Speaker 1: 0:29

Larry Thompson, chief of Staff. Good afternoon, gang. It's Larry, with the thoughts I have towards you, and I am here and I'm going to be here. I haven't been, I haven't posted anything in over a year and so, as some of you may know, I um, I lost my mom in 2024 after a protected battle with a lot of different things, and she's home and she's in a much, much, much better place. She's in the presence of the Lord and that is, uh, finally now bringing me some peace. So that's why I haven't been here, that's why I haven't done anything. Things are still wonderful here in North Carolina, where I currently reside with my family, my wife and my mother-in-law, and things are great here and things are great here. For those of you that I know will listen to this, in the great state of Colorado, it is 65 degrees here today, so you're welcome. In any case, we're going to get back to our study in Revelation. If you want the complete study in this series, you're welcome to it. It's at thethoughtsihavetowardyoucom. That website is active again and it is pulling all of the podcast information.

Speaker 1: 2:02

You can get my podcast on anywhere. You get your podcasts, please follow if you're on Apple, subscribe if you're everywhere else so you never miss an episode. I'm going to be doing a lot of recording this weekend to get a bunch of episodes up there, to get them lined up and ready to drop. The first one will drop on. We've changed the day. The first one's going to drop on Wednesday this week, wednesday the first Wednesday in February, and we're going to drop them once a week on Wednesdays. I've changed that up a little bit just simply because Sunday seems to be a very busy day for folks and with church and family obligations and those kinds of things, and so I've changed it up.

Speaker 1: 2:46

The beauty of a podcast is, whenever you're listening to it, I'm right here with you and I'm thankful, as I always say to everyone within the sound of my voice, who's given me a listen, who's rated my podcast. Please do that. Five stars is the acceptable rating so that we can beat the algorithm and share the gospel, because, as I've said before many times, there's no one I wouldn't want to see in heaven. Before many times there's no one I wouldn't want to see in heaven. So with that, as we get started here, we're going to be in Revelation, chapter 2, verses 12 through 17, today in a study that I've entitled Compromise, the Ultimate Gateway Drug, and let's open in a word of prayer, eight-way drug. And let's open in a word of prayer.

Speaker 1: 3:40

Heavenly Father, I give you thanks today for many things. I give you thanks today for the state of our country, for your mercy, for your grace, lord, as we move forward into another season as a nation. Lord, god, as I've talked about many times before, we've got two choices revival or not. And, lord, I pray for a revival the likes of which no one has ever seen, because, as I have said before, and I said it just recently again, there's no one I wouldn't want to see in heaven. And thank you for allowing me to do a small part in making that happen, in hopefully making that happen, lord, if it be your will, that someone's life would be changed by the simple words that are spoken here on this platform, that would be an amazing gift to me and to them. Lord, god, I give you thanks for all of our first responders.

Speaker 1: 4:51

They've been awfully busy over the last couple of days the crash in DC at Reagan National, the collision and then the unexplained as yet explosion downing I don't know what to call it of the Angel Flight plane that was going to Missouri. Uh, they had uh, st Jude, had, um, made a girl's life better, because that's what they do. They made a person's life better and, from what I'm understanding this morning, the girl's mother and the girl were on the plane, and they are. We pray home with you, lord. God, I pray for the families. I pray for those that are dealing with loss today, those that woke up to a phone call that they never wanted to receive. I pray for the bystanders that were hurt, damaged, or the one that we know that was killed on the ground. Lord, I pray for that family as well.

Speaker 1: 6:01

Lord God, help us to remember that we are all one people, we are all your people, and all we need to do is say yes, that's all it's do is say yes, that's all. It's very, very simple. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. All right, so we're going to continue our study in the book of Revelation. As I said, we're in Revelation 2, verses 12-17 for the core message. Verses 12 through 17 for the core message. Also, put your finger in Acts, chapter 19, picking up in verse 13, because that's going to be the first place we're going to be this afternoon.

Speaker 1: 6:52

So I don't know about you, but I have a wonderful pastor and I still follow Pastor Ed Taylor and attend church online with my Colorado family at Calvary Church. And one time, very early in my faith, I was playing around with a couple of things that probably weren't well no, they weren't. They weren't probably not a good idea. They weren't a good idea. And I was playing around with a couple of things and I talked to my pastor about it and he told me something that I've never forgotten. He said Larry, no matter how much you know, no matter how much you pray, no matter how much you spend time with the Lord, spend time in scripture, you're never stronger than the devil. And, as I said, I've never forgotten that. And as we start today, I want to impress upon you that, no matter what you think, the devil is stronger than you are. He's stronger than me. The protection that we have is Almighty God, and the only one that can and has defeated Satan is Jesus Christ. Okay, that's core to our belief system, that's core to everything we do. We are travelers in this world and we are not stronger than the devil. I want to give you an example.

