JOE: Hi, I am Joe Jordan. Welcome to FJM TV. Today I
wanted to talk to you about something that we all face in
life, defeat. Have you ever felt defeated? Have you ever been
defeated? Well, today as I share with you, I pray that you'll be
encouraged by God's Word, by God's promises, and the stories
that we share today. You know, we all face defeat. No one is
immune to it. Everybody at some point is defeated and they fail
in life or experiences or something that you do. It's
just... there's no way of getting around it. And at some
point in our lives as we face these failures, they can defeat
us. They can just discourage us and make us feel like, whoa,
what a failure. I'll just never be good enough. I'll never live
up to what I need to live up to or it will keep us from becoming
all that God created us to be. But failure is something that we
all experience, every single person on the face of the earth
has experienced. The Bible says in James 3:2, it says that we
all stumble in many ways. The new King James version of the
Bible says that we all stumble in many things. And the New
Revised Standard version says, for all of us make many
mistakes. So the Bible makes it very clear here that... that we
all make mistakes. It goes on to talk about also, that the tongue
can be very difficult to control, but that doesn't give
us a right, it doesn't give us a reason to just say what we want
to, say things that are hurtful or mean to others or to act or
live life in a way that's unpleasing to God. It's not a
license to sin, but the Bible is clear that we've all fallen
short of God's glory. There's only one good, the Bible says,
and that's God. There's only one perfect, and that's God and His
Son, Jesus, and of course the Holy Spirit, the Trinity. The
three in one are perfect and holy and righteous. And we are
created in His image and in His likeness, but make no mistake,
we're not God. We're not Jesus. We need God and we need Jesus in
our life and we need the Holy Spirit in us to help us, to
guide us and direct us. But as I wanted to go on with this point
that James is pointing out, is just the fact that all of us
fall short. All of us miss that mark. All of us fail in things
that we do, and sometimes for many of us, we fail more than we
succeed. And that's a very hard thing. I talk to people all the
time who make mistakes and miss the mark and keep messing up,
especially with Fred Jordan Missions and what we do in
downtown Los Angeles. There's homelessness of course, and
there's poverty and there's hunger and there's hopelessness,
but there's also addictions and there's so much loss and pain in
people's lives. And for you at home, you have children or
grandchildren or parents or there's so many that you may
know at home that mess up and miss the mark and fail. And for
those who constantly fail on Skid Row and come through our
doors at the mission, they're just so discouraged. They feel
like they don't even want to try anymore. They feel like, "I've
messed up so bad that I just can't go on," so they just keep
falling short. I know personally in my life that when I would
mess up and miss the mark over the years, you know, I'd fail at
something, it would be very devastating at times, very
discouraging, and I would keep my eyes and focus on that messed
up situation. I would keep my focus on that failure instead of
remembering to keep my eyes on Jesus, the victor, because we
can have victory in all things. We can take failures and those
things that we mess up at, and God can turn those around and
make 'em into success for us. What do you mean success, Joe?
Well, if we take failures in our life and allow God to take us
through them, to learn and to grow and to become more like
Jesus through them, then that's success. Remember always that
Jesus is our example, the one we need to look to on how to live
our life. And if we always follow His example, then we'll
be okay. Not that we'll ever be perfect, we won't because we
will never be Jesus. We will never be God. But as His
children who believe in Him, who have placed our faith and our
trust in Him and Him alone for the forgiveness of our sins,
believing that He died on the cross for you and for me, and
knowing that not only does He forgive us when we ask and we
repent and confess our sins, but He's faithful and just, the
Bible says, and forgives us and cleanses us from all
unrighteousness. We follow a perfect Jesus. We follow a
perfect savior. We are led by our perfect God in His Word, and
that directs us down the right path. It takes our failures and
puts 'em in the past where they belong and we can walk in the
victory of Jesus. But James makes it very clear here in
God's Word again, that we fail at times, we make mistakes, we
stumble, we fall, and we should expect that in life. Not that
you hope for it, not that you pray for it, but you should
expect it. And I've learned in my life that some of the
devastations and failures, it wasn't that I was looking for
'em and it wasn't like I wanted them to come into my life, but
they appeared. And if I wasn't walking with Jesus at the time,
closely, if I wasn't staying in prayer and in His Word, if I
wasn't asking Jesus every day before I went to bed and in the
morning when I got up to help me through that day and to help me
to navigate through those times, then my failures seemed worse,
my falling short seemed like I fell more. And, you know, I just
know that that was not my fault in the sense that I wasn't going
to face things if I just keep my eyes on Jesus because we will
face things, but I know that instead of worrying when I go to
bed or thinking about my failure when I wake up or waking up in
the middle of the night thinking of all those things, if I would
just remember Jesus and that He already is the victory in my
life, that I already have victory because of Him and what
He did on the cross, if I would think about that God is with me
when I go to bed and when I wake up, if I would ask Him to help
me to navigate through those times, through those failures
and through those things that I fall short at, they would be a
much better experience. And so when I take my eyes off of Jesus
and I put my eyes on those circumstances, they become a
whole lot worse than if I would've looked to Jesus and ask
for His help. Stay tuned. We'll be right back.
