The Alex McFarland Show-93 Empowering People to Make a Difference for Christ

The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. Can the church still make a difference in the culture? Hi, Alex McFarland here, and welcome to the program. We're going to talk about changing the culture through your local church. And I want to talk about some strategies, really cultural engagement and Christian education, empowering your people to make a difference and to influence lives for others. You know, this subject of getting out of our comfort zone and really making a difference for Christ, this might not be exactly what you think about hearing.

You know, I know nowadays people are stressed, everybody's busy, and people want to, you know, hear a little message to cheer them up. And that's true. I mean, the Word of God is full of that, and in Christ we have every reason to be hopeful and to stay encouraged. But let's be honest. The reason that Jesus doesn't just rapture us to heaven five minutes after we get saved is because we're left here to be salt and light.

Salt and light. Now, I don't think I have to convince you that the world has changed radically in recent years. And so let's ask ourselves the question, you know, what is my role? You know, in Matthew 18 verse 20, the Lord Jesus said this, For where two or three gather in my name, there I am in the midst with them. So you might go to a small church, you might go to a large church, but the church is this. Let's define what is the church. A group of born-again believers banded together for the purpose of world evangelization. Now, the Greek word translated church, I'm sure you've heard people preach on this, but it's ekklesia.

The ekklesia. Ecclesiology is the study of the church, and, you know, ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. You might in your Bible, the subtitle will say, Ecclesiastes, or the preacher. In that case it was Solomon.

Solomon was the preacher. But the ekklesia, it literally means the called-out assembly. And if you have accepted the privilege of sonship, then you also have to shoulder the responsibility of discipleship. We are part of the called-out assembly. See, we've been called out of something, and we've been called to something. Praise God, if you're a believer, you've been called out of sin and judgment and darkness and death. But you've been called to life and peace and hope and blessing and favor and anointing and direction with and for Jesus. But you've also been called out to this grand assignment of being his representative. And part of what we've been called to is to be a part of a church. Hebrews 10.25, let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves as the manner of some is, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

As we see the world getting darker and darker, and as we see more and more people around us that do not know the life-giving message of the Gospel, and that Jesus Christ washes our sin away, and that in Christ we are made new, all the more urgent is our mission and our message. Now, there's a friend, he's been on this program, J. Warner Wallace. You've probably heard of Jim Wallace, former Los Angeles cold case detective, and became a believer. He was an atheist up until his fifties. But he said that we are to come out boldly as Christians. Jim Wallace, a brilliant guy, he became a believer really through the influence of some Christian friends that were willing to get out of their comfort zone, and very boldly challenge him.

Look at the evidence, you'll see Christianity is true and real. And J. Warner Wallace said, quote, coming out boldly as a Christian, regardless of where you may be, is the first step to becoming what God wants you to be. You must come out, come out of the shadows, he's saying, come out boldly as a Christian, because that's what we've been called to do.

Now, think about this. I really believe that given where the world is, just think about in light of Ephesians 4, 11, and 12, that God calls and gifts and empowers people to be equipped for the work of the ministry, quote unquote. If you're a born again believer, you're in the ministry. You might not be a full-time minister, as in the sense of a vocational ministry, but you are in ministry for Jesus. So I want you to think about how prepared you are, how obedient you're being about this calling, because spiritually, ideologically, and supernaturally, you are in Christ's service. I mean, that's what the Word of God says, that we are his witnesses.

Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth, that's Acts 1 verse 8. And so spiritually understand, and I want to say what a joy it is, because look, you'll never be completely fulfilled, you'll never be, for lack of a better word, happy, or really at peace with who you are unless you understand this incredible, dynamic role God has given you and God has given me. And so ideologically, now that's worldview, ideologue, ideology is what you believe. Do you know the Christian worldview is a cohesive, comprehensive worldview? The Word of God speaks about life, purpose, destiny, and so maybe you need to look at what you believe and what you prioritize and ask yourself, my ideology, the philosophy, the worldview, the convictions on which my life is based, are they biblical? Are they Christ-honoring? Is the Lord Jesus, my Savior, preeminent in everything? And then supernaturally, does the Holy Spirit really have control of you?

Are there things in your life that are hindering or obstructing the work and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit? Now, let me go back and talk about some things that comprise a biblical worldview. And then what I'm going to do is to lay out some characteristics of the churches and the people that are making a difference for the gospel in this world, and how desperately we need it.

