What is Faith?

Hebrews
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3, 6
August 6, 2023

Hebrews 11:1-3, 6: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Sermon Outline

1. Mistaken ideas about faith

  • Wishful thinking

  • Emotion

2. Faith is a confidence in God based on good reasons

  • Confidence in God

  • Based on good reasons

  • More about faith based on good reasons

3. Faith responds positively to what God says

4. Lessons

  • Faith involves your mind and your will

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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