Speaker 1: 8:25

As I said, open up to Acts 19 and pick up in verse 13 for me. It says it says Also, there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. Okay, so these are big shots, right, these are big shots. And they're trying to exercise power. Okay, and they're trying to exercise power that's not theirs to exercise, okay. And so it says, picking up in verse 15, the evil spirit answered and said Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are you? That's not a good sign. It's not a good sign. Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them, overpowering them and prevailing against them, so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. And again, that's Acts 19, 13 through 16. New King James. It's a stark example of what happens when we tangle with the devil or his minions. We lose, and we often lose badly. This example is one of direct confrontation.

Speaker 1: 10:08

Today's study, today's study, deals with something that is more dangerous Compromise. Turn back to the right, back to the book of Revelation, and pick up with me in chapter 2, starting in verse 12. And we're going to read for a while. We're going to go through verse 12, through verse 17. Again, new King James Version.

Speaker 1: 10:40

And to the angel in the church in Pergamos, write these things, says he who has a sharp, two-edged sword. I know your works and where you dwell where Satan's throne is and where you dwell where Satan's throne is, and you hold fast to my name. And you held fast to my name and did not deny my faith, even in the days which Antipas was my faithful martyr. So this church has experienced a great loss. One of their flock, one of their leaders, antipas, had been martyred for the faith. It's unimaginable in the Western mindset to be martyred for the faith. It truly is unimaginable to have that happen, and we can't. We can't fathom it. But ask believers in Iran and Iraq and China. If you're interested.

Speaker 1: 11:51

There's a couple of resources that you can look at to get a feel for what martyrdom looks like. The first and best, in my estimation, is Fox's Book of Martyrs. You can get that on Amazon for a limited cost, and that's something that I would recommend to put in your library for sure. Uh, and there are a couple of other ones. I'll I'll post them, uh this afternoon on socials. Uh, I'm on Instagram. I'm on, uh, facebook. Uh, the thoughts I have towards you. Instagram is the same, the thoughts I have towards you. I'll post those up today in a reel so that everybody can see those resources and hopefully add them to your library.

Speaker 1: 12:48

So then we go on and it says Antipas, who was my faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put stumbling blocks before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrifice to idols and to commit sexual immorality. Okay, so they're believers and they're playing around on the edges. They're eating things that have been sacrificed to idols. The blood is not pure, the food is not pure because it's been sacrificed to idols, and they're committing sexual immorality and yikes. Okay, so you can't. If I'm speaking to you directly, okay, you can't play around on the edges. That's what my pastor meant when he told me I wasn't stronger than the devil. You can't play around on the edges. You can't have intercourse outside of marriage and, yeah, that includes porn. Porn is adultery. Jesus said in Matthew that if you look at a woman with lust in your eyes, you've committed adultery with her already. That's also any number of different compromises that you might make.

Speaker 1: 14:25

It's football season. You know it's football season. Now the Super Bowl is coming up, so we've gone past the playoff games and whatever else. But how many people skip church to watch a football game? There's nothing wrong with that, right, we can do that. Skip church once for a football game. Okay, what happens the next week when you skip church because you got yard work to do and you got to work on Monday. Or you skip church because a friend has invited you over that you haven't seen for a while. You see, and it just builds and builds and that's what Jesus is talking about here, stumbling blocks in front of the children of Israel to eat things, sacrifice to idols, to commit sexual immorality.

Speaker 1: 15:12

Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, and we've talked about the Nicolaitans in previous studies as to why Jesus hated the. They were a warring tribe, they were, they slaughtered folks. I mean it was. It was bad, bad, bad. Repent, or else I will come quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. And will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Now, he said he who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone. On that stone, a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. Again, just before this letter, just as before letters, address the angel. That's the pastor of the church in Pergamos. But, as always, we are the church, therefore it applies to us, okay.

Speaker 1: 16:24

Jesus refers to himself as he who has a sharp, two-edged sword. The edges of the sword are the word and judgment. So on one side is scripture, the word of God, what God has told us we are to do, to honor him, to love him, to put no other gods before him. And that's what this church is doing, that's what they're doing, and it's bad news. He basically says look, I'm going to come and get you and I'm going to get rid of it all. I'm going to rip it out, root and stem. Okay, going to come and get you and I'm going to get rid of it all. I'm going to rip it out, root and stem, okay. So Jesus refers to himself as that sharp, two-edged sword judgment and the word. As we live this life we have been given, it seems. As we live this life we have been given, it seems that we are faced every day with decisions.

