Idiots for Christ

Well, it is a tremendous honor to be with you guys.

I do want to welcome all of our Gateway campuses.

We're thrilled to have you with us.

And I just want to say to you all, I hope that you don't take what's going on here for granted because there ain't nothing normal about this place.

I mean, not at all.

What uh God is doing here is significant.

And uh your pastors, uh Pastor Robert, uh Debbie, we're you talk about godly leadership.

The elders are some of the most praying people uh that I've ever seen.

Uh David Smith has been a mentor to me for years.

Where I live, he's legendary.

And uh it's you I'm telling you, you guys have grown like 5,000 people in a month.

That just never, ever happens.

It's a result of the goodness of God.

I'd like to give you guys just a moment to honor uh Pastor Robert and the elders, the leaders of the church, tell them thank you for who they are, what they're doing, tremendous blessing in uh every way.

Todd was talking about our use of uh technology and innovation, what's really cool to me is Pastor Robert is in is ministering today, teaching in London at Hillsong Church, but he's also teaching for me.

So we swapped pulpits.

Now you say, How does that happen?

He came in and actually recorded two messages.

We put them in a studio, and so we're playing his message this weekend and next weekend.

It's quite phenomenal the message.

The only difference is I'm preaching for him, I'm working all weekend at my church.

We just press play, and then he's speaking.

So uh anyway, it's kind of neat that he's there and in London today.

So your pastor's preaching all over the place and uh kind of cool.

So if you have your Bibles with you today, let's open them to Acts chapter four.

Acts four, we're gonna bounce around at a few different verses in the book of Acts.

Uh, as you're turning there, could I get all of you, all of our Gateway campuses, could all of you just say, bless your heart?

One, two, three.

Bless your own.

Very good.

Let's try it again.

Bless your heart, one, two, three.

Bless your heart.

In case you didn't know, for the rest of your life, you will be on the inside of this very important spiritual truth.

Bless your heart is actually the most polite and politically correct way to say you're an idiot.

You need to know that.

And I'm telling you, from now on, whenever you hear someone say bless your heart, you will think and know what they're really saying is you're just a plain old idiot.

You watch.

I mean, before the day's out, you're gonna see some girl and her outfit's not gonna match at all.

I mean, it's just not matching, and someone's gonna say, Well, bless her heart.

And then you're gonna go, see, I told you, there's they're calling her an idiot.

If I if I fell off this platform right now and just fell, you might say, Well, bless his heart.

But what you're saying is you're too close to the edge, okay?

You're an idiot.

Give me an example.

Uh, I've been in ministry now for 20 years.

I started in my early 20s.

My senior pastor, when I was 22 or 23, he said, Um, I'll let you do your very first funeral.

He said it was an easy one.

The lady was a very strong Christian in her mid-90s.

She probably hadn't sinned for two decades or so.

Very godly lady.

He said, You can't mess this one up.

Uh, pray a couple of prayers, read some scripture, sing a song.

It's a slam dunk, easy funeral.

Uh, I went and did the little funeral as an outside grave graveside, very few people there.

The family said, just make sure you you have everybody sing the song Amazing Grace.

It was her favorite song.

And so, since I'd never done a funeral before, I didn't know that you were supposed to say things like, Everybody join in and singing Amazing Grace.

I just thought if you started singing, they would all join in.

Can you look at me and say, Bless your heart?

Okay.

I started in, and I'm a horrible singer, and everybody looked at me as if, why is that loser singing a solo up there by himself?

No one joined in.

I'm panicking, and so I just thought, I'm gonna close my eyes and do this one for Jesus.

He died for me, I can sing a bad solo for him, and I'm just going at it.

Amazing great! And it well, in the great, when my mouth was opened, why there was a fly zooming around at this outside graveside, and the fly just zoomed right in my mouth.

And it went and it hit that little dingly thing, you know, the little thing right back here, just hit that little do, and it dropped in kind of midway down my throat, and all of a sudden, right by great grandma, I had a choice.

Do I A hack a loogie by her grave?

Or B swallow.

How many of you think I hacked a loogie?

How many think I hacked a loogie?

No, baby, I'm more man than that.

I took one in the name of Jesus, swallowed right there.

