Introductory to the G.A.T.E.

By Pastor Dean Forrest

This book is about God answering the prayer of Pastor Deans request for a topic for his next sermon, and not only did God give him the title, but he also gave him a vision of who his son is through the same title, The GATE, to show the world that the answer to everything we need is in Jesus, Gods answer to eternity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 7, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543427844

Pastor Dean Forrest

About the Author Pastor Dean Forrest was destined to preach. As a young child growing up in his native country, Jamaica, he would play and act as a pastor by wearing a black raincoat or by wearing what they called in those days a black frock from his mother’s wardrobe to play the role, not knowing that he was acting out God’s plan and purpose for his life. When Pastor Dean Forrest came to the USA, he brought with him his pervasive perversion and whoremonger ways. While Pastor Dean Forrest was on his Damascus road, he met a young lady who invited him to church, and he immediately accepted. Pastor Dean’s purpose was not to meet Christ but to make this person a part of the statistics of his sexual perversion. It was while Pastor Forrest was at this church (CCC) in Brooklyn that the pastor, Dr. A. R. Bernard Sr., spoke, and everything that he preached became a dagger to his heart. This was the turning point of his life in which he accepted Jesus Christ. Christ set up Pastor Dean Forrest that day. In 1998, he made the bold step to dip in the pool. Three months after, he took the first step into ministry, where his evangelistic ministry began. Pastor Forrest evangelized for almost seven years, with the Atlantic Avenue train station in Brooklyn being his main pulpit. With a heart for God and people and a passion like no one else’s, he took the bold step of ordination. Pastor Forrest has pastored here in the United States, Liberia, and Jamaica. Pastor Dean Forrest is now in charge of the men’s ministry, Men of Vision International Evangelism (movie). At Bringing Back Pentecost Ministry (BBP), he is nurturing men to be leaders, carrying the mantle as king, priest, and prophet. Pastor Dean Forrest also helps with ICB—the men’s ministry at his former church (CCC). Pastor Forrest’s passion is to save souls for the kingdom of God. His motto is “I can do all things through Christ who is my strength.”

Book preview

Introductory

To The G.A.T.E

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Pastor Dean Forrest

Copyright © 2017 by Pastor Dean Forrest.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2017908853

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5434-2786-8

      Softcover      978-1-5434-2785-1

      eBook         978-1-5434-2784-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

KJV

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

MSG

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Website.

NIV

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

Rev. date: 06/22/2017

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

What Is A Gate?

Acronym

Conditionalities And Prerequisites

What To Do At The Gate

Salvation Gate

Two Gates

Mercy Gate

Entering Doesn’t Mean To Stay

Notable Covenants

Jesus Is The Only Answer To Eternity!

Christ, The Operator Of Our Gate

The Scandalous Gates

What’s The Difference Between The Gate And The Door?

Easy Access For The Thief

Christ Is Our Tabernacle

The Intruders

The first gate that we approach is the Sheep Gate.

The second gate that was fixed was the Fish Gate.

The third gate that we come to is the Old Gate.

The fourth gate that was repaired was the Valley Gate.

Gate no. 5 is the Dung Gate.

Gate no. 6 in our life is the Fountain Gate.

Gate no. 7 is the Water Gate.

Gate no.8 is the Horse Gate

Gate no. 9 is the East Gate.

Gate no.10 is the Miphkad Gate.

The Broad Gate

The Narrow Gate

Notes:

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

To my daddy, Abba, the one who opened the gate of this book. All honor and glory belongs to you.

To my beautiful wife, Pastor Lesma, who saw the vision and purpose in me even before I saw it. Thank you for your patience and your love.

To my mom whom I dearly love. I thank God that he place me in a womb so blessed. You are blessed amongst others, and have worked tirelessly for all your children. I dedicate this book to you with love.

To my sisters, Apostle Nadine, Evangelist Sherell, and Minister Nicole Forrest. What a privilege to have sisters that are strong and encouraging in the Lord. Thank you for the inspiration. To my five brothers, I am praying to God that the GATE will open your eyes to salvation.

I have to mention my nieces and nephews: Kameka, Minister Tanisha, Minister Shaneika, Ajanique, Minister Shakeel, Malachi and Brandon, Damion, Conrod Jr., Shaneek, Jah Marley, and Jah Bari. Thank you for being my greatest critics. May God continue to bless you as you continue in his spiritual growth.

To my dad and my son, Glenrick. God loves you.

