Raising Spiritual Spartans | Jentezen Franklin

0:00 Hello, this is Jensen Franklin, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. Our goal is to provide you with biblically-based teachings that will challenge, inspire, and equip you to live for Jesus. If you haven't already, I'd love for you to go ahead and subscribe today to this podcast so you can get the latest updates from us and you don't ever have to miss a new message. let's go right into the service recorded at Free Chapel I believe it's going to bless you today are you glad you're in God's house this morning I believe you are you sound good tell somebody you sound good and look good that's two good things welcome to all of you joining us live we appreciate you being a part welcome to the prisons it's a joy to come in bring the gospel and welcome to all of our campuses and online viewers. We appreciate you so much. God bless you.

1:05 Well, I believe you're in the right place today. Give the choir a big hand. They sung good this morning. It was great. If you have your Bibles, I'd like for you to open them up with me, please, to the book of Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6.

1:27 I want to share something today, and I pray God makes it real to your heart. Ephesians chapter 6, and I'll begin reading with verse 13. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore having girded your waist with the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. above all, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

2:43 I love and I want to center in on verse 16. Above all, above all, taking the shield of faith, the truth is it is essential for us to have faith in God. Faith is the currency that heaven trades in. If you get anything from God, you give God faith, and He, in return to your faith, saves you. And every other promise in the Scripture is unattainable without faith. The Scripture lets us know the importance of having the shield of faith as it is underlined above all. you've got all these weapons to fight and win with. But above all, if you lose the shield of faith, none of the weapons will work.

3:41 If you begin to let fear take over instead of faith, if you drop your faith, then the other things not mixed with faith are not productive. The importance of having the shield, everything we do in living for God, is mixed with faith. You can't please God without faith. The Bible says in Hebrews, without faith it is impossible to please God. That's a remarkable verse. Faith is our confidence about all that God said He would do. And if you lose that, you lose your confidence in what He said He would do and what He said He would bring to pass, then you're not walking in faith. You have to get to that place that you can believe God over everything else when you have faith.

4:33 You can believe God over what the doctor says and thank God for doctors. But you can believe God over man's final report and say, but I have another report. And you can believe God over what the judge says and thank God for our judicial system. But I'm just telling you, faith can move mountains. Faith can overcome anybody or anything. Statistics, what they say, what graphs say, faith can overcome all of that. Faith can overcome what you don't have. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. This is what God's Word says. It's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And until you're operating in that realm that I can't see it yet, but I believe for it, then that is where God lives. The Bible said without faith, you cannot please God.

5:37 In Hebrews 4 and verse 2, it said the word preached didn't profit. Listen, you can hear all the preaching you want to, but it does not profit if it's not being mixed with faith. You hear it, faith cometh by hearing. And when you hear it, you mix your faith because he's given to every man a measure of faith. And all it takes is a mustard seed of faith. You don't have to have great faith if you can just ignite. See, the miracle is not dependent upon how big and great and strong your faith is. All you need is a mustard seed. It's how big your God is and you have faith in how big he is, not in how great your faith is. I don't have to have a lot, but I have faith that I'm saved right now. I have faith that I just believe that and it's settled. It is an absolute peace in my soul that I'm ready to go to heaven.

6:34 Should the trumpet sound or should I die while I'm preaching? And I hope I don't. But if I do, I know where I'm going. Hallelujah. And I do that by faith. I know that by faith. You mean, what do you mean? Once you get the faith behind it, then you can feel that thing down in your soul. The shield is as old as war itself. It didn't take fighting men long to discover its need. And before I go any further, this is Veterans Weekend. And I think we ought to get all the veterans to stand up and let's give them a big hand. this morning thank you thank you thank you i'm gonna i'm gonna preach about you today all the men all the women we salute you we thank god for you and we celebrate you thank you for defending our freedoms The shield is as old as war itself.

