When Life Turns Against You, Choose Excellence | 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 forcial. It's such a joy for me to

0:47 Speaker 2: be with all of you today on this segment of

0:49 Speaker 2: the Fuel for the Soul with John Gifter podcast. When

0:51 Speaker 2: I'm going to talk to you today on an important

0:53 Speaker 2: lesson that we can take from Daniel Chapter one. I

0:56 Speaker 2: wanted to understand this is a moment when the King

0:58 Speaker 2: of Babylon to Jerusalem and he took all the you know,

1:04 Speaker 2: a lot of things from there, and also the scriptures

1:08 Speaker 2: talks about it, especially if you'll look at worse for

1:10 Speaker 2: a lot of young men without any physical defect were ransom,

1:15 Speaker 2: showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick

1:18 Speaker 2: to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace

1:21 Speaker 2: were also taken. Here's the thing I wanted to understand that.

1:25 Speaker 2: It was not the you know, like the downtrodden or

1:28 Speaker 2: the ones who were not that good, or the ones

1:31 Speaker 2: who were the you know, quote unquote poor or written

1:35 Speaker 2: off West society. It was not those people the underprivileged.

1:38 Speaker 2: It was the ones at the top, were the ones

1:40 Speaker 2: who were really good, the ones who were in the

1:44 Speaker 2: nobility and the royal family. It was of that category

1:50 Speaker 2: of young men who were taken. I wanted to understand

1:54 Speaker 2: that because sometimes we think that, you know what, I'm

1:57 Speaker 2: in a betout of place. I'm sure I'm not going

1:59 Speaker 2: to get into trouble. You know, maybe if somebody is

2:01 Speaker 2: getting affected, it's somebody who is Maybe, for instance, if

2:05 Speaker 2: you're saying in a country where the borders are at stake,

2:08 Speaker 2: so you may be saying, you know what, maybe people

2:10 Speaker 2: in the border region will be affected, not me. Or

2:13 Speaker 2: maybe you're saying if I'm serving in a certain kind

2:17 Speaker 2: of capacity, then I will be affected not me. But

2:19 Speaker 2: yess a situation where you say, like for example, even economically.

2:23 Speaker 2: You know, maybe you say, oh, the economy is that

2:26 Speaker 2: the ones who are struggling financially the other ones who

2:28 Speaker 2: are going to be affected. But here you see in

2:30 Speaker 2: a situation where it was not those people who were

2:34 Speaker 2: affected or who were taken captive, it was those of

2:38 Speaker 2: the royal family, of the nobility. So that means you

2:40 Speaker 2: have to understand that Daniel and his friends we're not

2:44 Speaker 2: from just like, you know, the normal category of people,

2:47 Speaker 2: but they were people who were in like, you know,

2:51 Speaker 2: influential in nobility and uh in the royal uh you know,

2:57 Speaker 2: you know, like what you say, the ones who were

3:00 Speaker 2: rubbing shoulders with royalty and you know all of that. Like,

3:03 Speaker 2: so I wanted to understand that Daniel was no ordinary

3:06 Speaker 2: guy or even as friends Shadrack, Micha and Abdego, they

3:11 Speaker 2: were also not just ordinary people. So here's the thing

3:14 Speaker 2: I wanted to understand that you don't ever think that

3:17 Speaker 2: you are you are in a position where you know

3:19 Speaker 2: what I'm saying, nothing will have touched me because I'm

3:22 Speaker 2: I built so much of money or financial stability. I

3:29 Speaker 2: built so much in my life. I've achieved so much,

3:32 Speaker 2: so I know that I cannot be brought out because

3:34 Speaker 2: you never know when you could be in the position

3:38 Speaker 2: that Daniel and the friends were. And what I wanted

3:41 Speaker 2: to understand is they had, like I said, they were

3:44 Speaker 2: in royalty, shoulders with royalty, they were among the top

3:49 Speaker 2: class and all of these things. Now from that position

3:53 Speaker 2: of privilege, they are now taking captive. They were taken

3:59 Speaker 2: captive in a foreign place. Now, Yes, the thing I

4:03 Speaker 2: wanted to understand, right, they had all the reasons to

4:07 Speaker 2: never put their best foot forward in this. They had

4:11 Speaker 2: all the reasons to sit in self pity. They had

4:14 Speaker 2: all the reasons to not put in their best effort.

