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The Alex McFarland Show-128-God Has A Plan For Everyone with guest Angie McFarland

Alex McFarland Show / Alex McFarland
The Truth Network Radio
September 24, 2024 12:00 am

The Alex McFarland Show-128-God Has A Plan For Everyone with guest Angie McFarland

Alex McFarland Show / Alex McFarland

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September 24, 2024 12:00 am

On this week’s episode, Alex has his wife Angie McFarland on the show. As she shares her beautiful testimony of how she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior, she also encourages listeners that God has a plan for everyone. Jesus cares so much for you, He wants you to open your heart to Him, there is love and acceptance waiting for you. He’s just a prayer away.

Scriptures:

Jeremiah 29:11

Matthew 25

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My Relationship with God Pamphlet

Book: 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity

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The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of Scripture.

Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. There's a very famous verse of Scripture in the Old Testament, Jeremiah 29, 11 through 13, and I realize it was God speaking to ancient Israel. But the principle of God having a plan for each and every life, it applies to anyone who believes, because the Bible says that Christians, by believing in Jesus, we are children of Abraham. But it says this, I know the thoughts I think towards you, says the Lord. Thoughts of good, not of evil, to bring you to an expected end or a purpose.

And then verse 13, it says, and you will seek and you will search and you will find me when you search with all your heart. Well, welcome to the program. Alex McFarland here.

We're talking about God's plan for each and every life. And today is very special, very special to me, because we're going to talk a little bit about what the Lord has done in the life of myself and my wife, Angie. And with me is Angie McFarland. Now, people hear me so much.

Look, I'm an introvert. I didn't really seek to talk to people around the world, but God called me to the ministry. But I think everybody would know, because I talk about Angie a lot on the radio, I would not be in the ministry. I might not even know the Lord. I certainly would not be the person that God made me had it not been for Angie in my life.

Oh my goodness, I could go for weeks telling you about the journey. But I wanted you to hear it from Angie herself. She is a reluctant voice on the radio.

She does not seek the limelight. But I'm so honored to bring my wife, my sister in Christ, and my best friend. You can hear from her the straight scoop from Angie McFarland. Welcome. Thank you. I need to tell everyone that this was thrust upon me about two seconds ago. I had no clue that I was going to be interviewed on the radio today. But you're up for it.

The thing is, you're good at it, Angie. I have to be. I'm married to Alex McFarland, so that's how it goes. You have to admit, okay, we've slept on the ground in Africa. We have slept on the mountains of the western states. We went to 50 states in 50 days. You've got to admit, it hasn't been boring.

No, not in the least. So how would you describe what we've been up to for the last 35 years? What would you say? Just exciting with a big bang, I guess.

I don't know. Never a dull moment, for sure. When you and I were dating, and I became a Christian because of you, you invited me to a Bible study. You were just unrelenting, come to this Bible study. And I grudgingly went. Tell them about the time I had the little Fiat convertible, and unbeknownst to me, there was a nest of rats under the dash. We went on a date, and you picked me up in this Fiat that you were so proud of, and unbeknownst to me, you kept it in your parents' old garage.

And so we'd gone out, we'd had, I think, something to eat, and we'd gone to see a movie, and you were going to take me home. So you needlessly stopped and were going to get a soda or some gas or something, and you ran into this little convenience station. And I sat in the car, and it was cold weather, and you left the car running and the heater on. Well, you had put this very thick piled shag carpet into this little Fiat.

It was the 80s, by the way. And so I'm sitting in there waiting on you to return, and all of a sudden, I see something moving in that carpet. And I thought, what is moving in this carpet? And so I had my shoes off, and I took my feet, and I massaged the carpet to see what was in the carpet. And it was a nest of baby rats and their mama, and they seemed very upset that I had disturbed their warm little nest. And they were naked. They didn't even have hair on them. And so I wasn't going to get my shoes.

I wasn't going to get close to them. And I jumped out of the car without any shoes and ran into the convenience store and found you in line. And I said, I need to see you for just a second. And you got out of line, and I said, your car has naked rat babies in it. And so, needless to say, you got them out, and you took me home. Yeah, how often do you hear that phrase, naked rat babies?

That sounds like a punk band. But I remember, I wouldn't want to touch rats, but I remember, I'm trying to keep it together. I'm on a date.

I want to impress this girl. I mean, like you could impress a girl when your car is full of rats. And I was saying, oh, well, I park in the barn. I guess there was a nest of rats.

But we can laugh about it now. But you were talking earlier about things being thrust upon you. I heard you teach many times before you ever heard me speak or I ever had spoken. You were teaching a Sunday school class. When we got engaged, and I had become a Christian through the Monday night Bible study, and then I would go and I would set the chairs out, and you would teach. You were teaching an elementary school, Sunday school class.