7:31 It doesn't take fighting men long to discover that it's needed. You have to have a defense against your enemies. The meaning and need is still the same. The shield is a defensive weapon. The air and the land and the sea must have a shield of defense around their elements of war and their men and women of war. The shield is the lasting emblem of war. Many groups identify with the strength and with the safety of the emblem of the shield. The shield in Bible times was so powerful that on one occasion David defeated 22,000 Philistines and he ordered that their shields be gathered.

8:24 And he took them back and he put them up on the walls of Jerusalem to let Israel know that, or to let his enemies know, let the Philistines that were still spying, looking down, He said, I want you to know that your defense is not strong enough to handle what the name that we have and the victory that we have through that name. When you see that and you understand that the shield was designed to ward off attacks of the enemy, it is a chief means of protection against the onslaught of the enemy. In history, there was a group of fighters in Greece called the Spartans. They were natives of a city called Sparta. And it's one of the only cities in ancient days that did not build walls around their city. They said the reason we don't need walls is because our men are the walls of safety and protection around our families and around our cities.

9:31 These Spartans were notorious for fighting. They were fearless. They were skilled in warfare. It was part of their very culture inbred in them to raise up young men that would become warriors. As a matter of fact, in those times when a child was born, remember, they were not Christians. They were pagans. They worshipped idols and the Greek gods. So their morality was not what we would have today. But I want you to understand the whole very culture. This is one of the facts. When a male child was born in Sparta, Greece, if it was a sickly child, it was taken to the hills to die because they deemed it, if it's unfit for war, it's unfit for life. This was the mentality of the men and the women that were in this place called Sparta.

10:29 When a male child was born, at the age of seven, every male Spartan was sent to military school. They were taken from their father and their mother, and they were sent at the age of seven to be trained, to be taught toughness, to be taught endurance of pain, to be taught survival skills, and honor, and integrity, and warfare, and self-defense. They were taught to be warriors from the age of seven. And for 13 more years, they would be trained. And when they finally, after 13 years of rigorous training, at the age of 20, a Spartan would become a soldier. The Spartan soldiers spent all of their time with their fellow soldiers. They were not allowed to go home.

11:23 They were not allowed to hang out with just anybody. They only were allowed to have fellowship and time spent with fellow soldiers. They did not go home. They ate with them. They lived with them. They did life with them until they reached the age of 20. And they knew each other. They grew up together. They fought in the same units. They put them in units early. They knew each other's thoughts. They were like a team. They were like a unit. They had each other's back. They were trained this way. They knew the other's weakness. They knew everything. And it was an amazing feat that they could, history records, that they would accomplish. At the age of 20, they would take the oath of loyalty. And that oath of loyalty was something that they would declare as they were now old enough to go into their first battle of warfare.

12:21 There came the day when the Spartan soldier at the age of 20 would take this oath of loyalty. And it went like this. I shall not disgrace my sacred weapons, nor shall I desert my comrades by my side. Whenever I stand in rank, I shall stand and fight till death for sacred things. these young men at the age of 20 would declare that oath of loyalty from the age of 7 to 60 these Spartan military men and the military ruled their lives from 7 to 60 they were not like the Athenians in Greece who were into politics and luxury These men grew up in a different culture.

13:19 They did not value the same things the world around them valued. They valued one thing. Are you a warrior? Are you a fighter? I want to read this other scripture from 1 Corinthians 16 because it's so important if you're going to have the shield of faith. Obviously, I'm building a case and I'm going somewhere, but I want you to listen to this verse. It says, to men, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men and be strong. This was the culture in Sparta that the young men would come up and they would act like men and they would be strong in warfare. Now I'm talking about spiritual warfare, but they were trained in physical warfare. But there's a great parallel that I believe is worth looking at. And while the others in Athens may have been concerned about luxury and power and politics and all of that, they had one thing in the culture of Sparta. Your success was not based upon the things you owned or this or that or the power that you had or the clothes that you wore. They could care less. They all wore the same uniforms. All they cared about and all they respected in that culture was men who would fight for their families, fight for their children, fight for their cities, fight for their farms, fight for their harvest. They would stop any enemy that would come against them. They refused to build physical walls because they said, our men are so strong, you don't have to worry about intruders encroaching and stealing our things because we have men who stand up and who know how to defend their families and all that we have and possess.

