Where Am I Going?
Samuel Prime · Tidal Church Moncton · July 26, 2026 · Heroes of the Faith series
Samuel Prime teaches from Hebrews 11:8-16 and the story of Abraham, showing that faith means trusting God without knowing every step. Abraham lived in a tent while longing for God's city, and the true reward of faith is God Himself.
More from Samuel Prime · The Heroes of the Faith series
Topics: Hope, Faith, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] If this is one of your first weeks joining us, or maybe you missed a few weeks, I would encourage you to go back and watch Pastor Jeremy's message. His wasn't last week, it was the week before that, as we're in our series called "Heroes of the Faith." And so Jeremy spent his message talking up and setting the rest of the series up for a little bit of what faith is, and he pulled it from the beginning of Hebrews chapter 11, where we'll be this morning. And so I would encourage you, if you haven't done so, maybe if you missed it, I would encourage you to go back and to check that out. This morning we will be in Hebrews chapter 11, starting in verse 8. But before we jump into the word this morning, I just want to preface something. It can be really easy for us to read the story of Abraham and to point to how great Abraham's faith is.
[0:47] Now sure, that's for sure a part of it, but the story of Abraham isn't really all about how great Abraham's faith is. It's really a story of how God is faithful to an often flawed people. And that's what we're going to begin to uncover this morning as we read. But before we jump into God's word, why don't we pray together? Holy Father, I just thank You for the privilege it is to come here and to be able to share Your word, Father. I pray that, Holy Spirit, that You would be moving here this morning, that chains of bondage and of confusion would be broken here this morning. Lord, I pray that people would be willing and eager to give their hearts to You, Lord. And I just pray for ears and hearts to listen here as we open up Your word. Lord, we love You, we worship You, and we praise You, all in the powerful name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1:39] And so we're in Hebrews chapter 11, starting in verse 8. We're talking about Abraham this morning. And in verse 8 we read, "By faith Abraham obeyed that he was called to go to a place that he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going." And so Abraham was called out of his homeland to go to a place where he did not know where he was going. And so if you have, or somebody who takes notes or is following along this morning, I would encourage you to write this down because this is the first principle that we read from the scriptures here this morning, and it's very simple. Faith is obedience with incomplete information. That faith is obedience with incomplete information. God calls Abraham to go and to leave his city, to go to a place to which he did not know.
[2:33] What that means is he went to a place that he didn't know all the steps of how he was going to get there. He didn't know the end destination. And the story of Abraham, if we look back to the account of Genesis, and what's important to note here is in Hebrews chapter 11, it's referencing and condensing about, I believe it's 11 chapters in Genesis that it's condensing down into just a few verses. And so when we read Hebrews chapter 11, what we have to kind of understand is there's a lot of context that's kind of jammed together because the audience that Hebrews was written to, they would've had an understanding of what happened in Genesis. And for some of us today, we don't necessarily have that context. And so Abraham was called to go out.
[3:18] He had enough faith, if we look back in Genesis, to go, but he didn't have enough faith to go alone. He brought Lot with him. And so when Abraham eventually reaches the promised land, what we see is he receives a famine. And so Abraham gets to the land that the Lord had promised, and when he gets there, he received a famine. And as I studied, I wrestled with that for a little bit. I was like, "Okay, God, so Abraham was obedient to You. He stepped out in faith with incomplete information, and he gets to the land that You have promised him, and when he gets to the land You have promised him, he received a famine." And I was like, "Man, why is that?" Well, the truth is the promised land was an opportunity, or the famine was an opportunity for Abraham to truly and fully trust God. It was truly an opportunity to say, "Hey, you had enough faith to kind of go to the place which I would show you.
[4:09] Do you have enough faith that I will provide for you, that I will make sure that you have enough food to eat?" And so what Abraham does is he gets up and he flees to Egypt. The famine was too much for him. And so when he gets to Egypt, we see in the Book of Genesis that he actually lies about his wife, Sarah, and he calls Sarah his sister. And so you might be like, "Okay, Sam, why are you sharing all of this with me? How is this relevant for where we're going this morning?" Well, it again paints that picture of the story that we see of Abraham here in this passage isn't necessarily a story of how great Abraham's faith is. It truly is a story and a record of God's faithfulness to an often faithless people. And even just in this first verse when we read, we know that when every step is planned and secured for you along the way, when you know every single step that you're going to have to take up until the end, and you know what the end is going to look like, that doesn't really take much faith, does it? That wouldn't be faith if you knew how it was going to work out every single step along the way. And so the faith that we see that Abraham has is he goes, "God, You're guiding me.
