More like Dad

Hosea 11+12/ Matthew 15+16

            Everything that is not Christ or giving glory to Christ has the potential to replace Christ in my life. Love, job, sex, identity, relationships—they all need to point to Christ or just go away.

            This is hard for me. Deep down I want peace but I also want war. I love to agree and antagonize. I love to be helpful and humble and the Alpha Dog. I love to love people. I love to encourage. I love to watch people get saved. I love to pray over people and I hate to let people down.

            Christ. I need more Jesus Christ. I need more Holy Spirit. Jesus had the same bipolar in His ministry too. He loved everybody and showed compassion when needed but He also kicked butt when He needed. He did it perfectly. God enacts perfect wrath, judgment, and love all at the same time.

            Me, not so much.

            Lord, please teach me to be more like You. Let me love peace and justice. Let me show Grace, mercy, and strength in You all day to everyone.

                                                                                                -Amen

Confession

Hosea 9+10/Romans 2+3

            Why is it that I so badly want to put my faith in other people? God has never let me down and I argue with Him, while people (myself included) are constantly pissing me off and letting me down and I beg for their approval. There, I admit it. I want people to like me. I say, “I don’t care what you think,” because I like the respect I get for it. AM I FOR REAL? Nope. I’m a total fake. Well, not totally I guess. I am, thankfully, totally redeemed. Even though I know this. Even though I know God loves me and Jesus took care of my penalty, I still seek God and man’s approval. I hate letting people down and I hate failure. 

Warning

Hosea 3-8/Acts 27+28/Romans 1

            As Christians we have a tendency to read the warnings in the Bible as warnings to non-Christians. While there are some warnings to non-Christians the majority are for the church. We love to forget that we are still sinners who are forgiven. We get more warnings and more consequences because we know God.

            Hosea is really opening up my eyes to our faulty ideas of worship and repentance. Often times we feel sorrow because the crap is hitting the fan not because we've offended God. Then we try to please God the way we want to be pleased. We give God more stuff. We give God more money. We give God more time. What’s the problem with that? God doesn't need more stuff, money, or time. It’s all His anyway. Our blessing and honoring God with our lives, souls, hearts, and minds is not because He needs it. He delights in it because that’s how he originally made the world. Again He doesn't need it. God doesn't need us to obey. God gains nothing from us doing His will. He warns us, loves us, and tells us what to do for our gain and His glory.

            End of story. 

The O.C. Supertones- For the Glory Review

The O.C. Supertones- For The Glory

            When you buy an O.C. Supertones CD you don’t need to look much past the case to know what you’re getting yourself into. A quick look at the pictures of the band let you know that you’re buying a fun ska album and a cursory look at the track list let’s you know the O.C. Supertones love Jesus. The band has been on hiatus since 2005 and this record is the product of a 2010 reunion tour that showed that people are still picking up what they are putting down.

            With For the Glory the Supertones bring their fun flavor of West Coast Ska/surf/punk that they've been rocking since the mid 1990s. I know, most of you are probably thinking, “Ska? Really?” And the answer is yes, really! This is a great follow up to 2004’s Revenge of the O.C. Supertones, which was their last record of all new/original music.

            The album starts out with the fun, upstroke and horn heavy “All the Way Alive.” This first song leaves no question that this album is a fun dance party for Sunday School rejects. They even poke fun at themselves with the opening line “…I’m so old school that I’m fresh again…”

            They keep the tempo up with the title track “For the Glory” and “Hey, hey, hey” before they dip into the little acoustic reggae number, “Far More Beautiful.” “Down to the River,” “Warmth of the Sun” and the closing “The Wise and the Fool” are all fairly low key and acoustic which makes the album drag a little in places, but it shows a nice maturity for these old Rude Boys.

            I have to say my favorite track is “It’s a Good Day to Be from California.” It’s a bit of a biographical song and it really has the West Coast feel that makes you just want to cruise around town with the top down and the music blaring.

            The focus stays on Jesus throughout all the songs but it doesn't feel super heavy. The Supertones are well known for their love of God and people. They are unabashed about their faith but it doesn't feel pushy. It’s just honest, fun, ska, about what they care most about which is God, family, and friends.

