I want to thank each and every one of you for being here, and we're thankful for the opportunity once again to be amongst friends. The fellowship God has given us, we certainly are thankful for that. And some of you know this, some of you wouldn't understand, it's okay. But we're in our 18th year full-time on the road in evangelism. And when I stepped out by faith, I didn't know people, I didn't know churches, I had nowhere to go. I just believe God put us in the ministry and now I look back at over 17 years now traveling and preaching, and it's been a whirlwind. And at the same time, we also have an understanding as far as full-time like this, this will be our last year on the road. And the Lord is going to be settling us down come the first of the year. And we are going to maintain a few meetings, none outside the realm of what we have now. And you have to realize I'm losing three immediately because of, well, Black Creek. But of course, our home church, I know we'll still preach a meeting there, most likely, until the Lord sees fit to not put us there. We're not adding to the ministry. We're going to deduct much. but we're going to maintain a few meetings each year. The church has seen fit to allow us to do that, but it's also with great trepidation we do that. Uh, you know, this is something new for us and I've been traveling now myself. I've been traveling for 23 years and before that I was in military for 10 years. So, 33 years of my life, I've been on the go and had the privilege to be in most states. I've missed a few, Alaska, Nevada, two states. One, everybody wants to go. And the other one, everybody else wants to go. Either you love the outdoors or you love gambling. So I've never been to those two states, but the Lord's let us be in, I guess, I don't know, 15, 18 foreign countries, somewhere in there, traveling, preaching. And what a privilege it's been for us. But as the children get older now, the Lord is just settling us down. And that's not a factor in what we decided to do, but it's what the Lord is doing with us. So please do keep us in prayer. I know my wife and I would certainly appreciate all the prayer as we go into a new realm of life. And we won't be that far away. And as I told her about this morning, as long as it's past 10 AM, you can beep the horn and say hello as you drive by. If you show up at lunchtime or at 5, bring something. Amen. I know too many leeches. I used to be single. I understand. Amen. My mom one time, she goes, she goes, why do you always come over in the evening? And I was like, well, it's just convenient. There's food. Amen. Anyway, Luke chapter two is what we'll be this morning. I really wasn't joking about that. I don't know why you all laughed as you show up those hours, bring something, my goodness, bring a roast beef or a ham or something. No cookies, ham, roast beef, bacon, pork chops. Okay, we talked about that already. Down south, you know, New Year's Day, at least the coastal south, the Atlantic coast, they eat collard greens and black-eyed peas. That's southern tradition. You go down there and they say, well, what do you all do up north? I say, well, we eat pork and kraut. And they all go, ew. I say, y'all are eating collard greens and black eyed peas. Are you kidding me? And you go to new England, they all go get Chinese carry out. So I don't know. I should have been from new England, I guess, but everybody's got different opinions, different thoughts, different ideals, different walks of life. But you're the one common bond we ought to have is the authority and the truth of the word of God. And there is no variableness in the word of God. It's a, for all men. is to be received by all men. There's no prophecy given a private interpretation. You don't just figure this out and say, hey, I think this is what this means. It's just for us this way. We're the Grace Church. We have it figured out this way. No, there's no private interpretation. It's for all men. That's right. Yet when we preach, that interpretation is open to all. We're not cloistered. We have the shades up. We have the doors open. We have a welcome sign. And if this isn't a cult, this isn't secretive. There's a lot of accusation about that. But you know what a cult is? A cult is secretive. And people that accuse churches of being a cult, they have more secrets in their lives than anybody does. The church is open. Our business is open. Our songs are open. Our prayers are open. Our preaching is open. There's nothing secret about this. But I learned that people who say the church is a cult, they got all these deep, dark secrets with addictions and filth and wickedness, godlessness. They go, oh, that church is a cult. I know your life is a cult. Amen? And a lot of people say, you know, you're just a member of a cult. Nope. That's your maybe. When I got saved, my life became an open book. Now, there's private things between my wife and I that you don't need to know. But as far as our life, it's open. Our belief is open. Our doctrine is open. Anybody can call me. You go down to the Mormon temple, And tell them you're interested in joining. They'll give you one or two little things. And then when you start moving up the ladder, we'll give you more and more and more. You know why? Because it's secretive. God is not a God of secrets. He's made the mysteries known to the church. Jesus Christ was not hidden as a Paul, uh, when in his preaching, did he not tell a grip of that? This thing was not done in secret. Jesus Christ didn't die in secret. He didn't resurrect in secret. He died openly. He's resurrected openly. He's alive forever more openly to a whosoever will gospel. There's nothing cultish about that. You say, well, they, they make people dress a certain way. You know, my children, yes, but nobody else. We got to, somebody gave me a bows of the clown face the other day, the big fake dark glasses and the red nose. For two days, my daughter was wearing fake glasses. She kept calling them her glasses. Occasionally, I'd poke through them to let her know that she didn't have real glasses on. And finally, you know, I'm sure she would have worn them this morning, but she has a mother. So she didn't get to wear what she wanted to wear. Otherwise, I think most of us here, we wore what we wanted to wear, did we not? Just