By grandma's game, I'm just my eyes are on, I'm dying.

I just sang a solo, ate a fly.

Worst funeral in history.

I got down to the very end, I put my hand on the casket, and I I just said the thing that you're supposed to say: ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

What comes next after that?

See, I didn't know either.

I just I knew you said that part, but I couldn't remember what you said next.

And I'm I just I'm again panicking, still got fly juice in my mouth, and I'm I ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

And I thought to myself, you know, instantly, I thought, everybody's sad, this is a hard day.

I'll say something funny.

Something something something fun just to lighten it up.

And so they're right there.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Sure hope this coffin doesn't rust.

You see, you got a good sense of humor.

You're laughing.

No one there did.

I'm walking away totally depressed, and the funeral home guy put his arm around my shoulder and said, Young man, is it your first funeral ever?

I said, Yeah, how'd you know?

He just said, Help me out.

Bless your heart.

See, do this.

All of our gateway campuses, look at somebody next to you and just say, Bless your heart.

Just touch them, bless your heart.

Just go ahead right now.

Bless your heart.

Bless your heart.

Check this out.

Uh, there are many of you, you're very talented, you're very bright, you're very handsome, you're very beautiful.

For those of you that were the best of the best, the cream of the crop, voted most likely to succeed, head cheerleader, football star.

If that is you, I've got great news for you.

God can still use you to make a difference in this world.

I promise you, he can.

It's just that he specializes in using idiots.

He does.

Today I want to encourage you from the book of Acts and show you specifically how God used some people that others thought were not qualified to be used.

Acts chapter 4, uh, verse 13, the context.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Peter and John were preaching boldly.

They had just said, salvation is found in no other name, save the name of Jesus Christ, had 5,000 people saved.

The Sanhedrin came along and said, You gotta stop this.

We're gonna we you can't keep going.

And the religious leaders said this, verse 13.

The Bible says, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled and what type of men?

Everybody say loud.

They were unschooled and ordinary men.

They were astonished, they were blown away.

Like this shouldn't be happening.

And they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Everybody say ordinary.

The Greek word that's translated to ordinary.

In fact, in your Bible, you may want to circle the word ordinary and write out to the side this word.

It's spelled I-D-O-T-E-S, and it's pronounced idiotase.

That's what the word is.

Now, Bible translators are very polite and they don't want to offend anybody.

A literal translation of this word is an ignoramus, an ignorant or unlearned person, or and say it aloud, and idiot.

That is a very literal translation.

They're saying, look at these guys.

They weren't educated in the right schools, they're not talented enough, they shouldn't be doing what they're doing.

They're just idiotes.

They're ordinary people, and they took note that they had been with Jesus and they were doing what should not be possible, because I'm telling you, they were idiots for Christ.

Think about this.

When Jesus recruited his initial twelve, and then when Jesus called people to be in the first who would follow him, who did Jesus call?

He called tax collectors, the most despised and unethical people of the day.

He called uneducated fishermen, he invited prostitutes to leave their way of life and to follow him.

He went after the outcast, he went out out after the broken.

Who did he not recruit to be in his inner circle?

Not one single uh scribe, not a single Pharisee, not one person from the religious sect.

Jesus went after the people the world would call a bunch of unqualified idiots who were simple enough to take him at his word, to leave their life of comfort, to leave everything they held dear, and to radically follow him.

And here we are, some 2,000 years later, gathered together in the church because Jesus called a few idiots that believed what he said was possible.

Think about the way the world works today.

Even in the church world, if you look at uh churches looking for a senior pastor today in our country, they'll almost always ask for one of three things.

Number one, the future senior pastor has to have at least five years ministry experience, must be um uh educated in a seminary, and must be married.

Uh five years ministry experience, educated in seminary and married, which tells us that Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God, would be unqualified to be the senior pastor of most churches in our country.

Think about it.

Uh you know, uh not no seminary degree, only three years ministry experience.

We see potential in you.

Come back when you have a little bit more.

33 years of age and not married, uh, must be a reason.

Something not right there.

Sorry, Jesus, he can't do it.

Here's the deal: the world is looking for people with the world's qualifications.

God is looking for a few idiots.

Let me give you three qualities of idiots for Christ found in the book of Acts.

