Frankie Mazzapica - Angels In Dry Places
Thank you for tuning in today. My name's Frankie Mazzapica. The title of today's message is "Angels in Dry Places". Angels in Dry Places. I've got sand up here. I want it to represent desert places or dry places. You know, there are a long list of people in the Bible who spent time in dry places, in desert places. Some of these places were an actual desert and then other places, it was a spiritual desert, and in the cases that I'm about to mention to you, it was both a physical desert with actual sand and it was also a spiritual desert.
What do I mean by a spiritual desert? Spiritual desert is when there's nothing happening spiritually. You love God, you love the Lord, but it's almost boring. You don't want it to be boring. You want it to be more, but you're just kind of stuck. And so I have three major points for you today. The first point is when you're in these desert places, these dry places, there is a measure of distrust where your trust towards the Lord begins to drop and shake. You don't understand why you're in this dry place, you just woke up or you realized that you were there. The second thing I wanna talk about is the purpose for these dry seasons. And then third, is the actual title of the message, angels in dry places.
The distrust, jumping straight into number one, the distrust in dry places before we even begin to wrestle with why we're there, let's recognize that when we start distrusting God on whether or not he is present, whether or not he's moving, whether or not he has an assignment for us, let's recognize that the patriarchs, the men and women of the Old Testament and New Testament, they also had to walk through these spiritual dry places. Not only was it spiritual dry places, but it was actually in a dry place, in the desert. Straight away, most of us know the story about Moses. He spent 40 years in the desert. You know that at the core of who he is, he wondered if God still had a plan for him.
We look at Elijah, he spent 40 days and 40 nights. He didn't know if it was gonna be 5 days, 55 days, 500 days, but it was 40 days. See, when you're in the desert in a dry place, you don't know how long you're gonna be there. See, the distrust there is, "I have a need, God. Where are you at"? And because you haven't done anything for me that I'm praying about now, I don't know if I can trust you. You're not gonna say that out loud. You try not even to think that, but it's there, this season of distrust, this season of being in the dry place. Where you wanna be on fire. You look at other people that are worshiping, you're like, "Man, I wish I was like them". It is the hardest, most difficult part of walking with God.
If there's anyone here this morning that you say, "That's me," what you're experiencing, these moments of struggling to trust him. It's the most difficult part of walking with God because it's this season of nothingless. You're not hot, you're not passionate, but you're not freezing either. You don't have any momentum spiritually, but you're not digressing either. You're just kinda stuck. It's nothingless. But my daughter is 19 and she's off to college and I got a bone to pick with her because she never calls and my wife and I call her and we get together and like, "Did Preslee call you"? "No, did Preslee call you"?
And when Preslee calls my wife, I'm like, "What in the world? But what am I, chopped liver? You know, my wife and I pay for that cell phone bill. But you don't, you hit 'Decline.' Like what"? Okay, I'm just venting now. But anyway, lightning struck and we got on the phone and she was emotional. I mean, she wasn't crying but she was emotional. She's like, "Dad, I don't know if I picked the wrong major. I don't know if I did something to disappoint God. I don't know, but everything that I thought God was calling me to, I don't know that I am anymore. And, I don't know, you know, maybe I'm just an ordinary person that's just gonna, you know, live life, wake up, go to sleep, you know, maybe".
And so I started saying to her what you would probably say if you had a friend or a loved one saying the same thing to you. You would say that, in your own words, "That's rubbish. God has a massive plan for you". And I said this: "Doubt is from the devil. Do not doubt it. You're in a dry season. There used to be just a few weeks ago, maybe a few months ago, I don't know how long you've been there, Preslee, but you knew for sure. And now you're in a dry place, you're questioning everything". And I said, and I didn't quote the address, but for you, I'll tell you the address.
It's in Philippians chapter 2, verse 13, where it says, God says this: "I am working in you, giving you the power to do what pleases me. I'm working in you. You can't feel it. It's kinda like your heart. You can't feel your heart beating, but it is working, ba boom, ba boom, ba boom, ba boom. It is pumping, pumping blood through your body. You can't feel the oxygen doing what it's doing, but that's what makes you strong". And the Lord says this, "I am working in you. My power is working in you".
