JOE: Today I wanted to share with you some thoughts about how
to make an impact for Jesus. First of all, I think if we want
to look at how to make an impact for Jesus, we need to also look
at Jesus, at his life, at how he made an impact and made a
difference. So we're going to look at some of the scriptures
today from God's word, but you know everyone who loves Jesus,
who loves the church, loves the body of Christ. All believers
that love the lost, they want to make a difference and be used by
God to make an impact, but do we all seek God and ask God to use
us to make an impact? You know a lot of times I hear people say,
well, you know, they say, oh, pastor Joe, you know you're the
pastor. You're the preacher, you're the evangelist. You're
the guy who shares you know the love of Jesus and the gospel
with those on Skid Row, the homeless, the hungry, the
helpless, the homeless and the hopeless, or you know you're the
one that you know goes to your church and encourages others and
shares you know how to get through trials and situations
and struggles and you know, you know all the Bible and you know
all the theology, and I just kind of scratch my head
sometimes and go, wait a minute. I definitely don't know all of
the Bible. I definitely don't know all of theology. I
definitely don't have all the answers, but the good thing that
I know is I have God's word. I have the Bible, so there are
answers, answer after answer after answer. There there are
principles. There are all kinds of promises, you know thousands
and thousands of promises in God's word that we can look to.
We have a guidebook. We have a book of love that shows us that
God created us in His image and likeness, that God knew that we
would mess up even before he created us, and yet he still
created us and still loved us enough to create us knowing that
we would rebel against him, we would turn our backs on him, we
would worship other false gods and all kinds of things since
you know? Before he even created us. He knew all of that, and yet
he loved us and created us because he wanted a relationship
with us, and then he knew before even starting this whole thing
called humans and earth, he knew that he was going to have to
give the greatest sacrifice of all time to fix it, to correct
it, to right that wrong that we did, which was the sinful nature
in our hearts by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for
our sins. He knew that, and it amazes me that God who's always
been decided to create you and me. Imperfect people that would
sin against him and have wicked hearts and selfish hearts, he
still created us in his image and in his likeness, knowing
that he would have to sacrifice the greatest sacrifice of all
times, and that sending Jesus from heaven to this earth just
to be born, to grow up and hang on a cross and die for our sins.
That amazes me every time I think about it, that God loved
us that much. The Bible says, while we were yet, we're still
sinners, Christ died for us. And Jesus who died on the cross
loved us enough to come down from heaven willingly and to
sacrifice his life to suffer, be beaten, a crown of thorns on his
head and hung on a cross and die because he loved us that much.
So it's so important if we're going to make an impact for
Jesus to look at the impact Jesus made as he was on earth,
do we all really want to make an impact as believers? Well, let's
look at some of the scriptures here because you know so many
times I've seen that people get full of knowledge. They
strategize, they have statistics and information about the needs
and opportunities of how to reach people, whether it's the
lost and homeless on Skid Row or the lost in their city or
community or you know, a tribe or a lost people in another
country, missionaries or whatever. There's so much
information, knowledge and strategies that sometime I see
that people get so overwhelmed and they just don't know what to
do or where to start. You know Skid Row's kind of like that
too. I know that my dad, when he started in 1944, saw the hobos
and the winos, the drunks that were lost and homeless and
hurting and hungry on Skid Row, and he saw it as a challenge. He
was called to it though, he had a passion, but I'll tell you, if
my dad would see Skid Row today back in 44, it might've been a
little overwhelming because it's changed a lot since then. The
homeless population continues to grow and grow and grow some
more. Some say in LA County, there's over 60,000 homeless
today that live on the streets of Los Angeles. That's
staggering. 60,000 people. There are cities that aren't even that
big. In fact, the city I grew up in the early sixties, I don't
even think was that big, and it was a city in LA County, but
that's the homeless population. So it becomes overwhelming and
people like, I don't know. I don't know what to do,
homelessness, Skid Row or whatever you're looking at
ministry wise to make an impact. Always remember this, we need to
stay focused on Jesus and look at it through Jesus and his
eyes. In Matthew 9:35, it says this, Jesus went into all the
towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the
good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and
sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on
them because they were harassed and they were helpless like
sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the
harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of
the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the field, and
as we look at this passage in Matthew, it's so important to
think about these four principles that we see in order
to impact Jesus. First, we see that he had compassion on them.