Oh my goodness, I think we know this. The world is unraveling how desperately the world needs to return to Jesus Christ. And the Bible says that we are to love God with all of our mind.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and strength and mind. So the beginning of a biblical worldview begins really with understanding the stewardship of the mind. You know, it's been said that some people have been a Christian 20 years, and some people have been a Christian one year, 20 times. You think about that.

Because birth implies growth. Now if you've put your faith in Christ, you have accepted Christ, you're born again, you're a believer. That's great. There's Christian birth. But the rest of your life is to involve Christian growth, Christian service, and Christian fruit, bearing fruit for the gospel. So the biblical worldview, the ideology, the fully-orbed looking at life through the lens of God's Word, and the preeminence of Jesus, it's got to begin with understanding that we're to read God's Word, we're to learn our whole life, we're to grow and invest in our identity and service for Jesus.

Now we've got to take a brief break. We're going to come back and we'll talk about the characteristics of Christians and churches that are making a difference, and we'll talk about the building blocks of a biblical worldview. So we'll be ready for anything.

You can share your faith confidently, represent Jesus, stand up for truth in any situation. It's what we'll talk about. Stay tuned. We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert.

Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Are you tired of liberal agendas ruining our country, but you don't know what to do about it? That's why Truth and Liberty Coalition was founded. We want to equip you to take back our country and impact the world. Here's how we do it. We educate through broadcasts, conferences, and our website with resources that inform, equip, and motivate. We unify by collaborating with like-minded organizations like the Family Research Council, the Family Policy Alliance, and My Faith Votes. We mobilize by providing practical tools you can use to impact your local community.

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He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarland Show. Welcome back to the program.

Alex McFarland, here. So glad that you're listening. You know, we're talking about making a difference for Christ, and as J. Warner Wallace said, you know, coming out boldly for Jesus. A Christian that has a good handle on what they believe is one that's going to be confident and is going to be fruitful. People sometimes ask me, and listen, I'll be the first to give God the glory. Being a Christian now for about thirty-five years, and then being in the ministry for about thirty-four years, eleven months, six days, and twenty hours. It's not long after you come to Christ that if you're willing, you can be used by Christ. But look, I'll be the first to give God the glory that the Lord has guided me, and the Lord has taught me things from His Word.

And Angie and I have been around the world, fifty states and all over the world, to share the Gospel. People ask me sometimes, they'll say, Alex, are you ever afraid up on a stage in front of an audience? People asking you questions, or people challenging the Gospel. Skeptics. People ask, are you ever afraid?

And the answer is, no, I'm not. Because I know God's Word is truth, just like in John 14, 26, and 27, Jesus told the disciples, the Holy Spirit will remind you of all things whatsoever I've told you. So I'm never worried, oh my goodness, what if somebody, you know, what if there's some smoking gun that refutes Christianity?

No, it's not going to happen. There is no objection against Christianity that has any legs. Now, I realize we have to dialogue and help people understand, you know, maybe they've got a question, why did this or that bad thing happen? Or how do you respond to the four Gospels? Do they really make sense?

Of course they do. But here's the thing, there's nothing that you're ever going to face that doesn't have an answer. There is no archaeological discovery that falsifies the Bible.

There's no objection that any atheist can set forth that really carries any weight. And we need to talk and dialogue with people, but here's my point. In philosophy, or logic, when somebody makes a point that, you know, makes sense and is true, they say that it obtains, you know, for something to obtain, not like you're getting, I'm going out to obtain a job, but in philosophical language, for an argument that is good, that makes sense, or a syllogism, you know, point A, point B, therefore C. In other words, I've got this premise, and here's my conclusion. A valid conclusion. They'll say, this or that obtains. Now if something is invalid, they'll say, well that does not obtain. So I've interviewed dozens of atheists.

I've dialogue with dozens of skeptics of every strata. And somebody might say, well, you know, I've known Christians, and they talk a good game, but they don't really live it. Okay, yeah, you're right. Sinners sin. But I'm not asking you to accept a Christian that might let you down, but Christ who never will.

And here's my point. Whether it be the nature of some Christian's life, or the Church, or the Bible, or whatever, none of the objections against the Biblical worldview obtain. I realize that the world can be very noisy and loud, but it's like the giants in 1 Samuel 17, they held Israel at bay for forty days, and then David went and killed Goliath.

Giants can rattle their neighbors, they can be noisy, they can be intimidating, but at the end of the day, God prevails. Still though, to share your faith confidently in any situation, you really need to know what you're about. And a Biblical worldview, let me just give you some of the things that it must address. You know, what is truth? Does truth exist?

Yes it does. What about God? Does God exist?

