calling and asking for meetings and so I usually have to pay a church to allow me to come and the hospital I thought that was funny too you know one guy got it out of the whole place you know how many believe that the food had ether in it would you raise your hand please Okay, good. So you got a lot of excitement this afternoon. I love the game several of you look like idiots up here But I love the games, you know great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them Do you know that verse that's my theme verse it it really is. I have enjoyed being with you very very much today I've enjoyed watching you. I hope and pray that the Lord will allow us some time to see each other someplace else. I've been asked several times if I am Dave Smith, and I am. There is in the state of Delaware in September a Dave Smith holiday. There's over three quarters of a million Dave Smiths in the United States of America. There's over 200,000, seriously, my wife got the article for me, I don't know where she got it, that have my exact name. But I'm here to tell you, they are imposters, I'm the real one. So if somebody walks up to you and say, you're Dave Smith? Yeah, right, bud. Don't do it disrespectful. Do it respectfully, like, I know a little guy with a big mouth and a bald head. He said he's Dave Smith. Who are you? Yeah, OK. 1 Samuel 17. I love it. I love it. I love the word of God from cover to cover and everything in between, right? I love it how sports are in the Bible. Sports are in the Bible. You know that? You know tennis was in the Bible? Mm-hmm. And Pharaoh served in his court. It is. Uh-huh. did you know Christmas is in the Bible Christmas is in the Bible Zechariah chapter 2 verse number 6 ho ho come forth and flee from the land of the north since we're down on your level now do you know that preachers close your ears please cigarette smoking is in the Bible and Rachel lit off her camel remember nothing about the messages today but boy do I remember that there's a preacher said there's a Santa Claus in the Bible did you know that auto racing is in the Bible mm-hmm Aaron and his rod it's right there Y'all didn't get that one. Okay, we're gonna get to preaching now. We're gonna get preaching now. I Love being with you. I do it is like a fresh life with me some of you I do not want to look like you. I do not want to eat like you I do not want to sound like you but I love being with you I know God had to have an off day when he made some of you. I really believe that possibility It's okay to laugh some of you're taking that serious. I Really, did God have an off day when he made me? Several of you he did, or else he had a shaky hand. I don't know what it was. Yeah, I do. These poor girls are standing here like, where am I at? I don't know. What am I doing right now? Is that true? No, there you go. All right. How many of you think the person next to you is ugly? Would you raise your hand there? I'm trying. Two husbands raised their hand that are sitting next to the... Your wife even laughed. She got mad at you and didn't laugh. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to shift gears. In eight minutes, from now till eight minutes, according to what I have here that I studied, there are 1,120 people who step out in eternity. In the next eight minutes. In the next 16 minutes, 2,240 people are going to die. They're going to step out into eternity. In 24 minutes before I'm done, 3,360 people are going to step out into eternity. In 40 minutes, 5,600. In 48 minutes, 6,720. In 48 minutes, 6,720. In 56 minutes, before most of you will get home, 7,840 people, according to statistics you can find on your computer, will step out into eternity. Every minute, every 60 seconds, 140 people step out into eternity. If we just went four more minutes and made it one hour, not 56, but 60 seconds, we would add 564 people, or 8,400 people in the next hour are going to step out into eternity. In a 24-hour period of time, according to statistics of people that are born and they know about, people that die and they know about, 201,600 people will step out into eternity. In seven days, from this Saturday to next Saturday, 1,411,200 people will step out into eternity. In one year, 52 weeks, 73,382,400 people approximately will step out into eternity, either heaven or either hell. every eight minutes over 24 people, 2,400 souls are born. That means every day over 432,000 people are born. The statistics that I looked at said this. The known evangelical churches that are presently ministering to people and reaching new people, if there was no one else born no one else died it will take the churches that are evangelical not Baptist only it would take us 280,000 years to win the world to Christ nobody else is born and nobody else dies at the present rate you and I and others are winning people to Christ it would take 280,000 years just to win the people that are on this globe that you and I exist on When I read the statistics and put the statistics in the message, it broke my heart. I sat and wept and I thought how little Dave Smith does. I thought how