When the focus of the church starts looking outside rather than inside those who are not looking outside feel left behind because people aren't looking at them as much anymore.

I feel this is one of the major challenges at church t the moment. We are shifting missionally. We are becoming a church for the unsaved, and the safe, comfortable Christians are not getting what they want. They are no longer the focus of the church.

For the church to go forward we now have to disciple everyone about our mission. About Gods lifesaving mission. We need to take people with us. So, by doing this the people on the inside are the people who are getting people saved. The look of an inside person changes.

The problem the church faces is whether to stay with the comfortable safe Christians who don't do mission, or do we refocus our church on mission and create a new set of "inside" people? What are you going to do?

im reminded of Cat Booth, "To change the future we need to disturb the present."

Compassion

September 23 Day to pray for peace... And Sunday 30th September is day to pray for victims of the sex-trafficking industry... Make sure your officers are aware of them and will do something special for them...

Check out the generals site, new pastoral letter is up... i joined his mailing list today, so should you... And following an old army tradition, pray for the General and some head honchos at lunch time...

Also, heres a cool quote I found in Bonnke's book I still haven't finished...

"What could Jesus gain from His works of mercy?He did not need them for His own profit. Why did He go to Bethesda among that litter of humanity, who were like flotsam and jetsam cast up on a forgotten shore? Why should He go to Nain to meet a dead man, or go anywhere or come to earth at all, for that matter? There was no possible benefit for Himself. The truth is, Jesus had a fatal attraction to the wretched. It led Him to a cruel death, but that was no consideration to Him. He would bring His healing touch to broken lives no matter what. We read that in the eyes of Jesus, the multitudes were as sheep without a shepherd and, "He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. Matthew 14:14""

As The Salvation Army, we need to have this fatal attraction th the wretched! William Booth said, "Go for souls and go for the worst!" Too often we put our needs ahead of those who need Jesus most. We put our worship preferences ahead of those who could be saved in our meetings, we put our t.v time or fellowship time ahead of reaching the LOST the LAST and the LEAST! If we want to be like Jesus, lets ask God to fill us with His perfect love, so that we too may be filled with compassion!

Holiness is being made perfect in love. Whatever we sacrifice on the altar, God will sanctify. Lay yourself on the altar, do away with sin, and be filled with the love and peace that surpasses all understanding!

Also, check out www.goforsouls.blogspot.com

GO FOR SOULS

Hey peoples!

Make sure you check out the GO FOR SOULS conference website! It is going to be awessome! Especially if you cant make ACC during the week this is on the weekend and will be great!

Its to teach people how and why to evangelise! Its going to get practical, theres going to be great teaching, great prayer, and then we're going to go and practice!

It looks like the electives will be split in two, softcore and hardcore and every participant will choose one from each of those... Its gonna be great!

And to top all this off, it looks like its going to absolutely free!

More details in the next 3 days then its all set! Keep it in your prayers and wipe your diaries clean from Friday 12th October 730pm to Saturday 14th October all day!

Its aimed at youth but not only for youth! If you dont consider youself "youth" still come it will all be relevant to you anyways!

As William Booth said, "Go for souls and go for the worst!"

Jesus ministry

I find it really interesting that throughout all of Jesus ministry in the New Testament that whenever someone was saved etc that it was by Jesus doing something amazing. That amazing thing was often supernatural and was preceeded by someones faith. So the way it went was something like this:

1) Jesus did something
2) People spoke about it
3) People believed
4) People received

So, my logical thinking tells me that we need to do the same as Jesus if we want the same results. The other thing about Jesus was who He was.

1) He was without sin
2) He loved people
3) No one could fault Him
4) He spoke the truth

The reason why He did things often followed a pattern like this:

1) He was walking around
2) He saw need
3) He was filled with compassion
4) He did something about it

And to wrap it up heres a quick list of the things that Jesus did:

1) He did miracles
2) He preached
3) He taught
4) He prayed
5) He died
6) He rose

I think if we did those things we would have amazing ministries! Lets do it, lets get holy, filled with love and compassion, have our eyes opend to need, and be filled with the power of God to perform miracles! Lets get some people saved today!