He didn't look at them and just feel sorry for them and like,
oh, they're useless and no, he had compassion on them. He was
patient and kind, and he said to his disciples, this harvest, the
harvest is so big, but the workers are so few and ask the
Lord of the harvest to send workers to the field. Have we
ever asked God? God, we see our world. We see all this craziness
all around us. We see it on the TV every day. Our world is
basically going to hell, and yet we have the answer. Jesus. You
see, Jesus is the hope of the world. He is the answer to sin.
He is the answer to all of our problems, and God has the power
to correct, correct the course, to fix the problem and to step
into our lives as soon as we ask him to right the ship because
most of us are just sinking ships. We're just in these
bodies, and as the Bible said, we've all sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God, but God sent Jesus to die for us and
he is the answer, and in order to make an impact, we need to
look more at Jesus and what he did. Ask the Lord of the
harvest. Ask God to bring workers into the field because
there are so many who need Jesus. As we look at this,
we look at these four points. Stay tuned. I'll
share those with you in just a sec.
ANNOUNCER: Turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, and pumpkin
pie too. That's what will be served at the Fred Jordan
Mission once again this year. Will you join the Jordan family
and thousands of special guests as we give thanks at the corner
of 5th and Towne in Los Angeles. Since 1944, this has been a
tradition. Every Thanksgiving for over 80 years, we set up
banquet tables and chairs and serve a hot Thanksgiving dinner
to our friends on the streets who are alone or have nothing to
eat. If your life has been blessed, then we invite you to
give thanks with us. How you ask? A donation is a great
start. We invite you to give and help us make this thanksgiving
memorable. For those who will sit at our Thanksgiving table,
please be as generous as possible and do it now while
it's on your heart. You can give securely online at fjm.org.
That's fjm.org. Want to mail a gift? Then send your check to
FJM, Box 12345, Covina, California 91722. Or volunteer?
There's nothing greater than serving a meal, sitting, talking
and encouraging others who are less fortunate. It truly is
better to give than receive. Go to fjm.org to learn more.
Together we are making a difference in the lives of those
who have nothing this Thanksgiving.
JOE: As I was sharing from this passage over in Matthew 9, about
Jesus, when he went to teach and preach and share the good news
of the kingdom, and when he saw all of the crowds, he had
compassion on them, we see that they were helpless. The Bible
says they were like a sheep without a shepherd, and then
Jesus said to his disciples, ask the Lord of the harvest to send
out workers because the harvest was so great, and yet the
workers were so few. And again, I shared a little bit earlier,
everybody said, well, pastor, you do it, or that's my pastor's
job, or that's the missionary's job to reach those in Africa or
in Venezuela or in Mexico. I mean, I'm just a Christian. I
mean, who am I? I mean, I don't know all the Bible. I don't know
all the seminary thoughts and all the theological words, Greek
and Hebrew and everything. Well, as I was sharing earlier,
neither do I, but I know one thing. I know Jesus is my Lord
and Savior, and for all of us, I think we can get a couple of
really good key points out of these four points that help us
to know that we, all of us as believers, can make an impact
for Jesus. If we would just follow Jesus's example here,
because we see in this passage in Matthew these things, first
we need to look at people through the eyes of Jesus. We
need to see the people that we see, whether it's on Skid Row in
our community, our neighborhoods, the way Jesus
did. You know little fun factors over 88 or so cities in Los
Angeles County and roughly 70 or so, which is, you know I don't
know, 60, 70, 80% of 'em. Don't quote me on the math, but I mean
most, the majority of those 88 cities are under 60,000 in
population. Under 60,000, and yet the homeless population of
LA County is larger than most cities, so it's one of the
biggest cities, even though it's the county I understand. I just
want you to understand the gravity of how many people in
Los Angeles County on Skid Row are hurting and suffering every
day. Many of you'll say, yeah, I know, but you know there's a lot
of bad decisions they made. Yes, but we all made bad decisions?
