August 20, 2025 • 25 mins
In a world obsessed with likes, shares, and recognition, Allen and Stacy Jo dive into the power of serving in secret. What happens when no one sees your good works but God? How do we embrace unseen obedience without craving applause? In this episode, you’ll discover why the most meaningful acts of service are often the ones that never make it onto a stage or a social media feed.
✅ In This Episode You’ll Discover:
✅ Why Jesus teaches us to serve quietly and trust that the Father sees (Matthew 6:1–4)
✅ How to let go of recognition without losing motivation
✅ The tension between flesh and Spirit, and why dying to self leads to freedom (Romans 8:6)
✅ Why celebrating others (even when they get the credit) builds humility and love
✅ Practical ways to nurture a secret servant’s heart in today’s spotlight-driven culture
📖 Key Scriptures: Matthew 6:1–4 • Romans 8:6 • Colossians 3:23 • Matthew 16:24
✨ Practical Takeaways:
✨ Remind yourself who you are serving—God, not man
✨ Choose anonymity on purpose: bless others without being seen
✨ Celebrate others without needing the spotlight
✨ Keep an eternal mindset—your reward in heaven is secure
The message is simple yet life-changing: God sees every unseen act of love, and nothing done in His name is wasted.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Are you ready to build a life,business and legacy that truly
lasts?
Welcome to Faithfully Investedwith Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne,
where Faith meets real talk.
Biblical wisdom meets everydaylife and leadership meets
laughter.
Together we will uncover God'sblueprint for leadership,
marriage, and mission, helpingfaith-driven leaders invest in
(00:21):
what matters most.
Each episode, we explorebiblical wisdom, have real
conversations, and of course,have some fun along the way
because let's be real.
Walking in faith is anadventure.
It sure is.
So pull up a seat, grab yourcoffee or your sweet tea, and
join us as we steward ourcallings with intention, because
(00:42):
when we invest in his kingdom,he brings the increase.
Hey friends.
Welcome back to FaithfullyInvested, where we explore God's
blueprint for leadership,marriage, and mission, one
Kingdom principle at a time.
I'm Stacy Jo, and I'm not.
(01:05):
I I'm Allen.
No, you're not.
I, I'm a And today we'rediscussing some, uh, something
that's very close to both of ourhearts.
Uh, secret service.
Hmm.
Not that secret service.
We're talking about servingothers without needing or
(01:27):
getting a standing ovation.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, the kind that we're talkingabout, the service that, uh.
Um, other people just don't knowabout, but God knows and that's
really what matters.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, we're calling this onethe joy of Secret Service.
Right.
Impact without applause.
(01:48):
You know, it's all about thosequiet unseen acts of obedience
that may never get a stage, butmake it into the heart of God.
So it doesn't matter if theyever make it onto a stage.
Right.
And I think that, uh.
That these times that gounrecognized.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I think that, that it'sthose times that, uh, or these
(02:11):
times that find us drawing, uh,that leaning in and drawing
closer to to God.
Yeah, I would agree with that.
You know, we live in a worldthat thrives on visibility.
Would y'all agree?
I mean, yeah.
Yeah.
With an eye roll.
I would agree.
Yes.
Yeah.
Y'all better flash some pics andget it up on social media or it
(02:34):
just didn't happen.
Right?
Right.
Wrong, wrong.
But we've gotten so accustomedto seeing so many of our lives
being played out on socialmedia.
Yeah.
And typically it's all the goodstuff.
Yeah.
We never really see much of the,the negativity.
It's always the good stuff, but.
Some May.
(02:55):
Oh, there, there's a lot ofnegativity.
Well, okay.
Yes, but, but people who puttheir lives out there, yeah.
They're only putting the goodstuff out there.
The good stuff.
The shiny stuff.
The shiny stuff, yeah.
Right.
You know, look at what I did or,or you know, look at what I'm
doing.
Right.
And I'm not saying, again, I'mnot saying there's anything
necessarily wrong with that.
Right.
Except when it becomes obsessiveand not what Right.
(03:18):
God has called you to do.
Sure.
But I digress.
But.
Some may wonder that if it's notposted, if it's not praised or
if it's not platform, you know,is it even counted?
Yeah.
You know, is it counted?
Yeah.
Well, God sees our hearts.
It's most certainly counted.
(03:38):
He does.
Um, kingdom work doesn't worklike that.
No.
That the, it just doesn't worklike that.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Jesus gives us a warning inMatthew six, I think it's verses
one through four, uh, where hepresents a solid paradigm shift.
He's, he Jesus is good at thewhole paradigm shift thing.
(04:00):
So he presents his paradigmshift for, for all of us to
respectfully consider, he says,be careful.
Do not practice yourrighteousness before men to be
noticed by them.
Otherwise, you will have noreward from your father who's in
heaven.
So.
When you give to the poor, don'tsound the trumpet before you,
(04:22):
like the hypocrites do in thesynagogues and in the streets so
that they might be honored bymen.
Truly, I say to you, they havereceived the reward in full, but
when you give to the poor, don'tlet your left hand know what the
right hand is doing so that yourgiving will be in secret and
your father who sees what isdone will reward you.
(04:45):
Bla.
Yeah.
Blammo.
Yeah.
Jesus has a, that sounds a longlife of blammo moments.
All right there.
Yeah.
Don't let your left hand knowwhat your right hand is doing.
Right.
Don't make it all public.
So I say blammo, right?
The kids might say that slaps,but I don't even know if that's
(05:07):
like a thing anymore.
But anyhow, I'm gonna ask younot to say that again.
That slaps Blammo.