How did you get into that? Well, as most churches have it, there was a need for Sunday school teachers. And they had a bulletin board up in one of the halls at Macedonia Baptist Church.

And, you know, I'm just walking along, minding my own business, and I see this bulletin board with all these things on it. We need desperately Sunday school teachers, assistance for Sunday school teachers. We need this.

We need that. And there was a pencil hanging on a string, and I pulled that pencil up and wrote my name. I would be glad to be an assistant for a Sunday school class. An assistant? An assistant, a teacher's assistant, which their job descriptions were there printed out. What a Sunday school teacher was supposed to do, what an assistant to the Sunday school teacher was supposed to do. The assistant was supposed to take the roll, fill out the form, put it in the box outside the door, and say, begin the class with prayer, take a prayer request. The assistant to the Sunday school teacher was supposed to have prayer with everyone, be involved with their students in, you know, getting their phone numbers and getting their names and calling them through the week. And I thought, yeah, I can do all that.

I can do that. And on occasion, teach Sunday school if the Sunday school teacher was absent or needed to be out. And I thought, on occasion, I can teach a Sunday school class. I don't have that much knowledge or that much experience in teaching Sunday school.

But, hey, I can occasionally do it. If given the notice, I could learn a Sunday school lesson, read it and really feel good about it. And I could teach a Sunday school class. You weren't the assistant, were you?

No. I put my name down beside assistant Sunday school teachers. The person in charge of that contacted me and told me that I was the fourth grade's Sunday school teacher, girl's Sunday school teacher.

And I said, well, I put my name down for an assistant and she said, we don't have a Sunday school teacher for that class. You are it. And hung up on me. We're going to come back.

We're going to take a break. But you know what? There's the old saying, where God guides, God provides.

And God did use you in a great way. But we're going to come back more with Angie, a voice worth listening to. This is Alex McFarland saying stay tuned. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. You know, Mark Twain said the man that won't read is no better off than the man who can't read.

Hi, Alex McFarland. When it comes to voting, I think voting is like that. The person who won't vote is really in no different position than the person who can't vote.

And here in the United States of America, we can vote. And I urge you to do so. Now, to help you in your decision-making process about the persons with whom you should cast your vote, on my website, alexmcfarland.com slash vote, I urge you to go to that. We've created a first-time voter's guide, alexmcfarland.com slash vote.

We talk about the issues, really what the constitutional position is, and even the biblical position. So please, pray for the country, and I beg of you, don't passively opt out, but actively be informed, influence others, plan to vote. Download our free voter's guide, alexmcfarland.com slash vote. alexmcfarland.com slash vote.

Welcome back to the program. Alex here with Angie. I admit, I am biased.

I am prejudiced. I am pro-Angie. And I tell people, I've been privileged to travel and preach so much.

But Angie, you've got a story, girl. I mean, you really do. And you're always saying, oh no, people don't want to hear me.

I think they do. I think it's fascinating. But before the break, you were talking about the fact that you became a teacher. Hey, to your credit, you rose to the challenge. I remember I would go and set the chairs out early on Sunday mornings, and you would teach.

And, you know, we were engaged. I wanted to be near you. But I remember I had my back against the back wall, and you were up at the chalkboard teaching Sunday school.

And I remember I thought to myself, I can do this. I can set the room up. I'll set the chairs out. Angie's a great teacher.

Boy, I would never get up in front of a group and speak. But the roles got reversed, didn't they? Yes.

Yes. Very much. Look, I'm your husband. I'm proud of you.

I'm biased. But I've watched you for years and years. And if there's anything that I know about you, you're utterly 1,000% committed to Jesus Christ.

I mean, you do, Angie. You have a level of commitment to the Lord that I rarely ever see. How did God birth that in you? How did you come to know the Lord? How did you have such a commitment to Christ?

Please share your story a little bit. I was going to a little Baptist church in Julian, North Carolina, and was attending Sunday school. My family was in Sunday school, and then we would meet together in worship at 11 o'clock hour. And I was in Sunday school, and my Sunday school teacher was Janice Shue, and she was just a sweet, sweet godly woman. And she had the opportunity to have a guest for Sunday school, and this lady was named Nancy, and she worked for Child Evangelism Fellowship. And Child Evangelism Fellowship has good news clubs in schools oftentimes. A lot of times they meet in churches, but oftentimes they'll pick kids up after school, take them somewhere, and do good news clubs with them.

So I didn't know anything about that. My school, my elementary school, Nathaniel Green, didn't have that available at that time. And so Nancy came to our Sunday school class, and I was in third grade.

