GINA: Well, welcome to FJM TV. I'm Gina here with Joe and
Cristy, and today we're talking about the importance of
realigning our priorities with God's Word. But before we get
into all that, we're just happy that you're joining us here
today and we want you to get connected with us on social
media. So all you need to do is go to fjm.org, see how you can
get involved with us on social media, and we have so many other
needs that we would love for you to get involved with. I mean,
from praying for us, to your financial support to, seeing how
you can get involved in volunteering. We've got an
amazing year coming up. We just want you to be a part of it. We
just also want to say thank you for all of your love and
support, and for joining us here today. And so we are talking
about the importance of lining our priorities up with God's
Word. Joe, why is it so important?
JOE: Well, I mean, it's just so important because as we go into
this new year and there's so many decisions to make this new
year and so many things that we have to think about and
prioritize, what better way to go into it than to align our
ways, our plans, our thoughts, our decisions with God's heart
and God's plans. Because our ways are not His ways, His ways
are not our ways. And so I think it's just key, as the older I
get, the more I realize the less you really know. And it's just
like as smart as God makes us and as much wisdom as he gives
us, it just pales in comparison with God, like God is God. And I
just realize that He's perfect and He knows everything. So I
want to always make sure, and I want to encourage you, our
viewers, to always make sure that we align everything in our
life with God and His plan. And if we do that, it usually works
out better. What do you think, Cristy?
CRISTY: Yeah, I think it's very important to kind of do an audit
of the previous year, especially as we're starting a new year.
It's kind of like, okay, last year were my decisions just God
honoring or were they God ordained? Because I think so
often we can be like, oh God, I'm going to go do this and if
it's not your will stop me somehow. And that's not always
how it works, but to honestly just pray for God's still voice,
to stop enough in life through the rush and everything and
ask Him for his direction. I think so often we
ask for permission more than His direction.
GINA: That's good.
CRISTY: And I'm like, I want to stop doing that. I think we all
do it naturally, but I don't want to direct God. I want God
to direct me. So as I think of the previous year, and I would
just encourage everyone watching to do this, think about the
decisions you made, the small ones, the big ones, the medium
ones, and ask God, was that directed by you or were you just
allowing me to do something that I wanted to do anyway? Because I
want to live my life with God at the center. I want to align my
goals with His goals, not the other way around.
So I think it's so important, just like you said,
God is God at the center of every decision you make.
JOE: Yeah. And one of the ways you open with it is how
do you align your life with God's plan without
God's Word. I mean it's so important,
GINA: But we can't do it without God's Word.
JOE: We have to have it.
GINA: His Word is the, it's our life support, if you will. And
the one thing I've realized too in the last several years is
that God's Word, sometimes you think, oh, it's just there to
beat you up a little bit. Keep you in line. Judge this that.
JOE: Rules and regulations.
GINA: Rules and regulations. But you know what? It's really a
love story. He gives us the direction, and I always go back
to behold, I stand at the door and knock. He waits daily to
commune with us, to guide us and to have our eyes focused on him
and yes, through His word to guide us knowing that, okay,
praying about a situation, going to His word. It's like we get
the answers. We really do. It's a roadmap. It's the roadmap to
life. But it's also a great love story because He loves us so
much and he'll never leave us or fish take us.
JOE: Yeah, it's so true. And I think about my dad and mom and
they loved us so much and seven kids, and we did bad things. And
one of the ways they loved us, they
corrected us. They disciplined us. They us.
GINA: You came from a big family. I came
from a big family. So we know discipline is.
Yes. A lot of spankings going on.
JOE: There were there and we deserved every one of them.
GINA: That's right. I digress. Sorry, Joe.
JOE: What's that?
GINA: I said I digress. I'm sorry, go
JOE: No, you're good. But it's really no different. Our
heavenly Father, it's a love story where he shows His grace
and His mercy and His compassion towards us by sending Jesus die
for us. But on the other hand, when we know Him, when we've
accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we've become saved.
Christian. We place our faith and our trust in Him. That
roadmap is not just trying to take us from here to heaven, but
it's to take us through all the pitfalls and everything else.