4:17 Speaker 2: There are all the reasons why they do not have

4:19 Speaker 2: to be showcasing the spirit of excellence or walking in integrity.

4:24 Speaker 2: They could have walked with the chip on their shoulder.

4:27 Speaker 2: They could have had a bad attitude. They could have

4:30 Speaker 2: always complained. But you see, if you see right across

4:35 Speaker 2: in the first chapter, or even through this entire book,

4:39 Speaker 2: you realize that Daniel and his friends never complained, even

4:44 Speaker 2: though it was unfair for them, even though they could

4:46 Speaker 2: have been missing their family, they could have gone through

4:48 Speaker 2: a lot of emotional toil. But even in the midst

4:51 Speaker 2: of that, you see that Daniel and his friends stood out.

4:57 Speaker 2: They went the extra mile. They had the spirit of

4:59 Speaker 2: ag they were in it. Do not, you know, not

5:05 Speaker 2: do it in a very how do I say this,

5:07 Speaker 2: you know, shallow way, with their heart not in it.

5:11 Speaker 2: You know, they did wholeheartedly in such a way that

5:15 Speaker 2: the king saw that they were ten times better off

5:19 Speaker 2: than everybody else. At the end of their three year

5:23 Speaker 2: training period. You know, the King was looking at it

5:26 Speaker 2: and said, you know what, this is so good, like

5:30 Speaker 2: how is this possible? And even through if you notice,

5:34 Speaker 2: even through this book, you realize so many instances where

5:38 Speaker 2: Daniel was promoted or even shadowed Michigan Habenegor. They always

5:44 Speaker 2: stood out because they were in a position where they

5:48 Speaker 2: honored God, in the midst of captivity, in the midst

5:51 Speaker 2: of the situation being unfair. They always stood take around

5:54 Speaker 2: and did what was right. They did not walk with

5:57 Speaker 2: a chip on their shoulder. They did not have a

5:59 Speaker 2: bad attitude. They did not sit and complain. They did

6:01 Speaker 2: not wait for the time then they'll go back. They

6:06 Speaker 2: knew this is where I am. Let me do my

6:08 Speaker 2: best here, let me shine here, let me go the

6:11 Speaker 2: extra mind. Because I've seen in situations, for example, students

6:14 Speaker 2: when they're forced into courses they don't want to do. Right,

6:18 Speaker 2: what happens. They are having this attitude like, you know what,

6:22 Speaker 2: I didn't want to do this. My family forced me

6:24 Speaker 2: into this, so I'm not going to do my best,

6:26 Speaker 2: and they put themselves in trouble days for their future,

6:30 Speaker 2: and they put their family in trouble as well, you know,

6:33 Speaker 2: like sometimes especially in India, with the families forcing their

6:38 Speaker 2: children to do engineering. I've seen this a lot, you know,

6:40 Speaker 2: I'm an aerospace engineer, and I've seen students who did

6:45 Speaker 2: not want to do engineering. They would be forced by

6:47 Speaker 2: family and they used to have twenty one backlocks, thirty

6:50 Speaker 2: backlocks for many years after the batch passed out, day

6:54 Speaker 2: would still not pass out because of this, you know,

6:57 Speaker 2: I've seen that, like because their attitude is always like

7:00 Speaker 2: I didn't want to do this, I'm not interested in

7:02 Speaker 2: it is I'm not. But what my challenge is, even

7:06 Speaker 2: if you are in a position or in a place,

7:08 Speaker 2: or a course, or you're doing something that you're not interested,

7:11 Speaker 2: put your whole heart into it to honor God. To

7:14 Speaker 2: put your whole heart into that job, even if you

7:16 Speaker 2: don't like it, do your best to honor God, and

7:20 Speaker 2: God knows how to reward you. God knows how to

7:22 Speaker 2: bless you. God knows how to take you to the

7:24 Speaker 2: next higher levels of your destiny. So that's my challenge.

7:27 Speaker 2: I want to leave with you and I will see

7:29 Speaker 2: back in the next segment. God bless you.

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8:29 Speaker 1: Soul with John GIFTA God bless you