End Like You Started | Jentezen Franklin

Summary

Podcast Summary:

Jentezen Franklin at Free Chapel
Episode: End Like You Started | Jentezen Franklin
Date: June 28, 2026
Host: Jentezen Franklin

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Main Theme

This episode centers on finishing the Christian journey with the same zeal, consecration, and dependence on God as when we first started. Jentezen Franklin uses the story of King Asa from 2 Chronicles 14-16 to challenge listeners to remember the importance of humility, prayer, and seeking God—not only at the beginning of our spiritual journey but all throughout, especially in the later stages of life. It's a call to examine where our reliance lies and to recommit to a walk of consecration and dependence on God.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Story of Asa: A Life in Three Acts

[00:33 – 06:47]

• Asa became king at 41, inheriting a legacy of wicked rulers.
• Asa's Early Zeal: He immediately prioritized spiritual reforms, built altars, and led his nation back to God.
  • “I want my kingdom to glorify God’s kingdom. I want him to be—seek first the kingdom of God.” – Jentezen Franklin [06:50]
• Asa didn’t rely on the legacy of his fathers but sought the Lord personally and called the nation to prayer.
• His seeking resulted in years of peace for the nation.

The Importance of Seeking the Lord

[07:01 – 09:45]

• Franklin recounts his own early ministry, marked by desperate dependence on God, consuming the Word, and passionate worship.
  • “All I knew to do was to seek the Lord. All I knew to do was to open that book, and I would fall asleep reading it. I would cry salty tears.” – Jentezen Franklin [09:15]
  • Personal stories of worshiping for hours and being unknown except to God, highlighting that God sees the heart that truly seeks Him.

Consecration and the Power of a Seeking Heart

[09:45 – 11:00]

• Seeking God isn’t merely about prayer but consecration—living with standards and conviction, not just following external rules.

Asa’s Test: The Ethiopian Army

[12:00 – 15:44]

• Asa faces a crisis: a million-strong Ethiopian army against his 300,000.
• Key lesson: Pray before, during, and after the battle.
  • “He did not wait to get in the battle to pray. He had a prayer life and he was seeking the Lord.” – Jentezen Franklin [12:53]
• Asa’s prayer:
  • “Lord, this is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power.” – Jentezen Franklin quoting Asa [14:08]
• God delivers a miraculous victory in response to this dependence.

The Prophet’s Challenge and the Danger of Success

[15:44 – 18:05]

• After victory, a prophet warns Asa:
  • “The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” – Jentezen Franklin [16:04]
• Success can breed complacency: “Just because you started well doesn’t mean you will end well.” – Jentezen Franklin [18:05]

The Latter Years: Self-Reliance and Spiritual Decline

[18:05 – 24:09]

• 10 years later, another battle arises, but Asa no longer seeks God—instead, he relies on alliances and personal strategy.
• Franklin applies this to ministry and life:
  • Warning against substituting planning, talent, and resources for seeking God.
  • Reminder that pride and self-reliance can quietly replace dependence.

Diseased Feet: The Consequence of Losing Dependence

[24:09 – 31:11]

• Asa’s decline is symbolized by his “diseased feet”—an analogy about foundations.
  • “You can’t move forward when your feet get diseased.” – Jentezen Franklin [23:02]
• Spiritual application: Allowing sin, pride, or worldliness into your walk will stunt growth and cut off progress.

