JOE: Welcome to FJM TV. I'm Joe Jordan. I'm excited because I'm
on the roof today, a place I love with LA City skyline behind
us, the city of Angels. What a beautiful place on just a
beautiful day here in Los Angeles on Skid Row in downtown
LA. As we're on the 7th floor basically of the 6 floor mission
here on the roof, I wanted to share with you one of my
favorite things that we've done over the last few years and just
trying to minister more to churches and pastors and have
youth groups and others that we get to mentor and teach and
train how to be in the hands of feet of Jesus. Here at Fred
Jordan Mission, we did some murals and what a blessing
these murals have been and this one nicknamed by me the Wall of
Truth. Why? Because we start off with the first word to my right
here over my shoulder, truth, because this wall is all truth
and it comes from the word above it, the Bible, the B-I-B-L-E,
something that my mom and dad taught me from the time I was a
child and I continue to read and learn and grow. The Bible says
that the Word of God is like a two-edged sword. It says that it
is something that is active and alive if we allow it to be in
our lives. And the more that I read the Word, the more that I
study God's Word, the more that I open the Bible, the more like
Jesus I can become because He works in and through His word to
change us and transform us. You know getting away from our
thoughts and from our problems and from our fears and from our
desires, looking to God's Word at His Word, the truth that sets
us free and that's also up here. We're set free by God's Word.
We're set free by the Word of God that transforms our minds,
the Bible says. It renews our mind, and I'm so glad for the
truth of the Bible that not only sets us free, but it does so
much more. As we look here, we have victory because of what
Jesus did on the cross, because of Jesus, He can be our savior.
We can have eternal life because of the good news of the gospel.
And I wanted to share with you some of the good news of the
gospel. Well, you say, Joe, what's the good news? The good
news is there's a God in heaven that loves us, a God that loves
us so much that He knew we would be mess ups. We would blow it,
we would be knuckleheads. We would make mistakes and sin
against Him, and yet He had a plan to fix that, and His plan
was to send His one and only Son Jesus to this world to die for
us. We see that in our first passage of scripture, our first
verse, John 3:16, for God so loved the world. And that's up
here, God's love. We see it here, the hope of the gospel
right here on this wall. Another word, hope. And that's what John
3:16 brings us, hope. For God so loved the world that He gave His
one and only son, that whoever would believe in Him would not
perish but have eternal life. Eternal life is here. The good
news is here, Jesus is on this wall, not literally on this
wall, but the words that have so much meaning, so much depth, and
so much life in them. Eternal life is here on this wall, and
I'm so grateful because of the righteousness of Christ we can
have salvation and the Holy Spirit that's behind me there,
written on the wall, living in our hearts as we receive Jesus,
as our Lord and Savior. The Bible says the Holy Spirit comes
into our hearts and lives to direct us, to guide us, and to
take God's Word and transform our minds and our hearts and
give us eternal life because of forgiveness of our sins. And
that's up here also forgiveness. It's because of Jesus that we
can have forgiveness, we can have salvation, and we can have
eternal life because of what Jesus did on the cross. The
Bible says, while we were still sinners, Christ Jesus died for
us. And I don't know about you, but I'm so grateful for that. As
we look around, we see so many other things. We are justified
because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, not what we did
for Jesus, but what Jesus did for us. Jesus did it all one
time on the cross, He died so that we could have life. He
sacrificed His blood on the cross so that we could be washed
white as snow and justified, and then all of the blessings of God
could be ours because we believed in Him, because we
trusted Him, and because the truth set us free and that's
also here on the wall. We are set free, free indeed because of
Jesus. You know it wasn't too many years ago. Well, it was a
few like 36, but 36 years in eternity isn't very long. When I
think about it, 36 years ago feels kind of like yesterday and
then sometimes it feels like a long time. But 36 years ago, I
was running from God. I was running from my calling. I was
trying to do my own thing and just do things that made me
happy, that made me feel good, doing things that had nothing to
do with God. In fact, most of what I did was very sinful,
partying and running around and just trying to please myself and
my sinful nature. But you know I was lonely and I was always
looking for something. I always knew the truth. I always knew
the truth could set me free and would set me free, but I also
knew that I would have to make decisions, decisions to not do
what my flesh wanted to do, not try to pleasure that side of my
life, but I would have to give it all to Jesus and go God's
way. But that was a battle that lasted a long time, and I've
said it before, the enemy tries to come in. The Bible says the
enemy, Satan, the devil is out to kill us and destroy us. In
fact, it says He is out to seek, kill, and destroy us. He's out
prowling. He's seeking to get us and lure us into things that
don't please God, that aren't righteous, that aren't holy,
that aren't perfect like he is. And it tries to take us astray,
whether it's partying, whether it's relationships that we
shouldn't be in, whether it's money, fame, power. There's
always something that is out there to try to lure us away
from doing God's plan, from living out God's life that He
has for us, and so we try to do what makes us happy. But I was
never really happy. I lived with a burden. I lived with a guilt.
