Faithbase

Hey everybody, it's Danny, I want to say thank you for tuning in to the Heart Way podcast and I want to give a special thanks to those of you who are tuning in from really all over the world. We're so grateful that you are a part of our community and that you listen in on an ongoing basis. If you've been encouraged by what you've heard, I want to ask you to share this with a friend. You never know the impact that one of these messages can have in another person's life. And if you yourself have been impacted and you'd like to continue to partner with us to keep this work going, check us out at heartwaychurch.com slash give. Every dollar that you give goes a really long way towards helping us do what it is that we do. Well we love you, really hope you enjoy the podcast. So good morning Heart Way, my name is Clifford. And as I say this every time I get a chance to teach, it is truly an honor to be able to do so. But before we get into that, I need to settle something, right? You see, because my son, you guys know Bryce, come here Bryce, right? So we got our company hats made, right? And Bryce keeps walking around the house talking about dad, like I look better than you, right? I'm like, bro, you can't look better than me, I'm the original. He's like, but I have a little bit of mommy and you, so I look, I'm like better than you. So this is what we're going to do, all right? We're going to settle this right here with crowd participation. Who looks better, right? Now listen, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. Listen, don't be biased now because he's a little cute, little handsome dude, right? Don't be biased. I want your honest opinions, like who's wearing the hat better, right? All right, so I'm going to put my hand over him and you're going to clap a little bit. And then I'm going to put my hand over me and you're going to lose your mind. You guys ready? All right. No, no, this is the one I chose. All right, you guys ready for this? All right. That's what we do at Heartway. Get out of here, boy. Thank you. Give it up for Bryce. What's going on, Heartway? You guys good? Bryce, you may take this with you. I can't teach with a hat on. It feels a little weird. So good morning to those that don't know me. Again, my name is Cliff. And before we jump into the message, I felt this nudge to be able to share something with you. So as a teacher or a pastor, I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. I'm a pastor. So as a teacher or a pastor, Pastor Danny and I's role is to be able to help you open and expand your thought process so that the perspective that you have of life, good or bad, and most importantly, the perspective that you have of yourself is through the lens of a loving father. And if you spent five minutes here at Heartway, you know a few things. One, we're not trying to convert you to anything. We're not trying to judge. We're not even trying to tell you how to think. We here at Heartway, the leaders here at Heartway, all we are here to do is share the good news. So today I want to jump into the message that's called the identity within. This past couple of weeks, I've had the wonderful privilege of hanging out with a couple of the football players. So last week or the week before, I spent time with about 30 NFL or Miami Dolphin players. And then last week was about 30 to 35 players from around the league. And what one of my friends put on was a business combine for the NFL players. And so what it was is to be able to teach them how to invest their money, how to make wise decisions because their time in the NFL has an end date. And so being able to help them to understand that they need to invest their money into whether it's real estate, whether it's tech, whether it's medical, whatever it may be, help them grow their portfolio. So it was a two and a half day combine. I felt the privilege of being able to talk with some of them because I started to hear their stories. I started to hear the challenges that they face. Because as an NFL player or a player in any sport, you are always compared to one person or another. And so what I started to realize is that some of them have lost their way. Some of them have found themselves lost because they too now are comparing themselves to someone else and they're starting to lose their identity just a little bit. And so for me, I wanted to encourage them and let them know that that is just a small fraction of what life can be and how life can put pressure on you that is not needed. And others, they're feeling like that they're good at what they do on the field, but they've lost their passion. They've hit the pinnacle of their goal. Their goal has been always to make it to the NFL. And the question starts to sit in, now what? You know, you can continue to strive to try to get to the Super Bowl and make it to the playoffs and stuff like that. But what else after that? And so their story is similar to so much of ours. As we start to check off the things that we are striving to hit, we cannot lose ourselves in the way. So today I'm going to ask you four questions. Now these questions today probably are going to be a little uncomfortable. I'm hoping to see you squirm a little bit in your chairs. I want you to be a little bit uncomfortable. Because what I'm hoping today by asking you these questions, I'm hoping that we get a chance to bring that chest of all the things that you have locked away and don't want to discuss within yourself. I'm hoping that I'm able to help give you the courage to be able to open up and start to dissect what is in there in a peaceful, in a calm, understanding way. So the first question that I have for you today is, who do you show the world you are? Like these players in the NFL, they have to go out each and every Sunday to show the world that they can be better than the person that's on the opposite side of them. They are stronger than they may be feeling on the inside. They are wiser because they understand the plays and they can execute them. So they have to show the world this. But I want to ask you today, who do you show the world that you are? Maybe you're, as Pastor Danny spoke last week, when somebody says, how are you doing today? And you're like, oh, I'm fine. I'm living my best life. But truth be told, you're sitting there sad on the inside, wishing that somebody will ask you that question one more time and you will have the courage to actually say, no, I'm not. Maybe you're standing there saying that you know where you're