And what I love about God's Word is it protects us too. It
protects us from getting in trouble and things, and it
corrects us when we're wrong. Without that, we'd just be
floundering and foolish. But God's wisdom and God's strength
and God's protection and God's correction, all of it is just
for our benefit. Because He loves us and as our heavenly
Father loves us, we need to allow Him and his word and
through His spirit to really speak to us, teach us and help
us. Like you said, I don't want to make the bad decisions last
year that I made last year again this year. And so one of the
things that I thought about in this was the verse, and we all
know it, but if you don't know it as viewers, it's Matthew 6:33
and it says this. It says, but seek Ye first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto
you. It's not a promise that anything you ask God for, it's
magically going to happen. God is not a genie in a bottle.
That's not how it works. But if we seek first God and His
kingdom, if we seek first, his plan is will and his purpose for
our life. If we open up everything in area of our life
and say, God, align it or realign it with your Word, your
purpose, your plan, and your thoughts for me and how I can
get there, I trust you and I know you will get me there, then
He will because He's faithful. He loves us. And I've said it
before, I always used to think I could plan my best life and I
could plan my best, this and that, and this'll be the year
that I could decide how to make it the best and everything. But
man, my thoughts, my ways and my plans compared to God's good
pleasing and perfect will that the Bible talks about for each
of us, because He has a good pleasing and perfect will for
all of us, as His children. There's nothing better. I mean,
we can design anything we want, create any kind of, this is my
life for this year, and it'll pale in comparison to being in
the center of God's word, letting Him direct us because
that's where we'll have peace. That's where we have
contentment, and that's where God's spirit just really roots
us and gives us everything we need to
accomplish that with just such joy and power.
GINA: That's so good, Joe. We'll be right back.
JOE: Here at Fred Jordan Missions, every day we see 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. 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.
GINA: Well welcome back, and we're talking about the
importance of realigning our priorities with God's Word. But
before we get to that, check us out at fjm.org. We want to hear
from you. We want you to team up with us on social media and find
out all the ways you can get connected with us here at Fred
Jordan Mission. You know, Joe sometimes we want to fast track
what God has for us. It's like we're in such a hurry, we're in
the microwave. What is it like society that we just want
everything faster and better? And sometimes it's that slow and
steady of every day looking at our priorities, seeing what our
day in and out looks like, and just lining it up with God's
Word and how really that is our foundation to get us from point
A to point B and have His goodness for us.
JOE: It's so key because his will and his timing is so
important in our lives and letting God be the one to lead
us instead of us trying to run to the situation and try to
solve it or figure it out in our timing. But Cristy, have you had
those times where you are going to make it happen? And it's all
done too with a good heart. I'm doing it for you, God and
everything else, but boy, when you try to fast track or
microwave something to happen instantly, the way our society
is right now, do everything quick. You can drive through and
get In and Out burger in 60 seconds. That's not always God's
plan. Right. And it doesn't always work out the
best for us when we're not in His timing.
CRISTY: Yeah. When we're trying to make it happen. Yeah. There
has been times in my life where I've just begged God for, I
think I really believe this is your will. God, can you please
do this, do this, do this. And it almost happens and then it
doesn't. And I think it's so funny. And then He opens other
doors that I never even thought were possible. And I thought,
why was I struggling so hard for it? I want to go to this school,
do this thing, and God, please, please open the doors. And then
he's like, but I have this for you over here. And it's so
interesting because I remind myself now in retrospect that
God has my best in mind, always. And like you were saying
earlier, God's Word is such a direction, such a guide to us.
And sometimes the things that God asks of us doesn't really
make sense. We're like, wait a second, but I don't think that
would really hurt me if I went down that road. Is that really
bad to do that God? And we're like, that doesn't really make
sense to me. And then we go down that road and it's like, oh my
gosh, that was definitely a bad choice. But then when we don't
go down those roads, when I've been like, okay, God, if that's
not what you want me to do, if you want me to do this instead,
I've experienced His peace in such a beautiful way because
it's something so beautiful to me to know that God is so
all-knowing and in control, and the fact that I can trust that
He knows what's best is such a peace. It's such a protection
that I don't have to figure it all out. I don't have to figure
out all the roads that I might go down and mess up or what He
already knows. So if I trust Him, if I seek Him first then He
is going to direct me in the path that is right for me.
GINA: I just love that because you think, how do I know if I'm
going down the wrong road and it's all me and not the Lord?
