Frankie Mazzapica - Satan's Three Creative Attacks - Part 2
Thank you for tuning in today, my name is Frankie Mazzapica. The title of my message is "Satan's Creative Attacks, Part Two". I preached part one a couple of weeks ago, we're gonna dive into part two, and we're gonna just jump right into it by going to Ephesians chapter 6. We're gonna talk about chapter 6, verses 11 and 12, then we're gonna go 14, 15, 16, and 17. So, let's dive into it right now. If you want to open up your Celebration Church app, just go to the app store, type in "Woodland Celebration TW".
All of my notes are inside that app, you can follow along with me. But this is what the Scriptures read in Ephesians 6, verse 11. It says this, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against all of the devil's schemes". You know, the devil is much like a football team. He doesn't just show up and attack, he has a scheme, he has a strategy, he kind of moves people around. He brings this situation at the same time as he brings this situation, and he arranges the entire moment of chaos. And the Bible says if you put the full armor of God on, when he does his evil schemes, you will be able to stand your ground. I don't know if you remember those little kids... the kid's game and it's like this inflatable... it's like this big, and it's got a bag of sand at the bottom, and you punch it, and it goes back, and then it pops back up.
Do you know what I'm talking about? Just kind of nod at me. And so, you can punch it and it keeps falling back. You punch it, it keeps falling back, it gets back up, but you keep punching and punching, it keeps going down, and keeps going down, and keeps going down. And if you are not wearing the armor of God, if you are not purposely acknowledging the armor of God, you will continually be punched down. Bang, bang, bang, bang, that will be the story of your life. So, it says put on the full armor of God, because you are not wrestling against any family member, you're not wrestling against your wife, your husband, your grandmother, your grandfather, your aunt, your uncle, your boss, your coworker. You're not wrestling against people. You're not wrestling against flesh and blood.
What you are fighting against are evil rulers and authorities in an unseen world. There are spirits in an unseen world. It's like oxygen, you can't see it, but it's there. And these evil rulers and authorities, they're mighty powers in this dark world. They're evil spirits in heavenly places. The first heaven is the atmosphere that you can see, the sky; this is where these evil spirits fly around. They hover like a flock of bats. They're in the air, they're around you, and so the Bible says, stand your ground. Don't keep getting punched over and over and over. First it's your family, then your finances, then it's depression, then it's fear, then it's... no, no, stop, enough. Stand your ground. But this is how you have to do it. You don't just, like, "Okay, that was the last time". You can say that was the last time a hundred times and it's still not gonna be the last time.
You have to put the belt of truth on you. You have to mentally see it in your spirit. You have to imagine it the best way you can. The belt of truth. You gotta say, "I can't see it, but I know it's there. I'm putting it on, it's the belt of truth. The breastplate of righteousness, I'm putting it on. I'm not righteous, I'm not perfect, my past is peppered with sins, but the Lord has made me righteous. He has poured his blood on me. I am righteous not because of who I am, but because of who he is. I am righteous". Any thought that you think that you are not righteous, that you are not holy, that you have eliminated yourself because of the way you have lived, these words pull you down. And any words that make you feel bad is coming from Satan. Any thoughts that are lifting you up, that's coming from the Lord.
And so, you say, "I'm putting on the breastplate of righteousness. I can't see it, but I know it's there. I'm consciously putting it on. I'm putting on the shoes of peace," and the peace is the good news. The good news is that I don't have to be punished for my sins, that's the good news. In Psalms 103, verse... let me think, oh, verse 10, it says this, that the Lord will not punish you for your sins, for he knows that you were made from dust. He's not gonna punish you. This is how God treats his children. And then these are the three that I'm gonna talk about next. These are my three points for this message. It says, put on the shield of faith so that you will be able to handle the fiery darts from the enemy, the arrows of the enemy.
I've seen movies before, it's like, you know, battle movies from the old times, and archers, you know, there's like hundreds of 'em, they all pull it out, and they shoot the.. and it's like this huge, like the sky turns black of all these arrows coming down, and everybody that the arrows are coming down, they just bend down, they put their shields up and the arrows can do nothing. This is what it's saying, is that you have a shield to where the arrows cannot affect you. Then it goes on to say that you have a helmet of salvation. It goes right on your head. And then you have a sword of the Spirit. Those are the three things I'm gonna talk about.
Some of the people that we are most indebted to are the veterans and the people who are now fighting for us. These men and women who are soldiers in the Army, the Marines, the Navy, these people we are indebted to. But I want to say, if you can imagine these soldiers that have been given a helmet, they've been given a vest of protection, they've been given special boots that have been designed for what they do, they've been given artillery. What if one of them pushed back and said, "I'm not gonna need that, I'm okay"? "You know, I live my life in a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and some cool Nikes; that's all I need. I know kung fu, I don't need it".