15:19 When they turned 60, they were allowed to carry the shield home, but the shield carried home meant I still am a lifetime member of the Spartan army. on the day that the 20 year old made that loyalty pledge and then he was about to go into warfare and fight on his first bloody battlefield. The mothers of the young boys would talk to the son and she would be given by the commanders the shield. sometimes that had been passed down in the family for generations. And she would go over to her son. It wasn't just men acting like men, but we're talking about Sparta mamas, Spartan mamas.

16:18 We're not talking about helicopter mamas, my poor little baby. No, no, no, no, no. She would walk over with the shield And she would say to the son that was there at the age of 20, these words prior to him going into the battle.

16:40 Either bring this shield back or be brought back on this shield. How they brought their slain back from the battlefield is they would lay them on a shield. Because they never were to give up that shield. They were never to lay down that shield. It's not a toy. You bring it back on your arm or you don't come back. And this is their mother talking to them. You don't turn your back on your enemy. You don't run and flee in fear. You are a man. Act like a man. Stand up and provide for your family like a man. Fight for your family. Fight for your marriage. Take care of your children. Be a man. And the mother is saying, you either lay down, you either die defending this shield, or you come back laying on this shield.

17:40 Nothing else is acceptable. I think that's how we ought to be about our faith and about passing on to the new generation, the faith. but also in the natural. We need to quit rescuing our children and giving them participation trophies on every blessing. We need to get a little toughness in them to stand up to life. If you don't, life will run over you and leave you. At some point, we need you to act like a man. If you're a boy, you need to act like a man. the shield kept was to be kept keep the last charge of the mother was keep the honor of the shield this is passed down this is powerful don't take warfare lightly don't disgrace the shield Don't dishonor the shield.

18:39 Don't run from a fight. If you've got a fight and you see one of your Spartan women under attack or someone doing something, you are a man. Stand up. what a disgrace it was to come back and i i was reading some of this stuff and i'm like man that that's cold but they considered it a disgrace to come back wounded on a wagon if you came back wounded you were to come back wounded on a shield only you you may have went down you may have lost one of your arms but the one you got still clinging to the shield they may have to carry you back, but they're going to carry you back on the shield. And you might not have won the fight, but they're going to know they were in a fight. You won't win every fight, but sometimes you just got to stand up and fight and say, nobody's going to bully me, devil. I'll fight you until I don't have anything to fight. Like the little boy that was in the closet that his father put him in the closet because he was misbehaving. I don't recommend that, but that's what he did.

19:53 And he came back about two minutes later and opened the door and the boy was just standing there and he was straining the swallow. And he said, what are you doing? He said, I spit on your coat. I spit on mama's coat. I spit on everything in here and I'm just waiting on some more spit. I wish we'd get that way with the devil. I'm going to spit on you. I'm going to spit on everything you're trying to do. I am not a wimp. I'm going to stand up and fight. And listen, life is not easy. And when it comes at you, you don't flee. You stand and you fight. This was your father's shield. He defended it until death. Preserve it or perish. That's how we've got to get about this faith. We're not serious about passing on the shield of faith to our children. We act like it's some kind of option.

20:48 We act like it's just something that we hope takes. I hope he takes it. I hope, bless their little heart, I hope they take it up. No, no. Our culture needs to change in the church. This is everything. This is all that matters. This is how we judge success. Are you still, have you been to university? It's great. I'm glad you went. But are you still holding on to the shield of faith? Do you still believe in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? Do you still believe that there is no other name whereby men can be saved? Education can't save you. Money can't save you. Good works can't save you. The Catholic Church can't save you. The Pope can't save you. There's only one Savior, and He is Jesus, and Jesus only, and Jesus alone. Carry your father's shield with honor.

