Sustained Greatness: We are Rising Together

Join host Just Clifton, AKA Clifton Ross Jr., as he kicks off a new season of The Summit Podcast with a powerful theme: "Sustain Greatness." In this episode, Just Clifton reflects on personal growth, the importance of aligning mind, body, and spirit, and introduces the 523 Project—a transformative journey towards wholeness. Discover insights on faith, service, and character building, and get a sneak peek into upcoming content featuring experts in health, wellness, and personal development. Tune in to rise to new heights in 2026!

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Transcript

From Infrastructure To Sustained Greatness

Becoming The Whole Person

Letting Go Of Who You Were

Saul’s Trap: Insignificance And Comparison

Character Built By Daily Service

Serving Without Agenda As Worship

What’s Coming: 523 Project And Guests

Call To Connect And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Yo, yo, yo, how you doing? Welcome to another season of the Sonic Podcast. This is your host, Jess Clifton, aka Clifton Ross Jr. Hey, I am excited and elated for you to join me as we rise to new heights. It is such an opportunity to be able to celebrate this new year. We have started 2026. Can you believe it? 2026 is on the rise, and you are too. So, our last series, we were talking about infrastructure, creating the foundation for your purpose. This year we're going to take a shift. Every year around my birthday, I have a theme for the year, and this theme is sustained greatness. So take a guess what this new series is going to be called. Sustained greatness. It is time for you to live out the authority that God has for you. How do I know this? Because over the last four years, I have been doing some pruning, some shedding, some adjusting, some recultivating, some self-reflection, some self-redirection. And in this time that I have figured out from myself that in order for me to get to the next level, I have to sustain the greatness. What I mean by that, 2025 was a great year for me. It was a great year to understand who I am as an individual, also who I am as a man of God, who I am as a man in general. And the reason why this is so essential and important for you to understand is that the dynamic that is being created here is the whole man. Say it with me. Come on. If you're listening to it, you were watching this on YouTube, say it with me. The whole man. God has designed you to be whole. And in that design, in that direction to make you whole, he has cultivated your mind, body, and spirit to align with him. I have realized in my life and in my walk, I have been saved for 23 years. I am a preacher of the gospel for a little over 20 years. And I have learned is that sometimes we can be so singular in our faith. And what we have to understand is so many dynamics to God's grace, mercy, understanding, and the way that He cultivates our mind and our spirit. I hope you believe that on today, because it is true. God is being ready to move you to the next level if you just allow yourself to become whole. To become whole is to become complete. And the way to become complete in Christ is that we have to understand that God wants our soul, he wants our mind, he wants our spirit, and he wants our body to be in alignment with him. When those are in alignment, then that's where you become whole. So come with me at this journey. I have something that is watching really, really soon. And the link is going to be to the three-day cleanse. It's going to be in this uh podcast because I want you to come on this journey with me. It's the 523 project, and it's based off of 1 Thessalonians 5 and 23. I would sanctify you and make your body whole and spirit whole. He tried to make us whole inside of him. And in that direction, he is making us whole inside of him. We have to have the tenacity to move forward. So in this three-day cleanse, you're going to have nutritional tips, workouts, prayer, scriptures, and you'll have an opportunity to join the 523 Project Community. The 523 community is where we are going to deep dive into the different dynamics to make us whole, whether it's in our finances, whether it's in our mental health, whether it's in our physical health, whether it's in our spiritual health, whether it's in our business health, anything that we need to restructure, I am bringing on some of the best of the best people I know that can teach from the perspective of all these things and have a dynamic to be able to help you transform your life to the better. No gimmicks, no hidden agenda, but literally genuine people that I know that have a heart for God and be able to transform, help you transform into a whole human being. Is that alright? So let's jump into this teaching real quick because I realized something about me last year. And a lot of times when I was working out, lifting weights, and in situations where I was studying scriptures, in a situation where I am dating, in a situation where I am trying to become a better father. It was a constant reminder that was like, this is like a fly buzzing in your ear. It was a constant reminder of who I was. And here's the significant thing I want you to understand. You have to be able to let go of who you were and become who you are meant to be. It's like this. The only reason why you reflect on the past is to know how far you came. Not to see if it's still remnants or residue of that old person, but to truly understand who you are now. It's always a constant reflection of that. How do I know this? Because Saul, King Saul, he struggled with this. When Solomon came unto him, and he spoke with Samuel came unto him, and he spoke to him, and he came to him and he said, You are going to be the king. The first thing that Saul said is that I am the least of my tribe. I am the insignificant person in my tribe. And I believe that Saul struggled with that. Reason why I say that is because when David came alone and he showed his might and his power through the power of God, it intimidated Saul to the point where he wanted to kill somebody who was a person, an asset to him, and helping them rule the kingdom that God has given him governance over. And when you look at that dynamic, the only thing that I can possibly think of that kept Saul in that mindset is the fact that he still felt