Holiness and New Life

August 19, 2018December 4, 2018 by Ben Clapton, posted in Sermons

Replacing Addictions and Habits

I don’t know if you’ve ever been addicted to anything. According to Liesl, I’m addicted to coffee. It’s true. I do love the stuff. And it would indeed be a rare day that I would not have a coffee. And I keep saying to her that I could give it up any time, I just don’t want to.

Alright. So maybe I am addicted.

But I have gone through times of giving it up. Sometimes for health reasons, sometimes to prove to Liesl that I wasn’t addicted. But I have successfully gone for periods of not drinking coffee. And what I’ve found is that in order for me to give up something that I may or may not be addicted to, I need to replace it with something else. Preferably something that is healthier.

So for example, when I gave up coffee, I would replace it with water. I would drink lots of water, and I would have hot water to replace the social aspect in my brain of having a hot drink.

In the times that Liesl and I have come into contact with Salvation Army rehab units, we’ve discovered a similar thing. Most recovering drug addicts and alcoholics take up smoking, and most centres are ok with it, because it is giving up a damaging addiction and replacing it with something less damaging. They realise that if you take the addiction away but don’t replace it with anything, then it won’t be a long term solution.

Or maybe you’ve tried to get rid of an old habit? In the very same way, it is a deliberate action that we must take to replace a bad habit with a good habit.

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Under Construction

August 8, 2018August 8, 2018 by Ben Clapton, posted in Music, Recordings

This album is free to download, however I encourage you to make a donation to CARAD at www.carad.org.au. CARAD is the Centre for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees, and do incredible work on a limited budget. As this album speaks about loving others, I encourage you to share the love of others, by donating to this cause that is close to my heart.

You can download the album at BandCamp.

This album started in conception in 2014. Captain Mal Davies came to lead the Tasmanian Divisional Men’s Retreat, under the theme of “Under Construction”. The weekend was based around the Two Great Commandments, broken down into three parts – Love God, Love Others, and Love Yourself. In my reflections from the sessions, I ended up writing a song, the title song to this album – “Under Construction”. When exploring an idea to write an album, I posed myself a question: If I was to only ever put across one message in an album, what would be the most important message to put across? For me, it was this idea: to Love God, Love others, and Love Yourself. So I started writing songs based around this theme. I roughly aimed at following a preaching outline for each point, to present a strong start for the whole album (Praise God for all of my days), a Problem, Opportunity and Result for each of the three parts, and then a final wrap up (Under Construction). It didn’t quite work out this way, but I believe the album works well as a whole, and each song has a strong message that is contained within the individual song and the album as a whole. Continue reading “Under Construction” →

Unity in Diversity

August 5, 2018August 5, 2018 by Ben Clapton, posted in Uncategorized

As has been my tradition, every sermon that I preach will be posted here. This sermon, Unity in Diversity, was given at The Salvation Army Rochester on Sunday August 5, 2018. The Reading was Ephesians 4:1-16.

One Body, One Spirit, One mind?

This past week, Liesl and I have been at Officer’s Fellowship – the first Officer’s Fellowship of the unified Victorian division. Now you may be wondering what we do at Officer’s Fellowship. Do we get away for a week of frivolity, where the rules are somewhat relaxed? No. Do we spend the week in deep and rigorous bible study that enriches the mind and spirit, but leaves you physically tired? No. The reality is somewhere in the middle.

Of course, this year was somewhat different. This was the first year we have had one Victorian Division. In past years, there would be a fellowship for each division – so last year, there was a retreat for officers in Western Victoria Division, Eastern Victoria Division, Central Victorian Division and the State Social Command. This year, all of those came into one – with the result being 178 officers in attendance. So it was massive. Continue reading “Unity in Diversity” →