40 people read my blog each day. If we all got 2 people saved before Christmas thats 80 people!

GO FOR SOULS CONFERENCE IS GONNA ROCK! Stephen Court, Jason Golden, Xander, and a few others speaking! Make sure you check it out! Posters out this week at last!!!

Demonic strongholds

Its been too longsince I last blogged! Ive been busy with some mates from Perth who have come over to visit me!

I am convinced that the things we do in the physical realm have an impact in the spiritual realm. I dont like making a too big a gap between the two, but there is a spiritual realm that we dont always see and thats what Im talking about.

For example, when we say something against someone it is a curse, when we say something good, it is a bless. When we sin it creates something in us which can lead to a demonic stronghold. If we agree with one of the devils lies, or we agree with a sin, it can create a stronghold in us which is hard to get rid of...

That is, hard to get rid of until you come into contact with the blood of Jesus!

The other night I was talking to a person who asked for a word from God concerning a block he felt in his heart. I prayed and got the word "demonic strong hold" straight away, I argued with God saying I think its just me, but then it was confirmed along with the sin which was allowed to stay because of fear.

Then I told this person about what was going on and the demon begun to manifest. The person started going manic, so we ordered this person to fix their eyes on Jesus! They did and we started praying on our knees and breaking curses in Jesus name! We agreed with Jesus and His laws instead of the devils. As I prayed the person fell forward in the Spirit! It was really cool! Praise God Hes come to give us freedom!

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19

YOUTH MOVEMENT

Ive been reading SA101 Millenial Edition as Im looking for some good discipleship stuff. Ive come across a nice quick talk about the Salvation Army being a movement...

They describe it in 3 ways:

A REVIVAL Movement

A HOLINESS Movement

And A Youth Movement

I particuarly like the stuff it says about the youth stuff. If you are a Youth, you must read this.

"Youth Movement: (e.g. officer Kate Shepherd, 17, opens Rhondday
Valley Corps in 1879 and within a year there are 15,000 people at the welcome
meeting for General Catherine Booth; officer Eliza Shirley, 17, opens USA!;
H. A. Ironside, noted commentator, was an officer at 16; Thomas Coombs, 24,
was TC/Commissioner in Canada; the Booth children had huge responsibilities
at young ages; teenage officer in Kingston had 2,000 coming to meetings...)"

WOW! Can you believe that? If you are a youth, dont you dare let anyone tell you you are too young to do stuff! You dont need to be mature as such, rather you have to be able to TRUST and OBEY God. So youth, get holy and start a revival!

There are lots of youth beginning to take up this call! Have a look around our territory and you will see. If you want to get in on this then come to GO FOR SOULS conference!

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity! 1 Timothy 4:12

Ignorance, a spit in Jesus face!

Firstly I need to say that I love the youth butting in during the sermon and so does our preacher! The atmosphere in the church is so much better than what it once was! Having said that:

It just bugs me that people don't want to get people saved because that would be uncomfortable for them. I wonder where we would all be if Jesus decided His time on Earth would be comfortable... I don't thinking dieing on the cross was a comfortable experience. Not to mention how Jesus, the most holy of all spent most of His ministry on Earth with sinners! Not to mention the whole reason He came for was for sinners!

I believe that as Christians, we are the ones with the responsibility to lead people to Christ. We are the ones with responsibility to change, to adapt as Catherine Booth said. We have Jesus. Millions of other people don't. We should not be arrogant in thinking our ways should stay the same. If we are filled with love, our heart will ache for the lost, and as Paul says he counts all loss gain if to win one soul to Christ!

i believe the Salvation Army has for too long tried to be a "normal church." And we have forgotten what we are about. We are about bringing Gods Kingdom to Earth! Getting people saved! Defeating sin, addiction, despair, injustice etc!

