GINA: Well, welcome to FJM TV. I'm Gina here with David and
Joe, and we are talking about the gift of love. Why? Because
we are in that holiday season coming up of gift giving. And
we're going to be talking about the greatest gift of all, and
that was when God sent us his son, Jesus. But we want you to
get connected with us here on social media. So go to fjm.org,
see how you can connect with us, how you can get involved. We
have some exciting things coming up here on Skid Row, by the way,
that's where we are right now, up on the rooftop of the Fred
Jordan Mission right here on the corner of 5th and Towne in the
heart of Skid Row. And we've got our wonderful gift giveaway for
all the children to make sure that they feel extra special
this holiday and we need your help. We need your prayers. We
need your financial gifts to help this event just get kicked
off. But most importantly, right now we're talking about the gift
of love. And you know even though it's that time of year,
it can be the most lonely time of year. It can be a hurting
time of year. It can be really hard for families if they're not
united or not together or if they're not expecting and able
to give gifts or whatever the situation may be. So stick with
us, hang with us. Let us encourage you, let us love on
you. Let us remind you how much you're loved, how much God
loves you, and how he is the greatest gift of
all this holiday season. And Joe, let's talk about it.
JOE: Yeah.
GINA: The greatest gift, love.
JOE: The greatest gift you know and
first, let's define love because you know that's-
GINA: That's good.
JOE: That's kind of the bottom line to it all and I think it's
very easy to define. All we have to do is look to God's word. Go
to 1 John 4:16 and it says this quote, God is love.
GINA: Simple.
JOE: So there you go. It's that's simple.
GINA: If you know God, if you know God you know love.
JOE: Yes. And so God is love. And you know what's so
incredible about that is that the greatest act or the greatest
gift of love is when God loved us so much that he created us
knowing we would be a mess. He still created us knowing that he
would have to rescue us and he still created us and gave us the
greatest gift to rescue us and that is Jesus. And it amazes me
every time I talk about this and I can never talk enough about
Jesus and God's love because it's the basis of everything
that we are as Christians. It's the basis of everything in the
foundation of Christianity and why Jesus came to this earth.
Why did Jesus come to this earth? To rescue us. But why did
he come? Because God loved us. And we see that in John 3:16,
right? John 3:16, my favorite verse for God, so love the
world. Who's the world? It's not the LA skyline, I mean they're
cool buildings and we love our skyline and the Mission has one
of the best views in LA. And we're blessed because six floors
down on the side of us here and here and here and behind me, it
feels like hell sometimes because of the streets and how
rough they are and how people are just depraved and they're
lost and they're hurting. And when we're down on the streets
and we're down there all the time, and when I'm doing
messages down there and you just see the loneliness, you see the
hopelessness. It's so, so sad. And yet John 3:16, for God shall
love the world. The world. Us. That's who the world is. People,
human beings. One that he created, the Bible says in his
image and in his likeness, right? So he loves every
homeless person that's in a tent or not in a tent. That's
sleeping in our front doors or not. He loves every person
that's strung out on drugs, that's lost. He loves every
person that's lost their way. He loved us before we were even
born and he knew that we would be lost. And yet because of his
love. For God shall love the world, us, that he sent is one
and only son. That whoever, that whoever would believe in him
would not perish but have everlasting love.
GINA: That's right.
JOE: So I don't know what greater love you can have than
have a God and a savior love us so much that they stepped down
from heaven from a perfect place and die for unperfect people. I
mean, Dave, is there a greater love?
DAVID: No, not at all. And I know for me like to get closer
to that love is to come down and serve to love God and love
others to be near to him is by being closer to his feet and
that's serving those that are hurting. Like the ones that are
down below that are...They need to hear that because they've
lost that hope. So what greater way than to show them
that same love that he's showing me and telling
them and it's demonstrating Christ's love.
JOE: Yeah and one of the neatest things I like is when I get to
share with those on the streets and those that are lost and
outreaches that we do is people are like, yeah, pastor,
yeah, Joe, but I'm bad. I'm bad. I'm like,
yeah, I get it. But we were all bad.
GINA: We are.