Sources of False Help

[31:11 – 32:58]

• Asa didn’t seek God but turned to pagan physicians, which Franklin likens to seeking spiritual answers in New Age practices.
  • “There’s only the Holy Spirit and evil spirit.” – Jentezen Franklin [32:15]

The Need for Continual Renewal and Consecration

[32:58 – 36:41]

• Reflecting on the symbolic act of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet:
  • “If the disciples... needed their feet washed... Who am I to think that somehow I ever arrive anywhere?” – Jentezen Franklin [34:52]
• The slow slide:
  • “It starts out you just walking with the wrong people... then you’re standing... then before you know it, you sit down and you become scornful against the church, against God, against the Bible.” – Jentezen Franklin [35:30 – 36:03]

Personal Vows and Closing Challenge

[36:11 – End]

• Franklin recalls a vow to God: “Lord, don’t ever let me bring a reproach on your name. If you see I’m going to do it, take me…” [36:42]
• Call to introspection: Do you still seek God like you did at first? Or are you coasting on past victories and self-sufficiency?
• The cure for diseased feet is to return to a posture of humility and desperation for God.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On starting well versus finishing well:
  “Just because you started well doesn’t mean you will end well. Actually, everybody in the Bible that fails, fail in the latter part of their life.” – Jentezen Franklin [18:05]

• On the danger of self-reliance:
  “The moment we get arrogant, the moment that we rely on our own talent and our own ability...and there is no prayer... That is the day that God says, your feet get diseased.” – Jentezen Franklin [22:56]

• On the heart of consecration:
  “Consecration is seeking the Lord... You don’t talk it, you walk it.” – Jentezen Franklin [30:33]

• On God’s desire:
  “I want to give you your feet back. I want you to make progress. I want you to move forward.” – Jentezen Franklin [39:39]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:33] – Start of teaching; introduction to Asa
• [09:15] – Franklin’s personal testimony of early ministry
• [14:08] – Asa’s crisis prayer; God’s miraculous victory
• [16:04] – Prophet’s warning after victory
• [18:05] – Key insight: It's possible to decline spiritually in later years
• [23:02] – Diseased feet analogy explained
• [34:52] – Washing of feet applied as a need for continual spiritual renewal
• [36:42] – Personal vow and the importance of finishing well
• [39:39] – Final altar call and invitation to recommit to seeking God

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Final Reflections

Jentezen Franklin's tone is heartfelt, candid, and urgent, with repeated personal reflections that invite listeners to honest self-examination. He weaves scriptural exposition, personal experience, and application to both individual and corporate Christian life, insistently drawing the church back to passionate, humble seeking of God. The message is clear: do not let spiritual disease settle in—end the Christian race with the same desperate pursuit of God that marked the beginning.

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This episode is highly recommended for anyone feeling stagnant in their spiritual journey or tempted to rely on their own strength. Franklin’s message is a stirring call to return, repent, and run passionately after God again.

Transcript

[Jensen Franklin]

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. Record it at Free Chapel. I believe it's going to bless you today.

If you have your Bibles, I want you to open them with me to Second Chronicles, Chapter 16. Second Chronicles, Chapter 16. And I'll just preach a few moments this morning, but this is a message that I have never preached before except in the nine o' clock service. But it's been on my heart for four weeks now. Four weeks. I've been carrying it, I've been thinking about it. I've been re putting things, adding things, taking things, thinking about things. And I. I just want God to help me today. I just want God to help me today. I feel like this is so important. Those of you in this room, those of you at all of our campuses, Gwinnett and Braselton and Spartanburg and Midtown and Alpharetta, Orange county, those of you at Metro Prison, Hays State Prison, Whitworth Correctional, Hall County Correctional, Phillips State Prison, Hall County Jail, live right now. Lee Arundale Women's State Prison, Jackson County Correctional Institute. This is coming into your prison system right now. Thank you to the state of Georgia for letting us do that. To the local police for letting us do that. Lord, all over the world through online, those in overflow, would you come now and touch us and help us? Would you come now and take us