ANNOUNCER: Life is busy. It is easy for the little things in
our everyday routines to get lost in the shuffle. Even when
everything is going good, there are still things that get
overlooked. At Fred Jordan Mission we strive to help those
we serve on Skid Row with the little things, such as having
access to a bottle or even just a cup of clean water when
they're thirsty. How about a cup of coffee in a donut just to get
your day going or taking for granted, having shelter from the
weather? Hot in the summer, cold in the winter. Did you know a
high percentage of those here on Skid Row who we call homeless
are not drug addicts or alcoholics or even mentally
unstable? No, they are fellow Americans who maybe a few months
ago were paycheck to paycheck from eviction or recently laid
off from their job or just down and out on their luck. Your act
of kindness through prayer, through your financial gifts
today help those who come through our doors for socks,
toothbrush, soap, a lunchtime snack, and yes, even water. So
let this be a reminder to be thankful for the little things.
JOE: Again, James makes it very clear in the Word here that we
make mistakes, we stumble, we fall as part of life. I shared
with you some of my stories about falling short, taking my
eyes off of Jesus and putting them on the circumstances or the
situation. And, you know, for me, I feel like in times of
failure and being defeated that if I don't look to Jesus, I get
a little stuck. Maybe you felt like that before. You get stuck
in that, in that moment of failure. Fear comes in, can I
overcome this? What am I going to do? How can I overcome this
and how can I defeat this? But I found that, without Jesus and
without asking Him to intervene, that time of being stuck in it
just goes further and longer than it probably should. And
again, we're all going to face things. We're all going to have
losses, defeats, failures, setbacks in our life. It says it
in God's Word. No one's perfect but God. But even though we make
mistakes, we can't allow our defeat, our failures to define
our future. We can't allow it to affect what God has for us
because the enemy, Satan is very clear that his plan is to
distract us, to take our eyes off of Jesus, to not look at
Jesus and the victory we have in Jesus. The Bible makes it very
clear that we have victory in Jesus because of who He is,
because of what He's done for us. And so if we have victory in
Jesus, the enemy does not want us to focus and think about
that. No, he wants us to wallow and sit and just, like pigs in
the mud, stay in that dirty rotten place where we just
continue to be in the mud and to be stuck and to not walk in that
victory. One author said it like this, the difference between an
average person and achieving person is their perception and
the response to failure. Pretty important. How do you respond to
failure? How do I respond to failure? Another author wrote
this, there is no doubt in my mind that there are many ways to
be a winner, but there is only one way to be a loser and that
is to fail and not look beyond the failure. You know, the times
that I've failed in my life that I've fallen short, it's not a
great thing at all. I remember whether it be in sports or
whether it was in academics when I was in college, whether it was
when I was in Bible school and I'd mess up on some exam. And it
always really was not great when you mess up on a Bible exam.
Here you are going to try to be the best Christian, the best
follower of Jesus. You know, you want to become a pastor or a
leader in ministry. You have Fred Jordan as your father to
follow the example who had been preaching, teaching and reading
God's Word for a hundred years. You know, and that's one of your
examples, and you just want to serve Jesus the best you can.
And then before you know it, you have the simple Bible exam that
you thought was simple. You study your little heart out, and
some of us are better at school than others, and I always had to
really work for mine. And then you fail and you're like, oh,
sorry Lord, I shouldn't fail at something like that. But that
always really got me. And I don't know about you at home,
what gets you, what really discourages you, what really
brings you down, but I know for me that was one of 'em, is not
doing well on those exams in Bible school. But you know what
I did? I got up. As a friend said, I got over it and I got on
with it. I studied harder next time. I worked harder the next
time. I read more the next time. I listened better in class. I
tried to take better notes. And you know what? Little by little
I did better. And you know what? Graduating from college and
graduating then from Bible school, you know, and God bless
me and I was able to get a degree in pastoral ministry and
counseling and theology. But, without Jesus, without asking
Him and without really going to Him after those times of messing
up and failing on tests and exams, I probably would've just
given up. But I realized through all of that, how can I look at
that circumstance at that one exam, at that one class, that I
never failed at a full class, but even an exam and say, that's
who I am, that's my future. No, I looked to Jesus and I said,
wow, you've already won the war. I might be losing a few battles,
I might be messing up on a few things, but I am not going to
let the enemy rob me, steal from me. And I want to encourage you,
don't let him do it to you, because greater is he who is in
me, and you as Christians and followers of Jesus, than he that
is in the world. You see, we have victory in Jesus and we
always have to remember that through all that we go through.
But, you know, it's hard sometimes. There's a lot of fear
involved. And again, remember, God is love, the Bible says, and
the Bible also says, perfect love cast out all fear. So keep
Jesus close to you. Keep God and His Word close to you, and His
perfect love and who He is will keep you from living in fear,
walking in fear and letting fear control you and live in your
failures. You know, it wasn't long ago, in fact, just a few
months ago, I was playing on my travel tournament softball team
and we were going into the bottom, which is, you know, the
last inning, bottom of the seventh inning down by 13, down
by 13, and it was a really good major team that we were playing.