little Dave Smith is effective. I thought in the little world that I live in, but then I began to think of what can we do? What are we doing? my mind happened to be that morning reading 1st Samuel chapter 17 and I saw one three-letter word four times in this chapter that I want us to sit on and that one three-letter word I want you to go home today I hope you remember victory verbally ask God for daily help and so on and so forth. But this day, today, we've raised a generation that is apathetic. Don't take that negatively. Just decide I'm gonna be different. Just decide I'm gonna do something for God. Just decide I'm not gonna be a statistic myself. I'm going to make my life count. Do you know God will bless you? Do you ever think about this? That he will give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37 for delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart God wants to make you and me happy God knows what will make Dave Smith happy I don't even know what will make Dave Smith happy if you've been up close to me you've seen a tooth that is missing here At 17 years of age, as a stinking rebel in a good home, I sassed my father. My father did what I've never done, did what I'll never do. My dad hit me right in the mouth. I'd been boxing for several years, and I knew how to take a punch. And I stood there after he hit me and just looked at him. I looked at the door. I walked out the door. I looked back and saw my mother on her knees. And I heard her pleading. In that state, I wished I could erase from my life. I wished I could remove it from my life. But where that hole is now, I left a tooth that died. That tooth that died, I carried it all of my life until two months ago. And the infection in my jaw was so bad because I broke my dad's heart, I broke my mom's heart, that I suffered with that pain all of my life that they had to cut my jaw and do major surgery to get the poison out of my jaw. I left it there because I'm a stinking rebel. I left it there because I loved, broke the hearts of the people that loved me, that a mother that walked through the jaws of death. That's why at less than six months later, I got right with God and I gave everything I had to God. And every day I get up and say, you got it all. And I wish. that you could understand how bad I wished I had another life to live. At 74 years of age, I'm not done. I'm not through. I'm not finished. Oh, I might not be able to run as fast as I could. I might not be able to work a speed bag as fast as I used to. I might not be able to lift as much as I can do. But bless the Lord, I'm going to do what I can do. The devil's not going to get my life. I'm not going to give my life to the world. I'm not going to give my life for any other reason than that because God says in Psalm 37 for delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart and if I went across this room tonight and sit down personally in a private place in a private closet with no distraction and I looked at you teenagers I said what do you believe God wants you to do can I tell you what the average answer would be I don't know I'm praying about it what would you like to do That's what breaks my heart. Because you ought to be ate up with something. But until you know what God wants, I'm going to show you what a young man named David did with his life. Four things. And we're going to end the day. But I'm going to tell you about this tooth. And I'm going to tell you about something that happened on my mother's deathbed. Father in heaven, I ask in Jesus' name that you'll please bind the devil and the demons of hell. My heart's breaking, Father. I know who I am. And I ask you to help me to be what you need me to be during this moment, for you's moments. Help me to be expedient about the time. I've watched these young people. Father, they've blessed my heart. It's another generation that you want to use. I've met and visit with several of these pastors that I'm unworthy to stand next to. But Father, I pray in this hour, this moment, this time, this message, that we'll have a meeting with you that we all know it's from you. Father, fill me, bless, and use me. I yield to you in Jesus' name. Amen. For sake of time, I want to bring to your mind where we're at. David has now been anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel. David has now come home from being at Saul's house. Saul and the army of Saul is now out on the battlefield and they're in the battlefield of the Listeen army and we're going to pick up that battlefield experience right after we find out what David was instructed by his dad look at me if you would please in 1st Samuel chapter 17 and verse number 15 Bible says in 1st Samuel 17 verse number 15 but David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem and the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself forty days and Jesse said unto David his son take now for thy brethren and eat of this parched corn and These ten loaves and look the next word and say with me. What is it run? Do you see that word say with me again run? Are you in run to the camp what