Line Upon Line

Paul anticipates the question: if we are under grace and no longer under the law, why not keep sinning? His answer is that grace does not free us into autonomy but transfers our slavery — from bondage to sin (which yields shame, lost joy, captivity of will, and death) to the service of righteousness and God, which yields holiness and everlasting life.

Building on Romans 1-5's teaching about justification, this study turns to sanctification, showing that believers have died to sin and been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life. Because we are no longer slaves to sin but freed by grace, we are called to reckon ourselves dead to sin and present our bodies as instruments of righteousness to God.

Examining Romans 5:12-21, this teaching contrasts the two most impactful men in human history—Adam, whose one act of disobedience brought sin and death to all humanity, and Jesus, whose one righteous act on the cross makes justification and eternal life available to all who believe. The "Adam Bomb" of original sin is answered by the super-abounding grace found only in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Drawing on the "therefore" of Romans 5:1-11, this teaching shows that those justified by grace through faith have peace with God, access to abundant grace, and a certain hope of glory—giving believers reason to rejoice not only in their salvation but even in tribulation, which God uses to conform them to the image of Christ.

Working through Romans 4:13-25, Pastor Miles shows that Abraham received God's promise not through keeping the law but through the righteousness of faith, making him the father of all who believe. Because salvation rests on God's promise and Christ's resurrection rather than human works, the same justifying faith Abraham exercised is now available to everyone who believes.

Tracing the Bible's grand storyline of creation, fall, and redemption through Abraham's life, this teaching shows that Abraham was declared righteous by faith—not works, bloodline, or circumcision—and that the same grace through faith is available to all who trust in the God who justifies the ungodly through Jesus Christ.

Drawing from 2 Corinthians 3:18, Pastor Miles celebrates the goodness of God demonstrated through Cross Connection Escondido's ministry in 2012 and casts vision for 2013, with the year's theme word, "Reflect," calling believers to behold and mirror the glory of the Lord to the world.

Beginning a new year, Pastor Miles works through Paul's concluding exhortations in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18, urging the church not to drift but to grow in faith, hope, and love by warning the idle, comforting the fainthearted, upholding the weak, being patient with all, refusing to repay evil for evil, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in everything.

A year-end "prophecy update" teaching that surveys what the Bible actually says about the last days, the second coming of Christ, and Calvary Chapel's premillennial, pre-tribulational position—held with humility—before concluding from Matthew 24 and Acts 1 that the chief sign of the end is the worldwide preaching of the gospel, which means the church has work to do.

A Christmas-season teaching from Romans 3:21-31 showing that all humanity is hopelessly guilty before a just and holy God who cannot simply overlook sin, and that the Advent of Jesus Christ is the answer to how God can remain just while justifying sinners through faith in Christ's atoning death.

A meditation, occasioned by the Sandy Hook tragedy, on Romans 3:9-20, showing that Scripture declares all humanity "under sin" and that the law was given not to make us righteous but to expose our guilt and drive us to Christ. The teaching closes by pointing to the Advent of Jesus, the only source of righteousness and true peace (shalom).

Paul anticipates the inevitable questions a Jewish reader would raise after being told that descent from Abraham gives no advantage at the day of judgment, affirming that the Jews' chief privilege was being entrusted with God's word, and that God remains faithful and just even when people fail to believe. The teaching applies this to America's stewardship of Scripture and our calling to carry God'...

Continuing through Romans, Paul turns from the open hedonist and the moralistic judge to a third group—the self-righteous religionist who trusts in Jewish privilege, the Law, and circumcision yet fails to keep what he teaches. The teaching shows that religion only reaches skin-deep, that all three groups stand guilty before God, and that true circumcision is of the heart, setting the stage for the...

Continuing his study in Romans, Pastor Miles examines how Paul turns from the hedonist of chapter 1 to the moralist of chapter 2, showing that those who judge others stand equally guilty before God because sin is fundamentally a matter of the heart. The teaching argues that God's perfect, heart-searching judgment leaves every person—hedonist, moralist, and religionist alike—inexcusable and in need...

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel both announces God's salvation and confronts humanity with its lostness. Before Romans can speak of grace, it must establish God's verdict — 'there is none righteous' — and trace how, when people suppress what God has revealed, He 'gives them up' to the consequences of misplaced worship.

Teaching through Romans 1:8–17, Pastor Miles examines Paul's thanksgiving for the Roman believers' active faith, his prayerful and debtor's heart to preach the gospel, and his bold declaration that he is "not ashamed of the gospel" because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Examining Romans 1:1-7, this teaching unpacks the gospel of God as the eternally planned, prophetically promised good news concerning Jesus Christ—fully God and fully man, proven by His resurrection. Through Jesus we receive grace and an apostolic calling not in order to earn salvation, but for obedience to the faith, carrying the gospel to all nations.

Examining Romans 1:1-7, this teaching unpacks the gospel of God as the eternally planned, prophetically promised good news concerning Jesus Christ—fully God and fully man, proven by His resurrection. Through Jesus we receive grace and an apostolic calling not in order to earn salvation, but for obedience to the faith, carrying the gospel to all nations.

An expository teaching on Romans 1:1, where Paul identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, and separated unto the gospel of God. Pastor Miles draws from these three descriptors a pattern for every believer: we are all servants of Christ by virtue of His Lordship, and we discover our specific calling and appointed task only as we serve faithfully in whatever God sets...

An introduction to Paul's Epistle to the Romans, set within the chronology of Acts, explaining how the Roman church likely came to be through Paul's trained church-planting team, and surveying the letter's purpose as a doctrinal primer that unites Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ.

A review of the book of Acts focused on its central theme of gospel proclamation, showing that the church's essential, unchanging mission—commanded by Jesus and modeled by the early church—is to preach the simple gospel of Christ crucified, buried, and risen. Every believer, empowered by the Spirit, is called to be a gospel proclaimer in the face of opposition until Christ returns.

A study of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus that traces the church's escalating persecution and presents Acts as a story of radical transformation—God's power converting His chief persecutor into His chosen vessel. The teaching applies this to believers today, who are transformed in order to become transformers in their community.

A study of Acts that traces the birth and growth of the early church through God's power, demonstrating that wherever God's power is at work in His church, the opposition of the enemy will inevitably arise. Pastor Miles charges the church to respond to persecution not with apology and silence, but with Spirit-empowered boldness in proclaiming the gospel.

A re-entry teaching into the book of Acts that reframes the church as God's empowered, ordinary people sent into every sphere of life, then traces five demonstrations of God's power in the first six chapters of Acts and introduces the church's new "Connect" community ministry.

As Paul closes 2 Corinthians and prepares for his third visit, he calls the church to self-examination—to test whether Christ is truly in them and to live an examined life prayerfully, biblically, and publicly. Pastor Miles teaches that the proof of Christ's presence is not worldly power or harshness but the fruit of the Spirit, and that when self-examination exposes sin, the answer is repentance...