The first one, if you're taking notes, it is for Christ, they obey irrationally.

Everybody say that.

What do they do?

They obey irrationally.

Think about people in the Bible.

Uh Noah, God says build an ark.

So what does he do?

It hadn't rained in forever, and he starts, gets out a hammer and nails and starts building it.

That's uh irrational obedience.

Think about Joshua uh marching around the wall.

Think about Gideon getting some uh some pitchers and uh some horns going.

We can take them.

When you look at scripture, the people that God used biggest were the ones who were willing to obey irrationally.

In fact, in Acts chapter 5, verse 29, again before the Sanhedrin, under extreme persecution, the religious leaders told Peter and John, you have to stop teaching in the name of Jesus.

Acts 5:29

Verse 29, Acts 5.

Peter and the other apostles, they replied, We must do what?

Everybody help me out.

We must obey God rather than whom?

We must obey God rather than men.

Here's the deal.

Listen carefully.

God is going to speak to many of you to do something that does not make sense.

In your rational mind, you'll say, Well, normal people wouldn't do something so idiotic.

But when God calls you to do something, you do it immediately.

You obey Him.

And I'm telling you, if you're not criticized for doing some irrational things, chances are you aren't fully following Christ.

Because when you do, he calls us to do things that do not make sense to the logical mind.

For example, um, I was uh a big partier in uh college, much like probably many of you were.

I met Christ in a very real way, was totally transformed.

And when I read the Bible, I just kind of thought that if Jesus were physical in a body on earth today, he'd probably go into places like the bars to deal with the people that weren't the regular church folks.

That's just what it looked like to me.

And so as a brand new believer, I went back into the bars where I came from to talk to people about Christ because I really thought they needed him just like I did.

I went in one time, I was drinking water, talking to a drunk guy.

Two things I know about drunk people is number one, they always love you.

Have you noticed that?

They just love you, man.

You're the best friend.

I love you more.

You're my best friend.

Secondly, they really like to talk about spiritual things.

When they're drunk, chances are they're hurting, they're covering something up.

And so I was in talking to a guy who really loved me and was really interested in spiritual things.

The music was too loud, so I took them outside to say, let's talk, continue talking about uh these things.

And we went outside, and when I opened up the doors, there was a flatbed trailer with a street preacher on it.

And I thought, praise God, God sent reinforcements.

We're gonna tag team them.

I'm inside, got the guy outside.

The problem was, this was, I don't know if you have these where where you live, but where I live, there's what I call angry street preachers.

They're preachers with an attitude, they're mad at everybody, including me.

And the angry preacher street preacher pointed right at me and said, Young man, you sinner chasing their skirts, drinking their whiskey, you're going to heal, heal, heal, heal, heal.

And I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm not going to hell.

I was going to hell.

Now I'm going to heaven.

My buddy, he's going to hell.

Me, heaven, hell.

And he and he just kept pointing right at me, going, No, you're going to hell.

And I was like, No, no, no, no, we're working on hell.

And my drunk friend was so offended that he jumped up on the flatbed trailer, took the street preacher in a headlock, and there was about to be a fight on.

I had to pull my drunk friend off.

And then when I got him off the side, he just unleashed with this hurt and emotion.

He said, See, I told you I couldn't go to church.

See, I told you God doesn't love me.

See, I told you I haven't been good enough.

And I just argued back.

I'm like, listen to me, I promise you, God does love you.

God could forgive you.

And he argued back, no, he doesn't love me, and no, he couldn't forgive me.

And then God spoke to me.

Some of you, you know what I'm talking about.

It's just that that illogical something you just know.

It wasn't audible, it was just you just know.

And I felt like God led me to agree with his bad theology.

To agree with them.

And I was like, nah, okay, God, I'll do what you lead me to do.

And so he said, God doesn't love me, God can't forgive me.

And I just a moment ago said, Yes, he could.

And I said, you know what?

You're probably right.

God doesn't love you and God can't forgive you.

And he paused, he went, huh?

And then I just continued on.

I said, You're right.

God loves everybody else, but not you.

And he said, Well, he might love me.

And I said, No, he doesn't.

God doesn't, God loves and not you.

God can forgive everyone else, but not your sin.

