Frankie Mazzapica - The Mystery of Opened and Closed Doors
Today’s message is the mystery of open and closed doors. It’s a mystery. Opened and closed doors mean that there are opportunities for advancement; there are opportunities where you back up and have more influence in people’s lives than you’ve ever had. Sometimes it’s one person’s life that pulls at your heartstrings, and you know you’re supposed to invest in this person. Sometimes it’s a job where, all of a sudden, you get this job opportunity, and that door just flies open. It’s like, «Oh my goodness, the door just flew open!» Or you get a raise. These are doors that fly open, and the Bible says that God is the one who opens those doors. Some of you have had doors open, and you’re so excited, saying, «Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this happened!» I want you to know God opened that door for you. He also closes doors.
Let’s read this together. Let’s read it real loud. All right, one, two, three: «Write this letter…» Oh, let me introduce it. Sorry, this is God talking to John, and He says, «I want you to write this letter to the church of Philadelphia,» kind of like saying, «Write this letter to the Church of the Woodlands.» Write this letter so that it applies to every single church that has ever existed and exists today. Here we go, real loud: «Write this letter to open the door.» Now, this isn’t part of my message, but I have to say this: that last line is probably one of my favorite lines in the entire Bible because He says, «I know you have little strength; I know you’re weak.»
It’s like you are beating yourself up because you mess up, but I just want you to know I already know you’re weak. He backs up and says, «But you have not denied me. You continue to believe in me; you continue to believe in my promises. I know you’re weak, but you keep on believing in me, and because of that, I have opened up a door for you.» Isn’t that awesome? Sometimes I back up and say, «God, I’m sorry I did it again; oh God, I said it again! Oh God, please!» And the Lord’s just like, «Chill out. Stop beating yourself up. I’m not beating you up. I already know you’re weak, but Frankie, just because you keep thinking about me and you still believe in me, I’ve opened up a door for you.» God opens up doors.
For example, God opens up doors related to work. He opens up doors. There’s a sense of not just work but a sense of accomplishment that all of us need. If you’ve ever studied Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, you will see on that list that every single person needs to feel this sense of accomplishment. You have to feel it; otherwise, you just feel like a shell. If you feel like you’re going through life and not making any difference in this world, there’s a part of you that just feels like it’s dying.
If you feel like you’re underachieving, there’s a side of you that just feels like it’s dying. But I want you to know God opens up doors to where you begin to feel this sense of accomplishment. It’s a divine thing. My wife and I started the church 20 years ago. For more than half that time, I felt, «I don’t know, I just don’t feel fulfilled.» One day, I was praying, and something just dropped in my spirit. I wish I could describe it; I wish I could put it into words. But all of a sudden, I felt, «Man, I am pleasing you.» This feeling of fulfillment began to rise up. This is an open door.
Sometimes He gives you a new opportunity, and all of a sudden, you feel that fulfillment. All of a sudden, as a parent, you back up and say, «You know what? After I’m gone, my kids will still be here.» This is a sense of accomplishment. If your children have passed away before you, they are in heaven dancing around. They would never ever want to come back. This is a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment that God has opened up for you. This is what God does: He brings people into your life that celebrate you. Have you ever lived a chapter where you know someone is tolerating you but not celebrating you? They have no idea that you’re awesome; they have no clue. The reason why they don’t know you’re awesome is that they’re not, so they can’t recognize awesome when they see it. Are you with me? Say yes if you’re with me. When God opens up a door, He takes those people and shoes them out and brings in people who celebrate you.
God opens those doors by faith. Let’s clap for the people that God’s getting rid of, even though He hasn’t yet. Just bye Felicia! If your name is Felicia, just… Well, God will open a door for you to get married now. This is a funny thought because when you’re dating and then get married, you think your dating life will just continue the same way after marriage. You’re like, «Man, if dating is awesome, marriage is going to be crazy awesome!» And it is crazy awesome; it’s just a different kind of crazy awesome. When you’re dating and on the phone at 10:00 or 11:00, it’s, «You hang up first!» «No, you!» «No, you!» Okay, since we’re not married yet and live in different houses, let’s just fall asleep together. When you get married, it’s like, «Hey, what’s up?» «Yep, got it.» «All right, love you, bye.»