JOE: We're all bad. Like we're born in the flesh. Every single
person born is selfish, even as a baby, selfish, self-centered,
it's all about me. It's that nature that we have, which is a
sinful nature. And that's why Jesus came, right? But I love it
because I get to share this with so many. Why did Jesus suffer
and he died on the cross for our sins? Because in Romans, I tell
people, listen, look at Romans 5:8 before you judge yourself
because yeah, we're all rotten sinners. But the Bible says,
while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It's not
like Jesus died on the cross for a bunch of good people and then
they turned bad. No, when Jesus came to the earth, he knew that
his mission was to hang on a cross, shed his blood and die in
our place for our rottenness, for our sinful nature because we
couldn't fix ourselves and clean ourselves up. And so Jesus died
for us. And it's so amazing and people are like, wow, like Jesus
loved me while I was still... Yes, Jesus loves you right where
you're at. And if you're viewing today, I just want you to know
this and you don't know Jesus or you do and you fell away or
something's happened in your life. Jesus is not here to judge
you, nor are we. We're here to love you. And Jesus loves you so
much he died for you. And all you have to do is believe and
receive him as your Lord and Savior and you can be saved, and
that's what Christmas is all about. That's what this time is
all about. A God who loves the people He created enough to make
a way to save us all. And it's free. It's free, Gina.
GINA: That's right. And nothing can separate us from God's love.
So we're going to hold that thought. We're going to be right
back and talk about the greatest gift, love.
JOE: In just a few days Towne Avenue is going to be filled,
filled with what you say? Bikes. Yes. Literally hundreds of bikes
have been donated, thousands of toys have been donated. And of
course we can't forget the massive food boxes for Christmas
dinner that's been provided, but you say, well, why are you
telling me all this? I want you to know that this street, this
lonely street here on Skid Row and downtown Los Angeles in
front of Fred Jordan Mission, we'll have thousands of cars and
people as we declare and demonstrate the love of Jesus
for Christmas. In a few short days it's going to be amazing
here, seeing the joy on the children's faces, seeing the
excitement on their faces. But you know we still need your
help. We need your prayers. We need your support. Would you
stand with us this Christmas as there is so much more month at
the end of the money for most people in our country, these
children and families need us to step in to bring a hope and a
brightness to this Christmas. Of course, we're going to share
Jesus, but we also want to demonstrate his love by meeting
people's needs and blessing children with toys. Without us
here and you as our partners, it wouldn't happen. But
with your best gift, we will see an amazing day
as Jesus touches the lives of boys and girls, moms
and dads, men and women here on Skid Row.
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.
GINA: Well welcome back and we are talking about the greatest
gift and it's that time of year of gift giving, you know but
there's nothing greater than God's love and that nothing can
separate us from his love. And many times you know we fail God.
We make mistakes. We do things that we think are just
so unforgivable that we just think, okay, God
doesn't love me anymore. But He does.
JOE: He does. It's so amazing because it's so hard for me
sometimes to talk about because the one area of my life that's
always been a struggle is not wanting to fail and not wanting
to let God down. It was already bad enough having Fred and
Willie Jordan as my parents because they set such a high bar
on loving God and loving the poor and caring for the poor.
Like I never wanted to let them down. And when I did, it was so
hard. But when you think about God, your creator and Jesus the
Savior, and letting him down. To me, it just really rips on my
heart. You know? And for years, it was just a really hard thing
to deal with knowing that I fell short. I'm not, I've been with
my wife almost 36 years now. I've never cheated on her. I
would never cheat on her. She's my best friend. I love her with
all my heart. I am just amazed that God gave me the perfect
woman for me and that he just gave me the best and I treasure
her and I always will. And you know I don't go and steal and I
don't go and rob banks and do things you know, but boy, you
know it doesn't take much of just having a bad day or a bad
attitude or seeing a situation or something that seems
insurmountable and just go, I'm just not sure how this is going
to work out when I should just be going, oh, God's got this.
Right? But there are those moments that all of us
have where the enemy tries to creep in doubt
or uncertainty or insecurities or something else.
GINA: Well, that's the trick of the enemy. That's what he wants.
Anytime we get our eyes off of God and his love for us, he wins
because now we've done that where our mind, that's why God
says, take your thoughts captive.
JOE: Absolutely.
GINA: Because the number one trick of the devil enemy is to
get our eyes off of Jesus, get our eyes off of love and
forgiveness for us. And he wants us thinking about, oh look,
you've done this and you've done that and you've done. And so you
know we further away will pull away from the Lord because of
our shame. But Jesus says, no, nothing can separate you from my
love. And not only does he give us life after life, but he wants
us to be in that constant communication with him through
prayer and acknowledging his love so we can have life during
life to be abundant, abounding, and all good things. And that's
just not monetary things. Those are abounding in peace. That's
things money can't buy. Who wants to have peace, everyday?
