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. Hello, hello. So loud. I don't like to rush the hugs. It's just so nice to watch. I'm so excited to be here. I wasn't able to come the last two Sundays and sometimes when you do something so often, you not like take it for granted, but you don't realize like how amazing it really is. And then you take a small break and you come back and I mean, like I know why I come here. Like number one, I got a concert every morning. I mean, it's insane. It's incredible. And just to see all the beautiful faces, my beautiful soul sisters, my book club is here. It's just so awesome to see all of you guys here and I hope I don't say this wrong in the song. I am pulling on joy from heaven's reserve and that that's what it's all about. It's pulling on that joy that you inherently have. This is for you. You were born with this joy. There's no separation from you and this joy because there's no separation from you and God from the source. But now the question is, what do you believe heaven is? Is heaven something far away from you? Something you'll only receive once you pass on? Or is heaven right here right now? Can you live in heaven? Can this be your heaven? That's what it's about, my friends. This joy, this love that we're all searching for, this acceptance, you already have it. No one can ever take it away from you. There's nothing that you could ever do, nothing that you could do that God wouldn't give you his love. That's grace. That's why we're followers, right? This is the way. This is the way. And it's not only on Sunday like Danny was saying. I talk about this a lot at yoga. My students believe that it's just a physical practice. Just like coming to church, it's a physical practice of walking in. It's only one aspect. Now putting it into your life, walking in the way, in the path with God, that's what it's about. Showing love to yourself and to others. Showing love to those you don't understand, to those who have hurt us, recognizing that we truly are all one. And no matter what anyone does, whether we understand it or not, they deserve our love too. And we deserve that same love. So we're going to practice in the stillness, opening our hearts up, letting go, so that we can feel God's love and we can be filled up with all of it. Amen, my friends? My friends, let's find ourselves in a nice seated position. Don't fall asleep on me. I know, I have a nice voice, right? I want you to be nice and tall with your spine so that you can stay alert in this moment. Allow the palms to be faced up so we can receive right now. Gently close your eyes and let's begin with deepening our breath. Beginning to fill up through the diaphragm, allowing the breath to rise. Then slowly exhaling, releasing all of the air. Again we fill up, nice gentle inhale, and we slowly exhale, release all of the air. I want you to imagine every time you inhale, you're creating space within yourself. You're opening yourself up. All those doors that you've closed, all those blockages, those walls you have up, every time you inhale, we're opening them up. We're letting go of those walls. And as we exhale, we go deeper within ourselves. We sink into God's love. We are pulling in that joy from our reserve. We are pulling in God's love, but we must first let go of all the tension we hold. All the doubts and fears in our mind, we let it all go. Don't allow anything to be in your way now. Allow yourself to be still. Realize that you are the loving awareness behind it all. You let go of the thoughts. You let go of all that you've done. You let go of all the responsibilities. When you come back to yourself, to the child of God, this child deserves all his love. This child deserves his forgiveness. This child is worthy, full of purpose, filled with love, connected to God and to all. Sit with this truth. Sit with this knowing that everything you want, everything you need is already within you. Just let go, release. Be one with your breath. Be one with yourself. The deeper you go within, the more you'll remember, remembering all that God has for you, all that God wants for you. You are not alone. You are not forgotten. He is here with you. Remove all the barriers and allow God to come into your life, into your soul. Take another deep breath. Slowly fill yourself up and as you slowly exhale, allow yourself to release just a little bit more. You are loved. You are worthy. You are here for something so great. Trust in God. Trust in yourself. We take another deep breath, slowly bringing our awareness back in and as you exhale, really let it all go. As you blink the eyes open again, decide to see all of God's love for you. See all of yourself for who you are. So much love. Amen. Good morning. You know, you just can't rush into these things. I think Gabby has like centered you, you know, with everything. So I'm going to move this over just a little bit. Cameraman wants to make sure it's like center focus. I got you, Mario. We have to do this whole message in this quiet storm voice. Nod. Good morning, Heart Way. All right. That's what I'm talking about. All right. So just a couple of public service announcements before we get started. I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago. So if I drop something off the stand, I'm not picking it up. I'm just going to look at it. So it's okay. You don't have to rush. If the water falls, I don't need it anymore. I'll be okay. All right. It's been like that. My wife and I, we went to San Francisco, got our anniversary on. We celebrated 12 years of marriage. Look at her. Look at her. Oh! How can I not stay married to her? No, that's my heart. So we got a chance to go out to San Francisco, and we're walking around. And I dropped something. I was just like contemplating life and whether or not I really even need this anymore. Don't need the wallet. I think we have everything