But when you’re dating and watching a movie together, and one drops their head on your shoulder about 15 minutes into the movie and falls asleep while snoring, you think, «He’s so cute.» You tell a friend, «Oh my goodness, he fell asleep on my shoulder, and he has this cute little snore.» When you’re married, it’s like, «Hey babe, you want to watch a movie?» «No, I don’t want to watch a movie.» Ten minutes in and you fall asleep, and then in the morning, you’ve got bruises on your arm because every time you start snoring, it’s like bam! Bam! It’s not cute anymore, is it?
When you’re dating and you look at him and say, «Hey, you good babe?» «Yeah, I’m fine.» You get married, and when you hear that word «fine,» you know you’re in trouble. «Hey baby, we good?» «I’m fine.» Those are the doors you want God to close. «God, I don’t want to go in there; I don’t want to go in there.» It’s too late, isn’t it? But God opens and closes doors. I want to talk about closed doors just for a second. When God closes a door, He is not punishing you; He is redirecting you. When something doesn’t open up—a relationship, a job, a raise—when these things don’t open up—maybe you’re trying to get a house, and the mortgage falls through, or you’re trying to rent a home and they won’t rent it to you—when you’re trying to do something and the door closes, don’t back up and say, «Well, I did something wrong, and now God’s punishing me. God, you know I just prayed for the house, and I haven’t prayed for a long time.»
No, no, no! When God closes the door, He’s not punishing you. He’s redirecting you. He’s saying, «Hey, look, I got something better.» This route right here is not going to make you stronger for what I’ve got for you. The season that you’re in right now is preparing you for the next season. It’s preparing you; and if you get yourself in a relationship, in this house, or you get this job, it’s possible that you are suddenly going in a different direction than what God has for you. You’re not getting stronger; you’re getting distracted, so He will close a door.
Now hear me say this: closed doors are confusing before they are a blessing. I could spend some time talking about this point, but I have a 17-year-old son who I think could communicate it a little better. Would you put your hands together for my son, Luke? Come on up here!
All right, how are you all doing this morning? So, my dad and I had a little thought that we thought would fit real well in this. So I wanted to share it with you guys. When I was 7 years old, I picked up a basketball for the first time, and from that point on, I decided I wanted to be an NBA basketball player. So that’s what I went for. As I got older, I realized that the first step to that goal is to be a varsity basketball player in whatever high school I attend. Going into my freshman year— during my eighth-grade summer—it was a big opportunity because I went to a small private school and had the chance to play varsity if I worked for it. That summer, I practiced a lot; my dad and I were outside in the heat, working hard. I probably didn’t practice as much as he would have liked, but I was going for it. The first week rolled around, and I tried out, and sure enough, I made the varsity team. That was a huge deal for me because this had been the big goal of my life since I was seven—I made the varsity team!
I was living life. About halfway through that season, though, I was playing in an outside school basketball game, and it got a little chippy. I drove into the lane to try and make a layup, and I got elbowed right in the mouth. My tooth got pushed way back. I got a dentist to put braces on me to fix my tooth, but I lost six weeks of that season. When I came back, I had to play with a mouth guard, and it was terrible. So, that whole freshman season was kind of blown, but I still had my sophomore, junior, and senior years left, so it was all right.
In my sophomore year, my family made a big decision to move to a 6A public high school, which is a big deal because that means a lot more competition. Going there, I just wanted to play basketball, whatever that looked like. So that summer, I practiced hard; I showed up on the first day, and I made the junior varsity team. I was very excited about it, living life with my two new teammates and my new coach. I was doing real well. But about a quarter of the way through that season, I was in practice, and I went up for a rebound, and one of my teammates came down with his elbow on my nose. It started bleeding everywhere, and when I went to the doctor, I found out I had completely shattered my nose.