[5:20] I don't know all the particular details, but I know that You are the one that is guiding me, that You are the one that is leading me. And you know what? I don't need to know every step of the way." And for some of us this morning, the idea of not having everything planned out and knowing every step of the way, can I just say, I think for some of us, that's unbearable. That sounds terrible to not know how everything along the way is going to work out. And I'll be honest, for me, sometimes that idea has been absolutely awful as God has worked in my life and He's called me to take steps of faith in my journey with Him. And so the invitation that I would extend to you even early on this morning would be this: Let the Lord challenge you to take baby steps of faith. And so that for you could be something as simple as saying yes to the invitation to serve Him or to step out or to lead in a way that you don't feel qualified to do so.
[6:23] For you, it could be the faith conversation with your neighbor that you know your neighbor's car, you know when they come and go, you know when they're home and they're not home, but you don't know their name. And you know that the Lord has put it on your heart, the Holy Spirit has spoken to you, that you should know their name and actually share what He's doing in your life with them. For you, it could be the thing that the Holy Spirit has been nudging in you as you read the scriptures and things jump out at you, and there's just that feeling that you get, not just only of conviction, but of that prompting, that leap in your heart that you know you're supposed to go and do something, but you haven't yet done it. Because the truth is we don't have to, and I would argue that it doesn't take faith if we have the beginning and the end mapped out for us, but we need to take the step of faith.
[7:08] And the thing that I find encouraging, as we'll begin to unravel here this morning, is Abraham first went halfway to where God had asked him. He went to the land in which he did not know. He received a famine, and then he fled to Egypt. And so years and years later on, God didn't remember the halfway faith, the delay in His obedience. No, the Lord only remembered the faith that Abraham had in the end. And I think where that's comforting for us is sometimes the Lord calls us and asks us and speaks to us to go and do something, and I think sometimes we take a half step towards it, but we don't go all the way. We're like dipping our toe in the water, but maybe we dip our toe in and we think that it's too cold, and then we jump back out. The Lord doesn't remember that.
[7:55] He only remembers the faith that we have in the end. And so the question then becomes is how was Abraham, how was he able to walk out in faith? Well, we see that in verses 9 and 10 here this morning, and it says, "By faith, he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." He looked forward to a city whose designer and builder is God. Now, what we have to understand is Abraham wouldn't have known who the person of Jesus was. Now, of course, as we read throughout the Old Testament, we see that Jesus coming was prophesied.
[8:42] We see, as readers, as we read the entirety of the text, that there was consistently throughout the Old Testament that knowledge that Jesus was coming, the foreknowledge of Jesus was coming. But I think, to be truthful this morning, they knew more than what we give them credit for, that they knew that there was a city that was coming whose designer and builder is God. And I really like to give one of the arc or one of the themes throughout scripture, which is truly a tale of two cities. If you look, one of the major themes, and there are many, but one of the major themes in scripture truly is a tale of two cities, the city of man and the city of God. If we go back to early on in Genesis with Adam and Eve, where they're in the Garden of Eden and they eat from the tree of knowledge, what we actually see is when they're removed from the garden is a little phrase that shows up in pop culture here and there, which is they went east of Eden. They went east of Eden, and that's not a throwaway word.
[9:46] City, they look forward to a city whose designer and builder is God. That's also not a throwaway word. We'll talk about that in just a second. When Cain killed Abel, what we see in the Scriptures is when Cain fled, he went east of Eden. And so those aren't throwaway words. What that means is that Cain and Adam and Eve were moving further and further and further and further away from the place in which God dwells. And so what happens is after Cain kills Abel, he flees, and one of the first things he does is he founds a city. Cain goes ahead and founds a city. Now, again, him founding a city is not a throwaway term. It's not a throwaway word at all, because when you found a city, it leads to more cities, and when you build a city, you have to then defend a city.
[10:35] Again, if you look through human history, a lot of the wars that have taken place have been over empires fighting to keep their city safe and to fight over ground and to take more ground for different kingdoms, and what we see in the Scripture is that's actually not the kingdom of God. When Pilate asked Jesus, he asked Him straight, he said, "Are You a king?" And Jesus replied or responded to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this earth. My kingdom is not of this earth." And so as we apply it through a New Testament lens, what we know is we know that Jesus did not come to found an earthly city. That is not the reason that Jesus came. He didn't come to set up a capital with a flag.
