Beatitude #1: “Blessed are the poor in spirit”

Jeremy Stopford, Semi-Retired Pastor

We will recall that Matthew 5:2 introduces the famous “Sermon on the Mount” (“SOTM” for short) with the words, “He [Jesus] opened His mouth and taught them…”. He was having a wonderful teaching exercise with His disciples.

But He was also challenging the “multitudes” (v. 1) who were perhaps curiously listening to what this so-called Prophet had to say. Jesus’ words were just as authoritative as when the mouth of the Lord was opened throughout the Old Testament, and the eternal wonderful truths were put to print. I am challenged! Do I treat Jesus’ words as “eternal truths that need my life’s attention”?

This is the “Sermon on the Mount” because, well, “He went up on a mountain.” OK, that’s easy to grasp. But what is the purpose of this sermon, and of these familiar sayings of blessings? The purpose of the SOTM is two-fold. First, it is designed by our Savior to give future direction for the coming “kingdom of heaven.” Throughout the gospel of Matthew, He is offering Himself to the nation of Israel as their promised Messiah. He is showing to them what such a “kingdom” really would be like with Him as their King of kings and Lord of lords.

We know from John 1:9, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Jesus offered Himself to Israel as their promised Prophet, Priest, King, Messiah. Ultimately, they “received Him not” – they rejected Him and willingly allowed Him to be crucified on the cross. “We have no king but Caesar” was their cry. The SOTM is for the future “kingdom of heaven”, the millennial kingdom, so promised and will be so given to Israel.

Until then, the SOTM is for us! It is a guideline, an open view to Jesus’ heart. Remember Charles Sheldon’s book, “In His Steps”? The classic line of that book is the question, “what would Jesus do?”. I wonder if Mr. Sheldon’s estate gets any royalties for the use of “WWJD”? I doubt it. Each beatitude, each portion of the SOTM, gives Jesus’ heart toward how He hopes those who love, worship, and live for Him respond to the daily challenges of life. Do I live with the insight, “what would Jesus do?” Do I?

But why are these often viewed “pithy sayings” in verses 3-12 referred to as “Beatitudes”? The word of introduction to each line is “Blessed”. Its translation in the Latin is, you guessed it, “Beatitude”! In the Greek, the word “blessed” is a most unusual one: “makarios”. “Well,” you say. “That’s Greek to me!” Sure is! But the Greek language is a most beautiful language. It is often a most descriptive one. When we have ONE word to describe something, the Greek has words of imagery painting classical paintings to surround the subject with color!

“Makarios”. Doesn’t it just roll off your tongue? It means, simply, “happy”. But it is BOLDLY DIFFERENT from our English word for “happy”. Our English word contains the 3 letters, “hap”, which in itself means “by chance”. The English word basically means a creation of an attitude caused by the happenstances – or chance – of life! If I were to ask you, “are you happy?”, it might really mean, “by CHANCE is everything going all right in your life?”.”

Should the Christian be governing his life “by chance”? No, no! That’s why God created the wonderful word “makarios”. It is a GOD JOY! It is GOD’S kind of “happiness” which is not dependent upon “happenings”. It is dependent upon…GOD HIMSELF! Perhaps the BEST understanding for us would be JOYFUL! This “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22) is a God-thing, as it were, created by Him for His purposes.

And each of those evidences of God’s guaranteed joy is seen in the 9 beatitudes of Matthew 5.

The first beatitude is POOR IN SPIRIT. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

We read this beatitude and we understand SOME of it! “Blessed” = God happy! A happiness which is created by knowing the true God and enjoying Him and His sweet fellowship each day. “The kingdom of heaven” = a kingdom to which a believing member of Israel would look forward to; but it is also a kingdom which represents the kind of attitude and people that God wants His children to be. “OK, I understand all that.” But “POOR in spirit?”. Who wants to be poor?

There are at least two different understandings of the word “poor”, aren’t there?

The first refers to someone who AIN’T GOT NOTHING! He’s so poor [“how poor is he?”]. He’s so poor that he is ABSOLUTELY poor! He is physically poor. He has no influence, will make no mark in society. He can’t even carry the load – his is a bankrupted life.

And the second? The second “poor” is someone who is “poor IN SPIRIT”! How is that different from the first poor? The one who is “poor in spirit” may have all the realizations of our first poor character. However, he has come to an amazing conclusion: “I may be poor. I may be bankrupt. I may have NO HOPE IN THIS WORLD. But I have a RICH GOD! I trust the everliving One Whose wounds for me plead.”