And you just said it, when we are making it all about us and
going down that road, we know exactly when it's not of the
Lord because our joy is not there. Our peace, like you just
said, is not there. We're struggling. We're trying to
fight against something, make it happen. And with God, it's easy.
The joy is there, the peace is there. And that's
one telltale sign of knowing that you're lining
your priorities up with God's Word.
JOE: And it's so important to align everything in our life
with God in His Word. I was thinking about it with this new
year. It brings new opportunities, new situations,
and while it's important, really important to focus on our
relationships, our spouses, my wife, Kris, your husband, it's
so important to focus on family and friends and our work and our
ministry and our responsibilities and all of
those things are important, and we shouldn't just forget about
'em. But if we do all of that and focus on those, we lose
sight of the most important thing, priority number one. And
that is God, God's word, God's plan, God's love, God being our
first priority. And it reminds me of just what was hammered
into me for all of my life that dad was alive, and my mom's
still here with us on Earth. And she still makes it clear
because, not only did they tell us and they talked to us and
they hammered it into our brains verbally, but they lived it out
also. And that was what really made me know it's real and it
works. And here it is. And I want to share this with you. Our
viewers at home, my mom and dad, Fred and Willie Jordan always
told us that the most important thing in our life, the most
important relationship in our life, and this was my dad and
mom who were totally in love, they never spent a night apart
and all of their years married 30 something years, 38 years
married. They said, Jesus has got to be the number one
priority. So my dad would always say, son, it's you and Jesus.
It's me and Jesus. That's where everything comes out of. And
then it's me and Jesus, and then me and your mom, and then it's
me and Jesus, me and your mom, and then me and the kids, and
then work, and then ministry and friends and everything else. And
I thought about that, and I thought, wow, that's kind of
weird. You're married to mom and you're so close and tight with
her and in love and everything. But what I realized as I got
older and wiser was knowing that if my dad was first priority
being Jesus and everything came out of that relationship, it
made him a better father. That's right. It made him a better
husband. It made him a better preacher, teacher, more
compassionate to the homeless. Everything came out of the
alignment of him and Jesus, him and God, him and God's Word. And
that made him as great as he was and my mom too. And I think
that's our heart and our desire and our heart and desire for you
is that you would just align. Or if you have to realign in this
new year, everything in your life to be you and God first,
you and Jesus first, His Holy Spirit guiding you, His word
leading you. Remember the Bible says it's a light and a lamp to
our path and to where we walk. Let it guide you every day. And
if we do and we keep Jesus first, I'll tell you there's not
a better alignment we can be in. And when we get off track a
little bit, when we get out of alignment, a little bit like the
front end of your car sometimes, and it starts pulling you this
way, get back to Jesus, that first relationship and priority,
and He'll realign you and send you straight down that path, hHs
good pleasing and perfect path where peace and where joy and
strength comes from, and where contentment is found always.
GINA: I love that. At any moment we want to stop and just
realign. He meets us right where we're at. We'll be right back.
JOE: As we always try to do at Fred Jordan Mission, we try to
declare and demonstrate the love of Jesus to those in need who
are helpless and homeless and hopeless with the hope of Jesus.
And it's because of you. We couldn't do it without you. Our
partners, our friends, if you're in a place today that you can
help those in need, those who have nothing, those that are
destitute, those who live on the concrete streets of LA, if you
can help us to reach them, to feed them, to clothe them, to
care for them, please, we need you. Because with you, we could
do more in lifting up the name of Jesus and seeing souls come
into the kingdom. And blessed. God bless you.
MUSIC
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.
MUSIC
GINA: Welcome back. And we're talking about realigning our
priorities with God's Word and the importance of that. And it's
been so good. But we want you to get connected with us on social
media here at FJM. And the way you can do that is go to fjm.org
and see all the opportunities and ways that you can team up
with us. And we've got an exciting year this year. We've
got some wonderful things coming up this year, and it's just an
exciting time. And we just want to say thank you for being with
us here today and for praying for Fred Jordan Mission and for
all of your financial support. And just if you want to get more
involved, go to fjm.org and see how you can be a part of the
team. And Cristy, we also have our Bible app. Well, I call it a
Bible app. It's not a Bible app. It's
CRISTY: Text
GINA: Text
CRISTY: From Joe. Yeah, we set it up and it's so amazing to
just see how it blesses so many people every day. So every day
you can sign up to get a text message from Joe that includes a
Bible verse and a quick word of encouragement just to start your
day. It's a great way to start my day. We all get it, and it's
just a wonderful thing. Alls you have to do is text the
word bible to (626)314-7703, or you can scan the
QR code below and join our text community.