want to eliminate the whole cold head idea, OK? I mean, I dressed how I wanted to dress today. Amen. I chose my own clothes. today. My wife didn't even have to dress me today. That's not cultish. Amen. That old secret life, that's what'll get you in trouble. When you can live your life openly before God and before man with no secrets, you're a whole lot better off than you were when your life was a big secret mess. I told that man I spoke up at Sunday school, just a dear, precious man. I mean, dear. And I told him, I said, brother, I said, isn't it nice not have to worry when the police knock on your door, you don't have to run out the back door. He goes, well, I'm not quite there yet. I said, okay, I understand brother. Amen. It took me a couple of years too. And I told him, I said, Hey brother, just let you, I don't have to sleep with a gun under my pillow anymore. He goes, he can't listen to his wife. Why? So he goes, well, I still do. I said, well, brother, I said, there'll be a day you'll go, you know what? God will take care of me. I don't need that gun under my pillow. You don't have to worry about the police showing up. You know, it's amazing. Last time a police car pulled in my driveway, I wasn't the slightest bit worried. I knew he was turning around. And if he hadn't knocked on the door, I still wouldn't have been worried. And if he hadn't said, can I talk to you? I still wouldn't have been worried. That's a wonderful place to live. It wasn't always that way. They used to drive past. They couldn't find my trailer back this lane. They always drove past it first. And that was kind of the warning to all of us. So we go, cop! I say, used to be. Used to be. It's amazing how an open life, a life that's not rife with sin. You know what? I put a password protection on my phone just so you all don't go in there and steal all my banking information. But my wife has that password. Boy, that's weird, isn't it? I have her password too. My wife can look at the phone. My wife can ask me, did you watch something? Did you watch such and such? I'll say, no, I clicked on it, but I didn't watch it. I told her one the other day, I said, honey, I said, I looked at the ceiling. I was trying to click out of it. I said, there's no secrets, no secrets. Everybody okay on that? But there's no secret. The cult has secrets. Everything's hidden. Your life in Christ can be open. Amen. Amen. I see two men holding hands in the store. Boy, they got all kinds of dirty secrets. I'll go grab my wife and give her a big kiss openly. We were in Ikea the other day. I wasn't trying to be rude. I just made some comments. My wife, she went and hid. I told her, I said, honey, the other one's holding hands. I said, you ought to be holding my hands. She's still hiding behind the shelves. I said, you ought not do that. No, wildlife is open. We're not in the closet. Our life is available. Why? Because Jesus Christ has stepped in and we don't have to have this secret life anymore. And that's a wonderful thing. It's a wonderful thing to not have that burden. I don't have to worry. I didn't go to bed last night and get up this morning and have to worry about my wife coming and going, what were you doing last night? What were you watching last night? Didn't bother me one bit. She said, what were you doing last night? I said, snoring. She said, what were you watching last night? Nothing. I was in bed. That's a wonderful life. Yes, sir, it is. Amen. He said, I just called. I'll take it. I woke up without addictions. Woke up without a hangover. Hey, to God be the glory. I've been saying 27 years now. Amen. To God be the glory. Woke up without addictions. Woke up without a hangover. Woke up next to my wife and two children. that you get for sleeping in a strange place. And I do mean strange, amen. She comes over, first one comes over and says, I couldn't sleep, Bubby's snoring. I'm like, he's four. He's all stuffed up. The second one, I don't know how he got up. He just showed, my wife comes up, she's all bleary-eyed. She goes, I got two of them in bed. That's a good life. Yes, sir, it is. That's a good life. Yes, sir. I don't have to wonder where my wife's at. Listen, I can trust my wife to go to the store by herself. Amen. Amen. A lot of folks can't do that. And that same crowd goes, you're just a cult up there. Well, I didn't mean to say all that. It's just some announcements I had written down here. Luke chapter two in verse 25. In case y'all are wondering, there's the notes. Okay. Behold, there's a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. That's a great man. The Bible says of him, he was just, he was devout. Why? He's in the temple looking for Jesus Christ. And by the way, he's not in there looking for a Christ that he knows has come. He's looking for a Christ he believes is still to come. He believes the Scriptures. He believes the Word of God. That's why he's there waiting. He's looking for Jesus Christ. He's looking for the Messiah. By the way, that's what just men do. That's what devout men do. They're looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. But the Bible said this, the Holy Ghost was upon him. Now I want to be real clear about this. This is before Pentecost. This is before the promise came to the church. This is before Jesus Christ spoke to his disciples in John 14, 15, and 16, and spoke of the ministry of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was upon Simeon. He was upon Simeon before the birth of Christ. Word of God tells us that it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost. That same Holy Ghost was upon him, spoke to him, revealed to him, gave him revelation. That's why holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Revelation from God. God would show them the things which are to come. That's how we got the scriptures. God would reveal his word through them, that foreknowledge of God would come. So David spake by the foreknowledge of God, prophesied of these things which were to come. The Holy Ghost is upon Simeon. Holy Ghost lets him know this. He should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Simeon, that devout man, that just man in the temple, looking for Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost assures him. And by the way, that is the consolation of Israel, is