everything he can. And listen to me, there's nothing outside of this church that can destroy this church. What poisons the church is from within. And so what Satan wants to do is he wants to get inside, and he wants to embed his agenda in the hearts and lives of people. And so be careful. Lincoln said if America ever dies, it'll be by suicide. And I want to just tell you that if the church goes down, You're not gonna be able to point at the meth crowd. You're not gonna be able to point at the abortion crowd. You're not gonna be able to point at the alcohol crowd. It's gonna be right inside is where the damage will be done. So I'm grateful for you, and I'm thankful for the spirit that God's given you here. I'm thankful for that. And I'm grateful for the way you love your preacher. You know, if people treated their doctors the way they do their preacher, they'd be thrown out on their ear. The one position everybody thinks they can do better is pastoring. Isn't that amazing? I've had some guys before that were brilliant. I didn't know it until they approached me and they were brilliant. I just said, hey, why don't you go start a church? We'll support you. It'd be worth our money just for you to do that. You know what I mean? And I'd sleep better at night. But you know, if you went to your doctor's office and said, no, no, no, that's not how it's done, you know what he'd do? He'd say, pack up and go find another doctor. And so thank God for a man of God that leads you. And be grateful for him. And listen to me, circle your wagons. Circle your wagons. You take care of him. You watch out for him. You protect him. And don't let anybody at any point at any time ever say anything against him. And God will bless you. Now when I was a young man, I wouldn't say those things. And my ministry suffered because of it. Okay, because a pastor, what you may not know is a pastor is a bit reticent on saying things that looks like he's trying to take care of himself, but somebody's got to say them. And when I came to Idaho, I made up my mind I was going to say exactly what needed to be said and just let it fall where it will. And so I did, and God's blessed, and we're grateful for what God's done there in Idaho and South Valley Baptists. And I just want you to know, I just want you to know I love your preacher, love his wife, I love this church, I'm thankful for you. And I don't want you to ever take for granted, because the places that I get to preach around, this isn't the norm. Unfortunately. So thank God for your spirit and keep it that way. Amen. Don't let the devil whisper in your ear. You just keep singing a song and being thankful for what God's given you and God will bless you. I want you to open your Bibles tonight to the book of 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel is where we're going to be. Chapter number 18. 2 Samuel and chapter number 18. I'm going to begin reading in verse number 24 and then we'll sort of catch up with some background in just a few moments that will bring us up to our text here. So 2 Samuel chapter 18 verse 24, And David sat between the two gates, And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate and to the wall and lift up his eyes and looked. And behold, a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king. And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came apace and drew near. And the watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called unto the porter and said, Behold, another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said, Methinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimeaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and cometh with good tidings. And Ahimeaz called and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God, which hath delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my lord the king. And the king said, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Himeaz answered, When Joab sent the king's servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was. And the king said unto him, Turn aside and stand here. And he turned aside and stood still. And behold, Cushai came, and Cushai said, Tidings, my lord the king, for the lord hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the king said unto Cushai, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushai answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son." Let's pray. Father, help us tonight because we gather here in your name with your people, Lord, in your house. And I pray that you would do in our midst that which, Lord, only You can do. We say that often because it's true always. And, Lord, there's nothing at all that we can generate. There's nothing that we can craft. There's no way to manipulate Your power, Lord. We just turn to You And we absolutely admit our dependence and our need for your help, for your voice, for your spirit to delve deeply within us and to do that work, dear God, which you would do in each and every heart tonight. Save the lost and Lord for the saved. I pray that you would cause us to fall under the conviction where it's needed, the encouragement where we need it. Lord, do thy work as only you can. In Jesus' name, I do pray these things. Amen. The story that we've read tonight is obviously a very tragic one. David was a mighty warrior and often he had enjoyed the thrill of victory. Rarely had he ever suffered the agony of defeat. And after one of his victories over a wild Bedouin tribe, he took the daughter of the tribal king to be his