How dare we put ourselves above those who are going to hell! Imagine if Jesus did that! He didn't, He put others first, and I believe as a Soldier in The Salvation Army,as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, I MUST DO THE SAME! Anything less is sinful and a spit in the face of Jesus who DIED for the people we ignore or forget about! Should not our priorities be the same as Jesus'? For us to ignore people out of comfort or any reason is telling Jesus that we think we are better than the rest! That we are more important! Forgive us of our pride Lord!

God helping us this nation will see revival!

Also, evangelism conference looks like OCT12-13th, still waiting on a speaker or two to confirm. It will be great and you will learn something!

JESUS LOVES SINNERS

The church is the only organization in the world existing for its non-members
- An Arch Bishop of Canterbury

Plenty Valleys worship meetings have been changing with the influx of new people. Newly converted youth mess around, talk when its not there turn and talk with the person who is preaching. These people are getting saved out of hard places and Jesus is transforming their lives.

The people who are in the corps could have the right to be upset. Their comfortable, predictable church is changing and there are more and more new faces around the place. People even sit in "their" seats!

The church is changing from the mature (hmmm older...) Christians church into the new Christians church. It can be rowdy, unpredictable and sometimes it might feel we are flying by the seat of our pants not really knowing what might happen next.

There is a weird mix here. How do we cater for the people who have been around for ages and cater for the people we are trying to get saved? How much should we bother? As The Salvation Army, a mission for getting people saved, should we only worry about the people we're trying to get saved and the people who are going to get other people saved? (At PV I'm encouraging all the youth to get their friends saved so we believe in the priesthood of all believers) So, the question should be asked, should soul saving be the most important, guiding factor in how The Salvation Army does church? What do you guys reckon?

Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:31-32

Been reading Luke. Its a great read. I read Luke 15 the other day, also known as the "LOST" chapter and I came across a few interesting thoughts...

The lost sheep is about something that was lost naturally, the coin got lost accidentally, and the son got lost willing fully! In all stories they were searched for. (The lost sons dad stayed out the front of home...)

The other thing popped out was that they are all about how there will be a party in heaven when someone is found again! Hallelujah! Also, it is very consistent that there is two places we end up, heaven or hell. Its mentioned all the time.

The other point is that the people who are getting saved are the ones who dont have anything. The ones who are down and out, who are suffering. The ones who realise they need Jesus! (Luke 13-14)

And finally, hell sucks! Luke 16 warns us that people in hell have seen the glory of God but cant get away from it! They cant go and warn people either. Imagine the worst place on earth, imagine your stuck there forever. Now, tell me, if you had an ounce of love in your soul, would you tell people to keep clear? I would! Why dont we tell people hell sucks and tell them about the kingdom of God? If you knew the cure for AIDS would you tell the world? I would. Im guessing so would you. Dont be ashamed of the gospel. Its good news! Try get some people saved! Dont know how to? Then come to "GO FOR SOULS CONFERENCE!"

Come to the evangelism conference!

Don't know how to get people saved? Would'nt have a clue how to lead someone to Christ even if they wanted to?

Come to the evangelism conference!

Want to make a difference in the war on sin?
Do you care about millions of people in hell and going to hell?

Come to the evangelism conference!

Care about the great commission?
Want to see Jesus glorified?

Come to the evangelism conference!

more details: http://www.goforsouls.blogspot.com/
spread the word

GO FOR SOULS

Sorry i haven't posted for ages!

Been really busy which is a good thing!

I'm pleased to announce the "GO FOR SOULS" evangelism conference at Plenty Valley! Theres gonna be great speakers, great prayer and great outreach! We may be teaching but we're also planning on people getting saved at the same time!

Promote it as much as you can! We've left it late so its all a bit rushed, but we really believe God wants it to happen!

We have some great people coming to teach and outreach with us! I'll announce them soon! Don't miss this opportunity!