the coming of Jesus Christ. The consolation of the church is going to be the exact same thing. It is going to be the coming of Jesus Christ. It's more than just comfort. It's an end to comfort. It is the ultimate comfort. It's the finale, if you will. We're leaving this place, leaving this earth. Now Trump sounds, the dead in Christ will rise first. But as Samuel always taught us, they got six feet further to go than the rest of us. So they rise first. We which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And he said, what, wherefore comfort one another with these words. There is a day coming. And all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth." Daniel 2 and 2, or 12 and 2. Days that have done good under the resurrection of life. Days that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation. That's the day Simeon was looking for. That's the day that I'm looking for. That's the day you ought to be looking for. That imminent return of Jesus Christ. The mockers and scoffers, where's the promise of his coming? Well, don't tell Simeon that. He believed he would see the Lord's Christ. And then the Lord revealed it by the Holy Ghost. He would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ. Now I want you to notice this about Simeon. He would see him with his eyes. He would look upon Jesus Christ. Secondly, You go down just a little bit in verse 28, then took him up in his arms. He would not only see him, not only look upon him, but his hands would handle Jesus Christ. He held Christ, he touched Christ, he saw Christ. And the word of God tells in verse 27, and he came by the spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he up him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. The promise to Simeon is the same promise to us today. that we might see the Lord's Christ. It's been mentioned already twice today in this pulpit. We shall see him as he is. And we see him. What did he promise? We shall be like him. Joe said, those skin worms destroy this body or destroy my body. Yet in my flesh, I shall see God. Simeon has seen the Lord's Christ. Simeon has held the Lord's Christ. He said, let thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. What was that word? The word that came to him by the Holy ghost, the Holy ghost had revealed to him that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ at the word of God. He believed that the word of God, he knew that God would do what he said. He said, let thy servant now depart in peace. According to thy word, he's seen Christ. He's handled Christ was thou has prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people, Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which was spoken of him. Now, it's interesting, Luke said it so well. It's one of those great places. He didn't say his father and his mother, did he? I hate to bust your Romanism, but he said Joseph and his mother. Amen. And Simeon blessed them and sent them to marry his mother. Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against, yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. I'm gonna read, I don't quote it well. Hebrews 4.12, I'm just gonna read that to you. Speaking of that sword that's going to pierce, that sword is going to go through the hearts, the thoughts of hearts. Word of God told us in Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God. Who is that? Jesus Christ is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing even for the divide and the sunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and is what? A discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. What did Simeon say? A sword shall pierce thy own soul also, and the thoughts of many hearts be revealed. How do you know it's God speaking to you? Because he's revealing the thoughts of your heart. You see, out of the abundance of the heart, man speaketh. But those thoughts in your heart are those deep places of your heart where you can drive all manner of evil concupiscence. Adultery is conceived out of the heart. Fornication is conceived out of the heart. Stealing, the root of covetousness is stealing. The root of stealing is covetousness, which is the root of covetousness is all sin. That lust, that intent, It's conceived in the heart. Murder is conceived in the heart. And that's why, by the way, we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. God told us specifically, if a man kills someone, it's because he has that murder in his heart. And we know that person does not have eternal life, because they've contrived to slay an innocent life. You say, what about revenge? No murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. It's conceived in the heart. And Simeon tells him this sword is going to pierce through, is going to cut into the heart that God can show you the thoughts of the heart. We get revival services. Listen, I've been doing this, like I said, over 17 years. I preach and I don't want to make up just some flippant number. I have absolute confidence to know we preach over 500 times a year. I preach all manner of messages, all manner of scripture, all manner of thoughts. Now watch as God unravels people's lives. Watch as God tries to prick into the hearts and unravel the souls and awaken the consciousness of men. But I've watched a day when now men don't understand why this discomfort, why does this hurt? Why is this painful? Why is this pricking me? Why is this cutting me? That's why the Bible said, when they stood by and stoned Stephen, they were cut to the heart. At what? You slew Jesus Christ. You killed him. He's the Son of God. He's the resurrected Savior, and you killed him. They were cut to the heart. It was a painful process. That's why the Lord told Saul, soon to be Paul, at Damascus Road, why kickest thou against the pricks? It's a painful thing to have your heart exposed. It's a painful thing to have your conscience awakened. It's a painful thing to realize the awfulness of what you really are. But we don't want to get to that place. But Simeon said, that's what this man is going to do. Jesus Christ, He didn't come to bring peace the first time. He came to bring a sword. And that sword is the Word of God. That sword is the Word of God. It's dividing us under. It's cutting you to pieces. It's dividing us under soul and spirit. And