Yes.
That slaps?
No.
All right.
No more of that slaps.
But anyway, you know, my pointis that that's really good
because it is so easy, even inministry to serve in ways that
(05:33):
we still want credit, right?
And Jesus invites us to serve insecret.
He does to.
So where no one sees.
And to trust that the fatherdoes see.
Yeah, the father does see, youknow, he sees everything and
he's the one, he alone rewardsus.
Right.
(05:53):
And it's not about getting areward from God.
No, we don't serve.
For the re it, it, it'sunderstood.
It's written in the word thatmm-hmm.
You know, we serve and, and, andthe Lord or who sees us will
reward us.
Mm-hmm.
But it's not about getting thereward, it's about, it's about
serving for the sake of serving.
Right.
You know, we serve because we'reable, we serve because we can,
(06:14):
uh, on a personal level, I servebecause God and other, so, uh,
they've served me well andthey've seen me through, uh, uh,
um.
A lot of dark times.
Mm-hmm.
They see me and, uh, they've,uh, they've brought me the Lord
and, and others, how he's workedthrough others have brought me a
long way from where I used tobe.
(06:35):
Yeah.
And it's, it's all about, forme, it's all about giving back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Being grateful.
Being Grateful Heart.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Leading from a grateful heart.
Mm-hmm.
Certainly.
Yeah.
So.
You know, there've, uh, there'vebeen times through my faith walk
when, when I've been assistinghere and there and, uh, with no
(06:59):
flash for the effort.
Right.
You know, but, uh, some, it'snice to be recognized, but you
know.
It's not, there was a time when,when I, when I wanted the flash,
I wanted the, uh, therecognition.
But, you know, just learned, uh,uh, as I've matured in my walk
that it's, it's not necessary.
(07:22):
But I, but I would say the.
Uh, you know, I, I dig on wordsof affirmation.
That's, yeah.
That's my, my love language inThat's one of your love
languages.
And I, I think, uh, this guy, Imean, I don't think, I know this
goes back to when I was a kid,I, I'd bust my tail to get stuff
done around the house mm-hmm.
Before mom got home.
Uh, in hopes that she wouldrecognize all that I've done and
(07:44):
give me a big fat attaboy, youknow, and, uh, sometimes I gotta
some attaboy, attaboy, you know,always I was, uh, yeah, I was, I
was operating from insecurity,operating from a broken place
back then.
And, and mom was alwaysassuring, and sometimes I got
the attaboy and sometimes Ididn't.
(08:05):
And honestly, in the momentsthat I didn't, I'd think, Hey.
Oh, what the heck?
After all that, didn't you seewhat I did?
Right.
Does anyone even notice?
Right.
However, um, as I look back onthat, in hindsight, uh, it's,
uh, it's nice to get noticed.
(08:32):
Mm-hmm.
Uh, but for me.
Uh, you know, it, it, it taughtme, you know, that when you see
something that needs done, getit done.
Mm.
If it's within, if it's withinmy power to do it, if it's
within my ability to do it, justget it done.
Mm-hmm.
Again, it's nice to be noticed,but, you know, for me it's, it's
(08:53):
more fulfilling a as as I'vegrown up, uh, and as I've, uh,
as I've blossomed as a disciple,uh, and as a follower of Christ,
I, uh.
It's more fulfilling for me justknowing that anything that I've
decided to do has, has beenhelpful to someone else.
Mm.
Yeah.
But I, uh, but I get what, I getwhat you're saying because I, I
(09:17):
can remember, you know, aboutwanting the, wanting the
spotlight and, you know, evenseveral years ago.
I was, you know, working with anorganization and I was involved
and, and they were publiclythanking those that had
contributed and helped them withtheir event on social media.
And I kept watching to see whenmy name and my picture was gonna
(09:40):
come up.
'cause I was gonna share it onsocial media.
Right.
You know.
Um.
But somehow they skipped rightover me.
Huh.
You know?
And I didn't say anything.
I didn't make a big deal aboutit, but I can tell you that my
flesh flared up initially.
Like, hello?
Yeah.
Um, what about me?
(10:02):
What about me?
I was there, I helped, I didthis, I did that.
And then the Holy Spiritwhispered, but I saw you.
Yeah.
And he put me right in my place.
And excuse me, I, and I believethat was meant to be a lesson.
(10:23):
To me.
Oh, it was meant to be a lesson.
Oh yeah.
It was meant to be a lesson.
I, I have a dear sister, Dene Deand Elaine, and she says, die
already.
That was a good, that was diealready.
That was a good de, but I neededto die to self.
I mean, it was never about me tobegin with.
It was about.
Him and it was about theorganization.
(10:44):
Yeah.
It was not about me.
Yeah.
It's about allowing the spiritto kill the flesh.
Yes.
Our core verse at Unbound is, uhmm-hmm.
Romans eight, six to, yeah.
To live by the flesh is, uh,death.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, to live by The spirit islife and peace.
(11:06):
So, so what do you want?
Yeah.
You want death.
Which is biblically defined asseparation from God.
Um, or do you want life inpeace?
Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna go withlife in peace.
Amen.
Me too.
Uh, so you, I love the, that wasa great dn thanks by, by the
way.
I gotta make sure I tag her onthis episode, so.
(11:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
So she hears it and, but, but I,I love, I love her, you know,
contemporary.
Yeah.
How she conveys that, uh,contemporarily.
Mm-hmm.
The, uh, Jesus saying, you know.
Yeah.
Uh, if you all are gonna followme.
Yeah.
Um, that's, uh, if Jesus is fromthe South.
Yeah.