going. You understand the path that is in front of you. But truthfully inside, you're lost. You're trying to understand what it is that God wants you to do. You have prayed this prayer, Lord, if you just tell me what you want me to do, I'll do it. Because you're trying to understand the direction to go out and accomplish what you have been put down in your spirit. But it's that still little voice that you're still trying to sing, what is it? Maybe you're like the story of Humpty Dumpty. You've fallen off and you've been broken into pieces. No matter what you do of trying to put yourself back together by grabbing your friends or your family or wrapping yourself up in your career or your finances or your status to be able to put yourself back together again. But the same thing keeps happening. There's no glue strong enough that is in the external to hold you together. And so you keep looking around and while you're sitting there broken, God has been tapping you on your leg telling you, I'm right here. I'm the glue that you need to be able to go forward. I'm the glue that will help actually put you back together because in your brokenness, I have never left you. In your brokenness, I have never abandoned you. In your brokenness, I have never been silent. In your brokenness, you have never been alone because I have been there right there with you no matter what. And as you go through life and you look to try to understand the mass that you have put on, I want you to take a look at this quote that I have. It's by Rick Warren. It says, look up. This is a different one. That works. This is Andre Bethume. I know I pronounced that wrong, but don't worry about it. We all wear masks and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin. You see, we go through life and we've had so many of these masks on that trying to figure out who we are, the separation between the mask and us is a scary place that we find ourselves that we are lost in. I want you guys to understand that it is important for us to know that if we start to head in a direction that our life must follow what God has told us to follow. My second question, who do you say you are? As you go through life, you're trying to say, you're trying to figure out who you're telling yourself that you are. You're also trying to figure out who the world is saying that you are. When you're in a room and everybody's sitting here and they're talking, but you get up and go to the restroom and you're wondering, well, did I show them me? Did I show them who I want them to see? Because we go through life and that's the hard part. We cannot find, we cannot find what they, we cannot be what they want us to be. Mark 8, 27 says, Jesus and the disciples are walking, says, Jesus and the disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were there walking along, he asked them, who do the people say I am? Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are the one, one of the other prophets. Then he looked at them and said, but who do you say I am? As I started to think about this, they are, excuse me, he says, Peter replied, you are Messiah. As I started to think about this, when I was preparing the message, when Jesus asked the first question, who do they say that I am? You see, we go through life hoping that people will say that we are one person or another, we are this or we are that, and they are going to come up with all these different names and titles for you. But then Jesus turned to Peter, the one that he loved, and said, who do you say I am? It is in those moments that we continue to look to the people that we know the most, that we strive to be close with, whether it's our partners, whether it's friends or family, we are striving and hoping that they at least know us. One of the, it's one of my songs, you know, this is before Jesus in my life, Tupac, George Clinton at the beginning of the song says, the blind stares of a million pairs of eyes looking hard but won't realize that they would never see the P. You remember that, right? You see, we work so hard trying to either live up to what they are saying or trying to disprove what they're saying. How can we, when we only show them a little bit of who we are? You see, for myself, in the construction industry and the development industry, I walk into these rooms, whether it's 50 or 60 people, and there's, sometimes I'm the only one in the room that looks like me, that has the same amount of melon in my skin as me. Sometimes I find myself in a room trying to show them that I deserve to be there, trying to show them that I am as smart as they are, even though they've been in this industry for a long time, I try to show them that it's me. I'm right here. I'm standing here. I can build your building just as well as the next person. And I find myself sometimes having to recenter myself because I feel like I'm in this room and I'm lost. I start to question even my own abilities because of the things that I want to try to prove to them of Who I am But as we go through and as I start to realize that you know what I Deserve to be there not because of any comparison to anybody else be but because of the person that I am Because of whose I am Exodus 313 says but Moses protested if I go to the people of Israel and tell them the God of your ancestors has sent me to you. They will ask What is his name? Then what should I tell them? God replies to Moses. I am who I am Say this to the people of Israel. I am who I am has sent me to you My third question Whose are you? You see for me my son my son knows that he is mine My son knows that if anything happens in this room right now and something pop off. He knows he's protected Likewise my daughter likewise my wife Because they are mine Just like God is saying in this moment He is who he is So I got a challenge for you today The challenge is God is called the great I am if He is the great I am at the very minimum. Doesn't that make us the many great I am Because if he is in us and we are in him Then we too are the great I am we go through life and so many times I find people and I hear them say is like, oh, I'm just an idiot. I'm Unlovable But if God is in you that is not the case You've never heard God take on the identity of I am the great I am idiot I am the great I am unlovable. I am the great I am On our part of me the damaged goods I Am the great I am at risk or hopeless or stupid or worthless He is the great I am loving father he is the great I am confident and If he is the great I am I challenge you