Speaker 1: 17:28

I'm often asked where I stand on this issue or that and sometimes, most of the time, truthfully, my mind is set to focus on issues that I see on social media. Anybody else have that problem? You're scrolling through your feed and somebody says something absolutely stupid and you're like you're immediately fired up. You're like, oh, I can't do it and I bet you'll realize the same thing occurs in your own life. I bet you will there. You are killing time. Occurs in your own life, I bet you will there.

Speaker 1: 18:03

You are killing time scrolling through your socials and you see someone, like I said, has made a statement that hits you wrong Gross. It's reprehensible. So you come up with a sharp retort and a rejoinder and, before you know it, you're off to the races. You've responded Then he or she has responded. Now you're talking about his or her parentage and he's taking a dig at your kids. I mean, it's gotten horrible, right?

Speaker 1: 18:35

This is an example of compromise and damage to your witness and damage to your witness. It's hard to tell someone that Jesus loves them after you've bludgeoned them into submission with clever arguments. It's next to impossible if you don't live what you believe every day and, of course we're never going to do that, it's never going to be perfect, but man, man, that tongue that lives in our mouth, wow, and with social media now, it's so very dangerous. It's so very dangerous because you can destroy your witness, and then you've destroyed your witness in front of the world. I don't care. There have been several celebrities since the election who have, you know, put up ridiculous stuff on social media and then they turn around. After they get all kinds of bad press from it, they turn around and delete the post. I got news for you the post is there forever. You may not be able to see it, it's still there.

Speaker 1: 19:46

Okay, so you've hurt your witness, you've hurt who you are as a Christian, and for us, it's so much more important than that, because we're not trying to be movie stars, we're trying to follow Jesus, and that should come out of our pores, folks. That should come out of our pores, folks that should come out of our pores. And so you know what exactly have we compromised? Well, again, our witness. And so think about it. During the inflamed conversations, or better referred to as screaming matches, are we sharing the truth of Christ's love and the free gift of salvation? More likely not. We are giving into our carnal, sinful nature. And that sinful nature, folks, is always right below the surface.

Speaker 1: 20:49

As a person who was rescued from addiction to alcohol, I can tell you that, you know, it's not as often anymore, but there are times when I think to myself wow, you know, it'd be great to have a drink. Well, that's Satan In my head unbidden just shows up and he's like hey, you know how? About a nice bourbon? That'd be great? Well, no, because I know that once I stumbled down that road again and I won't be stumbling at the beginning, but I promise I'll be stumbling at the end. I've destroyed my witness. I can't go back. And so let's, let's look at this from from a perspective of the social media piece. I mean, it's bad enough, you know. It's bad enough that we've given in to our carnal nature. Right, it's bad enough that that happened. But to take the situation to completion if you take the situation rather to completion, you'll see the real damage. If you take the situation rather to completion, you'll see the real damage.

Speaker 1: 22:12

After the online row, the person you were arguing with goes and checks out your profile. What do they see? Pictures of your family. At last week's church service posted verses from the Bible app. You asking for prayer on behalf of a friend Check, check, check. It's all there, right, beautiful family lover of Christ. You've probably even got a Bible verse on your page in a very prominent spot as your life verse and you put it up there because, wow, that's cool, right?

Speaker 1: 22:40

So this person who you've just hollered at whether you were right or wrong and we're going to get to that whether you were right or wrong, they move on with one single thought. So that's what Christians are like and they're done For a while. I mean God will get hold of them. They'll be given an opportunity to make a choice. But you had that opportunity to show them that choice and because of the choices that you made, that didn't happen. Always remember you may be the only person they ever meet who is a believer. That's heavy stuff. That's heavy stuff. I mean it is, I understand, I get it, I live with that every day. This guy at the gas station I may be the only person that he meets. That's a believer. The lady at the grocery store I may be the only person he meets or she meets. That's a believer. No-transcript.

Speaker 1: 23:54

So I want you to take a look at one other verse. I didn't tell you we were turning here, but flip over to the left just a little bit, to the book of James, chapter 1, verse 19. It says be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry. I like that verse and commit it to memory. We are expected to participate, and this is important.

Speaker 1: 24:26

Christians are expected to participate in the political process, but always as ambassadors of the Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Jesus who saved us, man, you know. So, yeah, you're going to get angry, it's going to happen. And no, you don't have to sacrifice your principles. No, no, no. Tell them your principles. Tell them where they come from, tell them why. Tell them where they come from. Tell them why. Tell them why you stand for the right to life. Tell them why you attended the march. Tell them why transgenderism is a wicked sin. Tell them why. But you know what. You have to also know that these people are lost, and the one thing that I will say is that, as we watch all of the things that have happened since the election, the folks that didn't win the presidency and I don't get involved in this stuff on this podcast very often because of the fact that I feel that sometimes it can get in the way of sharing the word, but this is very important. These people are lost. They have made overarching government politics and all of the different social experiments their religion. They've made it their religion and if you view it that way, as I've started to view it, you view it that way and you know that they're lost, so love them.