That really sucked because I had to get full surgery for that, and I was out for eight weeks of the season. I lost basically all of it. When I came back, I had a few games left, but I had to wear a mask, and it was terrible. So, those first two years of high school were kind of blown due to injuries, but it was all right because I still had my junior and senior years left, and that’s when colleges start looking at you anyway; that’s the only important thing.
Going into my junior year, I mean, this was my varsity push. This was the time to get big, get strong, and make varsity this year. So my dad and I were grinding all summer. During the summer, I was playing with the varsity team; I had the varsity jersey on in practices and in games, and it was looking really good for this upcoming season. In the last game of the summer, I was playing really well. This was two weeks before the roster came out and one week before school started. I was playing really well, and I was running down the court when someone stepped in front of me. I opened up to get around him, and I heard my knee pop.
I hit the ground, and two days later, I got an MRI, and I found out I tore my ACL. It really sucked because an ACL tear is a 9- to 12-month recovery. That’s a really long time. So that whole junior season that I was looking forward to playing with my teammates, I had to spend on the bench watching the teammates I wanted to be around live out my dream that I had since I was seven. All I could do was sit there and clap for them. That was a real low point in my life, but you know that’s all right because I still had my senior year left, right? That’s the one everyone talks about when they graduate.
So, going into my senior year, I was being really cautious. I didn’t want to get hurt; I didn’t want anything to happen. I was doing physical therapy twice a week; I was working out my legs. About eight months in, I went to my surgeon and both physical therapists, and they all cleared me to play, which was a huge deal after eight and a half months. That was thanks to a lot of your prayers, so I appreciate that! Going into it, I was very excited. My school actually even got a new coach, and my teammates and I started clicking. Things were looking really good!
In fact, my new coach asked my teammates who they thought he should make the captain of the team this year. Because of the relationships I built with them during my junior year, they all unanimously chose me to be the captain this year. This was more than I ever expected!
In the last practice of the school year, we were in the offseason gearing up for the next year after this summer. Twenty minutes were left in practice, and I made a cut on the baseline, caught the ball, jumped up to make the layup, and I heard that pop again. A few days later, I went to get another MRI, and sure enough, I tore my ACL for the second time. That was really low, and I’m still kind of sad about it right now, but you can imagine how upset I was then. So I went to my surgeon, and I was like, «Look man, what happened? Did I do something wrong? Did you do something wrong? What’s the deal here?» He goes, «Looking at your scans, I did my surgery right; you did everything you could do. But the one thing I can see is you have naturally hyperextended knees, which inherently puts stress on your ACL anytime you’re running or doing anything. So you’re at much more risk than everyone else to tear your ACL.»
This news was devastating to me. I went home, and I’ll be honest: I just laid in bed and cried, struggling with the realization that I’m never going to put on a basketball jersey again. That was really hard for me. I just cried out to God, saying, «Why now? Why is this going on right now?» I thought, «I did everything right; what’s the deal?» And then He spoke to me in that moment. I felt Him say down in my heart, «You are not the author of your plan; I am.»
In a moment of clarity, I realized that in this moment of frustration, in this season of struggle, all I have left is to depend on Him, have faith in Him, and hope and trust that He might open another door for me. So that faith was kind of rewarded about two days later. I was out to eat with some friends, and one of them randomly looked at me and said, «You know, Luke, how’s your day going?» Obviously, it was going terrible, so I looked back at him—not wanting to get into that because I was out to eat with like ten of my friends—and I said, «You know, I’m doing great! I’m having a great day today.»
Because I was surrounded by good friends, they all looked up at me and said, «No, you’re not. You’re not having a good day; tell us about it.» In that moment, I kind of broke. I didn’t start crying, but that guard dropped. I started telling them about what I was struggling with—the confusion and the struggle of not being able to play the game I love anymore. But most importantly, I told them about who I was depending on right now, who I was trusting in right now, and hoping that He has another open door for me. A few days later, I realized that that moment right there was vital. I mean, that moment of telling my friends who I depend on and lean on during this struggle—if that had any spiritual draw on them and brought them closer to God than they were before, then it was worth more than anything I could have done on the basketball court.