run to the camp? to thy brethren." Now, David was asked to do a job. David was asked to do nothing more than take some things for him. He was to take some bread and some parts, corn and cheese. But I notice in David's life, not from his father, but in David's life was already an urgency. The Bible tells us here in this passage of scripture, he says, run to the camp. The thing that spoke to my heart about this is there has got to come an urgency in all of our lives. These statistics on these millions of people stepping into eternity, and we're just living our life with no direction, we're living our life with no hope, we're living our life with not wanting to accomplish something. And I see here in this passage of scripture, David's father said to him, Jesse, he said, I want you to take this bread, this parchcorn and this cheese, and I want you to run to the battlefield. Number one run is this. The day that you get your life in order and you run out of obedience. Run out of obedience to your mom and dad. Run out of obedience to your pastor's teaching. Run out of obedience to those in authority that are trying to help you. Run out of obedience to what your youth pastor is trying to teach you. Run out of obedience to what others that are in place so they take what they're giving you and run with what they're giving you because what they're giving you is they're giving you their life, the Word of God. They want you to make it. They desire for you to make it. I'm not talking about making millions of dollars of money. I'm not talking about the fame. I'm not talking about position. I'm talking about you as created by God in His direct image after His likeness that God wants to use you. He wants to use you in a special way like nobody else on this earth, but we've got to get an urgency to run with what God's given us to do. You ought to be excited to go to church. You ought to be excited to get up and read your Bible. You ought to get excited about memorizing verses. You ought to get excited about going soul hunting. You ought to get excited about living a pure life. You ought to get excited about letting right music speak to you like these men that sang here. You ought to get excited about the Christian life and everything about it. There ought to be an urgency about it in your life. We need more churches. Where are the pastors going to come from? We need more bus routes. Where are the bus captains going to come from? We need more missionaries. Where are the missionaries going to come from? We need more servants of the Lord that are just saying, I just want to serve God. It's going to come when we raise a generation that has an urgency about running. I'm not talking about doing a job fast. I'm talking about doing a job focused. I'm not talking about doing a job halfway. I'm talking about doing a job that's focused, that's purposeful, and has a final goal at the end of seeing souls come to Christ and souls discipled in the Lord. Number one, he ran out of obedience. Say it with me. He ran out of obedience. Say it with me. He ran out of obedience. Throughout the years, a lot of young people have come to camp. A lot of young people run their mouth to their parents before they leave. It happened three times in 40 years. But this one particular time I want to tell you about is on the way to church, a teenage girl got in an argument with her mother, and she said these words, Mom, I hate you. I never want to see you again. Is there anything that you all ever said, don't raise your hand to your parents, that you wish you'd never said? Is there anything that you've ever said to your brothers and sisters that you wish you'd never said? Is there anything that you've ever thought about some of your family, your mom or your dad, that you wish you'd never thought? Because on Thursday night, after the closing service, my wife came to me and said, we just received this call. I went and called the home pastor. The pastor said, Brother Smith, You have a young lady at camp this week with our youth pastor and our other teenagers. This young lady's mother just was killed in an auto accident. That little girl never got to say, Mommy, I'm sorry. That little girl never got to say, Mom, will you please forgive me? That little girl never got to hold her mom's hand. That little girl never got to go shopping with her mom because that little girl thought that she had more time of her life instead of an urgency of being the Christian that she should be, an urgency of being what she should be at her home, at her school, at her church, and every place. Mom, I hate you. I never want to see you again. You're not going to do it. I led a man to Christ, a teenage boy. As I led this teenage boy to Christ, I'd go visit him at home, and I'd visit his mom. His mom came and visited the church. I wanted to disciple them to be able to get them to grow in the Lord. What happened, this boy was like a lot of young people, and one day he went ahead and he threw a snowball at a car, and the window cracked. The man slammed on his brakes, started chasing the young boy, Unbeknownst to the