Line Upon Line

Pastor Miles teaches through the brief but powerful letter of Jude, who, instead of writing about our common salvation, urgently exhorts believers to contend for the faith against false teachers who had crept into the church turning grace into a license to sin. The teaching surveys Jude's warnings, his Old Testament and extra-biblical examples of judgment, and his closing call to build ourselves u...

A verse-by-verse study of 3 John, John's short final letter, contrasting three men—Gaius (strong in soul, faithful, hospitable), Diotrephes (proud, selfish, a slanderer who rejected the brethren), and Demetrius (a man of good report)—and exhorting believers to walk in the truth, exercise themselves toward godliness, and show hospitable love to both brethren and strangers.

Beginning at the stoning of Stephen and the rise of Saul, this teaching traces how persecution scattered the Jerusalem church and drove it to fulfill Christ's commission in Judea and Samaria. It moves through Philip's Spirit-empowered ministry in Samaria and the false conversion of Simon the magician, calling believers to active obedience and genuine repentance.

A verse-by-verse teaching through 2 John, in which Pastor Miles explains John's exhortation to a persecuted church to practice the truth and protect it against false teachers, emphasizing the necessary balance of love and truth in the believer's life.

Continuing through 1 Timothy 1, Pastor Miles teaches that God plants a seed of faith in every person, that this faith grows through hearing the Word and dies through false teaching, and that the proper, lawful use of God's law is to reveal sin and point us to Christ rather than to make us feel righteous.

Drawing on Luke 12:15 and Jesus' parable of the rich fool, Pastor Miles warns that covetousness is a destructive form of idolatry that God will judge, and that a person's life is not measured by possessions. He calls believers to set their affections on heavenly things, trust God for daily provision, and lay aside the material entanglements that bind us so we can simplify, focus, and walk in freed...

A verse-by-verse walk through John's first letter, showing how its central themes—life, love, and the Son of God—answer the Gnostic heresy that denied Jesus' true humanity and how, again and again, John points believers back to 1 John 1:9 to confess sin and be cleansed. The teaching also addresses assurance of salvation, abiding in Christ, and the textual question surrounding the "Trinity" verse i...

Stephen, one of the seven men chosen to serve the widows, is drawn into a larger calling that leads to his trial before the Sanhedrin. As he answers their accusations by retelling Israel's history, he demonstrates that God met His people apart from the temple, that Israel repeatedly rejected God's deliverers, and that the same council had now rejected and murdered the Messiah Himself.

A verse-by-verse walk through 2 Peter, written near the end of Peter's life under Nero's persecution, showing how the knowledge of God builds godly character (ch. 1), exposes and condemns false teachers (ch. 2), and anchors the believer's hope in the certain second coming of Christ (ch. 3). The central exhortation is to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the bes...

As the early church multiplied, a complaint arose that the Hellenist widows were neglected in the daily ministry, and the apostles responded by keeping their own focus on prayer and the Word while appointing seven Spirit-filled men to the task. Pastor Miles applies this to Calvary Chapel of Escondido's growth, urging every believer to recognize their unique gifting and "launch out into the deep" t...

Pastor Miles walks through 1 Peter, a five-chapter letter written by the apostle Peter (likely from Rome around 64 A.D.) to believers in Asia Minor about to face persecution under Nero. The teaching emphasizes the believer's living hope and heavenly inheritance, the call to holiness, our identity as a chosen royal priesthood, and the call to submission and humility in every area of life.

Through the example of King Saul's incomplete obedience in 1 Samuel 15, this teaching shows that God desires obedience over sacrifice, warning that partial obedience and delayed obedience are both disobedience in God's eyes. The believer is called to total surrender to God's sovereignty rather than building his own kingdom or making excuses for sin.

A verse-by-verse teaching on Acts 5:17-42, where the Sadducees imprison the apostles in fury, God miraculously frees them through an angel, and the apostles boldly return to the temple to preach Christ, declaring they must obey God rather than men. Pastor Miles draws out the contrast between the leaders' fear of man and the apostles' fear of God, and applies it to standing boldly for the gospel am...

A through-the-Bible overview of the epistle of James, framed as the "Proverbs of the New Testament," exploring its practical exhortations on how faith grows (through trials and the Word), how faith is recognized (through justice, mercy, and humility/bridled speech), and how faith fails (through quarrels, love of the world, presumption, and fraud). The teaching closes with James's call to prayer an...

The concluding study of the "Profiting in the Prophets" series turns from the prophetic word to its application, using the latter portion of the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25) to call believers to be watching, waiting, and working in light of Christ's certain return. Pastor Miles argues that the prophetic promise is both a comfort and an exhortation to holiness, faithfulness, and Spirit-empowere...

A verse-by-verse study of the account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, showing that God examines the heart and motive behind our giving, and that greed and hypocrisy invite spiritual death while purity in the church invites God's blessing and growth.

A through-the-Bible overview of Hebrews, arguing that God's final and supreme revelation is His Son, who is greater than the prophets, angels, Moses, Aaron, Abraham, and Melchizedek. The teaching traces the book's call to leave religious formality and move on to maturity in faith, hope, and love, while addressing authorship, dating, and the doctrine of apostasy.

Working verse-by-verse through Zechariah chapter 1, Pastor Miles shows how God called a backslidden, returned remnant to "turn to me, and I will turn to you," and how God's promise to judge nations that divide Israel speaks directly to our own day. Delivered on the very anniversary (the 24th of Shabbat) of Zechariah's vision, the message urges the church to take comfort in prophecy, find peace in...

A study of Acts 4:32-37 examining the gracious giving of the early church, which flowed from their recognition that everything belongs to God and they were merely managers of His resources. Pastor Miles teaches that Christ-centered unity, community, and charity produce great power and grace in the church, and closes with six biblical principles for giving.

Paul's brief, personal letter to Philemon appeals for the runaway slave Onesimus, now a believer, to be received back not as a slave but as a beloved brother in Christ. The letter pictures the gospel: those once unprofitable and enslaved to sin are made profitable and free because Christ paid the debt and stands with us.

A study of the book of Joel and its central theme of the great and terrible day of the Lord, showing how Joel's vision of an invading army applies to current world events and how the church must respond with prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Miles calls believers to wake up, examine themselves, and seek revival as the second coming of Christ draws near.

Drawing from Isaiah 2, Joel 3, and Zechariah 12, Pastor Miles teaches that the world's longing for peace will remain elusive until Christ returns, and that current Middle East conflicts and the rise of radical Islam fulfill biblical prophecy. He calls believers to recognize evil, see God's hand in current events, and seize the great opportunity to share Christ's love with Muslims and others who do...

As the early church faced its first real spiritual opposition, the believers responded not with protest or fear but with prayer—remembering who God is and what He has said, recognizing how His word applied to their situation, and asking for boldness rather than escape. Pastor Miles draws from Acts 4:23-31 a model for how Christians should meet trial and persecution today.

A verse-by-verse walk through Paul's letter to Titus, focusing on Paul's charge to appoint qualified elders and set the Cretan churches in order through sound doctrine. The teaching emphasizes that God's grace both saves us and instructs us to live soberly, righteously, and godly while awaiting Christ's return.

A verse-by-verse study of Isaiah chapter 1 (with chapter 5) in which God stands as prosecuting attorney against His own people Judah, exposing their rebellion, rejecting their hollow worship, comparing them to Sodom and Gomorrah, and yet calling them to repentance with the promise that scarlet sins can be made white as snow. The teaching applies this warning to modern America and exhorts believers...