The Secret to Success

Hey, take out your notes. I wanna talk to you today as we kick off this year with the secret to success, the secret to success. I think everybody wants to have a successful year this year. You wanna end the year greater than you began it. And so what is the secret to success? We live in a culture that is obsessed with this idea. I mean, obsessed with life hacks and shortcuts and quick wins. I mean, you go online, it's three ways to be a better leader, five ways to be a more efficient parent. I saw a video the other day, six ways to make your pet love you more. I'm like, feed them food. That's all you gotta do, just feed them. And everything is about best productivity. It's guys that are getting famous, but for what? Wake up, I'm 4 a.m., cold plunge. Ground yourself on the grass for an hour. Breathe only through your nose. I'm like, you're crazy, and you're not real either. But I was trying to get my year started off right, trying to figure out productivity in this. And so I listened to a podcast of like, what do leaders do to best set up your year? And this guy said, true leaders don't wait till January, they start now. And then he said this phrase, he goes, that's why I start my diet before Christmas. And I turned off the podcast right there.

There's nothing about this that is worth listening to right there. But all of us want to find success. And I want you to know that there is a biblical path to walking in God's plan for your life. And if you don't get anything else, I want you to write this down. This is the key for your life this year. The secret to success is what is done in secret. The secret to success is what is done in secret. Success is not built on what people see, on what you put on social media. It's built or it's broken based on your secret life. Now this is hard because we live in a world that it's obsessed with visibility and image and followers and platforms. But the truth is your public life will only ever be as strong as your private life is. And success is not formed on a stage. It's not formed on social media. It's forged in the shadows, in the behind the scenes when no one else is watching. It's where you build the character and the integrity and the habits. Because if there's any area of your life you want to see fruit in, there has to be a hidden root of success behind the scenes that's building your life when nobody sees it and watch how God will honor it where everybody can see it. Success is built on what you do in this secret life.

Jesus says it this way, for all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open. And everything that is concealed will be brought to light and be made known to all. What is he telling us? What you do behind the scenes will eventually show in the public parts of your life. It'll eventually show up in your marriage. It'll eventually show up in your parenting. It'll eventually show up in your business. And if that's the case, then the priority of your life this year is to work on the secret life in your life. So secret destructive habits destroy us while secret godly habits develop our lives. So if everything that is in secret will be made known in public, then that should either excite you or freak you out. It'll freak you out if you have a secret life that is destructive. Maybe it's pornography. Maybe it is an addiction behind the scenes. Maybe it is something that is hidden in your life that you can't get a hold of. This is your season to learn to figure out how to get healthy behind the scenes so that it doesn't wreck your whole future. But at the same time, it should bring you excitement. If you do have a secret life

where it is filled with character and integrity, watch how it'll impact every other area of your life. Here's my version of success this year. It's not in your notes, but I want you to get it. Success is truly being a better person in private than I am in public. That's what I want with my life. I wanna be better behind the scenes than I am on the stage. I wanna have more depth in my personal time with God than what I post on social media. And if you'll work on the secret places, watch how God will promote you in every other area of your life. Are y'all with me today, church? So I want you to turn with me to the Sermon on the Mount. We're in Matthew chapter five and chapter six today. And I wanna show it to you on how Jesus emphasizes in the most famous sermon ever given the importance of the secret place, the secret life that you have. He ends chapter five, which chapter and verse is added afterwards. So you gotta think this all flows together. But Jesus has this verse in chapter five at the very end, which says it this way. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Okay, now, this is like a standard that kind of freaks me out, because I don't know about you, I ain't perfect. I ain't got it together.

But as he gives this, the word perfect is actually a very unique word, because he gives us this standard of perfection. It's this idea of perfection, but he's actually showing us a way to get there. He's like, there's a strategy to be like Christ. So let me just ask you all across Tampa Bay, how many this year say, I wanna be a little closer to Jesus this year than I was before? Come on, throw a hand up to all of her. All right, great, great. All right, so we all wanna be more and more like Jesus, which, by the way, if you're dating someone and they're sitting next to you and they didn't raise their hand, end that relationship right now. Like right now, because that ain't who you wanna be running with. What he's saying in this passage is this word perfect is actually this word telios, which means complete, mature, whole. I love this word mature. It's a process of growing. And he shows us, listen, there's a process of growing more and more like Christ. So our goal this year, our success this year is found in our maturity and growing more and more into what God has for us. So how do we do it?