Oh yeah, but you know that's an addiction and it got 'em there
and some bad choices. Yes, but we've all made bad choices and
some even with drugs or alcohol at times, I'm just so grateful
that God saved me and God touched me and God delivered me
or at my age now, you know, some 35-6 years later after he
touched me, I would probably be lost or dead or on the streets
myself. So we've all made bad choices and bad decisions, but
first, if we look at that amount of people, we need to have
compassion on them, and we need to look at the people in Los
Angeles or in our communities or anywhere in this world, the way
Jesus saw them. Jesus saw them and he saw compassion on them.
He didn't look at them and say, oh, they're demanding my time
and energy. So many times the disciples are like, ah, leave
Jesus alone. Don't bring the children to him. He's too busy.
He's Jesus. He's God. But that wasn't Jesus's attitude at all
towards the people. Jesus was like, bring the little children
to me. I want to touch them and bless them. I want to pray for
them. Bring the crowds. Let me share with them about the
kingdom of God, about what my father has in heaven for them.
If they trust in him, if they look to my father and the
gospel, I can bring change that's eternal. I can bring hope
and life to them. Jesus was all about looking at the people with
compassion to change their lives and their destination for
eternity, not just for a meal or a moment, so he never looked at
it as, these people are just demanding my time and energy and
oh, get away from me. No, he looked at them with love. He
looked at them with care, and the people that he saw were
spiritually deprived. They were spiritually bankrupt. They were
spiritually dead, and Jesus came to share life and the life that
only He and our Father God could bring. Life by forgiving us.
Life, by giving us a new life in him like the little shepherd
that lost his sheep. Jesus wasn't a little shepherd. Jesus
is the great shepherd and he looks over all of us as lost
little sheep, and he wants to bring us in and care for us,
forgive us and take care of us for eternity. He wants to guide
us. You know the people had a spiritual hunger and a thirst,
and Jesus was the one who could satisfy it. As we look at our
world today and our neighborhoods, our communities,
what do we see? What do you see? Do you look at the homeless on
Skid Row? Do you look at the homeless in your neighborhood?
Because let's face it, no matter where you are, especially in
Southern California or maybe anywhere in California,
actually, you see a homeless or homeless people, homeless camps,
tents, cardboard boxes in every city now. They're everywhere.
What do you see when you see them? Do you see just another
drug addict? Do you see another mental ill person, or do you see
one of God's creations, one of God's made his image people that
are just lost and need Jesus? We need to look at our communities
and look at our cities and look at all of those people in them
with compassion, so look through the eyes of Jesus at people
because it will definitely give you a heart and me a heart to
share Jesus and his love to care for those less fortunate that
are hurting and broken than just to look at them with
condemnation like they're bad. You know when I used to not look
at it that way and I thought, wow, I'm great. I've arrived.
I've got it all figured out, which I was younger and I had no
clue. I used to have kind of that arrogant and pompous
attitude, kind of that haughty attitude that you know I was
better, but then I realized I'm no better than anyone else on
this earth. The only thing that makes me any different than
someone lost is that I know Jesus and have a personal
relationship and the hope of Jesus and eternity in my heart
and the forgiveness of my sins, and they don't, and that's what
drives my life now to want to share with you who may be lost,
those on Skid Row, those out in the Coachella Valley, boys and
girls who have no parent or father or mother to care for
them. I just want to share that there's a heavenly Father in
heaven that loves them, that died for them on the cross and
share with them that hope. I want to see them from God's
eyes. I want to see them from Jesus's perspective. And the
second thing we need to do is feel like Jesus felt as we see
the people came to Jesus, he was willing to talk, to share, and
to care for them, and as he did that, if we would do that, we
would begin to feel like Jesus about people also. We would have
compassion as Jesus was moved with the crowd and because of
the crowd and how lost and hurting they were. If we would
look through his eyes and feel as he felt, we would see their
suffering, we would see how broken they are, and we would
want to be more like Jesus and step in and help them. Today, I
just have some questions, not to bring condemnation or anything
to any of us, but these are questions that I've asked myself
and I've had to struggle through in parts of my life and
ministry. Are we moved when we look at our world today and how
broken it is? Are we moved with compassion and love for the
hurting and the lost? What breaks our heart? What breaks
your heart? Is it the thing that breaks God's heart? I want to
encourage you today, as I've done many times now and continue
to do, is say, God, what breaks your heart? Show me in your
words. Speak to me through your spirit so that my heart can be
broken by the same things so I can step in and I can make an
impact in Jesus' name in that area. I want to share the heart
of Jesus with those around me. Would you pray about that today?