Your sin is so special, it's the only one God couldn't forgive.

He said, Yes, he could.

I said, No, he couldn't.

He said, Yes, he could.

I said, God doesn't love you, he will not forgive you.

He said, Yes, he does, and yes, he can.

And right there, the drunk guy led himself to Christ right outside the bar.

Right outside the bar.

Two years later, I found out this guy was a volunteer youth pastor at the new church.

Well, I I hadn't been to seminary yet, where I learned that you can't lead drunk people to Christ.

I was such a big idiot that if God called me to go into the bar and to witness and to do what he said, I just believed God could do some extreme things.

Some of you, God has spoken to you to do something that didn't make sense and you've been hesitating.

Get your idiot on.

Believe God enough to do what he calls you to do.

Someone said delayed obedience is disobedience.

Idiots for Christ, they are irrationally obedient.

They do what God calls them to do.

My answer is yes, God.

Now what's the question?

Wherever you lead, I will follow.

It is for Christ.

They obey irrationally.

Say it aloud.

What do they do?

They obey irrationally.

Second thing, if you're taking notes, it is for Christ, they give extravagantly.

They give extravagantly.

Where the world looks on and says, You're such an idiot.

Whether it's Solomon who's supposed to offer one bull as a sacrifice to God, he says, after who God is and what he's done, I can't offer one bull, I'll offer a thousand bulls.

Whether it's the uh the poor widow who goes into church and gives everything she has in the offering to God, and everyone else looks on and says, That's stupid.

Bless her heart.

Whether it's the the immoral woman who says, after what Jesus did to forgive me, and she takes a bottle of perfume with contents valued at over a year's worth of wages, and she cracks it open and pours it on top of him as an as an offering of love and worship, and everyone says, That's really stupid.

What kind of an idiot would do that?

An idiot for Christ is one who who gives extravagantly.

In fact, in the book of Acts, you'll watch, these people, they were such idiots that they didn't believe more stuff in this world would satisfy them.

They didn't believe that their security was in their bank account or their retirement plan.

They believed it was in God and God alone.

And they were such idiots that if someone had need, anybody, they'd take what they had, they would sell it, and they would give the resources to help the person who was in need.

And check out the results.

It's amazing.

Acts 4, 34 and 35.

The Bible says there were no needy persons among them.

Check it out, no needy persons.

From time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them.

They brought the money from the sales, they put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Check this out.

Can you imagine if the church became that generous, if we saw what we had as not belonging to us, but belonging to God and made it available, there would be no needy persons.

I'm telling you, every need that's represented by any person in this congregation could be met by the other people in this congregation, by God through them, if they would be willing to make what they have available.

We would not need the government to come in and to help people if the church would rise up and be the church.

The people outside the church would look and say, those idiots are so generous taking care of each other.

Their love is amazing.

I've never seen anything like that.

I want in on a love like that if we would become that kind of idiot.

Okay?

When I talk about this, I can't tell you how passionate I get.

I was not generous at all in any way.

The first time I heard about the tithe returning 10% to God, I freaked out.

What kind of idiot would do that?

I mean, serious, give 10% to God?

That's that's stupid.

And the more I heard about, the more I was convinced that is what the Bible said, Old Testament and New, Matthew 23, 23.

So I took my very first 10% and I went to a Christian bookstore and I bought a bunch of tapes, Bibles, and t-shirts to give to my friends.

Called that a tithe.

Okay.

Some of you are going, what's a tape?

Ask your grandma.

She'll tell you.

It's it's it, but that I I was even afraid to tithe.

And that's so that's not a tithe, that's totally wrong in every sense of the word.

And God really convicted me to do to tithe.

And so I took all the income I'd had from coaching tennis lessons and had made a lot of money for a uh young guy doing that in my mind, wrote my first 10% check and just said, God, this is crazy.

Gave it.

God is my witness.

I had had$6,000 I was saving for a car because I like to pay cash for things.

Uh my grandmother, who had never done anything like this, on the day I tithed, called and said, I don't know why, but God put this on my heart to um to get a car for you.

And I believe I'm supposed to do this.

She got me a biblical car, a Honda Accord.

All the disciples gathered in one, thank you.

