Moving Beyond Sunday: A Biblical Journey Through the Gates of Jerusalem

By Allan Kircher

In every Christian there lies a powerful Spirit. It is up to youthe believerto enable the Spirit of God to move in the way God desires Him to move. For God did not give us the Spirit of timidity, but of power, love, and self-control (2 Tim.1:7). Do you want to seek Gods guidance? Do you yearn to remove the character defects in your life but have never been able to? How do you know if you need to grow up? Check the list below, and ask yourself:

I have kept secrets about some of my faults and have hidden them from others?

Have I been avoiding Christian fellowship?

Do I feel frustrated that Im not closer to God?

Do I continue to take steps backwards in my Christian walk?

Why do some Christians have it together, but I dont seem to have any Godly fire in my life?

Have I attempted to get stronger in my faith but keep coming up short?

Can I continue to be just an average Christian?

Am I not reading the Bible and failing to memorize Scripture? Am I not meditating, fasting, or consistently witnessing?

How many of these apply to you? Are you ready to explore the power of the Holy Spirit in your life through Jesus Christ? If you apply the principles in this book and allow God to use the fire of His Word to refine your impurities, you will become a fulfilled, excited, and humble believer in Christ Jesus. Lets move beyond Sunday together.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781512706628

Allan Kircher

Allan Kircher is the founder of “MBS” Moving Beyond Sunday Ministries, a ministry that goes into churches to reach the stagnant, complacent, and habit-forming believers and moves them to go above and beyond their comfortable routine. Allan has a M.ed. from the College of Charleston and an MA in Theological Study from Liberty University. Allan lives with his wife, Joy, in beautiful Beaufort, South Carolina.

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Copyright © 2015 Allan Kircher.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-0661-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0663-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-0662-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015912580

WestBow Press rev. date: 9/9/2015

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Gate 1 Swing Wide the Sheep Gate

Movement 1 I Have Denial!

Movement 2 Am I Helpless?

Movement 3 My Hope Is Restored!

Gate 2 Swing Wide the Fish Gate

Movement 4 I’m Following My Savior!

Movement 5 What Is Killing Your Passion!

Movement 6 Rejoice in the Lord Always!

Gate 3 Swing Wide the Old Gate

Movement 7 Keeping the Truth!

Movement 8 Moving beyond Sunday!

Gate 4 Swing Wide the Valley Gate

Movement 9 Here Come the Temptations!

Movement 10 Admitting My Faults!

Movement 11 Making Amends in the Valley!

Gate 5 Swing Wide the Dung Gate!

Movement 12 Repent of the Sin!

Movement 13 Confess the Mess!

Movement 14 Seeking Forgiveness Today!

Gate 6 Swing Wide the Fountain Gate

Movement 15 Amazing Grace!

Movement 16 What a Success!

Movement 17 An Attitude of Gratitude!

Gate 7 Swing Wide the Water Gate

Movement 18 Seeing the Fruit Ripen!

Movement 19 Wow! God-Given Gifts!

Gate 8 Swing Wide the Horse Gate

Movement 20 Put the Armor on … Now!

Movement 21 Praying through the Warfare!

Movement 22 Meditating through the Warfare!

Movement 23 Fasting through the Warfare!

Gate 9 God Will Swing Wide the Gate!

Gate 10 The Lord Will Swing Wide the Gate!

Conclusion

The Author

Acknowledgements

I would especially thank my wingman, my co-pilot, my wife. A good Godly wife is often taken for granted. She is the anchor of my soul. God knew what He was doing when He arranged the circumstances and moved the world for me to marry her. I am grateful enough to know I see Jesus everyday in my wife. Without her encouragement and support I could not have written this book. God worked through her to make this book possible so that when people read this book they will grow closer to His Son.

Special blessings to my dear sister in Christ Lynn Jaecks, who gave up her time and talent to help in the development of this book. I will never forget the great sacrifice she made for me. Lynn is a great example of a believer who has mastered this book and moved beyond Sunday.