21:49 Your shield is to be cherished. It is to be polished. It is to be defended. It is to be something that is very, very much a part of your life. You're a hero according to how you treat the shield. That was in the Spartan culture. You might be on the battlefield, but if you somehow in an emergency situation drop your shield and you run and you recognize you left that shield, you had committed the worst thing possible and you would not be allowed to enter back into the army again. the future of our people depends on us honoring and protecting the shield what means more than anything is to maintain the honor of the shield of faith in our families if we're not careful we'll turn our eyes away to the glitzy spoils of war oh my look at there There's a great bag of gold.

23:04 There's this. And that's what's happening in our culture because more and more the younger generation is not picking up the shield of faith because their values are different. But there needs to be a value in this book like never before. The only thing that you can give your family that really matters is the shield of faith. Honor it. Honor it. God, help us to value the importance of the shield of faith. Get your eyes off the glitter. Get your eyes off the gold. Sitting in church is a valuable thing. I'm polishing my shield.

23:46 Prayer is a powerful thing. When you pray every day, you're polishing and protecting and valuing the shield of faith. When you read this book, when you teach it to your children, when you correct them and tell them what the scripture says, when you tell them Bible stories, when you huddle them together and lay your hands on them, when you turn music on in the car and they hear you worshiping, when you're cooking and you're listening and tears are going down your face, or when you're working in the back with your kids or sitting in a deer stand, and every once in a while you take advantage of that moment. and you say to that son, Son, Jesus means everything to me. Have I ever told you how He saved me? Have I ever told you how lost I was? Have I ever told you how we didn't have nothing and God blessed us and He gave us everything we have?

24:41 Son, I need to tell you, that's what defending the shield is and you've got to make sure you're passing it to a new generation. Hallelujah. The spoils of battle are not the sign of greatness. Greatness is not how much money you can make, but in the Spartan culture, it was, are you a warrior? Are you fighting for your family? Are you fighting for their salvation? Are you fighting in prayer and fasting in seeking God? It's the shield of faith. We must have it to give it to our children and our children's children honor the shield of faith. You see, when our kids get it, they'll only get it just like we got it.

25:39 I was thinking about this and how that my mother was sitting on the second row and father created such a wonderful home. I have no memories of things being thrown, just me and my brothers, but no memories of cursing, No memories of cussing out. No memories of none of... fussing and fighting and throwing and ranting and raving. None. and some of the most memorable moments of my childhood is when me and my brothers and sisters would play church.

26:26 They created such an environment in our home that their babies wanted to play church, and one would get to be the choir leader and soloist, and one would get to be the preacher, and one would get to be the sinner. I was using my brother Dole because he was one. Amen.

26:50 But I can remember before God Almighty and my siblings can confirm what I'm telling you, we would have times where we'd start singing and we could sing. All of us could sing. And we would sing and get to singing and pretending like... And here we'd take the old clothes racks, you know. you take the white part that you fold your pants over and that would become a microphone, whatever. We became very, we didn't have all this stuff. We didn't have all that. We were, we, we were poor, but we didn't know it. And we were happy and we had Jesus. And we would, one would play the drums. They would set up shoeboxes, and you'd play the drums on the drums. We'd have a fake piano. That was the ironing board, was the organ. And we just were pretending, and we were worshiping Jesus.

27:48 But I can remember there were times where the presence of the Lord would come, and we'd all get to crying and get to praising the Lord. that's passing the shield My daddy was a Spartan. my daddy was a holy ghost preacher and he was a spartan he didn't do it for money in the eyes of the world he would be considered unimportant he didn't have fancy stuff he didn't even have much to give us but I'm going to tell you something he had a shield of faith he sure taught me about the love of God the prayers of God, how to pray, how to preach. Wrote me my first sermon on an envelope. Hallelujah.

28:41 I'm a Spartan. You got a Spartan for a pastor. Hallelujah. That's why I get up my preach stuff that seems out of date because I'm a Spartan. And I don't judge my pastoring by what the world says. I don't care what the universal church thinks. I don't care if I don't get invited to certain cliques and clans. I just want to hear him say, well done. I just want to know I stood on what this book says is right. Why do you get involved? Why do you stand for Israel? Because I'm a Spartan. Hallelujah. And the Bible stands for Israel. Why do you stand for marriage between a man and a woman? Because the Bible stands for it. Why do you talk about abortion as wrong? Because the Bible says it's wrong. Why? Why, Pastor, can't you just shut up and preach a nice message? Because we're called to be Spartans.

