Frankie Mazzapica - God's Limitless Mercy
Thank you for tuning in today. My name is Frankie Mazzapica. The title of the message is "God's Limitless Mercy," "God's Limitless Mercy". There are two things in life that are limitless, the stupidity of mankind, and the grace and the mercy of God. Now, I would say, "Clap for that," but it'd be like self-identifying. The stupidity of mankind, how many times have we said to ourself, "What was I thinking"? How many times have you looked at somebody and just said, "What were you thinking"?
I mean, we can go all the way back to the Garden of Eden and think about Adam and Eve, and say, "What were you thinking? Every single tree on the planet, you can climb it if you want to, you can pluck its fruit, eat till you're sick to your stomach, lay under it, lay in the shade. But no, one tree, one tree you're not supposed to touch and here you go and you gobble it up. What were you thinking"? And this is the stupidity of mankind, but I don't want to spend time talking about that, I want to spend time talking about the limitless, the limitless mercy of God. I'm gonna tell you a story about a guy name Manasseh, Manasseh, Manasseh.
It's in 2 Chronicles chapter 34, and the entire message is going to come out of verses 2 through 13. And I want to say that this guy was the most evil king in the history of kingship in Jerusalem. There were a lot of people who were evil, he was most evil, he was the most wicked of all kings. I've got three major points, number one is wickedness, number two is distress, and number three is mercy. Let me talk to you about how wicked this man Manasseh was. First of all, he was a complete sinner from the aspect of sexual sin, he lived in immorality, he was promiscuous, he was perverted.
The Bible says this, that he enjoyed every type of sin, not only that, he made a covenant with the devil. There's some people that flirt with the devil, sometimes they go to church, sometimes they don't look like a church person at all, sometimes they honor God, sometimes you think, "Have you forgotten God"? But I'm not talking about that, he was at a level of wickedness that is almost unimaginable, he made a covenant with the devil to be a sorcerer, to dive into witchcraft. Now, I just said that it was unimaginable but that's not exactly true, it is astonishing how common witchcraft is today, astonishing. It is very likely that all of you know someone who's in witchcraft, you may not know that they are in witchcraft, but you know someone who's in witchcraft, you just don't know it.
Let me illustrate. I have a 17 year old daughter, her name is Presley, and her thing is drama, my son's thing is basketball, but Presley has been in drama ever since she was just a little girl and she's done so many dramas or plays that no one in the family could even count them. But the last drama she was in, it was very important for the storyline to have littles, you know, six and seven year olds, eight and nine year olds, and then obviously, the juniors and seniors, and she's a senior. Dear God, help, help me and her mother.
But anyway, she went back behind the curtain to tell the littles, "Hey, we're in practice, you're up". She gets behind the curtain and there are three girls around the ages nine, ten, and eleven, and one of the girls was calling in Satan, calling his presence to come be among the three of them. Two of the three had no idea what was going on, they were there to learn, they were curious, they wanted to find out what would happen. The girl that was calling him in knew exactly how to call him in. And you have to ask the question, "Where did she learn how to do this"? Our first knee-jerk response is probably accurate, she learned it from someone in her family, quite possibly her parents. But if it's not her parents, what's the next thing that we would jump onto? Her friends, friends that the parents may not even know of.
There was once a day where she was standing there curious, there was once a day where she was there to learn, and now she's the one calling him in. When you begin to dabble in witchcraft, you're making a deal with the enemy, you are going into relationship with Satan. Ouija boards, sorcery, all of those things, sometimes people are dabbling in witchcraft and they don't even know it. When they speak against someone, "I hope you die, I hope you lose your job, I hope you this, I hope you that," you're speaking out curses. But when that happens, most people are doing it inadvertently even though it has a massive, massive evil effect. But this was not inadvertent for Manasseh, he was doing it on purpose.
Not only was he evil, in the aspect of witchcraft and sexuality and participating in every kind of evil, he actually took his own children, went into a valley, set a huge fire, and began to sacrifice his own children to evil, his own children to a shrine, a false God. There was no evil greater than his. Can I just say this, though? There is a difference between wickedness and weakness. Everyone in this room who has flesh on their bones, which is all of you, we experience moments of weakness. The enemy will come along and say, "You're not weak, you're wicked, you are wicked, you are sinful, you are an abomination, you should be ashamed, you should hang your head, there are private things about your life that are despicable". Well, the reality is the devil is a liar. In John chapter 8, John chapter 8, verse 44, it says this, "When he lies, he speaks his native tongue".
