Topic: The Favored One - Part Twenty-Two.

Text: ​“So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.”” ― Daniel 1:11-13, NKJV. 

TFO Keynote #65: We cannot live without boundaries. The one who created us created us such that our life is only effective when we have boundaries. (Hebrews 11:14; Proverbs 29:18) 

"For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland." ― Hebrews 11:14, NKJV.

"Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law." ― Proverbs 29:18, NKJV.

TFO Keynote #66: Faith is having our eyes focused on our vision (homeland, temporal and spiritual). Hence, ensuring the necessary constraints and or boundaries required to achieve it. (Hebrews 11:14; Proverbs 29:18)

We should never let what our eyes see determine what our heart believes.

God gives us vision so we would not have to live by what we see.

Sight without vision is dangerous because it has no hope.

Faith is the vision of the heart.

TFO Keynote #67: Faith has no regrets. Its focus is always on the promise, not the challenge. (Hebrews 11:15; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Hebrews 12:2; Luke 17:32) 

The general pattern of biblical faith is to trust our future to God, despite not having perfect knowledge of what will happen next.

"Faith sees the promised future that God offers and “desires” it." ― John Piper.

"And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return." ― Hebrews 11:15, NKJV.

TFO Keynote #68: Faith always desires better. It is never satisfied with the status quo. It knows and understands things can always get better. So, it presses continually for the better, irrespective of what today might be. (Hebrews 11:16) 

"Desire brings vision, and then faith and works that bring vision to reality." ― Rodney W. Francis.

"Faith will not function if there is not a strong desire. Desire brings emotion and feeling to the heart and is the atmosphere in which faith will act." ― Rodney W. Francis.

"One of our basic problems is a weak desire. Desire is more than idle wishing. It is a passion that grips the heart in a way that we feel we must see that desire fulfilled." ― Rodney W. Francis.

"You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself." ― Jim Whittaker.

"But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." ― Hebrews 11:16, NKJV.

TFO Keynote #69: Faith exalts the giver above the gift. It is light on things, but strong on laws and principles. (Hebrews 11:17-19) 

“True faith is not a leap into the dark; it's a leap into the light.” ― Eric Metaxas.

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” ― Corrie ten Boom.

"One part of our relationship with God that we distort and make unhealthy is a misplaced affection for the things He gives us." ― Jefferson Bethke.

“To me, finding my faith, right now where I’m at, is putting all of my trust in something bigger than myself and living for something bigger than myself and trying to do that through service,” ― Muslim storyteller, Noor Tagouri.

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense." ― Hebrews 11:17-19, NKJV.

The Saint.

Link to Series:

Topic: The Favored One - Part Twenty-One.