[11:26] No, He announced a kingdom that you cannot point to on a map. He came on this earth and went to a cross instead of a throne, where His disciples and His followers and the Jewish audience were saying, "Jesus is our hope for political power. We're going to put Him in, and everything's going to be all good." And Jesus is like, "No, no, no. That's not why I came to walk this earth." And so what we see in this contrast when we talk about cities is we see the contrast between Cain, who built and poured down foundation to build walls that you'd then have to defend. What we see is we actually see that Abraham pitches a tent. He pitched a tent. And so what we know is we know that a tent is provisional.
[12:12] We know a tent is provisional. So growing up, when my family would go to PEI, we go to PEI every summer, and we go to a little campground called Marco Polo. And so when we would go on vacation for a week or two, what we didn't do is we didn't go on vacation and say, "Hey, you know what? Canada Post, all of our mail is going to be forwarded to Marco Polo lot 36." That's not what we did, right? Because when you go camping, when you live in a tent, you acknowledge and know that this is not your home. This is not your home. You live in a different way when you go camping. And so what I find staggering about this passage is Abraham chose a foundationless dwelling because his heart was set on the only dwelling with true foundations.
[13:02] He chose a foundationless dwelling because his heart was set on the only dwelling with true foundations. He refused a lesser permanence because he was holding out for a greater one. He wasn't looking for real estate. He was looking forward to a city whose builder and maker is God, whose builder and designer is God. And the hard truth for us is we do the opposite of what Abraham did. We stand in the promises of God, and yet we kind of hope for earthly ones. And so, we are truly conditioned to be consumers. Where we live and the last, we are absolutely 100% positioned to be consumers. We love things. We love stuff.
[13:52] And so where that becomes dangerous is sometimes I think in our hearts, we prioritize things, material things over the kingdom of God, where we will not sacrifice material things, we will not sacrifice for Jesus if it costs us something material. And what's staggering about this passage is Abraham was living in the land in which God had promised him, and yet he held it loosely. He lived in a tent. He was living in the promised land, the land in which God promised him, and yet he still lived in a tent. And so the question for us this morning isn't, do we own things? We all own stuff. I'm wearing a shirt and pants and shoes, right? We all own something. So let me put it to you in a different way.
[14:39] If I were to follow you around all week long, if I was just invisible and I was there to be able to follow you all week long, if I watched what you protect, what you think about all the time, what you can't sleep without, what you fight to protect, what you fight to keep, would any of it say that you're looking forward to a city whose builder and maker is God, or alternatively, would it say that you've settled here? And one of the most really radical examples of this that I'm just reminded of is there are brothers and sisters in Christ all across the world who quite literally are massacred and slaughtered for what they believe.
[15:26] Just plainly. They're killed for believing in the Lord, for reading the Scriptures, for the things that we take for granted. In fact, there's a gentleman in Nigeria who's a pastor, and I believe it was eight of his family members were killed. And this is just for them having a faith in Jesus, for not denying the name of Christ. And instead of him pointing fingers and being angry at them, he laments it and he says, "Lord, forgive them." He actually encourages them and implores them to turn from their wicked ways to come and know the Lord.
[16:13] And part of the times I wonder if we sometimes would not go to that extreme where if we were stripped from material things, part of me wonders if we would still call God good, if we'd still fight for the kingdom of God. Because I think what's happened over time is, truthfully, we've longed for things and we've used God to get them. And the reality is that's not the truth of the gospel. That's not what the Lord has come here to do. And so everybody in this room is building something. The only question is, are we building a tent or are we building a foundation? Are we living in a tent or building a foundation, sorry?
[16:58] And so to live in a tent means that it's not necessarily just about material things. It's actually saying like, "Hey, I'm going to take part in the kingdom of God. The kingdom that Jesus walked this earth to set up, I am going to be a participant in the kingdom of God." And I think for sometimes that's really difficult for us. But truthfully, if we look at these stories, we see that they trusted the Promiser. They trusted the Promiser. Look at Sarah as we look down here in verses 11 through, I think it's 11 through 12, where it says, "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars in heaven and as many as the immeasurable grains of the sand by the seashore." And so I don't have time to unpack all of this today because we'll be here all night, or all morning and then all night. And so what we see here is we see that Sarah's faith wasn't perfect either. The Lord came to her and told her in her old age, past childbearing years, that she was going to bear a child.
