Heroes Week 5

Welcome to the North Iron Church Podcast.

Our mission is to take the gospel from the upper peninsula to the ends of the earth.

We pray this message will inspire and encourage you in your faith journey.

Enjoy our hero series where we dive deep into the lives of heroes in the Bible.

And everyone, would you grab your Bibles, meet with me?

We're gonna dive right into our series this morning.

Of course, it's Father's Day.

We want to say happy Father's Day.

Would you uh would you welcome all the fathers that are across our movement?

We love you, and and uh specifically, I want to speak to Fathers uh today a little bit within the context of what we've been looking at for the last couple of of months.

We have been in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

So grab your Bibles.

We're gonna be in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

And if you need a Bible, raise your hand.

We have a great version for you this morning.

You can take that home, give it away, leave it in your seat.

We'll pick them up later.

But everyone should have a physical Bible.

If you're new to God's word, Hebrews is in the latter portion of your Bible.

They call it the New Testament, and you're gonna find Hebrews.

It's kind of a small book, but you'll find it uh in front of, I'm sorry, in between like 1 Timothy and 1 Peter.

Uh right, James is right after Hebrews.

If you're looking, it's about a thousand nine hundred page mark, maybe not true for your Bible, but uh it'll get you a little bit close.

We've been talking about faith for the last uh couple of weeks, and and we find that the the the writer of Hebrews shows us what faith looks like.

It's it's something that is not easily explained, it is something that you experience and you need to experience as the as a follower of Jesus, and we'll dive into that in just a moment.

But what I want to portray today is as the writer of Hebrews shows us 16 different figures and what faith looks like to them and how God uses them through their faith.

I wanna I wanna talk about Jacob this morning in the context of fatherhood or masculinity.

There is all of these incredible different seasons.

I may not have understood this as a young father.

I understand it as probably walking full through maybe two or three, four of those seasons that as a as a father, that seasons are different when it comes to leading not only your wife, but your children, and they're they're powerful.

And at least now I'm recognizing now that I have a grandkid, that it is very, very important in the first season of fatherhood to set the culture of what God needs to do, not only through yourself, but through your children and your grandchildren.

I would say it this way that the greatest gift of wealth is not your 401k, but that your children are serving the Lord, and more importantly, you're a trillionaire if your grandchildren are serving the Lord.

Trillionaire.

Get a bumper sticker.

But I I love how I love how King Solomon is displaying this in Psalms at in uh 127.

He says, unless the Lord builds the house, its builders are in vain, it's worthless.

Unless God's building your house, it's worthless.

You can build the greatest mansion in the world, but if God is not, or the gospel is not the foundation of your life, it means nothing.

And the protection of the city, if it if God is not involved in the protection, its watchmen are there, but if but but if God is not building that city, it is in vain.

You in vain, you rise up early, you work hard, you stay late, you're toiling for your bread to eat, for he gives sleep to his beloved.

Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, like arrows, like hammers in the toolbox of a man.

So are children born in one's youth, and blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.

He will be not put to shame as with his sons at the gates, battling enemies.

There's no greater positional posture for a father other than battling the kingdom of Satan at the gates with your sons.

And you need to understand as the contrast that King Solomon is laying out here, that you need to keep the main thing the main thing.

And the main thing is that everything as a man or as a father is rooted in the kingdom of God.

Doesn't mean you're perfect, doesn't mean that you have it all figured out.

We're gonna talk about what that means when it comes to faith this morning, that it is a trusting that God has everything in control, and I'm doing and using what's in my hands, and I'm walking with him.

And so, as First Corinthians Paul, the apostle Paul says, listen, you need to hold fast to the gospel.

You need to white knuckle the gospel.

White knockle the gospel, and then in chapter 16 he says, and you need to act like men.

There's a role that God has created for you.

It's a role of leadership, and we honor, we respect that, we love you men, because God created you special to lead and to create a legacy of riches in your children.

Well, Pastor Mark, I don't have any kids.

I'll give you some kids.

Come work with me in Rangers, and you'll have too many children, I promise you.

Because there's a vacuum in our society.

The father loss.

We'll talk a little bit about that.

We even see this in Jacob's life.