wife. Together they had a son and they called him, they gave him a name of Absalom and the name means the father of peace. Absalom grew up to be the most popular of all of David's children at the time. And I can picture those early days when Absalom would ask questions about what it was like to face a lion or face a bear or face a giant. And he was the son of a living legend. He was the son of a man whose name was iconic. And I cannot help but as a young boy in hearing the stories that people would say about his dad and recalling those aged men that had stood on a hillside and watched a young shepherd boy bring a giant to the ground and how he lifted his head up and the Philistines fled. I can't help but that young boy's heart was swelled with pride over who his dad was. But as the boy grew, so did the kingdom, and free time became a scarce commodity, and more and more things and more and more people began to demand the king's attention. Priorities, I believe, became misplaced, and the king's responsibilities began to pull him from his family. And down within Absalom, down within Absalom developed a rebellious spirit and there came a time when he stole from his father the very thing that had stolen his father from him, the kingdom. David fled to the mountains and after a time of regrouping a great battle took place. It was David's army against Absalom's. It was father against son. and David won. All about him there erupts a victory party. People who had been displaced from the palace, who had been run from their homes, who now were hiding out in the peripheral rural areas of the kingdom, now all of a sudden they realize they get to go back home. Everything that was taken from them will be restored and so there's a great party that has erupted and And everybody is cheering and everybody is hugging and they're shouting in celebration. But David has got other things on his mind. Suddenly winning isn't everything to David. He wasn't worried about his position. He wasn't worried about his palace. He wasn't worried about the possessions that he had left behind. He just wanted to know one thing and one thing only. Tell me how my boy is. Tell me, tell me how the young man is. In every messenger, there were two, but if there had been twenty, and none of the early ones had had any report, he would have asked one after the other after the other, because it was the consuming, it was the consuming passion of his heart. Is the young man safe? Is my boy okay? Finally word came from the fleet-footed Cushi that the victory was complete. The enemy had been routed, but the king's son was dead. And the reality is this. David the king had won, but David the father had lost. The news pierced his heart like an arrow and he turned his back on the celebration party that was there in his honor celebrating the one thing that he thought at one time that he wanted the most and he ascended the stairs to his room. That was not, if you could picture that, that's not a king. That's not a king ascending those stairs. That's not the voice of a king that weeps. That's a father. That's a broken-hearted dad who has a crushed heart over his relationship with his son, a father who had a heart full of regrets about his family. And listen to him as he ascends the stairs. Listen to his cry, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God, would God, I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son. Now this is the closing scenes of a tragic story between a father and his son, but you don't get here overnight. You don't arrive at this place overnight. There's a lot of bad decisions, a lot of wounded feelings, a lot of injured spirits that take place before you ever get to this place. And now that we've arrived there, what does David do? David looks back down through the years. David glimpses back down and perhaps in his mind's eye he can see a young boy there that's looking up to his dad and saying, can I see Goliath's sword? Can you show me the sword? Dad, could I hold the sling again that you used when you killed Goliath? Could you show me that, Dad? And I think David looks back at that innocent child and realizes that from that time until this time some great tragedies took place that led to this tragedy, and all he could say was, would God that I had. If I could do it all over again, David said, there's some things that I would do differently. Now, I'm going to just tell you this. You and I alike, every one of us, we're either going to live a thank God I did or a would God I had life. One of those two expressions is going to be the thing that permeates our heart when we look back down through the years at our relationship as husband and wife. Thank God I did or would God I had. Every one of you young people, you're going to look back down through your life at your relationship with your parents and your idea is either going to be, the thought in your heart is either going to be, would God I had or thank God I did. I've preached funerals in Georgia where I've literally had to reach in and pull teenage boys off of the body of their mother because their heart was so shattered by her death because all they had in their realization of their relationship with their mother was absolute regrets and the permeating thought of their heart was, would God I had, but it's too late to do it then. I'm going to tell you, you're going to look back on your church relationships, and your relationships with your pastor, and your relationships with other people, and your faithfulness with God, and the