it's separating you that you might see the very thoughts and the very intents of your heart. This preacher said already today, it's not what you do, it's what you are. Anyone can pretend. Religions become like politics. You don't tell people what you are, you tell people what they want to hear. You know, you get up and you say enough times, I can say in this pulpit, I can say this all week, you know, I'm a really good person. In the first year, I'm like, yeah, whatever. You realize by the 50th time I say it, they'll be like, you know, he's a really good person. And you have no idea why you think that. It's just you heard it 50 times. And that's the promotion of religion. That's why people, they'll fight tooth and nail for a man that's in sin. They'll fight tooth and nail over a clergy member that's openly in sin or an institution of religion that's openly in sin. Why? Because they've been told, this is right, this is right, this is right. Don't go against this, you'll damn your soul. And they're terrified to stand up. They'll say, well, these are good men. They're just fallible like you and I are. God's trying to reveal the thoughts and the intents of your heart, not mine, yours. because you can't see my heart and I don't even know my own heart. God's trying to reveal it to me. God's trying to reveal your heart to you. How's he doing that with that precious sword? That word of God is Simeon's looking for that consolation to come to Israel and he's a just man. He's a devout man. He's believed the word of God. And he tells Joseph and Jesus' mother Mary, and he tells them, this sword is going to get in the hearts of people. This sword is going to hurt. This sword is going to cut. But you know, Job said, he woundeth and his hands make whole. Only Jesus Christ, the word of God, can cut you and then heal you. Only he can wound you and bind you up. How does he do that with the word of God? It's two-edged sword. It cuts and opens and it cuts and heals. You know what heals best? A clean cut. We had a young lady, we know that sliced her fingers, had to be taken to the emergency room and three stitches across her hands because she didn't realize how sharp the knife was. I said, you know, if you got to get stitches, you want nice, clean, sharp knife stitches. You don't want an old raggedy, rusty, jagged knife to rip your skin open. It'll never heal. But you get a sharp sword to cut you, and it'll heal up, and you'll never see it again. You'll never see the scar. Because it's healed you. You marvel at the work of God, how he cuts you, he hurts you. And he hurts you for your benefit. He'll put you low for your benefit. that you might even see your heart. He's trying to reveal your heart. Let me go to a couple of the verses. Let me go to first Corinthians 14, just for a moment. I'd like you to look at this with me, if you would, in first Corinthians chapter 14. What does preaching do? It says in verse 24, first Corinthians 14, But if all prophesy, and there cometh one that believeth not, or one unlearned, notice this, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all. And then this is the word that God does through that prophecy, which really we equate today to preaching. Preaching is preaching those things which are to come. That's what preaching is. We have no new prophecy. We have no prophecy of private interpretation. We have everything we need right here in the 66 books bound in this one volume called the King James Bible. But we preach it for this purpose. Thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest. Now what happened when Jesus Christ was manifest in the flesh? Well, it was revealed to us that God was made flesh. It was made manifest. What could you do? You could see it. When God makes manifest, He shows you something. He reveals something. So if God makes manifest the secrets of your heart, what does that cause you to do? Well, I'll be honest with you. It ought to cause you to fall down in your face. He tells you that. Fall down in his face, you will worship God and report in you that God, that report that God in you is of a truth. That's what God's trying to do. What's the counter to that? You do resist the Holy Ghost, even as your fathers did. That's the counter to that. Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The secret is in his heart and made manifest. God has cut him to the heart. God has pricked him in the heart. He sees what's going on in the heart, but he says, almost thou. I'll visit this some more convenient day. Why are folks there? Life, family, work, money. All the affairs of this life have choked out the word of God. It's become unfruitful to them. Why is it unfruitful? Because it cannot reveal the secrets of the heart. And that's what God wants to do. I've been doing this a long time. I've watched people run out of services. All of a sudden they're adults, adult women in their 30s, 40s. And all of a sudden their bladder fails in church. Grown people, not children, not elderly, not aged men. I've watched them run out of service because all of a sudden now they got an itch and they don't want to scratch and be indecent. I mean, I'll tell you the truth. I've watched them double over in pain as their stomach, the agony, they just double over it. Saw a lady one time get out of the front pew, she groaned the whole way out the door, doubling over, holding her stomach. Ah, ah, the whole way out the door. And people go, oh, she must have a tummy ache. I say, no, it's the Holy Ghost making manifest the secrets of the heart. Amen. A little spirit of slumber comes upon people. And he's prevalent. He's prevalent in every church I go. You try to expose him for who he is, and he's still prevalent. Not listening, not there, zoned out, tuned out, in la la land. Eyes open. You get done, they pull an aunt bee. That's a wonderful sermon, Reverend. They couldn't tell you one thing said, why? Because the devil's got a hold of them. The devil has blinded their eyes. They cannot see the truth of the word of God. And yet this sword, this quick and powerful sword is trying to cut through all of that to get to the secrets of the heart. that it might be made manifest. How do you let God do that? Well, first of all, you'd have to endure the hurt of it because it does hurt. It's a painful process. When your conscience