Uh, and, and he's not.
But, uh, if you're gonna followme.
(11:50):
Uh, whoever would be myfollowers must deny themselves,
pick up their cross and followme.
Mm-hmm.
You know, if you're gonna do it,you're gonna Yeah.
You gotta let that flesh go and,um, yeah.
Anyway, and if you don't know deElaine, she's de Elaine the
musical comedian.
Yeah.
Check her out on social media.
Seriously.
You, you will not regret it.
(12:10):
She's amazing.
She, she's the general of joy.
She is the general of joy.
Right on.
And not only is she that, butshe has such a heart.
Yeah.
And she.
Is such a good, good pastor.
Yeah, a good evangelist.
Yeah.
Like I think she's got the full,the, the total full fivefold.
Yeah.
The total package.
(12:30):
Yeah.
She's the total package.
She's rocking it.
She's prophetic.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
Check her out.
Reeling it in.
Yes.
Reel it in, babe.
I know.
But when I start to talk aboutpeople that I love, you know.
Yeah.
It's, uh, we, we can get, uh.
That, that's not necessarily inthe weeds, but just a tad off
topic.
But we do, we do love, uh, we dolove Deanne, so, you know, yes.
(12:51):
All right.
Um, so the, back to the bigclash.
Yeah.
The big clashes between, youknow, like we said in Romans
eight, six mm-hmm.
The clashes between flesh and,and spirit.
Yeah.
So we want to be humble, but wealso want to be appreciated.
And I've, I've learned along theway that, uh, all the while God
invites us into somethingdeeper.
(13:14):
Mm-hmm.
He invites us into an obediencethat.
Trust his perspective more thanman's applause.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Good.
Trust his perspective.
Good.
There's, there's a paradigmshift for you trusting the
Lord's perspective over overmen's affirmation, right?
Even as the world tells us that,that we gotta go get that gold
(13:35):
star recognition.
Jesus says that the first willbe last and the last will be
first, which is to say that.
I'm okay over here servingbehind the scenes.
I'm okay serving anonymously'cause I don't require status.
Uh, I don't require a title.
I don't require thisrecognition.
(13:57):
Mm-hmm.
I got all the satisfaction Ineed from the audience who
matters.
Yeah.
Uh, not, not that people don'tmatter.
I, um, please don'tmisunderstand me.
But when it comes down to itbetween, uh, the affirmation of
mankind.
Humanity, if I'm gonna choosebetween the two, I'm gonna take
(14:17):
the affirmation of my creator,father God.
Amen.
Yeah, for sure.
So let's, let's talk about howwe can live this out
practically.
Practical, practical, practicalsolutions.
Yeah.
How do we nurture that secretservant's heart when.
We're in a world that pushes usto be seen, to be seen, to be
(14:42):
heard.
I think that it comes back to, Ikind of touched on this already,
but you know, it, it definitelydeserves repeating, you know,
we, we gotta remind ourselveswho we're serving.
Right.
You know?
Mm-hmm.
And, and, uh, we could men.
(15:05):
Mix identity into there as well.
Mm-hmm.
Because when we discover whosewe are, we'll discover who we
are.
Yes.
Right.
And, uh, write that one down.
When we discover whose we are,we'll discover who we are.
And in turn we gotta remindourselves who we're serving.
You know, we serving God or men.
(15:26):
I, it just reminded me ofPeter's, uh, his, uh, speech in
the Sanhedrin.
I won't get into that, but he islike, Hey, yeah.
If, if it's between us, youknow, uh, if it's between
serving you or serving the Lord,you know, you might as well
(15:47):
start beating us now.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and that's notverbatim.
Uh, but that was his point.
He goes, he goes, y'all gotnothing to say.
'cause you know, Jesus said itall.
Yeah.
And, and we're gonna do what hesaid.
Yeah.
Because that's what he entrustedus with.
So we gotta remind ourselves whowe're serving.
Uh, Paul, um.
(16:08):
And, uh, Colossians 3 23.
Uh, he says, whatever you do,work at it with all your heart
as if you're serving, as ifyou're working for the Lord, uh,
and not for men.
So whether we're doing thedishes for our spouse or, or our
family, uh, or we're helpingsomeone financially, a selfless
(16:28):
acts in the name of Jesus neverget wasted.
They never go unnoticed.
So.
Do it.
But thank you for doing thedishes, babe.
Well, you know, sometimes peopleneed help.
They do.
Right.
And you know, Ronnie Ronnie'sthe one who usually does them,
but Yeah.
You know, you will selflessly dothem.
(16:49):
There's a little selfish inthere'cause I don't like dirty
dishes in my sink.
Our sink.
But anyway, uh, yeah.
You know.
Alright, moving on.
Moving on.
Well, secondly.
We choose anonymity on purpose.
Yeah.
You wanna break your flesh Diealready.
(17:12):
Right.
Again, for you Dan.
Yes, please.
But, but yes please.
I want to break my flesh.
Yeah.
Daily.
Actually, you're not gonna breakyour flesh but the spirit, well
the spirit will do for you whatyou can't do for yourself.
Well, right.
But you know what I mean?
I wanna die to my flesh.
Yes.
I wanna die to my flesh daily.
Right?
Sure.
You, you know, blessing someoneanonymously.
(17:35):
Write that card.
Yeah.
Give that gift, maybe pay thatbill and don't say a word about
it.
Right.
Um, that kind of disciplinegrows your heart in a way that
platforms never could.
Yeah.
There's no platform that isgoing to grow your heart like
that.
And.
I've actually been on thereceiving end of that.
