JOE: Welcome to FJM TV. I'm Joe Jordan. You know today, I just
wanted to share with you something that has been on my
heart. It's something that I've pondered and thought about for
decades, and that is can you be fearless in this world that we
live in? So I want to talk to you today about fearless, but
before we get started, I just wanted you to know that it's
just such an honor and a privilege to come into your
homes, to come into wherever you are. You could be sitting in
your car on an iPad or on your cell phone, but it's an honor to
be able to share from God's Word and let you know also all the
great things that are happening through Fred Jordan Missions.
Fred Jordan Missions continues to serve the least of these, the
homeless, the needy, the hungry, the hopeless, and the helpless
with the hope of Jesus and that hope is there for them. That
hope is there for all of us and that hope Jesus is there for you
today, as I thought about this subject, fearless, is it
possible? Is it possible in the day and age we live? Is it
possible with all the situations that come up in our daily lives?
Is it possible with all the circumstances that confront us?
And the more I looked at God's Word, the more I looked at His
promises, the more I thought about Jesus and who He is and
what He did when He came to this earth to die for our sins. The
more I realized, yes, as difficult as it may be, we can
live fearless. When we're faced with fear and uncertainty,
fearless is something that we can only get from God, that
fearless attitude. But it's all because of Him and His promises.
You know as I was looking it up, I just wondered what the
dictionary said about fearless, and this is what it says to
possess or display courage, able to face and deal with danger,
fear, and situations without flinching. Another definition
was without fear, bold, brave, and strong. And I thought that
was so interesting that that was the definition. But what is it
like to be fearless as one of God's children? Because when
you're afraid you're not certain, you're not sure. You
don't always know what action to take. And in having a fearless
attitude or a fearless thought process as you're going through
things, it can be difficult because fear grips you. Fear
makes you question, it makes you worry. It makes you think twice.
It makes you doubt yourself. But God doesn't want us to doubt. He
wants us to trust and rely on Him and His Word and who He is.
But you know as we go through things, we do worry that we will
make mistakes, we'll mess up. And so from that, sometimes we
just don't take action. But in order to be fearless with the
situations we face in this world, we have to be. We have to
be ones who take action. Of course we have to be thoughtful
and prayerful and seek Jesus. We have to seek God, His will and
His plan for the situations. But we can rely, we can trust and we
can know, that we know, that we know that God is faithful, that
Jesus is faithful and they want what is best for us. Remember,
there's a God in heaven that loves you and me, that created
us in His likeness, in His image. That's what the Bible
says in Genesis. And since He created us and He made us in His
likeness, in His image, how much does He love us? He loves us so
much because He sent Jesus to die for us. What greater love
than a man give up his life for another? Well Jesus, the Son of
God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, when He came to
this earth, He came for one reason and that was to give up
His life as a sacrifice, shed His blood for you and me. And
that's just some of the things that can help to encourage us in
situations, to be fearless and not worry and not doubt and not
overthink, not second guess ourselves and to make good
choices. Being fearless allows us the courage to face our
fears. Take action even when we're afraid. And that's one
thing that I really have been thinking about for years and
years is how can you be fearless when you're afraid? But you can
be because there are situations in our life that are scary.
There are situations that we face that are fearful, that are
things that make us worry a little bit. But when you trust
God and you know who He is and you know He's in control and you
know He's on your side, you can be fearless in walking through
those situations. You can be fearless in knowing that you
know that God will take you through it. It doesn't always
turn out exactly the way we hope or plan, but if we trust Jesus
and we trust Him with the outcome, that outcome will come.