But you need to understand, you need to be men of faith, you need to act like men.

And here's the thing: a lot of us don't know what that looks like because our fathers were poor as that example to us, but we have a heavenly father that shows us.

We just gotta open our ears, open our spirits, open our hands, and he'll lead us into this incredible masculinity.

Fatherhood is by by the way, fatherhood is done in a multitude of ways.

So this morning we're gonna look at that Hebrews chapter 11 again.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Without faith, chapter uh chapter 11, verse 6, without faith, he says, it's impossible to please God.

And we've looked at what what are those convictions?

Those convictions, as as Paul says, I want you to hold fast to these convictions that God is real, that he keeps his promises.

Do you know the promises of God?

Can you recite the promises back to God?

God, you do you remember, God, when you said this?

Well, I'm going through this, and you said that you're gonna come and help, protect, and lead, know his promises, and that there is a a doing.

Faith is a a doing, a doing which is seeking him.

There's action involved, seeking after him because it's worth it.

That God is a real God is real, he keeps his promises, and seeking him is worth the effort.

And so we find in verse 21 that that the writer of Hebrews says something really, really important and honestly a little bit strange, and I think a lot of people don't do not understand.

And he says this about Jacob, and we find Jacob's story in Genesis, and we'll be there in in chapter 27 and 48 in just a moment.

He says this by faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, that's Ephraim, and Manasseh, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.

It's a little bit confusing, especially if you don't understand like the background of what is going on here.

We we find in chapter 48 of Genesis that Joseph, now I I don't I don't mean to I don't mean to confuse you, so let me let me give you a little bit of a background.

Uh last couple of weeks we talked about Abraham, God calls him out to be a a new nation.

And then if you remember, Abraham through this incredible miracle has Isaac, and Isaac actually gets married, and he has Jacob, that's who we're talking about today, that eventually has Joseph.

Now, Joseph, a lot of you, because of Disney, or maybe it's not Disney, the prince of Egypt or the coat of many colors, these are the two people we're talking about today.

That Joseph, who's second in charge of Egypt, comes in before his father Jacob.

He's old, he's gonna die.

And so he brings his two boys in, Ephraim and Manasseh, and he says, Dad, listen, I want you to bless, I want you to bless my son.

Now you need to understand that blessing is not just, hey, buddy, you just done a great job.

Uh at this time, this was a spiritual, physical, social, mental blessing that God would bestow upon the first child of that family, that family line.

And so Joseph brings his firstborn.

He brings his firstborn and he puts him before, he actually brings two of his boys, Manasseh and Ephraim, and he stands them in front of Joseph and says, Joseph, you need to lay your right hand of blessing upon my boy Manasseh and bless him.

He's the oldest.

So Jacob puts out his hands over the two boys, and right as he's about to bless Manasseh, he switches his hands.

And Joseph walks in and says, Dad, I think you're getting a little senile.

You're blessing the wrong one.

And it's interesting that Jacob says this.

He says, No, Joseph, my son, listen, this is how God has appointed it to be.

And he switches hands and he blesses Ephraim instead of his brother.

This is a major, major thing.

This is not a small thing.

So why does the author of Hebrews lay out this kind of contrast to what was typical culture, even spiritual culture at the time?

Why what is the the author of Hebrews pointing at this moment where Jacob demonstrates, switches his hands, and blesses the younger instead of the older?

That kind of faith, the Hebrew, uh, the writers of Hebrews is saying is pleasing to God.

Why is that?

It went against culture.

Can I even say it went against the church in a way, it's not what typically was done, but at that moment he switches his hand and blesses the second or the younger instead of the oldest.

We have to go all the way back to Genesis 27.

Genesis 27 is the story of Jacob, and you need to understand that at a very uh young age, Jacob had a twin brother named Esau and Jacob.

What's interesting about these two twins that are born to Jacob, uh, I'm sorry, to Isaac, is that they're very much different.

Esau, who was actually born first, and then Jacob comes like seconds behind.

Esau comes out as a large baby.

They actually name him Esau because it means red and hairy.

Can you imagine first seeing your child?

He comes out as like a chia pet for some reason.

We're not sure what's going on there.