So I'm telling Preslee, "Come", and so I could feel her faith starting to rise again. But as I was saying that, I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me, not out loud, but just like right down in here. He said, "You believe that that's gonna happen to her. But do you believe the same thing for yourself"? And then it's like, and I said, "I don't know". Just being honest, you know. "Have I hit the ceiling of how effective I'm gonna be? Have I walked through the last door? Are there any more doors of opportunity waiting for me? I don't know". And then I just kind of, just the Holy Spirit started ministering to me, but not out loud.
A moment ago, I knew he asked me a question but now, it wasn't like he was not even down in here. But I began to feel him strengthen me because this thought came to my mind, but I knew it was from him. He said this, "If it's true for other people, then it's true for you". When you look at me, you might say to yourself, "Frankie, have you gone mad? You think that there's nothing more that God's gonna give you than what you've experienced so far? Have you gone mad"?
In the same way, can you look at yourself and say, "Well, if I'm that certain that God has things for Frankie, I should be just as certain that he has things for me". I want to encourage you: it doesn't matter how dry things are. At the very least, just say to yourself: "I don't know if this is gonna be 40 days, 4 days, 21 days, 90 days. I don't know. But what I do know is if it's true for other people, it is also true for me. If God's gonna open up doors for them and he's gonna open up doors for me. If they haven't hit the top of their success, then there's more for me as well". Come on, put your hands together for that.
I wanna talk about the purpose because we just talked about wrestling through the distrust. But why does God love us so much but then he walks us into the desert? I wanna go to use Jesus as a case study. In Matthew chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, it says this. Just after Jesus was baptized and he came out of the water, the windows of heaven opened and he saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and it rested upon him. In verse 17, it says this: "And then God said, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" The very next verse.
Now, long after the Bible was written, the scrolls were written, man started putting it into chapters and verses so that we could find the scriptures quicker. But if you take out the chapters and we just look at it the way it was written before there was verses, the very next verse after God says, "This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased". The very next verse just after the Holy Spirit comes on him, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit "drew him to a dry place". It brought him to the desert. Why? So that he could be tempted and tested by the devil. If Jesus had to go there, you and I need to recognize that we will have to go to these dry places as well.
But Peter said this in 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 12, he says, "I don't want you to think that something strange is happening to you. When these darts and these tough times come, I don't want you to think something strange is happening to you". And then one chapter later, he goes, "I want you to stand firm in the faith and remember that everyone, all believers, are experiencing the same tough times as you". And so Jesus was in this dry place. What was the purpose? The purpose for Jesus is the same purpose that we have. Jesus had to model: "I don't care if I'm in a dry place. I don't care if I'm experiencing the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove or whether I'm being dragged and tempted by the devil, there has to be a display of integrity".
Now, what is integrity? Integrity is the areas that you refuse to do the things that you refuse to do. That's integrity. "I don't care how dry things get. I refuse to talk like that. I refuse to do that. I refuse. It doesn't matter how tough things get, I refuse to turn my back on God and live my life as if he doesn't exist. I refuse". The reason why we go to these dry places is we have to build this sense of integrity. Now, where one person is a casualty in the desert, there's another person in the same desert who's getting stronger and stronger. I'll say another thing. Another reason, another purpose, is that there's this feeling of being overlooked. I don't know if you've ever experienced that.
I have a bunch, where you look at everyone and you go, "They're blessed, they're being accelerated, they're on fire for God. They're being moved along, and I'm just ordinary. Everyone looks at me as if I'm ordinary. I feel ordinary". And this is what happens when you are in a dry place. Now, why would God want us to experience that? Because it's in those seasons where our ego is being chipped away. We want to be Spirit-led, but we can't be ego-driven. You can be led or driven, but you can't have both. There's a difference between someone encouraging you and we all need encouragement. But then there's other times where the enemy comes up and tries to inflate your ego.
