Keith Giles - Page 5 of 18 - This former pastor left the pulpit to follow Jesus and started a church where 100% of the offering goes to the poor.

Limited Negatives: Making Sense of How Jesus Speaks

August 7, 2018 By Keith Giles

Quite often in the Gospels, Jesus – and other Gospel writers – will use a common Hebraic figure of speech called a “Limited Negative” to emphasize a point. A limited negative is often constructed like this: “Not A, but B”. For example: “…children who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” [John 1:13] What the writer actually means is: “Not only A…but also B” or,… Read more

The Unbelievable Truth: God Really Wants Us To Love Our Enemies

August 6, 2018 By Keith Giles

4 Comments

Part 6 in the Unbelievable Truth Series In our previous installment, we talked about how hard it is for Christians to believe that God really loves filthy sinners like killers and rapists and terrorists. This article examines a very closely related truth which Christians equally struggle with: The idea that God really wants us to love our enemies too. Because we can’t accept that God would love evil people, it just follows that we can’t believe that God would expect… Read more

What If We Actually Create Reality By Observation?

August 2, 2018 By Keith Giles

6 Comments

If we’re not here to observe the Universe, does it cease to exist? What if Christ in us is what created the Universe, and it holds together because we are here to observe it? “Now do you believe that I am in you and you are in me and we are in Him?” What am I talking about? Well, honestly, I’m not sure. But I think it all starts with this: “One of the most bizarre premises of… Read more

The Unbelievable Truth: God Really Loves Sinners

August 1, 2018 By Keith Giles

1 Comment

Part 5 in the Unbelievable Truth series. “One who has been touched by grace will no longer look on those who stray as “those evil people” or “those poor people who need our help.” Nor must we search for signs of “love-worthiness.” Grace teaches us that God loves because of who God is, not because of who we are.” – Philip Yancy; “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” For some reason, there are Christians who find it difficult, even impossible, to accept… Read more

The Unbelievable Truth: God Lives Within Me

July 31, 2018 By Keith Giles

4 Comments

Part 4 in the Unbelievable Truth Series There is an incredible reality to be discovered in the Gospel. One that should revolutionize the life, boggle the mind, and transform the behavior of every single Christian who fully perceives it. However, the sad thing is that, while many Christians are aware of this reality in theory, they mostly live lives that effectively deny it on a daily basis. The reality? Simply that God lives within every single person who has placed… Read more

The Unbelievable Truth: God Is Trustworthy

July 30, 2018 By Keith Giles

30 Comments

Part 3 in the Unbelievable Truth series. One of the hardest truths for Christians to accept is the idea that God is trustworthy. They can believe in Him – that He exists and that He created the Universe – but to surrender control of their lives to Him? Not so much. To me this is the most tragic of all the unbelievable truths, because if we cannot trust God then who can we trust?Our inability to trust God, I think,… Read more

The Unbelievable Truth: Jesus Was Fully Human

July 27, 2018 By Keith Giles

6 Comments

Part 2 in the Unbelievable Truth Series. Read Part 1 HERE When we think of Jesus we usually imagine him as the God-man who was perfect in every way. We don’t tend to think of him the way the disciples thought of him – as a man who walked with them, talked with them, ate with them, slept alongside them and occasionally kept them awake with his snoring. While it’s true that Jesus was by nature divine, we also are… Read more

The Unbelievable Truth: God Really Does Love You

July 26, 2018 By Keith Giles

5 Comments

NOTE: I’ll be publishing a series of articles to examine ideas that most Christians should believe, but just can’t seem to fully embrace. Unbelievable Truth #1: God Really Loves You God’s love for mankind is an incredible thing. The idea that God, who knows the end from the beginning, would know in advance how much pain and suffering He would have to personally endure as the result of creating the Universe and yet still say the words, “Let there be… Read more

Why Is Love So Mysterious?

July 25, 2018 By Keith Giles

4 Comments

The other day I posted a link to my article “Why Do Christians Deny The Power Of Love?” and someone responded by asking me this: “Hi Keith, if you are willing, I’d like to go deeper into what you said in this article because I would like to understand where you are coming from. There were a few things you implied and I’m not familiar with what you are trying to say. Can you tell me how you are defining love in… Read more

Everything We Need To Live Like Christ

July 19, 2018 By Keith Giles

3 Comments

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us….He has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the Divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:3-4) What’s holding you back from living like Jesus today? Is it your sin nature? Is it your addictions, or your temptations, or your brokenness? Is this why you don’t believe that it’s possible to actually put the… Read more