What is the secret to success? Well, I already told you, it's what's done in secret. And Jesus then goes into chapter six, but it's a flow right through. So be perfect, and then he shows us how. How do we mature? How do we become a success? Let's pick it up in verse one. Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be what? Seen, okay, so don't do it so that everybody can acknowledge who you are. That's not where success is at, to be seen for them. If you do, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. How about you? I want a reward from my Father in heaven. And by the way, don't buy into this whole idea that God just wants you miserable and depressed and sad. No, no, we serve a good God, can I hear an amen, that wants to reward his children. So how do we get there? How do we become a success? Well, Jesus tells us. These aren't my words, these are his words, and look what he tells us to do this year, and here's your challenge. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets. I give, I am generous. As the hypocrites do in the synagogues on their streets.

To be honored by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received the reward in full. 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 what? Oh, let it be done in what? But I told you, the secret to success is what is done in secret. So that's our whole passage, the whole idea. He goes, and your Father who sees what is done in, what will he do? He'll reward you, he'll reward your life. Okay, but then he goes in verse five. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love praying and standing in synagogues and on street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you, they've received the reward in full. But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in will reward you. And when you fast, do not look somber like the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they're fasting. Truly, I tell you, they've received the reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your hand, wash your face so that it will not be obvious to others that you're fasting, but only to the Father who is unseen, and your Father who sees what is done in

will reward you. Jesus, this is Jesus, his strategy for success. And he gives three phrases that all start with when you. Look what he says. He says, when you give, when you pray, and when you fast. Notice Jesus didn't say if you. If you get around to it. No, he tells us, you wanna be a success, you wanna mature, you wanna be perfect like your Heavenly Father is perfect, then this is what you do. Have a lifestyle of giving, a lifestyle of prayer, a lifestyle of fasting. And here's the results of it. This isn't my promise to you. This isn't Aaron Burke's guarantee. This is Jesus' guarantee. Your Father who sees what is done in secret will do what? He'll reward your life. And if you wanna walk into the blessings and the favor of God this year, you wanna mature this year, then you gotta work on these three things. So let me give them to you very quickly. The secret to success. And here's your first one. When you give in secret, here's what it does. It matures our trust. Jesus starts off this passage

by addressing the most touchy subject in all of our lives, money. I didn't do this. This isn't a gimmick to give to the church. Jesus is starting it off here, why? Because money is not the real issue, your heart is. Jesus talks about money more than he talks about prayer, faith combined. Why? Because money reveals our trust. It reveals our priorities. It reveals what we love. It really reveals what rules our heart. And our world is consumed by acquiring, receiving, going to this next level financially. And Jesus shows us, you want to mature? Then be a person that gives. Walk in generosity in your life. It's not a gimmick that he's trying to use because he needed money. He's trying to release the grip of greed off of our lives. Let me just say it very clear, very clearly to you. Be on guard this year with a world that is in massive pursuit after more. It's a battle in your life. There's this battle against godly contentment in your life. To be content with what you got. And it's driving us. It's driving us with this image and with greed for the latest, the greatest, the biggest, the fastest. And you know what it is? It's an endless pursuit and it's an empty pursuit. That is the pursuit of this world. And Jesus challenges us. Look what he says in Luke chapter 12 verse 15. Watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Why? Because life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. Now that's hard to say. Especially in a culture that we're in today. Where it's all about, I got to get the bigger house, the next car, the greatest thing. And we got to climb this kind of ladder. And Jesus is saying, you want to be mature? Then get that out of your life. And the way we overcome greed is through generosity. Be a generous person this year. Do what Paul says. Be a cheerful liver, liver, not liver. You got it. Be a cheerful giver. And here's why. Because God loves a cheerful giver. I don't know about you. I want God's favor. His blessing on my life. And the way to walk in that is to walk in generosity when it comes to giving. Giving to our church. Giving to

