Frankie Mazzapica - I Believe In You
The title of today’s message is very simple: «I Believe in You.» I have three major points. The first point is the power that takes place when you look at someone and say, «I believe in you.» The second point is when you can sense in your spirit that the Lord is looking at you and saying, «I believe in you.» The third point is when somebody crosses over, lifts their chin, meets your eyes, and says, «God, my faith is as thin as paper, but I want you to know, I believe in you.»
Let’s jump into the first point: the power of when somebody says, «I believe in you.» I’m going to share three scriptures that support each of those points. I will quote them, and then we will read them together. In Proverbs 12:25, it says, «Anxiety weighs on the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.» Let’s read it together now: one, two, three—"Anxiety.» Hold on—Luke wasn’t reading! Now we have to do it all over again. One, two, three—really loud: «Anxiety.» Every single one of us fights things that nobody knows about; every person you look at is fighting something you know nothing about. When you look at them and say, «I believe in you,» whether it’s with words or through eye contact with a smile, you lift them up.
There was a study conducted by sociologists on NBA basketball teams. They started in the preseason, before the season even began, and they said, «We think we can predict which teams are going to perform well during the season and make it to the playoffs.» They studied the teams in the preseason, and keep in mind, after the preseason, the season consists of 81 games. The teams that do the best over those 81 games go to the playoffs. They posited, «We can predict which teams will go to the playoffs.»
They figured it out by observing how many of the players gave each other a high five or a fist bump during the preseason. Isn’t that wild? The teams that did it the most—because when you give someone a high five, you are nonverbally saying, «I believe in you; you’re doing awesome,"—saw the best results. When someone receives that kind of encouragement repeatedly, they begin to believe it as well, and their spirit begins to be lifted up.
My son plays basketball, and they had a basketball party toward the end of the year. He just finished his junior year and is going into his senior year, and they have a new coach. The parents showed up, and when we were there, one of Luke’s teammates has a brother who is a dwarf. If you are a dwarf, you can assume that your confidence and insecurity are often extremely challenged, but the parents, his brother, and the other siblings look at him and say over and over again, «God made you this way for a special reason.» The young man is about nine years old, and his parents started a YouTube channel just to follow him around because he is that special; he has gone viral, and thousands of people have subscribed to his channel.
When I went to the party, I saw him and said, «Are you the one who’s famous?» He looked at me and said, «Yep,» and then went on playing with his friends. He simply looked at me and said, «Yep.» He is not lacking in confidence because people are constantly lifting him up—a little high five here, a smile there, eye contact everywhere. I remember when I went to a new school; I attended 13 schools growing up. I was nervous going into this new school, and my dad looked at me and said, «Frankie, with your personality, you’re going to be just fine; don’t worry about it. However, if you want to make an impact that nobody ever forgets, look for kids who are not cool in every classroom and just walk around giving them high fives and saying hi, because these kids will appreciate you, and the popular kids will notice, too.» So I did. Wouldn’t you know, years later, far after I graduated, I bump into people, and they remember me?
On the flip side, people who do the exact opposite are not forgotten either, but for the exact opposite reasons. The power of looking at someone and saying, «I believe in you,» causes cheer to be lifted up. Everybody is fighting something you know nothing about, but God has called you to walk around and look at people and nonverbally or verbally give them a high five, look them in the eyes, and say something with an air that lets people know you like them. Are you with me? Say yes! Are you with me? Say yes!
Those words, «I believe in you,» are powerful. Secondly, when God sets it in your heart that something is good… I’m a bit embarrassed right now because I mentioned my son Luke and didn’t know I would need him for multiple examples. So, Luke, I apologize. The sense of knowing that God is for you—let me quote a scripture that supports it, and then we will read it together. In Psalm 139, David says, «God, you have searched my heart.» Now personalize this: God has searched your heart; He knows everything about your heart. He says, «You see me every time I sit down.» He notices when you sit down. He says, «You see me every single time I stand up.» He is aware of whenever you stand up. He continues, «You see me when I travel or when I stay at home and rest.» You know everything I do. Watch this; I’m personalizing it—He knows every single word you say before you say it. This is God believing in you. Deep down inside, you can almost sense—not out loud, but you can almost sense the Lord talking to you and saying it.
Now we are all going to read this scripture together. If Crystal doesn’t read, we’re going to do it all over again! All right, come on; let’s read it together: «Oh Lord.» Crystal wasn’t reading? Okay, oh Lord.
All right, Luke, I’m sorry. I have to use you one more time. He’s good at basketball; I’m not trying to brag on him, but he is. About a year and a half ago, someone threw the ball in the air, and he caught it with two hands—almost dunking! That’s incredible for a kid his age. When he was a freshman, we were so excited because he had four years of basketball in high school. However, in the middle of a game, someone elbowed him right in the tooth, and his tooth was dangling. We had to get to an orthodontist quickly to save it, which ruined half of his freshman year. But it’s okay; he had three more years.
Going into his sophomore year, while playing basketball, someone came down for a rebound, and their elbow busted his nose. Blood was everywhere! We had to take him to a plastic surgeon to put him under and fix his bone. His sophomore year was gone; he wore a mask to play and missed half of it. Then, his junior year—sorry, sophomore year gone; freshman year lost, but it’s okay; we have two more years.
In his junior year, during the preseason, he snapped his ACL and went to the ground—junior year over. But it’s alright; his senior year is coming up. He just finished his junior year, and three weeks ago, they got a new basketball coach at Tomball High School. The new coach started asking the players, «Who do you guys think should be the captain next year?» Unanimously, all the players said Luke Mazipeka. The next day during practice, he snapped his ACL again. Senior year gone. Freshman year, sophomore year, junior year, senior year all taken away.