So if I’m “poor in spirit”, why am I described as “blessed”? Why am I described as one whose happiness, whose joy is found not by chance or good circumstances? Why am I one whose true joy is found not in myself but in the Lord Himself? Why am I blessed? What do the scriptures say?

“You, O God, provided from Your goodness for the poor.” (Psalm 68:10b)

“He will bring justice to the poor of the people;

He will save the children of the needy,

And will break in pieces the oppressor.” (Psalm 72:4)

“Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,

And makes their families like a flock.” (Psalm 107:41)

“I will abundantly bless her provision;

I will satisfy her poor with bread.” (Psalm 132:15)

What unites each of these verses with our first beatitude? Is not not a two-fold fact? First, the poor in spirit is one who is completely dependent upon the One Who alone is worthy of his dependence! And second, the Lord Himself has his everlasting care upon the one who, although may be bankrupt from the world, is a treasure in God’s sight!

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”.

Ask yourself: from where comes my happiness? My family? My trophy spouse? My good golf game? My sports team winning the Super bowl (go Dolphins?). Or is my true happiness found in the Lord…Himself…Alone!

And ask yourself: am I “poor in spirit”? Is my eternal and daily dependence upon the One Who alone is worthy of my eternal and daily trust, as evident by His dying love for me at Calvary?

Finally, ask yourself: am I living for THIS earthly kingdom? Or am I living for the “kingdom of heaven”?

“This World Is Not My Home”

Written by Albert E. Brumley, 1905-1977

This world is not my home

I’m just passing through

My treasures are laid up

Somewhere beyond the blue

The Angels beckon me

From Heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home

In this world anymore

Chorus: Oh Lord, you know

I have no friend like you

If Heaven’s not my home

Then Lord what will I do

The Angels beckon me

From Heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home

In this world anymore

I have a lovin’ mother

Just hovering up in Gloryland

And I don’t expect to stop

Until I shake her hand

She’s waiting now for me

In Heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home

In this world anymore

Introduction, Part 2

Last week we began our study in perhaps the most famous “sermon” of all time, Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” (SOTM). As you recall from last week, our Savior here is in the process of training His disciples – yet a “MULTITUDE” of people are listening in as well!

Did you catch how the “SOTM” (abbreviated, if you will) begins? Let’s read again Matthew 5:2, “Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying…” [my emphasis]. “He opened His mouth”! Isn’t this how all speeches of importance begin? Isn’t this how all professors begin their lectures? Isn’t this how all teachers begin their class? So then WHY is this so important?

We don’t have to go back too far in the Good Book to find our answer! You may remember that in the early part of Matthew 4, the apostle Matthew records the intimate details of Jesus’ temptation at the hands of our enemy, Satan. This is a most important recording! The Savior is showing that He came to earth as a Man – the God-Man if you will – to show that in addition to being our Savior, He was one of us, yet without sin. As such, how did He approach temptations? He approached them in the same way we must – using Scripture!

To each of the temptations He initially responded, “It is written”. And so should we! I’m particularly fascinated as to how He dealt with the FIRST allurement to evil from the enemy of our souls. We remember that Jesus had just spent 40 days in the wilderness WITHOUT food nor water. As we would be, He was hungry. He was famished. He was weak. Enter Satan. Enter Temptation #1: “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Could He have done that? Of course! BUT! He is now the “God-Man”! Remember what theologians would remind us in their understanding of the “kenosis” in Philippians 2:6-8:

6 “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

So while it is more than possible for the Savior to change stones to bread – or to steak or to MOXIE or to lobster or to any other most wonderful delicacy – He did not! Rather, He approached this temptation as He would want US to approach it: through the use of Scripture! As we could, He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, where Moses was instructing the next generation of the “children of Israel” as to how to live for the Lord:

“So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

But WAIT, there’s more! Look at 2 Chronicles 6:4. In the context, Solomon, the newly crowned king of Israel, is sharing with his “congregation”, HIS “multitudes” of the people of Israel, that God is faithful to His Word! Listen to verse 4:

“And he said: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David…”.

Solomon did not become king by CHANCE! No, no! His kingship was a direct result of the Lord fulfilling His Word to Solomon’s father, David. “Fulfilling His word” how? “WHAT HE SPOKE WITH HIS MOUTH”!

The Father of glory spoke by His mouth here to Solomon, He fulfilled His Word in the giving of a son to David to continue the kingdom – and in turn, all the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for an ultimate Kingdom which will never end.

