JOE: Hey, I am Joe Jordan. Welcome to Fred Jordan Mission.
Top of the roof, here with Gina, Cristy. Going to be a great day.
Welcome. We're so glad you're with us. And today we're going
to talk about something that is, something we all feel at times
unloved. And not just that, but want to talk about how when our
souls are dry or they hit a drought season, that we can be
just spiritually drained, dehydrated, and just feel like
we're going to wither. So what do we do during those times?
Well, I mean, I would say look to the Lord. Look to His Word.
So let's just real quick, girls, let's look at Isaiah 58:11. It
says this. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your
needs in a sun scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You'll be like a well watered garden, like a spring whose
waters never fail. And I love this verse because it teaches a
powerful promise that God's guidance, provision, and
restoration is there and in our lives if we look to Him and His
Word. So what's your thought when, you know, you feel a
little bit scorched or dry or just, you know, that garden just
doesn't seem to be growing good spiritually?
GINA: Yeah. Well, I think that has to be one of the worst
feelings any human could feel, is being unloved, feeling
lonely. You know, and if you live in that and you're dwelling
on that situation, it can feel like it just... you are
withering away. And that is not what the Lord has for us. He
loved us so much. He sent His son to die on the cross for us,
you know, because He loves us so much and nothing can separate us
from His love. And so I think in a situation like that, again,
it's so powerful. And to know God's word. And just go and look
up all the scriptures on love, write 'em down, have them before
you, read 'em over and over and over again. And it's just
so important that the Bible is a love story. It's our own
personal love story. JOE: Yeah. It's so true. And Cristy
is staff at FJM and you're here on Skid Row and interacting
with the people, whether it's homeless men, women, children,
families, and you've been doing it for years with us.
And so when you see those who just look like they just
don't feel any love from anywhere, what do you do
and what does Fred Jordan Mission, and what can we all
do as believers, those watching that are Christians that see
people that are just feeling like they're dry and withering
away and feeling lonely and unloved, how can we help
them feel loved and authentically?
CRISTY: I think one of the first ways is just to remind them that
they're never too far gone. It's easy, them living here, to just
feel like they're too far from God. They are too far from love,
maybe because they don't have that love from their family,
from their friends, from anyone that's comforting. And I
remember a long time ago we were doing a chapel and I was talking
in the chapel and I told them there was a song that I grew up
with that said, just turn around and I'll be there. I'm moving
into your atmosphere. And I remember sharing that with all
our friends, all our guests, and I told them, all you have to do
is turn around and God's right there. And I remember it
resonated with them so much, and they told me after they were
like, I'd loved what you said, because it's so true. They can
feel so far from God. So what we do is we have chapel every day.
We remind them every day that they are loved, that they are
not too far gone. I think it's something that we all need to
hear, not only if we live on the streets of skid row, but we
could live in the most wealthiest place ever and feel
the most alone because at the end of the day, love comes from
God. And when we remove ourselves from God, we remove
ourselves from love. So I think it's something to remind
ourselves that alls we have to do is turn around and God is
there and His love is there to just infiltrate our lives.
JOE: It's so true. And the Bible says, God is love. So without
God in people's lives, it's a real lonely place. I remember
when I was just far from God and not serving God and it was a
lonely place and you just didn't feel much love. Even if you're
in a relationship or I had a girlfriend or whatever, I mean,
there's that googly feeling of, oh, I'm dating somebody, but
just an emptiness inside not feeling loved and not really
understanding your full purpose in life and everything else,
that there is a God in heaven that loves us, that there is a
God in heaven that created us in His image and likeness, that
He's always there for us. But, you know, if we turn Him off or
push Him out of our life or don't allow Him in, it can be
real lonely. And I know right here on the streets, because
I've been coming here all my life, and 35 - 36 years of
ministering here, we meet people every day that are just unloved,
feel unloved, but they are loved because God loves them. And so
it's so key and important to share that with them.
GINA: Well, just like you were saying, if it's a girlfriend or
whatever, you said you were looking in different areas and
that's what's happened to the people here on Skid Row. They
didn't know God's love, or they may have, but they stepped out
of that covering and they just started searching everywhere
else. And, you know, it's like we've always heard as
Christians, we have that little hole in our heart that only God
can feel. Only his love can fulfill that. And when we don't
know that, we just reach for every little thing. That's how
addictions get set in. That's how depression happens. That's
how our loneliness begins. And so it's just one little thing,
it's one little trick of the enemy to get our eyes off the
Lord and His love for us and onto all these different
situations that we think are going to fulfill us. They may
for a short time, but all they are is just dead end roads.