to be able to walk in and know that you too are the great I am You too are the great I am loving kind peaceful if If he is in you Then how can you not live up to that? How can you not be that in? the scriptures of John or first John 9 for Ye are of God little children and have overcome them because greater is he that Is in you than he that is in the world. I Want you guys to understand today if you don't take anything else away from today's message is knowing who you are God will fight for you. God has fought for you. Have you got gotten in your car heading to work? Running late and stressed out about being late and Noticed that there was an accident on your path to to work that day or to wherever you were going you have to understand that God was there and I know you all have sat there and thought if I had just been on time. I May have really been late God has actually interceded in some of the relationships I'll talk to the ladies here for a minute. How many times you like? Thank God. I didn't go over and talk to that, dude Likewise fellas. So this is a little sidebar when I was in college. I had this thing called a sift When I would you know walk around and see who I wanted to talk to right? I called it the crazy sift right and so what the crazy sift was I Would before I would go and talk to a girl like I pay attention to her body movements and actions like You seem a little crazy you can see a woman across the room how they're interacting with their girl if they are way too over expressive and a little bit of this That may not be the one but if that's your type, that's your type. It's okay Some dudes like the little bit of crazy. No, dude, that's great. That's good No, it don't work out cuz when she mad at you that crazy come out it's not she's just crazy over here ladies Tell me you've seen some guys and be like, yo, he's all jacked up. He's good Like he's like all muscle about and then but that crazy side of like everything's extreme It happens right? And so what I want you guys to understand that God is telling you that greater is he that is in me is referring to the God that is in you At that moment of salvation all believers receive the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, which means he is God. God is the one who is inside of us So I will ask you my final question for today Who are you? You May be quick to think well, you know what I'm a Contractor I am a nurse. I am a father. I am all of these different roles that we play But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm asking you. Who are you? Who are you at your core inside? Who are you from birth? Who are you that God created in you? Are you the unlovable? That you've been telling yourself for so long Are truly deep inside. You're the one that that likes to smile Are you dying to be vulnerable and be open with somebody but you're scared scared of what may happen? Who are you? Being a parent is hard sometimes So you guys met my son Bryce and You know, I can't lie that little boy is me all the way right She says she looks like you he acts like you but I just birthed them What you may hear when you talk to Bryce for any period of time is you'll find out that Bryce thinks He doesn't think less of himself. He actually thinks very very highly of himself and so as a parent he must get that from his mother, but He taking credit as a Parent we want to be able to encourage him. We want him to think greater of him great of himself that is the strive that we we push for both of our kids and So the hard part is trying to balance to know when to think Highly of yourself and not at the expense of others so trying to understand and make sure that he has this level of humbleness is is Something that we have to with him, you know get out of the mirror son. It's okay But at the same token I want him to be confident in who he is He is our son He has been made Wonderful. He has been made perfectly though. Just the way he is Just as God created him and formed him in his mother's womb. He is Absolutely, perfect. I say all of that because I want you to know that When you came in there was a scroll in the chair. I want you guys to all open the scroll for me. I Want you to think about who you are right now I I Want you to really think about who you are In the same token of knowing who you are I do believe it's important of understanding who you are not So many times we go through life of just trying to find out who we are and Not taking time to find out who we are not We are not the labels that the rest of the world will put on us We are not the labels that even sometimes our family and friends have put on us That we cannot accomplish great things It breaks my heart to hear stories of people that their family or teachers have said that you will never amount to anything You will never accomplish anything great. I Pray that if you've ever heard those words in your life that you will work hard to use that as your Motivation to go out and do something great But along the way as you use that motivation find the platform in the base That is within yourself that God has created you to go out and be something great So here's what I want you guys to do My wife asked me he's like why is it every time you teach you always get the audience to do something and I told them I told her I said listen. I said it's their life and They have to have an active role in it Don't have a passive role in your life Take charge of the things that you want to accomplish and be in your life There's not a thing here on earth that if you don't pray to the Father in heaven if he's put it in you that you Cannot accomplish if you are standing on this side of the dirt you can do it So right now I want you to write down Who you are? Not who you've shown the world to be Not the facade that you've put up. I Want you to write down? characteristics of yourself as You are writing. I want you to realize that There is only one thing in life that you will truly fail at And That's trying to be someone else other than you No matter how hard you try to be like the Joneses or the neighbor next to you or that person on Instagram that you don't even know That's not who you are in Our industry we are always told stay in your lane. You see I'm a General contractor, I am NOT an architect. I can't draw I Can't draw for to save my life. I can watch a video about drawing and I still can't draw what's on that paper Because that's not my lane Right. My lane is to be able to build When I did prison ministry one time I met a guy he