on our phone. So good morning. I am so glad to be able to see you guys. For those that don't know me, my name is Clifford. I have the wonderful privilege of being one of the leaders here, and it is just truly amazing to see each of you, to see what God is doing in everyone's life. And so I'm hoping today I'll get a chance to share with you. And I'm hoping today may be a little bit thought-provoking. It's going to be a little bit of growth. And yes, I know growth sucks sometimes. It hurts. It's kind of that unknown space, but it is gratifying and self-serving all in one ball. So today I have a few questions. And I know you're probably looking at me like, well, that's funny, because I came here because I got questions. But today may be that anomaly, because I know you're not supposed to answer questions with questions. But I'm hoping that a little bit of your questions and a little bit of my questions, and together, that mixed together, we can find some answers. All right? Do you think we can do that? All right. So today is going to be an interactive message. I'm going to need a little bit of your participation, OK? All right. At the core of us, woven into every fiber of our being is a question, right? As we enter this world, and as we were born and we start to experience life, we have all of these questions that we need to have answers. Human nature, right? Parents out there, you guys know. How many questions did your kids ask you just today alone? How many questions do they ask you every day? And why do they ask, like, 20 questions before you can even answer one? I mean, I told my kids the other day, I was like, get dressed, because we're going somewhere. And I promise you, they hit a new record. Before I could blink, they were like, do I have to go? Where are we going? Who's going to be there? Do I have to put on nice clothes? Can I bring my Nintendo? Can I bring my unicorn? Can I put on a hat? You see, the thing about his hat, he just didn't want to do his hair. But that's a story for another day. Or maybe it's that significant or, I mean, nagging. I mean, no, I mean, significant other. Where are you? I may need a ride when I leave here today. Anybody, any Uber drivers in the building? Where are you going? Who are you going with? When are you coming back? I'm gonna miss you. I haven't left yet. Right, you know what I mean. No, they're just concerned for your safety, or they want to make sure that you're concerned for your safety, right? Because if you go somewhere you're not supposed to be going, it may not be good for you when you come back, right? There's so many, there's so many questions out here in the world. You know, the how, the who, the what, the when, the cuando, the que, and then there is the why. Socrates says in Plato's Protagoras, if I've said that word correctly, my way toward the truth is to ask the right questions. Today I want to talk with you about the why, or should I say the other side of the why. So here's what we're gonna do, I told you it's interactive. So I need you guys to stop, relax, and I want you to close your eyes. No, seriously, I want you to close your eyes. And I want you to think. Think about the whys, the whys that may have held you back, the whys that may have inspired you. I want you to close your eyes and think about the whys. Now, I am going to run down a list of whys. When I hit your why, I want you to open your eyes. Why must I go through this? Why am I here? Why can't I be happy? Why did they have to die? Why did they have to leave? Why have you spared me? Why do you love me? Why don't they love me? Why won't you answer this prayer? Why not me? Why me? If your eyes are still closed, maybe this message isn't for you right now, or if I didn't just hit your why. You see, the thing about the why, it can be debilitating or it can be defining. What has your why been for you? Has it been something that has stopped you in your tracks? Has it been something that stopped you that it feels like the rest of the world is starting to move, but you're still stuck in that why? Why did this happen? Has it stopped you from following your dreams and your passion, something that you have always wanted to accomplish, but that why just seems to keep holding you back? Or maybe that why is something that has held you back from true love, that one that had got away. I want to stand here and tell you that I understand. I understand that waking up in the morning sometimes gets a little bit hard to do, that alarm clock keeps going off and you wanted to hit snooze because you just don't want to get up out of bed and face the day. I want to tell you that I understand getting into the office and wanting to just put your head down on your desk and not make a phone call to send out an email, complete that proposal, or talk to anyone in the office that day. I want to tell you that I understand that when you get home and you're just feeling like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and you got to go in and you got to put on a strong face to be able to continue to do life with the loved ones that you have in your life, I understand. I understand that when you finally put your head to your pillow that you're finally like, I can get some rest now, but for some reason your body's just wake up because you're thinking about that why that's holding you back and what am I doing here and why can't I just move past this? I want to tell you that I understand. You see that why is something that represents fear. That why is something that represents your past. It is something that has happened before, but you can't change it, but for some reason we keep holding on to this thing so that way we can try to make sense of it, but sense has not come to it yet. It reminds me of this story. Jesus and the disciples are getting on the boat and they had, Jesus had been teaching all day and so they get on the