16th November 2025 - Brendan Hurley

Good morning. It's great to be with you again.

Let me just get myself set up. Let's pray and

let's ask God for help as we dig into his word

now. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that

you are a good God, that you are a loving God,

a caring God. But Father, it's hard coming up

here not to feel like a hypocrite. Father, I

pray that you would help us to repent of our

hypocrisy, help us to change, and we pray that

Jesus' words would grip our hearts. And we ask

this in his name. Amen. We're in our new home.

We've been there for a few months now, which

used to be Trevor and Sue's home. We kicked them

out. And Trevor and Sue generously left us a

bunch of things, but one thing they left us with

was their old security system. And it's very

cool. The cameras connect to your smartphone.

And so you can record what you see on the cameras.

You can see it in real time. So when I'm out

at the shops, I can go, oh, there's the burglar

breaking into our house. Good. You can hear things.

So it's got a microphone. It's even got an alarm

you can set off when the burglar does break in.

And you can even talk through the camera when

the mailman's dropping off the package, you know,

oh, no, a little more to the right, thanks. And

you can tell them where to put it. It was so

good, I decided that I would buy an extra camera

and put it in our house. But part of the fun

I had with that was I didn't tell our kids that

I was doing it. And so I put the camera in the

house and put it up somewhere and then all of

a sudden I started catching them doing things.

Hey, you know, what are you doing on your screen?

You weren't meant to, you know, why did you take

that cookie? How do you know, Dad? Oh, I have

my ways, you know. So it was quite good, you

know. Now they know. Sadly, I don't have that

power anymore. But I want you to imagine that

you installed cameras at your place just like

that. And not just at your place. Imagine you

installed cameras like that in your workplace,

in your car, maybe even in your mind. That's

real high -tech AI, isn't it? But they're not

there to catch criminals or naughty kids, but

to record and observe your prayer life. What

do you think we'd see behind closed doors about

your prayer life? How healthy would your prayer

life really be? Now, it's so important we examine

the health of our prayer lives. Prayer is the

engine room of the Christian life. It strengthens

our joy, our faith, our peace. It helps us become

more other person centred. We become more loving

as we pray for other people. And it's a window

into where our hearts are really at with God.

Are we aligned with his will? Are our hearts

desiring what he desires? I love it the way the

Scottish pastor Robert Machain puts it. He says,

What a man is on his knees before God, that he

is and nothing more. Or as we said last week,

as we'll say this week and we'll say next week,

the big thing Jesus is teaching in these passages

is who you are in secret is who you really are.

Who you are in secret is who you really are.

So what does a rich, healthy, authentic prayer

life look like behind closed doors? Well, if

you're a Christian, Jesus wants you to know from

these verses. And if you're here today and you're

not yet a Christian, I hope you're going to see

today how wonderful it is to have a deep, rich

and authentic prayer life with God as your father.

So what's it look like? Three things we're going

to see today. Number one, don't pray to the crowd.

Don't pray to the crowd. Don't pray to be seen

by other people. Number two, don't pray to coerce

God. Don't pray to force God's hand. That's not

why we pray. And number three, pray alone to

your father. Pray alone to your father. Commune

with God. Enjoy him in prayer. So let's start

with the first one. Don't pray to the crowd.

if you've got a bible there have it open and

come with me to chapter 6 verses 5 and 6. jesus

says and when you pray do not be like the hypocrites

for they love to pray standing in the synagogues

and on the street corners to be seen by others

truly i tell you they've received their reward

in full but when you pray 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 will reward you. Now, you might remember

that hypocrites in this culture are people who

are mask wearers. They're those who put on a

show just to look good. They're not seeking the

reward of faith. They're not seeking that deeper

intimacy and joy with their Heavenly Father.

The reward they seek is the admiration of others.

They want that spotlight to be shone down on

them, don't they? And so for them, that's what

prayer is about. They want others to say, oh,

they're so mature, aren't they? Look at how deep

they pray. Wow, they must be really strong Christians.

Now, such charades, such acting is fake, isn't

it? And it leaves people spiritually hollow when

they act like that. And so Jesus warns us not

to put on a mask when it comes to praying. But

it's an easy trap for any of us to fall into,

isn't it? There's been times where I've been

sitting in prayer time in a Bible study or a

prayer meeting or praying in church even. And

I find myself counting the mmms and amens. I

think that was a good one. That line you just

dropped. A lot of people went mmm. Amen, brother.

