In Secret: 4 Basics I can not graduate

Welcome to "The Basics That I Cannot Graduate," a message that explores the intimate and transformative principles of a secret life with God. Inspired by Jesus's teachings in Matthew 6, we dive into the power of private generosity, the intimacy of personal prayer, and the freedom found in authentic forgiveness. Join us as we discover how these unseen acts of faith not only deepen our relationship with God, but also shape us into the likeness of Christ—a life others will feel, even if they don't see.

--------------------------------
Future Church Brisbane  Website // https://www.futurechurch.io
Future Church Brisbane INSTAGRAM // https://www.instagram.com/futurechurchbrisbane

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I wanted to just take a few moments to share with us around the concept of our secret life with God. Our secret life with God. And I called this message the basics that I cannot graduate. These are the things that Jesus said he wants you to do in secret. And although other people will not see them, God will see them and God will reward them. And so he doesn't ask us to impress other people. These are things that are about you and about God. And and and others won't see them, but others will feel the experience of a life lived out in this way. So I believe that we will see that. So are we ready to jump in? We're going to go from Matthew chapter 6, verse 1. We're going to read the um the whole chapter. No, we could, but we're not going to. We're going to read 1 to 4. He says, Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of other people to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. That's sobering, isn't it? So when you give to the needy, don't announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have already received their reward because the reward they wanted was to be seen. They've already got it. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be done in secret. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Jesus here is making some assumptions. The assumption that he's making is that we do give. That's the assumption. The first secret thing that Jesus encourages us around is generosity. When you're generous, that's assuming that we are generous because a life transformed by God is naturally wanting to be generous. When you are generous, be careful you don't make a big deal out of it. Do it in secret. Don't make a big deal. You see a lot of these videos on social, right? Where I'm gonna go and help someone, but I'm gonna film it and I'm gonna basically get some credibility or some likes, or you're amazing. And I think sometimes it actually does backfire a little bit because people are like, why don't you just help the guy? Rather than needing to film and become famous for um helping the poor. Christians around the world um do incredible work for the poor. We are incredibly generous by nature because that's the nature of Christ. But it's not all about, it's not about us, it's not about doing it for a show. Um, it's about doing it for to be rewarded by God. If you look at this culture, um, because I'm looking at the Australian culture right now, and this that there is pressure around cost of living, there's pressure, there's a lot of pressure on families. I I feel right now. I can I hear this a lot from people, um, financial pressure. Um, this economy that Jesus was speaking into when he was talking about generosity, it was an um it was a basically a farming culture where there wasn't a lot of cash, but there was a lot of um resource, but that was really dependent on the weather, it was really dependent on external circumstances. So there was like highs and lows of people's economic situations. It was not stable. They weren't able to do five-year plans or ten-year plans. It was like, let's see if we can get through the season, and um that would be good. And so that means part of their normal culture was to become indebted. You didn't have a good, a very good um crop that year, you had to borrow money to live. So, what would happen was that the they were also oppressed by a Roman Empire, so they're living under a huge amount of taxes. Um, but unlike Australia, they weren't getting many benefits for those taxes, they were just simply had to pay those taxes, so that other people, elite people, were getting the benefits of that. And they were so you had elite people lending money to the most poor people and charging huge amounts of interest on that. So the poor becoming poorer and poorer, and the rich becoming richer and richer. Does this make is this sounding familiar to anybody? Maybe you might even feel like that way right now. Maybe some of you may feel that sense of there's a discrepancy here of the economic environment in which I'm living in. There's injustice, as things are not working out. And in the middle of that situation, Jesus doesn't say save more, plan more. He says, be generous. This is the upside down nature of the kingdom. And not only that, he says, when you're generous, don't make a big deal out of it, don't tell everyone about it, just be generous. And your and it comes with a promise, your father will see what is done in secret, and he will reward you. And in, I think in a in a tight economy, we've got to stop just looking to my boss for um promotion or my the things around me, the natural