boat and they're getting ready to go across the body of water to the other side and so while they're sitting there, Jesus is tired and he's like, you know what? I'm going to go down and I'm going to take a nap. I'm going to rest a little bit because I've been teaching all day and the disciples stay up on the top deck of the boat, but as they're sitting there and talking about all the wonderful things that had just happened, a storm starts to brew. The waves start to get a little bit more rough and the wind is blowing and the boat is rocking back and forth and they're starting to freak out because for a second they lost track that the fact that they got the Messiah down on the lower deck sleeping. They lost their focus, so they run downstairs and they wake up Jesus like, hey, hey, you over here sleeping, bro, and it's about to rain. The storm is tipping the boat back and forth and in Hebrews, excuse me, in Matthew 8, 26, he replied, you of little faith, why are you so afraid? Then he got up and he rebuked the winds and the waves and it was completely calm. So I got a question, why are you afraid? Are you afraid of being hurt? Are you afraid of failing? Are you afraid of what other people may say? Because you see, when everything was good, you had just posted on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook and everything else that it's going to, this is what's happening. But guess what? Life happened and it changed. Now what do you do? You're concerned about what they're going to say and what they're going to think and maybe they're not going to want to be my friends anymore or maybe they're not going to want to follow me anymore. You're worried about them. Maybe you're afraid of being alone after the truth comes out, that things happened out of your control and this is what is. But I want to tell you in Hebrews 13, 5, God says, never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. You think you're alone? Take a look around. Look around this room. Look at your neighbors. I mean it, look. We may not be able to take that step for you, but we will be there to encourage you. We will be there to stand right beside you and hold you, to be a shoulder when you need to cry, to be a ear just to listen, not to fix you, but to just be there to support you. In the Bible, there's a story of the defeat of the Amalekites, Moses, her and Aaron go up on a mountain and down below the Israelites are fighting the Amalekites. Moses has his staff and as long as his staff is up in the air, the Israelites are winning. So Moses is standing there confidently as the Israelites are starting to win this battle. But what happens when you start to hold something up in the air for a long period of time? Your arm starts to get a little weak. It starts to shake because your strength is fading. It was all good when it all first started, right? But now it's getting a little shaky. You see, Moses had Aaron and her on his side to be able to hold his arm up. See, they couldn't hold the staff, but what they could do is support him by holding his arm up because as soon as Moses' arm comes down, the Amalekites start to win. And that's not where your story ends. It is with the people that's in this room right now and the people that you call your loved ones and your true friends that will hold your arm up so that way you can win this battle no matter what. It will be a little bit rocky. It will start to shake. It will start to hurt. But guess what? Your story has already been written and you win. You win. You win at the end. You win in the middle. You win at the beginning. That is the perspective to which you look at whether or not you're winning or you're losing because even when things are bad, you're learning. You're adjusting. You're adapting. You are building something we love to call resilience. It is what helps you to be able to fight another day. We don't just stop there. We want you to know that there are people here. Our Wednesdays, the circle of trust is to be able to support you. You are not alone. Next question. Do you feel like the oar? Now, I know we just got done talking about a boat, but I'm not talking about that oar. I'm talking about is it debilitating or is it defining? This oar represents that you're kind of like stuck in the middle. You're waiting on the answer of the why to determine whether or not it's going to be debilitating or if it's going to be defining. You see, as a parent, sometimes, you know, the why is important. And other times, eh, it's not so important. You know, as a parent, we're always asking why questions. Why did you do that? Why did you put that in the toilet? Why did you throw that? Why are you not listening? Why do you smell like that? And if you don't have kids, maybe you need to ask your spouse that. I don't know. Mine smells good. The why sometimes is not that important because sometimes the only answer you're going to get that parents get all the time is I don't know, right? And so sometimes the why doesn't always make sense. Sometimes the why will never satisfy the question. But you have to move forward in spite of the why. You have to move forward no matter what place that you're at, you have to move forward because you owe it to your destiny. You owe it to your future. You owe it to those dreams that you have. You owe it to your heart to love. It is something that you owe it to yourself to be able to find out what God has in store for you. Last question. I'm lying. I probably got a couple more before we get out of here. Why must you allow the why sometimes, not every time, but sometimes to be the positive defining moment in your life? We're on a low budget. We may not need it. This is the good mic. Why must you allow the why sometimes to be the positive defining moment in your life? Matthew 14, 29, 31, it says, come, he said. Again, the disciples are on the boat. They see Jesus off at the shore. And at first they thought it was a ghost, but it wasn't. They realized that it is Jesus. And so they call out to him. And Peter says, can I come to you, Lord? And Jesus says, come. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said. Why did you doubt? Why are you doubting today? Why are you doubting? Do you think that he can't do what he's already done so many times before in your life? But you're like, Cliff, but this situation is different. And when you were in this over here and he came to your life and he was like, okay, you've gone through enough. You've learned the lesson and it's better. Do you think that over here he can't turn around and do the same thing? You see, we have to really listen, sink in, and let it absorb us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So why do we doubt him? Why are we so afraid to leave our comfort zone for something that is destined for us to be able to do? We left our comfort zone to be able to try to... We have to leave our comfort zone to be able to walk in everything that God has in store for us. Don't be afraid to go out and live what's there for you. What do you have to lose? A lot? Maybe. But what do you have to gain? Everything. You gain your peace. You gain your hope. You gain your joy. You gain love. You gain comfort. You gain that to which you have been seeking for so long. I want to stand here to tell you today that your destiny is on the other side of that storm. Love is on the other side of that breakup. Peace is on the other side of that turmoil. Health is on the other side of that fight. It is. The other side represents hope, resilience, peace, and the knowing of who you are. When it's debilitating, it represents fear. It represents the past. It represents the things that can't change. They've already happened. So are you going to walk out and let your past be your future, or are you going to allow your future to be dictated by the defining moment saying, today is the day that I move forward so that way I can go and be what I have been created to be able to be? Don't stop. Don't let nothing that has happened or anyone that has happened in your life stop you. Don't believe the hype of what they may have said that you are not good enough, you are not worthy, you can't do this. Even if it came from your parents or a loved one, don't believe that because there is one that has said that you are loved, you are capable, you are beautiful, you are strong, you are courageous. His name is God, but I like to call him Father. Know that you have someone that is at your back pushing you. Know that you are not doing this alone because you have a community right here that loves you and wants to see you win. We have no motives. I have no motive behind seeing you win except for the smile on your face, the joy in your heart. We love to see you come in and just praising God and tears are running down your face because you are filled with so much love. Mark 1534, Jesus is on the cross and at three o'clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachathani, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachathani, which means my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? There are going to be times in your life where you feel like God is not listening. There are going to be times in your life where you feel like he has abandoned you. Give it a couple of days. We remember on the third day, Jesus rose again, but I think he cried out to show us that we must lay down our human self to become the divine that he has created us to be. If you don't believe that, here's another verse. Jesus says, great works that I have done, but even greater that you will do. Have anybody turned water into wine? If so, give us a call. Has anyone healed the sick? You have, and you've done many. Through your prayers, through your words of encouragement, through your love. Sometimes we heal people and don't even know that we have. That's how good God is. He uses our words and our touch, our prayers that we pass somebody down the road and we've seen an accident, we stopped and said a prayer, we have just healed them and we don't even know it. You will do great things. I'm not asking a question. I'm telling you, you will do great things. Live in the why of it being the defining moment to say, I will do great things. Together we can do amazing things. God has called us to do it. We are divinely handsome. We are divinely beautiful. We are divinely loved. We are divinely strong. We are divinely encouraged. We are divinely divine. God gives us the power to be able to do so. So don't you lose sight of that. I'll leave you with this. Don't die on the backside of the why, but live on the front side of it. Let us pray. Lord, we just want to thank you for today. Thank you that you have created us amazingly. Thank you that you have put in us the power to be able to save, the power to be able to strengthen, the power to be able to encourage. Thank you, Lord, that we can live in the defining moments of the why. As things in our life become difficult, we know that we stand here with you with strength to be able to face each and every trial that may come our way, that we can celebrate and enjoy on the other side of it. We have a community here that will love and support us as we go through these trials, that we will be encouraged by them to be a light, to light someone else's light as they go out and light the world. We ask this in your son Jesus' name. We do pray. Amen. Listen, guys, I love each and every one of you. That's not just because I have to say that. I truly do. It is amazing to be able to see your faces. If you're still on this side of the dirt, know that you have a great destiny. There is nothing that you have done or anything that has been done to you that can stop you from being who you are. All right? I love you. Have a great Sunday. Have fun. All right?