insignificant. He still dwelt on his past. Let's take it a step further. Even when Samuel died, Saul tried to seek him out through a medium because he lost the mouth that helped him get direction to lead his kingdom. So he tried to remanufacture it instead of basking on the word that God gave him to be able to rule the kingdom. He still felt that he was insignificant. Even in his dying moments, he felt insignificant. Even in the moment where he was stripped of the kingdom, not physically, but generationally and spiritually, because his bloodline was tainted because of his decision making. He felt insignificant. I'm telling you today that in order for you to be able to move forward in the things of God, you have to get rid of your thoughts of the past in regards to your character and who you are. Your character is built day by day, grit by grit. That is the reason why the infrastructure series was so important. We were building the foundation for our purpose. We were building the foundation for our character. We were building the foundation of who we are. We was building, let me make this personal. I was building the foundation of my character. I was building the foundation of who I am. I was building the foundation for my purpose in Christ. And in that whole dynamic, I came to realize this is that your past is going to keep coming up. Why I say this? As some of you may know, some of you may not know, I used to be married. And I had a certain character trait that I was not proud of when I was married. For example, I remember one time my ex-wife was pregnant with my oldest son. She worked part-time. I worked full-time. It's the middle of winter. And the reason why I think it's thinking about this now, because it's the middle of winter in Chicago. It's the middle of winter. And it was a situation where I did not clean the driveway after it snowed. I didn't brush off her car after it snowed. And she's pregnant, probably about six to seven weeks pregnant, seven months pregnant with our oldest son. And she slips and falls trying to brush off her own car because I didn't take a moment to be able to clean up halfway. Now, some of you may look at that and say, oh, that was a simple mistake. I was in my mid to, I was in my mid to early 20s, so you were young, all these different things. But I saw that as a major opportunity where I felt that to serve my wife. One of the things I end up creating habits for is this constant mindset of serving in relationships. I have an ebook that I am working on. It is called Your Can I Help You With Your Take? And it's a double entendre because, as you know, when someone's birthday is uh around, the person that helps them cut the cake is actually the person that's serving the birthday person or serving a person of significance at that moment. But it's also near and dear to my heart because this is the moment where I realize how important service in relationships is to who you are as a man and who you are as an individual. Even to the point of this, I understand this is that there is a disconnect in the world is a disconnect now that serving while dating and serving in relationships is not frowned upon because it makes you look soft. I disagree. Serving with no agenda to be had is actually the highest form of meekness that you can have as a man. Some of you may disagree, and that's fine. However, I believe that the way that you show up for others with no agenda is your greatest service to your Heavenly Father. And he rewards those who serve in and out of season. He rewards those who serve with no attention, no setbacks, no agenda. He serves in the capacity that he wants you to live. When we live in the mode of serving others, it's not for the service of the person. It's for the service of our father. And we have to remember that. So every morning where I wake up as I was dating and different things of that nature, I began to realize this. I have to show up. I have to serve when I'm tired, when I'm angry, when I'm frustrated, when I don't feel like it, you have to serve because that's what you're called to do. It's a duty. The duty of man is to serve and to protect and to lead and to provide for his family. So in order for you to do that, you have to be able to become better as servants. So I said that to say this. That once character trait where I was selfishly thinking of myself in that moment, it still comes up even as I serve today. But am I going to continue to allow that to say that is who I am? Or am I going to continue to develop and to progress into what God called me to be and who He has meant me to be? Do you hear me? So as we begin this new series as sustain greatness, I am going to be bringing on people that is going to be reflecting on how they're able to sustain the greatness that they have, whether it's in business, whether it is in finance, whether it's the spiritual rope and development, whether it's mental health, whether it's physical health. Look, we're going to have personal trainers on here. We're going to have uh people that are that are first in combat sports and smart arts. We're going to have pastors, we're going to have teachers, we're going to have prophets on here. We're going to have businessmen, business women on here. We're going to have people that are financially cultivators in real estate and stocks and different things of that nature. Because this is my prayer that this contest is not just something that you digest. It's something that makes you realize who you are meant to be. Who are you? Take a moment, take about two seconds to dial into who are you? And if you cannot definitively answer that question, who are you? Then I'm telling you, I pray that you understand this. Just as this podcast is meant for me, it's also meant for you. So I know this is a really quick episode. Just wanted to give you a little tip as of what's to come. So we got the 523 project that's coming, the three-day cleanse that's coming, more content on the podcast, more connection. We got a healthy wellness of programs that's going out. We also have our make wellness of connections and contributions. We have so many things. It's going to be in the show notes. It's going to be in the description. Connect with us. This is the time to really dial in. The time is now. Let's get it done. I love you with the love of Christ. Peace.