And that's what is such a relief to me, knowing in my heart is
walking with Jesus for all these years, that no matter what
situation comes my way, that God is in ultimate control, not me,
not the situation. So I know that the situation won't define
me, it won't make me, it won't break me because God allows me
to go through things at times. Doesn't necessarily mean He's
not with me, but what it does mean is He allows me to go
through 'em so He can be with me, take me through it, and grow
me in wisdom, in strength, in faith, and trust in Him. You
know when I was thinking about this, and I was talking to a few
others about this whole thing of being fearless, they just didn't
kinda know how to be fearless and why we can be fearless. And
so I wanted to share with you just some stories and some
things and truths from the Bible that will help us understand how
we can be fearless in this crazy world we live in. Some people
call it a little upside down and psycho. And you know what? It
can be a little upside down and psycho at times, but God is in
control. His hand is still upon us and He's never going to leave
us or forsake us. And that's one of the things from the Word of
God, I wanted to share with you. You know if God is for me, the
Bible says, who can be against me? God says, He will never
leave us or forsake us. And we have to remember also what God
said in Isaiah 41:10. He said this, fear not for I am with
you. If God is telling us in Isaiah to fear not for He is
with us, then we know that that promise is true. God doesn't
lie. And so God is with us. And remember that in every
circumstance, every situation, and everything you always go
through that you could be fearless, because the one who
takes away fear, the one who says fear not for I am with you,
is with you. And it's great to know that. You know if we look
over at Mark 5:36, we see that Jesus says, fear not only
believe, fear not only believe. Jesus said that in Mark 5:36.
And what a reassurance to me to know that Jesus says, fear not
only believe because if we believe in who He is, if we
believe in what He did for us, knowing that He died for us,
knowing that He's sacrificed for us, knowing that He's always
there and He'll always be there to walk with us, to strengthen
us, to encourage us, and to help us make the right decisions. We
don't have to fear, but we must believe. And so that's key to
being fearless, is believing and trusting in Jesus, being
fearless when we're faced with bad news, scary things, it takes
all that we can muster, all the trust that we can come up with
in Jesus to get through some of those things because they're
hard. They're hard knowing that we don't know the outcome of
things, knowing that we don't know what's coming next. But
again, having faith in Jesus, the one that can remove all
fear, the one who can remove all worry, the one who can take all
of that, what was meant for a mess, what was meant for the
enemy to bring against us, to hurt us, and He can turn it
around and make it good. That's what I love about God's Word and
His promises, that they're true and there's so many of them.
Some say there's about 7,000, some say over 5,000, but there
are thousands upon thousands of promises, and God promises that
He'll be with us. Jesus promises that He'll take us through it.
And I just want to tell you this because it's something I thought
about and I wrote down here. Jesus is the remedy to our
grief, our fear, and our worries. So remember that when
you're going through something that Jesus is, Jesus is the
remedy. He is the answer. Stay tuned.
ANNOUNCER: Today as we look all around,
no matter where we are in life, more than ever,
we see needs, great needs, hopeless, hurting, desperate
people, and what we would typically see on the
streets of Skid Row, we are now seeing in every city, every
community, and in every neighborhood. Hunger is no
respecter of persons. Willie Jordan says, hunger never takes
a day off. For those of you during this unprecedented time
of history who are doing good, then we ask that you would
generously give to those who are not as fortunate. So many from
all walks of life are hurting. Will you extend a hand of mercy
to help them in their greatest time of need? Your most generous
gift is needed. Go online to give fjm.org. Whatever the
amount, great or small, your donation is greatly appreciated.
ANNOUNCER: Join the conversation by connecting with us on social
media. We are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more.
Visit us at social.fjm.org.
JOE: Well, welcome back. I was just
sharing with you how Jesus is the remedy.