JOE: Yeah. They're just fleeting really, because as the Bible
says, sin brings pleasure and excitement for a moment.
GINA: And we're never too far gone. Like you were saying, you
know, God meets us right where we are, just a quick turnaround,
just an acknowledgement. Okay, God. And He will meet you right
where you're at. JOE: Yeah. You know, I've spoken in
chapel a million times and just one-on-one with people
on the streets and anywhere I go. I talk to people whether
they're homeless or hungry or just lonely looking and
they don't feel loved or they feel like they don't deserve
love from God because of how bad they've been.
But I let 'em know that, you know... I mean, I've been there,
done that, done everything bad that you could do because we're
all born as sinful human beings, right? We are. We're born with
this flesh and the flesh goes against everything good in God.
And you're never too far gone. You're not
GINA: No sin too great, right? JOE: No sin is too great. And
the bottom line is is that Jesus came and died for sinners. He
didn't come to hang out with the teachers of the law, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, everybody that knew everything.
No, he came for the poorest of the poor, the neediest of
the needy, and that was those who didn't have God in their
life. And that's all He wants, is a relationship with us, and
He provided a way by giving us Jesus. And that's so key.
GINA: And even His own disciples were... there was quite a few
misfits in there and used them in a mighty way. So we're not
too far gone. JOE: No. And He wants to use us all, and that's
what's so special. And if you're watching today and you're
viewing today and you feel like you've just done too much, that
God doesn't love you and you've disqualified yourself,
it's a lie. It's a lie from the enemy. You can never
do too much to get God out of your life. You can keep
pushing him away and shoving, but He'll keep knocking. He'll
keep trying to draw you and call you in. Look, bottom
line, and what I finally did years ago was surrender.
Surrender. Give Him your life and let God use you and your
life for His glory and get the blessing of it. Yes, He wants to
forgive us and give us eternal life, but He also, not just
heaven, but He also wants to bless us here and give us a life
and a purpose here. And we get to share that on Skid Row and
everywhere we go in outreach, how God wants to use people and
take their mess and make a miracle and take that which is
upside down and turn it right side up. And how does that work,
the message of those who really do follow Jesus, who were just
in a pit before that? CRISTY: Yeah. Yeah. I think it's like
when, we all have those moments in life when we realize that
we're broken, that we're a mess, and that happens for our
friends on Skid Row. They face a moment, especially coming to
Chapel when they're just faced with their brokenness and we
meet them with hope. And we often say hope's served here,
because that's the number one thing we give them. We give them
hope. We give them a reason to live, a purpose to live. But,
you know, it's not just people on Skid Row, it's everywhere.
It's our viewers, it's us. So many times no one is exempt.
We often quote the Hal Lindsey quote, that we can live, I don't
know what it is, without water, without food for a certain
amount of time, but you can't live one second without hope.
And I think there's something so powerful about that, that
we get to be part of that change. And we'd like to invite
our viewers too, if they want to give financially, they're
partnering with us to give hope. Alls they have to do.
They could give a dollar. This is our 80th year. They give $8,
$80, $800, whatever it is, and help us give hope. And you're
part of something that is so eternal that changes people's
lives. Yes. fjm.org/donate. Yes. JOE: Absolutely. And it is. It's
our 80th year. For those viewing, it's our 80th
anniversary this year, 2024. And if you subtract 80 and go
backwards, 1944, 44 to 24, 80 years of serving Jesus,
declaring and demonstrating God's love here on Skid Row and
beyond because of you, your partnership, your love, your
prayers, and your financial support. Stay with us.
JOE: I grew up with great Christian parents, Fred and
Willie Jordan, who literally met the needs of the homeless, the
poor, and the needy around the world. They blessed and shared
the gospel, the resurrection story with literally tens of
millions of people, fed tens of millions of people, and we still
do feed hundreds of thousands of people. For 80 years we've
carried on the torch and the calling and the legacy that God
gave my father because of friends and partners like you.
Together we do extraordinary things, reaching people for
Jesus, and that's because of you. Thank you so much for all
you do. Keep us in your prayers and whatever you can do, whether
you give $5 or $25 or $50, just know this, God takes it all, He
puts it all together, and then He uses us at Fred Jordan
Mission to reach the least of these.