I’m going to say something that will make him emotional, his mother emotional, and we’ve already cried over this. I’ll never see him in a basketball jersey again. The whole family stepped back, and I’m sorry, but I’m emotional because this just happened. We were all saying, «God, what on earth?» I felt the Lord tell me, not out loud but right down in here, «Do you think you love him more than I do? I’m not done writing his story; this is just part of it.»
It’s just part of it. For some of you, the Bible says in John 6:33 that no man comes to God unless drawn by the Son. You are not here because someone made you come; you felt drawn to come. The Lord drew you here. When I was in Bible college, I got upset with the Lord and decided not to pray for about three months. I was in Bible college, sitting at the back of the church, and I felt the Lord tell me, «I miss you.»
How many of you have had a similar moment with the Lord? These are moments when you feel the Lord say, «I believe in you. I’ve been paying attention to you even when you haven’t been paying attention to me.» The Bible says that you are the apple of His eye, which means you are the center of attention. While you have a peripheral view, you can only focus on one thing at a time. Whatever you are focusing on is the apple of your eye. He has not taken His eye off of you. It’s the Lord saying, «I believe in you; I’m not done writing your chapter.»
The power of saying «I believe in you.» The power of a high five, the power of lifting someone up, and the power of feeling the Lord say, «I believe in you.» Now for the few—not everyone—the few who say, «God, I believe in you. You believe in me; I believe in you.» David, King David, with a crown on his head and the kingdom at his feet, says, «One thing I want: to worship you in your temple, to gaze at the glory of your face, and to praise you in your house all the days of my life.» Let’s all read it together. If I miss a couple of words, you’ll still get the heart of it: one, two, three—"One thing.» The few—not everyone. How do I know it’s the few? In Matthew 13:7, it says, «Narrow is the gate; narrow is the path that leads to eternal life, and a few find it.» A few will say, «I believe in you.»
Sometimes when I believe in you, it’s this much; sometimes it’s this much, but I want you to know I believe in you. I enjoy listening to preachers during the week; I learn a lot and feel inspired. One of the preachers was being interviewed about his new book, and the interviewer asked, «What do you say to people who say 'I believe in God, but when I pray, I really don’t notice a difference, so I don’t pray that much'?» He replied, «Pray for 20 minutes a day for six months and then come back and talk to me.»
When I pray, I have an appointment with God. Anytime I come to my office, I put a «Do Not Disturb» sign on my door, shut the door, and pray for a few hours. When he said that, I thought 20 minutes wouldn’t interrupt my day. From now on, every day when I wake up, the first thing I’ll do is pray for 20 minutes. I heard the message on Wednesday, and that week, I flew to Milwaukee to minister to a pastor to the best of my ability, then flew back on Thursday. I heard the interview on Wednesday, and I told the Lord, starting tomorrow morning, I’m going to do this.
On the plane, I pulled my hat down and my hoodie over my head because I didn’t want to look like a nutcase. I started whispering to the Lord—without using my voice—for 20 minutes. I don’t know if I felt God or if I was just proud of myself. Friday morning, I did the same thing for 20 minutes. I set my phone alarm and promised not to stop until it went off. Just like you, while I was praying, my mind started to wander, and I prayed, «Holy Spirit, help me.» I began to focus on anything that crossed my mind. That was Friday.
Saturday morning, first thing after I had my coffee—because that’s an anointed drink—I went straight to the guest bedroom on my knees, set my phone alarm for 20 minutes. I already know I wake up at 5 in the morning on Sundays, and I know when I get to my office, I’ll be praying, but I committed to 20 minutes. I finished praying and said to my wife, «I’m going to do a new sermon.»
Now I really don’t need to worry about putting ten hours into a message or eight hours into a message because it’s at the top of my mind. I took a yellow sticky note, wrote out my message, took a picture of it, and sent it to the media team. They were thrilled! When you live your life with this one thing in mind, I want to seek Him, you’re part of the few. You’re saying, «If I only do one thing right in my life, it will be to keep my eyes on you.» Why don’t you stand up on your feet and keep clapping?
Lord, we love you! I would like for all of our prayer partners to come down, if you would. Let me ask you a question: if your heart were to stop beating in the next five minutes, are you 100% sure that you’re ready to see Jesus and you know where you’re going to spend eternity? 100%—not 99, not 95, not just because you believe in God; the devil believes in God. But are you sure? If you’re not 100% sure, I am begging you not to leave this sanctuary without telling the Lord, «I’m yours, and I need your grace and mercy.» Whether I trip or fall, I’m part of the few; I believe in you, and I trust you.
If that’s you, in a minute—not right now—I encourage you to come out of your seat and take the hand of a prayer partner and just say, «I need to get my life right with God.» If you say, «I don’t want to do that in front of everybody,» remember, the Bible states that if you’re ashamed of God in front of people, He’ll be ashamed of you when He sees you.
That’s one group. The second group is for those of you who, throughout the week, find yourselves needing someone to pray for you. If that’s you today, this is your day. You just want someone to pray for you, and these prayer partners are here for exactly that. If all the prayer partners are occupied, just come to the bottom of the aisle. We have some of the finest ushers in the world who will point you to the first available prayer partner. There’s no official dismissal; you can leave whenever you want.
But what I’m going to ask is, let’s sing one song together—just one time through. You don’t even have to stay until the very end if you don’t want; you can stay as long as you want. We’ll leave it open. Let me encourage you: let’s sing it just once through. Let me pray a blessing over your life. May the Lord bless you; may He keep you; may His face shine down upon you and be gracious to you; may His countenance be lifted upon you and bring you peace. In Jesus' name, amen.