He is the answer, the remedy for our grief, our fear,
our worries, and all of our situations. Jesus, He is,
and He promises that with Him, that fear is not really needed,
that we can be fearless. We can believe because remember in Mark
5:36, Jesus says, fear not only believe. So remember that Jesus
is the answer. He really is. He's been the answer in my life
more than once, more than twice, more than a hundred times. And
in fact, every day it amazes me how Jesus takes me through day
by day by day, year by year and He takes away the fear. He takes
away that anxiety. He takes away that worry. He takes away the
uncertainty of situations that come up in my life. I used to be
pretty fearless as a young boy. My mom thought I was basically,
as they used to call it, back in the day, a daredevil. I would do
anything. I would ride my bike off the roof into the swimming
pool, and if I missed the swimming pool, I would hit the
concrete and then end up in the swimming pool. I don't know how
I lived through all those crazy times, but I did. I remember
also just being fearless when I was on the football field,
playing football, played quarterback, and I remember
getting to run the ball a lot because God gave me speed and it
was fun. And we would do options where I would toss it off to my
running back unless there was someone going to hit me. And if
someone was about to tackle him, then I'd keep the ball, tuck it
and run. And I just remember running and just putting my head
down and back in the day, we, and maybe it wasn't wisdom at
the time, but we didn't slide. We didn't kind of do what they
do nowadays. We just put our head down and our shoulder down,
and the guy that was going to hit us was going to be hit back
by us and we were going to try to run through them. Some people
would call that not too much wisdom. I think now today I have
a little more wisdom, but boy, when we played hard and we were
fearless, we saw pretty good results. But when it comes into
our lives and practicality for today, being fearless is
important so that we can really walk in who we are in Christ
Jesus, that we can really live in that truth, that faith, and
that assurance that we can be fearless with Jesus in our life,
but we must know Him and have that relationship with Him. Whom
shall I fear? What shall I fear? Well, let's look at Psalm 27:1
through 3 because it says this, the Lord is my light and my
salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life, whom shall I be afraid? It's so awesome to know that,
that we read in Psalm that the Lord is my light. He's my
salvation. He's the one who saves us from death the hell,
and not having that relationship with God because of our sin that
separated us from God when we were born and continues to
separate us all the days of our lives, until we meet Him, until
we receive Him, and ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, to
forgive us of our sins, come into our hearts and lives, and
then we have salvation. It says right here, the Lord is my
light. Let Jesus be your light. Let the Lord Jesus be your light
and let Him be your salvation. Because when we have Him as our
light and our salvation, it says, whom shall I fear? Because
there's no reason to fear anymore. The Lord is my
strength. Whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked comes
against them, the Bible says to eat their flesh, my enemies, my
foes, they stumble and fall. Though an army may encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war may rise
against me in this, I will be confident remembering what it
says in Psalm 27, the Lord is my light and salvation. He's my
strength of my life because there's nothing to fear when
Jesus is with you. There's nothing to fear and remember
always because Jesus is near. And that just is something that
reassures me, and I hope it brings you some assurance as
well. It can bring a dark cloud over us all. Fear is something
that can grip you, it can discourage you. It can cause
depression. It can cause people to go into dark places and
everybody's had a dark cloud of them at one point or another,
whether it's relationally or something to do with work or
family or children, there's always something that can bring
a dark cloud. But I want you to know this, that Jesus is the
answer to that dark cloud that tries to imprison us, that tries
to capture us and hold us in it. Jesus wants us to be free from
all of that, and because of what He did on the cross, we can be
free for sure by trusting in Him. We don't have to let that
dark cloud dictate our day, our week, our years. We can just
trust and know that Jesus is there with us even when we have
uncertainty, when there's rejection, when we're
misunderstood, if there's sickness or even death around us
or in our lives or family's lives, we can be certain that we
are more than conquerors because of Jesus and what He did for us.
Can we be fearless walking in the truth of Jesus in this life?
I believe we can. Again, it doesn't mean that you won't have
fear at times. It doesn't mean that you won't worry or fret,
but what it does mean is you don't have to let that control
you. You can remember the promises of God and all the
things that we've talked about, and there's so many thousands of
other ones that we can look to where Jesus tells us to fear or
not. He is with us where we can look to God and know that He's
for us and that He will always be there for us. He has our
interest, our lives in His hands, and He wants what's best
for us, that good pleasing and perfect will that we see in the
scripture, but we must do our part. We must have our faith and
our trust in Him and in Him alone, knowing that He conquered
everything for us and that we don't have to fear as long as
Jesus is our rock, our salvation, the one we look to,
the one we trust in, then we can walk with a fearless attitude,
making the right decisions and always remembering what the
psalmist said, the Lord is my light. The Lord is my salvation.