And uh and blessed me with that, which is totally amazing.

Then I took the$6,000 that I had saved at the age of 19, bought my first little rent house, started putting my um idiot fraternity brothers in it who paid me money so I could make money, started buying more little rent houses at the age of 28, sold them all, paid off my primary house, and never been in debt since.

Uh, very financially blessed, I can trace it all back to my very first tithe.

All back to my very first tithe.

When I did something most people would consider an idiot.

Now, for years I was a 10%, 11%, 12%, 13% guy until I read this book written by an idiot called The Blessed Life.

Now, let me tell you something.

Any anybody who gives their everything away like two or three times, that's an idiot.

Okay, that's an idiot.

But idiots understand that you cannot outgive God.

And your pastor who wrote that book, God used that book in my life in such a big way, I can't even tell you.

Cannot even tell you.

Uh, we have personally given away, I can't, I I don't even know, somewhere between six to seven thousand of those books because they've impacted my life in such a way.

We just buy them by the thousands, give them away to the people in the church because it's so impacted my life.

I used to scheme how do you get more, how do you save more.

Now I scheme how do you give more because as God has blessed us, instead of increasing our standard of living, we're kind of idiots.

We decide.

To increase our standard of giving.

Some of you, you're going to get that.

You're going to be so different, you're going to recognize this world is not your home.

That you've been extraordinarily blessed, and you haven't been blessed so you can enjoy it all for yourself, but you've been blessed so that you can be a blessing to others.

Some of you, you're going to hear God, and you're going to change someone's Christmas.

Some of you, you're going to hear God, and you're going to sponsor an orphanage.

Some of you, you're going to hear God, and you're going to help kids that are never going to have a home find a home.

Some of you, you're going to hear God, and you're going to make an end-of-year gift to this church that your friends would say that's stupid.

And you're going to say, you don't understand who God is and what he's done.

You don't understand what this ministry has done in my life.

And when others may consider me an idiot, I cannot tell you how good it feels to obey God.

You see, idiots for Christ, I'm telling you, they obey irrationally.

Secondly, they give extravagantly.

And number three, they do what others believe cannot be done.

Idiots for Christ, they don't let the opinions of others hold them back.

They do what others believe cannot be done.

Acts 4, 29 and 30.

Under extraordinary persecution, Peter and John, rather than shrinking back, stepped forward in this faith-filled prayer and prayed, now, Lord, consider their threats.

They were threatening to kill them, imprison them, beat them, on and on.

Consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

God, we're believing that you'll use us, a bunch of idiots, some ordinary, uneducated, unlikely, insecure people to do things that couldn't be done.

We believe you'll take the ordinary and through them do the extraordinary.

We'll do what's believable and you'll do the unbelievable.

We'll do the credible and with your power, God, you'll help us do the incredible.

All through scripture, you watch as God did this.

Little shepherd boy goes and looks at this big giant, tall giant.

Everybody else says the giant's too big to beat.

Little idiot shepherd boy says, he's too big to miss.

Somebody give me a rock and move out of the way.

Daniel, the idiot, gets in a lion's den and says, My God is with me.

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.

Three Hebrew children looking at the fire.

Nebuchadnezzar says, Bow down and worship me.

No, we will never bow down and worship anyone but our one true God.

Turn on the fire.

Our God will walk us through it.

Bless their heart as they came through on the other side, not even smelling like smoke.

Look at the look at the uneducated fishermen and tax collectors, the people overlooked.

What did they do?

How did God use them?

They healed the sick, they raised the dead, they cast out demons, and they transformed lives.

And you have the same spirit that raised Christ from the grave, living inside of you, if you'll be a big enough idiot to believe it.

God is going to speak to some of you.

There's a vision, something He's calling you to do.

Idiots do what others believe cannot be done.

What I'm doing today, others told me I could never do.

In my early 20s, first of all, every time I'd speak, I'd get so nervous I'd throw up.

Every time I'd just hurl technicolor yawn, toss my cookies in a garbage can.

I don't do that anymore, thank goodness.

Now I throw up in my mouth and I swallow it, I'm good to go.

When I was in my early 20s, I was in a um in a traditional denominational church, and I went before the ordaining board and they did not pass me.