And then I drop a line and there's no reaction.

oh that must have been a bad one you know and

and it's so easy to get caught up in thinking

what is everyone thinking of me trying to impress

him i mean let alone if the bishop's there crumbs

we had him in the prayer group the other day

when i was down in the conf you know and i had

to catch brendan stop caring about what glenn

thinks you should be focused on who you're really

talking to your father in heaven See, prayer

is too precious. It's too important to be prostituted

by masking. D .A. Carson, in his commentary on

the Sermon on the Mount, gives some great questions

to test and expose where our heart's at when

we're praying. He says, do I pray more frequently

and more fervently when alone with God than I

do in public? Do I love the secret place of prayer?

Is my public praying simply the overflow of my

private praying? And I want to add my own. Does

your language change when you pray in public

versus when you're in private? It's funny, I've

seen a few times. Even in myself, where suddenly

it's easy to drop Christianese and big theological

jargon. Oh, sovereign Lord, mighty creator of

the, you know, and it's like getting big and

potentate of time. And, you know, because it's

trying to look as impressive as possible, isn't

it? How would you answer those questions? Is

your prayer life real and rich? Or is it a show?

Well, that's not the only wrong way to pray.

We don't pray to the crowd. But secondly, we

don't pray to coerce God. We don't pray to coerce

God, to force his hand. Look with me at verses

seven and eight. And when you pray, do not keep

on babbling like pagans, for they think they'll

be heard because of their many words. Do not

be like them, for your father knows what you

need. before you ask him now the way the folk

that folk outside god's kingdom in jesus day

would pray was to try and twist god's arm if

i babble enough times heap up lots of empty phrases

you know and they didn't think it was empty they're

going i'm going to say god's name enough times

or say the right incantations and that will get

my god to Give me what I want. You know, they're

not praying to get God. They're not praying to

enjoy intimacy with him. They're praying to get

something out of God. And so they think God's

like a genie. If I just say the right things,

the right, you know, I wish, then I'll get what

I want. They think I'll get God's attention that

way if I have the right formula. I've just got

to stroke his ego. I've just got to say the magic

words. But there's some way I can get it out

of him. And we see it today, don't we? That kind

of name it and claim it movement. Or maybe when

people do bartering prayer. You know, God, if

I do this for you, then I need you to do this

for me. Now, what happens when we think of God

in all these sorts of ways? We're viewing God

as stingy. As Scrooge -like. We're relating to

him as if he was heartless and merely mechanical.

We're relating to him like a time zone claw machine.

My kids love going to time zone. I don't. It's

very oversensory. But they love it. And they

love going to those claw machines. And, you know,

they scan the card. And what happens with the

claw machine? Goes down and you grab the thing

and you think, I've won! And then it drops and

you're like, oh. And you have to try it again

and again and again. And you have to just get

it just right. And then you actually get the

prize, don't you? It's very disheartening watching

all my money disappear as the prizes don't come.

And the machine's heartless. It doesn't care.

It doesn't care about my bank account. It feels

like the machine's actually working against me

at times. And so you just try again and try again

and try again. But if you can get that secret

sauce of getting it the right way, you're a winner.

Now, it's so easy to think of God like that and

to pray to God like that, isn't it? What about

you when you're alone praying? Maybe you barter

with God. God, you know. If I get less angry

this week and give a bit of money to the church,

well, I need you to come through for me. Amen.

Or maybe the tone and flavour of your prayer

might be, Lord, my will be done. Hey, maybe you

don't ever explicitly say it, but you say, in

essence, my will be done in the way that you

pray. Those sort of prayers, they're pagan, aren't

they? You can only pray your will be done, or

as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane,

not my will, but yours be done, when you trust

that God is a generous father who knows what

you need better than you do. Who, if we were

omniscient, if we knew everything, we'd do exactly

what he was doing. Do you believe God is like

that? A great way to test is to pull out the

camera footage. Audit your prayers. How am I

going with my prayers? Am I approaching God,

trying to twist his arm, getting him to do my

will? Is that my flavour of prayer? Do I think

prayer is about me getting stuff out of God?

Or am I rejoicing in knowing him and asking him

for what I need? Are you praying like Jesus or

like a pagan? So they're the two things that

we shouldn't do. We don't pray to the crowd.

We don't pray to coerce God. So how then should

we pray? You might have picked it up already.

Pray alone to your Father. Pray alone to your

Father. That's the key to rich and effective

prayer. Pray to God as Father. Have a look in

verse six with me. But when you pray, 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 will reward you. Or there in

verse eight, do not be like them for your father

knows what you need before you ask him. So pray

in secret, just you and God, no show, real intimacy.

