Frankie Mazzapica - Your Stock is Rising
The title of today’s message is «Your Stock Is Rising.» Pastor Larry is in the front row, and I just want to say thank you for the title; he gave it to me last Sunday. He didn’t know he was giving it to me, but he said those words, and they resonated in my spirit. That’s what I want to talk to you about. When I say that your stock is rising, what I mean is that when the Lord looks at you, He can say, «Okay, this person believes in Me; I have a relationship with them; they’re going to heaven.» Then there’s this other person over here, their stock is rising. I can use them more and more; I can partner with them; I can speak through them. Their future has moments when we’re partnering—where you’re having dreams, you’re having visions, and people are able to look into your face and not know why, but there’s a glow on your face that lifts their spirit.
When your stock rises, you gain more influence; it’s like your circle of influence begins to grow. Every single one of you has at least five people you directly influence. But what the Lord does when your stock is rising is that your circle gets bigger, and your impact becomes more substantial. Your words can shift the trajectory of their lives. This is when your stock is rising, but not everyone’s stock rises; there’s not a progression of the Lord using you. The Lord using you is the second-best thing that can happen to you. The first-best thing is being aware of His presence. For others, it’s like God is millions of miles away, but for you, it’s personal—it’s sweet, it’s nice. When you’re in the car, you know He’s with you. When you lay down at night, it’s like, «Oh my goodness, His presence.» That’s the best thing. People who experience that do so because their stock is rising.
Now, to put some scripture underneath it, in Matthew 25:23, it reads: «Because you were faithful with a few things, I will give you greater things to be responsible for. Because you have been faithful, I will make you a ruler over many things.» That’s Matthew 25:23. There’s a particular young girl who will be our case study this morning in 2 Kings 5:2-3. All of this is in your notes, but it reads like this: the Aramean soldiers raided Israel and took captives. Israel consists of the children of God, so these Syrians come in, raid Israel, and take captives. One of the captives was this little girl. They gave her to Naaman, and she became his servant. One day, this young girl—I love how the Bible doesn’t say her name; it’s almost like referring to the «little old me.»
God will use giants, but not little old me. It’s like, oh yes, the little old me that people don’t even know the name of. So anyway, this girl walks up to Naaman, and she says, «I wish my master would go see the man of God, Elisha, because he will pray for him, and he will be healed of leprosy.» The end of the story is that he does get healed from leprosy. He goes to see Elisha. What I want to dive into is how this stock of this little girl rose so much that the Lord began to speak through her.
I have three major points. Number one, if you’re looking for a new book, it’s «The Bait of Satan» by John Bevere—that’s my first point. Number two is the innate sense within her to continue to believe in God, and number three, I will talk about her boldness. It’s those three things that caused her stock to rise, where the Lord backed up and said, «I’m going to use you.» In 2 Timothy 2:20, it says this: «In a great house, there are not only vessels made of gold and silver, but also vessels made of wood and clay. The Bible says to cleanse yourself of the latter so that you will be a vessel sanctified and prepared for every good work.» There are things a person does to increase their stock so that God can partner with them to do great works, and the first thing is that you don’t take the bait of Satan.
What is the bait of Satan? It’s found in Ephesians 4:29, where it says: «Get rid of all bitterness, anger, rage, harsh words, and slander, and all types of evil.» This is the bait of Satan: Satan comes up to you and gives you reasons to be angry, to be bitter, to be mad. «My wife is this,» «My husband is this.» When it crosses your mind to look at someone and begin to get disgusted with them, you’re taking the bait. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26 that anger gives a foothold to the enemy. If you’ve ever climbed a tree as a kid and you don’t know which branch to step on, then you step on a branch and say, «Yeah, this is a good branch for me to step on. I feel safe here.» The enemy says those of you who are angry, «Oh man, I can get a foothold here,» and then it just festers, it burns, and bitterness takes root over years. It’s the bait, separating you from people and from God, and unforgiveness is an unforgivable sin. The Bible says in Luke 6:28, «If you refuse to forgive others, God will refuse to forgive you.» It’s the bait of Satan, and she did not take it.
Can you imagine what she went through? She’s just a little girl who has a family, and she sees the Syrians coming in with torches, riding on horses with swords and spears. She didn’t just start believing in God once she was in Naaman’s kingdom; she believed in God before she got there. She was praying, «God help, God help, God help.» They were still captured. Do you know how easy it would have been for her to be full of bitterness and anger? All of us have been there before: you pray for something, and it doesn’t happen. It’s easy to become bitter about that. Or you think, «I’m not going to let my heart go there with Him; I’m going to protect it so I don’t get hurt or disappointed again.» This girl did not take the bait. Instead, her heart was protected so much that she had compassion for the king in his leprosy.
About 22 years ago, I was in New York. You may ask how I remember; it was so traumatic. I was ordering a sandwich—it was like a Subway where you tell them what you want. I got my sandwich made, and she said, «I don’t know, $10.» I took out my credit card and gave it to her, but she said, «We only take cash.» She was holding my credit card, so I said, «I don’t have cash.» She said, «Go get it.» I was in the middle of Times Square, and I didn’t know where the nearest ATM was. I asked her to cancel the order and give me my credit card. She refused. She called her boss to make an executive decision on whether or not to return my card. I told her to give it back, and she finally did. I was so angry. It took me a long time to calm down. I don’t know if I’ve let it go.