Check out the details etc at http://www.goforsouls.blogspot.com/

Evangelism by fire

PB and JB gave me some dvds to watch the other day. The first one I watched was og the CFAN crusade that saw ONE MILLION SOULS SAVED! Hallelujah! Its a great DVD and the noise the crowd made when they were all baptized in the Holy Spirit was unreal!

Heres a quick preview...





I was reading his book the other day and he speaks of how when people get saved he then baptizes them in the Holy Spirit! WOW! He doesnt wait until they are mature or understand anything, just BANG, receive the Holy Spirit. (Just like ACTS 2)

Also, Youth alive was great last night! Heaps saved. A highlight was Mike Gug testimony! Hes been sick as, cancer in his bones, suppose to be dead, breaks bones if he gets even a slight bump...He said he had a dream that he got healed in John Wesleys chapel. So he got in his wheel chair and went to England!lol On Monday I prayed for him, he just came into my mind. And he testified that on Monday he got out of the wheel chair and his broken back and hip were healed! Hallelujah!

Gods at work! Hes coming back. Dont let Him find you slacking off. Get busy. Save some souls.

Salvation!

The Thursday night band practice has yet again proven successfull in getting people saved!

Tonight a girl who has been loosely hanging around for a little while came in a bit of an upset mood. She has been Steves "one." (the one person they're trying to save...) She went into the prayer room to have a bit of a cry and me and Steve walked in with her. We had a chat then me and Steve gave her the gospel. It was amazing!

I started with saying this is what Jesus said He was all on about:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

Then told her that Jesus wants to set her free! And then me and Steve bombarded her with testimonies and explanations of this grace God has given us. By the end, Id be surprised if anyone would not have wanted to accept Christ into their life!lol

She did, and is now saved and praying! Please pray for her and her family especially. Pray that her new found faith will be a great benefit to her family!

Jesus is alive peoples! He is setting people free! Lets proclaim it!

EVANGELISM

There is a MASSIVE evangelism crusade in the pipewroks brought to you by Plenty valley Youth and all salvos are invited. Its gonna be an 11 week evangelism fest. Every saturday and thursday night term 4... Posters coming out soon. If youre good at getting people saved expect a phone call or let me know! Its gonna consist of teaching, praying and doing! Three words God gave me are: Teach-Equip-Empower...

Also, about the whole social-justice stuff vs evangelism... Surely soul saving is more important? Its eternal right? I think soul saving is the most important thing about being a salvo (even officers agree that soul saving will be there number 1 priority...). The social-justice and charity stuff, whatever you want to call it is good too. But not the number one thing... We need to have the social stuff, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked etc, we cant do that without evangelism and cant have evangelism without works of love and compassion...

Jesus sums it up nicely for us to the Samaratin woman:

"Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4)

Surely soul saving is more important. It lasts forever! If people get saved they can be freed and healed!

If your wondering what to do, and asking God "what should i do?" The great commission hasnt changed. Its still the same. Go get some people saved! Remember no revival has ever happend without aggressive evagelism... (from bonnke)

Spiritual Warfare

Ive heard lots of stories of spiritual warfare happening at the moment! All sorts of corps and people are under attack! It can only be a good thing! It means we are stepping into the war! Hallelujah! I have a feeling it is caused by the 24/7 prayer and is creating power encounters all over the place! Im so glad we've already won!

Speaking about winning, great testimony time today at Plenty Valley! It went for so long the sermon was cut short!hahaha woman helped to forgive mum, answers to prayer, prophetic dreams coming true, prophetic words of encouragement coming at just the right time, just to name a few! There were a couple of real tear jerkers!
_________
Im not sure if ive posted this before but its a good story...

During an Easter camp a mate of mine saw his cousin put a hood over his head during a worship time. My mate had a word with him afterwards finding out what was going on. In the end they discovered he had been seeing 2 demons, and had been having a dream of the devil taking him to hell. Every time he took a step down a stair the stair behind him would disappear. They prayed for him.

The next night my mate was having a chat to him as they walked around the footy oval. The demons had not left. So my mate told him to lie down, he claimed and consecrated the land. Then he asked where the demons were. The boy sat up a bit looked around and pointed in the direction.