Now, native tongue is something that I could just grab onto for a little while because I know a lot of people, as you do, that their first language is not English, and sometimes when they're speaking English it's exhausting, and then when they go to their native tongue, it's so easy, it just flows out of their mouth. See, when the enemy begins to speak lies, it just flows out of his mouth, it's his native tongue. In fact, he is the father of lies. You may have a weakness, I know I have a weakness, I have several weaknesses, but when I have a weak moment, I have to remind myself, "Frankie, you are a human being, you are not capable of being righteous without the help, without the mercy, without the grace of God". Stop beating yourself up, stop condemning yourself, because the Lord is full of mercy, he's full of grace, and he has grace flowing towards you every moment of your life.
How can you look at a person and say, "They have a weakness," and you look at another person and you say, "They are wicked"? It is their response after their action. A weak person does exactly what Psalms 51, verse 10 says, they come to the Lord after their moment of weakness and they say this: "God, create in me a pure heart, and renew within me a steadfast spirit". You may say it in your own words, but the Psalmist said, "Lord, you gotta create it in me because I can't do it myself, I've tried to do it myself, it's frustrating, it's discouraging, but create in me a pure heart and a steadfast spirit, help me to be loyal".
That's a person with weakness. A person with wickedness, when they make a mistake, they don't believe it's a mistake, they don't believe there's any sin attached to it. The Bible talks about these kind of people. In Isaiah chapter 5, verse 20, it says this: "They will call what is right, wrong, they will call what is black, white, they will call what is bitter, sweet, and what a sweet, bitter". These people have no righteousness scale, they have no moral compass, these are wicked people.
I want to talk to you about point number two, distress. The Bible says, in 2 Chronicles chapter 33, verse 11 and 12, that the Lord allowed the Assyrians to come take Manasseh captive, they put a ring in his nose, and they dragged him out of the city, out of the city of Jerusalem, and brought him to Babylon to be a slave. They cuffed him with bronze chains and they arrested him as a slave.
Now, I've been to Guatemala, I've been to a lot of countries to share the Word and I thank God for it, it's a tremendous honor, but I saw something in Guatemala that was very new to me. We were going down the road, or we were in a car going down the road, it was a dirt road, it was a lower income, very lower income family. Let me just tell you, if you have your health, you have a phenomenal life, if you have air conditioning, you have a phenomenal life, especially those of us who live in Texas, where it's 100 degrees and feels like 170. Nevertheless, these people are praying for their next meal. But I saw this guy walking down the street, he was actually in front of the car, we had to drive really slow. He was walking down the street with a rope and he was pulling a cow.
I don't know, I'm not a farmer, how much does a cow weigh, 5,000? I don't know, how much? 2,000 pounds. He's walking down the street with a 2,000 pound cow, and that cow was doing whatever, whatever he wants. We just bought a puppy, he pees all over the floor, I've yelled at it, I've conned it, I've given him treats, I've talked nice, I've talked mean, I can't get that dog to do anything. I've kennel trained it, I've bone trained it, I've boot trained it, I cannot get that dog to do what I want. This guy's got a 2,000 pound cow, he can do whatever he wants with it, because at the end of that rope it was tied to a ring and that ring was in the nose of the cow. If he'd just tugged that rope this way it'd go right, if he tugged it that way it would go left.
That cow was at his mercy and Manasseh was at the mercy of the Assyrians, at their mercy. They would just pull it, pop it, and the Bible says that he was full of distress. When you feel distress it is a sickness of the mind, that the enemy is literally shooting an arrow from hell straight into your mind, straight into your feeling, straight into your emotions, and there is only one way to break out of that, there is only one way to rip that ring out of your nose, there is only one way to shake off those chains and that is through worship. When someone worships Jesus, the person who worships Jesus silences the lies of Satan, silences them, silences them.
Do you know when you put on the helmet of salvation, this is in Ephesians chapter 6, I believe it's verse 13, it says when you put on the helmet of salvation. In those days, the helmets would cover your ears and it would cover the back of your neck and it would stop about right here. What I love about it is when it covers your ears, when the Lord puts that helmet of salvation on your head, you cannot hear the enemy, it is tightly fitted. And when you worship him, the helmet closes in and that devil is talking to himself, you can't hear it, he can't influence you. When you are worshiping God, when you have your mind's attention and your heart's affection on him, you cause those words to mute.
