No Exceptions Ministries, Inc

My dad is a great guy.  He’s kind, gentle, and easy-going.  He’s always been there when I’ve needed him. There is nothing that is in his power to give me that he has withheld.  In fact, he has at times moved mountains to meet a need for me.  There is no one, living or not, who could have been a better suited father to me than the one God gave me.  As dad’s go, mine is tops (same goes for my mom too, but that’s a post for another day)! The absence of fathers is of epidemic proportions in the western world.  And I’m well aware that not everyone was as fortunate as me.  But my clinical experience working with trauma survivors for almost two decades informs my view that far more people had good (or at least acceptable) fathers than bad ones.  They weren’t perfect, but the vast majority clearly did the best they could and demonstrated some capacity for love, protection, and care.   So why then has our perception of our eternal Father, our Creator, Sustainer, and All-in-all, been so distorte

The beautiful truth of the Gospel is that Jesus accomplished what we were incapable of doing: removing the veil in our minds that separated us from our true nature as members of the family of God.  In so doing, He took away the sin that permeated our thinking.  And where there is no sin, there is no consequence thereof: no death.  You read that right.  He has ALREADY overcome the twin miseries of sin and death!  It’s not future.  It’s DONE!   THAT is the Good News we are to celebrate!  Anything less is a mixture of law and grace that results in double-mindedness and misery, kicking the can of oneness down the road for some future time.  ENOUGH!   WE are the generation that with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord are being truly transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory!  Not some day in the sweet by-and-by, but RIGHT NOW!   Religion doesn’t like this.  Self-awareness threatens its power which centers around keeping you dependent on it.   Religion always make

The Western, Evangelical church has… 👉institutionalized the sacred 👉substituted programs for relationship 👉formalized the intimate 👉exchanged the verb ‘organize’ for the noun ‘organization’ And as a result, much of what we call ‘church’ is merely western corporatism, albeit with a religious flavor.   Please do not misunderstand me, brethren.  There is no greater advocate of the church than me!  But what has at times passed for ‘church’ warrants reexamination.  It’s time to restore the ekklesia to its rightful function as an intimate, vulnerable, organic, free-flowing, unadulterated, joyful, grace-centered, Christ-centered, love-centered, expression of His presence in a collective people.  The emphasis must be on what makes the ekklesia the ekklesia: THE GATHERING.  Not programs.  Not buildings.  Not budgets.  Not heaven-or-hell evangelism.  Not wardrobe.  Not a performance.   The church should more closely resemble an assemblage of family than a meeting or ritual.  Each member of t

 Consumers take value.  Contributors add value.   Because we are PARTAKERS of the divine nature through Jesus Christ, we are called to active participation within the family of God.  We are not passive spectators, content to consume His majesty.  That’s the realm of servants.  Nope!  We are SONS and DAUGHTERS, called to engage in the family business.  And what is the family business?  The ministry of reconciliation!  As He IS, so are WE in this world.   In Him we live, and move, and have our being.  These are not terms of works or labor, but they most certainly are terms of action and engagement!  The days of ‘doing something for GOD’ are OVER!  As a new creation, seated with-and-in Christ Jesus, we allow His life to flow forth from us; not in a disjointed sense, but from a place of oneness and union.   What are some practical ways we can contribute to the family?  👉Share your ‘part’ with the whole ‘body’.  Your giftings, experiences, and unique attributes are spices that improve the

Rest is not laziness or idleness.  It’s not the antithesis of productivity nor the absence of work.  Not at all!  Rest is the highest expression of trust.  It finds its authenticity in the complete surrender of control in deference to the superior care and capability of Another.  When we operate from rest (which is actually a person, Jesus Himself), we are acknowledging the Holy Spirit as the active agent by which all growth occurs in our lives.  While we have the pleasure of participating in that creative process as partakers of the divine nature, the source of the transformation is Him. Passages to Ponder: Hebrews 4:10-11 As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works, just as God celebrates his finished works and rests in them. So then we must be eager to experience this faith-rest life, so that no one falls short by following the same pattern of doubt and unbelief. 1 Corinthians 3:9-11 We are coworkers with God and you are God’s cultivated garden, the house he i

On a bookshelf in my office is this quote from Thomas Jefferson (although it’s been attributed to several people over the years).  It’s been there for quite a long time; so long in fact that I’d largely forgotten about it.  But today it captivated my attention.  After pondering it for a bit, I believe I now know why.   Tyranny comes in many forms.  Political, psychological, physical, and yes, even spiritual.  What unifies all of its various incarnations is the use of force to compel behavior.  Jefferson was referencing political tyranny, but the spiritual flavor is what drew my attention to the sign today.   The pull to ‘just shut up’ about grace and the Finished Work can be alluring; especially if you’ve got something to lose.  A ministry, a platform, friends, family.  It’s all fun and games reevaluating and releasing fresh bread from the heaven within until doing so could have a price tag.  If we’re being honest, we’ve all felt that risk-induced fear at one time or another.  But what