young boy, there was a baby inside that car by that window that was in a cedar. A young baby. What ended up happening, the man chased the boy. As the boy pushed open the door of the duplex where mom and him were living, the mom came to the door, the man came and grabbed the boy, and listen to what happened. The mother stood there in shock and fell over dead with a heart attack. I did the funeral. The young boy jumped on his mother's casket at the gravesite and grabbed hold of the handle, screaming, Mom, I'm sorry. Mom, forgive me. Mom, and he's just screaming and screaming. And I went and put my arms around him and comforted him and pulled him off his own mother's casket. He looked up into heaven and he said, Mom, I'm sorry. There better be an obedience and an urgency in that obedience. There better be feelings inside of you that you hang on to because you and I are not going to get a second chance to live the life that we should be living. You ought to run and do everything you can for God with an urgency of obedience. Number two, David has got this bread, this parchment, this cheese. The Bible tells us he did ran that and he delivered it to the keeper of the carriage. In verse number 20 we see this, And David rose up early in the morning, left the sheep of the keeper, and took and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight and shout for the battle. And the Israelites and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. And David left his carriage and the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army. Now picture with me, please. The battle has gone on for 40 days and 40 nights. What ends up happening? The troops have come back because at night time they didn't have a way. The Philistines are on this side. God's army is on this side. They're dug in. These are dug in. Goliath went down into the valley down in here. What ends up happening? David's already taken the food now. He's running as these soldiers. It's daybreak. It's time to go back out It's time to have the conflict and so these soldiers are going back out and David is stopping there and he's saying hey guys How you doing boy? It's good to see you. We're praying for you back home Hey dad wanted to know how things are going and the Bible tells us that he saluted them the second thing that you ought to be urgent about is you ought to run out of honor to those that have gone before you and Run out of honor that those are still in the battlefield. Run out of honor that those are already serving. The Bible tells us in Exodus chapter 20 verse number 12, honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which thy God giveth thee. Leviticus chapter 19 verse 32, thou shalt rise up before the That's older people. And honor the face of the old man and fear thy God. I am the Lord. Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 16. Honor thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that thy days may be prolonged and that they may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Number one, David ran out of obedience. Number two, David ran out of honor to those that are already serving. None of our parents are what they should be. We all know that. But they didn't abort you. There's a young man named Jamie Sedgwick. Jamie Sedgwick went on to the mission field after he graduated from Hiles Anderson College and went to the mission field of Mexico. I've sat in service of Jamie Sedgwick because he has different kind of contortions that he does. When he talks to you, he talks with a different thing. But in his testimony when he gives it, because you ready for this one? He took a saline solution in his skull at an abortion clinic and he lived. Jamie Sedgwick is eight up to win people to Christ. Jamie Sedgwick married a young lady and on the mission field she had a wrong relationship with another man and Jamie had to come home as his wife was with child from someone else. But Jamie, to this day, sends text messages to me, oh, Brother Dave, I wished I could. You see, number one, you and I ought to run out of obedience to God, and number two, ought to run out of honor. My parents didn't know bed. Abort me. My dad provided food for every meal. There was clothes on my back before I began to work. There was a place at the table for me to eat. There was a bed with covers on it for me to be able to sleep. You and I ought to run, number one, out of obedience, and run, number two, out of honor. When's the last time you walked in the kitchen, guys, and just looked at your mom? And walked up and asked Mom, just thank you, Mom, and give her a great big hug. When's the last time you ladies walked in and said, Mom, and maybe you don't have a mom, Maybe I should tell Dad. And maybe you ought to do it to a brother. Maybe you ought to do it to a sister. Maybe you ought to do it to an aunt or to an uncle. Maybe you ought to do it to your pastor. Maybe you ought to do it to your pastor's wife. Maybe you ought to do it to your youth pastor, youth pastor's wife. Maybe you ought to do it to an older couple that you see sitting over here, that they're faithful