Terror in the City

1. Introduction
   1. You and I are facing one of the most unusual sets of times where leadership in the country has greatly diminished.
   2. The Laodicean church age is now taking form and root according to Revelation 3:14-18: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

 

 

1. You and I need to look at these scriptures very carefully because everything that we are facing is in the ingredients of these scriptures.
2. Where leadership is greatly diminishing.
3. Where there is no respect for authority
4. The currency of the dollar has greatly changed.
5. The one world church is being talked about now more than ever.
6. We’re now seeing the Catholic Church beginning to raise its ugly head now once again. Signing a concordat with the Muslim religion,
7. Allowing gay marriage to take place. Once again being the political war machine that it has always been since the time of Jesus on the world stage.
8. Leadership from our country that was founded on the principles of God’s Word, and the men that wrote our constitution and declared our country a Christian nation would turn over in their graves if they had seen what is transpiring now in this day and age.
9. Leadership is at an all-time low. Crime is at an all-time high. Every moment, every day is an unknown moment for each and every day.

 

 

1. You and I who know God’s Word and study it (2^nd Timothy 2:15) know what the key is to wallowing through this hellacious mess that’s going on throughout the world and in our very own country.
2. The Christian world is almost like the world itself. Soon you won’t be able to tell the difference.
3. When you can, rest assured that these Christians will be scrutinized, judged, laughed at and possibly even killed for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
4. Many in the Middle East who are Christians have been beheaded by the Taliban, Isis and so forth because they wouldn’t reject the one true resurrected King. His name is Jesus.
5. There are many Peters in this world who’ve been compromises, who are still compromisers, who have chosen not to study God’s word to know the signs of the times and the return of our Lord and savior.
6. They’re just drifting through life on the premise that I’m saved and that’s enough. It’s not enough. Getting into heaven by the skin of your teeth is not what God had you sign up for.
7. Things are going to dramatically change for the Christian world as the Christian world was once a majority, soon it will become a very fast minority.
8. In every city that we look at on TV, when we turn the news on we see nothing but destruction. In 2020 we saw the destruction throughout the United States.
9. People burning buildings, looting, stealing, cursing and swearing, and everything evil under the sun. No wonder they call themselves black lives matter.
10. Black is always a dark color. It seems as though life does not matter. But to God all life matters.
11. We’ve only a couple of times had to send the national guard in to clean up a city. Now they’re becoming the police and the police are adhering to them.
12. Next we’ll see martial law and a federal takeover, commanding and demanding that people adhere to the federal government’s rules and commands.
13. The bible instructs us to obey all man’s laws. (Romans 13:1: 3 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.)
14. Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
15. You and I need to remember that in this scripture, there is no power but of God. The powers that are ordained of God.
16. We must obey all man’s laws but we must always adhere to God’s law first. If that law goes contrary to the Word of God, than what must I do? You must stand for the Word of God.
17. In this message, Terror in the City, many Christians in fact millions of Christians who call themselves Christians need to get educated in God’s Word.
18. They need to know God. They need to know what’s expected of them. They need to check out those who are teaching and leading them.
19. A small remnant will lead the charge to unite all true Christian brotherhood. Together, we’ll usher in the return of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Now let’s go into our study, Terror in the City.

 

2. When I talk about terror in the city, I talk about all the cities throughout the United States. The uprising evil and sin that’s penetrating all of our cities and people. People are becoming weary, lost, unteachable, unreachable, and just drifting through this life.
   1. Protests and riots ravaged parts of the nation in the days, weeks and months following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis Minnesota.
   2. The demonstrations that followed Floyd’s death in 2020 at times turned into riots that included looting, violence and destruction. In one case, protests carried on for more than 100 days.
   3. Protests happened in city after city. Among the most memorable was Portland Oregon, where rioters took over the city. Businesses were looted. Buildings were burned. It was chaos.
   4. God’s word paints an accurate picture of this time of terror in the cities. Let’s look at 2nd Timothy 3:1-5: This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. Let’s break some of this down and see what God’s antidote to these perilous times is
   5. The passage we just read said that men would be lovers of their own selves, and covetous. We who study God’s Word know that we are to look on the things of others more than ourselves. Philippians 2:4: Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Are you concerned about the people around you, or are you consumed with your own interests?
   6. Our passage in 2^nd Timothy said that people in the last days, people would be boasters, and would be proud. Proverbs 16:18: Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Rest assured that if you are proud and boastful, you are headed for a quick fall.
   7. Our passage in 2^nd Timothy 3 also said people in these last days would be blasphemers. Exodus 20:7: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Over the years, there have been those who said that they were Jesus Christ, and some have said that we are demigods. This is all blasphemy at its worst.
   8. The list in 2^nd Timothy 3 goes on. People aredisobedient, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, and so forth. It’s all playing out in the Terror in the City, but God’s Word has the answers that can bring our nation back to what He intended.