things that you do as far as your commitment, the things we've talked about earlier. You're going to look back and say, thank God I did, or would God I had. And if you're here tonight and you're lost without Jesus Christ, can I tell you, for all of eternity, for all of eternity, the thought that will be at the forefront of your mind as you're there in an eternal flame, you're going to think to yourself, would God that night, would God that opportunity, would God at that old camp meeting, would God I had gotten saved. Are you going to realize that you got in by the skin of your teeth one night when the grace of God dealt with your heart and you got saved and you're going to say, thank God I did. Every one of us will entertain one or two of those thoughts and I want us to take a little bit of time tonight for just a moment and I want us to reflect upon the regrets of David. Let's look back. Let's try to lean over his shoulder and somehow see through his lens and look back down through the corridors of his past and find out what was it. It wasn't, listen to me, listen, it wasn't just his death. You understand what we're reading here? He didn't say, son, I'm sorry you died. Would God you had lived. That's not what David said. David said, would God I had. Would God I had done some things different. Would God that I had handled our relationship. Why? Because if I had done what I was supposed to do, we might not have arrived at this place right now where my son's body is hanging from the branch of a battlefield tree with a dart thrust through his liver. David said, if I had done things different. Maybe things would be different. Number one, he regretted that he did not value his relationship with his son. Now in the early days, David's like every dad, and that is that he's just proud that he's got a boy. And he's toting him around, you know, as if the wife did nothing, you know. And so he's toting the kid around and he's showing him off and that kind of thing. All of my grandkids that are born, we baptize them with Georgia toys and teddy bears and things like that. We just, I mean, I just bring it on to me, man. I've got a son-in-law that's a Florida State fan. and we're praying for his salvation. Anyhow, in the very beginning you can tell that David valued him. You know what he said about that boy? He said, here's what I want to name him. I want to name him Absalom. You know why? Because I want him to be a father of peace in a land where peace was a rarity. I want him to be a leader. I want him to bring something into my kingdom that my kingdom desperately needs. I want my son, I want the heir apparent to be the father of peace in a land that does not know much peace. But somewhere down the line the father and the son drifted and later, later my soul, they weren't even on speaking terms and it wasn't until after the tragedy, it was after the tragedy that David realized the worth and the value of what he had lost. Can I tell you, listen, it's time we wake up and look around us and with a grateful heart thank God for what He's given us. We ought to thank God for our mates, thank God for our spouses, thank God for our parents, thank God for our children, thank God for our church, thank God for our pastor. We are an ungrateful people. And if you'll read Romans chapter 1, the Bible says one of the progressive steps that led to a reprobate heart was neither were they thankful. The first thing that dies in the heart of a man before he goes off the deep end is unthankfulness. I guarantee you, check that out. Check that out. No man ever walked out on his wife because of anything other than that initial disease of lack of gratitude and an unthankful heart for who she is. And it works the same way in the opposite direction. I'm telling you, nobody ever bailed out and quit on church that did not first lose their gratitude and their thankfulness for what God had given them. No young person ever went rebellion on parents that they were thankful for. Never. And so that gratitude is lost there. And I think, I marvel sometimes at the things that we're willing to barter people for in this world of ours. I don't know, have you ever watched Pawn Stars? Give me a gun. I mean, look. These guys run this pawn shop in Las Vegas. And so you go in. I love this because as soon as you and I watch it, I like American Pickers because they find motorcycles. But anyhow, so we watch this thing. A guy goes in and he says, I've got Hitler's kindergarten briefcase. And they said, well, what do you want for that? And he says, I think it's worth $10,000. And so they go in and the guy says, I'll give you $200 for it. And he says, how about 250? I want to slap him. I'm like, what are you? You said 10,000. You already down to 250? What kind of? So one guy walks in there. I'm watching at one time. Got me incensed. He comes in and he said, what do you got there? He said, I've got my grandfather's flight log. I've got his flight jacket. I've got his goggles and his helmet that he wore in World War II. And he said, in this flight log, there are 75 missions that my grandfather flew. First of all, I'm like this, execute him for selling his granddaddy's stuff. I'm talking not the electric chair, the whole couch. Look, are you kidding me? You're selling your granddaddy's stuff? What kind of a human being would do that? But you know what? What do you want for it? Well, he gave a number and I thought, it's priceless to me. wouldn't sell that at all. He wound up selling it for a handful of hundreds. And I just thought