Peace of mind? That's just unbelievable. He says He gives
us the peace that passes all understanding in all situations
you know and to have his love and to have the joy. I mean,
just joy. The world can take happiness away and you know we
can be happy one minute, not happy, but joy stays with it.
It's a constant. So he wants us abounding in all good things
with joy, love and peace through his love you know and so even if
you've made a mistake or you're been down a road where you're
thinking negative thoughts and you're feeling that shame or
guilt, stop it in the name of Jesus and just give
that over to Jesus and let him take it.
DAVID: Right? You have to.
JOE: Because if you don't, then you get all discouraged. And so
the older I've gotten and just the more wisdom that Jesus, give
me more wisdom, please. The wiser we get, the more
you realize that you know I don't have to live in
shame and I'm not going to live in shame
and I'm not going to live in that guilt.
GINA: Devil is alive.
JOE: You know what? I don't want to let the Lord down. But here's
the good thing. We never fail because we have Jesus, but even
if we think we fall short or we do fall short, the good thing
is is that he's right there to pick us up. And he is like,
you know what, Joe, Dave, Gina? Get up.
GINA: Get up.
JOE: Get over it and get on with it because I got you.
I got you. So how do you deal with it?
DAVID: Well, even I was just thinking, like how often do
people just praise God during just the good moments and even
through the hard times once we get through them as well, that
we need to be cheering. We need to do that. And for me, just
remembering each morning to stick in my word, to be around
people that are going to be encouraging so, I don't get down
that road, because I will get lost. And when I have those
people getting a message from you from the daily text and just
to see those to encourage me through those tough times,
because it might be something that happened just a few hours
ago and then this catches me back up to be like, okay, I've
got some people behind me. And I know that if they're trusting
God and they believe in him as well, then that's something that
I want to have behind me as well.
GINA: And that was a key that you said it's like just praise
him. But you know we want to praise him in the good times.
But it's so important. It's so important when we're in the down
and out times that when we just begin to speak His word over
that situation or just all we can do is maybe just sing a
song, start to praise him just like Jesus, I'm going to thank
you to advance for taking this horrible situation and turning
it around. How the atmosphere changes
DAVID: Exactly.
GINA: How his spirit comes in and the Holy Spirit just wraps
his arms around us and takes that despair. Even in our
despair. We can have joy and peace because God will meet us
right where we're at, and he wants to meet you right
where you're at right now no matter what
you're going through, just start praising Him.
JOE: Absolutely. Absolutely. Because you know we shouldn't
just praise them in the good times. We should praise them in
all the times. And if we do, I think that from my own personal
experiences, Lord, I praise you on the mountaintop and that's
easy on the mountaintop, but Lord, I praise you in those
valleys. I praise you in those places that are just dark and
lonely and you know hard because you know usually the valleys are
where we learn the lessons and we learn to be more like Jesus
and he helps us with our character and who he wants us to
become more like which is Jesus in those
GINA: And more loving.
JOE: In those times, more loving, more caring, more
compassionate. And so just praise him all the time and
praise him because of what he did. And especially at this time
as Christmas is coming, you know listen to this Jesus showed us
that there's no greater love than when he laid down his own
life for us. Jesus displayed the ultimate form of love by dying
on the cross for our sins. We see that in John 15:13. Jesus
also showed us his great love for others as Jesus went through
his life and ministry, blessing and serving the poor, the needy,
the sick, and the outcast. Think about it. That's where Jesus
spent so much of his time in ministry. I believe if Jesus
were here today living in today's day, and he's very much
alive and well in us, but if he were walking the streets, I
believe he'd be on Skid Row. I believe he would be where the
down and out are and the lost and the hurting, the hopeless.
