Eddie Hyatt: Reader Review

I've read a few books over the summer and I keep coming back to The Power of Weakness by Keith Giles.

Totally rocked my walk.

Thanks to your book and God's work in my life I am a recovering Pharisee. No nicer way to put it. Thank you Brother.

Bruce Collins Interview (Part 2)

Here's a partial transcript of the interview between myself and radio host Bruce Collins:

Bruce: What does Paul's life teach us about suffering?

Keith: Paul is the first one to identify this Kingdom-principle of weakness by name, although the idea is really evident throughout the lives of nearly every one we encounter in the Bible.

God refused to remove Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” after 3 requests and finally said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient (it’s enough) for you.” And then Paul understood: This weakness was “the power of Christ in me”.

Bruce: Describe how God works in our weakness.

Keith: The short answer is: We must decrease so He can increase.

The slightly longer answer is: We need to stop disqualifying ourselves from service because we believe that we’re not smart enough, or talented enough, or that we’re not a good teacher or speaker, etc.  The reality is: Neither were any of the great men and women of faith we see in the entire Bible. They were liars, adulterers, murderers, cowards, tricksters, and everything else. In short, they were just as screwed up as you and I are. So…what’s the difference between them and us? It’s that they made themselves available to God, and they were very much aware of their weaknesses, and most importantly – they actually did whatever it was that God called them to do. They trusted in God’s strength and they recognized their own weakness.

Bruce: What does Gideon show us in the way God uses weakness?

Keith: He’s a perfect example of this principle. The Bible tells us that Gideon was from the lowest of the 12 tribes, and that his clan was the least of the clans within that tribe. His family was the least family and he was the least among his own family. The perfect choice for God who was looking for a might warrior, right? He’s threshing wheat in a wine press. Why? Because he’s terrified of the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appears to him he says, “Greetings, oh mighty man of God!” which is the biggest joke in the Bible. He’s not. But God knows something about Gideon: He knows that Gideon will do whatever He asks of him. Like…sending home thousands of soldiers because God tells him, “You have too many men for me to give you the victory.” That’s someone who is not trusting in their own strength or ability to win a battle. Gideon knew – and everyone else knew – that it was only the power of God who would win the battle and set the people free.

Bruce: When we were children, we were taught that Samson probably looked a lot like a muscular physical specimen- does that take away from the true story of Samson?

Keith: Well, just imagine if we had been told the truth? What if our picture books showed tiny, skinny little Samson being filled with the Spirit of God and then lifting the gates of the city off the hinges? Or defeating an entire army with a jawbone? Wouldn’t that have sent a message to every little boy and girl? Wouldn’t we have understood that with God all things are possible?

[end part 2]

LISTEN TO THE ACTUAL RADIO INTERVIEW HERE>

Bruce Collins: Pre-Interview (Part 1)

In preparation for my radio interview with Bruce Collins, here are the answers I wrote in response to his questions:

BRUCE: Keith, your new book, The Power of Weakness, could we say this is the opposite of a self-help book?

KEITH: Yes..and no. Most self-help books deal with “Top 10 ways to be be a better person” or “How to Succeed In Business”, etc. This book is for people who are following Christ and need to realize that they are exactly who God made them to be, and that they are perfectly designed to succeed as they submit to God and His perfect plan – which is probably not about helping them to achieve material success or fame, or whatever.

The Gospel isn’t about us. We’ve made it about us (i.e. – “I don’t want to burn in hell forever so I’m saying this prayer” or “If I become a Christian God will bless me and make me successful”, etc.) – But the real, actual Gospel isn’t about getting stuff, it’s about giving up stuff. Actually, it’s about giving up everything we have in order to receive Jesus and His Kingdom.

BRUCE: You describe the Gospel as counter-intuitive and counter-cultural. Can you explain?