JOE: Absolutely. And I get it even. And I remember the things
that I write when I read it, and it's encouraging to me, one,
because it's God's Word, so of course that's always going to
encourage you, the verse, but then the little note or whatever
I write about on that encourages me. And it's funny, I never
thought I would be doing a daily devotion that would bless
myself, but that's just how God is. That's God's word,
GINA: How it works a word.
JOE: And then the application of it, it always reminds me like
I'll have days where I'm struggling, and it'll be like,
wow. And one of the things that I read just recently on it was
to always remember, I can't remember the verse exactly, but
one of the notes on it that I wrote for everybody on this
verse was it was about God's faithfulness. And how many times
do we get bogged down we're not in alignment with God, we're out
of alignment. We're being pulled like the car out of alignment to
the right or something, and we're going off the road and
maybe about to crash in the ditch or against the tree or
whatever it is. And we find ourself just kind of a little
bit lost and a little bit just off track. And there's other
times when we feel like God hasn't shown up in this
situation and we're not aligned with God, so we don't really
hear from Him, but there's money needed for this bill or this
responsibility that we have, or this relationship's a little
broken and it needs some fixing. And what it did that day that I
read it when I was thinking about some of these things is it
reminded me of God's faithfulness, God's
faithfulness. God was faithful to Adam and Eve, to Job, to
Paul, to Peter, to Mary, to the woman at the well. He's faithful
to everybody. All we have to do is go to God's Word and read
God's Word to see His faithfulness. His ever loving
kindness is always there. He's patient. And so I just want to
remind you, our viewers, that if you're struggling with anything,
if you're off track, if you're being pulled one way by the
enemy, just realign, get back to God's Word and let Him redirect
your path. It's kind of like Siri. You pick up your phone and
you go, Hey, Siri, take me to Long Beach. Or Hey Siri, take me
to Skid Row to Fred Jordan Mission to serve today. And Siri
will sometimes make mistakes. Well, where's Skid Row? But then
you say, 445 Town Avenue, LA and it'll take you to the Mission.
But the thing is, is that sometimes it's just going to God
and getting His direction and everything. But not only that,
but going to God's Word and just being encouraged by the
faithfulness of God. Because if you want to see people out of
alignment, look at some of the ones. Look at David in the
Bible. I think he was a little out of alignment for a while,
but God realigned him and he was faithful to that. And you know
what? I just know this with all of my heart, that God was
faithful yesterday. God was faithful last year. God was
faithful last month. God was faithful 10 years ago. God is
always faithful when we look back. So don't get so caught up
in whatever we're in right now and say, oh, I don't see God in
it. That's probably because we're not looking for God in it,
but God will be right there in the middle of everything if we
will just put Him there and let Him be the one to lead us
through it. Just think about that, as I was taught, and I'm
sure you were taught, if we keep our relationship with Jesus, our
eyes on God first, we will be better at everything we do
because it all comes out of that relationship. So let's align
with Jesus this year in right and proper alignment, and we
won't be bumping left or right and ending up in ditches.
GINA: Joe, before we close, would you just let our viewers
know some of the great needs we need here at FJM?
JOE: Yeah. We couldn't do it without you, and there's so many
needs that continue to grow the streets continue to grow. The
tents, the cardboard boxes, the people just living out in the
open air, more and more every and how you can help. You can
come and volunteer at Fred Jordan Mission. You can go to
fjm.org to our app. You can give online. You can mail a check to
us, but your financial support and your prayers are so key. If
you can't come be on Skid Row and serve with your hands and
you want to be the hands and feet of Jesus, give a generous
gift today because your gift helps us to serve those in need
in Jesus' name. We will continue for the next 80 years or as long
as God has us here, because God has called us
to care for those in need. 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. Join the conversation by connecting with us on
social media. We are on Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and more. Visit us at social.fjm.org.
MUSIC
FEMALE: (SINGING) When the night comes, and there is 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 the
sorrow. We will see the dawn tomorrow. We will solider 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.