But but but he Esau is is, you know, he looked like a love child between uh Elmo and Chewbacca.

That's what he looked like.

That's what's going on there.

He's a manly man.

He's a manly man, he's a big dude.

He he lives up in Greenland or Scandia.

He's he's a hunter, he's good with weapons and bows, and and everyone looks to him.

He models that kind of I I am the man, I am the alpha dog that walks into the room.

And it's really clear if you're reading the story, it's really clear that that his father Isaac loves Esau.

Of course, he he's the the hair.

The air, sorry.

Got hair in my brain.

You can go back, thank you.

And Jacob, who's coming seconds later, like Jacob is the polar opposite, everyone.

Comes out smooth, like all the hair went to Esau.

This this little boy follows.

He actually grabs the heel as he's as Esau's leaving the womb, like, stay, you know, keep me.

Yeah, I want to be a part of this.

And he and he follows uh uh after Esau, and and he's uh he's a mama's boy.

He grows up, he's kind of almost hairless, kind of very feministic in a way.

He knows not to wear white after Labor Day kind of kind of thing.

He probably used a loofah at some point in his life.

Did I say that wrong?

I don't care.

But it's it's really like this is a dysfunctional family, everyone.

The father loves Esau, the mother loves Isaac.

Of course, she's making up for maybe the lack of love or the father wound that's created in Jacob's life.

What's interesting is if Esau is considered uh red and hairy, Jacob's name means heel grabber.

But there's a secondary name to that, meaning he's a schemer.

He's a manipulator, he's a trickster.

And if there was any theme to Jacob's life, it would be that.

Jacob lived up to his name.

He was a he was a shyster, a grifter.

And we find a distinct difference between them.

Esau is the the heir, and Jacob is the less quality spare.

So let's look at the story of what goes on.

This all kind of comes ahead as Isaac is dying and he's blind, and he calls his oldest son Esau into the room.

He says, Esau, oh, I'm sorry, let me back up.

I'm jumping ahead.

Nope, you can go back.

At the time, can you go to that next scripture?

Thank you.

At the time before they're born, Rebecca, the mother, is having some pregnancy problems because it feels like these two boys, she doesn't know who they are, but these two babies are fighting in her womb.

Like, I don't know what's going on with this pregnancy, I'm scared.

So she goes and sees the prophet, and the prophet, uh, the Lord speaks through the prophet and says to Rebecca, two nations are in your womb, and two people from within you shall be divided.

The one shall be stronger than the other, meaning Esau.

But listen, yet the older shall serve the younger.

It's a prophecy from the Lord.

And again, Jacob's name means heel grabber, the schemer, the manipulator.

And so we find that at the end of Isaac's life, the father, he's blind, he can't see, he knows he's going to die.

It's time for him to lay his right hand of blessing upon the right son, as it was a tradition to do.

And so he calls Esau in, his older son, and says, Listen, my son, yes, father, Esau replies.

I'm an old man now, and I I'm expected this to be my very last day.

So listen, I want you to go out, Esau.

I want you, you know how I love venison.

I know you're a great hunter.

I want you to go out there, I want you to kill a deer, and I want you to skin that deer.

I love the way you roast venison over a fire, and I want this to be my last feast or my last meal.

And then when you bring that venison in, listen, I'm going to, I'm gonna put my hand upon you and I'm going to bless you.

And then let me tell Esau has been waiting for this kind of thing.

So he runs out and he's he grabs his crossbow and his knife, and he's out in his hunting shack out in republic, waiting for that deer.

And at the same time, we find that Rebecca, the mother, hears this conversation.

And again, I have to remind you that she's all about Jacob.

So she schemes.

She comes up with this idea of manipulation.

It's interesting that not only does Jacob have this ability, but but she has this ability to scheme and manipulate.

And so she has this plan for her son Jacob to go in there in a disguise and receive the blessing from the father.

She says, I want you to go out and get a flock of uh to the flock of goats, and I want you to prepare, I'll prepare the uh meal for your father, and you I want you to take your food to the father so he can eat it and he'll bless you.

He can't see anyway.

And of course, Jacob is saying, Listen, mom, listen, he's gonna hear my voice.