I lived with a lot of shame because when you know the right
way and then you go your way, you don't follow God when you
know should you just kind of blow off Jesus. And I never
cursed. I never said bad things about God and Jesus, I didn't
take His name in vain. That just wasn't me because I knew what
the Bible said about that and it always scared me because I know
God is real. I knew God was real then. And you say, well, Joe,
why did you keep acting like a fool? Why did you keep running
from God? But many of you viewing today know that the
draw, the call, the pull of your flesh can be very powerful. Sin
can be very alluring. It can be things that can draw us away
from even the best that God has for our life because the flesh
is such a wicked and the heart can be so wicked that even it
doesn't want to do what we would like it to do. I always wanted
to just walk the right way. I always wanted to take the right
path. But I'm reminded what Paul said in the Word of God, and
I'll just sum it up, basically said, I do the things I don't
want to do and I don't do the things I want to do. He knew
that he did things wrong and he didn't want to, and he knew the
things that he wanted to do and do it right, but the flesh is
always pulling. It's always trying to take us astray. It's
always trying to get us away from having a personal
relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and if we go down
that route long enough, the enemy will not only seek us out,
but he will end up killing and destroying us because we allowed
sin, and the pleasures of sin, and the lifestyle of sin, to
take us away from God who had a plan to save us. Stay tuned.
JOE: Here at Fred Jordan Missions, every
day we see all, 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.
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: As I was saying, Jesus has a
plan for our life. God has a plan
and a purpose for our life, but the enemy wants to destroy
that. In fact, behind me, there's purpose, there's mercy,
there's favor, and there's the cross. And the cross we talked
about already from John 3:16, Jesus died, He hung on a cross,
and died for us so that we could have life and life abundantly.
But again, the enemy is out prowling, trying to distract us
and take us away from that life. You know, it talks about Jesus
as our Provider. He's our Redeemer. He's got deliverance
for us. Down here it talks about gentleness and goodness.
Righteousness. We can be forgiven if we just have faith
in the gospel and hold onto that hope of who Jesus is. You see,
Jesus is the great I Am. That's what He says in His Word. I am
and I want to share that with you. From John 14:6, Jesus
answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one
comes to the Father except through me. You see, Jesus is
the great I Am. And I realized as I was younger and I was doing
all the things that I wanted to do to just be happy and try to
pleasure myself, that empty void in my heart, though I felt
guilty and shameful all the time. I've talked to so many
youth and kids. I've talked to so many young adults. I've
talked to those who are even older than me, 60's, 70's, and
80's, people who have walked away from God or haven't given
their hearts to God, and there's an emptiness. There's a void,
there's a loneliness, and every man, woman, and child that's
ever born on the face of this earth that doesn't have that
personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ has that
void in their hearts, always looking for something else,
something to fill it up. But one day I realize there's nothing
that will ever fill that void in my heart. Nothing but Jesus,
nothing except God and His love for me, for while I and you were
still sinners, the Bible says, Jesus Christ died for us. And
when I really understood what that really meant, when I really
understood that no matter how crazy and what an idiot I could
be, as my dad said, son, I love you, but you can be a real
knucklehead sometime, I realized that there's a God in heaven
that saw how many stupid and sinful things that I did, so
many things to turn my back on Him, to run from Him, even
though I knew the truth and I knew the truth could set me free
through Jesus Christ, I still went my way. But when I really
understood, when I really grasp and thought about it that God is
love and God loves me in spite of or despite of what I do or
what I have been doing, it really just kind of broke my
heart and I realized if there's a God in heaven, that loves me
that much, that I could know the truth. I grew up with it. I got
saved. I gave Jesus my life. I said to the great I Am, Jesus,
please forgive me of my sins. Like it says here, come into my
heart. I believe. I receive you. I did that, and yet I ran away.
I strayed, and it wasn't like it was on accident. It wasn't like
I did it willfully in a mean way, like I don't believe in
you, God, no, I just ran from everything to do with God. I ran
from my calling. I ran from the truth because my flesh was
always trying to pull me away, but that guilt and shame,
finally it gets to you. That empty void finally gets to you.