is awakened for the first time and you realize what you are, there's nothing pleasurable about that. I didn't say what you've done. I said what you are. You realize the murderer in prison, he knows what he's done. But do you realize that little girl raised on a church pew, she may have think she's never done anything, but she'll still go to the same hell as the murderer in prison without Jesus Christ if she rejects the truth of the son of God. There'll be people on a church pew, never really went to gross sin, never went into just awful sin, but they've never come to the knowledge and the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And they'll go to the same hell as the drunkard and the addict, the murderer. But they don't believe that. I'm a good person. Truly, I must be a good person. Look at the fruit of my life. Everybody likes me. You know, if popularity was a mark of salvation, I'd be lost. But thank God it's not. I had a man, he tried to cover up for me the other day. Well, I've had two preachers in the last couple of weeks trying to cover up. You know, Brother Tim, he's pretty straight. Had one guy, he said this, he goes, you know, Brother Tim's kind of like 80 grit sandpaper. And I told him from the pulpit, I said, I felt like I was insulted. I thought it was more like 20 grit. 80 grits an insult to me. That's my job. Aim is to preach the word, be it an incest, an odyssey, to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering in doctrine. The time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but out of their own lusts." Where's that at? Out of the heart. So the heaps of themselves teachers have in itching ears. Oh, that's so good. Oh, that's so wonderful. Oh, that's so helpful. I was at a meeting last year and a man was, he was using some Greek. And he said, you know, this word means this, this. And that lady in front of me actually like was swooning. She's like, Oh, she could make, Oh, Oh, Oh. You know, I'm just sitting there going, is this lady okay? Just, Oh, so wonderful. Oh, this is so good. And I'm going, he hasn't said anything yet. And I watched afterwards. She made a beeline. Oh, I just preached. I love that message. Oh, that's so, so wonderful. Teachers having itching ears. I'm going to be honest, you come up and go, Oh, Reverend, that's just a wonderful message. Listen, I'm going to try to knock, knock the props out and rain on your prey before it's over with, because I don't believe any of that junk. People say, well, preacher, you helped me. Well, if the word of God helped you to God, be the glory. It's okay to tell the preach that once in a while, because that message was a stud that helped me thank the Lord for that. But when they say you. Hmm. He said, you're such a wonderful speaker. Well, first of all, I'm not a speaker. A speaker is a replication of noise. Just throwing that out there. People say, oh, you're a good speaker. No, I'm not. I'm a preacher. Don't get upset about that. There's that 60 grit coming, getting down. Amen. Come on. No, a speaker, he just stands there and makes a replication of noise that goes through him. And most men aren't speakers. But it pleads God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that will believe. Don't get insulted by that. The preaching of the cross is them that perish foolishness. I didn't say preaching of the cross. But for those of us who are saved, it is the power of God. And that's why he said preach the word. Be in season, in season, out of season. That means you preach when you feel like it, preach when you don't. Preach when God tells you to, preach when God doesn't tell you to. You just be instant, in season, out of season. Rebuke! Boy, that's hard. Bob says, they that sin, rebuke before all. It doesn't say you point them out. It never says that. It says, rebuke before all that others may fear. If I know of sin, I'm going to call it out. Or I'm a coward. I'm a compromiser. I'm in this for the money. I'm a hireling at that point. So you rebuke open sin. I don't say, I'm not going to call your name. I'm not even pointing my finger at you, but I'm going to preach and rebuke open sin. But you know what people go, they get so mad at the preacher. But you know, my brother in Oklahoma, Brother Sheridan, he preached over here in Sio New York for several years where I met him some 13, 14 years ago. I got done preaching and he got up and he said, I have to say this. He said, I have not talked to Brother McVeigh about any of you. He said, I know you think I have. I have not talked to him about what we talked about. I went, ah. You see, you say, rebuke, reprove, and absorb with all long-suffering and doctrine. That's just your opinion. No, you discredited something, the Holy Ghost. He knows the secrets and the thoughts and the intents of your heart. And he's trying to make that manifest to you through the word of God. And he does that through the foolishness of preaching. He told me later on, he said, brother, he said, it's like you were preaching a conversation I had with four or five people in this church last week. He said, you preached every point of it. He said, you preach everything we talked about. He said, you cleared it up. You cleaned it up. He said, brother, by the time you got done, I had to say something because they would have thought I told you everything. Now, is that coincidence? You see, the Holy Ghost is reproving the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Is he not? So what is he trying to do? He's trying to make manifest the secrets of your heart. So I'm supposed to preach the word. I was supposed to rebuke, reprove and exhort with all long suffered in doctrine. But then when the Holy ghost comes along, that blessed third member of the Trinity, that one that is equal in the Godhead, the father, the word, and the Holy ghost. And these three are one. And he comes along and he searches your heart with the Word of God and he makes manifest the sequence of your heart. And if somebody bucks up and says, well, that's just that preacher's opinion. You better make sure you're not messing around with God. I've been sitting in a meeting where the preacher couldn't know a thing about me. And that man would stop, get a quizzical look on his face and say something directly about me. And as a young convert, I