And I shall end these acknowledgements with a cliché. It was the Lord all mighty above who inspired and penned the words of this book. He is the author and perfector of our faith. It is truly and only through the knowledge of knowing He lived, He died, and He rose again that gives me the power to write of His Name. Thank you Lord.

Introduction

This book is written to those who have acknowledged their sins and turned to Jesus Christ for forgiveness—those who are saved and are called believers in Christ. And listen, if for some reason you have not, you have to start sometime. God didn’t save you to see how much good, satisfaction, or excitement you can get out of life; He saved you to see how much God you can get out of life. The first gate of the book will guide you to make that life-changing decision. The purpose of this book is to encourage you to be obedient and growing Christians and to experience the choicest of God’s riches while here on this earth. You will experience God’s healing power in your life as you obey Christ’s commands. You will be changed as you share your experiences, strengths, and hopes as Christians in today’s world. Nonetheless, you will have to come to an understanding of God’s grace and recognize His power. When you do, you will use this power in your life as a Christian to develop into a mature believer who just doesn’t show up at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.

Christians who apply their faith in Christ will experience healing through the movements and self-examination in this book. I will use the illustration of the gates of Jerusalem. Each of the gates represents a specific spiritual movement to the believer. Each gate also represents a significant step to get beyond being a Sunday Christian. You will experience power in your life as you use the movements in this book to open each of the eight gates. After accepting the reality that you all are hurting and have struggles, you need to identify what areas in your life need healing. This book focuses on helping you to learn to abstain from self-defeating, ungodly behavior in order to grow daily in the knowledge of Christ. You need to grow, a daily process, a lifelong process of being changed and conformed to the image of God, from which all of us have fallen because of our sin. You are in need of sanctification.

The Christian walk beyond Sunday is a process that involves not only admitting your struggles but also understanding spiritual disciplines. You need to deepen your faith and trust in God’s will for your life. This book shows you how to rely on Jesus for guidance in complete healing and perfecting of your faith. God wants to bring hope and healing to the church. You are the church! Strap on your seat belt as you begin a life-changing, growing, and perhaps marvelous journey as you become what God expects you to be.

When I’m at the last stage of my earthly life, I want to be able to say with absolute faith and confidence, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished the race (2 Tim. 4:7). Can I say that now? Can you? I pray this book will help you walk through each one of these life-changing gates so you too can boldly say, as I will on that day, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, and I have finished the race.

The opening of each gate is essential for you to move beyond Sunday. I guarantee you the spiritual meaning of these gates will drastically grow you into maturity. God promised Israel if they obeyed Him, He would always protect them and prosper them. After King David came Solomon, and then a string of mostly bad kings who did not seek or serve God. After warning His people through prophets, God turned Israel over to their enemies. Jews were scattered throughout the known world. But a small remnant still lived in broken-down Jerusalem. I believe that today there is still a small remnant of believers scattered throughout the broken-down society we live in today. You can be part of the remnant.

This is a challenge and a sacrifice that needs to be lived out each moment of the day. Look at the beginning of the building of the walls in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a cupbearer for the Persian King Artaxerxes. In chapter 2 of Nehemiah, he went to the king and told him about the plight of his people in Jerusalem, and he asked for permission to go back and rebuild the wall. The king agreed and sent Nehemiah back to Jerusalem.

Nehemiah surveyed the damage and rallied the exiles to help to rebuild the wall around the city of God. There were some locals (some Persian and some Jewish) who weren’t on board. Sound familiar today? They ridiculed Nehemiah and tried to stop the progress at every turn, but Nehemiah was single-minded. This isn’t the most exciting chapter in the Bible. Nobody is swallowed by a fish. Nobody walks by faith into a fiery furnace. Nobody raises the dead. But there are lessons here for the church. Yes, you! You are the church. The walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt for a reason. They had purpose. You see, the walls kept out the bad, but the gates let in the good. The walls were there for more than just protection. They stood for the glory of God. You stand for the glory of God! I’m going to take you through the gates of Jerusalem in succession, applying spiritual meaning to each. Nehemiah, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, detailed the different gates of Old Jerusalem. These picture important aspects of the lives of believers. The order of the gates is the clear order of growth in the faith.