missionaries around the world. Giving to the poor. Giving to nonprofits. Make it your ambition this year. You will be a generous person with your life. And do it in secret where nobody recognizes it. Nobody's celebrating you. Good. Some people get so frustrated. They're like, I gave a big gift and nobody called me. Good. You know what? Because if we called you, that's your reward. But let the heavenly Father who, oh man, I love it when He rewards me. I love it when He sees what's done in secret and He rewards it. I love it. I love it. There's all these like recognitions for like different stuff when it comes to churches. I don't want any of it. I don't want any of it. Your church last year gave 2.5 million dollars to missions and outreach projects. 2.5 million dollars. And you know what? All throughout that, we're not looking for recognition. We're not good for celebration. Just done in secret. And you know what the Lord does? Rewards us. And He'll do the same for your life. Let God celebrate you. We don't have any special VIP seats up here because these people give a little bit more than those people back there. And then definitely those in overflow. They definitely, you know, get, no, no, we don't do that at Radiant. It's first come, first serve. So why? Why? Because we're not in it for that. We're here to honor the Lord and we live a life of generosity. And when you do, it reveals your trust to God. I want to be mature this year. How do I do it? I walk in generosity. Can I hear a good amen? Alright, here's your second one. He says, and when you pray in secret, here's what it does. It matures our relationship. It's one thing to pray in public. It's another thing to sit alone and to connect with God in private. But it is through private prayer that maturity comes. It's not like some of y'all spend more time setting up the Instagram post of your quiet time than you do of your quiet time. Because it's more about image than it is about intimacy with God. And we wonder why we're not a success. Because what we do in secret is the secret to success. So find a way to pray in secret. Think about Katie and I. If Katie and I have a relationship where I get on the stage and I go, oh, the best thing that ever happened to me is Katie Burke. Oh my gosh, she's the best. She's beautiful. She

raises our five children so amazingly. She's godly. And then we get behind the scenes, we get in the car, and she's like, hey, can we talk? And I go, no, we don't talk here. I only talk about you from the stage. How many know that would not be a good night? That would not be it. Right. No, because that's not how you build a relationship. You build a relationship not by group corporate settings. You build a relationship by one-on-one time. That's why date night is so important. That's why connecting one-on-one. One is so important. Why? Because that's how you build a real relationship. This is not in your notes. I wish it would have been, but I want you to understand this. You don't really, you do not really have a relationship with God until you really learn to pray in private with him. I wrote it down this way. The secret to prayer is secret prayer. It's learning to connect with God one-on-one when nobody sees it. It's learning to build a relationship outside of a corporate worship setting, but that's where real life is found. That's where you really connect with the God of the universe and realize that he cares about you and he's speaking to you. Don't settle for surface-level Christianity that is really only about the corporate gatherings and you miss out on the personal intimacy that God has for your life.

And if you wanna grow this year, learn the life of secret prayer, secret prayer. I love how David says it. David says, my God, you are my God. Look at that intimacy. Earnestly, I seek you. Don't miss out on the personal connection you can have with God this year. Don't miss out on this moment. And what does Jesus tell us? He tells us how to pray. He says, when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues on the street corners. To be doing what? Seen by everybody else. I don't wanna be seen by everybody else. No, no, no, no. I tell you, they receive their reward in full. But when you pray, look what he says to do. Go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen, then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. This is one of the greatest words of wisdom in the Scripture on learning to live a life of intimacy and prayer, is learning to close the door. Closing the door means removing distractions and focusing on God. And the greatest distraction you have

to your personal prayer life is this thing right here. Nothing is destroying your connection with God more than this right here. Because what we do is we go to this before we go to him. We check our phones before we check into what God has for us for that day. And we grab this and we realize why we're so frustrated that God's not first in our life because your phone's first, Instagram's first, YouTube's first, Facebook is first, and it's ruining your prayer life. And I'm challenging you, some of you this year, some of you during this fast, the best thing you're gonna do is just turn off your phone for a little bit. Don't even get on it until you connect with God in the morning, because this thing will destroy your prayer life. I read this stat the other day, that the average Christian, this is not the worldly person, Christian, prays 2.5 minutes a day. Two and a half minutes a day. And yet the average Christian spends seven hours on their phone. And you can go, well, I'm on my Bible app. You ain't for seven hours. Do the math. If you complete that in a year, then you have spent, in prayer,

the average Christian, 17 hours a year in prayer. Sounds impressive. But over a full year, that ain't too impressive. You've spent 2,200 hours a year on your phone. And we wonder why we're not hearing from God. Because we haven't closed the digital door and connected to God in the spiritual. Find ways to close the door and remove distractions in your prayer time. Don't go to your phone until you've gone to the Lord. I found some keys to prayer that have helped me close the door to just connect with God. And I'm trying to even go further and deeper this next year. Let me just give you a few. They're not in your notes, but maybe you wanna take a picture for this. This'll help you, especially in this season of prayer and fasting, to take these prayer times to the next level. Make an appointment with God and keep it every day. If I make an appointment with you, I'm showing up to it because you're valuable. If you make an appointment with God every morning, you keep it. When that alarm goes off, you wake up and you spend time with God. Remove the distractions. Some of y'all have those little kids at home and they're a distraction to your prayer time.