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. We were talking about just being
dehydrated and withering away and being unloved and
spiritually how we can get there if we're just not seeking God
and putting our trust in him. I read from Isaiah how important
it is to realize that He wants to water us. He wants to be the
living water in our life if we receive Him and accept Him. And
the Holy Spirit wants to work and minister in our life. I love
how that verse teaches us that God's presence is continuous and
it's a continuous source of strength and nourishment that
will lead us through those dry times, through those scorch
times, and it will help us to flourish like a well watered
garden. And all of us who follows Jesus have that living
water. It's not from ourself, it's from Jesus, His spirit.
It's abundant. It never fails and it causes us to grow, but we
have to look to Him and trust Him, right?
GINA: We do. We do. And don't you know it when you see people
who love Jesus, the joy of the Lord is their strength. They
know that they're loved with an everlasting love. They just have
a different glow about them. You see it right away. In talking
about being dehydrated, I mean, that can get you so physically
sick if you're dehydrated. But when we're dehydrated
spiritually, I mean that makes us spiritually sick. It makes
our souls feel like they're just withering up and feeling lost
and alone and without hope. Like you said, you can't live without
hope. And we see it every day here on Skid Row, those who are
hurting, lonely, feeling hopeless, and their souls are
completely dehydrated. It's such a blessing to be that beacon of
hope to give them not only food and water, but like we say here
at Fred Jordan, the bread of life. We see that spark starting
to come back into their lives and it's because of the viewers
who help us, support us, pray for us, and we're just so
grateful for that. JOE: Yeah, we are. Because we couldn't
be here 80 years later without our partners, and our partners
are so special to us. Thank you for all that you do to help
provide hope and love to the unloved. And that's kind of how
most people on the streets and most who live on skid
row feel, unloved. And not just unloved because of being
abandoned or some made bad choices and got here. I wish
we could get our society and our community away from the notion
that if you live on Skid Row, you're just like, you're
worthless or you're disposable or you're just an addict or
you're just evil and bad because it's so not true. There's so
many broken dreams. There are so many broken hearts of people
who ended up here and not just because of a bad choice,
but circumstances in their life, abuse in their life, something.
But as I always say, they're moms, they're dads, they're
daughters. They're cousins, they're brothers and sisters,
and they're human beings that need love.
GINA: I just was on the street not long ago and in one of the
tents there was a woman kind of peeking out and she had three
little ones with her. And she was a mom fleeing another state
because she wanted safety for her and her kids. She was an
extremely abusive situation and she just found herself on... she
didn't know where else to turn. So there's people like that that
are hurting over and over. It's not just- It's sad that we do
want to put labels on people. You know, and it's not- God
didn't say to investigate- Love one another. It is my
commandment that you love one another. He didn't tell us to
investigate what's going on in that situation. So anyways,
you're right. People are putting labels on them, but you know
what? They're human beings that are hurting, and that's first
and foremost. JOE: Yeah. And I just want to share with you
our viewers, I don't know if you've thought about it much,
but I've had a lot of time to think about it over my life,
60 years of my life to see the homeless and the hungry and the
helpless and the hopeless. Yes, there's drugs and addictions.
Absolutely. There's mental illness, absolutely. But there's
so much more to people's lives. They're human beings, just like
me and Gina and Cristy, just like you. And you at home might
feel unloved or you might be struggling with an addiction.
You might be struggling with, you might have a child, a
grandchild. I know so many, and they call me, Pastor Joe,
I just found out that my granddaughter just moved out
and she ran off to Tennessee and she felt unloved. And now
she's trafficked we think. And I mean, man, I just broke down
when I heard this the other day. It's a friend of mine's
granddaughter. She's like 18, just graduated high school. You
might have a child or a grandchild or a friend like
that. Look, we're all made by God in His image likeness. So
when you drive around and you see tents, when you drive around
and you see Skid Row, when you look at the streets and all
that we do here at Fred Jordan mission, when you're in your
town and neighborhood, you can't escape homelessness anymore.
You can't escape the poor. You can't escape addicts. And
yes, some people are just out of their minds, but they
still need Jesus. And that's why we're here. We want the
unloved to feel loved. And that's why my dad came here
all those years ago, is to love the unloved, to make sure the
forgotten people, as my dad said, my forgotten people are
not forgotten because God called me here to them. And so we get
to do that every day, Cristy. CRISTY: We do.
I was thinking about it the other day. I am a big coffee
lover. I love coffee. GINA: We know. CRISTY: You know, right?