• Beginning with salvation at the Sheep Gate—swing wide that gate!

• Nehemiah moves on to service at the Fish Gate—swing wide that gate!

• The Old Gate speaks of God’s ways—swing wide that gate!

• Followed by humility at the Valley Gate—swing wide that gate!

• Through the cleansing of the Dung Gate—swing wide that gate!

• Renewing of the Holy Spirit at the Fountain Gate—swing wide that gate!

• Then on to the Water Gate, speaking of God’s Word—swing wide that gate!

• Spiritual warfare engaged in at the Horse Gate—swing wide that gate!

• The East Gate speaks of Christ’s coming—the gate will be opened for you!

• The Inspection Gate speaks of the judgment that will follow—the gate will be opened for you!

Will you enter through each of these gates of spiritual growth? Will you press on to maturity in the Christian life? Moving beyond Sunday is not gained by knowledge alone but by service and a life of faith. Move past Sunday with me!

GATE 1

Swing Wide the Sheep Gate

What This Gate Represents to Us

I believe this is the most important gate on the walls of the city of God. Why? First Corinthians 2:14 tells us, The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. If you cannot accept Scripture, you cannot live Scripture.

The sheep gate represents salvation. It is the starting point in Nehemiah’s reconstruction and the starting point for the rest of your life. Don’t go through this gate with a false sense of salvation. You need to be sure of your salvation! Has your life changed? Has the old you gone and the new you arrived? Please be sure of this, and know that Christ is in you. So many believe they are saved when they are not. What does your heart yearn for—worldly goods and things or spiritual and heavenly things?

The priests used this gate, as it was the only gate that was sanctified. They would bring sacrificial animals through this gate and lay them on the altar in the temple. This gate gives us a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of God. You see—it all begins and ends with Christ. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. Through this gate Jesus carried His cross. What an ultimate sacrifice!

You will see how these gates will project you past Sunday morning. You cannot go—and I stress cannot go—to the next gate, or any that follow, if you get stuck at the doors of this gate. Moving past this gate means you have had a genuine salvation experience. I will explore this in the next movement. So swing wide the gate! But swing it wide with a firm foundation of Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Swing wide the gate.

MOVEMENT 1

I Have Denial!

Gate 1’s ironclad doors read, Make the humbling decision that I am completely helpless to do anything good in my life. Okay, so what does that mean, really?

I can say that I have made the humble decision that I am completely helpless to do anything good in my life, but do I mean it? It’s easy to simply say something; it is another thing to actually manifest that concept, idea, or thought into action. Now come on—you’re going to have to be brutally honest with yourself to walk through this life-changing book in order to grow up. So right off the bat, you’re going to have to admit and live wholeheartedly the following Scripture: I know nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have a desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out (Romans 7:18).

I spent so many years of my life believing I was a good person. I always filled my mind with thoughts of the present. It’s okay! I’ll get over it. I’ll just sweep it under the carpet. And then it passed … until the next time. But who was I fooling? I was denying I was in denial.

I confess that my addiction was alcohol. Insert your own addiction, such as anger, porn, a bad attitude, enabling, not overcoming the loss of a loved one, drugs, or sex. Or perhaps you have been sitting in the pews, just sitting and sitting and not moving anywhere for the kingdom of God. Folks, they are all equally bad!

Let’s face it—whether you’re in it now or have engaged in this pattern of behavior in the past, you have experienced denial, which is an unconscious defense mechanism. You have to rid yourself of denial before you can move on in God’s kingdom. Most of you try to survive with a certain amount of denial to help you stay in balance. But in regard to addictions, denial will create obstacles that prevent your growth spiritually. It can rear its ugly head and return at any time. You may trade addictions or get into