Pray to your father who knows your needs before

you do. He's wise, he's caring. It's seeing God

in that way. And then in verse 9 to 13, we have

the Lord's Prayer, which is a template. It's

a template that's trying to give us a structure,

a skeleton to how we pray. It's not just meant

to be sort of like an incantation. That would

be to pray like the pagans, wouldn't it? It's

there to give us a skeleton that we can put meat

on the bones of. And we address God as our Father

in heaven. He's our because we come to him in

the same way Jesus does. Why? Because Jesus died

on the cross and gave us access to God. And we

pray our because we're part of a new family now.

Christians are our family. So we're not just

praying for ourself. We're not praying because

our performance is good. We're praying because

we come to God. There's a lot in that one little

word our, isn't there? We haven't even got to

the rest of the prayer. Father, he's loving.

He cares for us. He gives good gifts to his children.

And he's in heaven. He's holy. He's awesome.

He's all powerful. That's just the address. And

then we pray for our father's agenda. We go,

that's the first thing we pray for. We're aligning

our hearts with God's heart. We want to make

sure that we're praying about what matters to

him. Hallowed be your name. God, glorify your

name. Help people see how great you are. Your

kingdom come. Please, Father, rescue many people.

May your kingdom expand and help us to be ready

for when your kingdom comes in its fullness.

And your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Heaven is living in a world where people do what

God says. Please help me to reflect that. And

then we pray for our needs. Because he's a caring

father. He cares about what we need. We depend

on him. And so we pray for our daily bread, for

provision, with an eye to the fact that we have

a heavenly Sabbath and heavenly rest that we

look forward to. We pray for forgiveness because

we're sinners who need grace. And we also are

sinners who need to show grace to others. And

we pray that God would spiritually protect us.

That he would deliver us from Satan's lies and

from temptation. It's all about real relationship,

isn't it? Authenticity. Confidence in what Jesus

has done for us. Humility, not overestimating

how good I am or overestimating what I think

is best. It's praying to God as Father. My daughter,

Grace, does this thing sometimes. It's nice when

she does it. She comes and asks me for something.

Dad, can I have a banana? Can I have a pancake?

Whatever it might be. And when I say yes, lately

she's been doing this thing where she goes, thank

you, Daddy, I really appreciate you. And I'm

like, heart melt, you know? And then if I say

no, she's been going, OK, Daddy, it's not a problem.

You know, it's nice. Now, if I could just work

out how to get the other kids to do that and

how I could get her to do that all the time.

But it's... No. Not yet. But it's so cute. And

I love it because she's approaching me as a caring

father. Because he's showing thankfulness, confidence

and trust. Now, when we pray to our heavenly

father, and he's infinitely better than I am

as a father, do we take that approach with him?

Now, here's a great test for where your heart's

at. Do you see God as a good, loving and caring

father who can do far more than you can ask or

imagine? Well, you might be sitting here going,

well, Brendan, that's fair. That's cool. But

how do I even know God is like that? You can.

Look at the cross. The cross shows me that there

are better riches in knowing my father than in

having human recognition or approval. Because

what do I get at the cross? I get God's approval.

I get access to God. Jesus died for those things.

He didn't die so that other people think more

highly of me. So clearly that's more worthwhile.

It's to die for. That's what Jesus thinks. But

secondly, the cross shows that my father knows

what I need before I do. He dealt with my sin

before I even thought it was a big problem. And

he gave his own son so that my sins would be

forgiven. He is far more caring and gracious

than I could ever imagine. And the cross and

the resurrection of Jesus are the amen to the

Lord's prayer. How do I know God will answer

the Lord's prayer when I pray it? Because the

cross shows me he will. At the cross, Jesus glorifies

God's name. At the cross, God's kingdom is coming.

At the cross, God's will is done and he's changing

people so that they want to do his will. At the

cross, he provides. I mean, you could just go

through the whole lot, couldn't you? And you

can link it each to the cross. So let me ask,

what might it look like to pray this? I mean,

that's the template. What might it look like

to pray this in action, to put some flesh on

those bones? Well, maybe you've been praying

for years about an issue in your life. You know,

you're praying in that needs bit about some health

issue, financial issue, work issue, marriage

issue, maybe fertility. I don't know what it

might be for you. Everyone's got different issues,

don't we? And you pray lots. And nothing changes.

And you're tempted to not pray anymore. What's

the point? Am I just talking to the ceiling?

Nothing ever seems to change. And then you remember

what Jesus has done for you. And you remember

what sort of father you have in heaven. And you

believe that God will answer your prayer in one

of two ways. Do you know that God only answers

prayer in one of two ways? It's not yes, no or

wait. That's what I was taught in Sunday school.