Can you imagine how stupid that would be? Can you imagine what the general would say to this soldier? I don't even want to try to quote him. I mean, it'd be some very colorful language. It's insane to do that. Equally, it is insane to try to fight these battles, this war by ourselves. You know, there's a movie out called "The Lone Survivor," and it's about a Navy SEAL that went on a mission, and I think he went on a mission with, like, five or six guys, and he was the only one that survived. It was a group of Navy SEALs, and the movie is based on a guy by the name of Marcus Luttrell. Well, Marcus Luttrell is a local guy here in the Houston area, and he sends his kids to the same school that I send my kids to. But I didn't know who Marcus Luttrell was. I hadn't seen the movie.
Actually, I did see the movie, but they don't call, like, I just didn't know. I didn't know what he looked like, but there was this time where I backed my truck in to drop my kids off, and I see this big black truck pull up, vwoom, and he gets out, and he's like 6'5". I didn't know who he was, but I knew he was somebody because of the way he carried himself. I'm like, this guy is not a normal guy, and he was just walking, and I was so enamored with him because I'm like, this guy has a confidence that I don't think I've ever seen before. And so, every day I would get there early to drop my kids off so I can watch this guy. I've never seen anything like it, and I would try to imitate it, but, like, he would get out and just be wearing, like, some basketball shorts, and then he'd have combat boots on, and have some, you know, T-shirt on. His hair was, like, half done, it was early in the morning, it's just, like.. but he just had this confidence. I was like, who is this guy?
So, I'd sit with my car backed up, my truck, and my truck has some tinted windows, so I'm like, "Ha-ha, you can't see me". And then one day... and again, I didn't know who he was. One day, he walks by and he goes...and I was like, oh gosh, I feel so dumb right now. I feel so dumb right now. He just looked right at me and he nodded. Well, a few weeks later, the school called me up and they said, "Hey, we got this big banquet going on, we want you to be the emcee of the banquet". I was like, "Yeah, sure I'll do it". They said, "We want you to introduce this guy named Marcus Luttrell". I was like, "I don't know who this guy is, but sure, I'll do it". He's the speaker, he shows up, and I'm like, oh my, this... so, I'm up there, and I'm like, okay, well, you know, I might as well just own it, right?
The way you get rid of the elephant in the room is talk about it, right? So, I'm like, yeah, I used to back my truck up, and I used to watch this guy. I didn't know who he was, and I'm like, everybody's laughing except for him in the back. I'm like, this guy's unbreakable. So, he comes up on the stage, I hand 'em the mic, and you know, typically I shake their hand or something like that, and I'm like, I just need to get out of here. So, I hand 'em the mic, I walk off, and he goes, "Hey". I turned around, he goes, "I saw you every morning". I'm like, you are a superhero. And he gets up there to talk, and he goes, "I remember the first time I fell asleep underwater". Are you Aquaman? Like... He goes, "I was underneath an aircraft carrier, it was pitch black, it was the most scared I've ever been in my entire life, and I just went to sleep".
And I'm like, I don't even know how to get my brain wrapped around that. And he comes up, and now let me get back to my message. Could you imagine if this Navy SEAL is like, "I'm good with my T-shirt, I don't need it. I don't need the equipment. I don't need it". Isn't that insane? When you think about the reality that every moment you wake up, Satan is after you. In Genesis chapter 4, verse 7, it says that sin crouches at your door. Have you ever seen a cat crouch or a lion crouch? Their tail looks like it's like a coat hanger, and they're down, and they're so patient, and they're just sitting there. This is what's sitting outside of your house every single day. You walk out and there's an attack. Every day there's an attack. And if we ignore the armor of God, we are the soldier that's showing up with T-shirts and wearing Converse and Adidas out in the battlefield.
I want to say this before I talk about the shield, before I talk about the helmet, before I talk about the sword, which are my three main points. Let me say this about armor. The armor of God is available for everyone, but you have to decide whether or not you want to use it. The armor of God is only powerful if you believe that it's powerful. The armor of God only exists if you believe that it exists. And if you do, you will experience victory after victory, and victory, testimonies of victory, will be the story of your life. There are so many people who the story of their life is one devastating moment after another, devastation, devastation, devastation.
Can I tell you, put the armor of God on, change your narrative, change the story. Have this moment where it was as of 2023, everything changed. I started calling the shots. I started being the person who was provoking. This is what I do. Let me talk about the shield, the shield of faith. Like a gladiator, Christians were born to fight. It's our destiny to be assaulted and it is our duty to attack. Christians are like gladiators, they're like Spartans. We're born to fight. We are born being attacked, but we are also born to be victors and attack back. We are not passive children of God, we're aggressive children of God. You know, I'm pretty transparent when I speak. Sometimes I'm so transparent that when I walk off the stage, I go, okay, I went too far. I went way too far.