to myself, how can you barter something that's precious? But boy, I want to tell you something, we barter our families for a lot less than that. You talk about Judas selling Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver, that's a high price for what people get today to bail on the Lord. And, you know, we climb the corporate ladder and yet we leave our kids behind. in doing so and we're willing to sacrifice our own flesh and blood. And the things that we sacrifice our relationships with in our marriages, I think that there's going to come a day and a time when we are able to grasp the thing we've been reaching for and yet look back and realize that the thing that we bartered, the thing that we let slip from our fingers was worth so much more than what we got in exchange. The devil will not do you an even deal. You can mark that down. He's going to rip you off. He's the king of rip-off artists. And the thing that you think you want, look, just read through the Bible. Adam and Eve got what they wanted, but they lost what they already had. I mean, David got what he wanted, but he lost what he already had. Saul got what he wanted, but he lost what he already had. The prodigal son got what he wanted, but he lost what he already had. I'm just telling you, that lesson is shown over and over. Israel got a king, that's what they wanted, but they lost what they already had. And that was a close relationship with the Lord God. I'm telling you, you can get what you want, but you'll lose what you already have. And the realization is we don't value the things that God has given us as we should. Charles Gall wrote this, the two great laws of life are growth and decay. And when things stop growing, they begin to decay. Now I want you to hear me well, listen to me. I'm talking to mother and, I'm talking to husband and wife, I'm talking to mother and child, father and child, child and parents. I want to tell you something. If your relationship is not in a growing state, it is going to begin to decay. So you can't just hang there. Listen to this. Nobody ever has a neutral impact upon a church. Nobody has a neutral effect. Your effect on Berean Baptist Church is either positive or negative. One of the two. Nothing neutral. Nobody in a home has a neutral impact on the family. You're either positive or you're negative. And the reality of the matter is if you're just in cruise control and you think that everything's going good, it's not going good at all. There's a decaying process that is beginning. And if your relationship isn't growing in the family and growing in your church, it's going to begin to decay. It's going to begin to decay. You remember walking down the aisle and looking into the eyes of the one you loved and you pledged your life to them? And your heart was so full of hopes and so full of dreams. What happens to that? Well, we get jobs and things crowd in. But boy, isn't it amazing how the deceiver who wrecked the very first family, isn't it amazing how he gets husband and wife isolated and begins to work on one or the other and how he brings in that decaying process into a family? I'm telling you, we need to get back to valuing the people that God's put in our life. And if you hadn't sat down with your loved one and said, I love you, I thank God for you, I'm so grateful that God put you in my life. Listen to me, anybody you look at with a magnifying glass, you'll find enough flaws in them to be disappointed. I tell my people, you want to get disillusioned at me, help yourself. I'll give you a list. You don't even have to work for it. I'll give you the list, okay? Follow me around in traffic. Anyhow, never mind. So I'm just saying, no, look, nobody's perfect, but the realization is this. Listen to me. Why don't you take the magnifying glass and begin in the mirror? Start in the mirror and look at your own flaws and realize if there's any good thing in your life, it's by the grace of God. And so here's David. David had regrets. He regretted, I believe with all of my heart, that he did not value his relationship with his son. Second of all, he regretted that he did not think less of himself. And that's where we begin to not value others, is when we place ourself upon the throne and we begin to see ourself as something that we really are. Before the conflict, Listen, before the conflict with David and Absalom ever reached its crescendo, before that ever happened, there was a conflict between David the king and David the father. That's where that initial conflict, because for five long years David and Absalom were estranged, mainly because David the father was more concerned with the reputation of David the king than he was the scandal in his own family. You remember what happened to Tamar? Whose job was it to deal with that? David's. You know what David did? He sat in his office with a pile of paperwork while his son Absalom seethed over the fact that his sister was not defended. And so Absalom, since David wouldn't do his job, Absalom set about the wheels in his own mind and said, OK, if you're not going to do it, I'll take care of this. And the reality, it was David's inactivity and inability to deal with the scandal in his own family that brought that about. It reminds me of Jacob. After his boys had slaughtered an entire village because of the abuse to their sister Dinah, his only real concern was how it made him look. He said this, You've troubled me to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land. Is that all you can think about, Jacob? Is