(17:57):
I've experienced that in arestaurant where someone bought
my family dinner.
Yeah.
And it was at a time when Ineeded it.
Yeah.
And to this day, I have no ideawho it was.
And it doesn't matter becausethey know who they are and they
probably know who they are inChrist too.
(18:18):
Right, right.
It's really easy to do it indrive-throughs.
So if the Holy Spirit promptsyou to pay for the person behind
you online, and I'm notadvocating drive-throughs, I'm
not advocating fast food.
We don't eat very little fastfood.
Maybe a Chick-fil-A, I might eata Chick-fil-A on occasion,
(18:39):
Allen, probably not, but onoccasion, maybe it's in the
Starbucks line, you know?
But wherever.
If the Holy Spirit prompts youto pay for the person behind
you, there is probably a reasonfor that.
Yeah.
So, so don't ignore it.
Right.
Um, and the beauty of that isthat they will never know who
(19:01):
you are.
Unless they run your licenseplate.
But the odds of them doing thatis no running your license plate
between slum and slum and none.
Right, right.
No one's gonna run your licenseplate.
They're not gonna take time tochase you down.
They're just gonna be grateful.
Grateful, hopefully grateful,right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they probably needed it.
If the Holy Spirit is likeurging you to do that, it's
probably because they need that.
(19:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
So moving on third point, yeah.
You gotta celebrate otherswithout needing to be celebrated
yourself.
Yes.
That's a big deal, man.
Mm-hmm.
When, when someone else is, uh,gets the thank you or the
spotlight, cheer them on mm-hmm.
As you would like to be cheeredon, but cheer support the team.
(19:43):
It's, it's about the team.
Mm-hmm.
And, and, uh, so remember it'simp so important to remember
that our service isn't about us.
Right.
You know, as followers ofChrist, you know, that's what,
what, how, how you say diealready.
Um, our service isn't about us.
(20:03):
Right.
It's not about getting thecredit, it's not about getting
the spotlight.
It's about advancing hiskingdom.
And it's important to, to gainand maintain focus on that.
Yeah.
Advancing the Lord's kingdom.
Yeah.
And I just wanna say.
Even if someone gets the creditthat you deserved, celebrate
(20:24):
them.
There's a tough one.
It's a tough one.
That is a true die to self.
That is a die to self.
But celebrate them.
We're not called to be walkedon, but you know.
True.
Well, no, but no, absolutelynot.
But if, but if someone gets, ifyou did something and someone
else receives the credit for it,celebrate that.
(20:44):
That's interesting.
Celebrate that because right.
Then it really is in secret howmuch you know, you and the
father know, right, that you didit.
Nobody else does.
That's good.
How mature are you now?
Right.
Right.
Have you had that happen?
Right.
Drop us a line if you have.
Right.
We'd be interested to know.
I, I can say that I've had thathappen.
(21:07):
Yeah.
Um, and I probably did notcelebrate it.
Right.
If I'm gonna be quite honest.
But that was like a really,really long time ago from that.
Right, right, right.
But finally, you know, kind ofgoing along with that, we wanna
keep an eternal mindset.
God is building a reward that noman can give.
Yeah.
(21:27):
And no thief can steal.
Yeah.
And there are crowns.
You have a crown, Allen, youhave a crown that is being
stored in heaven.
I do.
For every small, I got unsee.
I got a cool hat too.
Well, yes, you have a hat, but,but we all have crowns that are
being stored in heaven for everysmall unseen act of obedience.
(21:48):
And Jesus will reward you.
Again, we don't do it for thereward, we do it because we get
to.
Yeah.
Not because we got to, butbecause we get to.
That's it, man.
And in fact, I'm, I'm gonna bet,as you would say, I am gonna bet
dollars to donuts that some ofthe biggest heroes in heaven.
Might be the ones that nobodyhere on Earth ever heard about
(22:13):
or knew about.
Right, right.
Don't you think?
I, I think you probably have,we'll know when we get there.
We'll know when we get there.
That's right.
So, so action item for the week.
Who, what's, what's the one,what's the one unseen act that,
uh.
(22:33):
Of loving kindness that, thatthe Lord wants you to do this
week.
Mm.
What can you do this week out oflove, out of kindness for
someone else?
Mm-hmm.
Uh, selflessly.
Anonymously.
Ask him, ask the Lord, where doyou want me to serve in secret
with you?
Because he is always with you.
Yeah.
(22:53):
And maybe today is yourinvitation to lay down your need
to be seen and die already.
We're wearing that one.
We're wearing it out.
But you know, and trust the Godwho sees you completely, you
know, your reward is not beingwithheld.
It's being reserved.
(23:14):
I love that.
That's so good.
And it's going to blow yourmind.
Yeah.
It's good.
So we'd love to hear how theLord's stirring your heart in
this area.
Mm-hmm.
If this episode resonated withyou, share it with someone.
Who needs encouragement to keepserving even when it's hard?
Mm.
And hey, if you're enjoyingthis.
(23:37):
Season on nurturing a servant'sheart.
Would you just take 30 secondsto leave us a five star review?
Five star review, five star.
It really does help more peoplefind the message that you just
enjoyed so that we can continueto spread God's word and grow
his kingdom.
Right.
And on another note, how can wepray for you this week?
(23:59):
Yeah, drop us a line.
Let us know how the Lord'sworking, uh, in your life and
how you would like the Lord tobe working in your life and keep
sowing in secret because ourcreator, father God, sees every
seed that you're sowing.
Yeah, we love you guys and we dowanna pray for you.
(24:19):
Whatever your needs are, wewanna be lifting them up in
prayer.