Number three, we also need to pray as Jesus prayed. Jesus was
sad when he saw the people suffering, but he was never
discouraged because Jesus never gets discouraged. He saw they
were suffering and he asked God to send workers into the harvest
field, and he knew that his father was greater than any of
the problems. Then the gravity of how big the harvest was, he
knew that God could send the workers. We need to be the
workers because they're few. It can't just be pastors and
evangelists, ministry leaders and missionaries, but it has to
be all of us that reach out to touch this world with compassion
with the gospel. And here's another question for you. When
was the last time that you asked God to send workers into the
harvest field? And another question I have for you is this,
if we are going to ask God to send people into the harvest
field to reach this world for him, don't you think we should
include ourself in that to ask God what we can do to be one of
those workers in the harvest field? You know sometimes I
think I hear too many say, I don't have all the answers. I
don't know how to do it, but if we're not willing to go and make
an impact for Jesus as Christians who love and follow
him, is it really fair for us to ask others to do it? And
finally, I just want to share this fourth point with you. Do
as Jesus did. Jesus didn't just ask his father to send workers,
but he got involved himself. He was there in the trenches with
the crowds. His heart moved with compassion the Bible says. He
got right in there, got his hands dirty. He was in the
trenches right with the people where we should be. Are we
willing to get involved like this in ministering in a messy
situation, on Skid Row in a messy environment, but knowing
God is always with us. You know there's a lot of excuses. I'm
scared. I'm not prepared. I don't know how. It's too risky.
What if people make fun of me? I don't have enough money. I don't
have enough time. I'm afraid. I think I've thought of every one
of those in my life, everybody. I've thought about those, but
there really is no excuse. Greater, the Bible says, Greater
is he who is in me than he that is in the world. I can do all
things the Bible says through Christ who gives me strength.
Don't let an excuse stop you from being one of those workers
in the harvest field to reach a mass harvest that needs Jesus
because of fear, worry, or you don't have what it takes. God
will never call you to do something that he hasn't already
equipped you for, but sometimes you need to step out in faith.
You know if we look at some of these simple truths and look at
people through God's eyes, from his perspective, from his heart,
what he did, and ask him to use us the way he was used. I know
this, the spirit of God will give us everything that we need
in order to touch others and do that great commission to reach a
lost and hurting world for Jesus. This is the bottom line,
all God really wants, all God really requires is a willing
heart. Do we trust him? Are we willing to ask him to send us?
In closing, if you would pray a prayer like this, Jesus, I
commit to you all of my life to serve you and obey you in every
way, anytime, anywhere, at any cost. To do anything. I just
want to love you, follow you, and serve you with all of my
life. Amen. Make that your prayer today. Stay tuned.
ANNOUNCER: Turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, and pumpkin
pie too. That's what will be served at the Fred Jordan
Mission once again this year. Will you join the Jordan family
and thousands of special guests as we give thanks at the corner
of 5th and Towne in Los Angeles. Since 1944, this has been a
tradition. Every Thanksgiving for over 80 years, we set up
banquet tables and chairs and serve a hot Thanksgiving dinner
to our friends on the streets who are alone or have nothing to
eat. If your life has been blessed, then we invite you to
give thanks with us. How you ask? A donation is a great
start. We invite you to give and help us make this thanksgiving
memorable. For those who will sit at our Thanksgiving table,
please be as generous as possible and do it now while
it's on your heart. You can give securely online at fjm.org.
That's fjm.org. Want to mail a gift? Then send your check to
FJM, Box 12345, Covina, California 91722.
FEMALE: (Singing) 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 preceding program was sponsored by generous
friends and partners of Fred Jordan Missions.