I was eight years old, and she began to tell the class what she did and who she worked for and a little bit about herself. And then she started talking to us about Jesus and how Jesus could be everything to you. Jesus could be your mom, your dad. If you didn't have a mom or a dad, he would be your best friend. He would be a brother or sister to you.

Whatever you needed, God would fill that void. She began to explain to us being a pen pal, and did we have pen pals. And we knew what that was, and she said, you can write a letter to Jesus.

You can talk to him, but he can be a pen pal. And she explained Christ like that so that everyone was clear on that relationship and how you could have Jesus as your pen pal and Jesus as your God and your Savior and your Lord. And she just used very common sense words, and everything was just very simple and it was very simplistic, but it was very easy to understand and to digest. And so at eight years old, I came to know Jesus Christ. She said, does everyone in this room know Jesus? And I thought, well, I know. I know about Jesus.

But I didn't remember a time that I had asked him into my heart and been very sincere and serious. And so she had us all close our eyes and she led us in a prayer. And she said, if you want Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, she made it so simple. And she said, if you want him to be your pen pal from now on, raise your hand. And before I knew it, my hand was just going up.

It just flew up. And I thought, I guess I'm sure, you know. So I became very sure and very confident. And she led me in the sinner's prayer, and I've known Jesus since I was eight years old.

Praise God. You know, I'm very sentimental and it's really special over the years I got asked to speak to Child Evangelism Fellowship around the country. Pennsylvania, Ohio, the Carolinas, and I've spoken for quite a few fundraising events for CEF. Well, a couple of years ago, I was asked to go to their headquarters out in Missouri, I think it's near St. Louis, and do like a day of biblical worldview training and apologetics training for their staff. And Angie went with me, and I mean, the thing about it, and we give God the glory, but you came to the Lord through Nancy, the worker with CEF, then you and you were very responsible for me becoming a Christian, and I give God the praise. But we've had a quarter million people walk the aisle and get saved in all of our endeavors over the years. And then for us to go together out to CEF, and I got to speak out there, it was very influential in your life. You've been very influential in my life.

I don't know, it was just very special. And it just reminds me of the story I see God weaving in our life. Angie, God has a plan for everybody's life. To anybody listening who says, Does God care about my story?

Does God have a plan for me? Is there a road map from Jesus for my journey? What would you say to the person who wants to know that Jesus would be with them in their journey? Jesus is as close by as a prayer.

Jesus will be your everything. Jesus promises that. It's in His Word. It's in the Bible.

You can read it from Genesis to Revelation, and it's in there. He wants to be your everything if you would allow Him to be and open your heart to Him. And a lot of girls, a lot of women have problems with trusting someone. They may have been hurt. They may have suffered a lot of anxiousness with someone or something didn't go as planned and go well. They've had defeat. They've had rejection. They've had regret.

They've had lots of things. And I'm just telling you that Jesus Christ will never let you down. He will never forsake you. He is always with you.

He will be that friend that sticks closer than a brother. There's no rejection with Christ. There's none. And Christ is the answer. Well, we've got to take a brief break. I want you to stay with us. By the way, on the website, AlexMcFarland.com, there's a tab that says, What does God say? What does God say about my relationship with Him? If you need to come to Christ, or you feel like you need to come back to Christ, or you're just not sure, but you want to make sure, then go to that tab, AlexMcFarland.com. And as Angie said, Jesus is as close by as a prayer. We'll talk more about this. Stay tuned.

We've got a 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 the program. We're going to resume our conversation with my wife, Angie. But I want to remind everybody, so many great things are going on, and if you would consider partnering with us and giving a tax-deductible gift, your gift in any amount will enable us to continue to evangelize the lost, equip the saved, and preserve Christianity in America. You can give securely online at the donate tab on alexmcfarland.com, or you can mail a check, your contribution in any amount, please, to P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina, 27404. You can just make a check to TNG, as in Truth for a New Generation, P.O.

Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina, 27404. We're talking with my wife, Angie. Angie, I want you to respond to this, and thanks for speaking.

But I was in the Midwest a year ago, and a young couple came up and prayed at the altar, and I remember talking to them after the service, and I don't know, they were maybe 30, and they had rededicated their life to the Lord, their marriage. And the wife looked at me, and she said, I listen to you on the radio, and we just want a perfect marriage. She said, we want a perfect marriage like you and Angie have.

Where do you think she came up with that? Well, as I got you on the phone, I said, I'm sorry, I can't even listen to this with a straight face. Now, we're blessed. God's been really good to us. We do not have a perfect marriage. Well, I got no complaints. Of course not. You get three meals a day, you get your laundry, you shouldn't have any complaints. It might not be a perfect marriage.

It's working well for me. Yeah. It's Alex's world, and we just live in it. No, no. Just think. Don't get me started. Just think.