And remember that when youdecide to be faithfully
invested.
God brings the increase.
He sure does.
God bless.
We'll see you next week.
Bye-bye.
Thanks for joining us onFaithfully Invested with Allen
and Stacy Jo, if today'sconversation encouraged you,
(24:39):
challenged you, or helped yousee your calling more clearly,
don't keep it to yourself.
That's right.
Share it with a friend.
Leave a five star review andkeep leaning into God's
blueprint for your life, yourleadership, and your legacy.
So until next time, remember,when you invest in his kingdom,
he brings the increase.
Are you ready to build a life,business and legacy that truly
lasts?
Welcome to Faithfully Investedwith Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne,
where Faith meets real talk.
Biblical wisdom meets everydaylife and leadership meets
laughter.
Together we will uncover God'sblueprint for leadership,
marriage, and mission, helpingfaith-driven leaders invest in
(00:21):
what matters most.
Each episode, we explorebiblical wisdom, have real
conversations, and of course,have some fun along the way
because let's be real.
Walking in faith is anadventure.
It sure is.
So pull up a seat, grab yourcoffee or your sweet tea, and
join us as we steward ourcallings with intention, because
(00:42):
when we invest in his kingdom,he brings the increase.
Hey friends.
Welcome back to FaithfullyInvested, where we explore God's
blueprint for leadership,marriage, and mission, one
Kingdom principle at a time.
I'm Stacy Jo, and I'm not.
(01:05):
I I'm Allen.
No, you're not.
I, I'm a And today we'rediscussing some, uh, something
that's very close to both of ourhearts.
Uh, secret service.
Hmm.
Not that secret service.
We're talking about servingothers without needing or
(01:27):
getting a standing ovation.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, the kind that we're talkingabout, the service that, uh.
Um, other people just don't knowabout, but God knows and that's
really what matters.
Yeah, that's right.
You know, we're calling this onethe joy of Secret Service.
Right.
Impact without applause.
(01:48):
You know, it's all about thosequiet unseen acts of obedience
that may never get a stage, butmake it into the heart of God.
So it doesn't matter if theyever make it onto a stage.
Right.
And I think that, uh.
That these times that gounrecognized.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I think that, that it'sthose times that, uh, or these
(02:11):
times that find us drawing, uh,that leaning in and drawing
closer to to God.
Yeah, I would agree with that.
You know, we live in a worldthat thrives on visibility.
Would y'all agree?
I mean, yeah.
Yeah.
With an eye roll.
I would agree.
Yes.
Yeah.
Y'all better flash some pics andget it up on social media or it
(02:34):
just didn't happen.
Right?
Right.
Wrong, wrong.
But we've gotten so accustomedto seeing so many of our lives
being played out on socialmedia.
Yeah.
And typically it's all the goodstuff.
Yeah.
We never really see much of the,the negativity.
It's always the good stuff, but.
Some May.
(02:55):
Oh, there, there's a lot ofnegativity.
Well, okay.
Yes, but, but people who puttheir lives out there, yeah.
They're only putting the goodstuff out there.
The good stuff.
The shiny stuff.
The shiny stuff, yeah.
Right.
You know, look at what I did or,or you know, look at what I'm
doing.
Right.
And I'm not saying, again, I'mnot saying there's anything
necessarily wrong with that.
Right.
Except when it becomes obsessiveand not what Right.
(03:18):
God has called you to do.
Sure.
But I digress.
But.
Some may wonder that if it's notposted, if it's not praised or
if it's not platform, you know,is it even counted?
Yeah.
You know, is it counted?
Yeah.
Well, God sees our hearts.
It's most certainly counted.
(03:38):
He does.
Um, kingdom work doesn't worklike that.
No.
That the, it just doesn't worklike that.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Jesus gives us a warning inMatthew six, I think it's verses
one through four, uh, where hepresents a solid paradigm shift.
He's, he Jesus is good at thewhole paradigm shift thing.
(04:00):
So he presents his paradigmshift for, for all of us to
respectfully consider, he says,be careful.
Do not practice yourrighteousness before men to be
noticed by them.
Otherwise, you will have noreward from your father who's in
heaven.
So.
When you give to the poor, don'tsound the trumpet before you,
(04:22):
like the hypocrites do in thesynagogues and in the streets so
that they might be honored bymen.
Truly, I say to you, they havereceived the reward in full, but
when you give to the poor, don'tlet your left hand know what the
right hand is doing so that yourgiving will be in secret and
your father who sees what isdone will reward you.
(04:45):
Bla.
Yeah.
Blammo.
Yeah.
Jesus has a, that sounds a longlife of blammo moments.
All right there.
Yeah.
Don't let your left hand knowwhat your right hand is doing.
Right.
Don't make it all public.
So I say blammo, right?
The kids might say that slaps,but I don't even know if that's
(05:07):
like a thing anymore.
But anyhow, I'm gonna ask younot to say that again.
That slaps Blammo.
Yes.
That slaps?
No.
All right.
No more of that slaps.
But anyway, you know, my pointis that that's really good
because it is so easy, even inministry to serve in ways that
(05:33):
we still want credit, right?
And Jesus invites us to serve insecret.
He does to.
So where no one sees.
And to trust that the fatherdoes see.
Yeah, the father does see, youknow, he sees everything and
he's the one, he alone rewardsus.
Right.
(05:53):
And it's not about getting areward from God.
No, we don't serve.
For the re it, it, it'sunderstood.
It's written in the word thatmm-hmm.
You know, we serve and, and, andthe Lord or who sees us will
reward us.
