Set Apart In Christ

Very interesting warning here... Plus, I couldn't resist the irony of blogging this video Thanks Adam

I delivered this sermon at a conference recently. I hope it may be helpful for you.  The story of "Mr Good" Mr Good is very good. He always makes his bed. He always cleans his teeth. And he always wipes his feet. He never slams doors. He never forgets birthdays. And he never, ever tells lies. Mr Good is very, very good. However, Mr Good lives in a place called Badland. A place where nobody is like Mr Good. A place where people do slam doors. And they slam them in your face! In Badland, the puddles are much deeper than they look. In Badland, a dog’s bite is worse than its bark. In Badland, even the trees are bad! One day, it was wet and windy. Well, of course it was. The weather is always bad in Badland. Mr Good was walking along, minding his own business, when the hat of the man in front of him blew off. Mr Good leapt into the air and caught it for him. The man turned around and glared at Mr Good. “What do you think you’re doing?” he thundered. “Give my hat back!” ...

In the course of conversations or on the internet I often hear or see comments such as "Why do the Army do that?". I'm sure you can recall similar situations where you've heard such a statement. I'm sure this kind of thing is not the exclusive domain of the denomination of which I am a part... I have a real problem with this comment. It's not just "the Army" but you hear it narrowed down to different departments as well - "DHQ/THQ" or (my personal favourite) "The College". The problem I have is that the people who say these things are Salvationists themselves, yet they speak of "The Army" as if they are not a part of it. It betrays a complete lack of ecclesiological understanding and reeks of individualism.  For me, I made a concious decision a while ago to avoid at all costs speaking of "The Army" as if I'm not a part of it. I don't always succeed at this, but I try. The Army is not an institutio...

...Gore and Saunders taught Australia the Army way. Edward Saunders It was September 5, 1880 in Adelaide's Botanic Garden, that The Salvation Army commenced it's work in "the land down under". There are some who suggest that there were, in fact, earlier instances of Salvationists (or "Christian Missionaries" - i.e. pre-1878) who commenced the work in other locations. However, the history books as they currently tell it, take this day, 130 years ago as the "official" date of the Army's work in Australia. John Gore Interestingly, though we take this as the "official start date", at the time it was anything but "official". Gore and Saunders happened to meet earlier that year and, being Salvationists who had moved to Australia recently and convinced of the need of the Army in Australia, wrote to William Booth requesting that Officers be sent to Australia to commence the work. Obviously in the late 19th Century a l...

The "Coutts Memorial Lecture" for 2010 is now available to view online.  The guest speakers on this occasion were General Dr Paul Rader (R) and Commissioner Kay Rader and was presented at Booth College in Sydney. The title of this lecture was "Reaching for Metaphors of Grace". It can be viewed in a similar way to any YouTube clip, with a slide bar at the bottom providing easy fastforward, rewind and pause functionality. If you're concerned about download limits, because it's in Flash Video format it's only about 60MB in total to watch the whole thing. Here's the link Enjoy! Adam

Sanctification is clearly a topic I'm very interested in and this aspect of theology is really a lifelong wrestle for me. How do I understand the Biblical imperative "Be holy for I am holy" AND how do I live it out? There have been many attempts to understand sanctification throughout the ages, and its relationship to other aspects of theology. For example, Calvin proposed the dual processes  of mortification and vivification (the ongoing process of the old self "dying" and the new life "living"). My main issue with this is that it makes the Christian life sound like a kind of multiple personality disorder. Another suggestion, particularly arising out of 19th Century revivalism, is that of "second blessing". That is, there is a moment in time, normally post-conversion, when the Christian seeks God in faith to be "entirely sanctified", and when this moment occurs there is an exchange in the life of the believer where the love of G...