I mean, we've been to Africa many times, and we've been to all over America. I mean, if you were building a scrapbook, what would you remember most? I built us a scrapbook. I have a scrapbook.

I have several scrapbooks. I know. What I remember most, I remember... You've got to admit, it's not been boring.

No, no. Never a dull moment. The Lord is so good. So, so good.

We can laugh about things now. Looking back, things I remember. Goodness gracious. I remember getting you to pull over when we were riding down east, and I read it in the Bible. I don't know where it is exactly in the Bible, but the fields are white into harvest. And we were down east somewhere, and all you could see was white in this cotton field.

And I said, pull over, pull over, pull over. Like in the eastern part of North Carolina, they grow a lot of cotton. Down in Ahoskie?

Yeah, I think. Down east. And I mean, it was just acres and acres. As far as you could see, it was brown bushes with white blossoms. And it was cotton, and it was time for them to harvest it and get it out of the field. And when I saw that, I thought, this is what that scripture means. The fields are white into harvest. Jesus always told stories that would be relatable to the people. And when I saw that field, just as far as you could see, white, I thought, Alex is going to go preach. And the fields are white into harvest. And that means that people are ready, people are willing, and people are able to hear about Christ.

It's one thing to hear about Christ, it's another thing to ask Him into your heart, take Him as your Lord and Savior. But talking about going back, talking about scrapbooks, I broke off a branch from that cotton field. I got you to stop the car, and I walked out into it. And I think we got pictures of it, but I broke off a branch, and I put that in our scrapbook.

And I thought, I can never forget what that looked like, you know? You know, we don't have time to fully discuss this now. I want to have you on again, but here's the thing. And folks, you've got to understand, Angie doesn't like me to brag about her.

So don't. Okay, but all glory to God, of course. All glory to Jesus.

But, you know, even the Lord gives crowns and rewards, and you are commendable. You looked after three parents. Now, your father died in 1983 with a brain tumor. But then you and I got married, and my dad had a lot of illness.

He died in 2007. My mother had a lot of illness. She died in 2014. Your mom, who I was very close to, I mean, I couldn't imagine a better mother-in-law. I was very, very, very close to Anne Lowe, Angie's mom.

Angie's mom was an incredible Christian lady. And we had a lot of fun. She and I, hundreds of times while I was on the radio, your mom was sitting, listening, or petting the dog to keep the dog quiet. Four o'clock on Exploring the Word, when I'd be getting ready for the radio, your mom would be holding Esther, the dog, and saying, Shh, shh, keeping Esther quiet.

And we'd go to the post office, and I remember riding all over Greensboro, running errands, going to the bank, going to the post office. And your mom was with me, helping me. And, you know, before she got older, I mean, your mom, a lot of people don't know this, Angie's mom did data entry on the computer in the offices of our ministries.

But this has to be another show for another day. But you, the medical issues, you as a nurse, you cared for my dad, you cared for my mother, you cared for your own mom who lived with us, and she passed away. Say a brief word, and we'll talk more later. There are a lot of caregivers out there, Angie. And you've been one. For the first 30 years of our marriage, you were a caregiver.

And you did it for Christ, you kept your sanity, and you shepherded three parents into God's presence. What do you say to the weary caregivers out there? When you're in the midst of it, you can't really see what is going on oftentimes. It's just day to day, it's just getting that person up, getting that person dressed, getting that person fed, making sure that person's got their medicines. And it gets, it's mundane, it gets, you get weary from it, you get tired of it, you get them dressed, and they have an accident, and then you have to redress and rechange or oftentimes put them in a tub and wash them again, give them another bath, just like a baby. And so oftentimes it's very hard when it's going on to not become, and you do, you become very weary, you become very tired. I'm telling you, it's worth every behind wipe, it's worth every time you change a shirt, it's very, very, very rewarding in the end to know that you've done all you could for another individual.

You tried to meet their physical needs as best you could and helped them to see their way to the gate. Oh wow, well said. You know, Matthew 25, Jesus said, you know, you give a cup of cold water in my name, it's as if you've given it to me.

I know you did it as unto the Lord. We're like out of time, and I'm thoroughly enjoying listening to you. I say this, it's really true, people tolerate me, but they love Angie. I don't know about that. So let's visit again soon, okay?

All right. Hey folks, God bless you, thanks for listening. Just a little bit of a, you know, visit with Alex and Angie. May God bless you, tell somebody about the program, but most of all, tell everybody about Jesus. Alex McFarland Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you.

For over 20 years this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at AlexMcFarland.com. You may also reach us at Alex McFarland, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or by calling 1-877-Yes-God-1.

That's 1-877-Y-E-S-G-O-D-1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland Show.

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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-09-24 02:57:02 / 2024-09-24 03:08:16 / 11

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