So get them out of the house. No, no, don't do that. You just gotta wake up a little earlier. It's tough. Slow down. We're too quick. God, thank you for this good food. Good food, good meat, good God, let's eat. Like, we're going through it. And we're missing out on connection and intimacy with God. Slow down. By the way, that's my intentional desire this year in my prayer times is I'm getting closer to God because I'm slowing down in my prayer times. And I don't do anything slow. That's how I have to learn. Have a strategy. If you've been on Upper Zoom, how many this last week have been on at least one day of Upper Zoom? Come on, let's see hands all over. I love it. I'm so proud of y'all. 6 a.m., we'll talk about it in a second. But have a strategy. Tomorrow, I'm gonna be leading it and I'm gonna give you the Lord. prayer strategy. We've preached it from the stage here, but we're going to pray through that. And then, lastly, when you pray, expect results because God's listening. God's listening. Lean into it. Soren Kierkegaard says it this way, prayer does not change God, but it changes him

who prays. You want to mature in your faith this year? Get in secret prayer and watch how God will change you from the inside out. You go, I just don't know how to do it. Well, then join us at 6 a.m. for Upper Zoom. And this will just help you get in the routine and the rhythm of prayer. And it's our pastors leading in, and it helps us get a strategy. What I do is I do this, and then I do my personal prayer time after or my personal prayer time before, depending on my day. Connect with God and watch what he does. But here's the ultimate result of prayer. And God does come through for you. And God does bring miracles in your life. And God can bring you healing in that pain. And God can be close to you when you're in that difficult situation. But the ultimate fruit of prayer is what Mother Teresa said. The fruit of prayer is the joy of knowing Jesus. This is the fruit of a prayer life that is done in secret place, that I have intimacy and connection with the God of the universe. And not only does he know me, but I know him. And not only do I speak to him, but he speaks to me. And the joy this year is that I'm getting closer to Jesus than ever before, because I've got a secret life of prayer, and it's available for your life too. Can I hear a good amen today? Radiant Church. Number three, we'll close with this one. How do we have success this year? Secret to success is what is done in secret. And here's your third one. When we fast in secret, it matures our desires. All right, let's just keep this up there for a second. He gives us the three keys to success. Give in secret, pray in secret, fast in secret. So some of you, if I were Jesus and I was writing this, I would have left the fasting one out. Can I hear a good amen? I don't like fasting. I meet people all the time, they're like, I just love a good fast. I'm like, you're a loser, because I don't get it. I like food. I like pizza. I like ice cream. When I get into a real fast like this, I'm like dreaming about food. I'm not thinking of breakthrough and all this. I'm not thinking about food a lot. And you know what it does? It's helping us learn to control our lives and get them under the leading and guiding of the Spirit of God. Fasting, it really helps us refocus our desires, because we have a lot of desires and they're not bad, but it helps us put a greater desire on God. Every Batman has a Robin. Every Jordan has a Pippin. Every Mario has a Luigi. Every Aaron has a Katie. And your prayer life should be accompanied by fasting. So if you want to take your life to the next level this year, jump into this fast that we're on right now. Some of you started the fast on Sunday and ended Sunday night. Jump back in. Here's what fasting is. Fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual

purposes. I'm all about getting off social media, removing entertainment. That's such a good thing to detox your life. But you need to have a moment where you're removing some type of food from your life for spiritual purposes. There's all kinds of opportunities for you to do that. And my kids, my whole family is doing this, and we're talking even as a family. When they're sitting there like, I'm so hungry. And our whole desire in this is our prayer over your life is that those cravings you have for food that you would crave God even more. And it's done. It's done in the secret place. You go, well, I don't need to do that to have breakthrough. Well, that's why David prayed it this way. He says, I humbled myself with fasting because David recognized that he has desires in his life that are not always godly. So he humbles himself. And what does he do? He finds breakthrough through fasting. And that's what happens when you humble yourself. Bible says, God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. You want to see God lift you up this year? You want to see success this year? Watch what happens when you humble yourself with fasting. Therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. John Bunyan, great author, wrote it this way. He that is down needs fear, no fall. He that is low, no pride. He that is humble ever shall have God be his guide. When you humble yourself, when you submit yourself and fasting, saying, okay, I'm denying myself pizza. I know it's tough. I'm denying myself those sweets for this next two weeks. I'm denying myself that breakfast or maybe that Lunch, and I'm gonna take that time and I'm gonna pray. Here's what happens. I'm humbling myself to say, God, I need you. And you don't have to announce it to everybody. You don't have to put it all on social media. You just say, no, this is between me and God. And the promise of fasting is breakthrough for your life. If you'll fast, you'll see breakthrough in your life. You'll see it in your life. And in my life, every significant moment of breakthrough has happened in a season of prayer and fasting. It was during fasting and prayer that God spoke to me