learned that man don't know me. He doesn't know a thing about me, but he knows God. And God knows me. Are you listening? God knows me. God knows my heart. God knows the secrets of my heart. God is trying to make manifest those hidden things of dishonesty, the crafty things of dishonesty, those hidden things of my... God's trying to make them manifest. God's trying to root them out of my life, that I can live a joyous and a peaceable life in Christ with no secrets, no sin, no hiddenness. And the Holy Ghost is faithful to do that. I talked to a man the other week on the phone, and I gave him those roses while he was living. I said, brother, I said, you never knew this. I said, long before there was ever an evangelist, Tim McVeigh, long before there was ever a preacher, Tim McVeigh, there was just Joe Schmoe, bench sitting, church pew, you know, swilling, foolish, young Christian Tim McVeigh. And I said, I was there on a Monday morning. I told him where it was. And I said, you were there preaching. And I said, God so raped me over the coals and rent me and tore me in pieces. And I said, God gave me a great victory that day. Taught me a lesson in my life. Something I've never gone back to. Something I've never gone back to. And God so raped me over the coals. And I said, brother, I want to thank you for preaching to me. Thank you for telling me. Thank you for taking the word of God and showing what I was in my heart. The best thing that ever happened to you is God revealed the secrets of your heart. So they're falling down in your face. You too can worship him. But you can't do that with sin in your life. You can't do that with secrets in your heart. So God will send you a preacher once in a while, providentially. You don't know that, but you'll find it out. Amen. And God will send this blessed little book by your way and man is filled with the Holy Ghost to stand and preach the word of God to you. And that word is gonna cut into your heart and it's gonna hurt. And it's gonna be deep and it's gonna be painful. And you're gonna sit there despising every minute of it, hating every minute of it. You might go home and weep. You might come up here and weep. And just the pain, the agony, the suffering of all of it. I talked to a young man yesterday. I discussed that very thing. He'd be on the altar weeping. He's been on the altar of this church before weeping. Just tore up over his life how wicked he's been, how godless he's been. The other day he called me. He said, Brother McVeigh, I believe I've been saved. I believe God's changed me. And I said, well brother, just don't give up. Just don't give up hope. Keep on searching it out. I saw him last night standing, tears of joy run down his face, shouting the victory, rejoicing in the goodness of God, exhorting, quoting scripture. I saw him rejoicing. I said, saw tears of joy in his face. Why? The Holy Ghost was faithful to reveal what was inside of him. It's not the outward. Don't ever be confused by that. It's never your outward appearance. It's what's inside of you. You can dress modestly and have the heart of a harlot. And God wants to expose that. You can dress in religious church clothes and have an adulterous heart. God wants to expose that. God is faithful to do that through the preaching. God's faithful to the word of God and the Holy ghost come and cut you to pieces. You say, that's why I don't like preaching. That's exactly why you don't like preaching. Let me say to you, man, why don't you just take it? Talk about how tough you are. Watch these tough guys can't even sit in church. That's how tough they are. Amen. They can't even take preaching, they're so tough. I may not be tough, but I can sit there and I can take a barrage of preachers. Amen. You can look me in the eyeballs and call me everything, but a white man, I'll take it like a man. You know why? Because I love the word of God. I love the preacher. I love what preaching has done in my life. It doesn't offend me. It doesn't bother me. It doesn't scour me. It doesn't wound me. I sit there and take it. You know why? Because God has changed this man. Amen. Amen. My former pastor brother Herbert's in the hospital. He's in Louisville, has a brain bleed. He had a stroke three days after I last saw him. God sent us to Oklahoma to spend time with him. That's fact. Get in the truck, leave him. He threw his arms around my neck. He wept on my neck. He said, Brother Tim, he said, God sent me out here just to be with you. I want to thank God I got to see you and hear you preach one more time. Two days later, he had a stroke, been in the hospital ever since. And he was tough, buddy. I remember one day sitting down on the front row, second row. He come out of the pulpit. He said, are you going to say amen to me? I said, no, sir, I'm not. He stopped. He said, why not? I said, because you're killing me, preacher. Amen. I said, you're killing me. He almost laughed, but he gained composure back, started preaching at me again. I'm going to say amen too. It was tearing me to pieces. It was hurting me. I'm going to hang him on. I love him for it. Amen. First message I ever heard him preach. He knew me. He's back for us in evangelism now. You're listening. First message I ever heard him preach. Romans chapter six and verse one, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Any preacher an hour and a half on continuing in sin because you hate God and you don't love God. Lady came up to me one time, didn't know I was part of his church and he preached somewhere. She goes, boy, that last preacher was tough. I said, ma'am, I said, you ought to go to his church sometime. You'll find out what tough is. He was a sweetheart on the road. Boy, we're so watered down. We like it so smooth, so easy. We don't want anybody to tell us the truth. We're looking to be offended, looking to get our feelings hurt, looking for excuse. We don't have to come back. We're looking for a reason. Why does that guy holler all the time? Because you're not listening. That's why. Lift up your voice like a trumpet and spare not, cry aloud, the Bible said. Jesus went down there and preached to that multitude. People think he just hemmed and hawed with his hand in his pocket and his little unbuttoned shirt with his necklace on, his skinny jeans, went up there and shared