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

back

[Jensen Franklin]

to needing you in our heart, longing for you in our heart

like

we did when we first met you. I ask you for that before this service is over. In Jesus name, amen. And amen. Second Chronicles, chapter 16. I'll begin reading with verse 11. Note the Acts of Asa. It says kind of a King James word out in the King James. It says, behold, behold the Acts of Asa. The word behold means to make special note to notice this. Really stop, stop, stop and really see this. Now this is not just somebody in the Bible that you need to pass over. He's in three chapters. The Bible takes three chapters to tell his whole story. 14, 15 and 16. We are coming in on the end of his life. Note the Acts of Asa, first and last are indeed written in the book of Kings, which it does have some details there. Verse 12. Now, in the 39th year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet and his malady was severe. It was a. It, it progressed. I know it progressed because when he got it, we're told that it was the 39th year. But when he died it was the 41st. So it was a three year situation. His feet were diseased and his malady became severe. Yet in his disease, he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians. I'll explain that in a moment. It's not a rebuke of medical help. That's not. I will show you what that is in just a moment. So Asa rested with his fathers and he died in the 41st year of his reign. I think that Asa needs to be looked at because he begins at the age of 41. He became king of Judah. At that time, Israel, the nation of Israel was divided into two nations really. There was a certain amount of the tribes that were called Israel. And in this division there was Judah. God through David was, would bring them back together. He would unite the kingdom. But they were having literally a civil war. And they fought each other. And you've got Judah. And this was the king of Judah. His father was extremely wicked. All of the kings before him were extremely wicked. And here comes a 41 year old man. And right from the beginning, very quickly he sets his priority. And as soon as he enters into the office of king of Judah, he says, we are turning to God. He built an altar, he called the nation to prayer.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

He called the tribe of Judah back

[Jensen Franklin]

to what their purpose was. He was not interested in his ego, he was not interested in his desires, his pleasures, his kingdom, his personal kingdom. He said, I know that God has entrusted me with a massive kingdom, but I want my kingdom to bring, to be in God's kingdom. And I want my kingdom to glorify God's kingdom. I want him to be. Seek first the kingdom of God. Not your own, not your own prosperity, your own joy, your own pleasure. But everything about us as Christians, whether it's the business that we build, the

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career that we build, the dream that we have.

[Jensen Franklin]

It's when I, when I really become a Christian, I seek the Lord in everything that I am doing.

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And my desire is I want my

[Jensen Franklin]

kingdom to, to be his kingdom.

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And I want one on the throne, the King Jesus Christ. And I want whatever talents, whatever gifts, whatever abilities, I want the kingdom that I build, so to speak, the world, the career, whatever that, anything that I

[Jensen Franklin]

do, I want it in his kingdom.

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And I want the praise and the

[Jensen Franklin]

glory and the honor to go to him.

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This was.

[Jensen Franklin]

I cannot underscore how much Asa felt that way about his kingdom. I'm not going to rely on my talent.

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I'm not going to rely on my ability.

[Jensen Franklin]

We're going to seek the Lord.

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He didn't go in saying, I've been prepared for this.

[Jensen Franklin]

My father was a king.

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My great granddaddy was a king. My grandfather was a king, because he was. That's exactly how it went. He. He cleared the slate, and he said, I need you. Go, God.

[Jensen Franklin]

I'm seeking you. The Bible says over and over three

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times, it says in one chapter, he sought the Lord.

[Jensen Franklin]

He sought the Lord.

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He's just a brand new king. He sought the Lord.

[Jensen Franklin]

There is a seeking of the Lord.

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Second Chronicles 14 and 11.

[Jensen Franklin]

He's seeking the Lord. Over and over and over. He begins to pray, begins to call the nation to prayer. The Bible actually says that because of this, that for many years, four years, there was no war, there was no attacks. There was nothing but peace. But then the Lord allowed him in the. In the. In the next chapter, to go through a test. You know, when you first get saved and you love the Lord and you

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

find out that God has a plan for your life?

