Frankie Mazzapica - Don't Let Go of The Ladder
Thank you for tuning in today. My name's Frankie Mazzapica. The title of today's message is, "Don't Let Go of the Ladder". Don't Let Go of the Ladder. I will pull the ladder into the message in just a moment and kind of braid, if you will, the title into that. But before I do, I just wanna give you the premise of this message. Each of you were born with a divine assignment from God. When he saw you in your mother's womb in Isaiah chapter 49, verse 1, it says this: "I knew you when you were in your mother's womb. And I spoke your name".
Now, when he spoke your name, he formed you in your mother's womb. "There's a little nose, we're gonna put some ears in the little head," and when he formed you, he formed you with an assignment. Now, the assignment that's on your life is far from being completed. If it were already completed, the Lord would snatch you up and bring you to heaven because everything that you can, in heaven, you can praise him, you can worship him. But he can't use you to encourage and encourage people to love the Lord and worship him. That's something that you can only do here. But all of you have a different kind of assignment.
But there's one part of your assignment, that's the same for all of us. And this assignment is literally to headhunt people, to look for people to lift them up and strengthen them. Think about the troubles and the battles that you have. Just know this, you are not unique. The people on your row are also fighting battles that you know nothing about, but they don't know about yours. So the one thing that I can guarantee is that a part of your assignment, a part of all of our assignments, is to be the source of strength to lift people up.
There was a guy by the name of John Mark in the Bible and this was his primary goal to come along next to people and lift them up. He wasn't quite sure if God had called him for anything else. We don't find out about that in the Bible. But what we do know is that he spends his time lifting people up. I'll give you three examples. In the book of Acts chapter 15, verse 39, we see a guy named Barnabas and he says, "I'm going on a missions trip and I want you, John Mark, to come with me," and when he did, they sailed to Cyprus for a missions trip. So that's the first person, Barnabas. John Mark says, "I'm going to support you".
This is not, "I'm not the leader of the missions trip. You are, but I'm going to support you". And then in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 11, we find Paul, the apostle Paul, writing a letter to Timothy and he says, "Send John Mark to me. He is very useful in the ministry". So now we got Barnabas, now we got the apostle Paul, and now let's go to Peter. Peter says this in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 13, it says: "John Mark, you are like a son to me". This is what he did. This was his primary focus to look for people and lift them up. Do you know how hard that is when you have your own worries, you have your own concerns, you're overwhelmed, you're stressed out, you're spinning this plate.
As soon as you get that one going good, then this plate starts wobbling. You spin this plate, you spin that plate, you're spinning this plate. All these responsibilities and then just take a side step and say, "But I know it is my divine assignment to encourage and strengthen other people". Do you know how hard that is, spinning plates, but yet I'm gonna lift other people up. It's so hard. But I hope by the end of this message, I can help you see that it can be a lot easier than what we think it is.
When I... let me think, when I was a freshman in high school, my friend Dan said, "Hey, have you ever skipped school before without your parents knowing"? And I was like, "No, I have not". And he goes, "Well, let's do it tomorrow". I'm like, "Okay, let's do it". And so we came up with this master plan. We're gonna leave the house at our normal time. And instead of going to the bus stop, we lived in an apartment complex. Instead of going to the bus stop, we would go meet at his apartment behind the bushes because he was raised by a single mother. And we had to wait for her to leave. As soon as she left, we went up into his apartment and we lived like kings. We were eating Cheetos. We played video games all day long.
And I said to myself, "I can't believe this is the first time I've ever skipped school, but I can promise you this, it won't be the last". We're having so much fun. And then we kept track on when the bus came back. And as soon as the bus came back, we ran out of the house. I walked back into my house, exactly, at the exact time I always do. And I walked in like a boss. I walked in, "Hey Ma, hey Dad". Bang. Walked into my room, shut the door. And just lay down, put my legs over each other. That was awesome. But there was one thing I forgot to do, just this one little detail. I left the house that morning, so excited to skip school that I left my lunch on the counter. My lunch was always in a brown paper sack.
When I walked out, I left it there. So my father looked at the brown paper sack and he says, "Oh my goodness". You're ahead of me. He goes, "I'm gonna take this to school, so my son doesn't go hungry". Walks into the school. I'm in my friend's house, eating Cheetos, thinking, "I am the man," playing video games. He walks in and he says, "I need to talk to my son, Frankie". Secretary pulls up my name to find out where I'm at in the school. And she says, "Your son Frankie didn't come to school today". He says, "Of course he did," back and forth. "No, your son did not come to school today".