I also want to thank my mentor and former pastor, Dr. A. R. Bernard Sr., and the other ministers from Christian Cultural Center for their teaching and inspiration that they bestowed on me. May God continue to give you vision, dreams, and prophecies. Thanks also to the International Christian Brotherhood, who so deeply enriched and encouraged us to strive for success, where their motto is We Train Men. Thanks also to my church family at Bringing Back Pentecost Outreach Ministry Inc. Your prayers and encouragement are what kept me. To the Men of Vision International Evangelism, whom I mentored to be strong men in Christ, keep on keeping on.

Thanks also to my friends who were not mentioned. You stay in my heart.

PS. I am asking the readers to pray that God will draw my father and my five brothers to him as he has done for me. May God’s richly blessing be with you all. God bless.

Some studies were taken from Adam, Noah, and the Kingdom: The Covenant of Genesis and Consistent Eschatology by Ralph Allan Smith.

http://www.greaterthings.com/Books/MightyChange/MyGospel/SaviorExample.htm#Alphabetics: Gate

The word gate in English, OT Hebrew, and NT Greek from http://www.greaterthing.com>Gospel>Gate.

Introduction

¹ Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

² Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

³ Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

⁵ For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

—Psalm 100:1–5

Many a times in our distress, we cry out to God. Why? Because we are at a crossroad, lost in our mind, lost in our ability to function or perform our humanly daily tasks. It is like we are driving our vehicle and we took the wrong route and got lost, and we now need someone or something to redirect us on the right path. But just at that moment of frustration, you remember that there is a GPS lying idle in your vehicle somewhere; and so you retrieve it, hook it up to your car, and immediately signal appears, and it begins to direct or redirect us to our destination. Our lost way is then corrected. This is no different with us finding our lost way in Christ.

We are lost; we need something or someone to direct or redirect us to the correct way. Why? Because we are unable to do so by ourselves. Our inability to find the answer, our inability to find the right way, our inability to come to the GATE by ourselves has placed us at a crossroad; and just like the GPS (Global Positioning System) that was missing from our vehicle, we are reminded that we cannot travel anywhere without it, if it is not hooked up to our vehicle. I want to bring you into remembrance today that there is one whom we can depend on to redirect or direct us—Jesus. He is our GPS. He is God’s positional Spirit that will point us in the right direction while we are at the crossroad of our lives.

The Holy Spirit is our compass, the GPS that was dormant in our lives because of sin; but now we can access him, activate him, and make him workable again for us. All we need now is to hook him up to the vehicle of our heart and let him drive us in the right direction as we cry out to him. David, in Psalm 61:1–2, says, Hear my cry, oh God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from my enemy.

God’s positional Spirit is whom we need to cry out to in our lost state to guide us and give us answers when we have no clue on where we are and where we are going. We all have an appointment with God, and he has given to us the right tools to take with us and direct us to the unfamiliar areas, places, or spaces we want to occupy; without these tools, it will become a detriment to us getting in.

Getting to the GATE of God needs the right tools—those right tools are in Christ Jesus and his Holy Spirit. The question for the readers is, Have you ever felt guilty of taking the wrong route, especially when there’s someone else traveling with you in that vehicle, giving you directive on how to get to your destination, but you refuse to listen? You decide against their advice because you believe you know where you were going. But because you neglect the advices, you end up getting lost. What now do you do?

What about you who heard the Word of God, and it keeps prompting and tugging you to come to him, but you continue to avoid that prompting and tugging? You took a different stance from that of the Holy Spirit, and now you are lost, even on the verge of physical death.

How much guilt do you feel now that you have decided to come to Christ because you were unable to get the full benefits of what he wanted to give to you? But here is the difference with God—his hands are never short that he can’t deliver you. His thoughts are not like ours. His ways are not like ours. His grace is not like ours. His GATE is never and will never be closed to those who call upon him.

God is a never-changing God. If you get lost to the GATE, it is because you didn’t take directives accordingly; it is because you continue to ignore the guidance of his GPS (God’s positional Spirit).

God’s Holy Spirit is the one that prompts us in the right direction. Do not resist if you’re prompted today. There is no better one to lead or direct you.

I know sometimes uncertainty creeps in on us; we are not as sure as we used to be. We sometimes wonder if this is God prompting us or someone or something else. Our rationale for this mind-set is because the place where God leads us somehow, sometimes, looks more like where the enemies will lead us; but know this—he does not lead us to destruction, but to a place of peace and rest.

The road we sometimes travel on may seem bumpy; we think that if God calls us, then the road should always be smooth. I want to assure you today that our understanding is minuscule to God’s wisdom; there may be bumps on the way of our journey, but God—through his son Jesus, his GPS—will lead, reroute, and redirect