things around me, we've got to look to God. God is the source of my life, God is the provider for my life, he's the carer of my life. And when I put my trust in him, he will take care of me. I think that is the testimony. If you ask around the room, that is the testimony of many, many people in the church that where we've seen God come through for us. The first thing is generosity. The second part is we're gonna read in in chapter in verse 5, it says, And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to pray standing on the synagogues, standing in the synagogues and on the street corners and to be seen by others. Again, that's the reward. But when you pray, assuming you do, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your father who is unseen. Then your father who sees what is done in secret. Again, here's the theme: He will reward you. Not looking for reward from other people, he will reward you. And when you pray, don't keep on babbling on like the pagans do, for they think they'll be heard because of their many words. Long prayers are not more spiritual than short prayers. That's what Jesus is saying. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you even ask. Can you see the care of God around prayer? Can you see the care that he knows what you need before you even ask? Why should I even pray then? Because God wants relationship, he's inviting us into the process of a heart change. He's not a fairy godmother or a genie that I rub and then I get three wishes, but it's very removed from my life, and then he goes away. No, he enters into your life and works in your heart. He's part, he he he he loves to work in the answers of prayer, not just zapping answers of prayer. That's not God's desire. He's so relational that he wants to be close to you as he does this. And I, you know, Chat GPT 5 is incredible. It's so fast right now. Here's what I here's what here's my my concern is that people now, if you have if you want an answer, instead of going to God, you can go to ChatGPT 5. It has all of the knowledge resource of the world right now at your fingertips. You can find answers for almost anything. It's actually pretty crazy. But here's the thing that I want you to understand that you cannot replace. God is not just an answer to your prayer, God is a relationship that you have. It's relational. God is a God that you can know, not just feel the effects of or get an answer from, or get like a Santa Claus put in an order and get it get a result. It's not transactional, or I pay this much money and I now get that much money out. That's that's a transactional way of dealing with God. That is not the nature of God. That's not what we see in the scriptures. He is so relational that he wants to be close to you. You can't get that from Chad DPT. You've got to go to prayer. You have to go to prayer. And so much healing happens in prayer, in process, that you can't just spit out from a computer. So much healing. I was talking to um, some of you may know about the Aspary revival that happened in the Aspir University last year. It was pretty famous around the world. There were 16 days where students were basically on their face in this um chapel, a very large chapel, and the whole town came to basically experience the presence of God in this place. It was quite extraordinary. I was talking this week to the man who prayed the, who, who did the sermon when that when that happened, okay? And he's a funny guy, like and he's not a famous preacher. He actually said it was probably the worst message I've ever preached. And something happened in that meeting that lasted 16 days, and people were absolutely transformed. It transformed their town. It's still the effects of it are still going on today. And he said, one of the things that happened in that place was there was waves of God's love just washing over people. And he said it was almost like God was healing Gen Z from their anxiety. Their anxiety, their fear. It was just like waves of God's love just washing over it. And it was like the result was that young people came out of there not anxious anymore, not fearful anymore, but bold and had faith. It was a beautiful thing. That's what happens in prayer and in the presence of God is He will do things in your life that you didn't even know that you needed, that you didn't even expect, that God will do it in you. You can't skip over that. You can't get that from a computer. You've got to get that from your own prayer life. And majority of prayer doesn't happen in a meeting, it happens with you and God. With you and God. Why did the disciples ask Jesus, how do I pray? Why did they even ask him that? They didn't ask him how do you do miracles. They saw him do miracles all the time. But he would go away and he'd pray alone. That's why. Because they didn't, he didn't, he wasn't praying on the street corners, he was praying alone with his father. That's what he's inviting us into, a deep relationship with God. James 5, 16 says, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed. It's healing in prayer. I want to encourage you to do that. Um, okay, I've got to keep moving. Um, number three, verse 14, let's read this. It says, For if you forgive one another, who if you forgive other people who sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others' sins, your father will not forgive your sins. Wow. One of the most challenging scriptures in the Bible, no? Anyone got any unforgiveness here that you just want to confess right now? That's a pretty bold statement by Jesus. I tend to take Jesus' words like that pretty seriously. If you want to get a black belt in anything, you want to get it in forgiveness. Christians should be professionals at forgiving people. Like we just we are just top of our game at forgiveness. We really know how to forgive. Forgiveness is not a feeling, us, it's a decision to release the outcomes to God. That's what it is. And Jesus ties our experience of forgiveness to how we extend forgiveness to others. It's not transactional, it's the way that God forms us into his likeness. Remember Jesus on the cross? Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do as they're murdering him. We are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Do you want to be like Jesus? Are you sure? Because that's what Jesus that's Jesus. That's who he's making us into being. And refusing to forgive keeps us chained to the pain of the past. But that's not God's desire for us. Um in Matthew 5, just a little bit earlier, verse 43, it says, You've heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Sounds like a good saying. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. That you may be children of your father in heaven or be like God. This is the caller for Christians. He's upping the standards for Christians. Um it's very hard, by the way, to actively hold unforgiveness against people that you're praying for. Have you ever tried praying for someone who's hurt you? It's really hard to stay mad at them. It's really hard to stay angry and hold unforgiveness if you're actively praying for people who hurt you. That would be a good thing, place to start. Start praying for the people who hurt you. And here's the last thing is um Matthew 7. This is the end of his his message. Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Here's my observation. I've been pastoring 19 years. Next year will be 20 years of pastoring for me. Those who refuse to read scripture, when life gets hard, no matter how mature they seem on the outside, when life gets hard, they start to break apart. That is my observation. You can be a really mature person in the world's eyes and be a baby in the kingdom of God. That's that you can do that. And we're inviting people to come deeper with God. And one of the ways that you can come deeper with God is to know God through the scripture. It really is. It's foundational, guys. In Japan, I saw this many times where we would have missionaries come from America, particularly from the Bible Belt of America, that would come to America thinking they were extremely mature Christians. They would get to into Osaka or Tokyo, and suddenly their lives would start falling apart. And as you examine it further, you would realize that they're actually not deeply rooted in the scripture and in God. They're actually deeply rooted in a cultural Christianity where other people around them were holding them up, other people's faith was holding them up and they did not have personal conviction in the scripture. You can be in a church and carried along by the faith of other people in the room. Or you can go deep with God yourself and you can actually start contributing to the people around you. Does this make sense? Little bit challenging, but it it will make sense. Okay. This is a warning to us. I've seen many people have major blowouts in their life, and here's what I've what I've noticed. Many people who have major blowouts in their life have been saying small and quiet no's to God for a very long time. They've been saying, God will say, I want you to change this, no, I want you to change that, no, I want you to forgive this person, no. And they've been saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no, all the while looking good on the surface, underneath, saying no to the work of the spirit in their lives. And then one day they say a big no and it blows up. And we all get surprised that someone has a huge blow up, but if you dig under the surface, they've been saying no for a long time. The scripture will keep you grounded in saying yes to God. Even if you're getting it wrong, it's still better that your heart is saying yes to God and God is able to change you. God is able to work in your life. When you sit with the scripture and you say, God, I don't understand everything, but I want to know you, that's a place where God can change you. And we do this. I've been reading the scripture with um a lot of young guys, just one-on-one, face-to-face, scripture out loud. Just basically, here we're gonna read a chapter of the Bible and then you read a chapter of the Bible out loud. Uncle's telling me he's doing this with a friend at work the other day. I've been doing this every week with guys, and I've got to tell you, it's been some of the most significant times that I've I've had in our church of recent has been sitting across the table with guys, reading the scripture one-on-one out loud, and then saying, what is your response? What does this show you about God? What does it show you about yourself, and what is your response? It's been deeply impacting, maybe even surprised me how deeply impacting it was and has been. If you don't know where to start, you could ask someone in our church, do you want to read the Bible together? It doesn't even need to be a leader, it doesn't even need to be a pastor, it could just be a friend. Would you read the Bible with me? That would be a great place to start. We've got groups in our church you can read the scripture with. All of our groups, every one of our small groups, is committed to reading the scriptures together. That's what we want to do. Matthew 4 4, this is my last verse. Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. If you're starving on the inside, this is for you. God has bread for you. It's in the scripture. He will speak to you. It's not simply words on a page, he will bring it to life. And it will be life for your soul. It is a foundation for your life. And when challenges happen, I've seen this over and over. People are in the scriptures and have dedicated their life to building a foundation on the scriptures. Challenges come, they stand strong. Not everyone, but I tell you it's been a theme, they stand. It really has. So here's here's the I'm gonna finish now, but here's the call. It's a call to being hidden with God, doing the secret things that have big public ramifications. I don't read the Bible to do messages. I read the Bible because I desperately need it. For me to live, to learn how to love my family. I need the scripture. I need prayer. I don't pray just for you. I'm praying for me. I need it. I need to know God. I need to forgive. Not just so I can tell you about it, but because I need it. And I'm generous because generosity shapes my heart away from greed and consumerism and back towards the nature of God. That's why I give in to this church. That's why I tithe. That's why I give to other people. And and many times we give and just don't tell anyone about it. And that feels awesome to do that when we can. So we're gonna pray over us, okay? And maybe just maybe there's some things that the Holy Spirit is tapping on your heart about. About things that are maybe, maybe your pri maybe your public life and your private experience with God is not matching up right now. I don't want you to feel condemnation. I just want you to answer the call of God, inviting you back to a deep private life with God. Is that okay? Shall we thank you? Thank you, God, for the invitation of closeness with you. What an honor to know you to know you deeply. I pray over every person here. That we'd answer yes. And where we have been saying no to you. God, I pray there'll be a change in our hearts and we'd answer yes. A call back to these beautiful basic things that are done in secret. Call us back to prayer, God. Call us back to your word. Call us back to forgiveness, call us back to generosity. And I pray for a great reward from you, not from others, but from you. A reward of closeness, a reward of the joy of knowing God, and the confidence and the boldness of knowing you. To worship God, I pray that their private experience of knowing you would never outgrow. Their public experience would never outgrow their private experience of knowing you at home. In their cars, in their bedrooms, they would know you deeply. And I pray our hearts would be responsive to that. We'd never let ourselves go further than our than our the reality of our private lives. And I thank you. There's so much grace and safety in that for so many people here. In Jesus' name. We love you. Thank you for those who people don't really know you, God. I pray that you would show them how much you love them. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, team. Amazing. What a great church. You guys are good. I feel I feel God's hand on us and just the grace of God over this church, this group of people. So thank you so much for that. I know there's uh I think about four new people started giving in our church last month. So I just want to say thank you for that. And um because of that, we're we're like really close to being on track for a budget this year. I said a couple of months ago we needed uh 10 new people to start giving in our church. I think we have since then, I'm struggling with English. Since then, I think five new people have started giving. I think we're almost there to hit a budget. But honestly, our goal is not to hit a budget. We would love to be able to do more ministry to other people. Meaning we'd love to give away more stuff. We'd love to give away more ministry. Um, we'd love to have more support in our kids' ministry. Um, we'd love to have more support for all these new people coming into our church to be able to integrate it and discipled really well. There's so many things that we can do. Um, we've got vision, that's amazing, and then our church really does control the pace of that vision, the speed of that vision through our generosity. So thank you for those who are giving into our church. I appreciate you. I'm standing with you in that. Um, and if you are new and would like to start doing that, I'd encourage you to do it. The details are on the screen. Um, pray into that. Don't just give, but please pray for our church. God is doing something, and the enemy is not happy about it. I believe that the um the enemy is not happy about church going forward. So please pray for the church as you give into it. That God's will be done. Um, in Jesus' name. Amen. Love you guys, appreciate you. Have an amazing week, and we'll see you back here next week.