Strong and Courageous | Faith in the Father | Pastor Joel Sims

Hebrews 11 is the great faith chapter. Twenty times it says “by faith,” because the just live by faith and walk by faith, not by sight. Verse 6 is the hinge: without faith it is impossible to please God. Not without morality. Not without being a good person. Without faith. This faith is not merely devotion to the Christian religion. It is belief that God is who He says He is—not that He was a healer, but that He is—and that what He is, He will be for you. If you cannot name what you are in faith for within five seconds, you are not in faith. And if you are not in faith, you are not pleasing Him.

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

1. Fear Insults the Father

God smiles when someone gets in the boat and walks on the water, when a boy runs at a giant with a stone, when people march around walls believing their words can bring them down. Faith pleases Him because fear is an insult. Every time you are afraid, you are acting as if you do not have a God who loves you. Compare the problem to yourself and you get fear. Compare the problem to the God who loves you and you get faith. Romans is blunt: whatever is not of faith is sin. Anxiety is not a personality trait in this text. It is forgetfulness of the Father.

2. Diligence Means You Do Not Quit Until He Moves

The King James keeps a word the NASB folds into “seek”: diligently. In the Hebrew sense it means to press until completion—vehemently, without giving up. Jesus told of a widow who kept coming to an unjust judge until he finally said, “I will avenge her, lest she weary me by her continual coming.” Then He asked: if an unjust judge will respond to that kind of persistence, will not God avenge His own speedily? The question is simple. Is the problem wearying you, or are you wearying the problem? Stay in faith tomorrow morning for the same thing you are believing today. That is diligence.

3. Excellence, Faithfulness, Diligence

Three words run through the Old Testament. Master them and you will be successful—not so you can be selfish, but so you can be rich toward God and bear other people’s burdens. Excellence is not being the best; it is giving your best. You cannot control whether you are the finest preacher or athlete. You can control whether the work is done as unto the Lord. Faithfulness is doing what you are told. God has never given a suggestion. The first miracle in the Gospels turned on that sentence: “Whatever He tells you, do it.” Diligence is working hard all the way to the finish. Excellence is your best. Faithfulness is obedience. Diligence is staying with it. Faith especially requires the third.

4. Don’t Lose the Boy When You Become the Man

A good father is like gravity. Chaos settles when he walks in. Pastor Joel grew up under that kind of care—gifts his dad called “happies,” work at thirteen pouring concrete at 4 a.m., rest because the father was already thinking about it. Then his father died. At nineteen he was pastoring. At twenty-one he was married. At twenty-two he was a father. He killed the boy and lost him completely. All that remained was pressure: I have to provide. I have to take care of everything. In one sense you must put away childish things. In your relationship with God you must not. Jesus said greatness in the kingdom requires coming like a little child. Train sons and daughters to work hard—and to look to the Father.

Believe that He is. Believe that He will be that for you.
Stay in faith until you see Him move.

“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Get back in faith. It brings the Father pleasure.

Summary of the message delivered by Pastor Joel Sims • Word of Life • August 30, 2026