said You're not only going to build great buildings, but you're going to build lives You're gonna build men and So I take that Wholeheartedly as in something that God has put inside of me to be a builder. I Hope that today's message my Conveyance to you is that you are great You can be amazing We go through life a lot of times Trying to figure it out We go through life searching sometimes feeling like we're feeling around in a dark room What I want you guys to know is That you are right here right now made for this moment There's no tragedy There's no setback there's no breakup there's no Any bad thing that may have happened that can change the trajectory of your life because the person that shot the arrow out is our Almighty God and He has taken this journey with you. He does not stop Please don't walk out of this room Feeling that you are still lost if you feel that way, please come and talk to us One of the things that as the second week with the football players, we were getting right we're coming out of the hotel and Police and everybody was around the hotel There was somebody on one of the scaffoldings that was threatening to jump And so the whole W hotel is like on lockdown and we're trying to get on the bus to go do tours And so you're on side of the road. You have people that's standing there with their cameras and There's as we got on the bus and go around. There's other people standing there And so I I stopped and I prayed I felt bad I was telling my wife the other yesterday it dawned on me. Like I didn't try to go do something and All I could do is pray You don't know what somebody may be going through I Don't know what you may be going through but what I want you to know is God loves you. God loves you because it's a part of him that is in you. The love for my two kids is something that I could have never imagined. So I can only imagine how every time God looks at you, whether you make a mistake or not, there's nothing in this world that'll stop me from loving my son. He does something where I have to get on him. It doesn't change a thing. God will honestly do whatever he has to do to help you to be the you that he created you to be. But will you let him? Do me a favor. Open. Everybody grab your phone. Grab your phone. Flick it to selfie mode. So I want you to take a picture of you right now. Listen, don't put your head down. Take a... I'm talking to you. Take a picture of you right now, whether you have tears rolling down your face. No, no, no, no, no. I seen you back there. Stop trying to fix your hair. Yeah. No, no, no. I wasn't talking to you, Sasha. Right here. She got ready to take the picture and she's like this. No. What I'm trying to get you guys to understand, that is the you right now. The you that's on that paper right now, I want you to go through your phone later and find that you. Loving and kind. That's the you that you are. Perfectly imperfect by a God that is perfect in every sense. So if he created you and if he dwells inside of you, you are the temple. So that selfie, don't you delete it later. My hair wasn't done. You see this hair out of here? Listen, sidebar, I'm going to stand right here and I'm going to look this way. Sometimes with this woman that I love to death, I won't say no names, we take like 30 pictures and she'll like not a single one of them. But to me, you're beautiful inside and out. Ain't a thing in this world that change it, okay? And so I love them all because it's her. And Jesus is telling you the same thing. He loves that picture where your hair ain't right. I ain't got much hair so I ain't got to worry about that problem. You ain't got to laugh that hard, Sean, just because you got a little locs, huh? I'm sensitive about that. So as I close up, everyone, I want you to close your eyes. I want you to take a deep breath. I want you to repeat after me. I am peace. I am kind. I am beautiful. I am vulnerable. I am strong. I am love. Now I want you to keep your eyes closed. Remember that good news that we were talking about, I talked about at the beginning? Imagine your phone being blown up with a whole bunch of messages because somebody has something good to share with you. Imagine that God wrote you this little note and you're waiting with great anticipation to open it. Just as the scrolls that I had here and everybody wanted to know what was in the scrolls. I want the excitement to start to build up inside of you a little bit. The excitement knowing that there's a treat, that God has a blessing for me, that he has some real good news for me. Are you guys ready? You want the good news? The good news is you. You are the good news. Open your eyes. I want you to look at yourself with a new lens. God came to share the good news. We are called to go out and spread the good news of love. God is in us and God is love. We are spreading the love that God has put inside of us with the rest of the world. We are the good news. And so I challenge each of you today to live life as the good news. Let's pray. Lord, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for putting all that of you inside of us. Thank you for smiling at us inside and out. Thank you for being everything that we hope for and desire. Thank you for helping us to be able to be grounded again, to know that the things that are external out in the world as we strive to try to accomplish great things, to be these different things, help us to know that we are right now who you want us to be. We are your work in progress, Lord. Continue to mold us and help us to see the light that we have on the inside of us, that light burst out with so much joy outside of us that people want to be around us. Help us to love unconditionally. Help us to forgive more. Help us to do more. Help us to give ourselves in every situation, recklessly loving the way that you recklessly love us. Help every person in this room right now, Lord, to be able to see themselves as beautiful. Beautiful inside, beautiful on the outside. Help them to understand that right now they sit here whole because you are the glue that has held them together for all these years, and you will be the glue that will rebuild them back together. We ask this in your son Jesus' name, and every heart says, amen. Listen, I love each of you. I thank you for allowing me to have this opportunity to be able to share. I pray that the message today will encourage you to see yourself in an amazing way. Never look down upon yourself. Never call yourself that you wouldn't call God. And I love you.