[18:10] And what she did in Genesis 18, I believe it's verses 10 through 15, she actually laughs at the idea of her being able to bear children. And then what that led to later on, I believe it's in Genesis chapter 21, somewhere around verses 3 to 7, I think it is, her laughing at that idea then actually came to being able to, like, laugh in faith. And so this is just another principle for you this morning about what faith is as we move quickly here this morning, is faith is judging that God is faithful and able to keep His promises. Faith is judging that God is faithful and able to keep His promises. You see, God gave Sarah the strength to conceive, and Sarah received it by faith.
[19:01] And for me, these next verses is kind of where things get wild. In verse 13, where it said, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar." And we'll just pause there for just a second. They were willing to look at and to consider the promises of God, even though fulfillment of those promises seemed so far away. The Scriptures continue to say, "And having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had the opportunity to return." Can I just say for a moment this morning that if these examples of faith had the ability to endure through difficulty and discouragement and hardship and famine without ever having received the things promised, then how much more can we in the 21st century, where Jesus came and walked this earth, how much more should we endure, should we be able to withstand, who have actually received the promise in Christ?
[20:15] How much more? And I want you to take note of something here this morning that's really important, that's really easy to miss. They died in faith. They died in faith. They didn't go scrambling for faith on their deathbed. They didn't finally get serious about God when the end was near. They died in faith. If you died in faith, it means that you lived in faith, and they still died. And sit with that because we get it backwards. We think that faith is the thing that gets us out of things, right? Like out of sickness and out of loss and out of death. But the truth is, that's not what we see here. We don't have faith to escape death. We have faith to die in it.
[21:02] And that's an important little shift because that's what we see here. We don't grow beyond a simple dependence on God. The Scriptures refer to it as, like, a childlike faith. If you've been around or you have kids or you've been around kids, you would know the faith that kids have in things is mind-blowing for some of us. They have a demonstrated trust that we as followers of Jesus need to have again. The Scriptures command us to be people of faith, to be known for people who fully and wholly depend on and trust in God, that He will provide, that He will keep the promises that we're going to talk about here in just a second. And here's what holds that kind of faith up for a lifetime. It isn't wishful thinking.
[21:56] It isn't, "Wouldn't it be nice?" It's not, "I really wish I had this." It rests on the promises of God, and if God made a promise, then I can believe it, and so can you. And so as we look through Hebrews chapter 11, verses 8 through 16, what is it exactly that God had promised them? What are the promises of God? You're like, "Sam, you've said they rested on the promises of God." So what are those promises? Well, the first is a homeland, a place where they would finally belong. The second thing is a city, not one they'd have to build and have to defend, but one who God builds and who is the chief cornerstone and whose foundations doesn't crack. The second is God's presence, the one who said that, "I will be your God, and you will be My people." And underneath all of it, this is the promise that the Lord made to them, and it's simply this: It is Himself.
[22:52] It was Himself. And so the reward at the end of the search is simply God. That the reward at the end of the search is simply God. And those aren't small promises, and they died without seeing all of them come true, and they still called God faithful. And that's why it says this in three movements. If we were to read the whole thing that we've read already this morning, we'd see three things take place in three movements. The first is they saw the promises far off on the horizon. They were assured of them, certain enough to stake their life on it, and then they embraced them. They held them close to themselves. And here's why this is so hard for us today. I believe it's because so many of us live as what's commonly referred to as practical atheists.
[23:52] I think that so many of us live as practical atheists. Now, hear me on that phrase. I'm not talking about somebody who denies that God exists. Maybe practical agnostics would be a better way to put it. I'm talking about somebody who doesn't deny that God exists. I'm talking about somebody who says they believe in God theoretically on paper, but belief makes no actual difference on how they live on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday. It's this idea that God is real in theory, but He's absent in our everyday lives. It's this idea that God is real in theory, that we have some belief of Him, but He's absent in our everyday lives.
[24:40] And the truth of the matter is, because of what Jesus did and the work that He did on the cross, we are able to commune with God. We are able to know Him and have a relationship with Him and talk to Him and know the heart of our Father in Heaven. And I think sometimes we forget that. I think sometimes we forget that we can go to our Father in Heaven and know that He is trustworthy, and that when we call Him and when we seek Him, that He answers us. That, you know what? We might come to Him not having all the answers, that we might come to Him uncertain of certain things and uncertain of certain doctrines in theology, but when you cut through all the noise, the Lord truthfully wants you to come to Him with your questions.