He he's gonna smell me.

I smell like lavender and scented candles at Target.

Esau smells like Congress pizza and beer.

There's no way that dad's not gonna know.

Just make trying to make it relevant.

Take the food to your father, and then he can eat it and bless you instead of Esau before he dies.

And again, he says, Man, mom, if dad touches me, he knows that that my brother is hairy.

There's no way that he's not gonna know that I'm not trying to trick me and he'll curse me instead of bless me.

And yet his mother explains, Listen, I'm gonna, I'm gonna create a dead goat suit for you.

So when your father touches you, he'll feel this hair, and he'll be deceived and bless you instead of your brother.

And so Jacob followed his mother's instructions.

She brought her two goats, she killed them, made it a meal, she took Esau's best clothes, which were in the house, and she dressed Jacob in it.

She made him a pair of dead goat skin gloves and uh put some dead goat around his neck and sent him into his father.

And so Jacob obeyed, and he brought that food into uh into his father, a platter of food.

And and and so uh my father he said, Yes, my son, he answered, Who is it?

And is it Esau or Jacob?

And Jacob replied, It's Esau, but he's like, Oh, it's Esau, your oldest son.

And I've done as you told me here is the wild game.

I cooked it the way you like it.

Sit up and eat, and then you can give me the blessing.

And Isaac asked, How are you able to make it happen so quickly?

And this is the prayer most of you hunters have prayed, because the Lord your God put it in my path.

Lord, make that deer walk across my shooting lane.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, Come over here, I want to touch you.

Because it it sounds like it sounds like I'm sorry, Isaac says, Come over here, I want to touch you.

Because you sound like Jacob.

You don't sound like my oldest son.

And so I want to touch you to make sure it's really you, Esau.

And so Jacob went over to his father.

Isaac touched him.

The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's.

And Isaac said to himself, but he did not recognize Jacob because Jacob's hands felt hairy like Esau's.

So Isaac lays his right hand of blessing upon Jacob and blesses him.

And as soon as that blessing took, we find that Esau returns from the hunting trip.

And again, Esau roasts the venison.

He brings it into his father.

He says, Father, here's your venison.

I'm ready for my blessing.

And he's and Isaac says, Well, who are you?

Someone has already come in and taken your blessing.

Can you imagine?

And Esau's like, No, no, no, Dad, Dad, bless me.

Dad, bless me.

And when Esau understood that he had been deceived, he even says in the next portion of scripture, he says, This is why they named my brother the schemer, the grifter, the manipulator, the controller.

Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably.

And the last part of the scripture says that Esau broke down and wept.

Jacob had to run for his life.

And for years met heartache and trouble because he schemed his way.

Matter of fact, in the story, and I can't go through all of the story, God brings him through a series of events where he had to learn to trust God.

And probably you're asking, and maybe this is even like, let me give you to fathers, let me give you kind of an insight here.

If we would just believe God and trust him and let God do his thing or let God do it his way, God could save us from so much heartache in our lives.

But as men, we're always striving, manipulating, controlling.

And by faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.

There's something going on here.

There's many faith-filled episodes in Jacob's life as he learns to trust God, but at the end of his life, the writers of Hebrews points to this one moment here that is a defining moment that Jacob at the end of his life, after all that he went through and the dysfunctional leadership that he had, he didn't have to go all, he didn't have to go through all that deception with his father, you understand.

Do you remember the prophecy?

The prophecy of favor, the prophecy of blessing, the prophecy of redemption had already been given to Jacob.

And yet he went in and he schemed his way into the blessing of God.

He did not have to do that.

And so at the end of his life, when he switches his hands, Jacob switches his hands, he's recognizing that the way, the way to leadership, the way to fatherhood, the way to the gospel, the way to legacy is allow God to use you in the way that he wants to use you.

And it is by grace that the favor of God comes to you.

Never by merit.

It's by grace and never merit.

And I don't know why we struggle as men and women to understand, but it comes back even to the way that we're postured.

We're always looking for some kind of blessing.

Even as a young child, our children call out for blessing at a very young age.

They figure out the blessings come from my parents.

And so we we always strive for this blessing.

But let me tell you, the blessing of God comes through grace because of what happened on the cross and not your merit.