I was encouraged by a couple of friends in between services and their encouragement injected me with strength. Their encouragement helped me. But I read of a preacher one time and it resonated with me and maybe it will resonate with you, where he spoke on the stage and someone came up to them and they said, "You were amazing today". And the preacher said back, "You're too late. The devil already told me that". The devil already told me that. It's like the devil's trying to build this ego that you really are something special.
And the Lord's like, I'm gonna put you in a place where you come to the place where you realize that without God you're nothing, but with God you are incredibly anointed and special. But you know what it feels like to just be you without him. And you live the rest of your life in a state of humility. If you've ever been broken and we've all been broken, you know, the season that almost killed you, right? The season that you almost lost your mind. When you are there, you don't judge people as harshly as you did before that season. You know what it feels like to be there. If you've ever been talked about and someone was ripping you and it was painful to you, you're the person who doesn't talk bad about others because you know what it feels like to be over there.
See, it's in these moments that that's the purpose, where the Lord's saying, "I'm gonna use you. But I don't want you to be impressed by you, while I'm using you". People who are not going through dry places, there's an arrogancy to them, a pompousness. I was talking to a pastor friend of mine and we have a mutual friend and I was talking to him and I was like, "Man, this is... I'm hurting. I'm hurting right now. This guy, you know, is insulting and I'm hurting". And he said back to me, he goes, "Frankie, don't judge him. He just hasn't been in the desert long enough".
People who are in the desert come out very humble. Are you with me? Say Yes. Come on, they come out humble. The last thing I wanna say, the last point, I've talked about distrust is part of the purpose, I've talked about why you're there. And now I wanna talk about how angels meet you in the dry places. When Jesus was in the wilderness, when he was being tempted by the devil, the devil is telling him, "You know you're hungry," because Jesus was fasting then.
See, fasting looks different now than it did when I was growing up. When I was growing up, fasting meant you don't eat food. That's fasting. Fasting is you only drink water. It's kind of morphed over the years where it's kinda like I can eat this and I can eat that, but I won't eat that. And so you never really get hungry.
I remember I went on a fast one time and I said, "I'm not gonna eat anything at all except for milkshakes. That's the only thing I'm gonna eat". It's a true story. And I remember coming to my dad and saying, "Dad, this fasting thing really isn't that hard". You know, fasting when I was growing up, you start seeing, you know, they look like skin has been wrapped around a skeleton. And I'm not saying there's any bad fasting or good fasting, but the way Jesus did it in the wilderness, I mean, all sacrifice is a precious sacrifice.
So there's no bad or good. But Jesus wasn't eating any food and the devil shows up and he says, "If you're really who you say you are, make these rocks turn into bread".
Then he goes, "If you're really the Son of God, jump off this high place and the angels will catch you," and that didn't work. And then he said, "I'll tell you what. I will make you incredibly successful. Every single king, every single kingdom, will bow down to you if you will just give your life to me and worship me". And so, these angels came to Jesus when he was at his weakest point. These angels were not there when day one was in the desert. He spent 40 days. They weren't there on day one, they weren't there on day two, day three, day four. They weren't strengthening him. He was weak.
But then when he was at his lowest point, Isaiah 59:19, that's when God raised up a standard around him because the enemy was coming in like a flood. But let me say this: angels do not rescue everyone. They don't rescue everyone. People who call themselves Christians, that doesn't mean angels will rescue all these people. You can call yourself whatever you want to. That doesn't mean that the angels will rescue you. The only people that angels rescue in dry places are those that fall into this very narrow category.
The Bible says: "Those who fear the Lord, there is an angel of the Lord above them that will deliver them". I'm looking at faces this morning. Your heart is for God. You know that you're in a dry place, but I'm looking at faces this morning that are set like stone. "Go ahead, devil, tempt me with whatever you want to. I may stumble every now and again, but my chin will always go to the Lord". And I wanna tell you, you are those that there's an angel above your head that will deliver you.