your own sorry reputation Is that all that's on your mind right now? There's a village full of dead people. And all you can think about is how embarrassed you are. David could kill a giant. He could inspire an army and command a kingdom, but he couldn't leave his own family. Could not leave his own family. And sometimes, I'll tell you, we have a tendency to compartmentalize the areas of our life that we want to deal with. You ever read in the book of Proverbs where it says that a wayward son is the heaviness of his mother? Well, wait. Wait a minute. Where's the dad? You know where the dad's at? He's at work. You know where the dad's at? He's got a compartmentalized file 13 that he sticks all of those problems in. It breaks the heart of the mother, but the dad hides from it. because we don't want to face the embarrassment. And so here's what I do. I failed here, so I'm going to find someplace I can be a success in. And I'm better on the job than I am in the home. And may I just say this? God help us when we are the hero at church or the hero on the job and a villain at home. That's not what God intended for us as men that lead our families. And the shepherd boy that faced the giant and showed no fear, he was a man that could run a kingdom, but he was afraid of facing his own family. He's afraid of doing what was right. God deliver us and help us to realize. And by the way, Joab then hoodwinked him into sending for Absalom and then the pride of David's heart would not even let him embrace his son. 2 Samuel chapter 14 verse 23 and 24, So Joab arose and went to Gesher and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. Now watch what David said. The boy's coming back now. The boy's coming back home. There's been a scandal in the family. Absalom's killed his brother Amnon, and now he's run off. But now Joab has sort of maneuvered things where they're back together. But verse 24, And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, and let him not see my face. And so Absalom returned to his own house and saw not the king's face. When they finally did meet to reconcile, it was a contrived situation that once again was manipulated by Joab more than the king longing for his son. And by the way, not a spoken word is uttered. There's nothing in that passage but absolute awkwardness as the father kisses his son. It's just a show. It's just nothing but reality TV that has no reality in it whatsoever. He was concerned, so concerned with himself and his feelings and what had been done to him. The boy in that upper chamber, he's not thinking about himself. Now he weeps for the boy that he wished he would have hugged when he came home. He weeps for the boy that he should have never exiled him for two years to his house. Now he's thinking, I wish we would have had a get-together meal that day. I wish I would have gone after him. I wish I would have looked for him. I wish I would have called him. I wish I would have sent Joab sooner. But he didn't. I've had people come to me and say, Pastor, my wife said to me last week that she doesn't love me anymore. And I said, that's not true. That's not really what she's saying. What she's saying to you is that she just loves herself more than she loves you. See, a man doesn't run around on his wife and leave his wife because he doesn't love her. He runs around on his wife and is unfaithful to his wife because he doesn't love his God. And he loves himself more. It's not near as much this problem as it is that problem. It's our relationship with God. You fall in love with God, I'm going to tell you something, you can fall in love with the people that God brings your way. You'll be grateful. Number three, he regretted not spending more time with the family. Now I think it's obvious when you read the history of David's family that there had to have come a time when he became an absentee father. James chapter 1 verse 27 says, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. And I want to tell you, there's a lot of homes where a dad dwells inside the house, but the house itself is still fatherless and it could be motherless. And we've gone on our bus routes before and gone into houses where my children back in Georgia have had to go in and get the children dressed and put them on a bus and bring them to church and feed them because somebody loved them, but the dad and the mom were absentee. So I want to tell you, it's more than just the physiological ability to bring a child into the world that makes us a dad or makes us a mom. The word divorce comes from a Latin word that means to go our separate ways. And there's a lot of people that have a marriage certificate stuck in a top drawer or in a scrapbook somewhere or maybe on an office wall or something, and yet in reality there's a lot of divorce that's going on in that home. Sometimes it's parents divorcing from each other, going in separate directions. Sometimes it's parents and children divorcing each other and going in separate directions and there's a great gap there. Spending time with the family. I used to hear when I was a kid, the family that prays together stays together. Can I help you with this? That doesn't always work so well. Now I know that sounds totally unspiritual. I'm just saying this, you can pray all day long, it doesn't mean you're doing everything else right. I've often added this, the family that plays together stays together. Because there's got to be something in the home besides, there's got to be a law and the spirit that supports that. There's got