They said, you don't have the gifts of a normal ministry.

At the time I didn't realize that was a compliment.

I thought it was, but they said they they did not they did not pass me through the initial ordination process, and I went home devastated.

I was devastated, just crushed.

I'd left my the business job I was in, put it all in on the line, and went home saying, God, where are where are you?

What's what's happened?

Am I not?

And God spoke to me very, very clearly, and he said, You are not who others say you are, you are who I say you are.

I say you are called.

Some of you, it's it's time that you hear that.

You've got a vision to do something, and others are saying it'll never work.

Others didn't give you the vision.

If God gives you the vision, he will give you everything you need for life and godliness.

You have everything you need to do everything God calls you to do.

It's a little bit like uh the hall pass in the school days.

How many of you remember?

You're a grade school kid, and the teacher says, Who'd like to run to the principal to run an errand for me?

You put your hand up.

Who remembers this?

Put your hand up.

And the teacher gives you a hall pass.

You can go to clear, and so you're walking down a hall, just kind of going down the hall, and a teacher says, Hey, what are you doing out of class?

You're like, hall pass.

You remember that?

The greatest thing ever.

Hey, hey, young man, what are you?

Hall pass?

Hey, get back.

Over and over and over again, right?

Check this out.

Every now and then your spiritual enemy will tell you, uh, you're not good enough.

You can't get that done.

You don't have what it takes.

Hall pass.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

You tell me I can't.

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

I was created in Christ Jesus before the foundation of this world with gifts prepared to make a difference.

Well, you're you're you're not you're not good enough.

Uh you you've messed up too much.

No, I serve a God who's working in all things to bring about good to those who love God and are called according to us.

But well, you got too many problems.

You can't overcome.

Uh Hall pass, I'm an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and by the words of my testimony.

You listen, I'm talking to somebody.

You've been too normal.

You've been a regular church-going Christian.

God can still use you, it's just He specializes in using idiots.

It's time to get your idiot on.

It's time.

Here's what I teach at our church.

Um, I got a church full of idiots, just like you all.

Great idiots.

And here's the problem.

In the American church today, and this is just this is practical, this isn't a theological statement, but this is this is very true.

There, I believe there's three lines.

There's a line, there's a second line, there's a third line.

I wrote about this in the Christian Atheist.

When you believe in God, but you live like he doesn't exist.

The first line is where most people live today.

And you can ask yourself, is this where I am?

I believe in the gospel of Jesus.

And let's put it in the context of this great church.

I believe in the gospel and the mission of gateway enough to benefit from it.

And that's where most people are today.

I'm looking for a church that meets my needs.

When have we forgotten that the church does not exist for us, but we are the church and we exist for the world?

Big difference.

I I believe in it enough to benefit from it.

If you're, you know, new Christian, not yet a Christian, that's a great place to start.

We like the music, it's close to my home, that my kids like the pro.

That's a good place to start, but don't you dare stop there.

That's where normal people stop.

I believe it enough to benefit from it.

There's a second line, and that is I believe in it enough to contribute comfortably.

Okay, I give a little bit of time.

Okay, I might go to a little group.

Okay, I'll serve because I enjoy it.

Okay, I'll give financially what I can.

And that's again where normal Christians stop.

I believe, though, there is a deeper level commitment.

And I don't, I'm not saying who's saved and who's not saved, but to me, when I read scripture, the third line is where we should really be.

Line number one, I believe in the gospel and the ministry of Gateway enough to benefit from it.

Line two, to contribute comfortably.

Some of you, and this is only for idiots, God is going to call you to step across the third line.

And I'm telling you, for some of you, it's time to step across the third line.

And the third line is you're such a big idiot that you believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the mission of what God is doing at this great church enough to give your life to it.

That there is nothing more important than living to glorify God.

There is nothing more powerful than the local church, that you will not insult God with a nod every now and then toward him and wink at him with a little bit.

Instead, you're gonna be such an idiot that you will obey irrationally, give extravagantly, and do what others believe cannot be done because you're not a part-time follower of Christ.

You're a full on, full in idiot for the one who loved you so much he shed his blood so you could live.

Anything else is normal Christianity today.

I believe God wants us to be idiots for Christ.

Bless your heart.