You see, when I'm standing on the platform in the house of God, I have muscles on my teeth. I've got lightning in my veins, fire in my bones, but when I walk off this stage, I'm just me again, and I gotta fight it just like everybody else. So, when I'm on here and I'm like, be transparent, be honest, show everybody that you have to fight the battle, too. You're anointed to preach it, but you gotta live it like everybody else. And I have this courageous spirit, I don't... here it is. And then I get in my truck, and I want to drive it off the bridge, I'm like, I can't believe I said all that. But here we go, one of the greatest challenges that I have in my personal life is I have this... what's it called? It's impostor syndrome. It's when I don't honestly believe in myself, and soon everyone else is going to figure it out.
To get a little bit more specific, I struggle to believe that there is an anointing on my life. I struggle to believe that my assignment in the future is going to be better than what I imagine it will be. I struggle with that. In most days, I'm losing. Most days, I think that my hopes and my dreams, I'm gonna die with these hopes and these dreams, and soon everyone is gonna figure out that I'm an impostor, that I don't have an anointing, and that's gonna get me. And these are the things that I have to fight. I don't know what you have to fight, it may be exactly the same, it may be completely different. But like Spartans, Christians are born to fight. It's our destiny to be assaulted, but it is our duty to attack back.
How do I attack? I typically just pray. "God, you gotta help me. I need your help". And I pray fervently. A prayer without fervency is like hunting with a dead dog. If you're going to pray in a way that is going to bore you, it's probably boring God, so pray fervently if you're gonna pray at all. You can say the same thing over and over again, but say it from the core of who you are. "I love you, I love you, I love you". And then there's this one particular verse that I hang onto, Proverbs 3:26, where it says, "The Lord will be my confidence. He will keep my foot from being caught".
I am an imposter, I'm not anointed by myself, but the presence of God is dripping on me, so now I can do things that I wouldn't normally be able to do. Let me tell you, the anointing of God is on you. Before you were born, he knew you. While you were in your mother's womb, Isaiah 49:1, he spoke your name. He said it out loud. He said your name. You have a significant assignment that no one else can do, and you've got to remember that, and that's how you use the shield. The helmet of salvation is specifically for defense against false doctrine, things that get presented as truth, but they're not. It's false doctrine.
Oftentimes, I've been asked, "Frankie, do you believe that a person can be a Christian, give their life to the Lord, and then turn their back on the church, turn their back on God, and still be saved"? And I always say the same answer: "That answer is above my pay grade". I don't know for sure what's going to happen, but I do know this, that if you're basing your entire theology on scriptures like Romans 10:9 that say if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. If that's your entire theology, you may need to study a little more, because one scripture does not cancel out another scripture; all scripture comes together.
And so for the person who walks around saying, "Grace, grace, grace, I can live how I want," I would say this. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26, it says to the person who has come to the knowledge of God, but they still sin deliberately, there remains no sacrifice for their sin. These are the people that read the Bible, they see it's a sin, they justify it in their head, and the Bible says there will be no sacrifice for your sin. And so, I always say that you need to work it out with fear and trembling.
You need to say, "God, I believe both scriptures. I believe in Romans 10:9. I believe in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26. God, I need your grace. I need your strength. I need your anointing, because my life is not for my selfish desires, my life is to serve you. My life is to serve you". So, the helmet is to protect you from false doctrine, people who present truth, but it's not truth. And then the very last one is the sword of the Spirit, and this is the Word of God. I went out with a friend of mine recently, we were having dinner. He's a believer, and I said, "How often do you pray"? He says, "Never".
I'm going to tell you that if you're not praying, you do not have a relationship with God. If you're not talking to God, you don't have a relationship with God. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, it says, pray all the time. All the time be aware of his Spirit. All the time pray out loud. All the time if you can't pray out loud, you're praying in your head, you're praying in your heart. This is the way that we begin to realize that the Word of God is when we speak to God and he speaks back to us, but more importantly, the Word of God is the scripture from God, the inspired words of God in the holy Scriptures.
And as you study men and women in church history, the men and women who studied the Bible the most had the most power. You are not any different from them. In Romans chapter 2, verse 11 it says that God has no favorites, and I want you to know that if you can grab one or two scriptures and quote them with passion, and then add one or two scriptures on top of the original one or two scriptures, and then add one or two scriptures on top of those one or two scriptures, you begin to sharpen your blade, and you can wield it around, and hell will tremble.
In Acts 19:15, a demon spoke to a guy who was trying to stand in the authority of God, and the demon said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you"? If you can grab one or two scriptures, start wielding your sword with those scriptures. Hell will know your name and it will fear you, because you are fighting with the sword of the Spirit. Do you receive that today? Come on.