When I look back on her, I think, «How did you get this way? When did you take the bait?» I was in a parking lot around Christmas time trying to find a space. I was preparing to reverse into a spot when a car in front of me refused to move. I got out to ask her to back up so I could park. She said, «No, that’s my spot.» I thought about reaching in and taking her keys, but instead, I just drove off. I still think about how angry I got and when I took the bait to pop off on people all the time. I want to say this: if you’re the type of person who says, «When I get mad, I won’t stay mad,» your stock is rising. When you back up and say, «I’m so angry at this person, but I’m going to forgive them,» no matter how hard it is and whether it’s a moment or a process, your stock is rising.
Whenever you decide, «I can’t do that anymore; this is a sin, and I’ve been doing it anyway,» your stock is rising. When you deliberately change your language, your stock is rising. A Christian is not identified by what they do; they’re identified by what they refuse to do. If you look at church as an optional thing and refuse to see God as nobody, your stock is rising. The girl continued to believe in God; she refused to take the bait but kept believing in miracles. She looked at Naaman and said, «There’s a man of God who will pray for you, and you’ll get healed.» How did she believe in miracles when God didn’t do her last miracle? She kept hanging on.
For those of you who say, «I don’t know why God didn’t do that last one, but I believe He will do the next one,» your stock is rising. «I don’t know why He didn’t answer this one, but I know He’s still on the throne, and He’s for me. I know He has a plan for me.» Write this down: Hebrews 11:6 says, «You can’t please God without faith.» It explains that anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Your stock rises when you refuse to stop believing God will reward you. Your stock rises when you say, «There is something ahead of me that is better than what I lost.» Your stock rises when you say there are open doors of opportunity before you. Your stock rises when you’re depressed, when down everywhere you look you see bad, but you choose to keep worshiping God. You believe that He will reward you if you keep pursuing Him.
There’s a young man, let’s call him Jonathan. He was in a theater at school, part of an assignment where he had to sing in front of his class. Another kid—let’s call him the jerk—told Jonathan he would film him and share it because he thought he was a joke. For four months, the jerk kept threatening to film him. Even though I’m saved, I sometimes wonder if I really am. I thought about calling a friend who doesn’t believe in God and asking him to take care of this jerk for me. I asked Jonathan if he was okay and if he needed help. He said, «No, I’m just going to keep praying; I believe God will help me.» I thought to myself, «My God, you have a lot of faith.»
The day of the performance came. Everyone was gathered in the classroom. Jonathan noticed the jerk wasn’t there but realized he had left his cell phone in the classroom. He walked back in and found the jerk sitting still, staring at the ground. He never stood up and went to the theater, and Jonathan sang phenomenally. When he came back, he told me something kept the jerk in that chair. Now, there has to be a part of you that thinks this is outrageous, but I want you to know God does things you can never imagine—and this really happened.
So what did this young girl do? She didn’t take the bait; she continued to believe in miracles, and she was bold enough to open her mouth and share what she believed. Often, we look for a grand assignment and skip over these little conversations we can have. I want you to know there is no bigger assignment. Some of you may think looking at what I do is more significant, but I’m only onstage for 30 minutes a week. There are 24 hours in a day. Relationships matter, and when the Lord sees you having these conversations, your stock rises. When you refuse to take the bait, continue to believe in Me, and tell others about it, your stock rises.
There is this final thought: John introduced me to a CEO of a multi-million-dollar company. He asked for my number, and we’ve stayed in touch. He mentioned he had never been very spiritual, but for two years, his mind has been on God. I asked him who he prays to, and he said sometimes he prays to his parents, sometimes to Mary. While having this conversation at a banquet, I celebrated his spiritual journey but it’s bothered me ever since.
So this morning, I grabbed my phone and wanted to send him a video to continue our discussion, but I was nervous. Why was I nervous? He doesn’t have anything I want. Finally, I made a video, saying that only Jesus died for us, only Jesus gives us access to heaven, and I encouraged him to pray only to Him. After recording it, I was scared to send it—my finger hovered over the send button, unsure if I should do it. Eventually, I did, but I turned off the notifications so I wouldn’t be anxiously waiting. Five minutes later, I had to check, and he replied, praising what I had said and asking to talk more.
See, in John 6:44, it says no one comes to the Son unless drawn by the Father. He is being drawn, and the Lord is saying, «Hey, Frankie, your stock is going up. You’re turning away from the bait of Satan, keep believing in Me.» Be bold enough to say something, like that girl did. When you’re bold enough to speak up, your stock rises.
If there’s anyone here who says, «I don’t want to talk about God because I’m a mess,» that’s the enemy whispering in your ear—don’t take the bait. All you need to say is, «Hey, I’m trying to get serious about God. I’m going to church more. I have a lot to work out in my life, but it feels good to go to church.» Invite them along, and they might say yes.
Why don’t you stand on your feet? Let’s give Jesus a standing ovation. Hold your hands out today. If you resonate with taking the bait, whether it’s a sinful pattern, addiction, or emotional turmoil, hold it out toward the Lord. If you want to believe but struggle, send your request to God. If you feel you have influence over someone but haven’t spoken to them about it, ask God for boldness. Take a moment to talk to the Lord.
Holy Spirit, move through this room and bless your people. If you feel heaviness, whisper, «Satan, I don’t belong to you; leave me now.» These voices in your mind can be silenced. As a step of faith, let’s rid ourselves of that negativity. For those who need prayer, come forward and take the hand of a prayer partner. If you’re unsure of where you’d go if your heart stopped beating in the next five minutes, don’t hesitate to pray with someone. If you’re ashamed of Him, He’ll be ashamed of you. Sometimes you just need someone to pray with you.
There won’t be any official dismissal; you can leave whenever you’re ready. Let’s sing this song one or two times before anyone goes. May the Lord bless you, keep you, and make His face shine upon you. May His countenance lift up on you and bring you peace. In Jesus' name, Amen.