Can God Use an Idiot like Me?: (To Spread His Message of Love)

By Jeff Stull

Every single one of us has done stupid things--things we regret. There are some who have done really stupid things. It's safe to say we have all been an idiot some time in our lives. God says a sin is a sin; there is no difference in a little white lie or murder. (By the way, there is no such thing as a little white lie; it's just a lie.) God can use whoever He wants to spread His message of love. I tell you some of the idiotic things I did. I tell you some of the idiotic things my friends did. But after all of that was done, God used each and every one of us for the greatest good of mankind.

Paul is one of my favorite people of the Bible. Now, this guy did some very idiotic things. This guy should have won the award for the worst idiot. Paul, when he was called Saul, would go out and find Christians and kill them. You have to admit that's bad. God changed his heart. God opened his eyes to a much better way of life; it was the Christian life.

Today's world makes us believe we can do what we want, with little or no consequences. This is simply not true. We may get away with doing bad in this lifetime, but God's judgment day will be a different story. God can use anyone He wants. He can even use an idiot like me, and if He can use me, then He can use an idiot like you too. The thing is, we have to be obedient. We have to quit looking at what we want and look for what God wants from us.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798886850123

Book preview

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Can God Use an Idiot like Me?

(To Spread His Message of Love)

Jeff Stull

ISBN 979-8-88685-011-6 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-012-3 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Jeff Stull

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New Living Translation Version of the Holy Bible.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Early Years

The Wonder Years (Kid Style)

The Wonder Years (Teenage Style)

Bad Influence to Good Friend

All Grown Up

A New Life

Getting Your Focus Back

Getting Back to Me

New Place, New Friends

So What Does All This Mean?

About the Author

Introduction

Life is full of ups and downs. My life is no different from yours, and your life is no different from mine. We all have good times in our lives, and we all have bad times in our lives. We even have times of plateaus in our lives when everything is just going smooth, nothing great happening and nothing bad happening. These are the times when our focus (if we're not careful) can unknowingly shift from God to ourselves. Here is the time we begin to get so comfortable in the way things are going that we begin to think we must be doing everything right because right now life is good. Even if our focus before wasn't on God, our focus on ourselves just got a steroid shot. We begin to think we have life all figured out, but really, God has just stepped back, and He is letting us do it our way because He knows we will ultimately fail. I don't want you to think God turns His back on you. He is standing there waiting for you to get your focus back or to just turn your focus on Him. Remember the story of Peter in Matthew 14:25–31:

About three o'clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, It's a ghost! But Jesus spoke to them at once. Don't be afraid, he said. Take courage. I am here! Then Peter called to him, Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water. Yes, come, Jesus said. So, Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. Save me, Lord! he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. You have so little faith, Jesus said. Why did you doubt me?

Peter was focused on Jesus, and he got out of the comfort and safety of the boat, and he walked toward Jesus. Yes, Peter was walking on the water. Then Peter's focus was taken off of Jesus because of the wind and the roaring waves, and when his focus changed, he began to sink. Then as we read, when he started sinking, he became fearful for his life, and Peter cried out to Jesus for help, and Jesus came to his rescue. He will do the same for you. I know He did it for me.

We all do idiotic things. We all screw up. A question I have often asked, whether it be asking a pastor, a person I know to be really in love with God, and I sometimes even ask myself, but other times I ask God. The question is, can God use an idiot like me? I'll be the first to admit I can be an idiot; I've done a lot of idiotic things in my life. If you were to ask my wife, she'd be like, Oh yeah, he definitely can be. So I'm hoping you can compare your life to mine and see if you've asked the same question, Can God use an idiot like me? Hopefully, as you read this, the answer will become clearer and clearer to you.

I wanna tell you what this book isn't. It isn't a self-help book; it's not a theology book; obviously, it isn't a novel; it's not a science fiction book; and hopefully, it's not a boring book. Now, for what kind of book it is, it's a book about my life and some of my friends' lives. Also, I might mention a few people I've met along the way. It's a little bit of an autobiography mixed with a few stories to help us understand and hopefully answer the question, Can God use an idiot like me? But most of all, I just hope it's a fun read, and maybe you can even get a little information from it. Really, can God use a person like me, with all the mistakes I've made (and I've made a lot)? Can I really do something good for Him?

Like a lot of people out there, I'm worried about the way our country is headed. Oh, by the way, this also isn't a political book either. But that doesn't make me worry about the direction of my country any less. Maybe you can use my experiences and my thoughts (not that I'm the smartest guy in the world. Heck, most of the time, I'm not the smartest guy in the room when I'm in that room by myself), and you will see that God can use anybody for His purpose. This reminds me of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:27: Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. All we have to do is surrender to Him, but I'm sure you already knew that.

Chapter 1

The Early Years