[Jensen Franklin]

And I saw myself in this story of Asa. And it wrecked me, to be honest, because when I started out in ministry,

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

all I knew to do was to seek the Lord. All I knew to do was to

[Jensen Franklin]

open that book, and I would fall asleep reading it. I would cry salty tears.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Sometimes I would just lay it on

[Jensen Franklin]

my chest and fall to sleep. After I'd read it, I consumed it. I was so hungry. I listened to the word being preached by great preachers. And there's something about seeking the Lord. There's something about.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

I'm a musician, and I would go

[Jensen Franklin]

to the church that my dad pastored, and I would sit down at the piano, and sometimes I would play for

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

four and five hours, and I would just worship the Lord. I would just praise the Lord I was consumed with. And then I'd set that down, and I'd pick my saxophone up my. Put on some Andre crouch on the sound system, and I'd play my saxophone. And nobody knew me and nobody never cared nothing about. But God saw me seeking him.

[Jensen Franklin]

He sees people who seek the Lord.

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He sees people who pray. He sees people who don't talk it. They live it.

[Jensen Franklin]

They walk it.

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They consecrate.

[Jensen Franklin]

They're consecrated.

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They have values, they have standards.

[Jensen Franklin]

They.

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It's it's not because everybody says it's wrong. It's because deep in their heart they know I don't need to be a part of that. It's consecration is seeking the Lord.

[Jensen Franklin]

And eight times in the scripture it talks about the prayer life.

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Him calling the nation to prayer and

[Jensen Franklin]

himself praying and seeking the Lord over and over throughout these three chapters. And so the Bible said that it came to pass that in two chronicles. Maybe they can follow me. The 15th chapter, I think it is that there came a test now. And the scripture said that the Ethiopian army invaded and came against Judah. And they were one. They were a one million. Can you throw that up? They were a one million man army with 300 chariots. And the verse before that said that he had assembled this man Asa, an army of 300,000 from Judah. So I want you to see this battlefield. 300,000 on Judah's side and on Asa's side. And you've got a one million man army over here. They are trained killers. And on top of being overwhelmed, odds all against them. They have 3,000 chariots that are like

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

tanks ready to roll over that pitiful army of Judah.

[Jensen Franklin]

And in the middle of all of that, I just want to read to you what the scripture says, that he started doing something strange. It says in verse 13 and Asa and all the. Let me back up in verse 11.

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And Asa cried out to the Lord. Notice this, I want you to get this. It's so important. Asa prayed before he got in the battle.

[Jensen Franklin]

Asa prayed when he was in the

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middle of the battle.

[Jensen Franklin]

And Asa prayed after the battle.

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He did not wait to get in the battle to pray. He had a prayer life and he

[Jensen Franklin]

was seeking the Lord.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

So when storms and battles and trials come, you shouldn't really have to pray a whole lot more. I don't fall to pieces. I'm not begging. I've been around a long time. But because if you have a prayer life, you pray before the battle, you pray in the battle. And when you get out of the battle, you don't forget what the Lord has done. Sometimes when they're singing, there's just something about the name. The Lord will flash me. He'll flash a victory that he gave me. I'll look over and I'll see one of my kids praising the Lord. The hell said, I've got them and you'll never get them back. But I just want to tell you if, if you'll pray before the battle, pray in the battle and pray after the battle and give God the glory he'll fight the battle. Somebody give him a praise if you believe that. I love this prayer. I love this prayer.

[Jensen Franklin]

This man prayed in verse 11. And Asa cried unto the Lord, God knee and man army 300 chariots, coming wide open at him.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

And he cried unto the Lord,

[Jensen Franklin]

Lord, this is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no power. If you can ever get weak enough

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to pray that prayer, God can really

[Jensen Franklin]

do some great things. I feel that way every Sunday when

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I walk up here.

[Jensen Franklin]

I have no power, but I feel his power. Help us listen to him. Listen to this man just praying in a massive crisis. Help us, O Lord our God, for we are. We rest on you. And in your name we go against this multitude. Oh Lord, you are our God and

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

do not let man prevail against you. And the Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah. And the Ethiopians fled.

[Jensen Franklin]

And Asa and the people who were

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with him pursued and they broke through. I'm telling that when you pray, it's victory.

[Jensen Franklin]

I want you to see how he started. He started seeking the Lord.