He answers it in either yes or better. Because

he's a good father. He'll either answer your

prayer with yes or he'll do something better

than you can imagine. We might not see what that

is, this side of heaven. But if we were omniscient,

we would see that it is better. It changes how

you pray about those things that just never seem

to change. Or when you're praying, your prayer

life might feel dry and tired and haggard. What

do you do? You start your prayers by remembering

that God is a good father. Spend some time reflecting

on the good father you have. and that will drive

you move you to pray or maybe you don't want

to pray because oh you should have seen the week

i've had you know i've done all these things

and i just feel like the worst possible christian

why would i talk to god i kind of want to run

away from him right now well if you're coming

to god as father You remember that you're praying

not on the basis of your performance, but on

the basis of Jesus' death for you. And he's a

good father. He forgives. He loves you. He's

not going to cast you off. God's anger was poured

out onto Jesus so that it would never be poured

out to you. He drank the cup of God's wrath down

to the very dregs. There is nothing left for

you to drink. Do you know what? If you believe

God is a good father, you'll pray even though

no one else will see it. Because you believe

it's worth it. So is your prayer life shaped

around knowing God as father? That's the key.

Do you pray alone to your father? All right,

well, let's wrap up. We started by asking, how

is your prayer life? How is your prayer life

behind closed doors? It's very easy to do it

in Bible study and look like it's all gravy.

But how is it behind closed doors? And we saw

that this is important because as we've seen

in this section of Matthew, there's one key thing.

Who you are in secret is who you really are.

So what does your prayer life look in secret?

This is a very confronting passage. I was challenged

by it this week. I hope you are too. Who are

you in secret? Because I reckon there's three

types of prayers that will be sitting here today

where you're at at the moment. There's the prayerless,

there's the pagan, and there's the paternal.

And, oh, it's not even lined up with the X's

and the tick, but there you go. That makes me

sad. I like good aesthetics. Anyway. Yeah, oh,

good. So prayerless. Are you prayerless in secret?

What do you do if that's you? Maybe you're prayerless

in secret because you're not a Christian. Please

come and chat to us. We'd love to talk to you

about Jesus and how good it is to know God as

Father. But maybe you're here and you're a Christian

and... You just, prayer is a struggle for you

right now. How do you get back to that place

where prayer is sweet, where you savour it? Well,

go back to the gospel. Go back to who Jesus is,

what he's done for you. Go back to how you have

a relationship with your father because of Jesus.

That will enrich your praying. And try and make

it routine. One of the ways to get more into

prayer is to pray. Pray. And look, I get it.

Routines, it's hard. You know, things go up and

down. You have good days and bad days. On the

bad days, remember that you come because of Jesus'

blood. And on the good days, remember you come

because of Jesus' blood and that will enrich

your praying. Get praying again. If you're those

who are struggling with pagan prayer, if you're

coming to God trying to make him do your will,

I'd encourage you to start thinking higher thoughts

of God. I'd recommend go read Mark's gospel.

Just go back to Mark's gospel and see again,

what is God like? Or any of the gospel. I just

like Mark because it's short and I have a short

attention span. But read Mark's gospel. Or, you

know what, read this. This is J .I. Packer's

book, Knowing God. It's an absolute classic.

He's got a whole section about God as Father,

which is just incredible. Can I recommend, grab

a copy, download a copy, whatever you do with

copies, and read this book. But if you're the

person who is praying to God paternally, You

savour the times you have with your father. Keep

doing that. Keep going. And when you fail, remember

his immense grace. Just keep enjoying it. So

which of these three is it for you? What would

the cameras pick up in your life? Yeah, let me

ask a different question. Can you imagine if

we were all that third one? What do you think

would happen to our church if we all prayed to

God as Father and enjoyed it and loved it and

craved it? What do you think would happen? I

reckon God would honour those prayers. I reckon

we'd see our hearts transformed in an even more

radical way. I reckon we'd see people having

a deeper joy and assurance of their salvation.

A greater unity and love that we'd forgive and

be gracious and generous to one another. I think

we'd hate our sin more and worship would become

a richer delight for us, wouldn't it? See, revivals

are built on praying like that. So let's love

the secret place of prayer with our Father. What

could be more appropriate than, let's pray now.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a

wonderful Father who gives us far more than we

can ask or imagine. And we pray, Father, help

us to see the riches and the blessings and the

absolute delight it is to come to you as our

Father in heaven. Please align our hearts with

your heart. Help us to see our dependence upon

you and make us a people who absolutely love

being with you in that secret place of prayer.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.