“In Evil Long I Took Delight” by John Newton

January 15, 2012December 18, 2013Kirk E. Miller

I ran across this hymn a few weeks ago, although I have been acquainted with it before. I decided it was definitely worth sharing. This hymn is certainly not as popular as John Newton’s famous hymn, “Amazing Grace,” but I certainly recommend reading through the words and meditating on their truth. From a man who understood grace extremely well in light of who he was as a depraved, wicked, detestable man in need of saving, “In Evil Long I Took Delight”:

In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp’d my wild career:
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“Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” Analysis and Critique

January 13, 2012November 25, 2017Kirk E. Miller

This week I saw my Facebook flooded with a certain video, so I watched it. I knew where Jefferson Bethke (the author of the poem and individual in the video) was coming from and what he meant by his words, yet I was a little unsettled by this video.

Many individuals, evangelical in disposition, seem to be rejoicing in this video (even “The Resurgence” posted it on their site, see here). On the other hand, I’ve noticed a much different reaction from the Catholic crowd (i.e., various Catholic facebook friends of mine as well as various Catholic blogs that have written critiques, such as what I am now doing), as one might expect. And to be honest, in many regards, I agree with these Catholics in their criticisms. Allow me to share some of my brief thoughts on the video.
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Favorite Quotes from Living the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney

January 11, 2012December 19, 2013Kirk E. Miller

The following are my favorite quotes from the book Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing by C.J. Mahaney.

“‘We never move on from the cross, only into a more profound understanding of the cross.’ The cross and its meaning aren’t something we ever master.”[1] – page 17.

“‘My God, only You could show me what a wretched sinner I am and make it the greatest news I’ve ever heard!'”[2] – page 20.
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The Gospel for Christians

January 9, 2012May 6, 2021Kirk E. Miller

This message is the fourth and final message I delivered at Winterfest, 2011, at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp in Pembine, WI. Up until this point we had looked at the Gospel [Good News] of Christmas, the Gospel According to Jesus (the cost of discipleship), the Gospel’s [Inevitable] Effects on Those Who are Saved, and finally, in this message we looked specifically at Philippians 1:27-30 and how the Gospel is still the most important thing for us as believers. We took Paul’s principles from this passage and made multiple applications to our contemporary context of how the Gospel ought to affect our lives as believers.

Other Winterfest 2011 messages.

Podcast link.

The Gospel’s [Inevitable] Effects on Those Who are Saved

January 8, 2012May 6, 2021Kirk E. Miller

This is the third of four messages I gave at Winterfest at Lake Lundgren Bible Camp in December, 2011. In the previous message, The Gospel According to Jesus, we looked at what it takes to follow Christ. In this message, we examined the book of 1 John to see exactly what a follower of Jesus looks like. One of John’s goals in this epistle is to give assurance to those who are saved. On the other hand, his message is hopefully one of conviction for those who are not.