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He prayed before the battle, in the

[Jensen Franklin]

middle of the battle, after the battle. It's unbelievable how he seeks God in everything. You can have a beautiful beginning, but a catastrophic conclusion. This story shares with us because at the end of that battle, the scripture says something interesting. At the end of that battle, God sent a prophet to him.

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And the text said that the prophet

[Jensen Franklin]

had this encouraging message. It says in chapter 15, after that battle was won, the spirit of God came on Azariah. And it says in verse two that

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he came saying, the Lord is with you.

[Jensen Franklin]

While you're with him, if you seek

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him, he will be found by you.

[Jensen Franklin]

But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. This remarkable story is a reminder to all of us who have seen God's hand give us victories and successes. If you're a business person listening to me and God, there are people in this room who started businesses and they took their kingdom and put it in the kingdom. Look at Sam's. I see you, a businessman, extremely blessed of God. And he took the business, the kingdom

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

that he had built. And I mean, he's blessed of God and he is passionate about putting it and saying, this isn't my business.

[Jensen Franklin]

This is God's business.

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This is what Christians do. By the way, we're not just like the world. We don't have the motive. The world has. It's all right if God blesses us, but ultimately it's his. Everything about us is his business.

[Jensen Franklin]

Watch this. After that victory, the prophet said, if you go with God, if you seek

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the Lord, you'll find him. He'll bless you.

[Jensen Franklin]

This never has to end. But you go into the next chapter and years go by, 10 years go by and no more battles. But here comes another battle now.

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God will test you. God will test to see if you

[Jensen Franklin]

still are seeking him like you did when you started.

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Just because you started well doesn't mean you will end well. Actually, everybody in the Bible that fails fail in the latter part of their life. Which means if you've been serving the Lord for a while, I'm glad. If you're a brand new Christian, great, and you're on fire and all of that. But I'm going to tell you, when you know that you got something is you can, you will before life is through with you. You will go through things that will be that high and that low and everything else will hit your life. And the miracle is when you're getting toward the last act. Cause you know it was the acts of Asa. There's the opening act, there's the middle act, and there's the final act. And the deal is this. You can't just start. Well, you can't just start seeking God. You can't just start needing God. You can't just start worshiping God. I want to know, have you been through some stuff and you got some gray hair now maybe, or no hair, or you're middle age, you're in your 40s and 50s. Can you look back? I can say I'm still after God like I was when I started. This is what smoked this preacher's heart.

[Jensen Franklin]

It smote me.

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I don't know any other way to say it.

[Jensen Franklin]

It struck me. And the Bible said that Israel. Now remember, they were divided. The king of Israel attacked Judah, and now they've got a civil war. And watch. And when he attacks, instead of going on his knees, instead of turning to

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God with all of his heart and turning the nation to God and crying out to God, watch him.

[Jensen Franklin]

Now he starts relying. I've done this so long had. I'm so good at this.

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He did not pray one time. He did not seek God's counsel one time. He did not humble himself. He's arrogant, he's proud, he's full of. Here's the thing. I believe Asa loved the Lord. And I'm going to prove to you this has a happy ending. Because there is a verse in First Kings that says that he. That he had a heart after God all of his life, all the days of his life. So God saw the good that he did. But watch the severe judgment of starting out, seeking God and walking and losing that consecration to the degree that you

[Jensen Franklin]

don't even seek God's help when you're facing a challenge. You think, I know how to do this? I thought about this weeks ago before Forward Conference. I had a little check in my heart. I was minding my own business as many times I am. And I was just riding in my car and I heard the Lord say, y' all really know how to do this. They had just called me and told me the conference was sold out. I thought, wow, y' all really in the Lord, just in my mind, I didn't hear out audible voice, but in my spirit. Boy, y' all really know how to do this, don't you? Have you called any prayer meetings? Oh, have you? How about you, preacher? Have you really been stirred up about Forward? Have you fasted any personally?

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Have you? Have you?