Mm-hmm.
But it's not about getting thereward, it's about, it's about
serving for the sake of serving.
Right.
You know, we serve because we'reable, we serve because we can,
(06:14):
uh, on a personal level, I servebecause God and other, so, uh,
they've served me well andthey've seen me through, uh, uh,
um.
A lot of dark times.
Mm-hmm.
They see me and, uh, they've,uh, they've brought me the Lord
and, and others, how he's workedthrough others have brought me a
long way from where I used tobe.
(06:35):
Yeah.
And it's, it's all about, forme, it's all about giving back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Being grateful.
Being Grateful Heart.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Leading from a grateful heart.
Mm-hmm.
Certainly.
Yeah.
So.
You know, there've, uh, there'vebeen times through my faith walk
when, when I've been assistinghere and there and, uh, with no
(06:59):
flash for the effort.
Right.
You know, but, uh, some, it'snice to be recognized, but you
know.
It's not, there was a time when,when I, when I wanted the flash,
I wanted the, uh, therecognition.
But, you know, just learned, uh,uh, as I've matured in my walk
that it's, it's not necessary.
(07:22):
But I, but I would say the.
Uh, you know, I, I dig on wordsof affirmation.
That's, yeah.
That's my, my love language inThat's one of your love
languages.
And I, I think, uh, this guy, Imean, I don't think, I know this
goes back to when I was a kid,I, I'd bust my tail to get stuff
done around the house mm-hmm.
Before mom got home.
Uh, in hopes that she wouldrecognize all that I've done and
(07:44):
give me a big fat attaboy, youknow, and, uh, sometimes I gotta
some attaboy, attaboy, you know,always I was, uh, yeah, I was, I
was operating from insecurity,operating from a broken place
back then.
And, and mom was alwaysassuring, and sometimes I got
the attaboy and sometimes Ididn't.
(08:05):
And honestly, in the momentsthat I didn't, I'd think, Hey.
Oh, what the heck?
After all that, didn't you seewhat I did?
Right.
Does anyone even notice?
Right.
However, um, as I look back onthat, in hindsight, uh, it's,
uh, it's nice to get noticed.
(08:32):
Mm-hmm.
Uh, but for me.
Uh, you know, it, it, it taughtme, you know, that when you see
something that needs done, getit done.
Mm.
If it's within, if it's withinmy power to do it, if it's
within my ability to do it, justget it done.
Mm-hmm.
Again, it's nice to be noticed,but, you know, for me it's, it's
(08:53):
more fulfilling a as as I'vegrown up, uh, and as I've, uh,
as I've blossomed as a disciple,uh, and as a follower of Christ,
I, uh.
It's more fulfilling for me justknowing that anything that I've
decided to do has, has beenhelpful to someone else.
Mm.
Yeah.
But I, uh, but I get what, I getwhat you're saying because I, I
(09:17):
can remember, you know, aboutwanting the, wanting the
spotlight and, you know, evenseveral years ago.
I was, you know, working with anorganization and I was involved
and, and they were publiclythanking those that had
contributed and helped them withtheir event on social media.
And I kept watching to see whenmy name and my picture was gonna
(09:40):
come up.
'cause I was gonna share it onsocial media.
Right.
You know.
Um.
But somehow they skipped rightover me.
Huh.
You know?
And I didn't say anything.
I didn't make a big deal aboutit, but I can tell you that my
flesh flared up initially.
Like, hello?
Yeah.
Um, what about me?
(10:02):
What about me?
I was there, I helped, I didthis, I did that.
And then the Holy Spiritwhispered, but I saw you.
Yeah.
And he put me right in my place.
And excuse me, I, and I believethat was meant to be a lesson.
(10:23):
To me.
Oh, it was meant to be a lesson.
Oh yeah.
It was meant to be a lesson.
I, I have a dear sister, Dene Deand Elaine, and she says, die
already.
That was a good, that was diealready.
That was a good de, but I neededto die to self.
I mean, it was never about me tobegin with.
It was about.
Him and it was about theorganization.
(10:44):
Yeah.
It was not about me.
Yeah.
It's about allowing the spiritto kill the flesh.
Yes.
Our core verse at Unbound is, uhmm-hmm.
Romans eight, six to, yeah.
To live by the flesh is, uh,death.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, to live by The spirit islife and peace.
(11:06):
So, so what do you want?
Yeah.
You want death.
Which is biblically defined asseparation from God.
Um, or do you want life inpeace?
Yeah, I'm, I'm gonna go withlife in peace.
Amen.
Me too.
Uh, so you, I love the, that wasa great dn thanks by, by the
way.
I gotta make sure I tag her onthis episode, so.
(11:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
So she hears it and, but, but I,I love, I love her, you know,
contemporary.
Yeah.
How she conveys that, uh,contemporarily.
Mm-hmm.
The, uh, Jesus saying, you know.
Yeah.
Uh, if you all are gonna followme.
Yeah.
Um, that's, uh, if Jesus is fromthe South.
Yeah.
Uh, and, and he's not.
But, uh, if you're gonna followme.
(11:50):
Uh, whoever would be myfollowers must deny themselves,
pick up their cross and followme.
Mm-hmm.
You know, if you're gonna do it,you're gonna Yeah.
You gotta let that flesh go and,um, yeah.
Anyway, and if you don't know deElaine, she's de Elaine the
musical comedian.
Yeah.
Check her out on social media.
Seriously.
You, you will not regret it.
(12:10):
She's amazing.
She, she's the general of joy.
She is the general of joy.
Right on.
And not only is she that, butshe has such a heart.
Yeah.