to be a spirit in the home that is conducive to love and to that connection. Dianne Fassel wrote a book called Working Ourselves to Death and in it she said this, work is God for the compulsive worker and nothing gets in the way of this God. John Updike said, we may live well, but we cannot ease the suspicion that we no longer live nobly. And I'm afraid that sometimes we've sold ourselves out to... You talk about the corporate takeover of America. Let me help you with this. As a pastor, I've seen the corporate takeover of the family a long time before it started taking over America. Addressing the graduating class of his university, of Arkansas School of Law, the speaker said, you have amply demonstrated that you are achievers willing to work hard, long hours, and set aside your personal lives. But it reminds me of that old observation he wrote that no one was ever heard to say on their deathbed, I wish I had spent more time at the office. Balance wisely. your professional and your family life. If you're fortunate enough to have children, your parents will warn you that they will grow up and be gone before you know it. I can testify to that. He said this in closing, God only allows us so many opportunities with our children to read a story, to go fishing, to play catch and say our prayers together. Try not to miss out on them. The office can wait. It will be there when the children are gone. Six weeks later, that speaker, Vince Foster, was dead. And I'm telling you, his words ought to resonate with us and realize that we've got to get our priorities right and get back to the place. Listen, every now and then in my life, as a pastor since... Look, I've been in the ministry since I was 17. And so when Susie and I got married, I already had things going in my life. And then we started having children. You know what I found out over the years? I found out over the years that there arises occasions where I can show my wife and my children that they're top priority. 47 years of marriage. 48, you know what, did you know that there's never been a summer we didn't have a family vacation? And I thank God for my dad, an old railroad worker, 41 years on the railroad that absolutely sacrificed to get us down where we could have a family vacation and take a break. And listen to me, I'm not talking about going somewhere to some meeting somewhere where there's a bunch of preaching going on. That's not a vacation. I'm talking about getting away from everything. You may enjoy that, but your kids don't. And let's just be honest. And so I'm just, look, I'm talking about getting away. And I'm not saying don't bring your kids there. I'm saying don't let that be your vacation. Take some time to get away from everything where it's just you and them. You know? Spend time together. Spend time together as a family. I heard a story years ago of John Rice. The man called him on the phone and said, Dr. Rice, I need to talk with you. Could you see me tomorrow? And he said, I can't. I've got an appointment tomorrow. And the man said, OK, well, how about the next day? He said, all right, I'll see you the day after that. So two days later, the guy comes into Dr. Rice's office. He said, this won't take but a second, because I'm not going to talk with you long. I'm leaving the church. I don't want to talk with you again. I've had it. I just want you to know that you'll never hear from me again. And Dr. Rice said, look, would you settle down and tell me what's wrong with you? He said, I asked you if you could meet with me yesterday, and you said you didn't. You couldn't because you had an appointment. And I rode by your house, and you were playing with your kids out in the yard. And he said, Sir, that was my appointment. If you don't think my children are important to me, you've got another thing coming. That was my appointment. There are going to come times in your life. Now listen to me. I know there's some young guys in here, young couples that's got young children. Can I tell you something? There's going to arise times in your life where you're going to be able to evidence to your wife and to your children that your job is not God. And you're going to be able to include them in and make them feel that they are priority in your life. Those occasions don't come along all the time, so take advantage of those and use them. And it will build you a stronger marriage. Fourth of all, he regretted not being a spiritual example. Twelve years, twelve years before the event that we read about tonight transpired. David had yielded to his flesh and scandal shook his kingdom. Do you not think that Absalom as a young boy was not aware of David's sin with Bathsheba? Do you think that he did not hear the scuttlebutt on the street and the fact that his father had failed and you think that it didn't break his heart. Now the dad that killed the bear and killed the lion and killed Goliath, now the talk on the street wasn't about the iconic hero, the Davy Crockett of his day, so to speak. It wasn't about him. Now it was about the scandal and how he had been unfaithful to God. And the young boy's heart, no doubt, was pierced. And it seems to me that everything began to unravel after that. David's priorities began to slip, and he began to lose his focus on some of the important things of life. And I know he got his heart right with God, but his family was just absolutely shambles. And I have no doubt that he was dealing with a broken-hearted child. Can I tell you this about your children? They do not require that