[Jensen Franklin]

Have you spent some hours with me

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like you used to do when Forward started?

[Jensen Franklin]

They got all kinds of rehearsals going

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on, all kinds of lights and this and that and this and that and this and that. And it's all beautiful. It's all important. It's all part of tearing down the walls and reaching the kids. But the Lord said, if you don't seek me. If you don't seek me. And I had days where the Lord would say, don't eat. Eat until the sun goes down. Don't eat because you're not talented enough and good enough. You still need me. You still need me. And I want to say free Chapel. It's remarkable what God has done with this church and what he's done with this ministry. But the moment that we get arrogant, the moment that we rely on our own talent and our own ability, and we spend all our time in rooms, you know, planning and all of that. And there is no prayer. There is no seeking, seeking the Lord. There is no humbling ourselves. There is no crying out. Send your supernatural power and invade our ministry. That is the day that God says,

[Jensen Franklin]

your feet get diseased.

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What does that mean?

[Jensen Franklin]

That means, I heard the Lord say it like this. You can't move forward when your feet get diseased. It impedes your progress when your feet are the foundation of your whole body. And if the feet of a ministry gets diseased, it means they're not going to keep growing and moving everywhere the

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soles of your feet touch. I'll give it unto you. Because we walk by faith. Not by sight, but when a ministry is not seeking the Lord, when a minister is not not seeking the Lord, when a businessman is not seeking the Lord, because you become great at what you're doing. It was God that blessed you, sir. It was God that blessed you, dear lady. It was God. You, you have a big, big deal now, but your kingdom is cut off unto itself and you become a professional at it.

[Jensen Franklin]

And you've forgotten that you need him. And I don't understand everything about this story, but what is amazing to me is he goes into the temple. Listen how carnal he is.

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He never prays and seeks God.

[Jensen Franklin]

He, he's got so much gold and so much silver that he goes into the temple, takes the Holy Spirit, resources of God, goes to Syria with it, meets with the king of Syria, Ben

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Hadad and says, I'll give you this gold. It came right out of the temple and I'm going to give you this silver.

[Jensen Franklin]

You take your army and go fight Israel.

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And it worked. Listen to me carefully. He didn't seek the Lord. He sent the army of Israel, of Syria to fight Israel. And they, they decimated them. But the Bible said in the next verse, maybe the most famous verse in the book of second Chronicles, and after the success, see, sometimes judgment doesn't come right quick.

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Sometimes you can go and go and

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go without seeking the Lord and go and even keep prospering, and even keep prospering and even keep prospering. But Jesus said, I am the vine and you are the branch. And if you are not connected to me, the fruit that you are just taking for granted. I want you to know that if you don't have that seeking me and that life giving power that I give you, it can dry up pretty quick.

[Jensen Franklin]

Every one of you ought to be seeking the Lord. Every one of us in this church,

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we ought not to ever, ever, ever

[Jensen Franklin]

think that we can do in the, in the flesh what has begun in the Spirit.

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It requires you. You've got to, you can't, you must finish. Just like you start in this race. Paul said, I have fought a good fight, I've kept the faith. I finished the course and I got the same passion and I'm saying seeking of God that I had and purity

[Jensen Franklin]

and consecration than when I started. So watch. The scripture said that he paid them. Looks like no big deal. But there's this famous verse, this is the conversation context of this famous verse. And it says the eyes, but the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong.

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He did it with the Ethiopians to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal. And that the King James says, who seek him. But you have done foolishly.

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The Prophet was sent to tell him,

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therefore from now on you shall have wars.

[Jensen Franklin]

Wow.

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He would never have another day. He only had three years of life to come. But every day he would be in war after war after war because he lost the victory of seeking God.

