Conviction Before Favor | John Giftah | Christian Sermon

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, Wow, the world

0:05 Speaker 1: is a crazy place and it just seems to get

0:08 Speaker 1: crazier and crazier. Ease your mind and take a break.

0:13 Speaker 1: This is Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA. We're

0:17 Speaker 1: a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living,

0:23 Speaker 1: in Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live

0:27 Speaker 1: the life that you were created for. Your host is

0:30 Speaker 1: a top ranking podcaster, best selling author, world record holder,

0:35 Speaker 1: aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA.

0:46 Speaker 2: Hey, God, beschere. It's such a joy for me to

0:48 Speaker 2: be with all of you today on this segment of

0:49 Speaker 2: the Fuel for the Soul with John GIFTA podcast. As

0:52 Speaker 2: you would have listened for the first couple of episodes

0:54 Speaker 2: the last couple of days this week, we've been talking

0:57 Speaker 2: and learning things that we can in cult in our

1:00 Speaker 2: life from the Life of Daniel, especially from Daniel Chapter one.

1:03 Speaker 2: And I want to talk to you today on something

1:05 Speaker 2: very very important that you can take away as you

1:09 Speaker 2: are in your life where you're making decisions and you're

1:12 Speaker 2: standing firm on your convictions. Now, look at verse eight.

1:15 Speaker 2: This is what it says. But Daniel resolved not to

1:18 Speaker 2: defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he

1:21 Speaker 2: asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself

1:25 Speaker 2: this way. And verse nine, now God at cost the

1:29 Speaker 2: official to show favor and compassion to Daniel. Look at this,

1:35 Speaker 2: Daniel decides and he says, you know what, I'm not

1:38 Speaker 2: going to defil myself. Now, some of you may take

1:40 Speaker 2: this in a literal sense and say, oh, Daniel denied

1:44 Speaker 2: having royal food or having delicious meat and wine, right

1:51 Speaker 2: And then people say, you know, that's why you're not

1:53 Speaker 2: supposed to eat non vegetarian food for example. You know

1:57 Speaker 2: what I mean, That's not what it's referring to, right,

2:00 Speaker 2: Like it's about Daniel's conviction about plutony or the kind

2:06 Speaker 2: of food that was being served. And he stood his

2:09 Speaker 2: ground and said, you know what, I'm not going to

2:11 Speaker 2: say yes to this. I'm not going to allow my

2:14 Speaker 2: body to be filled with the filt or filled with

2:18 Speaker 2: things that can affect me. You know what, I don't

2:21 Speaker 2: want this to be my idol. I don't want this

2:24 Speaker 2: to you know, go in the wrong balance in my

2:27 Speaker 2: diet or whatever, you know what I mean. So some

2:29 Speaker 2: people use this to say that, you know what, God

2:32 Speaker 2: wants us to be vegans, or God wants us to

2:34 Speaker 2: be people who should not eat non vegetarian food. That's

2:37 Speaker 2: not what it is. This is about Daniel's conviction at

2:40 Speaker 2: this point and today in your life. Right now, you

2:44 Speaker 2: have to understand the culture right back in the day

2:47 Speaker 2: or even now. If you see, for instance, the food

2:49 Speaker 2: that's served in the Middle East is predominantly non vegetarian diet.

2:57 Speaker 2: Right for example, when most for the most part, you

3:01 Speaker 2: know what I mean, compared to the food that you

3:05 Speaker 2: see in India, for the most part, you will see

3:08 Speaker 2: carbohydrates because rices is to staple food in India. So

3:11 Speaker 2: you have to understand the culture, right, you have to

3:13 Speaker 2: understand and you can't just draw in, you know, statements,

3:18 Speaker 2: or make statements or draw in conclusions about what you

3:21 Speaker 2: should eat or what you should indeed, just because of

3:24 Speaker 2: the decision Daniel made at this particular point of time.

3:27 Speaker 2: So what's my point here. He chose to not defil himself.

3:32 Speaker 2: He stood up to his convictions. And what happened when

3:36 Speaker 2: he stood up to his conviction. The Bible says that

3:39 Speaker 2: God caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel.

3:43 Speaker 2: You see, sometimes you will not be able to experience favor.

3:48 Speaker 2: You will not be able to experience compassion. You will

3:51 Speaker 2: not be able to see the fullness of what God

3:54 Speaker 2: wants to do in and through your life if you

3:57 Speaker 2: do not make that result to stand firm on your conviction,

4:01 Speaker 2: to stand firm on not to defile yourself, to stand

4:05 Speaker 2: firm that you will not compromise, to stand firm that

4:08 Speaker 2: you will not go in the wrong direction, to stand

4:11 Speaker 2: firm and do what God has called you to do.

4:14 Speaker 2: Are you getting what I'm saying? It is a lot

4:16 Speaker 2: of times you are like, oh, I'm not able to

4:18 Speaker 2: see God's favor, I'm not experiencing the favor. I'm a

4:21 Speaker 2: compassion I'm not able to see the power of God.