29:36 In Jesus' name, spiritual Spartans. maintain and protect the shield of worship. I don't care who comes to this church. We don't change our worship for anybody. You're welcome, but you do not control the menu. We're going to preach this is the menu right here. John 3.16 is the menu. And you're not going to come in here and change the menu. We'll fight for this. And if we don't get some men who start acting like men in their homes and in their families, men don't date women and sleep with women. Don't start playing yet. I don't want a sweet feeling.

30:28 It'll change my anointing. I just feel like telling you, act like a man. If you're going to sleep with her, you should marry her. And get married and sleep with her. Don't give her a condom. give her a ring and be a man. Be a man. Be a man. A man provides. A man protects. A man stands there when everything's ugly. He doesn't cut and run. I don't know where this is coming from, but we need men. We need men to act like men. Quit being a whiny, girly man. If you have two, you work two jobs. If you have two, you work three jobs. Whatever it takes to take care of my family, that's what I'm going to do. That's the culture I was raised in.

31:22 My daddy to stay in the... Now play something sweet. My daddy to play... My daddy to stay in ministry. Sold cars. If you pulled up to the church, he would have two or three. He'd go to the car sale every Monday night. And he'd have four sale, four sale, so that he'd have a salary to feed his family.

31:49 He always kept a car for sale, a truck. sometimes he'd get hot rod trucks and take me to school in them and I was so embarrassed and I would say let me off a block away I'm not pulling up in this thing oh it'll do good I'll sell it make five hundred dollars he did that stay in the ministry you know I thought about the young men and women in this ministry. I'm proud of, I'm proud of young men and women who still want to be in the ministry. You're not, we're not second class because we chose not to go into business because we chose not to go into some field that is highly respected. Oh, you're just a pastor. I mean, you can feel it. You get on an airplane. I can be, I can have people that will treat me with respect. The moment they find out that I'm a preacher, if I tell them I use it on, I use it. I do have two options. I can say, pastor, I can say I'm a musician. And I size them up and decide which one according to how I want to feel the vibe. You can feel the vibe.

33:03 Many of you know what I'm talking about, but I just want to say that I admire the young men and women who want to be in ministry and maintain the honor of the shield. I thought about, I thought about Rucker. What? Kendrick. Kendrick, he's a Spartan. When this service is over, he'll pick up his shield. He'll go into the prisons. he'll head on over to Gwinnett and Brazelton no that's the church he's probably got some prisoners in there too X-Coms Metro Entry Hayes State Whitworth Correctional he's a Spartan do you know where he got that faith from to go into those prisons every week that's him you know where he got that faith from he had a grandmother What was her name, Cherise? Humphreys, Sister Humphreys. And you know, when I first came to Free Chapel on Brownsbridge Road, they would collect the offering. The ushers would take the offering in little bags. And by the way, all of you who are here saying, oh, the church is about his money. We don't even take an offering. We haven't taken an offering in four years, three years. When did COVID start? Five years. We have not passed a bag in five years, except in special services for a guest speaker or something. So we're not about the money.

34:43 I'm a Spartan. I'm not for sale. I'd rather have Jesus but he'll suit up. Rucker.

35:10 Humphreys. His grandmother was Humphreys. And she used to sit on the back row of that church, and she was the church clerk, I guess is what they called it. And she would count the money, and trust me, she could count it in the introduction, amen, of my sermon. while I was preaching, she would sit back there and I would hear,

35:36 and it was a lot of dimes, nickels, and pennies. But she was counting the money. But think about that. Old prayer warrior. She's still alive. She watches online every Sunday. And so now she's got a grandson. that gets up and he's got the shield of faith. What are you passing on?