Now, how many of you have a father that, even though he may be a nice guy, at any minute, he can lose his mind? Wave at me. Lose his mind. My father is Sicilian. When parents send their kids to time out, I don't even know what that means. The only time out my parents have ever put me in is when I get smacked and get knocked out. This was back in the day where parents don't get arrested for that kind of stuff, just bang, bang, bang. So my dad comes back home and he walks into my room and he says, "I know you skipped school. I want you to know you crushed me today". I'll never forget that moment. And then he looks at me and he says, "I need you to get your life together".
Took me out of that school, put me in another school, smaller school. The principal was also my basketball coach and also my teacher. He was like everything, and he's teaching me stuff. He was a really good teacher, I loved the guy. I just couldn't pass the grade, the class, and he looks at me and he goes, "Frankie, I see something in you. I just don't know what it is". Ended up moving on and I started getting my life together around 18 and the pastor comes up to me and he says, "Hey, I wanna make you the assistant youth pastor". Well, that didn't last very long because I wanted to teach the kids how serious hell would be. So I got a friend of mine to put a suit on and I was gonna light him on fire.
So that didn't last very long. You're fired, you're done. But I do remember he did look at me and say, "Frankie, I see something in you but I just don't know what it is". When my wife walked into the sanctuary for the first time where I was going to church, I grabbed the tithe and offering envelope, wrote on the back, "I'm gonna marry that girl". I went down, I shook her hand. Some of you have heard this story before. I said, "Hi, my name is Don Juan Demarco. I am the greatest lover who has ever lived".
That's not true. I just said, "Frankie". A year and a half, we were engaged. Another 6 months, we were married, and after 23 years, I've heard this about a dozen times. People say, "What was it about Frankie that made you wanna marry him"? And I promise: "I saw something in him. I just didn't know what it was". See, Barnabas saw... I'm sorry, John Mark saw something in Barnabas. John Mark saw something in Peter. He saw something in the apostle Paul. He's like, "I'm not quite sure what it is, but this is what I'm gonna do: I'm going to support you. I'm going to hold, I am not the man. Everybody is not gonna be looking at me. All I'm gonna do is support you".
And I can say this, as funny as those stories are, it felt so good to have people look at me and say, "I see something in you". And John Mark decided, "Look, I'm gonna follow you around, Barnabas, and all I'm gonna do is support you. That's all I'm gonna do". Then he looked at the apostle Paul and he says, "All I'm gonna do is support you. All I'm gonna do is hold the ladder for you. I want you to feel me support you. God might be using you in greater ways than he's using me. But I'm just gonna hold the ladder for you".
How in the world did John Mark support the apostle Paul, because at the time when he was supporting him, he was in jail. The apostle Paul was in jail, but yet John Mark supported him. And the apostle Paul said, "Please send him to me". How did he support him? He would go into the prison and sit down on that rock floor and lean against the prison cell and just keep him company. All he did was say, "Look, I am here to support you. Barnabas, I'm here to support you". The strength that that brings, the same strength, "Frankie, I see something in you". "Barnabas, I see something". "Paul, I'm not sure, you're bigger in life than me. I'm not as anointed as you, but I just want you to know, I'm gonna keep you company. You're never gonna do anything alone".
Now, watch this. John Mark, let me just call him Mark. John Mark goes up to Peter and Peter says this in 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 13, he says, "John Mark was like a son to me". Well, how did that happen? See, Mark never saw Jesus. Jesus had already died on the cross and left. But Peter knew Jesus, and Peter would tell Mark stories like, "One time I was in a boat and we're in the middle of the storm and Jesus comes walking by, walking on the water, and I was like, 'Man, that looks like fun.' Boom, boom..." He would tell stories. "One time, Jesus walked up to a man. He was blind. Jesus took mud, put it in his eyes. When the mud came off, he could see".
And he was telling him all these stories. And Mark says this back: "I never had the opportunity that you had. I didn't get that kind of position or calling. But what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna support you in a way that I believe God wants me to encourage you. This is what I'm gonna do". And he opens up a scroll and he gets a pen, he dips it in the ink and says, "Tell me stories about Jesus," and he writes and he writes, and the apostle Paul talks and all he's doing is writing. What's he doing? He's just saying, "Look, I'm just gonna support you. I'm gonna encourage you. This has nothing to do with me. I'm not getting anything out of this. But this is how I'm going to live my life. I find people and I encourage them. This is what I do and you can always count on me. I'm not leaving the ladder. I'm gonna hold you stable".