My mate got up and walked towards them shouting at them in Jesus name! Telling them to leave. He then felt a release in the Spirit. His cousin began laughing. He was looking up into the sky.

My mate asked what had happend, his cousin replied, "As you walked over towards the demons a BRGHT light shon out of you and they got scared and ran away! Now, I see a legion of angels in the sky protecting the camp!"

There you go! We are the light of the world! Matthew 5:14
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also, if you can hear God speak to you, please do some listening prayer for me and let me know what He says! Thanks!

alcohol

The world is always telling me to drink alcohol. To many people I seem like a loser because I dont drink alcohol! The sterottypical aussie bloke drinks beers while he watches the footy while I drink water. People often say The Salvos should take the no drinking thing out of the covenant then we'd get more people joining up. Many salvo officer kids drink and dont understand why we shouldnt. So here are some reasons why I don't drink alcohol.

Because it is bad for your health
Because Romans 6 says that whatever we submit ourselves to that will rule us. I dont want to be ruled by alcohol
I dont want to get drunk
I dont want to get sick and throw up, not my idea of a good time
I dont want to do things I'll regret
I dont want to damage relationships
I dont want to embarrass myself
I dont want to get addicted

I want to show addicts there is hope
I want to tell the world alcohol is bad for society
I want to stay pure for God
I dont want to sin by losing control of myself
I want people to realize that alcohol is not needed for a good time
I want to let my friends and family know they can trust me all the time
I want to submit my life to God, God and no other


Alcohol is responsible for so much crime
Alcohol is responsible for so many divorces
Alcohol is responsible for so many family breakups
Alcohol is responsible for so much abuse in the family
Alcohol is responsible for so many broken relationships
Alcohol is responsible for trust being broken
Alcohol is responsible for so many car crashes
Alcohol is responsible for so many deaths
Alcohol is responsible for so many people not dealing with grief and life issues properally

Alcohol is responsible for so much sin

I dont see many positives of drinking alcohol.
I dont want to drink alcohol.

There you go. Thats what I think. The Bible also tells us heaps of times not to get drunk, not to have too much to drink, and in fact there were some hardcore jews who wouldn't drink alcohol at all because they wanted to stay holy set apart for God.

You need to choose. Is drinking alcohol giving God your best? How can it possibly be? Instead of seeing alcohol as a way to fit in with friends, see it as a way to devote yourself to God and to show your friends how great God is. Im not talking about law here, it just seems common sense for Christians not to drink. What do you think?

Evangelsim

Ive been reading a great book by Reinhard Bonnke called Evangelism by fire. Ive only read the first chapter but already Im impressed... Heres a few quotes...
___________
It struck me that the Gospel is not good news to people who dont hear it - that an unpreached Gospel is no Gospel at all!

Yet one fact faced me - there had never been revival without aggressive evangelism!

Plodding along mechanically might be called faithfulness, but our primary concern in evangelism is effectiveness, not a twisted type of faithfulness!

Entertainers are not needed or wanted. From Captain to the cook all hands are needed on deck for soul saving. The church that does not seek the lost is "lost" itself!

The devil is no match for the mind of the Holy Spirit. If we plan, preach, witness and evangelize as men, satan will foil us. He can handle psychology and propoganda. The answer is - move in the Spirit and preach the Gospel as it is!

Theres so many more quotes Id like to put in but that will do for now.
___________
The thing thats bugging me at the moment is that there are so many people within the church that think we need to be mature Christians to be able to do Gospel work. That not just anyone can pray for a stranger. That not just anyone can give a Spiritual Reading. (A word from God) Its so annoying because God doesnt give the Spirit to the mature, NO! He gives it to the willing!

If the Army is to move forward we need to give the Youth a go! We need to empower them, not lord it over them because we are smarter, older and more mature! The Army would not be where it is today if the youth didnt take on leadership, if the youth werent given responsibility! And Im not talking young adult age either! Im talking teenagers!
___________
Go get someone saved!
Pray for the sick! Raise the dead! Drive out demons! Rejoice that youre saved!