How do we know? And you know, we've talked about this in literally hundreds of shows and conferences that creation, conscience, scripture, savior, these four things are best understood in terms of the Biblical God existing. The Trinity, you know, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The reasonableness of what God has revealed about himself. Who is God? The triune God of scripture. The Bible. Is the Bible God's word?

Yes it is. How do we know this? What about the core truths of Christianity? Not just a list of some do's and don'ts, but Jesus, the Son of God, paid for our sins on the cross. Like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 through 5, how that Christ died was buried according to the scriptures.

The third day rose again from the dead. This is part of a Biblical worldview. You need to know what the gospel is.

The core truths. Then what about Jesus? Is he really God incarnate? Yes he is. How can Jesus be the only way?

Well, it's what he said about himself. And the resurrection signifies that he was who he claimed to be. What about the Holy Spirit? God's Holy Spirit.

Everywhere you are in the world, God is physically, spiritually present here. And the Spirit of God draws people to Christ. The Spirit of God regenerates the dead soul at the moment of belief. The Spirit of God empowers the church. So the 85 cent theological word for this is pneumatology. The word pneuma is spirit, but God's Holy Spirit is everywhere. God's Spirit is speaking to you right now. Causing you to think about the things of God. What about heaven and hell and the afterlife?

Alright, here's a big one. What about God's position on gender? Biblical manhood and womanhood. What is sexuality as God defines it? Not what a carnal fallen world says, but what does God say about human sexuality? What about marriage? God defined marriage.

Humanity does not have the liberty to redefine marriage. Now, let's talk about some of the false philosophies of which we should be aware. Socialism. Critical theory. February 6, Tuesday night, February 6, at our Evening of Impact, I'm going to be giving a lecture on what I feel like is the most significant threat to not only Christianity but to your freedoms, your liberties.

Really not since godless evolution has there come along a philosophy so insidious and so oppositional to Christianity. Critical theory. And so humanism and really the militant secularism that we've watched grow over the last 150 years. These are significant developments that threaten the freedoms we have in America.

These are false philosophies. Now they can be answered, but we have to understand the playing field in which we find ourselves. Now when we come back, we've got a brief break, we're going to continue talking about what constitutes a biblical worldview and how you can be used by God to make a difference for truth. Stay tuned.

We're back after this brief break. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Over the last several decades, it's been my joy to travel the world talking with children, teens, adults, people of all ages about the questions they have related to God, the Bible, Christianity, and how to know Jesus personally.

Hi, Alex McFarland. I want to make you aware of my book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. You know, we interviewed hundreds of children and parents and families to find out the questions that children and people of all ages are longing to find answers for. In the book, we've got practical, biblical, real-life answers that they have about how to be a Christian in this modern world.

My book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, you can find it wherever you buy books or at resources.afa.net. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Welcome back to Truth for a New Generation with Alex McFarland. Before we resume our look at the content, I want to tell you about several things coming up that I'm very excited about. We have got the Evening of Impact, Greensboro, North Carolina, Southside Baptist Church, Tuesday night, February 6th. We'll have a great meal, a catered meal, plus I'm going to be giving a very special lecture on understanding critical theory, and this really does impact all of our lives. And I call critical theory, you know, really it's like the most important thing that nobody in the church is talking about yet.

But I assure you, it matters, and it's influencing our young people not only about what they might or might not believe about God and Christianity, but about America, the future of our constitutional republic. This is part of a lecture series that we're doing, and so I'd love for you to be there. And you can go to my website, which is alexmcfarland.com, and look under the tab Events, Evening of Impact.

But also, The Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina. I'll be there July 12th through 14th, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Angie and I would love for you to come, and I'll be teaching First John. It's going to be amazing.

You can go to the website, thecove.org, that's t-h-e-c-o-v-e, thecove.org. I would love for you to join us at our I Give God the Glory. This is like my 18th consecutive summer to be at the Cove.

What a great honor. And if you've never been to the Billy Graham Training Center, it's amazing. The food, the fellowship will drill down deeply into God's Word, but also, just the presence of God. Oh my goodness, the Lord is in that place. And we'll pray together.

I want to challenge you to invest a weekend that really will impact your life for as long as you live. I really, really believe that. But then our summer camps. All right, middle school, high schoolers, every summer we do these camps.

We've done it for 25 years. And it's going to be great. The EquipRetreat.org website.