And every guy on my team for the first time in my life happens to
be a believer. And just because you're a believer doesn't mean
you're a great softball player, but we actually have, like, 13
really good major level players that all love Jesus and care
more about being honoring to Jesus on the field and off the
field than just winning games, which is kind of the first time
in my life it's ever been like that. And so playing with these
guys was fun, but we were down by 13. We went in there to the
dugout and just said, you know what? We're going to do our
best. We're going to praise God if we win, we're going to praise
God if we lose, but we're going to go and we're going to give it
our all and our best. And I was third up, and I went up and hit
a double, hit two guys in. Anyway, before you know it, it
was like, wow, we have five runs in, seven runs in, then we got
an out, eight runs in, nine runs out, two- two in, and then we
still needed like four runs, two more came, two more came. And
then the guy before me got up and he got on, and here we are
batting through the lineup a couple of times. So there's a
man on second base and I'm up with two outs and all the
pressure was on me, and I was just like, well, I'm going to do
my best. I'm going to hit it as hard as I can. And you know
what? We might've been down by 13, but now we're only down
by... well, now we were tied. Now we just have to get one run
in to win the game with two outs. And I got up and I just
asked the Lord. You know, He might not care about softball,
but I knew He cared about me, and I just said, Lord, help me
to hit the ball and help me to hit the ball hard, no matter
what. Just hit the ball hard. And I'll never forget that
moment. I got up, first pitch was a perfect strike, I hit it.
I hit a gap in left center field and about three feet from the
top of the wall hit the wall and scored the guy from second. It
was a walk off. We won the game and we came together and prayed.
But what was so great after that is the team that should have
beat us, I mean they were up by 13, came out with us. We invited
them to pray. The umpire came out and we all got on our knees.
There was like 26 grown men all of my age, and we all knelt
before that dirt and before God and just thanked Him. And both
teams then shook hands at the end and I just give God the
glory. You say, well, that have to do with anything, Joe? I
mean, it's a softball game. But you know what? I could have gone
up there with fear, and if I did and I'm going to make an out, I
would've made an out, and I didn't let fear strip away from
the opportunity to play the game and have fun. If I would've
struck out, if I would've got out, it would've been okay too
because I trust Jesus. The point in the whole thing is, is don't
let fear, don't let circumstances, don't let
situations, don't let things that seem overwhelming to you or
out of reach to you define how you react and go through 'em.
You know, in closing, I just want to share this with you.
Focus on the future. Paul said it best, forgetting what is
behind, I press on to what is ahead. Run the race. Run the
race that God has put in your life before you without fear of
failure, and know that the prize in Christ Jesus, the prize that
we have in spinning eternity with Him will be ours. Jesus has
a bright future for you and for me. And lastly, just trust Jesus
with everything you have. And as we see in Joel chapter 2, verse
25, it says this, I will restore the years the locusts have
stolen away. Isaiah 61 says, I will restore beauty for ashes. A
new beginning starts, a new beginning starts with the
renewed faith in God, with a new trust in Jesus Christ. If you've
never trusted Him before, the Bible just says, believe and
receive Jesus. Ask Him to forgive you of the sins in your
life and to become your Lord and Savior. He will, and He will
save you. If you already know Him, and maybe you're just
walking in defeat, maybe you've- you've failed one too many
times. Just ask God to help you in those times, to learn from
them and to become more like Jesus. Let today be your
new beginning.
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 pallets, which is someone's bed. If you come to
the corner of Fifth 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: Thanks for joining us today. You know, I just wanted
to give you an opportunity to be a part of Fred Jordan Missions
and FJM TV. Maybe you watch every week, maybe you've never
watched before, but I want you to know, our mission, our
calling, our heart is to serve Jesus by serving those in need.
We say it like this, we are about declaring and
demonstrating the love of God to those who are hungry, homeless,
helpless, and hopeless, by sharing with them the hope of
Jesus Christ every day. We do that by of course, sharing that
Jesus loves them, that Jesus cares just like Jesus loves you
and me and cares for us, and He died on the cross for us. But we
also demonstrate His love by meeting the needs of the poor,
caring for those who are hungry, living on the streets and
everywhere we go. You can be a part of that by donating, by
volunteering, by being a partner of Fred Jordan Missions. You can
go online to FJM.org. You can go to our social media platforms.
You can reach out to us in so many different ways. You can
come to the mission and volunteer and be the hands and
feet of Jesus. But I know this for sure, after all of these
years of serving Jesus by serving others, when you do unto
the least of these, the Bible says, you've done for Jesus.
Today, will you partner with us if you don't already? And if you
do, thank you so much because I know that I can do a good thing
and you can do a good thing and others can do a good thing. But
together we can do extraordinary things as Jesus uses us to touch
people's hearts and lives everywhere we go.
FEMALE: (Singing) We will overcome this sorrow. We will
see the dawn tomorrow. We will soldier on down this road as we
reach for home, reach for home.
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 home.
ANNOUNCER: The proceeding program was sponsored by
generous friends and partners of Fred Jordan Missions.