On Sunday morning Pastor Devon Ortiz continued the church's begin, bless, build series, picking up the life of Abraham from the far side of the cross in Hebrews 11. He opened with the chapter's definition of faith: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Pastor Ortiz distinguished biblical hope from a wish; it is not "I hope I win the lottery" but the settled certainty of "lunch is coming, I know it will be there, it is just not here yet." Faith, he said, is the substance of what we know will be there, and it carries its own evidence even when the thing itself is unseen, the way we understand by faith that the worlds were framed by the word of God.

He recapped the series so far: Abraham began at seventy-five by walking out from his riches, comfort, and home with no map and no track record, simply because God called him (begin); he blessed others by giving Lot the best land and refusing to hoard what God gave him (bless); and he had to give up Ishmael, the thing built in his own strength, because anything built without God leads to failure (build). Hebrews 11, Pastor Ortiz said, shows Abraham not as a hero but as a pilgrim who lived his whole life moving from tent to tent and never owned a single acre of the land he was promised, yet received it by faith.

Faith means you obey before you know where you are going. "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." Pastor Ortiz called it an illogical verse by human standards: Abraham received the inheritance only after he obeyed. If we must have all the details before we obey, we are living by self, not by faith. Most people want the destination before they will take the first step, and so they never reach where God is leading. He tied it to his life verse, Proverbs 3:5-6: we will trust, lean not on our own understanding, and acknowledge Him, but then refuse the last part, letting God direct our path.

Faith means you live as a stranger in the place God promised you. Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country. The word means a resident alien, present but not permanent. Pastor Ortiz warned that too many Christians live as though they are permanent here, more earthly minded than heavenly minded, and it shows in their desires. He pointed to how easily we, and our young people, are pulled toward the world because we live for the right now instead of the home to come, and quoted Peter's appeal to live "as strangers and pilgrims," since our life is but a vapor.

Faith means you embrace the promise before it arrives. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded." Pastor Ortiz explained that persuaded means fully convinced, not an emotion but a settled conviction; they embraced the promises and were thankful for them even though they never partook of them, and they confessed openly that they were strangers and pilgrims, naming their identity publicly. Faith is not seeing the answer, he said, but trusting the One who already has it.

Faith means God is not ashamed to be identified with your unfinished story. "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city." Abraham never received the fullness of the promise in his lifetime, yet God put His name on him. Pastor Ortiz marveled that God would attach Himself to people living in temporary situations who have failed and built what they should not have. The key is desire: they desired a better country. He asked whether we desire a better country or a better 401k, a bigger house, a bigger career, noting those things are not bad until they become the focal point of our desire, at which point they become an Ishmael that must be removed. What qualifies us is not our record but our direction; God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

Faith means your obedience completes something beyond yourself. The saints of Hebrews 11 obtained a good report through faith but did not receive the promise, "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Pastor Ortiz drew out the startling link: Abraham's story is tied to ours and will not be completed until Christ returns. Each faithful life adds a chapter. He asked how we want our story to read, like a pouting Jonah, a stumbling but growing Peter, or a Judas who sold out for what did not matter. He testified that he stands in the pulpit not because of his own goodness but because faithful people in his life gave him the courage to follow Christ; our obedience gives others the strength to step out in theirs. The church does not exist for itself; it is one tent in a long line stretching from Abraham to the return of Christ.

He closed by reminding the church that the city is already prepared, past tense, fully finished and waiting, so God is not scrambling to complete what He promised. We begin because the city is prepared, we bless because there is no room for hoarding, and we build because the builder and maker is God. An unfinished story does not disqualify the promise; what holds us back is our Ishmael and our Egypt, not God's willingness. The message ended with an invitation to trust God's path even when the steps are scary, and to take hold of what has been given.