36:01 We better get a burden for our children. Better get along in to see our grandchildren hear so much about Jesus around the tables, in the family, that they want to go off and play church. Are we passing the shield of faith to a new generation? Are we raising up spiritual Spartans who put on the whole armor of God?

36:32 Do you ever hear your kids singing in the shower to Jesus? Do you ever hear them praying? Do you ever have service sometimes and get a burden? And when you start to tell them a story, This used to happen to me when I had my kids. Every once in a while, we would have quick devotions most of the time. But every once in a while, I'd get to telling a little story or something as I had the little family huddled together and the Spirit of God would come. It ought to be happening in our homes again. So I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet all over this building.

37:16 And only cowards are going to run for the door. Spartans won't do it. I want every man in this house. I want every man in this house who wants to be a spiritual Spartan. who wants God to make you into the man you know you're called to be. I want them to throw that verse back up in 1 Corinthians 16. I want you to throw it up. Be watchful. Don't fall asleep. Don't get lackadaisical. Stand firm in the faith. Listen to that. That doesn't sound like weakness, does it? That doesn't sound like wishy-washy, does it? Be watchful. Take care. I'm the wall to my...

38:08 I'm the husband. The house band is where that comes from. Like a rubber band. I'm the house band that holds the whole family together. What do you mean you're too busy to pray? You're the house band. You hold it together. Act like a man. What? What? Money? Glitter has taken you off of the real, real thing that God expects of you. Hold firm the shield of faith above all and act like men. Be strong. I want every man who wants that. You may not be that, but you want that. You're not the man you ought to be. And God's calling you to spiritual manhood this morning. You may be a teenager, but he's calling you to spiritual manhood this morning.

39:07 You may be 70 years old and you've never, all you've done is for you and me and my. But today the Lord's calling you. Act like a man. Don't listen to what the world says a man is. It's not how many women you can sleep with. It's not how many trophies you have on the wall. It's all about who is on the, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. That's a man, a man that's faithful to his wife. A man that's pure. A man that his word is his integrity. I want to call the men today. It's not going to take long, but I want every man who wants to be a spiritual Spartan to get out of your seat and come forward right where you are. Bring your son if you're with him or your sons.

40:02 Bring the young kid if you've got him. If he's not in kid pack. Come on, come on, come on, come on. Anybody can get drunk. Anybody can go get high. It takes a man to live for Jesus. I'm a Spartan. I still believe I have no business drinking. I still believe I have no business flirting. I still believe I have no business in certain situations. I just don't need to put myself. I'm a Spartan. I know I'm old fashioned, but I'm a Spartan. and you're looking at an older man, you're a younger man, and I'm telling you, I'm telling you the truth, I'm looking you face to face, and I'm telling you, the world is lying to you, the world is telling you that, that, you know, just live for yourself, you young men need to get married, need to fall in love, You need to quit dating around because when you date around, you sleep around.

41:12 I just didn't date. I had a chance to date some pretty women, but I didn't date them. I knew. I knew that won't make a preacher's wife right there. I had a purpose. I had a vision. And if she didn't help me with that vision, I didn't need her. She's my helpmate. You can't have a helpmate if you don't get up and get doing something that you need help with. Wow. Somebody write that one down. That was good. Why would God give you a helpmate? I want my woman. Well, you ain't doing nothing. you start doing Adam had to cultivate this this is before the curse he had to cultivate the garden he had to make the garden productive he had to get up and cultivate the garden of Eden he had to take care of it Then God sent him a helpmate.

42:14 I commission you men to be mighty men of God. I want you to throw that verse up one more time. And I want us to say it out loud. I want every man in this place to sound like an old line that's growling. I want you to say it. I want you to say it like it needs to be said. Ready? Say it. Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Hallelujah.

42:54 I really want to say thank you for joining us this week. If you haven't already, make sure you click on the subscription button and leave us a review. It helps this podcast reach even more people when you comment, when you give us your feedback. For more messages and inspirational materials, download the Jensen Franklin app. Or you can head over to jensenfranklin.org. I want to thank all of you who give generously to help us produce weekly content like this to reach the world with the message of Jesus. God bless you.