When the enemy attacks us or events come that alarm us,
remembering that the Lord Jesus is with you and me at those dark
times, the Lord is our deliverer, He's our strength,
and He will be there always. In Mark 35, it's a story of Jesus
with His disciples, and it goes like this. It was a stormy night
when the disciples found themselves in a horrendous
storm. They were in a little boat. They were being tossed to
and fro. They were scared, they were worried, and the water
began to fill the boat. And as the boat was literally tossed to
and fro and filled with water and ready to sink, there was so
much fear and panic filled the hearts of the disciples. But
there's Jesus, He was asleep on a pillow and the stern of the
boat just chilling, kicking back. Well, when you're Jesus,
you don't have any fear. Talk about fearless. Jesus is
fearless. Absolutely, and that's why we follow Him, and that's
why we can trust in Him, to help us to be fearless because of who
He is. So Jesus is asleep. He's on the pillow. And then the
story goes on to say they woke Him up and said, teacher,
teacher, do you not care about us? We're perishing. We're going
to drown. We're dying here. And Jesus, I could just imagine
seeing Jesus. He looked at the wind, He looked at the waves,
the Bible says here, he rebuked the wind and the waves and the
sea and said, peace be still. And guess what happened? Perfect
glass, perfect calm water. No more wind, no more waves, no
more disciples about to drown and sink in the boat. But Jesus
said to them at that time, after the wind and the waves were
calm, he said, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have
no faith? You see, the disciples were faced with a storm and they
feared, they were worried, but with that great fear and
anxiety, they had two options. They could go ahead and worry
and assume that they were going to drown and Jesus doesn't care
or they can resist the fear. Be fearless by trusting completely
in Jesus and what He did for them and what He does for all of
us by saving us, letting Him be their light. What is your choice
today? Do you trust in Jesus? Do you put all your faith in
Him and resist the fear, or do you just give
into it and give up? We'll be right back.
JOE: Here at Fred Jordan Missions,
every day we see all types of people. I remember as
a kid, my father, Fred and my mom, Willie, teaching
me a song about Jesus loves the little children of the
world, red and yellow, black and white. We are all precious in
God's sight. I still know that song. I taught it to my
children, and that's exactly what we see here at Fred Jordan
Mission every day. Red and yellow, black and white, every
single person that you could think of from children all the
way to seniors are here on the streets living in LA, and they
come to our doors to be loved on, to be shared with that Jesus
loves you,and Jesus saves. You know we hand out water, we hand
out drinks, we hand out snacks. We preach the gospel. We have
hot meals, we do special events. But if you want to know who
comes through our doors, it's all of us. There's no certain
person. There's no certain look. But like I said, in that song,
red and yellow, black and white, we're all precious in God's
sight. That's who we see here every day at Fred Jordan
Mission. People from all around this country that end up on
these streets can come through our door, and we will serve
them as we declare and demonstrate
the love of Jesus to those in need.
JOE: Thanks for being with me today,
and I just want you to know that Fred Jordan Mission
just loves you as Jesus loves you, and we want
you to know that it's your partnership, it's your support,
it's your love, it's your prayers. It's all that you do
with Fred Jordan Mission to help us not only be able to share the
gospel on TV as we've done for all of these years, but also in
our 80th anniversary year, this year, we're able to feed more
care for more love, more that are living on the streets and
living basically in homelessness, unsheltered, and
unhoused will you continue to help us by supporting us
financially, getting involved, and volunteering, praying for
us? We need you so that we can continue to declare and
demonstrate the love of Jesus to those in need. God bless you.
ANNOUNCER: Join the conversation by
connecting with us on social media. We are on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and more. Visit us at social.fjm.org.
FEMALE SINGING: When the night comes, and
there's no one and you feel hopeless and abandoned. Just
take my hand and lift your eyes. Change
is coming, love has arrived. We will overcome this
sorrow. We will see the dawn tomorrow. We will soldier on
down this road as we reach for hope, reach for hope.
ANNOUNCER: Please will you join us in feeding hungry
children and their families by phoning today, 844-FJM-FOOD
or donating online fjm.org. That's fjm.org or
mail your check to Fred Jordan Mission, PO Box
12345, Covina, California 91722. Please will you help?
ANNOUNCER: The proceeding program was sponsored
by generous Friends and partners of Fred Jordan Missions.