every morning and every Sunday night and every missions conference, every revival meeting. Maybe they're the ones that go ahead and bring just one dish of food. But we've raised a generation that has no urgency in their life. They're not running out of obedience. Number two, they have no urgency to honor those that have gone before him. I told the men at the prayer breakfast this morning, I said, I was raised by a dad with biblical principles from the Bible, not a Christian home, but he raised us with biblical principles that I said, gentlemen, if we were all sitting here at a table and a lady walked in the room, I was raised that all of us guys get up. I instructed Mrs. Smith when I began to court her, and we did not court in a way. We did not touch each other. We did not know anything, but we were together alone in my pickup truck. Because I'm a redneck, I courted her in a pickup truck. I didn't ride a sissy car. It was a pickup truck. Somebody say amen on that. Matter of fact, I drive Ram trucks. Amen. That's Scripture. Come on, guys. Ford's not in the Bible. Chevy's not in the Bible. GMC's not in the Bible. Toyota is sure not in the Bible, and I know the preacher drives a Toyota. But can I tell you this? Ram is a biblical term. Amen. Just thought y'all would get that. When's the last time you saw a man open a car door? Don't watch me. But I instructed Mrs. Smith. I said, I don't know where this relationship's going, but you're not to touch your door. We traveled all night long. The children are with us. Remember, they're the singers. I'm the driver. I carried my son in the house, told him to get his jammies on. I carried my daughter in the house, told her to get her nightgown on. I came back in, prayed with my son. We hugged. Good night. Prayed with my daughter. She hugged me, and my daughter looked at me, and she says, Dad, would it be OK if Mom comes in the house? I'd left my wife out in the vehicle. Women, fellas, hang on. You're going to learn a lesson right now. I went out there. I got on my knees. I opened the van door up. I said, honey, would you forgive me? This is where the women get you guys, listen. For what? For what, my hind leg? You didn't do anything. I said, sugar, please, I'm tired, I'm exhausted, and my knees are getting wet in the snow. Would you please come on in the house right now and forgive me? Honor. When's the last time you walked up to your dad, looked him in his eyes as a young man, you shook his hand, said, dad, thank you. When's the last time you walked up to your school teacher and said, thank you for taking the time and teaching me? As I look at David's life, well, we're looking ahead down at the battlefield when he whooped the fire out, that's in the Hebrew, when he whooped the fire out of Goliath. No, no, no, no. We're looking at what he did. He ran out of obedience. Let's raise a generation that's obedient. Let's, number two, raise a generation that's honoring those that have gone before him. Now thirdly, and I want to hurry and hustle and get ahead here, jump with me if you would please to verse number 26. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, Why camest thou down hither, and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the knowledge of thine heart. For thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle. And hundreds and thousands of messages have been preached, and will be preached. What have I now done? Is there not a cause on those things? That's David. He was nothing more than honoring them. But let's move ahead real fast to get to the end of the message and follow along what ends up happening where it gets down to Saul. And Saul brings David down there. Saul goes in. Here's the testimony of David that I fought a bear and I fought a lion and I whooped them both. And what ends up happening, then we go ahead and see that he tries to go ahead and put on the armor. But he's not proved the armor. He picks up the five stones. But now watch what ends up happening. Are you with me now? He, number one, he ran out of what? Obey. Talk to me. He ran out of what? Obey. Number two, he ran out of what? Honor. He honored his daddy. He honored his brothers. And he honored all the other soldiers in the battlefield. Now he's ready to face Goliath. Now he's got his five smooth stones. Now he's got his slingshot. Now he's got his staff. But I want you to watch. Nine foot ten inches tall of uglies coming at him. Nine foot ten inches tall of means coming at him. Nine foot ten inches tall of screaming guts and everything else is coming at him. And he's standing there as a little shepherd boy. But he's standing there with this in his favor. Number one, he knows God. Number two, he's walking with God. Number three, he's ready to do something for God. Number four, he's looking at an opportunity. Look with me, if you would, please, in verse 44. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh into the fowls of the air, to the beasts of the field. Now, this nine foot ten inches tall of meanness over here is not going to be happy with that. Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of the hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, with whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into thine hand, and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistine this day unto the fowls of the air, to the wild beasts of the earth, that thou, all the earth, may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands. And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and came, and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and what? What did he do? What did he do? He ran. He ran towards him. Our number three is this. You ought to decide in your life right now that you're going to run for every opportunity to serve. I don't care if it's working on a bus route. I don't care if it's helping in a Sunday school class. I don't care if it's helping in VBS. I don't care if it's lying in the hymnals. You need to go to the preacher and say, what can I do? We've got to raise a generation that has an urgency and their opportunity to serve God. an urgency to do anything. Quit looking for the big things. Who's going to clean all this up in here? Who's going to make sure that everything's all picked up after the youth rally? Who's going to make sure that the bus is cleaned off? Who's going to make sure this? It's just continually, but we've raised a generation that wants to be served instead of serving. And God says, I'll bless the servant. Are you with me today? So number one, you and I are to run out of what? Number two, you and I are to run out of what? Honoring those that have gone before. Number three, you and I are to run out of opportunity to serve. Dave is looking at nine foot ten inches of meanness over here, and he runs towards him. He doesn't wait for Goliath to come. He doesn't wait for Goliath to throw his javelin. He doesn't wait for Goliath to throw a spear. He doesn't wait for Goliath to pick up. David Flatt takes off and runs after that ugliness right over there because he said, I'm on God's on my side. I've got God's power. I've got God's direction. I wonder if he stopped and wondered, I wonder if the stones will make it. He'd already locked and loaded one. He's ready to pull the leather and let it go. He just did it because that's what he was supposed to do. That was the next thing in front of him. I used to tell the staff, don't you dare, don't you dare let me hear you only doing your responsibilities. Some are staff that worked all summer long. I said, you, if you're going to understand how to serve and be a servant of God and live the example of Jesus Christ, I said, you better understand if you see something that needs to get done, God's just giving you an opportunity. I taught our children, don't you dare walk down that aisle of those groceries and see those marshmallows on the floor and not pick them up. Don't you dare go in that grocery and see that loaf of bread laying there and you don't pick it up. Every time you and I see something that needs to be done and we have the ability to do it and we're not stepping out of bounds of authority, it's God's will for us to do it because God gave us an opportunity. Getting quiet in this place. You doing a little thinking? We've raised a generation in one's position. I am the youth pastor. I'm the pastor. I'm the evangelist. I'm the missionary. Do you know how many places that I've been? I don't, it doesn't matter if I've been serving God five months or 54 years. It doesn't matter. What matters is what I do with what's in front of me. What matters is what I do with what opportunity. So if I'm going to be the teenager, you're going to be the teenager, I'm going to be the preacher that I need to be, I've got to go ahead and run with an urgency in my step for what? Number one, out of? Belief. I've got to run number two out of? Honor. I've got to run number three out of? Opportunity. Three people asked me after the last message if I knew Tom Williams. Three people. I lived with Brother Williams. I served with Brother Williams. I did not know this. I'd heard it. Somebody even here to this day said he wrote about you in a book. Brother Tom, Brother Williams told me he did, but I haven't bought the book. I don't want to read about myself. I don't like myself. Every time I look in the mirror, I think, ooh, I'm wondering if my wife's eyesight is really that bad. She didn't wear glasses, now she's gone to glasses, and now she's gone to those Netherlands. I speak every service in four languages. I have trifocals if you look there. I'm one of those guys who go to the store and look like this all the time, because you can't see everything. I thank God for the opportunity, but it doesn't make me any difference if I did live with Brother Williams. If I did see one night that we were, I went with him preaching and he preached at a place and he did an unbelievable job and he never got a love offering. And we got back in his vehicle and he said, Lord, you know, I don't have the cash and we don't have enough gas to get home. And the preacher didn't pay us tonight. Lord, you know, I've many times I've not been paid. So I don't know how