IS THERE MORE? Yes, at least one more! Do you remember – of course you do – the descriptions of Isaiah 53? Along with Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and the chapters before it give vivid descriptions of what our Savior would endure at the time of the cross. In the middle of all this description of the Savior “becoming sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21), is Isaiah 53:7:

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

[my emphasis]

Each of the gospel accounts gives a direct fulfillment of this prophecy concerning the Savior’s silence.

Listen to Matthew 27:12-14:

12 “And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.

13 Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” 14 But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.” [my emphasis]

The accounts in Mark and Luke are most similar to that of Matthew. However, the Gospel of John has a most unique emphasis which is typical of the gospel which is trying to show in vivid detail the Deity of our Savior. Listen to the interchange between Pilate and the soon to be crucified Savior, as seen in John 19:9-11:

[Pilate] “went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

10 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

[my emphasis]

In fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53, the Savior was silent when questioned about His Humanity. BUT when questioned about His Deity, He was quick to share the proof of His origin. Did you catch the intent of John 19:11? The Savior was showing in no uncertain terms that the events of the cross were a direct result of the plans of His Father – and in NO WAY were being orchestrated by Pilate. That truth shook Pilate to his core.

Why is all this important? Because: Like Father, Like Son! The Savior, like His Father in the Old Testament before Him, spoke as it were “from His mouth”. The disciples in Matthew 5-7, along with the multitudes who as well heard, were listening to the Words of God right from the One Who is the Author of those Words!

The SOTM [remember what this means?] is more than just a bunch of nice words shared in the middle of a nice sermon which most of us might fall asleep in sometime in the midst of it! Rather, it is from the “mouth of God”, sharing His guidelines for the Kingdom – not only for Israel’s FUTURE kingdom, but also for the Kingdom of God lived on earth TODAY through those who love the Lord Jesus as Savior!

Are you ready to hear the Words of God from the mouth of God?

Why not spend a few moments this week reading – or perhaps re-reading – Matthew Chapters 5-7.

Better yet, ask yourself two important questions:

#1:“Do I love the Lord Jesus as my Savior and Lord, having trusted that what He did at Calvary was the payment for my sins, MY sins?” If so, rejoice that you belong to the King of kings!

AND #2: “IF I love Jesus as my Lord and Savior, am I walking with Him, intentionally spending time each day in His Word [listening to what comes from His Mouth] and in prayer [sharing with Him what comes from my mouth and heart]?”. Why not intentionally set aside those precious moments between you and the Savior! Someone once wisely observed, “if you read 3 chapters each day Monday through Saturday, and 5 chapters on Sunday, you can read the whole Bible through in one year!”. That may be an HUGE goal for you – but WHY NOT?

May the Lord bless your walk with the Savior this week. LISTEN to what He has to SAY!

Semi-retired Pastor Jeremy Stopford

I suppose when you get to be “our age” (whatever that is, eh, Dr. Becker?), it is possible to think “we’ve arrived” and we DON’T need to be taught anything new! They have words for people like that: “stagnant”! It’s kind of like having a really bad smell coming from the kitchen. After hours of tracking down that foul odor, to much surprise is found a very dead dormouse (or, to paraphrase O Henry, “how can a dormouse be dead?”). That description would be terrible if it happens to someone – like you or me – who says they love the Lord Jesus as Savior but are struggling to see Him afresh in one’s life.

Enter the “Sermon on the Mount”. I was a relatively young pastor in 1992 when I preached through this sermon series for my first and only time. As I’ve looked over my notes for the first time in almost 30 years, I am amazed at how scholarly I was back then. My fear is that such scholarship was probably a form of plagiarism – I found a good quote, wrote it town, and the people in the pew wouldn’t know the worse.

Which leads us to today! This series, now in 2021, could possibly be entitled, “A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD LOOK”. Catchy, huh? But maybe that’s what you and I need! A new look at an old look! We need to look in a real way at some most familiar words proclaimed over 2000 years ago, designed to show the world that Jesus Himself hungers to be REAL in those who proclaim Him as Savior. Lord willing, for the next number of weeks we will be making that “new look” together!

Let’s begin with Matthew 4:13, “And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali…”. Leaving Nazareth. For Jesus, HOMETOWN! A place of familiarity. A place where everyone knows Him as “the carpenter’s son”. In Matthew 13:55, a crowd most surprised by His teaching questioned, “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?”. They KNEW who He was. They KNEW His beginnings – they were there! But now, after not seeing Him for who knows how many years, His public ministry – designed initially to point Israel to its true Messiah – was a shock to their familiar intellectual surroundings. Mark 6:3 dissects that the people of Nazareth “were offended at Him.” A friend once told me that meant, “they didn’t like the way He did things.”