Now, why is it so hard to open your mouth and say the name of Jesus when you are overwhelmed with distress? Why is that so hard? I'm not judging you, I'm including you in my experience. I have fought depression most of my life; I am not depressed, I am fighting depression. You may not fight depression but you're fighting something. See, some of you have your church face on and that's fine, that's fine, that's alright, I'm not gonna judge you 'cause then I'll be having two things I'm fighting against. Fighting depression, and when I feel that, when I'm fighting that, I have absolutely zero desire to raise my hands and close my eyes and picture his face, which is how we worship.
In 2 Chronicles chapter 7, verse 14, it says this: "Those who call upon my name, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, I will forgive them of their sins and I will bless their land". But did you catch that, "Those who seek my face"? When you worship and you close your eyes and you seek his face, there's some times to come before him humbly but this should be the norm as a child of God, you lift your chin, you come before the throne, you close your eyes, and you seek his face, that's how you worship. Why is that so hard? Why is that so hard in our home? Oh, it's easy, it's easy in church, when you got people singing, "I am a friend of God, I am," and you're like, "Heck yeah, I am," but when you get home it's like your jaw has a master lock on it.
You can't open your lips, it's like a Zip-lock bag and you can't worship. You can't say the name of Jesus, it's so difficult to get your mind's attention on him, it is so hard. And why is it so hard? Because the enemy will come to you and say, "You don't feel like it and nothing's gonna happen so why do it anyway? Why do it anyway"? I was sleeping a couple weeks ago and I was in that place between sleep and awake, you've been there, and in this place of sleep and awake, I walk through my house and I turned into this room and I saw this devil, this evil, unclean spirit. It wasn't very big, it was about this tall, right here, he was little but it was just glowing with evil. I don't know if you've ever felt that in your life, but if you feel it, you never forget it. Are you with me? Say yes, you never forget it.
And I felt afraid and surrounded by evil, and I could only get one sentence out of my mouth and I said, "Get out of my house". The moment I said that, it was like powder in my hand, poof, gone, gone. But before I said that, I felt like I was paralyzed, paralyzed by evil, and I pushed it out of my soul, "Get out of my house". See, the enemy will cause you to shut your mouth and seal your lips and just feel like you are walking around with a ring in your nose, but when you worship, everything changes, everything changes in a moment, and that's why there's so much warfare on opening your mouth and saying, "Jesus". If you don't know what to pray don't get fancy, just say, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," picture his face, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," enemies flee.
Let me talk about my last and final point. First there is wickedness, then there's distress, then there's mercy. The Bible says, in 2 Chronicles chapter 33, verse 13, it says, "And then the Lord heard the prayer of Manasseh," this man full of witchcraft. He practiced every type of evil, he had a bond with the enemy, he sacrificed his own kids, this man was the epitome of evil, of wickedness; it wasn't weakness, it was wickedness. And the Bible says that he heard his prayer, and then it says, "And God was moved," "And God was moved".
And the Bible says that he pulled him out of slavery, brought him back to Jerusalem, and he reigned in his kingdom once again. When the Lord forgives you, he doesn't leave you to your own devices and says, "I forgave you, good luck". No, no, no, no, he forgives you and then he restores you, and then he partners with you. You have an assignment, you have an assignment. Everybody say that with me, "I have an assignment," 1-2-3, say it like you mean it, 1-2-3, say it like you want devil to be mad at it, alright? 1-2-3, "I have an assignment". He forgives you, he restores you, and then he partners with you.
The restoration process is when he begins to give back to you what was stolen, and if he doesn't give it back to you that means he has something better for you. Sometimes we can cry and be in distress for far too long for the things that we have lost. David had an affair with Bathsheba, she became pregnant, and then the baby became sick after it was birthed. And the Bible says that David was on his knees, crying out to the Lord, not giving himself any rest or food for days. The baby died, and all of a sudden someone came to him and he said, "David, the baby died," and the Bible says that he got up, he washed his face, he changed his clothes, and he moved forward.
There has to be a moment in your life where you say to yourself, "I have cried about this for the last time, I have cried about this for the last time". The Bible says that he gave him another son named Solomon, and to this day he is the wisest ruler that has ever lived. There has to be a moment when you receive the mercy of God and you say to yourself, "I will not beat myself up, I will not listen to the enemy about this situation ever again".