Speaker 1: 26:24

You know the whole reason this podcast started was I sat in my church and listened to. I've had the privilege to meet him a couple of times. I listened to Joel C Rosenberg privilege to meet him a couple of times. I listened to Joel C Rosenberg. He's recently moved his family back to Israel and he lives there now and does fantastic work for on the nation of Israel as a messianic Jew, a Jew that believes in Jesus. And he said in the talk that in the, in the message that he delivered to my church that Sunday morning, he said you know you've got to pray for your enemies and, man, he got to love your enemies. And I thought I was convicted right there. It's so hard and I get it so hard and the thing about compromise and I use the example of social media. But boy, we can talk about other things. We can talk about other things. We can talk about other things, uh, we can talk about, you know. We can talk about, um, porn addiction. We can talk about having a roaming eye for the ladies or the gentlemen we can talk about, uh, uh, the, the, the. The situation is.

Speaker 1: 28:05

The old quote is show me your friends and I'll show you your future. Do you have a friend in Jesus? You know, because Jesus says up here, and I don't want to miss it, I don't want to miss it to him who overcomes, I will give some hidden manna to eat and I will give him a white stone, and on that stone is a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. Jesus is always right there, he's always right there. So if you've made the error and you've made the mistake and you've damaged your witness, we all have. We all have. I'm not putting myself above anyone else. If you've made the mistake and you've damaged your witness, then so be it. Go back to Jesus and ask him for his forgiveness and he'll give it to you and you pick up and you move on. You pick up and you move forward, walking with Jesus every day. And as we close, I want to leave you with a final thought to ponder.

Speaker 1: 29:14

Compromise, as I said, is a dangerous thing that sin leads to. It's a very dangerous thing. You know, compromise is made to look as though it's no big deal. A slip here, a slide there, and soon our Bibles are gathering dust and our prayer life is non-existent. That's when the devil turns the thing on us. Right In the beginning he was all about it's no big deal, you can handle it. But once we start down that slope, the accuser of the brethren, as the Bible says, turns on us immediately and he says you're terrible, you can never go back to Jesus now You've done too much.

Speaker 1: 30:10

As I said earlier, jesus is always there. Jesus is always there. You don't know what, what I mean. Those of you who've been following me for a long time and those of you that are members of my home church. You guys know my story and maybe I'll tell it again as we kick this podcast off again. Maybe I'll tell it again, I don't know, we'll see again. Maybe I'll tell it again, I don't know, we'll see.

Speaker 1: 30:36

But all you have to do is repent, turn away and take his hand. And if you'd like to do that today if you'd like to say you know what it's a mess man, I need help. I need help, I need to fix this, I need to help, I need help. Don't fix it and then come to Jesus. Come to Jesus and get it fixed. Get it fixed right. So if you'd like to do that today, all you have to do is let him in and you can just talk to him.

Speaker 1: 31:14

You can pray something like this. You can say dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner in need of a savior. Lord, god, I want to turn away from the train wreck that my life has been, the compromises that I've made in my life. I want to turn away from those today and I want to follow you for the rest of my life. I want you to be my Lord, my God, my savior and my life. I want to turn away from those today and I want to follow you for the rest of my life. I want you to be my Lord, my God, my Savior and my friend. I'm sorry, jesus, and I love you, amen. If you just prayed that prayer with me, welcome to the family of God.

Speaker 1: 31:53

I'm going to have some resources in the next couple of weeks to come for those that have made a decision for Christ and, in the meantime, find a church. Find a Bible-believing church in your area. There are plenty of them all over the country. Find a Bible-believing church. Go to that Bible-believing church with your Bible in hand.

Speaker 1: 32:22

Open your Bible and learn about the man who came, who gave up his kingship and came to this planet, to this earth, walked among us, talked, talked among us, taught us, loved us, died for us, because the only payment for sin is blood. He died for us and then he rose again on the third day, on a glorious Sunday morning, defe sin in the grave and sits at the right hand of the Father. And he will come again, as it says, in glory, to judge the living and the dead. But before that and we're going to get to that in the next couple of chapters, so I'm just going to lay out a little teaser Before that his followers, his believers, those who have given their lives to Christ, will be raptured from this planet before the tribulation and we will return with him in glory, in his glory, as he sets the world right after the seven years of tribulation. Join me, won't you? As I said, there's no one I wouldn't want to see in heaven. That's all the time I have today. Gang, make it count, be blessed.