Time of revival

Having heard the Word of God what is your response? If the response is worship and repentance then you are seeing true revival.

The Dung Gate

The problem of the dung gate is the same as with my loft. Nehemiah needed to sift through all the stuff in Jerusalem, sort the rubbish and get rid of it. The dung gate then gave an exit for disposing any more rubbish that piled up.

Nehemiah 3:14

14. But the dung gate repaired Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Bethhaccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

The problem of getting rid of the rubbish in your life is two-fold. Firstly you need to get rid of the sin in your life now. As David said:

Psalms 139:23-24

23. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Having recognized that we have a problem we can then deal with it and throw it out through the dung gate.
The second stage is keeping it clean. The best way to do this is to put only good things into your life so it can't fill up with junk.

Philippians 4:7-9

7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
9. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

Hereditary or inheritance

If you live your life to worship God with every breath you will be building a solid foundation to pass on to the next generation.

The Valley Gate

Often when we start something new we have to un-learn the lessons of the past before we can learn the new ways of the present. The valley gate is a bit like this.

Nehemiah 3:13

13. The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall unto the dung gate.

This gate led to the valley of Hinnom, which in the Old Testament was known for child sacrifice and in the New Testament as the city rubbish tip with ever burning fires.
The Greek name for this valley is the valley of Gehenna, a word also used for hell, with similar descriptions of hell and this place.

Psalms 23:4

4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Joshua 7:24

24. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor.

Are any of these things that we can face alone? Not at all, we need God’s hand upon us in both situations.

The builders give us the answer as to how this gate, these trials should be handled in our lives.
The main workers were the inhabitants of Zanoah. This is from the Hebrew word for rejected or broken. The lesson of valley experiences is either one of rejection or of brokenness. Which it is depends on our reaction to the valley experience.
What is the difference between despair and brokenness? The difference is humility before God. Despair sees the mess and gives up. Brokenness sees the same mess and realises we cannot do the work on our own, but with God, all things are possible.

John 3:30

30. He must increase, but I must decrease.

Descending into the valley comes with a realisation of how unworthy and incapable we are.
Thankfully there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not an oncoming train. God calls us to humility, and submission one to another with the promise that he will exalt you in due time.

What happens next - A life of Worship

As you seek to re-build your relationship with God can you see the bigger picture, the end goal for the re-built result?

The Old Gate

As the third gate in our walk through the Christian life, and in the act of rebuilding this is a key gate. All the gates speak of what we need to put into our lives and this is no exception. You may well ask, why do we need something old when we are looking to build something new?

Nehemiah 3:6

6. Moreover the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.

Whenever we lose sight of the old ways, trouble raises its head.

Judges 2:8-10

8. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.
9. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.
10. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

Joshua followed Moses as leader of Israel. When he died there was a power vacuum. The entire generation failed to pass on their old ways to the next generation and the results were catastrophic for Israel. The same happened time and again with Israel. For some reason we think that a new generation needs new ideas, but the truth is that the old ways are the best when it comes to God’s ways.

Proverbs 22:28

28. Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.

Jesus himself confirmed that the Old Testament is as important as any other part of scripture.

Matthew 5:17-18

17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

But this gate was also set at the corner of the wall, and known as the corner gate.

2 Chronicles 26:9

9. Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them.

Looking at the secondary name of this gate, the corner gate, we see another parallel that backs up laying the firm foundation of the Old Testament.

Acts 4:10-12

10. Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
11. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
12. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

The corner gate, and the corner stone are key in any building work, and Jesus himself is the corner stone of our lives. That corner stone is all about foundations.

Ephesians 2:19-20

19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20. And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

If we stand on the foundations that have been laid of old, we will stand strong, and Jesus gave us that link between the Old Testament law, as brought by the prophets, and the New Testament promise as witnessed by the disciples.

Team Valladolid - Baker News

Easter is past and life gets back to normal.

We have just finished an incredible week in Valladolid. It was Semana Santa (Holy week). Our city is very conservative and it was on display last week. We have many Catholic churches and inside of them they have images of Jesus, Mary and various saints. During holy week these are brought out and paraded through the city. Thousands of people fill the streets to get glimpses of these statues. They are focused and sober, paying homage to these depictions of the life of Christ.

The people carrying these life-sized idols many times are covered with robes and barefooted. They wear KKK style hoods to hide their identity. This is a sign of penance and humility. We heard some say that they prepare all year for these parades.

From our point of view our hearts are heavy. The Catholic Church has blinded the minds of our people and they follow ignorantly. Satan smiles as a depiction of our Lord and Savior is paraded through the streets beaten, bruised and nailed to a cross. The images of him are always depicted in agony and defeat while Mary is beautifully adorned.