            I know a lot of people that are sensitive about religion would say that this record is for Christian’s only. I disagree. If you’re looking for a fun ska record that will have you dancing around your kitchen then here you go.  

           

            Over all I give this album a 7 out of 10. On another note, if the band shows up in your town, go see them. Their live show is always a solid 10 out of 10!

Say that again?

Hosea 1+2/Acts 25+26

            God told Hosea to marry a whore.

            God told Paul to stay in jail.

            Wow.

            Since the Bible is the story of God and He is the main character, we don’t see a lot of the internal monologues or details of the secondary characters.

How did Paul feel when he found out if God hadn't called him to go to Rome he could have been set free?

What did Hosea say when God told him to marry a hooker and love the kids that came out of her?

Since this is the story of God what matters most isn't the secondary character’s turmoil but their actions. What they did was obey. What they did was trust God even when they knew it wasn't going to work out well. Beyond what they knew was their God who was bigger. Beyond what they were feeling, which was totally real and painful, there was the Creator’s redemptive plan.

That’s what is important. We can speculate on the human emotions. We can figure it out. What we could never come up with on our own is the benefits and importance of obeying God. 

Free to Choose Poorly

Daniel 9-12/Matthew 13+14

            The very essence of free will is that we can choose wisely or choose poorly. If whatever we choose is correct then free will is a myth. I’m unsure if anyone believes that they have never done wrong or sinned. I know plenty who believe in varying degrees of sin, and I know even more who think they decide what is right and wrong for their own personal morality. So no matter what people must be allowed to make bad choices. People must be allowed to sin.

            If this works here, now, and on a small scale, is it hard to make the jump to the eternal? I could make choices today that would forever alter the lives of millions. That’s just off the cuff and in a moment. I’m just one, insignificant man. We choose. Some will choose poorly. Some will choose wisely. But if this idea of free will is to exist along side this idea of right and wrong and justice then all poor choices are forced to have negative consequences. 

MDiv.

Daniel 5-8/Matthew 13+14/Acts 27+28 

            Following Jesus and the Bible is as counter cultural as Beatniks,  Hippies, and Punks. The conservative, conformist, clean-cut Christianity offered to us by the church, not the Bible, doesn't mirror the life of Christ or the Old Testament Prophets. Jesus was a well-respected weirdo. The Prophets were crazy. Nobody outside of the prompting of the Holy Spirit would look at them and want to emulate them.

            Exile, imprisonment, embarrassment, shipwrecks, lion’s dens, death by sword, robbers, ambushes, mud-filled cisterns, days without food, no friends, betrayal, snake bites, riots, floggings, beatings, baskets over city walls, marrying hookers, buying them back, burying spouses, unresponsive kings, indignant crowds, shitty reputations—There is no seminary class for this. 

God's Christmas Gift: Equality.

     I've written a bunch of rough drafts of this Christmas post that were focused on what Christmas is not. I wrote one on why Christmas isn't working. But as I scroll through Facebook I realize that people don't need to be reminded of that. Hell, some one in my own family posted that she wished the Mayan's were right so she didn't have to go through another Christmas.
     With hopes and dreams like that I think its safe to say that the "warm holiday feeling" alone gives the same long term affect as a "warm I just shat my pants feeling."
     At Christmas time our ability to have that warm and fuzzy feeling is directly related to the size of our billfolds. Apart from Jesus the "Holiday's" are really all about money and buying a certain feeling. If we don't have the money then you can't buy the feeling. Worse yet, if we don't have the money then somebody uses us to buy that feeling for themselves.
     Think about it, if all we are celebrating is good feelings, merriment, and giving then there has to be a receiver and a giver. There is a lot of pressure on both sides but if you are just the receiver then you feel really low really quickly. You might be excited that that stranger filled up your gas tank for you with their American Express Black card, but soon that excitement is replaced by shame that you can't seem to hold down a job or make ends meet. Our belief in the power of the human spirit and all the crap is quickly turned into "I'm nobody's charity case" or "How dare they think of me that way!"
    The other side of the coin is just as obnoxious. When we have tons of cash and can buy whatever we want we worry that what we buy won't be loved like we want it to be. We desire to show our love to people by filling their pockets and storage units with the latest, greatest stuff that will be obsolete by New Years. Then when one of the millions of people on our list doesn't like what we've given them we get all defensive because it's not an attack on the iPhone 50000G superior series, it's an attack on us. The feeling we want to get through giving is now gone and everybody else are ungrateful bastards.
    Christmas without Jesus is a great divider. It exploits the differences between the haves and the have nots. There is no equality. There is no real goodwill. There is only the exploitation of somebody else in order for us to get a certain feeling. Apart from Jesus we may try to de-commercialize Christmas, but we can't. If God isn't involved Christmas has to be about people and feelings. We use people and money to get a feeling. It's still all about being a consumer.
   The irony is quite simple. People fight to get rid of God and fight for equality of everybody. But only in Christ are we all equal. We are all equal in our sinfulness. We are all equal in our need of help. The average person doesn't want equality. They want people to understand where everybody fits into society and to just deal with it. Jesus flies in the face of that. Jesus let's us know that the status-quo is no longer that. The Emmanuel (God with us) is proof that God plays fair and isn't afraid to get in the mix. God, the Creator, the only person who has the right to say, "I'm better than you and I know it" said the exact opposite. He didn't go for a feeling or a warm fuzzy, He went for pain. He went for equality. He went for Love.
    Thanks to Jesus all are equal.
Merry Christmas.
   