 

3. Christians when you speak to them have no more credence for the Word of God than the world does.
   1. I fault the church leaders for disarming the Christians and not encouraging them to carry their bibles to be the witness that God wants them to be. Deuteronomy 11:18: Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. This is why at every service I make sure to remind you to BRING A BIBLE WITH YOU! If you don’t have one we have some on the shelves. Just take one, and then return it when the service is over.
   2. Most pastors today don’t even read the bible. Jeremiah 10:21: For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. Many I’ve talked to are vague and you can tell it when you talk to them.
   3. When your conversation is the conversation of Christ on a consistent diet, you know these Christians by the fruits they bear. Philippians 1:27: Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; When someone talks to you, do they tend to hear about Jesus most of the time, or is it everything else? This is something to think about.

 

4. What is terror?
   1. In the AV-1611 bible dictionary we see the following definitions;
   2. Terror is that which may excite dread; the cause of extreme fear. Malachi 4:5; Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
   3. In Scripture, the sudden judgments of God are called terrors. Psalm73 :18-19: Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
   4. We who know the Lord need not fear the terros that may come by night. Psalm 91:5: Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; We need not fear any terros that may come because Jesus is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble, according to Psalm 46:1.
5. In the Old Testament, there was much terror in the city.
   1. The flood was certainly a terror for those who were on the earth in Noah’s day. Genesis 7:16-18: And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. Picture this. The rebellious, unbelieving rascals made fun of Noah as he was working on the ark day by day. Then, you see him bringing all kinds of animals. They were probably still laughing. However, when the rain storm came and the ark rose high above them, they weren’t laughing any more.
   2. Job experienced terror in the city when everything he had was taken away in one day. Job 1:13-19: And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Now that’s a lot of terrors, one right after the other! What was Job’s response? Why, he didn’t get mad at God, curse and sweare, and rebel! Look down at verse 20. It says he worshipped!

 

6. In the New Testament, there was much terror in the city when Jesus walked with the Pharisees in the temple

 

 

1. As we learned 2 Thursday nights ago, there was terror in the church when Ananias and Saphira died suddenly in front of the whole congregation. Acts 5:3-5: But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. The same scene was repeated when his wife Saphira came in, and she too died on the spot.
2. Whenever Caiaphas and his band of merry men got together, it meant terror for the people of God. Matthew 26:2-3: Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him. Here he was, their long-awaited Messiah that they prayed for for centuries, and they were plotting his end.

 

7. If this represents me as a Christian, what must I do to change?
   1. Should I rededicate my life? Revelation 2:5: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. You might need to heed this warning from Jesus. Rededicate your life to Him and get back on track. Get into the Word. Get into church, and be about the Father’s Business.
   2. Should I pray for discernment? God’s Word is a discerner. The more you are in it, the more discernment you will have. Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Yes, pray for discernment, and obtain it through studying God’s Word.
   3. Should I pray For faith? God is the one who gives each of us a measure of faith. Romans 12:3: For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. We can all use more faith and that comes through prayer, worship and fellowship, sharing our testimonies.
   4. Should I pray For a complete transformation and renewing of the mind? Romans 12:2: And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. The more we walk with God, the more we are being transformed to be more and more like Jesus and less like the old worldly nature we had before we got saved.