Faith is a journey far more so than a destination.  It’s the gradual, deliberate unveiling of Truth and Love by Him who finds His very being in those two words.  Because faith is living and organic, old paradigms must be challenged as new, fresh revelation is revealed.  Whether you call this ‘deconstruction’ or prefer a less loaded term such as ‘reassessing’, the process can be both painful and freeing, disconcerting and yet also stabilizing.  (If you know, you know.)   As I’ve watched others traverse this process, and experienced it myself over the expanse of several years, I’ve observed a pattern emerge.  For some, the sudden liberty that detaches them from legalism and mixture also untethers them from the very foundation of faith Himself.  Like a swinging pendulum, these seekers sway from one extreme to the other, exchanging the bondage of legalism for the yoke of self-centered licentiousness.  They walls may have a different color of paint, but it’s a prison nonetheless.   When que

For those awakened to the unforced rhythms of Papa’s grace and unconditional love, there is perhaps no greater frustration than to see something at work that we know in the very core of our being has no right to operate.  Poverty, sickness, emotional dysregulation, broken relationships: we are confident that these have all been placed under the feet (an idiom for domination and subservience) of Jesus.  And yet we encounter them every day.  What then are we to do?  We find our answer, at least partially, in the Book of Hebrews:   Hebrews 2:8-9 (BSB) “When God subjected all things to him (Jesus), He left nothing outside of his control.  Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.  BUT WE SEE JESUS, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.” When our world doesn’t align with what we know to be true, we shift our gaze to the ever-present I AM.  With our

Performance-based, dualistic Christianity with its mixture of law and grace almost always centers on one word: more.   More prayer.  If you just prayed more, then God would give you what you ask.   More giving.  If you just gave more, then God would bless your finances.  More service.  If you just served more, then God would show you favor.   More study.  If you just studied scripture more, then God would reveal to you that missing piece of the puzzle that evades your peace.   More.  Always more.   With the fulfillment of the old covenant, and the dawning of a new and better one, a cosmic shift occurred from work-to-earn to rest-to-receive.   But resting in His goodness and love terrifies our soul because doing so requires a complete surrender our control to Him.  Rather than trusting that He who began a good work in us will be the agent of completing it, we take it upon ourselves to pursue the outcome through the sweat of our brow.   And all the while, performance-based Christianity c

Isn’t it interesting that the very people who insist on an infallible, inerrant approach to scripture, citing it as The Word of God, are the same people who refuse to acknowledge that scripture itself never claims such authority?  If we allow scripture to define itself, the conclusion we reach is that it is God-breathed, inspired, and of great value.  But Adam was God-breathed, inspired, and of great value too…but he sure wasn’t inerrant or infallible.  Lol

Through our union with the Trinity wherein we are found in Him and He in us, our lives are crucified, enveloped into the Love of God.  While there is distinction there is no separation.  We are ONE.  From that place of glorious covenant we live, and move, and have our very being.   So if we are one, as both scripture teaches and the Spirit bears witness in our hearts, what then are we saying about God when we treat ourselves as faulty, broken, or worthless?   Because He with whom we share oneness is complete, whole, and perfected, SO ARE WE!  If our nature (“being”) is found in Him, how can we not be complete, whole, and perfected too?!  Beloved, YOU ARE ENOUGH!  ————————————— Scriptures to Ponder: Acts 17:27-28 God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ Colossians 1:27 To them God chose to make k

What began at Asbury and has now spread to campuses across the country is nothing short of remarkable.  Unlike the revivals of yesteryear, these have, at least thus far, centered not on a distorted mindset of sin consciousness or the poorly understood need for ‘repentance’, but on the lavishly supplied love of God, the hearts of children turning to their ever-approachable Father.  The embers of His unconditional love have been fanned afresh, resulting in the Refiner’s fire blazing white-hot in the hearts of millions.  No matter your views on corporate revival generally, or how the Finished Work of Jesus Christ makes revival accessible to the individual every moment of every day, seeing the flame grow within a generation of young people is cause for celebration!  But as someone who has studied and taught church history for over two decades, let me give a word of caution:  Genuine revival spreads ORGANICALLY.  Like a spiritual virus, it spreads from person to person, infecting with a gre

This is your Friday reminder that you are as perfect, loved, valued, and redeemed in the eyes of your Father RIGHT NOW as you ever will be!  No amount of prayer, scripture study, or ministry service will change that fact one iota.  Spiritual disciplines are a beautiful byproduct of who we are, not the means by which we obtain identity.  Papa couldn’t love you more!  You’re the apple of His eye…regardless of how you behave or perform.   #endperformancebasedchristianity #youareenough #perfectinChrist