Playing with a Little Poetry

Lamentations 3-5/Acts 23+24

This time of year is so damn exhausting. It’s like a constant battle where no one is dying and when one of us gains a little ground the other one brings reinforcements from over the top to defend and then push back.

Praise the Lord for being my right hand!

            Praise the Lord for going

            before and behind.

Praises to the King for being both

            a mighty ruler and Mighty Warrior.

Two years Paul spent in prison before Felix.

Seventy-five years the Israelites spent

in exile before the Babylonians.

Thirty-three years Jesus spent in exile from Heaven,

imprisoned in flesh.

            There is nothing new,

            There are no surprises,

            Nothing shocks

            The Spirit of God.

Hey everybody!

Sorry it's been a while, but my wife and I just had a new baby boy and even now I hear him fussing in the next room. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this thang updated as we get into our routine. If you want to get a better look into our sick and twisted, Jesus loving, people loving, brains follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We update that stuff often. 

Oh, and if you were wondering, we are intentionally not writing about the Newton, Connecticut tragedy because everything we come up with seems so violently inappropriate and self promoting that we don't want to exploit other people's pain for our gain. All way can say is that we are praying for all the victim's families. We live only by the Grace of God and even though we are sad, confused, and holding our kids a little tighter, we trust in Jesus. 

Here's some thoughts on my Bible reading!

Enjoy,

-Danny Exyle

Daniel 1-4/Titus

            The older I get the harder time I’ve been having with authority. It gets harder and harder for me to trust the suits and ties because they have showed me the way to attack is from the back. My boys in the fiery furnace speak truth to me: “Our God has the ability to save us, but even if He doesn’t, we won’t do what you say, Oh, king.” I jive with that even though I’m not often put into the position to use it. Normally, I need to drop a

Titus 3, “follow all authority” which is awfully tough. It’s hard because I know how God has gifted me. I know when I’m going to get screwed, and I’ve been screwed plenty.

            So, to exercise my faith and trust in God I have to obey authorities. I’d rather go to Africa. 

Keep the Change.

Song of Songs 7+8/ Acts 21+22

            I’m feeling a shift in my thinking. A “renewing of the mind” that I haven’t quite had before. It’s not a change of my point of view, but it feels like the way my mind processes, the way it functions, all of it, is changing. I’m not coming to new opinions but developing a new system of reasoning. I don’t feel like it’s me “growing up” but it’s me seeing how God sees. It’s the Holy Spirit changing me. It’s not manufactured for my benefit, but it’s stripping all the old and replacing it because all that stuff needs to go.

            I’m starting to see Jesus. I’m starting to want to feel like God feels. I’m not pushing it down. I’m letting whatever feelings, commands, visions, words, actions, etc. that God grants me just happen.

            This is freedom. I can’t explain what it feels like to not have to explain myself anymore. It’s amazing.