 

8. If you would examine yourself today, and understand this message, you’d know right away, is this you?
   1. Are you going the way of the world as a so-called Christian or living out every day with your conversation being the conversation of Christ? Philippians 1:27: Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
   2. Are you living and preaching His Word and looking on the things of others more than yourself?
9. Do you trust completely in the Word of God?
   1. Will you change and study God’s Word? Psalm 119:9-11: Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. One of two things will happen. Either your sin will keep you from that book, or that book will keep you from your sin. Get into it. Study it. Digest it. It’s good for the soul.
   2. Will you carry your bible to each and every service? Psalm 119:37-38:  Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way. Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
   3. Will you stand and make the sacrifice that God made for you? Ephesians 6:13-14: Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; We must all stand on the innerant word of God, and live the life He’s called us to, leading souls to the saving knowledge of Christ.
10. Pray with me that God will give you
    1. strength, Psalm 29:11: The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.
    2. wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, Psalm 119:169: Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word.
    3. courage, bravery, confidence, consistency, Philippians 1:6: Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
    4. motivation, and energy to lead a victorious life, the life that Christ died on the cross to give us. 1st Corinthians 9:24: Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. The answer lies within you.
    5. I challenge you this morning to stand for God, resist sin, resist the devil and he shall flee James 4:7: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

 

11. Story about Trusting God in Difficult Times
    1. The writer of our story says “I am thankful for the many blessings God has bestowed upon my life. I have also encountered many challenges.
    2. All Christians will encounter difficulties.
    3. God never said life on earth would be easy. 1 Peter 5:10 speaks loudly to my heart.
    4. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. “
    5. God loves us so much. Challenges help us trust him. Reading that verse reminded me of three occasions where God tested my faith.
    6. Each time, I thought my world would come crashing down. After suffering for a while, my faith in God grew because he allowed me to emerge victorious in each situation.
    7. After I gave birth to my daughter, she ended up in ICU. She was born with meconium(the first fecal excretion of a newborn )in her lungs.
    8. The medical term is called Meconium aspiration syndrome.
    9. It is rare for a newborn to breathe a mixture of meconium and amniotic fluid into their lungs. This syndrome is a leading cause of severe illness and death after birth.
    10. Everyone in my church started to pray for a miracle, and sure enough, my daughter survived the ordeal.
    11. Imagine the turmoil I went through after giving birth? Instead of rejoicing and holding my baby, I had to watch her from the ICU window.
    12. I do recall praying too, but I also questioned God. Why me? Why are you testing my faith at such a joyous time?
    13. After my daughter made a full recovery, I stopped blaming God. Instead, I began giving him praise for sparing my precious bundle of joy from severe complications or even death.
    14. God loves to test our resolve. He wants to see whether or not we can withstand what we must go through, so we can walk in the calling and destiny that he has for us.
    15. Eighteen years after the birth of my daughter, God tested me again. This time my youngest son spent nine days in the hospital.
    16. He almost died because the doctors did not know what was wrong with him. After conducting many tests, a specialist diagnosed him with Lemierre’s Syndrome.
    17. Lemierre’s Syndrome is a rare and potentially life-threatening complication of bacterial infections that usually affects previously-healthy adolescents and young adults.
    18. I believe God heard my prayer and the prayers of everyone in my church. God worked mightily in the specialist too.
    19. Once diagnosed, my son was able to get the proper medications. Thankful my son survived, I spent many hours giving praise to God. My faith grew even more.
    20. The third test shook me like a category five hurricane. In 2009, the principal at my school decided to cut expenses. I lost my teaching job.
    21. I applied for other positions in the district. After three months, I had not procured a new job.
    22. What I did not know is the principal had a personal vendetta against me. He placed my name on the “NO HIRE LIST.”
    23. Now I knew why I was not getting any interviews. The assistant principal came to evaluate me several times.
    24. He knew that I was highly qualified in my field of French and Spanish. He acted on my behalf.
    25. He highly recommended me to a school that needed a French and Spanish world language teacher. I interviewed. Later the principal called to offer me the position.
    26. God came to my rescue, and in the end, my faith grew in leaps and bounds.
    27. The icing on the cake, my new job is 20 minutes from my house. It took me an hour and thirty minutes to get to my old school.
    28. My former principal hired a new teacher to replace me. The principal tried to harm me. In the end, he did me a huge favor.
    29. I am still teaching at the same school. After thirty years in the same school district, I will retire in May 2021. I am thankful I learned to trust God even during trials and tribulations.
    30. Whatever terror in the city you might be facing, press in. Study GOd’s Word. Digest it. Get it into you and depend on it. He will always see you through.

12. Conclusion
    1. Was this a message you needed to hear? If so, why?
    2. Is it a message that will change your thinking, your pattern of how you view today and if tomorrow should come?
    3. Will you carry your bible, hold it up high? Rise up and take your rightful position? Follow Jesus and bring yourself and many to the cross?