EquipRetreat.org. And we'll be in Montana, New Jersey, you'll see all the states. I want you, if you have young people in your life, folks, these summer camps can absolutely change the life of a teenager forever. And we talk about not only the gospel, yes, number one, Jesus, knowing the Lord, how to read your Bible, how to pray, how to defend what you believe.

But we talk about America. And we tell these kids why America is great, why you should love this country. We help kids understand that so much of the revisionist history and just the lies about transgenderism, homosexuality, so many things, socialism.

Folks, we've got to equip our kids to understand the battlefield of ideas into which these precious young people find themselves. So I want you to pray for our summer camps. Consider bringing your youth group.

Again, the website is EquipRetreat.org. But also, you might want to sponsor a young person for summer camp. Just $400, really $395, enables us with the insurance, the food, the t-shirt, the teaching materials, ropes course, I mean, you name it.

$400 scholarships, a young person's week of summer camp, and it really will change them forever. You know, we've been doing this long enough that we talk to so many young people that they had an encounter with Christ at one of our retreats over the years, our conferences, camps. And again, for all the people that we've got just the most amazing last several years, our ministry is growing. I give God the glory. Thousands and thousands of people come into Christ every year. And this is going to amaze you.

And let me just say this. We have a publicist, part of what our staff and our budget do. We correspond with all the Newswire agencies, Fox, CNN, we're sending content to all of them. In the last year and a half, now you think about this, we have had the articles I write, the press releases, the content, we have had in the last 18 months, 220 million people have read what we put out in news bureaus. I'm not just talking about listeners on the radio, I'm talking about people in media that are in radio, television, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Canada.

I'm just talking the impact of getting the gospel out into journalists' hands. 220 million reads our emails, press releases in the last year and a half. And you, my friend, are helping us do this, and I thank you.

And yes, we do hear from journalists, and I don't know if they're in the hip pocket of the left or whatever, but we are fighting wokeness from youth camps to broadcasts, to me being on the road, and we're shipping out product and books. So I just want to say thank you. You are helping us make a difference. We give God the glory.

If you feel so led, you can give securely online at alexmcfarland.com, or you can mail a tax-deductible contribution to PO Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. But finally, we've been talking about worldview. There is what's called a meta-narrative. Now, life, what are you doing?

You get up, you eat breakfast, you go to work. That's the narrative of your day. But the meta-narrative, the Greek prefix meta means alongside. So Christianity has a story, a narrative, God created. There was the fall, sin, but God sent Jesus to save us from sin. And there's not only the message of redemption, but there's the ultimate promise of a full restoration.

Yes, Christ is coming back. But the world has a meta-narrative too. Now what is the narrative of the world?

Well, we evolved, and everybody makes their own truth. And you live, you die, it's over with. So while you're here, just party, have fun, you know?

It's very sensual. Do whatever you want to do. That's the world's meta-narrative. But the Christian narrative says, no, life has a purpose. You're not just an animal.

In fact, you're not an animal at all. You were put here to know God, and to experience not only his blessing here in life, but eternity with Christ. And, you know, let's remember the real truth, the real story, the real narrative. As G. K. Chesterton said in 1908, more than a century ago, great Christian leader G. K. Chesterton, he said, as much as we need to lead the heathen to Christianity, more and more we need to win the Christians to Christianity.

And so it's a wonderful story. Now, Ephesians 2 19 and 20, we're almost out of time. Paul wrote this to the church at Ephesus. You are no longer foreigners or strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people, and members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

I hope you go to church, but let's remember that you are part of the church, and you're put here to make a difference. In Jesus, you're alive. In obedience to Christ, we are to build our beliefs and our behaviors on his word. We're mindful that we're part of his great commission. We're to pray, communicate with God. The Spirit of God is tangibly working in our lives. Every day we live for his glory, and we are to be people every day, like 1 Chronicles 12 32.

The people of Issachar who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. We need to be men and women and young people that understand the times to know what we are to do. We're to know Christ and make him known. Now, we'll pick up on this more in the future.

We're out of time today. But if we can help you in any way, I encourage you in your walk and your witness for Christ to be strong, to be bold, to be equipped, and in every situation to be fruitful. That's what we're here to do. May God bless you. Thanks for listening. Now let's go out there and make a mark for Christ.

Do you have a desire to deepen your faith, better understand Christian apologetics, or to get a biblical perspective on current events? Well, I've tried to make it simple for you to do just that. On my website, alexmcfarland.com, there's a new section called Ask Alex Online. It's simple, it's clean, and you can read my answers to common questions about God, faith, and the Bible. So visit the website alexmcfarland.com and look for the section that says Ask Alex Online.