And that's what he did then. He healed the sick and he told his
disciples this, that this was his commandment, that you love
one another as I have loved you. And so that's our job. That's
your responsibility too as our viewers. It's all of our
responsibility to love God, to love Jesus and love one another
and care for one another. And I just love how this one author
put it, and it was an untitled unnamed author, so I had love to
give the credit to whoever it was, but when it says unknown
author, then, but I love this quote, it just really spoke to
me when we were looking at doing this message today, the greatest
gift of love is when God gave himself to us for our eternal
salvation at the cost of his son's life. And God so much
wants for each of us to become more like Jesus. And every day
that we walk with God, we have an opportunity to be used by
Jesus to become more like Jesus. And God wants nothing but his
best for us. That's what I love about God. He wants his best. I
used to think, oh God, let me just plan my path, my ministry
and my life and it'll be the best, right? And we all think
that we could probably plan it the best, right? But let me ask
you this, and I ask you as a viewer, because I've thought
about this long and hard over the last about 20 years. Is
God's plan for my life better than any plan I could make for
myself? And I've come to realize it. Absolutely. I am not smart
enough, wise enough or see enough of everything around me
to know how to plan my life. But I know this following God's
good, pleasing and perfect will is the perfect plan. You know
John 3:16. We say it all the time. It says it all when we
talk about Jesus and Christmas, for God so loved the world, us
that he gave his one and only begotten son, that whoever
believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. If
you don't know Jesus today or you need to rededicate your
life, just say, Jesus, I'm a sinner. I need a savior. Forgive
me of my sins. Come into my heart. Come into my life. I
receive you today. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
I believe in you. I place my faith and trust in you. Guide me
every day in Jesus' name. And if you pray a prayer like that, you
can be saved. You can know Jesus and have eternal life. If you
need a Bible, get a Bible. Read the Word of God. If you don't
have a Bible, go online and just put you know New International
Version Bible and you can read online. You can get it for free.
We have books and resources we can send you. But again, get in
God's Word and then find a church or other believers that
you can fellowship with because they will help you to become
strong. But isn't it great that the greatest love of all, God,
who is love, loved all of us when we were just sinners? So
how much more love do we have now as his children?
ANNOUNCER: Tis the season to be jolly. Sure. That is a cute
saying. Jesus is the reason for this season. Now, that's a great
bumper sticker, but giving is the heart of Christmas. For over
80 years, Fred Jordan Mission has been giving to those on Skid
Row, the addict, the failed businessman, the distraught
mother, the abandoned sister, the lonely child, and what they
all have in common is not living in poverty. They all need help.
They all need hope, and they all need love. Jesus was born in a
manger on Christmas Day and at Fred Jordan Mission, we
celebrate the Christ child, the greatest gift to the world.
Again, this year, Fred Jordan Missions celebrating Christmas
with those on Skid Row. And we need your help to share with our
friends, family food boxes, new clothes, new shoes, baby
necessities, and for the kids, new bikes. Will you help us
right now? You can give online with confidence at fjm.org.
That's fjm.org. Or please send a check to FJM Box 12345,
Covina, California 91722. However you choose to
give, will you please give a generous gift
today and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
GINA: Well, welcome back and we are talking about the greatest
gift and that's love and you know this season that's coming
up upon us quickly here at Fred Jordan Mission, we are so
excited about the toy giveaway and we want your help. We want
your prayers, we need your financial support. We need you
to come down and volunteer. Go to fjm.org, see how you can get
plugged in, see how you can get involved. And you know on top of
that, it's so wonderful this time of year instead of
receiving, it's to give. So get involved, come get blessed. Help
touch the lives of so many children that are going to be
showing up here that feel a little forgotten this holiday
season that maybe they're not so special that they're not going
to be receiving all the toys that all the other kids are
going to be receiving. But you know what? Here at Fred Jordan
Mission, because of all of you and your financial support,
we're going to make great things happen for these beautiful
little children that are going to show up. And it's just
wonderful to share the love of Jesus.
JOE: Yeah and you know and all of the children that are going
to come. It's such a blessing. Children that sometimes would
not receive new gifts if it weren't for Fred Jordan Mission
and the partners that we have, you, our viewers. If it weren't
for all of those donors and people who come together to be
the hands and feet of Jesus for Christmas here on Skid Row in
downtown LA, it's been happening almost 80 years. Not only
blessing the children, but blessing all of those who
literally have nothing. And just so you know, as our viewers, I
want you to know as the one who carries on the Jordan name for
80 years, we have been here to share God's love, to demonstrate
God's love and to declare God's love with those who are hungry
and homeless and hurting. Remember, you are the hands and
feet of Jesus to those who are lost and hurting today by your
support and the rewards and the blessings that will come one day
in heaven when you hear well done, my good and faithful
servant will be all worth it. God bless you.
ANNOUNCER: FJM Mission has been giving hope to those on Skid Row
for over 80 years, and we need your help to continue declaring
and demonstrating the love of God. Donate right now online
at fjm.org. Or if a stamp and snail mail is more your
style, then please send your check to FJM,
12345, Covina, California 91722. Thank you.
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 preceding program was sponsored by generous
friends and partners of Fred Jordan Missions.