KEITH: Well, as I’ve already mentioned, the culture (especially in America) is very self-centered. It’s about my rights and what I deserve, etc. But Jesus is pretty clear that those who follow Him have only one right – the right to give up our rights – so we can follow Him and experience life in the Kingdom of God. That’s counter-intuitive to us.

BRUCE: Talk about your interview with Todd Hunter and the epiphany you had as a result.

KEITH: Yeah, the first time I encountered this “upside down” Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus was when I was interviewing a guy named Todd Hunter who, at the time, was the former Director of Churches for Vineyard, for a magazine called RELEVANT.

When I asked him “What do you think is the single biggest problem with the American church today?”, his answer was that we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the Gospel. When I asked him to expound on that, he said that the Gospel was not about saying a prayer so we can go to heaven when we die. That shocked me. So, then he explained to me that the Gospel that Jesus actually preached in the Gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke, and John) was not about saying a prayer so we could go to heaven when we die. That never appears in the New Testament anywhere, by the way. But the Gospel was about repenting (thinking differently) so that we can enter the Kingdom of God.

Simply put: Jesus came to announce that the Kingdom of God was here and that we could enter it – right now – by simply surrendering our will to the King (that’s Jesus) and living every day of our lives under His rule and reign. That’s what “Follow Me” is all about. There’s no other Gospel.

*Listen to the actual radio interview coming soon.

BRUCE COLLINS INTERVIEW KEITH GILES

Listen to my interview with Bruce Collins HERE>

REVIEW BY HERB MONTGOMERY

Keith Giles hits it out of the ballpark again.

I met Keith last year through a mutual friend, and I have found him to be a true brother in the Kingdom. Moreover, I absolutely love his books.

Although for a much shorter period of time than Keith, I have been involved with New Testament-style open, mutually participatory church gatherings. At RHM (Renewed Heart Ministries) we call them HeartGroups. One of the biggest challenges I have encountered is the false idea held by many that they are not qualified enough, educated enough, or “something” enough to be able to share what Jesus is doing in their lives with others and significantly contribute to the Kingdom. Sadly, they feel they either have nothing to contribute, or that what they have to contribute somehow isn’t good enough. So many people have let these feelings of inadequacy stop them.

Keith quashes these fears, which is why I am recommending this small volume to each HeartGroup in our RHM network. It’s the fact that we ARE so inadequate that guarantees our usefulness to Jesus and His Kingdom. Our weakness is God’s greatest asset.

Jesus’ Kingdom, with this just as much as with all else, turns our normal thinking on its head. Keith passionately and effectively captures this concept. We don’t need better programs, more talented leaders, and intensely gifted specialists. What we need is more weakness. God’s love is revealed through normal Joe’s and Nancy’s just like you and me. That’s right, you read that correctly, what we need is more weakness. It’s the very stuff God’s strength is perfected in. This is the stuff God confounds the wise and overcomes the enemy’s strongholds with. And isn’t it just what you’d expect, this kind of upside down reality from a God who overcame His enemy by allowing that enemy to put Him to death? It’s the paradox of all paradoxes. And the Power of Weakness is an excellent volume that pulls back the veil, revealing that just like Moses, Gideon, David, Peter, Paul, the woman at the well, and others, what we think will give success to God’s Kingdom is many times incorrect. And that which we think disqualifies us from being able to contribute something beautiful to God’s radical Kingdom of other-centered love is, in many cases, exactly what makes us God’s choice for the job.

If you have ever felt like you weren’t qualified enough, not good enough, not talented enough to be used by God in a significant way in the Kingdom, think again. This book is for you.

For those who are also familiar with my work in the book Finding the Father (on the challenge of believing in a good God in the midst of so much human suffering), I will say from the beginning you will wrestle with Keith’s chapter on Paul. Not because Keith is wrong, but simply because he uses slightly different language than I do. But once you get to Chapter 12 (The Power of Suffering), it will all “click” as Keith brings it full circle. And if you’re like me, you too will want to shout it from the rooftops. It must be remembered that the idea of paying a penalty so that some may go to Heaven is strangely absent from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. On the other hand, death and SUFFERING at the hands of one’s enemy as a way of subversively defeating enemies through self-sacrificial love (John 12.31), delivering those held down and oppressed, and restoring those very same people to a world where love reigns here and now, are ideals that are all over the place. This chapter is the climax of The Power of Weakness with its all-important, paradigm-shifting element of Christ’s teachings.