In a way, at the cross, the two sons of God show up again.

The Son of God, who is the perfect man and perfect God who had not sent Jesus, and metaphorically, in a way, he was standing before God the Father, and the other son shows up, which is you, which is me, who have sinned and have the curse of sin on it.

And in a way, can I can I paint a picture this way?

As God is coming in to bless, obviously, Jesus deserves it.

He was obedient, he never sinned in contrast to us who were constantly, constantly in rebellion and disobedience.

And then when he went out to bless, God switched hands.

And he blessed you and me.

And he cursed Jesus.

Are you with me?

That's why the apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians, he says, For God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

It's by grace and not merit, everyone.

If you are a follower of Jesus, if you've surrendered your life and become a child of God, a son or a daughter of Adam, and you've submitted to Jesus and all that he did in the cross and in the grave, you have the favor of God not by what you do, but what Jesus did on the cross and in the grave.

And you can stand upon that.

You can stand about stand upon that.

By faith, Jacob sought the blessing through grace and not works.

That's why he's highlighted in Hebrews.

And some of you are like, well, Pastor Mark, shouldn't we always just strive for the blessing?

But what is blessing?

Really, what is blessing?

Blessing is validation.

We're always seeking, like I said, children are constantly seeking the validation of their parents.

Sociologists say this is the first validation we get from our mothers and our fathers.

Those words are extremely important to us.

And now we live in a world where there is a father wound or a father lost.

I love how Lance Amaro says it this way that the damage caused by a father's absence may be severe and may last a lifetime.

It's a shadow.

If sons don't have fathers, 46% of them are more likely to do the drugs.

If sons don't have fathers, 52% of them are more likely to skip school.

If sons do not have fathers, 98% of the problems in our school system today, as recognized by emotionally damaged sons, all have one thing in common.

Father loss.

And our world is looking for the fathers of our culture and word, saying, Dad, can you just look at me?

They're calling out, someone, someone just needs to bless me.

Sticks and stones do break bones.

I know.

And words can break your soul.

Especially if you don't receive them from your father.

So what do we do when we when we ask for a blessing and we don't get it?

We play dress up like Jacob did.

Dressing up for our friends, dressing up for our parents, for our bosses.

Just anyone that will validate me and bring security, dressing up for social media.

It creates a deep father wound of insecurity in our life.

You've heard me read this.

It's an article, uh, Vanity Fair.

Uh, when Madonna, I think most of you know who Madonna is.

If you don't, that's you're probably better off.

But uh in her 30s at the height of her stardom, she said this to Vanity Fair, and you're probably wondering, Pastor Mark, why are you reading Vanity Fair?

I do it for you.

You wouldn't be amazed.

She says, My drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre that is always pushing me.

I push past one spell of it and I discover myself to be a special human being, but then I feel I am still mediocre and uninteresting unless I do something else.

Because even though I have become somebody, I still have to prove that I am somebody.

My struggle has never ended, and I I guess it will never, it never will.

Madonna is just looking for the right hand of blessing.

And some of you did not grow up with great fathers.

Maybe you experienced the father wound as psychologists and sociologists call it.

Maybe you learned how to be a father by not being like your father.

Maybe there was abuse, but do you understand that you should not view your heavenly father who is good and perfect and loves you by the mistakes of your earthly father?

If you do, you're not gonna receive healing.

I love how David says in Psalms 139, speaking how God loves you and formed you.

You formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made in your eyes, saw my unformed substance, and in your book were written every one of my steps.

That's how much he loves you.

That's how much he thinks about you.

He goes on and says that God's thoughts of you are like the sands of the sea.

Scientists have figured that out.

That's eight quatrillion thoughts.

That's how much he loves you and wants to be your father.

So let me ask you a couple questions.

Do you ache to be special to someone?

You are to God.

You are formed in a perfect way.

Do you love to be, do you desire to be loved?

He loves you more than the sands of the sea.

Again, this is the core of the gospel that God's favor, his blessing, his salvation is given only as a gift.

You just have to receive it.

And then he takes off your grave clothes, your sin clothes.

Can I say it that way?