            Oh, there are plenty of sins, trials, and temptations. Things are far from perfect in the world around me and I respond poorly sometimes. Yet, this “peace that passes all understanding” is exactly that. When we feel peace in peacetime that’s a no-brainer. When we feel peace in chaos that’s either ignorance or supernatural.

            I know it’s not ignorance because I know I should be tweaking. I understand why people around me are worried, yelling, sinning, and putting hope in false idols. I’m just growing a supernatural inability to do that. That change is the Holy Spirit. That is the peace that passes. 

Whiner

Song of Songs 5+6/Matthew 9-12

I'm amazed at how big a prick I am. I complain about which of my water bottles is clean or bitch that I left my favorite Bible in the car and now I have to put my coffee down to go get it.

I should kick my own ass.

I'm starting to see how while Jesus could be critical about culture He wasn't a whiner. He came from infinite riches to total squaller. He never complained.

Here I am, in the richest country in the world in a comparatively wealthy time and I whine about my luxuries and novelties being infringed upon while all my needs get met.

Lord, help me to be grateful.

Organ Donor

Song of Songs 3+4/Acts 17+18

A change is in the air. It’s on the wind. Yah, I stole that from Tolkien but I can feel it in Earth as much as in Middle Earth.

            Church as we know it is dying. It is dying out of necessity. It’s dying in order to donate its organs. Community, Gospel, worship, praying for each other; that's the stuff we'll keep. Fan fair, hoopla, lights, fog machines, fliers; consumer Christianity—there is no nice what to say it—FTS. This generation is growing a desire for Acts church. My generation is shaking off the rituals of non-ritualistic mainstream religion and delving into the authority of God’s Word and His plan for His body.

            It’s not stemming from Driscoll, Chan, Cole, and Chandler. It’s stemming from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It’s the Bible. It’s God, Jesus, the Spirit.

            The line is in the sand and we can’t go on much longer. One side will grow while one side will be swept away. Which side will I be on?

Proper order.

Song of Songs 1+2/Acts 19+20

The Bible is not unclear it is inconvenient. There is a lot less subtlety then we want to admit. The Bible goes nearly 100% what our sinful, broken bodies and psyches want to do. This is why we have a world and church full of people who are desperately trying to disregard the Bible and/or make it say what it doesn't say.

            Job. Church. god. That was Dimitrius’ argument against the Christians in Acts 20. That shows the religious person’s heart. god serves a purpose, gets us paid, makes us “better people” and if that gets threatened we fight.

            God. God. God. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Spirit. Spirit. Spirit. There is the focus of a Christian’s life. Okay, there should be the focus of the Christian life. All other stuff is a gift from God. The question that arises again is do we love God or do we just want His stuff?

Spreading the Word Spirit Style

Ecclesiastes 11+12/Acts 18

As a church we need the Holy Spirit so we know when to say what. He gives us that discerning power and what words to use. Paul wanted to go preach at some places and the Spirit shot him down. God wanted Paul elsewhere. Not every encounter with somebody needs to be a raucous attempt to convert. Everything we do needs to point to Jesus. Every time we go into a situation we should be prepared to give a testimony about what Jesus has done, is doing, and will do.

But first and foremost we need to obey God and His promptings. If we just wantonly try to convince people without the Spirit then we are salesmen trying to fill a quota. When we are so enamored with God’s love for us, we must share it and become His witnesses. There is a subtle, yet stark difference. 

Change in the Wind

Hey folks. It's been a while.

Life has been getting in the way of me blogging. This blows since I know God wanted me to do this blog and it's been neglected. After much praying God should me what to do. I read my Bible nearly every morning and I write about what I read, what's going on in my head, and what God's doing through all of it.

This is now what Sinner's Circle Blog is going to be. Instead of having polished, carefully written essays, I will be putting up the quick snapshots of what God is doing in my morning times with him. This will be raw, honest, and a little scattered. In each post I will cite what I read so if you want to read what inspired my little rant then you can.

Don't worry, sometimes I'll throw up something that's been edited and polished, but that will be when I have the time and when God really presses on me.

This is still a place for open, honest, discussion about God, Life, etc and I hope that this new format will inspire more of that. I hope you enjoy it and pass it along!

Another Sinner in Grace,
Danny Exyle.