[Jensen Franklin]

And then you move into the final act, the final conclusion of his story in chapter 16. And in the 39th year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet. The average person, I googled it. The average person, if they live to be 80, walks 75,000 miles on their feet. The feet are the foundation of the body. The feet affect the balance. The feet, feet have to do with your structure and your posture. You can't stand straight if you don't have good feet. And the commentary said that what happened was his feet became infected with gangrene and it began to spread. Because sin spreads. That's the danger of not seeking the Lord. Here's what the Lord told me to tell you. Now this is where it hits. He says, it's one thing if you're seeking me, you're going to always have struggles with things. You're going to always be in a natural body and natural world that has things coming at you all the time that you have to deal. You put on the whole armor of God and you deal with it. But if you ever allow iniquity and sin to get in your walk, it

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can't get in your walk.

[Jensen Franklin]

You can't be a Christian and be single and be going around with a, with a condom in your bill folder. It's in your walk.

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You can't let stuff get in your walk.

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It's one thing to struggle, repent, listen

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

to the Lord, seek God's help, confess you're struggling, seek him and get rid of anything and everything that has anything to do with that which, because sin is a spreader. All of the things that you read about the feet, they are a major deal to the human health of the vital organs. They said that your feet disease can cause your heart to fail. I didn't realize I've taken my feet for granted as I was looking at it. I mean, it affects your lungs, your feet. I thought about the breath. I'm losing the breath of God. I'm losing the heart of God. I'm becoming cold hearted. I'm not tender anymore. Because if something gets in your walk, if you let sin and iniquity. Some of you were delivered from addictions and delivered from things that you know. I don't care what other people can do. You have to find out what God has told you and what consecration means to you. And you live that thing. You don't talk it, you walk it.

[Jensen Franklin]

And when. And when it got in his walk, that's the biggest thing. I just saw the church. I saw churches, I saw pastors that I've watched that are my friends. But their church and their ministry got diseased feet.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

And it doesn't happen overnight.

[Jensen Franklin]

Notice God's mercy. God gave him three years. And instead of seeking the Lord, the most astounding part of this verse, and I'm almost done, is he saw physicians.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

He sought not.

[Jensen Franklin]

Throw it up. He sought not the Lord, but the physicians. The physicians. Is a. Look it up in it, in the commentaries, you'll see this. Many believe. Many theologians believe that that had to do with Egyptian physicians or Babylonian physicians, which were not just. All they had was herbs and they had natural remedies back then. And some of them were very effective to fight infection. But they would also send. We would call them witch doctors, sorcerers, and they would do enchantments. It was New Age stuff. It was. It was chance and. And charms and all kinds of things

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

to try to get healed by demonic power.

[Jensen Franklin]

Because there's only the Holy Spirit and evil spirit. If you're playing with. If you're playing with rocks and. And witches and horoscopes and

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

white magic, black magic, sort of, you know, going. You walk in Barnes and Noble, they've

[Jensen Franklin]

got more New Age books.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

How to get into the spirit realm.

[Jensen Franklin]

Yeah.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

In other words, it should be retitled. Welcome to the world of demons.

[Jensen Franklin]

Come on in.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Because there's only two spirits, the Holy Spirit and demon spirits.

[Jensen Franklin]

I'm closing. But that means what it means at forward, we don't move during closing. Listen. The Bible said that God gave him three years. Three years. And the man never sought the Lord, but sought these sorcery and enchantment. And yet in all of that, when he ends, there is a great Bible verse that says, yet he served the Lord with all of his heart. God saw his heart. I believe he's in heaven. But listen to this. This is what got me. He died prematurely. I think ministries can die and stop growing and stop reaching and stop stepping and stop.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

We are not called.

[Jensen Franklin]

We are to charge the gates of hell. We are never to be without a vision. We're never to be without a dream. We're never the moment we stop making progress, death will begin to set in.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

As long as we're alive, he said,

[Jensen Franklin]

the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church. But don't you get diseased feet where

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

your walk is unclean?

[Jensen Franklin]

You have to say, lord, would you pull your towel out one more time?