we're going to get home, but Lord, I want you to understand that I'm serving you and you promised to take care of me. So we're heading home. I said over in the passenger side, I thought this is going to be a long walk home. We started driving. He was praying. I was listening. The gas gauge kept getting lower and lower and lower and lower. It was on empty. The engine was going. We pulled into the last gas station. He got out. I stood beside him. He said, Father, this is your fault. I'd worry God would strike me dead. Father, this is your fault. because I've served you. So Lord, I'm going to go ahead and put fuel in this vehicle. I'm going to walk in there and tell that guy, it's because you didn't provide the finances. I thought, Brother Williams, I just thought about going and starting emptying trash cans and washing counters, because I figure we're going to be there cleaning up stuff. I walked into that counter, and I heard the man behind the counter listen. My name is Evangelist Tom Williams, and the person behind the counter did this. You are. I don't know who this is, but somebody walked in that door over there, and here's an envelope that's got your name on it. And he opened the envelope, and there was the money to not only pay for the fuel, but to get us something to eat and to get us home. God wants to do great things for you if you just give him an opportunity. God's waiting for you and me to run out of obedience. God's waiting for you and me to get an urgency out of honoring those that are in front of us and being thankful and being appreciative. I've told pastors I plan on driving it in the home. I'm unworthy to be at the Mountain View Baptist Church. I'm unworthy to stand in front of you and preach. I'm unworthy to stay in the prophet's cabin. I'm unworthy to even be able to sit in the same vehicle with Sean and Joe Smith. I'm unworthy to be the son of Russell and Peggy Smith. I'm unworthy to have two children that are serving God. I'm unworthy to have grandchildren that are serving God. I'm unworthy to breathe breath, air, and so are you. So let's live for opportunities to serve. And lastly, we're going to go to the house. He runs towards the giant. After he slung the rock through the air, the giant fell on the ground. The crowd is standing there. The Philistines are... But David doesn't stop. Because you see, most of us are happy when we have a win. Most of us are happy when something goes right. Most of us are happy when we get up and read our Bibles. But there's not a step to go on a little bit farther. Look with me if you would, please. In verse number 49, David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and slung it. That's why God was a southern God. If he was a northern God, He'd say another word, but because he's a southern God, he said, slang it. Somebody say amen on that. Did you get that in there? He slang it and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore, David, what? What's the next word? ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword. Number one, this afternoon I've tried to give you some simple things, but number one, I said you and I ought to run out of what? Number two, you and I ought to run out of what? Number three, you and I ought to run out of what? Opportunity to serve. Say it with me. Opportunity to serve. The Bible said in Psalm 2, verse number 11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Psalm 100 in verse number 2, serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him in his presence. Psalm 101, verse number 6, mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell in me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. And now we see David. He has no sword in his hand, but he reaches out and he picks up that sword of Goliath and he holds it up and he drops it because you and I are to run for absolute victory. I want to still keep serving God until I draw my last breath. Absolute victory. Listen to me, please. You and I live so close to victory and never go after that. You say, Brother Dave, what's that vacant tooth in there got to do? On that day, I remember it so well of sassing my father in a way I'd never sassed before. And he should have done more to me than he did. But when he hit me, it killed the nerves in that tooth. That tooth stayed there all of those years until just a few months ago. But let me tell you, that tooth pained me. But here's what I want you to get out of it, that you've got to have an urgency about doing right and honoring and absolute victory in your life. Because my mother and my father went to a doctor's appointment with a heavy snowstorm where they lived in Iowa. My father's truck slid off the side of the road. He got out of the truck for fear that somebody would hit his truck so close to the road. He went around to the side of the truck where my mom was, grabbed the door handle. Two girls coming at a high rate of speed hit the back end of my father's truck so hard that it broke the frame in his Chevrolet pickup. My mother's seatbelt broke and her head hit the windshield and broke the windshield. Dad took her to