with them. I say he lifted up his voice like a trumpet and did not spare. The voice of the Son of God. All that guy does is holler at us. You know, it's amazing you invest in people's lives. You pray over them, weep over them, cry over them, share, try to do anything you can to help them, share everything you got with them, help them financially. They go, all he ever does is try to be tough on us or hurt us. Might have pacifier night this week. If I see looks like I'm getting this morning, he's going to hand out binkies to everybody. He's going to suck on a pacifier once in a while. Won't you fall in love with Jesus Christ? Won't you fall in love with preaching? Won't you let God speak to you? Won't you let God hurt you so He can heal you? Won't you allow the Spirit of God to make manifest in your heart what your heart really is? Take all the secret things in your heart and let God expose your heart for what it is. Expose it to the light. I'll tell you why. Because it's so ugly and so awful that you can't bear it. But do you realize that's why He came to take away the sins of the world? So when He does open up that ugly old deceitful heart, He'll take that sins away. He'll wash that heart and make it clean. He'll make you a new creature. By the way, He'll definitely serve you well. We don't believe preaching works today. You got to have groups and therapy and got to have this group and this group. And we just don't believe preaching works. Can I tell you right now, not because I'm a preacher. If I never preach another message, I want to tell you preaching works. Yes. The Holy ghost to put unction on that preacher, to prick your heart, to cut you wide open. Make secret, make manifest all those secrets in your heart. That's what Simeon prophesied of. He told you it was going to happen. And he said, behold, mine eyes have seen. I now, by the way, thy salvation. The person, Jesus Christ. Let's go back to John, John chapter 20. Verse 26 of John 20. And after eight days, again, his disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus. The doors being shut, stood in the midst, said, peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand, thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered unto him, my Lord and my God, Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, now notice this, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. First John 1.1, you don't have to turn there. In the beginning, we know the word was, and John said that which was from the beginning. Who is it? Jesus Christ, eternal God, which we have heard, which we have seen, which we have looked upon. In our hands have handled the word of life. John said, I've seen him, I've looked upon him, my hands have handled him. He's the word of life. Jesus Christ, the righteous, the same Jesus Christ that Simeon held in his arms, the same Jesus Christ that Simeon looked upon. John said, when John's leaning upon his breast, he's handling him, he's touching him. John hears the very heartbeat of God himself. For the life was manifested, and John said, and we have seen it. But because John saw it, what did he do? He declared unto us that God is light, Simeon, and in him is no darkness at all. So what does he do? He invites us into that fellowship. I've never seen him. I've never physically touched Jesus Christ. I've never put my hands upon his hands. I've never leaned upon his breasts. But can I say to you, I believe Him just as much as John did. I believe Him just as much as Thomas did. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe He was manifest in the flesh. I believe He came and tasted death for every man. I believe He died according to the scriptures. I believe after three days He rose again according to the scriptures. I believe in my faith. I've never seen Him, yet I believe it. And the Simeon held him and said, behold, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I've not seen him with my eyes, but one of these days my eyes will see him. I've never touched him with my hands, but one of these days these hands are gonna hold him. One of these days I'll see him as he is. And I am gonna be like him. And I believe that by faith. I believe that by the Word of God. You know why? Because some 27 years ago, on April 20th this year, 27 years ago, God made manifest the secrets of my heart. I could no longer lie about what I was. I could tell you I was a good person. I turned over a new leaf. I was helping people. I was trying to do good to people. But then God showed me what I really was and I realized how wretched I really was. And how vile my life was. And how wicked a man I truly was. And all the facade was gone. All the fakeness was gone. It was just the reality of me and the word of God. And God showed me what I was, my friend. And I melted that day under the gospel of Jesus Christ. And came to a place of repentance with God. Never gone back. never returned. God made me a new creature that day, birthed me into Jesus Christ that day. I was buried with him into death, raised in the likeness of his resurrection that day. And my friend, God had to make manifest to me the truth and the truth is what I was. You see, God is light and him is no darkness at all. We know that that's truth. So where is all the darkness? If we say that we walk in the light, we walk in darkness. He said, we lie and do not the truth. So where's all the darkness at? Here. So he said, when I saw Christ, when I held Jesus Christ, I knew this would be the sword of Israel. that was going to pierce into the souls of men and go into their hearts and open up their hearts, that the secrets of their heart, the darkness of their heart, the thinking of their heart, the thoughts, the intents of the heart would be made manifest. And that's what he does. How does it start? A look. James told us, what does that look lead to? Lust. What does lust bring? It brings forth sin. Why? It's in your heart. It's the lust of your heart. Sin, when it's finished, brings forth death. That's why Jesus Christ on the cross said, it is finished. Why? Sin was finished. And it brought forth death. So the secrets of your heart have been made manifest. God's revealed a son to you. In 1 Peter 1, Thomas, he said, they'll be more blessed, they believe, that have not seen. 1 Peter 1, 7, that the trial of your