And he clothes you in the righteousness of Jesus and puts his spirit in you to accomplish something beautiful for the kingdom of God.

There's a there's a great book, and I I gotta I gotta I gotta close here.

Uh it's called The Blessing, it's by written by Gary Smalley.

There are there are there are five blessings you should have active in your life, not just your children, but anyone around you.

Meaningful touch, touching someone, hugging someone, grabbing someone's hand.

Do you notice that I go very quickly and try to shake everyone's hand?

And here our pastors do that.

It's not that I have any time to hear about your dead cat in a closet.

I don't, because I'm I'm I'm very nervous that I'm going to miss someone where I touch them.

Sometimes I just walk by you and touch your shoulder.

Because I want you to understand that not just does Mark, your pastor, see you, but Jesus sees you.

And that happens through touch.

Jen's really great at this.

Sometimes I'll be getting yelled at by someone, and Jen will just touch me.

Which means I believe in you.

I don't care if they believe in you.

There was a time I was folding clothes, and I do that on a regular basis because Jen hates it.

And um I was putting some clothes away and I found a letter in her drawer.

I was like, oh, what's going on here?

And I opened it up and I started to read it, and it was a horrific letter someone had written to me with all kinds of demonic things in it.

And I went down to Jen, I said, Jen, when did you get this letter?

And that person had was blaming me for all the troubles of the church.

There was no troubles of the church.

The church was growing and they didn't like the way it was growing.

They didn't like people getting saved.

And so, of course, I'm the demonic prophet preacher of North Iron.

And she says, You just didn't need to see that at the time.

So I hid it from you because I didn't want you to go back from what you have decided that God wanted you to do.

In a way, that's a meaning, a meaningful touch or verbal affirmation.

Sociologists say your kids need to hear three things.

I love you, I'm proud of you, and you have what it takes.

You need to communicate around you all of the strengths of people and your children.

You have to cast spiritual sight of a special future because it's biblical.

You need to understand that God has given you something special to accomplish in this earth.

And so if you are not accomplishing that, it's not being done.

If you're sitting back on your hunches or on your comfortable chair and not actively pursuing that, some you need spiritual vision, and sometimes it takes other people to point that out to you.

And you need a genuine, undying commitment to not only your personal family, you just need to constantly, consistently show up.

I tell the leadership of our leadership in Royal Rangers, a lot of our our kids' ministry.

Listen, it's not the big events that changes a child's life, it's every week commitment and consistency.

That's how you change a kid's life.

Again, verse 21 of Hebrews 11, by faith, Jacob was dying.

He blessed each of his sons of Joseph.

Now, why is he bowing in worship over the head of his staff?

I think it's chapter 32.

Then all of Jacob's striving, manipulation, chapter 32 says that he wrestles with a being in the middle of the night.

Some scholars say it's actually Jesus, and in that process of that dream kind of reality kind of is woven in there, the being pushes Jacob's hip out of joint.

He wounds him.

And in that wounding, Jacob learns that it's through God's strength and not his own scheming that moves his family forward.

So at the very end of his life, he's bent over on a staff.

Gonna bless his grandsons.

And what he's saying is, Lord, thank you for this wound.

This wound has changed my life.

I'm broken, I don't have what it takes, but you do.

And so he bends over on his staff to bless his grandchildren in a form of worship by by faith.

Jacob worshiped through his wounds.

To worship through our wounds.

If there's any message that I need to give you today, and maybe you feel like a second son, maybe you feel like the spare, maybe you've sinned in such a way you're like, Pastor Mark, there can't be any kind of redemption.

I can't even spiritually see through the barriers that I've created in my life.

And I'm telling you, you don't know the power of the redemption of Jesus.

He can redeem anything.

And he always, always, listen, he always uses the second son to do incredible things to change this world.

Couple weeks ago, I went on a forward trip with a 16 or 15 second sons of North Iron.

We went and worked with a missionary who is bringing the gospel deep into the Amazon.

Can I say it like the frontier of the gospel?

Like the gospel stops here.

And we went to to build a church and a training center in this little Amazon village.

And the missionary was telling us that one day as he was fishing, he would drive by this village on the Amazon, drive by it, and the Lord spoke to him and says, I want you to stop and I want you to preach the gospel in this village.