the hospital, and they said everything was okay. In less than three days later, my mom woke up in the bedroom. When my dad came out of the bathroom, he saw my mother sitting at the edge of the bed. And my mother looked at my dad, and my dad said, Peggy? My mom didn't respond. My dad went over and put his hand, and my mom just looked at him, emptiness. In three days' time from her head hitting the windshield, A blood clot the size of a tennis ball had gum in her brain and pushed her brain over to the side. After five surgeries and cutting a four-inch square out of the right side of her skull, being hooked to seven different machines to keep her alive, I took a journey down the ninth floor of Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa with my dad. I said, Dad, She's not my wife, she's my mom. Dad, I don't know what you're going through. I'm the oldest. And dad, you told me to never let you and mom be hooked to machines that keep you alive. Dad, the doctors have told us. Dad, we thought that the first brain surgery was going to be okay. We thought that the second brain surgery was going to be okay. We thought the third, and now we're at the fourth. And the doctor's dad are giving no hope. My dad said, my dad walked like this. I know, David. I know. I hear those, I know. But get this. Mom's been in a coma. Mrs. Smith that you saw walk through a while ago is there beside her bed. Dad and I walk back to the room. The doctor and the nurse are standing there. My dad gives the word. I kneel down beside my mom. I take her hand. Mrs. Smith's got her hand on my shoulder. That tooth is still there. It's because of the rebellion. Instead of running out of opportunity, I'm sorry, running out of obedience, instead of running out of honor, instead of running out of opportunity to serve. Instead of living a victory in my life, I was a stinking rebellious teenager. I didn't drink. Didn't smoke. Didn't even run with the guys that did. I just had an attitude. I'm saved. I'm born again. But as I'm holding my mom's hand, two eyes open up. She hasn't spoke for days. She's been through four brain surgeries. And then she says these words. as clear as I'm talking to you. David, before I go to heaven, would you make sure things are right between you and your dad?" And she closed her eyes. And when I went to the dentist, they said, you have poison that's infected your entire lower jaw. It's had to be hurting you. I looked at the dentist in the chair and I said, It hasn't hurt as bad as the hurt I gave my mom and dad. That's why, at 74, I'm still running full throttle. Because I want to run out of obedience. I want to run out of honor. I want to run with every opportunity Pastor Furst so kindly said, let us fly you. I said, no, because he didn't know, and he didn't hear, and he's going to hear for the first time. I needed that time alone with my wife for those 700 plus miles. She's tired. She's wore out. But there's another change coming in our lives. And we're at the place in the ministry. But can I tell you, young people, this is the conclusion of the whole matter. You haven't been as dumb as Dave Smith. You've still got opportunity. Let's give it to God. Let's give God opportunity to be obedient. Let's decide, I'm gonna obey. Oh, the hundreds of young people in the years of camp that's gone home and said, stood publicly, I need to publicly apologize to my mom and dad. Oh, the hundreds of young people that have sent back notes and stories, Brother Dave, I said something I regret. But you know what keeps in my mind and keeps in my heart, you've heard it today. I hear that young girl on that Thursday night in the office of the camp with Pastor Terry Angel and Mrs. Smith and I screaming, screaming, screaming. The words I told her I hated her and I never wanted to see her again. I still see that big old boy that I pulled off that casket. And I still see a whole lot of others. But you today have an opportunity to dedicate yourself, fresh and anew, to give your life to God and say, God, I want to run for you. God, I don't want to waste any more time. God, I'm gonna run out of opportunity. Lord, just I wanna serve ya. I wanna give my life to ya. I wanna do whatever I can. I wanna honor those that have gone before me. I wanna give greater honor to my parents, my pastor, those that love me, those that have cared for me. I want victory in my life, God. And you oughta decide, that's what I wanna do for Him. Now, I don't give a care whether you evaluate the message or not, but I beg God for the Holy Spirit to work in your heart. Did it hurt? It's embarrassing. I'm hoping to get it replaced sometime. But when I sat there in that dentist's chair, and they began to put me out of the surgery, I saw Peggy Smith laying in a hospital bed saying, Would you get things right with your dad before I go to heaven? I saw, standing at 401 West Lawn Drive in Ankeny, Iowa, A stupid 17-year-old. Isn't it amazing? 17, the ultimate rebellion, and 17, I yield to God and say, God, you got it. Whatever you want. I don't care. I just hunger to serve you. Heads bowed and eyes closed.