So He moved on, to Capernaum [pronounced, properly, “CAP-ER-NAAAAAM” – kind of like a southern Texas drawl], which town would become His new “headquarters” as well as His disciples and His place of retreat. Do YOU have a “place of retreat”? It may be only the recliner in the living room! By the way, I saw a cartoon yesterday in which the doctor tells his visibly overweight patient, “no, you can’t count the recliner bar as a form of exercise”. Perhaps your place of retreat is the golf course, or digging into a good book, or a weekend away to a new scene. In any case, Jesus will be with you – you are NOT retreating from Jesus!

And His disciples were with Him! And so were the multitudes (verse 25)! God’s people are NOT to be isolationists! We may need to be recharged from time to time. But people – PEOPLE! – are not an interruption to ministry. People ARE ministry! Our Savior knew that, and the Scriptures teach that! Remember Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [my emphasis!]. See also Acts 7:59-8:1, where after the stoning of Stephen, the writer declares, “At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” [again, MY emphasis!]. What’s the point? The Savior is preparing people to be purposely placed where HE needs a witness, a voice, an encourager, a challenger, a testimony. He needs HIS Word proclaimed! Evangelist D. L. Moody wisely said, “Preach the Gospel at all costs! And if necessary, use words.” Our lives and our words are to be used by the Savior to make an eternal impact wherever He wisely gives us HIS assignment! What is YOUR place of assignment today?

Finally, God’s people are to be taught, Matthew 5:2, “Then He opened His mouth and taught them…”. But wait, there is MORE! God’s people are to be taught BECAUSE they are God’s people! How about some familiar verses put together in one spot? Proverbs 22:6a, “Train up a child in the way he should go…”. Ephesians 6:4, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” [MY emphasis]. 2 Timothy 4:16a, 17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable… that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

And God does look AT THE HEART! Remember when Samuel was called of God to choose out from all the males in Israel the “man after God’s own HEART” to be the next king of Israel? Jesse was sure that his oldest son – tall, dark, and handsome Eliab – would be a PERFECT candidate for the next king of Israel! What did God say to Samuel? 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Shortly afterwards, Eli anoints none other than Jesse’s youngest, “a boy named David.”

And with all this…enters the “Sermon on the Mount”. The Savior is training God’s people to be His instruments where He has wisely placed each one, so that each one can represent HIM and HIS heart!

My favorite song of all time, without question, is J.S. Bach’s “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring.” A man may play the song accurately. He may play all the notes mechanically perfectly. And yet, he may not really have played it accurately at all. WHY? Because he has missed Bach’s INTENT – that the mood of the music is to reflect the centrality of CHRIST in the desire of man.

Hence, the Sermon on the Mount is the Savior’s instruction to His people to do WHAT? To create the mood of the music of our lives to reflect the centrality of CHRIST in the desire and lives of His children.

How about YOU? Are you ready for the Savior’s challenge – to sit at His feet and learn of Him?

Semi Retired Pastor Jeremy Stopford

A STUDY IN THE ASCENT PSALMS

This is Study #15 of our insights into the “Ascent Psalms” – Psalms 120-134! Each one of these studies has drawn us to a vivid realization that we are on a sojourn, a journey, a walk with the Lord with the end of the journey being, well, HIM! In ancient days, the Jews were either heading back to Jerusalem from captivity OR they were headed to Jerusalem for specific feast days. In either case, the end result was the presence of God in Jerusalem.

Our theme verse has been Psalm 84:5, “Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” (Psalm 84:5 NKJV). Have you learned our theme verse yet?

TODAY WE ARE IN PSALM 134

Psalm 134 New King James Version (NKJV)

A Song of Ascents.

1 Behold, bless the Lord,

All you servants of the Lord,

Who by night stand in the house of the Lord!

2  Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,

And bless the Lord.

3  The Lord who made heaven and earth

Bless you from Zion!

Our valuable scholar, Dr. Graham Scroggie, entitles this psalm “Blessing and Blessed”.

I have created a most simple outline:

1. In the House of the Lord, v. 1

2. In the Sanctuary of the Lord, v. 2

3. In the City of the Lord, v. 3

There are SOME INTERESTING INSIGHTS we all can glean from this wonderful psalm!

FIRST, did you notice how many times the word “bless” is used in these 3 verses: Yes, 3 times! First, in verse 1 we are instructed that the servants of the LORD should be blessing the LORD! Isn’t that a good reminder? Have you ever gone into a project and thought, “I wonder what PEOPLE will think of me if I do this? Or present this? Or say this? Or NOT do this? What will PEOPLE think of ME? ME? ME?