And she.
Is such a good, good pastor.
Yeah, a good evangelist.
Yeah.
Like I think she's got the full,the, the total full fivefold.
Yeah.
The total package.
(12:30):
Yeah.
She's the total package.
She's rocking it.
She's prophetic.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
Check her out.
Reeling it in.
Yes.
Reel it in, babe.
I know.
But when I start to talk aboutpeople that I love, you know.
Yeah.
It's, uh, we, we can get, uh.
That, that's not necessarily inthe weeds, but just a tad off
topic.
But we do, we do love, uh, we dolove Deanne, so, you know, yes.
(12:51):
All right.
Um, so the, back to the bigclash.
Yeah.
The big clashes between, youknow, like we said in Romans
eight, six mm-hmm.
The clashes between flesh and,and spirit.
Yeah.
So we want to be humble, but wealso want to be appreciated.
And I've, I've learned along theway that, uh, all the while God
invites us into somethingdeeper.
(13:14):
Mm-hmm.
He invites us into an obediencethat.
Trust his perspective more thanman's applause.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Good.
Trust his perspective.
Good.
There's, there's a paradigmshift for you trusting the
Lord's perspective over overmen's affirmation, right?
Even as the world tells us that,that we gotta go get that gold
(13:35):
star recognition.
Jesus says that the first willbe last and the last will be
first, which is to say that.
I'm okay over here servingbehind the scenes.
I'm okay serving anonymously'cause I don't require status.
Uh, I don't require a title.
I don't require thisrecognition.
(13:57):
Mm-hmm.
I got all the satisfaction Ineed from the audience who
matters.
Yeah.
Uh, not, not that people don'tmatter.
I, um, please don'tmisunderstand me.
But when it comes down to itbetween, uh, the affirmation of
mankind.
Humanity, if I'm gonna choosebetween the two, I'm gonna take
(14:17):
the affirmation of my creator,father God.
Amen.
Yeah, for sure.
So let's, let's talk about howwe can live this out
practically.
Practical, practical, practicalsolutions.
Yeah.
How do we nurture that secretservant's heart when.
We're in a world that pushes usto be seen, to be seen, to be
(14:42):
heard.
I think that it comes back to, Ikind of touched on this already,
but you know, it, it definitelydeserves repeating, you know,
we, we gotta remind ourselveswho we're serving.
Right.
You know?
Mm-hmm.
And, and, uh, we could men.
(15:05):
Mix identity into there as well.
Mm-hmm.
Because when we discover whosewe are, we'll discover who we
are.
Yes.
Right.
And, uh, write that one down.
When we discover whose we are,we'll discover who we are.
And in turn we gotta remindourselves who we're serving.
You know, we serving God or men.
(15:26):
I, it just reminded me ofPeter's, uh, his, uh, speech in
the Sanhedrin.
I won't get into that, but he islike, Hey, yeah.
If, if it's between us, youknow, uh, if it's between
serving you or serving the Lord,you know, you might as well
(15:47):
start beating us now.
Mm-hmm.
You know, and that's notverbatim.
Uh, but that was his point.
He goes, he goes, y'all gotnothing to say.
'cause you know, Jesus said itall.
Yeah.
And, and we're gonna do what hesaid.
Yeah.
Because that's what he entrustedus with.
So we gotta remind ourselves whowe're serving.
Uh, Paul, um.
(16:08):
And, uh, Colossians 3 23.
Uh, he says, whatever you do,work at it with all your heart
as if you're serving, as ifyou're working for the Lord, uh,
and not for men.
So whether we're doing thedishes for our spouse or, or our
family, uh, or we're helpingsomeone financially, a selfless
(16:28):
acts in the name of Jesus neverget wasted.
They never go unnoticed.
So.
Do it.
But thank you for doing thedishes, babe.
Well, you know, sometimes peopleneed help.
They do.
Right.
And you know, Ronnie Ronnie'sthe one who usually does them,
but Yeah.
You know, you will selflessly dothem.
(16:49):
There's a little selfish inthere'cause I don't like dirty
dishes in my sink.
Our sink.
But anyway, uh, yeah.
You know.
Alright, moving on.
Moving on.
Well, secondly.
We choose anonymity on purpose.
Yeah.
You wanna break your flesh Diealready.
(17:12):
Right.
Again, for you Dan.
Yes, please.
But, but yes please.
I want to break my flesh.
Yeah.
Daily.
Actually, you're not gonna breakyour flesh but the spirit, well
the spirit will do for you whatyou can't do for yourself.
Well, right.
But you know what I mean?
I wanna die to my flesh.
Yes.
I wanna die to my flesh daily.
Right?
Sure.
You, you know, blessing someoneanonymously.
(17:35):
Write that card.
Yeah.
Give that gift, maybe pay thatbill and don't say a word about
it.
Right.
Um, that kind of disciplinegrows your heart in a way that
platforms never could.
Yeah.
There's no platform that isgoing to grow your heart like
that.
And.
I've actually been on thereceiving end of that.
(17:57):
I've experienced that in arestaurant where someone bought
my family dinner.
Yeah.
And it was at a time when Ineeded it.
Yeah.
And to this day, I have no ideawho it was.
And it doesn't matter becausethey know who they are and they
probably know who they are inChrist too.
(18:18):
Right, right.
It's really easy to do it indrive-throughs.
So if the Holy Spirit promptsyou to pay for the person behind
you online, and I'm notadvocating drive-throughs, I'm
not advocating fast food.
We don't eat very little fastfood.