And when you realize that no matter what you've ever done in
life, that our God, our Father in heaven, our Creator still
loves us, and if I was the only one or you were the only one on
the face of the earth, that He still would've sent Jesus to die
for. You realize that, that's a God that deserves my heart.
That's a God I want to serve. That's a God I want to know.
That's a God I want to be used by and that's a Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, that I want to lift up his name and share with
others like you, and that's what I've been doing for the last 35
years of my life. The wall of truth, it's here for you.
There's truth in the Bible. It brings wisdom, it brings
healing, the Lord Jesus Christ, eternal life, patience, peace,
joy, patience, grace, mercy, and it gives us and provides us with
purpose. There's a purpose for your life and there's a purpose
for my life. We don't all have to be preachers. We don't all
have to give a three point sermon every Sunday. We all
don't have to lead one hour Bible studies every week, but we
all need to have a personal walk, a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ through faith in Him. It says in Ephesians 2:8
it says this, for it is by grace. You have been saved
through faith and this not from yourselves. It's a gift from
God. Gift is on this wall too. It's a gift. Jesus is a gift, a
free gift and salvation, forgiveness that's also on this
wall is a free gift. The truth will set you free. The truth set
me free. And as I told you about John 14, Jesus said, I am, I am
the way the truth in life. No one's going to get to God, no
one's going to have a relationship with God except
through Jesus, because He is the one. He is the only one that can
take our sinful mess of a life, cover it with the blood that he
shed on the cross, wash us white as snow and bring us into a
right relationship with God, our Father. Romans 10:9 says this,
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe
in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you can be
saved. Today if you don't know Jesus, all you have to do is
believe in the truth. Believe in I Am, believe in Jesus Christ,
and let Him be your Lord and Savior. And all you have to do
is say, Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I know I make mistakes.
Please forgive me of my sins. Come into my heart, come into my
life and be my Savior and save me, but also be my Lord and Lord
over my life every day guiding me, leading me, and I thank you
for it. I believe you died on the cross for my sins, and I
believe that you are the Savior of the world in Jesus' name. If
you pray to prayer like that, you're saved today. You know
Jesus, start your relationship with Him, and Jesus will guide
you every day of your life. Trust Jesus today and let the
truth set you free. God bless you.
ANNOUNCER: If you ever visit the streets of
Skid Row in Los Angeles, you will see ragged tents
compromised easy ups, which is someone's
home. If you walk down the streets of Skid Row, you'll
pass dirty blankets or old newspapers lying on top of
broken wooden palettes, which is someone's bed. If you come to
the corner of 5th and Towne, you will see people lined up to
join team Jesus for a hot meal in our
dining room or a time of song and worship
in our chapel. What you also see at Fred Jordan
Mission is smiles and hugs and hear wonderful stories of love
and care. Serving those on Skid Row for 80 years, feeding
millions of meals, caring for the saint and the sinner by
declaring the goodness of God through love and action. Please
continue to give right now while it's fresh on your heart. Pick
up your phone or your tablet, go to your computer and type
fjm.org. It is there you can give a generous gift to help us
continue what we have been doing for 80 years.
JOE: What a blessing being able to share
with you from the Mission Rooftop here
at Fred Jordan Missions in downtown LA with the Wall
of Truth. I hope today that the Wall of Truth touched you in
some way, whether you're a believer, a new believer you
haven't believed yet. You know I just want to share this in
closing by confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing in your
heart that God raised Him from the dead, you're simply calling
out to God, trusting Him to do for you what only He could do
and we can't do for ourselves. He forgives us, He cleanses us,
and He takes away all of those wicked ways, and He continues to
work in our life every day. If you haven't, trust Jesus today
and if you already have, keep trusting Jesus. Let Him be your
best friend, not only your God, your Savior, your Provider, but
let Him be the one that brings the truth from His Word into
your life and continues to transform you. We get to do that
every day here on the streets of Skid Row and beyond and in the
Coachella Valley, share the Word of God, share the gospel, share
from the truth of this wall. So many great things we've learned
from God and His Word with others, and we also get to feed
and clothe and care for the least of these. If you already
do, thank you for partnering with us. If you haven't, stand
with us. Come volunteer. Be a part, send a gift today because
together we can reach more and more for Jesus Christ and see
the kingdom of God grow so that heaven, heaven will be a
place that we will all gather instead
of being lost to our sinful ways.
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, P.O. Box 12345, Covina,
California 91722. Please will you help?
ANNOUNCER: The proceeding program was sponsored by
generous Friends and partners of Fred Jordan Missions.