you be perfect. They just require that you be honest. And I'm just going to tell you right now, I cannot possibly imagine a father who has not at some point in his relationship with his family sat them down and said, I owe you an apology. I'm sorry. I blew that. Daddy shouldn't have done that. Daddy shouldn't have acted. And ma'am, it may be that you've been on edge and you've been short. And your kids realize that. They don't expect you to be perfect. They just want you to be honest. And there have been times in my life I've had to sit my children around in a room and said, OK, Daddy, we just got a family meeting. I got to talk with you. Man, did I blow that. I blew that. Now, the cat should not have been in my yard, but I shouldn't have done what I did. No, I'm kidding. But anyhow, I blew that. I'm sorry. I should not have done that. You know, I can't use that joke in Idaho because everybody's got cats. So to those few of you that do here, I apologize. But anyhow, no. So the reality of the matter is this. Listen to me. Look at me. Sometimes we just got to get right. Sometimes we've got to sit down with our mates and just get right. Sin always takes you further than you intended to go. It keeps you longer than you intended to stay. It makes you pay more than you intended to pay. I want to tell you, David sobbing in that upper room, perhaps realizing, oh my son Absalom, would God it had been me. Why? Because it was my sin that began the downward spiral. Just get it right. Just confess it. Last of all, and I close, he regretted waiting until it was too late. Waiting until it was too late. Do you know that David could have had a thank God I did with everything that happened in his life? with all of his mistakes and his flaws, David could have had very easily a thank God I did ending by simply dealing with the problems that came his way, facing up to them, dealing with his family, being the godly leader that God had called him to be, he could have done that. And instead he climbs the stairs, Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, but no answer came. Would God I had died for thee, but the still and lifeless body of his boy hangs from that tree, unable to receive the belated love that his father wanted to give him. Unable. David had waited until it was too late. Years ago, I was at a camp in the deep swamp of Georgia. down in the Okefenokee. Open air tabernacle just like this one. Saw us on the floor. Message was preached and God was working. Kids were kneeling around the altar getting right and the little girl made her way up on the side of the platform and came up and approached the camp director. Well that was unusual. I remember watching thinking what in the world? He leaned down and she whispered in his ear and he nodded yes. He walked up to the podium and he said, we have a young girl here. And he said, she wants to tell you what's on her heart. So we're going to give her a moment. And I, I just was unusual at that time, the way that happened. And so he turned the podium over. She walked up behind the lectern and she put her little hands, you could tell her arms were trembling as he stood there. She said, my mom and dad never, my mom and me never had a good relationship. My dad left us many years before. And my mama raised me as a single parent most of my life. And she said, I, I grew up and I just began to become critical. I had friends at school that were critical and I sort of caught that spirit and I began to nitpick at things my mom would do. I felt like she was unfair to me and never gave me the break, never looked at me the way that I wanted her to. She was always trying to help me and I didn't need her help and we were just constantly at each other. I would raise my voice at my mom and scream at her. I tell her she didn't love me. She would try to convince me she did. It just went back and forth. She said, I'll never forget one morning we got up and sure enough, as I was getting ready for school, something erupted and I can't remember what it was about, but I just yelled at my mom and she was upset at me and I got mad. And finally she said, I just looked her in the face and said, I want you to know I hate you. And she said, I slammed the door to the laundry room as I went out to the garage and sat alone in the car. Just a few minutes later, she said, my mom came out to drive me to school and I could tell her eyes were red rimmed and welted where she had been crying. I didn't care. I didn't care. I just wanted to win the argument. So she cranked the car, backed it out of the garage and took me to school. She said not a word was spoken. I could tell my mother was crying under her breath there. But I didn't reach over and touch her. I didn't give a word of comfort. I just didn't care. When we pulled up to the school, she said, I looked over and there were my group of friends. There were my comrades. And they were watching, wondering what had happened. She said, as I got out of the car, rather than saying anything to my mom, I took the door with my back hand and I slammed it as hard as I could. and stormed across the school grounds over to where my friends were waiting to surround me and ask me what had happened and what had my mom done then and I just poured my complaint out to them and they all gave me sympathy. The bell rang. We went to class. Not another thought as my mother drove off and went back toward the house. She said a couple hours later there was a a break we would have, an intermission, and we would all go out and stand out on