Maybe a Chick-fil-A, I might eata Chick-fil-A on occasion,
(18:39):
Allen, probably not, but onoccasion, maybe it's in the
Starbucks line, you know?
But wherever.
If the Holy Spirit prompts youto pay for the person behind
you, there is probably a reasonfor that.
Yeah.
So, so don't ignore it.
Right.
Um, and the beauty of that isthat they will never know who
(19:01):
you are.
Unless they run your licenseplate.
But the odds of them doing thatis no running your license plate
between slum and slum and none.
Right, right.
No one's gonna run your licenseplate.
They're not gonna take time tochase you down.
They're just gonna be grateful.
Grateful, hopefully grateful,right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they probably needed it.
If the Holy Spirit is likeurging you to do that, it's
probably because they need that.
(19:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
So moving on third point, yeah.
You gotta celebrate otherswithout needing to be celebrated
yourself.
Yes.
That's a big deal, man.
Mm-hmm.
When, when someone else is, uh,gets the thank you or the
spotlight, cheer them on mm-hmm.
As you would like to be cheeredon, but cheer support the team.
(19:43):
It's, it's about the team.
Mm-hmm.
And, and, uh, so remember it'simp so important to remember
that our service isn't about us.
Right.
You know, as followers ofChrist, you know, that's what,
what, how, how you say diealready.
Um, our service isn't about us.
(20:03):
Right.
It's not about getting thecredit, it's not about getting
the spotlight.
It's about advancing hiskingdom.
And it's important to, to gainand maintain focus on that.
Yeah.
Advancing the Lord's kingdom.
Yeah.
And I just wanna say.
Even if someone gets the creditthat you deserved, celebrate
(20:24):
them.
There's a tough one.
It's a tough one.
That is a true die to self.
That is a die to self.
But celebrate them.
We're not called to be walkedon, but you know.
True.
Well, no, but no, absolutelynot.
But if, but if someone gets, ifyou did something and someone
else receives the credit for it,celebrate that.
(20:44):
That's interesting.
Celebrate that because right.
Then it really is in secret howmuch you know, you and the
father know, right, that you didit.
Nobody else does.
That's good.
How mature are you now?
Right.
Right.
Have you had that happen?
Right.
Drop us a line if you have.
Right.
We'd be interested to know.
I, I can say that I've had thathappen.
(21:07):
Yeah.
Um, and I probably did notcelebrate it.
Right.
If I'm gonna be quite honest.
But that was like a really,really long time ago from that.
Right, right, right.
But finally, you know, kind ofgoing along with that, we wanna
keep an eternal mindset.
God is building a reward that noman can give.
Yeah.
(21:27):
And no thief can steal.
Yeah.
And there are crowns.
You have a crown, Allen, youhave a crown that is being
stored in heaven.
I do.
For every small, I got unsee.
I got a cool hat too.
Well, yes, you have a hat, but,but we all have crowns that are
being stored in heaven for everysmall unseen act of obedience.
(21:48):
And Jesus will reward you.
Again, we don't do it for thereward, we do it because we get
to.
Yeah.
Not because we got to, butbecause we get to.
That's it, man.
And in fact, I'm, I'm gonna bet,as you would say, I am gonna bet
dollars to donuts that some ofthe biggest heroes in heaven.
Might be the ones that nobodyhere on Earth ever heard about
(22:13):
or knew about.
Right, right.
Don't you think?
I, I think you probably have,we'll know when we get there.
We'll know when we get there.
That's right.
So, so action item for the week.
Who, what's, what's the one,what's the one unseen act that,
uh.
(22:33):
Of loving kindness that, thatthe Lord wants you to do this
week.
Mm.
What can you do this week out oflove, out of kindness for
someone else?
Mm-hmm.
Uh, selflessly.
Anonymously.
Ask him, ask the Lord, where doyou want me to serve in secret
with you?
Because he is always with you.
Yeah.
(22:53):
And maybe today is yourinvitation to lay down your need
to be seen and die already.
We're wearing that one.
We're wearing it out.
But you know, and trust the Godwho sees you completely, you
know, your reward is not beingwithheld.
It's being reserved.
(23:14):
I love that.
That's so good.
And it's going to blow yourmind.
Yeah.
It's good.
So we'd love to hear how theLord's stirring your heart in
this area.
Mm-hmm.
If this episode resonated withyou, share it with someone.
Who needs encouragement to keepserving even when it's hard?
Mm.
And hey, if you're enjoyingthis.
(23:37):
Season on nurturing a servant'sheart.
Would you just take 30 secondsto leave us a five star review?
Five star review, five star.
It really does help more peoplefind the message that you just
enjoyed so that we can continueto spread God's word and grow
his kingdom.
Right.
And on another note, how can wepray for you this week?
(23:59):
Yeah, drop us a line.
Let us know how the Lord'sworking, uh, in your life and
how you would like the Lord tobe working in your life and keep
sowing in secret because ourcreator, father God, sees every
seed that you're sowing.
Yeah, we love you guys and we dowanna pray for you.
(24:19):
Whatever your needs are, wewanna be lifting them up in
prayer.
And remember that when youdecide to be faithfully
invested.
God brings the increase.
He sure does.
God bless.
We'll see you next week.
Bye-bye.
Thanks for joining us onFaithfully Invested with Allen
and Stacy Jo, if today'sconversation encouraged you,
(24:39):
challenged you, or helped yousee your calling more clearly,
don't keep it to yourself.
That's right.
Share it with a friend.
Leave a five star review andkeep leaning into God's
blueprint for your life, yourleadership, and your legacy.
So until next time, remember,when you invest in his kingdom,
he brings the increase.
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