That was a really special moment for me. So I just prayed when I realized that, saying, «Thank you, Jesus, for giving me that opportunity and for giving me the words to say to my friends in that moment.» And right there, I felt that voice again, telling me, «I’m just getting started. I’m just getting started.» So thank you!
With that, I thought I would leave you guys with this one verse that has encouraged me through all this, from Isaiah 55:8-9: «For my thoughts are not your thoughts; neither are your ways my ways,» declares the Lord. «As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.» So when you’ve drawn out your whole life on a whiteboard and you’re ready to go, you might find yourself with a torn ACL, a broken tooth, or whatever it may be. But just remember: God has a lot more planned for you, and chances are, He’s just getting started.
I appreciate you. Now, how am I going to get through the rest of this? You know that he’s going to speak a lot in his life, but just know this: you guys were the ones that saw him speak for the very first time ever. We talked about how my first point was on closed doors, and he talked about a closed door and how it started opening up.
I want to talk just a little bit about open doors. I’m not going to talk long, and in fact, whoever’s playing the keys can come on up and play. When God opens up a door for you, it is not only to bless you; it’s not only to give you another opportunity; it’s not only to give you more influence, maybe in one or two people’s lives. That’s not the only reason why He opens up doors for you. It’s a great blessing, and it’s very exciting, but the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:9 that the Lord desires to partner with you. To partner means these new opportunities arise because the Lord is saying, «We’re going to do something else together. We are going to do something else together with different faces.»
I heard this story years ago—probably twenty years ago—about a little boy whose mother was putting him to sleep. The little boy kept asking her to come back into his room: «Mom, come back! Mom! Mom!» Over and over again, which was unusual. Usually, she puts him in bed, gives him a kiss, and he falls asleep. «Mom, can you come back?» So around the fourth or fifth time, she stuck her head in and said, «Baby, don’t worry about anything; Jesus is with you.» He replied, «I know, but I need Jesus with skin on tonight.» She goes over to his bed, lays down with him, and he just grabs her. She was Jesus with skin on. When God opens up doors, it’s because He’s already closed one door to reposition you and redirect you to somebody who needs Jesus with skin on. They need to look into your eyes and see that you believe in them.
My daughter, Kate—oh, there she is! —I told her a while back, «Everybody loves people who love them. Everybody likes people who like them. So go like everyone. Don’t pick people to like; go like them all, and all of them are going to like you back.» Now she’s 11, and I can say this means go be Jesus with skin on because God has opened up doors for you to partner with Him. Most people don’t have a lot of folks that believe in them.
Let’s all stand to our feet. I’d like for all of our prayer partners to come down, if you would. There’s a term that I want to share that fits perfectly with this message because we’re talking about open doors and closed doors, but I could easily spend 20 minutes talking about life in the hallway, right? You can’t go back to another opportunity, and you’re not quite sure what the next opportunity looks like. That door’s closed; this one hasn’t opened yet; you’re in the hallway. If you’ve ever been there, you know what I’m talking about, and some of you are there right now. You need someone to pray for you in a minute. If that’s you, I want you to come out of your seat and let someone pray for you.
But let me also say this: if you know in your heart that if your heart were to stop beating in the next five minutes, you’re not ready to see God. Someone your age died this week—someone somewhere in the world, someone your age died this week. You don’t know when you’re going to have the last five minutes, so I’m challenging you today to come down here, take a prayer partner, and just say, «I need to give my life to God.»
If you need to give your life to God or just flat out need someone to pray for you, I’d love for you to come out of your seat right now. There’s no official dismissal, so you can leave whenever you’re ready. But let’s sing this one song through before anyone goes. 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 up and bring you peace. In Jesus' name, amen.