According part 3
You can believe whatever you want. And you don't need my permission for that. I think you know by now that I'm perfectly ok NOT trying to convince anybody of, well, anything really. In fact, for the most part (aside from the Rants and videos), I keep my opinions to myself unless someone asks me. And even then, I'm certainly not going to argue with anybody. My point is... you can believe whatever you want. BUT what you believe defines your reality. So its kind of important that you (at the very least) KNOW what you believe. And WHY you believe it. The tricky part about ministry is that nobody has it all. We all have pieces. And, as Jesus said in Mark 7:13, sometimes we, "[Make] the word of God of none effect through your tradition..." Like how you can make the Bible say anything. When all it really says is Jesus. Love. So when you're choosing what to believe--choosing who to serve--its best to make an informed decision. Faith comes from hearing. You can't use faith to try to make something happen. Faith is believing in what already happened. Knowing (and believing) the truth, and letting that truth set you free and make you free. Hearing the good news of the Gospel--that we HAVE been reconciled to God... that God is love and He loves you--and then sharing that good news. Receiving it and releasing it. Experiencing the gift of God that we have already been given by giving it away. By sharing it. Knowing and believing that we are loved... and then loving each other with that same love. Because faith without works is dead. If all you do is hear the good news and then don't do anything with it... well... at that point it hasn't really done anybody much good. Because even the idea that, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so" is a good idea. But we need to get past head knowledge and into heart knowledge. Past "knowing" something and into KNOWING it. In an experiential way. A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. When you know the truth its easy to ignore the lie. When you know who you are you never have to try to be someone you're not. I've heard it said like this: You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything. You've got to have purpose in your life. Don't do things just to do them. Do things because they are in your heart to do them. According to your faith... so it is unto you. Everything you do flows from what you believe. If you believe you have to earn love you're going to spend your Three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) looking for love in all the wrong places. Settling for less than because you think its all you deserve. But if you believe that you ARE loved... that's when you can love. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. You have to have love before you can give love. That's why 1 John 4:19 is so important: "We love him, because he first loved us." And we love Him BY loving each other. If you know the truth you can believe the truth. You can receive it and release it. You can live the life of love you were created to live. Not by trying to get something, but by giving away what you've got!