[25:30] He wants you to come to Him with your anxieties and your doubts and your fears. We learned about a few weeks ago from Pastor Jeremy that doubt is not the absence of faith. I think of John the Baptist, who Jesus says was the greatest born among women. He had doubts. He was in prison, and his disciples came to see him, and he said, "Hey, can you go ask JC? Can you go ask Jesus Christ if He is really the one?" The greatest born among women who Jesus said, he had doubts. And so you as somebody who may have doubts or questions when it comes to faith or you're unsure if He's trustworthy or you're unsure whether or not you can put your faith, your demonstrated trust in Him, I would encourage you and implore you to say it is okay to come to Him with your questions and your doubts because when you earnestly and faithfully seek Him, He will meet you.
[26:28] And so the truth is, when we talk about this idea of practical agnostics, when we are people of faith, it is impossible for us as followers of Jesus to live that way. It is impossible for us to have a theoretical belief of who God is and not have it fundamentally change who we are as people. It's an acknowledgment, it's agreement with that there is a spiritual world and that Jesus reigns over all of it, in the spiritual and in the physical. I think of how the Book of James puts it in James chapter 2, where it says that you believe that there is one God, and James says, "Good.
[27:14] Even the demons believe that, and they shudder." And so what's easy to miss here is we often think that somehow in the spiritual world that demons are clueless and that they maybe aren't even real or we just kind of brush it under the rug. No, no. Demons have flawless theology. They ace the doctrine test, and it saves them from nothing. And so having a theoretical belief in who God is but not actually having the person of the Holy Spirit change you to live out in faith, to be partakers and contributors to the kingdom of God, you know what I mean? So let me ask the hard question this morning.
[28:00] Are you okay if you never experience the thing that you think God owes you? Are you okay if you never experience the things that you think that God owes you? I think back to where they said they all died in faith, not having received the things promised. And this is a tough truth. There are things that God has promised and are real and are true, but we may never see this side of heaven. But what that doesn't mean is, it doesn't mean that the promises of God are null and void. It doesn't mean that He isn't good or that He isn't faithful, because He is. And in verse 16, to kind of begin to land us here this morning, we see in verse 16, but it says, "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
[28:56] Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city." They didn't just look to, they didn't just feel, they desired a better country that is a heavenly one. And as I wrestled with this passage and as I kind of thought through this, to be truthful, I kind of wrestled with this idea. I was like, okay, so this passage says that God was not ashamed to be called their God, so does that mean there's a world in which God is to be ashamed to be called our God? And my truth in this room is, truthfully, that everybody in this room would not be ashamed to be counted as a follower of Jesus Christ.
[29:41] But I believe that there is this terrifying possibility that God may actually be ashamed of me, and I don't really want that. And so as I wrestle with this, I was like, man, what is the answer to this question? There is an idea in scripture that we see where Jesus says, "If you're ashamed of me on that day, I'll be ashamed of you." I think of the Apostle Paul, who says that "I am not ashamed of the gospel." And so I think the answer is actually earlier in Hebrews in chapter 11, verse 6, where it says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him." It doesn't say that it's improbable. It doesn't say that it's unlikely. It doesn't say that it's a 50/50 shot. It doesn't say that someday, maybe, possibly. No. It says that without faith it is impossible to please Him.
[30:32] And then the second part of that verse says, "For whoever would draw near to God must believe He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him." And so if we can't please God without faith, the question then becomes, what's one of the greatest opportunities that God could give us to be people of faith? Well, I think it's very similar to Abraham's case, where he had faith with incomplete information. To have faith in things that the Lord gives us that do not make sense to us. To get us to be people of faith, to live out our faith when we read things in the scriptures that challenge us, that we don't fully grasp with. To say, "God, You are the Alpha and the Omega.
[31:17] You are the beginning and the end. You are the author of creation. You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So what You've said in Your Word, which we believe is the inerrant word of God, can be proved true, and I am going to trust You. I'm going to trust You." And we look at that last phrase in the passage that says, "He rewards those who seek Him." And man, we love to twist this. We love to say, "If we seek God, then, you know, He'll pay out," whatever that kind of looks like. And that's not what the writer is saying. He's saying, "If you seek God, the reward you get at the end, the reward you get when you seek Him, not just at the end when you die, is you get God." That is your reward. And man, I got to be honest. Sometimes I wonder if we really believe that.
[32:03] Like, "God, I kind of believe that if that diagnosis comes back and I have a clean bill of health. God, I believe that if maybe the stock market's going okay. God, I actually believe that if I'm taken care of in my health." Or, "Lord, I actually believe that, but only if my son or my daughter faithfully serves You and loves You, but if not, then maybe I'm..." Or, "Oh, God, I do, but maybe only if my spouse stays faithful." And so let me ask you point-blank, let me ask you straight this morning, would you still want faith in the person of Jesus Christ if He was your only reward?