Lastly, one of the most cherished elements of Keith’s books which I find most valuable is that Keith really does forward Jesus’ definition of the Gospel. This is a game changer for any who have seen the contrast between how Jesus defined the Gospel and how contemporary, westernized Christianity defines the Gospel.

I’ll share with you one statement from the book in the hope it moves you to get a copy and read the whole volume for yourself:

“When we look at passages where Jesus sends the disciples out into the surrounding area to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, it doesn’t make sense to conclude that they were sharing with the community a message of substitutionary death for their sins. It also doesn’t fit with the text to assume that they offered salvation to those who repeated a carefully worded prayer of faith so that they could go to heaven when they died. Obviously, whatever it was that the disciples went out preaching, it wasn’t anything like this. The Gospel preached by the disciples didn’t have anything to do with the finer points of the doctrine of the atonement, a subject which they exhibited zero understanding about. So, what was it that the disciples went out preaching? We see the answer in Matthew 9:5, Luke 9:6 and Luke 10:9. It was simply the Gospel of the Kingdom. The disciples were sent out to proclaim ‘The Kingdom of God is near you’, and then to demonstrate this by casting out demons and healing the sick. This was the very same message that we see Jesus publicly proclaiming over and over again in the Gospels” (pp. 9–10).

If you feel that somehow you don’t have what it takes to help others discover and experience Christ’s kingdom, then The Power of Weakness is a must read for you as you could not be more wrong. God has chosen the weak to confound the mighty, the foolish to challenge the wise. Again, what we need is MORE weakness.

I cannot recommend Keith’s new book, The Power of Weakness, strongly enough.

Herb Montgomery

Director, author, and speaker of Renewed Heart Ministries (RHM)

Book Review by Kirra Antrobus

The Power of Weakness by Keith Giles begins by making a very important point.  Giles states, "Even as these new ways of thinking and living confound our minds and often defy our human logic and reason, we must constantly strive to remind ourselves that it is not God's system that is unrealistic, but it is our pattern of thinking that needs to be reformed and renewed."

Giles looks at various people in the Bible and shows how clearly God chose to use the weak of the world rather than the powerful.  Moses was not a speaker, but God used him to speak to Pharaoh in order to free the Israelites.  He used Samson, whose strength only came from God and his obedience to Him.  Paul had his "thorn in the flesh" that inspired the beautiful verse, "And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9a (NASB).  The climactic chapter came when Giles explained how even Jesus lived His life by weakness.  Philippians 2 says that Jesus emptied Himself, becoming a man.  Through that weakness, He became completely dependent on God.

After that climactic chapter, Giles explains how all of that is important to us in the church today.  He explains to us why and how we should be living our lives through the power of weakness, and dependence on God.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I urge you to read it.  Giles' words made me really think about how God wants to use me.  He may want to use my strengths, but He will use my weaknesses as well, and maybe even more so.    When you read this book, make sure you take some time to consider how weakness played an important part in the lives of those that God has used and how He can use you as you allow God to use your weakness, too.

Purchase the book HERE>

READ the original review at Kirra's blog HERE>

LISTEN: Derek Gilbert Interviews Keith about The Power of Weakness

LISTEN HERE>

IT seem illogical, but we may be most useful to God when we’re at the end of our rope.

Keith Giles joins us to discuss his new book,The Power of Weakness. 

Drawing on examples from scripture, Keith argues that our natural Key Performance Indicators — to borrow some jargon from the business world — may actually lead us away from the path God wants us to walk, 

and that His glory is most evident when He works through those least likely to succeed.

LISTEN HERE>