the school ground and talk. And she said, as we were standing there, all of a sudden we heard that sound that interrupts all conversations. A siren came by, an ambulance was flying by, and she said, everybody stop talking and just froze. watched it as it went by and disappeared and finally the sound subsided some and we could hear ourselves think again. And so we just picked up our conversation and finished it and bell rang. We went back to class. She said, I was in class just a little while. And somebody came to our door of my room and whispered to the teacher. The teacher walked over to my desk and said, we need to see you in the office. And so she said, I got up and my teacher led me down the hall down into the office. And she said in a side room from the principal's office was the principal, the school counselor, and a Georgia State patrolman. She said, I sat down in the chair wondering, what have I done? What kind of a trouble am I in? I haven't done anything. I don't know what you're accusing me of. And she said, but all of a sudden, the state patrolman looked at me and said, ma'am, I'm sorry to tell you this. but a neighbor went over to visit your mom this morning. She did not answer the door, so she made her way in, and we found your mother dead on the kitchen floor. She came out of the garage, went through the laundry room. She fell over on the door of a massive heart attack, and your mother has died. When those words left that little girl's heart, that was the first time in my life that I have ever heard what I call today guttural crying. Crying that doesn't come from the voice box or the eyes, crying that emanates from the depth of the soul of a human being. I've made that cry myself before, since that time. But as she sat there and her body was racked, literally racked in sobs, just the depth of her soul pouring out of her, she looked up and said this to that crowd of teenagers. Would God, would God that I had not done what I did? Would God that I could tell my mother I loved her? Would God that I could apologize to my mom? But it's too late for me. It's not for you. I'm going to tell you, that invitation was given that night and there were kids four deep around an altar getting their heart right with God and going out and calling their parents the best they could, asking for forgiveness. Some of them headed on the way home after camp to get things right with mom and dad. Now, I want to tell you, I don't know what your problems are tonight. I don't know where the schisms are. I don't know what it is that if your life ended tonight, It would end on a would God I had note. It may be with your spouse. It may be with your parents. It may be with your children. It may be with your pastor. It may be with your church. I don't know, but I do know this. If you're here tonight and you're breathing, you have an opportunity to reverse things and leave a thank God I did note. Let's bow our heads, could we? Now this is a message that I just drop. There's nothing else for me to say. You know, you know what needs to be gotten right. If you're here and you're not saved, then obviously tonight you need to be saved or you'll wood God a head for all of eternity. If you're here tonight and you say, Preacher, I don't know that I'd go to heaven when I die, but I'd like to know. I'm not sure, but I'd like to. I don't want to get on the other side and say, would God I had done that that night. Pray for me, Preacher. Would you lift your hand up? Anybody like that? Pray for me. Pray for me that I'll get my soul, my destiny settled with God. Okay, now if that's your case, there's somebody at the altar tonight. If you'll come kneel at this altar, we'll take a Bible and show you how you can know for sure you're saved. But tonight, if you're here and God's spoken to your heart about a relationship, why don't you just come kneel around an altar and seal it? Maybe it's husband and wife praying together. Maybe a family's praying together. Maybe a kid wants to go to a mom or a dad and say thank you. I mean, it doesn't mean you're a rebellious kid. Maybe you're the best kid in all the world, but you want to express your gratitude. Whatever, however God deals with your heart, you do it tonight. And you'll be glad you did. Stand to your feet, would you, as I pray. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray tonight that there would be gratitude in our hearts, that we would live our life with a thank-God-I-did passion, rather than leaving with a would-God-I-had heart full of regrets one day. Lord, if there be people here tonight that need to thank God for their church, for their pastor, for their husband, for their wife, for their parents, mom or dad, however, God, do it tonight in our midst. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. We're gonna have a stanza of invitation. If you need to move, you come right now. You know what God wants you to do. You just do what God's called you to do. Amen, come on. Come on. Have thine own way, Lord. Don't be embarrassed. Let me tell you one thing I wish tonight. I wish my dad was here. Wish I could put my arms around my dad's neck and thank him for all the years of sacrifices he made for me. Wish I could put my arms around my mother's neck. She died in my arms. I wish that I could put my arms around my mama's neck and say, Mama, thank you. Not just for what I am, but thank you for making me what I am not, for helping me avoid the pitfalls. Thank you. If you got that opportunity tonight, don't let it pass. Take it tonight.