My new MJ.

Every once in a while I will watch a highlight reel from Michael Jordan's NBA career. It's pretty amazing to watch. But I must confess that in the last years of my life I have discovered my new "MJ". Martin Jones. Martin Lloyd Jones actually. MJ was the pastor at Westminster Chapel in London for 30 years. I love that he didn't rush. He preached through the book of Ephesians from 1954-1962. 8 years. 8 YEARS. "Can't we just move on to something else?" NOOOOO! We will take our time. Author Robert Benson says, "A journey across holy ground should not be rushed." Apparently Martin Lloyd Jones practiced this. I love that he did.

So I think that being born in 1899 qualifies you as an old guy. He died in 1981. Over recent years of my life, I have found that my heart is stirred as I read in the writings of those who have lived in times before mine. They seem to call to me with a perspective that says, "Your time is different. Your heart is the same." They also seem to just call to me. These words.

And so today, I simply offer the words of my new MJ. Perhaps they will call to you as well.

"You must become aware of your need, of your impotence, of your helplessness. You must realize that you are confronted by something that is too deep for your methods to get rid of, or to deal with, and you need something that can go down beneath that evil power, and shatter it, and there is only one thing that can do that, and that is the power of God. And we, too, must become aware of that, we have got to feel it until we become desperate. We must become utterly and absolutely convinced of our need. We must cease to have so much confidence in ourselves and in all our methods and organizations and in all our slickness. We have got to realize that we must be filled with God's Spirit. And we must be equally certain that God can fill us with His Spirit. What we need is not more knowledge, more understanding, more apologetics, more reconciliation of philosophy and science and religion and all modern techniques. No, we need a power that can enter into the souls of men and break them and smash them and humble them and then make them new. And that is the power of the living God. And we must be confident that God has this power as much today as He did 100 years ago and two hundred years ago and so we must begin to seek the power and pray for it. We must begin to plead and yearn for it."

Enter. Break. Smash. Humble. Make new. Power.

What are you hearing?

What of you and I?

Desperate or slick?

There's more.