[32:59] Would you still want faith in the person of Jesus Christ if He Himself was your only reward? No guarantee thrown in. No house, no car. You can't look under your seats and find it. But truly, just Him. And as we look at Abraham, we see that this was a man who was restless. He was restless and dissatisfied at the people around him who were making idols of everything around him, and man, he was like, "I just want the Lord," and so he diligently sought Him. And part of me wonders if for us today, truthfully, what it would look like for us to be people of faith.
[33:47] To take steps to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to us. To know His voice, to listen to Him, to be partakers and contributors into the kingdom of God. And I think of where it's written in the New Testament that says that we have been crucified, or that I have been crucified with Christ. That it is no longer me who lives, but Christ who lives in me. And we have this idea of faith where faith is all about us. That we have faith to get something out of it. That we have faith because it benefits us. But to be truthful with you this morning, that's not the faith that God calls us to.
[34:33] God calls us to be a people of faith for the simple reward of Him. For no other purpose than to push forth the kingdom of God and to receive Him as our reward. Abraham looked forward to a city whose builder and maker is God, and I have to ask this morning, do we have faith with the purposes of looking and fixing our eyes on the person of Jesus? Or do we see faith simply as, we get baptized, we give our life to the Lord, and that is the finish line. I'm just waiting until Jesus comes back, and then I'll get to heaven. Because I would put forth this morning that that's not faith. Baptism and salvation is the very beginning of our walk with the Lord, not the end.
[35:18] And unfortunately, I think we have it backwards, where we think that that is the end goal. Baptism and salvation are incredibly important. They are commanded in scripture. They're really important. Baptism is a sacrament, which we hold very highly. It's incredibly important. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying sometimes we treat that like it's the end. But my friends and family, that is just the beginning. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to invite the choir to come back up just to kind of, as we wrap up here this morning. And as they come up, I don't really want to rush past this because I believe that the God that we serve still speaks today. I believe the God that we serve still asks us to take steps of faith. I believe that the God that we serve sometimes asks us to say, "Hey, you know what?
[36:07] You don't know what everything's going to look like, and that's okay." You might not fully agree with everything that the scriptures say, but God is still asking you to diligently seek Him. To say, "God, I'm actually going to put my trust in You, even if I don't fully agree with where it may lead me." And the beautiful part about having faith is then we allow the potter to work with us as clay. To shape us, to form us, to speak to us, to lead us, and to show us what living and partaking in the kingdom of God actually is and what it actually means. And so as we close here this morning, I just want everybody just in this moment to bow your heads and to close your eyes here as we conclude. And I don't want to rush past this, but maybe there's something that the Lord is bringing to mind right now, and we're just going to ask just for the Holy Spirit to come and to bring things to mind.
[37:09] To bring names to mind, to bring steps of obedience that He's asked us to take towards Him to mind, to even bring doubts of ours to mind. And as He brings those things up, maybe it's a conversation you've been avoiding, maybe it's a person that the Lord's been asking you to reach out to, And some of you know exactly where you've been pouring concrete instead of living in a tent. There's some of you, there's things that you've built that you believe that God has promised you, but He's asking you to hold it loosely.
[37:58] There's some of us in this room that have a flawless belief in who God is, but we live a frozen life. You can pass the test, but we haven't moved where the Lord is asking us to move. And so what we're going to do is I just ask the Holy Spirit to come, to bring those things, those steps of faith that we need to take, that He bring them to mind. Lord, would You give us the faith to respond? Would You give us the boldness to say, "Lord, You've asked this of me and I'm going to respond." Lord, maybe it's the neighbor that you know their car, you know their schedule, but you don't know their name, Lord.
[38:43] Maybe for you it's the Gospel conversation that you've been meaning to have that you just don't have the courage to do so. Father, I pray that they would take a step of faith and they would just share even what You are doing in their life. Holy Spirit, would You call us to be a people of faith, to be a people of a bold faith? To be a faith that redeems, that it's not all about us. That's not the point of this, but it's all about You and Your glory. Lord, may we never steal Your glory. May having faith in You allow us to see Your graciousness and Your goodness towards us. Heavenly Father, I just pray as names have been brought to mind, as situations have been brought to mind, Lord, would You give us the courage and the faith to act on it.
[39:39] Precious Jesus, we love You. We worship You, and we praise You, all in the powerful name of Christ Jesus. Amen.