The psalmist lovingly reminds us that the ONE to be blessed is not ME (although, as a by-product, we should be “blessed” for doing a project with the right motive, shouldn’t we?). Rather, the One Who should be “blessed” is the One Who should be the One for Whom anything is done! Isn’t that what Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:31b, “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”. Wow!

Second, in verse 2, we are directed to bless the Lord in the sanctuary. The psalmist is instructing the reader to remember a most important truth: that every moment is to be a moment of worship! EVERY moment! And then in verse 3, the third use of “bless” is seeking the blessing of the One Who is the Creator of all things! That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Kinda puts us in our place!

I like what Paul says in his doctrinal treatise to the brethren in Rome, particularly in Romans 1:20: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…”. God’s creation – and His wonderful design on display in it – purposely draws every man, woman, boy and girl of all eternity to His Lordship.

IF that Lordship is NOT recognized, that individual is “without excuse” when he or she appears before the Lord “in that day”. But IF that Lordship IS recognized, the Lord in His grace lovingly points the seeker to the One Who is the Creator Himself – even the Lord Jesus – and gives further revelation in the WRITTEN Word that Jesus died for the sinner, and His death, burial, and resurrection is on the sinner’s behalf – the only substitute for sin that God will eternally honor. “BLESS THE LORD!”

SECOND, it would be easy to overlook that little phrase in verse 1: “you servants of the Lord WHO BY NIGHT stand in the house of the Lord”. Why does the psalmist share that insight? Wouldn’t it have been sufficient simply to say, “bless the Lord all you servants of the Lord” and add nothing to it? Perhaps the answer to that question is found in the phrase “WHO BY NIGHT”.

Listen to the first part of Exodus 27:21, where Moses is giving instructions concerning the service of the temple: “In the tabernacle of meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it FROM EVENING UNTIL MORNING before the Lord…”.

Answer me this: who is going to see them? Not me – I’ll be in bed! How about you? You, too, sleep at night? Hmmm. So the only One Who will see them is…THE LORD HIMSELF! Why is this important to the psalmist? Because the psalmist is reminding us that there are MANY servants of the Lord who serve Him in various functions – most of them unnoticed by man – but they ARE noticed by the Lord Himself! That just thrills my soul, because I really AM a blessing to Him! Wow! “BLESS THE LORD IN MY OBSCURITY!”

THIRD, Who is “the Lord” in this psalm? He is none other than “Jehovah” [“YHVH”). Why is THAT of particular interest? Because that Name for God refers to the One Who is both merciful and condescending to His creation. This Name tells the reader that God should be blessed because, well, He FIRST blessed us!

Again, what does the New Testament say so well, “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). How about “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…” (Romans 5:8). The Lord of this psalm is the One Who sees us as we are, and yet comes down to where we are. We in turn should, got it?, BLESS HIM WHO IS MERCIFUL!

FINALLY, did you notice the different ways God is referred to? In verse 1, He has a house where His children – His redeemed family – can bless Him! Oh my! Did Hebrews 10:25 come quickly to your minds too? “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

His redeemed family should be blessing Him together, encouraging one another, lifting each other up in prayer and support. In verse 2, we are instructed to “lift your hands” while blessing the Lord in the sanctuary. Is that an instruction on HOW to worship? Is it telling me that I MUST lift my hands in order to properly worship our great God? OR is it more than just a physical teaching?

Perhaps God is telling us that the “lifting of the hands” is an outward sign of an inward humbling before the One Who only is to be praised! And then notice verse 3, Who is the Lord here? Why, He is the Maker of “heaven and earth”. HE should be blessed. But here it is HE WHO does the blessing! Wow!

AS WE CONCLUDE OUR STUDY in the Ascent Psalms, I have been most challenged – haven’t you? I am on a journey, a pilgrimage! The Lord Himself is directing me, following me, and is the “End Result” of my lifelong walk!

And if I’m REALLY alert, I will notice that there are MANY OTHERS on this journey. The Bible says that God has placed an hunger for Him in the hearts of every one who has every had breath. That hunger can only be met in Him. So the journey begins at the very moment we took our first breath! And, yes, “from dust to dust” we will breathe to walk with Him through faith in His cross!

ARE YOU STILL BREATHING? You’re reading Dr. Becker’s website, aren’t you? Then you are still on the journey! You are still on your pilgrimage!

MAY THE LORD BE BLESSED in your journey with Him today!