about Katie being my wife. We weren't even hanging out. We weren't even in the same friend group in that time. And God told me, hey, that's your wife, during the season of prayer and fasting. So I drove down, I met with her and I said, hey, I've been fasting, I've been praying. God spoke to me, you're my wife. She said, God hadn't said that at all to me. And you know what she did? She fasted for 30 days, removed food from her life for 30 days. And God gave her the greatest gift in the world. It's funny. It all happened in prayer and fasting. I'll be honest, about a year or so after we got married, it was a season of prayer and fasting in our church that God spoke to me and revealed a deep root of bitterness I had in my heart about a family that had hurt me in the church. It happened during prayer and fasting. That was my breakthrough that year. God freed me from bitterness. But a year after that, during prayer and fasting, God spoke to Katie and I about Tampa. We didn't know anybody in Tampa. Here's your assignment. I have found that fasting is always the breeding ground for assignments in your life. You never know what God's got for you next.

Take a season of prayer and fasting. You need clarity, take a season of prayer and fasting. It's through prayer and fasting that radiant almost every building that has been given to us, every miracle, every campus that we've launched has all happened during a season of prayer and fasting. It is a season where God will bring breakthrough in your life. Why? Because it is a private place of humbling yourself before the Lord and watch how he'll lift you up this year. Here's my encouragement for you as we end this message. When you pray, when you give, when you fast, and when you live this secret life in a God-honoring way, private faithfulness produces public fruit in your life. And everybody wants public success. Let me tell you how you get it. You work on the things that nobody else sees, on the private areas of your life that are difficult. You get rid of the destructive habits and you embrace the godly habits. And when you do it, watch how the God who sees what is done in secret will reward you. You will walk in breakthrough and you will walk in victory because the secret to success is that which is done in secret. Can I hear a better amen? Do you receive the word from the Lord today, amen? All right, so what do we do? Let's be real.

We all miss days, we all lose focus, we all hit the snooze button, we all quit the fast early. What do you do? Bible says it's not in just in starting, it's in completing. And I love what Proverbs 24, 16 says, "'Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.'" I don't know what you've given up on when it comes to these private disciplines. Maybe you've stopped giving, maybe you've stopped praying, maybe you've stopped fasting. Pick it up again. Watch, as you get back up, you'll see the mercy and the favor of God is new every morning and he'll give you the grace to keep going and you're gonna end this year stronger than you ever did before. Can you hear a good amen? Can you give him a good amen today, church? Let me pray over you. Everybody all across Tampa Bay, just your eyes closed, can you just hold your hands out to receive today? Just let me pray a blessing over you. Lord, I pray, let this be a year of true success in what is done in secret. I pray for those who are joining us today who are battling secret addictions, secret sins. Lord, I pray that we would jump into God-honoring community this year

to help us walk in healing and wholeness. Lord, I pray that you would help them to replace those destructive habits with God-honoring habits, habits of generosity, habits of faithfulness in our prayer times with you. Lord, help us in this fast, these next two weeks. Lord, as we deny our flesh, we say yes to you and I pray that you would speak to them with clarity and we thank you for the breakthrough that's gonna happen in their life because of it. In Jesus' name, we pray. With every eye closed, every head bowed, if you're here today, you do not have a relationship with God, you can start it right now. It is a private decision that'll make you go all in with God to say, God, I want you to change my life and I'm telling you, God will meet you right there and he'll change your life. If that's you on the count of three. Just throw that hand up and say, Aaron, pray for me. Today's my day. I'm going all in on Jesus. I'm going all in on him. I want him to change me from the inside out. I can't do it myself. I need God. One, two, three. Come on, if that's you, throw that hand up. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you. Hands all over this room. Thank you there, all over Pinellas County. There at the Brandon location, New Tampa. Thank you there, Odessa. Proud of you. God sees that hand. Put it right back down. Let's pray this prayer together before our location pastors come. Say, dear Jesus, today I give you my life. Forgive my sin. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. I give you my life. For the rest of my life, I'm gonna follow you. You are my Lord and you are my savior. In Jesus' name we pray. And all God's people said, let's join heaven in celebrating those who just made the best decision.