I am always in a new coffee shop. And what I can fall into
is that first thing in the morning, I drink my coffee and I
feel like it's quenching my thirst, but it's actually
dehydrating me more. You know? And I just think about our lives
and I think about how we try and substitute things for God.
We try and get hydrated in a spiritual sense through
happiness. We think, this is going to make me happy, but it's
never going to make me content. This is going to distract me
from my bad circumstances, but it's never going to give me true
peace. And we treat it like that cup of coffee. It feels like
it's quenching your thirst, but it's actually dehydrating you
more, you know? And I just think, we need to learn to
realize that we can only find that hydration for our souls in
Christ alone. And it's something so powerful, I think.
JOE: It's amazing you just said that because I had that... next
verse that I had here was John 7:38 and 39, and it just ties
right into what you said there. Whoever believes in me has
rivers of living water that will flow within them, but this, the
spirit is given to those who receive. And, you know, it's so
important that when we place our faith and our trust in Jesus,
receive His Holy Spirit, eternal life, we have living water, but
we have to keep letting the living water flow in us and
through us. Yes, when you receive Jesus, you get all of
Jesus. You don't get the hand of Jesus, the foot of Jesus, you
get all of Him. But also, we have to do our responsibility
and our job by getting in God's Word, learning more and letting
that living water flow through us. Because if we do, then we
will flourish. We won't be dehydrated and we'll have so
much that we can not only be filled up ourself, but we can
give back. Because in this world, everybody, we need to
take Jesus that's in us and take it out to the world. Because if
not us, who? And if not now, when? Will you go out today or
the next time you have an opportunity and share the love
of Jesus with someone who feels unloved and let them see Jesus
working through you? We'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Jesus once said, what you do for the least of these
you do for me. With your generous support, Fred Jordan
Mission has been fulfilling this calling for over 80 years by
feeding hungry people here on Skid Row. Together we made a
difference. Together we have given hope to those less
fortunate. And together we have demonstrated the love of Jesus
to those in need. We deeply appreciate your support and we
ask that you please continue to give to this life-changing
mission. Go online to give at 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. It's been great sharing with you
today. We've had a good time always, just sharing our hearts
and God's word and just trying to encourage our viewers, you,
our viewers, who we are so grateful that you do view the
show. And it's our 80th year of Fred Jordan Missions being here
on Skid Row since 1944, and we're excited about that. This
2024 year that we're in, we're really excited for it. New
things, new hope, new life, and a new way of reaching people for
Jesus with just all of God's living water running and flowing
through us so that we can give back to others. We encourage you
to be a blessing in your community. So thank you for
supporting us and being with us. But Gina, how, and Cristy, how
can people get involved, be involved, stay involved if
they're not already? GINA: Yeah, just go to fjm.org and it's all
there, how you can get involved. And like Joe was saying, this is
our 80th year anniversary, so many amazing things happen this
year. We want you to be a part of it. You can volunteer, you
can help us with your financial gifts. You can pray for us. You
can come down to the mission and volunteer. I mean, there's so
much, and we would love for you to be a part of it.
CRISTY: Yes. Yes. And you're also welcome to connect with us
on social media. We are on Facebook, Instagram, and
Twitter, just under FJMissions. But we also started something
more recent than not, which is just getting daily Bible verses
from Joe and a just note of encouragement. And we would love
for you to be a part. All you have to do is scan the QR code
below, or you could text the word Bible to 626-314-7703, and
we can start sending you those Bible verses and quick notes of
encouragement from Joe. JOE: Absolutely. And if you have a
prayer request, please write us, DM us, get on our social media,
go through our website and just say, Hey, Team Jesus, FJM, I
need your prayer, and we will pray for you. I promise you
that. We take it seriously. It's not just lip service. We want
to pray for you and your needs. So write us, reach out to us,
and if you still do, pick up your iPhone and call us if
you want to do that, because we would love to hear from
you and pray for your situation. We want you to know God's love.
We want you to feel God's love, and we want you to be filled
with that living water. If you don't know Jesus today, all
you have to do is say, Jesus, I believe you died for my sins
on the cross. I pray that you'd forgive me of my sins. Come into
my heart. Be my Lord and Savior in Jesus' name. And if you pray
a simple prayer like that, you've received his free gift of
love. You have eternal life, you'll be going to heaven. Now,
get into God's Word and just trust Jesus with every situation
you're in. He loves you. 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.
FEMALE: (Singing) Reach for hope.
ANNOUNCER: The proceeding program was sponsored by
generous friends and partners of Fred Jordan Missions.