And so he did that.

He said, at the time there were eight witch doctors.

It was the hub of witch doctors.

So everyone from all these different villages out on the Amazon would float down in their dugout canoes if someone was in trouble, and the witch doctors would come in and do their rituals.

And this missionary shows up and begins to preach the gospel.

He said, after a while, all of the witch doctors, all eight of those families left except for one.

And it says, Took about a year for him to leave.

And Mark, we're we're sitting for lunch right now in the witch doctor's hut.

And you're building a church.

And the gospel is proclaimed.

The next day, I got into the boat with our missionary.

I said, I want to go out and check the fishing nets with you.

So we begin the paddle in the dugout canoe and we went to the I said, I said, what is where's the next village that doesn't have the gospel?

He says it's about two hours north of here or up the river.

He says, we just had two girls that come down four hours by dugout canoe.

They heard the gospel in our church service, they got saved.

We baptized them.

We watched these two 13-year-old girls get baptized in the Amazon River.

And he said, These girls are going back to a village where no one understands who Jesus is, and we think that this whole village is going to get saved.

He said to me, Mark, I have to get to the next village.

I need you to help me get to the next village.

I said, Well, what's after the next village?

He says, There's nine more villages along the Amazon.

I said, What are beyond the last nine villages of this uh unreached Indian group?

He says, I don't know.

But the gospel has to go there.

Pastor Mark, I need help paddling up the river to bring the gospel to the Quitos Indians.

Right before I left, he handed me the paddle.

And he said, Mark, don't forget.

I need help.

Show you a short video.

So here's the thing you need to understand that there's not a lot of difference between them and us.

And God called him to his people.

Likewise, he's positioned you, he's postured you, and you're called to your people, the tribe of Up.

Wherever you're at, Greenland or Scandia, Republic, Marquette, Ishkuming, and we have to reach our people.

We're going to help Ozmar get to the next village.

Some of you, most of you have faithfully given the kingdom forward, and we use those funds to spread the gospel around the world.

He's one of our missionaries.

But I need to get to the village of Marquette, everyone.

Pastor Matt said, we're very, very close.

Our bills right now stand at about$100,000,$150,000.

It's all wrap-up things that we have to get done to not anything special.

Just microphones and chairs, electricity, toilets, which are very important to the gospel.

Like they're not sexy.

You guys understand what I mean by that, right?

But just like the paddle, they're just as important.

And I need you to help me to paddle to Marquette.

Because once we start to preach the gospel to Marquette, I just want you to be real up front with you.

The Lord will come and say, I need you to go upriver.

I need you to go upriver.

I need you to go upriver.

I need you guys to help me, Pat.

This is what it's like to be on mission.

Not receiving but giving.

It is the heart of the gospel.

We're gonna plant a church with Ozmar in this village.

We actually finished the church.

We went up to that village.

We saw it.

We need to build up North Iron fathers and mothers of the gospel.

We need to secure the spiritual next gen leadership of our children.

These are the things we're called to.

And maybe you're here and you have the means.

Maybe you don't have the means.

But the Lord's speaking to your heart to give in a powerful way this morning, you can give it on our online account at Northiron.

I believe it was called Finish the Task.

What was it called?

Final push.

Thank you, Matthew.

If you're in Lonz, Ishming, doesn't matter where you're at in the UP, will you help me paddle?

So I want you to stand.

I'm just gonna pray over you, fathers.

Some of you need to make some serious decisions on being on mission with this life you've been given.

So I'm gonna pray a blessing over you, the right hand of blessing.

Father, you created these men and these fathers and these mothers and these grandfathers and these single men and these grandmothers and these single women, Father, Lord, to lead and to love.

You place something special inside of them, and Lord, it begins to bear fruit as we surrender to you, Jesus.

Some of us have to stop scheming and manipulating and striving for blessing.

It's given, it's a gift, and so Lord, we receive that, and it propels us forward, Father, in your kingdom, moving upriver, Lord, to present the gospel to the people who do not know.

So I ask for a blessing upon all of our people, Father, and we ask it in Jesus' name.

Thank you for joining us for this message.