And then the Lord looks down and sees what Mark is doing. He's just sitting there. As the apostle Paul's talking, he's writing, he's writing. And the Lord looks at him and says, "Mark, I see what you're doing. You're just living your life, looking for people to encourage. I see what you're doing and I'm not gonna let you lift other people up without lifting you up". And so he says, "Mark, I see what you're doing. I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do, Mark". He says, "I'm gonna take that letter, Mark, and I'm gonna take it and it's gonna be in the New Testament," boom.
Matthew is the first book in the New Testament. What's the next one? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Mark. Mark devoted his life. "Barnabas, I'm gonna support you. I'm gonna encourage you. I'm gonna go on a missions trip with you and all I'm gonna do is encourage you". He says, "Look, Peter, we all know you're crazy". See, let me just take a sidebar. You know the story about Peter and when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and these soldiers came into the garden because they're gonna arrest Jesus, hang him on a cross. But when you're in the garden and these guys come in to arrest Jesus, Peter, one of the 12 apostles, reaches into his robe and pulls out a sword. First, what is an apostle doing, hiding a sword? Anyway, he looks at one of the soldiers and he chops his ear off.
Now, let's be honest, was he really aiming for his ear or was he trying to split his head open and missed? And so Mark says, "We all know you're crazy, Peter. But you know what? I see something in you, I'm gonna support you and I'm gonna hold the ladder". You're gonna look at Peter, people and you're gonna think they've lost their mind. You're gonna see people and you're gonna think they're lost as a goose. You look in their face and it's all unhappy, mad, and angry. But these are those that Mark would look for. "You're in prison. You are crazy. Paul, you're in prison. Peter, you're crazy. Barnabas, you don't even have a role for me, but I'm gonna follow you around".
There was a kid in our neighborhood. His name was Chris. Chris was just a little boy when we met him, and he would come over to the house and play with our kids. Now before he... when he was born, his father killed himself shortly, he committed suicide, and his mother was addicted to drugs. She was strung out. And so he was raised by his aunt and he would come over to the house and play with my son. And I looked at him one day, he was only about 9 years old. And I thought to myself, "He doesn't have a dad to look at him and lift him up and encourage him".
And I remember nominating myself. Every time he'd come over to the house, I'd say "Chris". Actually, his name was Christian. I'd say "Christian, you're gonna be very successful". And I remember the first 15 times: "Christian, you're gonna be very successful". He would just kind of drop his head and say, "Thank you, thank you". And then the magical day happened. I said, "Christian, you're gonna be very successful". And he looks at me and he says, "I know". I kept saying it. Sometimes you have to speak life into someone's life until they believe it. Until they believe you. Today he's married. He's got a great career. And I look at him now, and I said, "I told you. Gonna be very successful".
Did I go out and look for him? It was in the course of my life as I'm spinning plates in my own life, spinning plates. When somebody comes walking through my life, I go, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, just want you to know you're gonna be very successful". The principal of the school, he's got his own work. But Frankie comes walking in and he says, "Hey, I see something in you". It's Mark, he just, Barnabas, Apostle Paul, he's like, "Oh, hold on. We just crossed paths". Can I say you don't have to go looking for people to encourage. God will bring them to you. He will bring them to you. Now, why am I illustrating supporting people with a ladder? I'm so glad you asked.
Two weeks ago, I went to New Jersey to officiate my cousin's wedding. My uncle Mark was there and he says to me, he says, "I had a dream about you the other night". Now, when you hear something like that, it's almost like you wanna say, "I don't want to know what you dreamed". It's kind of like a parent, when your kid comes walking up and it says, "Hey, you remember the time when you said", and you're like, "I have no idea what's about to come out of your mouth right now". But he comes up to me and he says, "I had a dream about you last night". He said, "My dream was, is I had a ladder".
And it didn't look like this one. It was straight, like a fireman's ladder. And he goes, "It was leaning up on a wall and I was climbing the ladder". And he goes, "And all of a sudden, I felt the ladder start to fall backwards. And I was really scared and then all of a sudden it stopped falling backwards. And I looked down and you were holding the ladder and you pushed it back on the wall". And I thought to myself, "That is our assignment". We look for people to hang on to the ladder and say, 'I don't know who else is in your life. I don't know how other people talk to you, but you just crossed in my path and I want you to know I'm not going anywhere.
Now, do you actually say that, "I'm not going anywhere"? They might think you're a kook if you say that, but when they can look into your eyes and see that you're there and if you can just somehow get it out of your mouth or write it in a card or take your phone and record yourself and text it to 'em, "I see something special". When you do that, you can put your head on your pillow and know that you are completing the assignment that God has for your life. Does that encourage anybody? Come on, put your hands together for that. Come on.