The Dark and Light Paths

Proverbs
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Proverbs 4:18-19
June 12, 2022

Proverbs 4:18-19: The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.

Sermon Outline

1. The Bible places everyone into just two categories

  • This is odd to modern people

    • At best, "old-fashioned and overly simplistic"

    • At worst, "There those holier-than-thou Christians go again"

  • Why does God use these terms?

    • Consider what God is like

    • All human beings are born resistant to God

    • In the Bible, God calls his people (worshipers, followers) "righteous"

2. For those who are not his, God describes their lives as a dark path

  • A figure of speech

    • Main idea: danger

    • Further idea: a certain confusion/bewilderment

  • What the dark path looks like

    • May be obvious

    • May not be obvious

    • On a national level

    • Person is not prepared for death

3. For those who are his, God describes their lives as a path of light

  • Their path has light

  • The light they have grows

Benediction

Proverbs 4:18: The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

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