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Would you come into this service and would you wash my feet like you did the disciples? If the disciples, the apostles, as holy as they were, as mighty as they were, their shadows could heal people if they needed their feet washed. It was one of the last things that Jesus would do before he would go to the cross, is kneel down and wash the feet of every one of his disciples.

[Jensen Franklin]

Who am I to think that somehow I ever arrive anywhere, that I don't need him to specially focus and cleanse my feet from iniquity? Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sits in the seat of the sinner. Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly, who sits not in the seat of the sinner. Who stands there it is.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Blessed is the Lord who walks not in the council. Then God, notice the progression. Nor sits in the path of sinners, nor sitting sits in the seat of the scornful. There you go.

[Jensen Franklin]

There you go.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Notice the progression. It starts out you just walking with the wrong people. You just walk in with the counsel of the world and carnal people and fleshly people, they don't ever talk about Jesus, don't ever talk about spiritual things. And then it moves from walking with them.

[Jensen Franklin]

Now you're standing with them.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Well, I do think that's right. I do think that. That, you know, if you want to get. If you want love is love. So, so just go in that lifestyle. You move from you. You move from walking with them to standing with them. And then before you know it, you

[Jensen Franklin]

sit down and you become scornful against the church, against God, against the Bible, against everybody and everything.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

And you've been diseased in your feet.

[Jensen Franklin]

And here's what. Here's where the fear of the Lord needs to come in us a little bit. This guy died pretty young. And I remember I made a commitment, a vow to the Lord many, many, many, many years ago in deep prayer. And he reminded me of it. He said, you remember what you told me when you started? I said what

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

I heard you pray,

[Jensen Franklin]

lord, don't ever let me bring a reproach on your name. If you see I'm going to do it, take me

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

by God's grace.

[Jensen Franklin]

I've asked him for 85 years and after that he can choose, man. He's going to choose anyhow. And if I die tomorrow, don't think that I'm terrible. And God got me.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

I don't know how this will end

[Jensen Franklin]

up, but I know how my spirit is about it. I like to make vows sometimes it

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

was on a 21 day fast when I prayed that.

[Jensen Franklin]

Wouldn't you like for Jesus to walk in with his pan and his towel and cleanse our feet? Wash away the pride, wash away the reliance on. I'm smart now, I'm educated now. I really don't need God. I really don't need anything. I got the money coming in. I'm good. You've got disease in your feet. It's your faith that has gangrene spiritually and it always spreads. And if you're seeking, the answer to diseased feet is consecration and seeking God again. Maybe you need to fall on your face.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Sometimes I just have to get on my knees.

[Jensen Franklin]

I can't just pray casually. I have to get down and I

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

feel like I need to cover my face and I moan and I cry

[Jensen Franklin]

out to God, help me.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

Are we still a church that does that? Cause I know when we started we used to have moves of God like that. Are we still the church that God can trust with a revival? Are we still the church that hungers and thirsts for him? I'm going to ask you to stand

[Jensen Franklin]

to your feet and I want to give a different little altar call here this morning. But if you know this sermon is for you, if you sense your feet are not healthy, if you sense there's things in your walk that you need to get out, if you sense that

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

it's been a long time, maybe while

[Jensen Franklin]

I've been preaching, the Holy Spirit has spoken to you about self reliance.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

You don't even think about praying about it. You don't even think about praying for your children. You don't even think about praying for your wife. You don't even think about praying for your husband. You don't even think about think about praying for your children. You don't even think about it. You just. It's human reliance. Everything is human reliance. God says, I see that. I see people who seek me and I see people who don't.

[Jensen Franklin]

I want to give you your feet back.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

I want you to make progress.

[Jensen Franklin]

I want you to move forward. I want you to take the land, I want to use you.

[Guest Speaker or Worship Leader]

I want to send you to places. Some of you young people, God you have no idea. God's going to send you all over the world for his purpose. If you'll give him your kingdom, if you'll give him your talents, your dreams, he'll send you all over the world.

[Jensen Franklin]

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 and we'll see you next time.