4:24 Speaker 2: You will not be able to see that manifest in

4:27 Speaker 2: your life if you're not taking that risk step to

4:30 Speaker 2: stay resolve, or to avoid defiance, or to stand firm

4:35 Speaker 2: on your convictions. So today, my challenge is the first

4:38 Speaker 2: thing that comes is saying, you know what, I'm not

4:40 Speaker 2: going to allow this to stop me. I'm not going

4:42 Speaker 2: to allow this system to make me compromise or go

4:46 Speaker 2: in the wrong direction. You stand firm, and then the

4:50 Speaker 2: Lord will cause the right people or the right person

4:54 Speaker 2: to show favor, compassion and everything that you need to

4:58 Speaker 2: fulfill your purpose. I'm going to close with this example.

5:01 Speaker 2: In my life, right there was a season where I

5:04 Speaker 2: was waiting on a lot to give me a new

5:06 Speaker 2: job because I lost my previous job in a mass layoff.

5:11 Speaker 2: And there was so much a pressure saying, choose some job.

5:15 Speaker 2: Don't be choosy, you know, get down from your standards

5:19 Speaker 2: and expectations, get some job, get going with your life.

5:22 Speaker 2: You know. There was tremendous pressure. And I have worked

5:25 Speaker 2: in organizations where I've literally worked fourteen hours a day

5:29 Speaker 2: or even, to be honest, even eighteen hours a day.

5:32 Speaker 2: Especially the culture in a lot of organizations in India,

5:37 Speaker 2: the work balance is really out of the window. And

5:40 Speaker 2: I worked in organizations like that, and along with that,

5:43 Speaker 2: I was trying to run the ministry and there were

5:45 Speaker 2: instances where I organized programs. I did all of this

5:50 Speaker 2: in the midst of all of that, you know what

5:52 Speaker 2: I mean, Like in the midst of a hectic six

5:54 Speaker 2: day week where working eighteen hours a day, I conducted

5:59 Speaker 2: the ministry, the services, and all of these things in

6:01 Speaker 2: the ministry. And now in the last couple of years,

6:07 Speaker 2: the ministry has tremendously grown compared to where it was

6:10 Speaker 2: many years ago. And I knew that if I took

6:13 Speaker 2: up a job that compromised on the work life balance

6:19 Speaker 2: that you know, expected me to be available from for

6:22 Speaker 2: eighteen hours a day or something like that, I knew

6:24 Speaker 2: that it would choke my calling. So I stood my ground.

6:27 Speaker 2: I stood firm on my conviction. People were laughing, people

6:31 Speaker 2: were mocking. People said, you're expecting too much in a

6:34 Speaker 2: season where people are losing their jobs. Get some job

6:37 Speaker 2: right now, get going with your life. This is how

6:40 Speaker 2: I was being told. But you know what happened. I

6:44 Speaker 2: stood my ground against our odds in the midst of everything,

6:47 Speaker 2: in the midst of uncertainty, in the midst of everything.

6:50 Speaker 2: The Lord was saying, you know what, you stand firm

6:53 Speaker 2: on your conviction. The Lord was speaking to me, leading me.

6:56 Speaker 2: I had to wait longer than most people. But you

6:59 Speaker 2: know what, when the Lord opened the right door for me,

7:03 Speaker 2: whatever I was praying in accordance to God's will, I said, God,

7:07 Speaker 2: I don't want a job that will choke my calling.

7:09 Speaker 2: I don't want a job that will suck the blood

7:12 Speaker 2: out of me where I don't have time to do

7:14 Speaker 2: the ministry. You know, I need a job that's flexible.

7:17 Speaker 2: I need a job that has work li balance. I

7:20 Speaker 2: need a job that supports this lifestyle for me to

7:24 Speaker 2: travel and minister, for me to be able to continue

7:28 Speaker 2: the podcast, the YouTube channel and all of these things.

7:31 Speaker 2: And guess what, the Lord honored. It took time for

7:35 Speaker 2: the Lord made the right door to open, and I'm like, wow,

7:39 Speaker 2: it was worth the wait. It was worth the wait. See,

7:41 Speaker 2: that's what I want you to understand. The same way

7:43 Speaker 2: Daniel stood firm on his conviction, the same way I

7:46 Speaker 2: stood firm on my conviction. I did not allow the

7:48 Speaker 2: pressure from outside, pressure from society or looking at the

7:52 Speaker 2: system and fear to stop me. I stood firm on

7:55 Speaker 2: my conviction. Like Daniel took that resolve. The Lord shoot

8:00 Speaker 2: dot favor. The Lord showed up, and the Lord who

8:02 Speaker 2: showed up in Daniel's life and in my life will

8:05 Speaker 2: show up in your life.

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