Heres a COMMAND from JESUS:
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8

DOUBT

Exciting things happening at Plenty Valley! Something about a Salvation Meeting coming soon! I'll keep you in suspense for now...

I was reading some stuff about doubt the other day and learned quite a bit...

Peter saw the feeding of the 5000 then got out of the boat and started to walk towards Jesus. He then looked at the wind and waves, taking his eyes of Jesus and sunk. Jesus asks him why he doubted. The reason: He took his eyes off Jesus. Matthew 14:13-36

Then we have the disciples waiting around. Jesus comes back from the dead. They're all amazed. "Why did you doubt Jesus asks? Didn't you know the Scriptures had to be fulfilled?" The reason they doubted? They didn't heed Scripture. Luke 24:36-49

Then we have Thomas. Doubting Thomas. Everyone told him about Jesus coming back from the dead but he didn't believe them. He doubted their testimony. John 20:24-30

So when you're in doubt, keep your eyes on Jesus, read and believe the Bible, and believe other peoples testimony!

revival?

Are we really ready for revival? Do we expect it? My guess is no. I could be wrong here but to the best of my knowledge there is no Salvo material for new Christians. I'm guessing this is because 1) we hardly have any converts these days and 2) we're not expecting it!

Mu aunty is c.o somewhere and they put some Bibles under the mercy seat expecting people to be saved. The following Sunday I believe a bunch of people came forward and gave their life to Christ!

If we're praying for revival and salvations etc, lets get some plans together for when it happens. I don't want to get left behind because I wasn't ready!

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the following has been edited from the first time it was posted a few hours ago...
Will The Salvation Army get serious about our covenant? Will there be a day when people will not be accepted as officers, soldiers and lieutenants if they don't believe the doctrines and follow the therefores? (Not just talking about first time committments like swearing in, commissioning etc) How long can we go along compromising? How can we continue to perpetuate the already bad situation because we dont want to make people upset? If we are allowing people to stay in covenant and the positions that brings even though they constantly break it are we not taking Gods grace in vain? Are we sinning because God will forgive us?

The problems are too great. Bad theology etc leads to bad mission. Dis unity in the body will only hinder revival not improve it.

The covenant is what unites Salvationists. Not everyone is called to The Salvation Army. I love having non salvos help out and do stuff, I know some great non-salvos who help us heaps. But at the same time we need to unite on those things which make us us. The things that separate us from other denominations and movements...

------------------
Sorry I'm so negative today! Just a bit frustrated. Heres some positive to keep us going. One of the guys who has just got saved has been laying hands and praying that his sister will get healed! He has also told me that one of his friends is coming on Thursday night and shes gonna get saved! Hallelujah! The Army is moving! The Spirit is stirring! Lets cut the dead wood and allow the Holy Spirit freedom in our lives!

Singing Teaching

Firstly, who like the new banner of me leaning on the word of God?hahaha

Last night was the divisional youth meeting. It brought home a couple of facts to me. I took a bunch of youth from Plenty Valley. They are not use to sitting down and listening so they played up a bit. They were actually really good, but I could still tell theyre not use to and not able to listen for such a long amount of time.

This really made me aware of the early Salvos who use to teach theology through songs. The people would have been like my youth, not able to sit down and learn. It would have been too boring. But they loved singing. Therefore they taught them through song.

We should not be using Hillsong music. We should not have to. We need to though at this stage because it is the best that is out there. The problem is it doesn't teach our theology. We should not be using brass band music. We should not have to. We need to though because at this stage it has the best theology out there.

Perhaps we do have the great talent to do this. But maybe we have become so brainwashed by the church that we conform to the church. Perhaps we don't have enough converts to see the need for teaching through music. I need to admit I was one of those!

Lets do a couple of things. Lets get people saved and lets teach them stuff through new music with good theology.