We are encouraged! I know the above sounds dark and difficult, but we serve a RISEN Savior. The power of the resurrection is flowing through us into the streets of Valladolid. God has given us many opportunities to share His light and glory! We believe that it is only a matter of time before people begin to see that their church does not provide the hope that is in us! We love our people! We have even befriended and are praying for priests within the C.C. We have been asking God to give us an Apollos! In Acts 18:24 this guy shows up and is described as eloquent and mighty in the scriptures. He was a Jew that only had part of the story. Pauls disciples take him aside and give him the rest of the story. He reminds me of a priest in the C.C. Pray with us that God would lead us into the path of an Apollos!

We would like to plan an event for next Easter to take advantage this week. We were thinking that possibly a street drama team could come and help us. If you know of a church or group that might be interested pass on their details to me and we can start planning.

Each of our team members has begun meaningful relationships with Spaniards. These are exciting times! We have started the process of inviting people to read Gods word. I told you before about our language teacher Alberto and my challenge to him to read the bible. A few weeks ago he told me he started reading it! Please pray that God would speak to him.

Marvin and Heidi are making friends and sharing the gospel with families in their apartment building. Pray for Ana and Luis. She is now reading the gospel of John.

Luke has joined a choir and has had numerous opportunities to share his faith. Pray for Miguel who has taken to Luke and is curious about his faith.

Ally and I are still learning Spanish and enjoying the challenge. We meet each Friday afternoon with several ladies all who want to learn English. We meet for coffee and exchange language. We can’t wait until our language ability is sufficient to share our faith. Pray for Anabel, Isabel and Valle.

We also meet every Wednesday night at local café/bar for a Bible study. We ask that you pray with us as we invite people to join us. Sarah, one of the ladies in Luke’s choir has said she would join us.

Brian Villarias has arrived in Valladolid to join our team. Brian comes from Washington State. He was previously involved with the Traveling Team and World Vision. Pray for his quick cultural adjustment and language learning. We are seven now and still await the arrival of Justin and Amy. Pray for their support to come in soon.
Thank you again for all your prayers and support. We are blessed to have you all on our team!

It’s all for Him,

Steve & Ally

Completing the task

Are there things in your life that you know God has given you to do that have not been completed?

AEM Prayer Update

Please pray for:

Albania

For Vali, a member of the Gjirokastër church. Her husband Pellumb died very
recently of liver cancer. Praise God that he expressed faith in Christ shortly
before he died.
For the follow-up meetings to the Easter ‘shoe-box’ distribution. While there
were restrictions on what could be said in the schools to those who received
the gifts, it was possible to invite everyone to an evangelistic meeting in each
area. These were well attended even necessitating two meetings in Gjirokastër.
Now, further meetings are planned.
For the memorial service to be held in Shkodra on May 25th for Pastor Dritan
Prroj. Pray that his ongoing testimony will continue to bear fruit in that
community.
For Pastor Klodi in Berat. I have limited information to share at the moment
but believe this faithful brother to be in need of support and prayer.

Kosova

For Christian women who are afraid to attend fellowship meetings or who
go to some lengths to conceal their whereabouts (when they do attend) from
unbelieving husbands.
For the possibility that a missionary couple will be moving to the town of
Kamenicë to continue the outreach there and hopefully plant a church.

Macedonia

For Halil and family who are responding warmly to the gospel and to the
friendship of Niko and Monda.
For Herbert and Patricia, missionaries from El Salvador who are seeking
accommodation and plan to settle in Tetova. This is a largely Albanian and
Muslim town that has been notoriously resistant to the gospel in the past.

UK

For the "Liria e Vërtetë" outreach to Albanian people living in London.
This will be on Saturday May 14th at Monnow Road Baptist Church in
Bermondsey and the speaker is Sali Rahmani. Pray that people will come in
to hear the gospel.

The Fish Gate

This gate is a clear picture of evangelism. While the sheep gate represented salvation, and to an extent therefore also evangelism, the fish gate far more so. The first thing that new believers will do is tell people what has happened in their lives.

Nehemiah 3:3-5

3. But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.
4. And next unto them repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz. And next unto them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. And next unto them repaired Zadok the son of Baana.
5. And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.

The classic connection between fish and evangelism is of course the call of Jesus to make his disciples fishers of men.

Matthew 4:18-20

18. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

There are, however other pointers in these verses that also speak of evangelism. Firstly, the pricks, of the gospel
The builders of this gate were the sons of Hassenaah. Hassenaah means to prick, or to goad. When the spirit of God begins to prod at someone’s heart it is only a matter of time before they give in to the touch of the Lord. All too often we see evangelism as a task for us to perform, but whilst we do have to speak the words, it is Christ himself who is the only one who can change hearts. Especially hardened hearts.
In Acts we read of these same "pricks" in the conversion of Paul.

Acts 9:4-5

4. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
5. And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

It is the word of God that pricks the heart. Yes the spirit of God does the work, but the Spirit is like acid on the blade of the Word. First the Word is spoken into the situation, then it has effect.

A hidden Redeemer

How many people do you know who are as lost as the King in the tale of Esther? And what will you do about it?