faith be in much more precious than of gold that perisheth. They'll be tried with fire and might be found to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, You love. How do you know you love Him? He said, obey my commandments. It's pretty simple, isn't it? How do you love Jesus Christ? You obey His commandments. But He said, who have you not seen? He's right in Gentiles. You love. He said, though now we see Him not, yet believing. He rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory. I don't see him now, but I will see him. I see him through the eye of faith. And faith is a substance. There is evidence to faith. But that substance is here. The evidence is here. Now to the skeptic, they say, well, you're just living a pipe dream. You know, religion's a crutch. And if that's true, and if you're here this morning, you might say, this is all just mythical. This is all made up. This is just religion. Then why is God troubling you inside? If this is not real, why is God bothering you inside? Why are you discomforted in the inward parts? If this isn't real. You got to tell people that today. because there's nobody out there to explain them. This is why you're uncomfortable. You know, if you went down most churches in town today, and Sister So-and-so would get up and speak, and I did say speak, and then, you know, another man would get up and he might share, and I did say share, and then they all get together and, you know, have a religious ceremony. And people say, you know, this, this wasn't my taste, but it was, it was really good. It was interesting. This, this one, it wasn't my flavor, you know, the, the liturgy of the mass. They say, you know, I don't know if I really like all the, the idols and stuff, but you know, it was very good. The songs were good. Then they go down and, you know, they got the drums and the lights and they're swaying and everybody's, you know, groping everybody. And they go, oh, you know, this, this was, this was neat. I really enjoyed this. It was really nice. And, and then you come to the Grace Bible Independent Baptist Church. You say, I didn't like that at all. Well, go downtown then. Let them tell you what you want to hear. Do you know why people enjoy it? Because it doesn't bother them. It doesn't affect them. But preaching bothers people. The word of God bothers people because the Holy Ghost bothers people. You say, well, I just don't, I don't even know about that guy. I don't even know about this guy, but I know about this and I know what it's saying. So you reconcile that. You say, why, when I go over there, do I not like it? But I love every other religious organization. They're such nice people. But do they tell you the truth? Will they tell you you've got a heart problem? No, we're all good enough. We're all strong enough. Let's hold hands, sing kumbaya. We've got a man in our church. He's an Amish man. His wife had been converted to Jesus Christ. In fact, he was here yesterday with us for a little while. They have come out of the church. They're part of our church. They've been baptized. They still live in the manner of the Amish. But not religiously, they're not Amish. He's a Bible believer. He's called to preach. He just recently printed and mailed on his own to 10,000 Amish homes, a letter he wrote as a saved man to his Amish kinsmen, according to the flesh. Just like Paul had done. 10,000 Amish homes paid for it. That's what he told me. He said, I don't know of one Amish person that can tell you what an experience, whether they've been saved by the grace of God. Not one. I said, not one. People look at them and say, boy, they're good, clean living. They're wholesome. Let's get back to that simple life. You realize how complex their life is? You know, a bishop told my pastor, the biggest threat to our army's church right now is this pornography on these cell phones. My pastor told him, oh, it's the biggest threat to our church too, don't worry. Amen to that. Amen. Why? Secrets of the heart. Religious hell. You go down in town, go down to the army's church, cross the way over the hill, They won't tell you what you need to hear. You go to most baptizers, they won't tell you what you need to hear. You'll either say, you know, I really enjoy that. I don't really like the pipe organ, but I enjoy it. They're nice people. Excellent spaghetti. Our Amish friend, his wife, I talked about fellowship and blame last year. If you have this idea of what fellowship is, what we call fellowship is not what God calls fellowship, by the way. And they said, it's so funny. It's in the Amish church. That was a big thing. Let's have fellowship. And all they meant is we're talking about the price of horses, gardening, sewing, and have pie. That's what fellowship means. But Jesus Christ invites us into a fellowship. And that fellowship is with the father and with the son, Jesus Christ. And he says, whosoever will may come. Come to all you that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. the fellowship of his son, the fellowship with the father, and you can sit in the midst of that fellowship with the word of God. And who wants that? Oh, no, we like pie and business. It's uncomfortable because God made you uncomfortable. It bothers you inside because God bothers you inside because only God can see inside of you. I can't. I can't even see inside of me. If God doesn't show me what's wrong with me, I'll never see it. But when God shows me, I'll know it's him. So you can pick. You want religion, you want God. You're willing to push through the uncomfortable feeling, the misery, the hurt, and find relief in Jesus Christ. He's want to run from it and go out there and find something else that makes you comfortable, makes you feel good. Can I tell you this on the authority of the word of God, my own personal testimony, the greatest joy I've ever found in my life is knowing Jesus Christ. I don't need people around. I don't need people around to preach. I don't need people around to pray. I don't need people around to rejoice. I have the father and the son, and I can walk into fellowship with them, hear the voice of God, and sit around and listen to their conversation. You may not like that, but it's true. That's true fellowship. And God's called you to that fellowship. But what will you do with it?