Line Upon Line

A year-end message reflecting on the marvelous things God did through the church in 2015, then turning to Isaiah 43:18-19 to challenge believers not to get stuck in past failures or past victories but to be ready for a fresh work from the God of the impossible in 2016.

Drawing on Colossians 2, Pastor Miles teaches that Christ alone is the focus and sufficiency of our faith, warning against four counterfeit dangers—deception, religious seduction, judgment by the religiously righteous, and spiritual fraud—that shift our attention away from Jesus. The call is to lose vain religion and grow strong in a Christocentric faith.

Drawing on the Copernican shift from geocentrism to heliocentrism, Pastor Miles teaches from Colossians 3 that righteousness is found only in Christ, not in religious effort, and that the Christian life must orbit around Jesus as its center. He shows how the believer, raised and transformed by Christ, is to put off sinful attitudes and put on Christlike virtues through four practical means: the Wo...

Continuing the Christocentric series in Colossians 3, Pastor Miles teaches that heavenly mindedness—a Christ-centered focus cultivated through the Word, fellowship, worship, and mission—produces earthly goodness as Christ transforms us from the inside out. He then walks through Paul's practical instructions for righteousness in the home, the workplace, and the church's mission.

Drawing from Colossians 1:28–2:3, this teaching examines the Apostle Paul's agonizing struggle to present every person complete in Christ, and shows that the most Christ-centered and Christ-like form of that struggle is prayer—the first agonizing step in evangelism.

Every human being longs to be right, and religion is humanity's failed attempt to achieve that righteousness. From Colossians 1:15-29, Pastor Miles shows that Christ alone—the image of the invisible God, the first cause and sustainer of all things—makes the unrighteous right and is our only hope of glory.

Opening a series called "Christocentric" in the book of Colossians, Pastor Miles teaches from Colossians 1:3–14 that a centered, balanced, and joyful life is maintained by thanksgiving to God and built upon faith focused on Christ, which in turn shifts our love toward others and secures our hope for heaven.

A walk through Micah 5, showing how God used the judgment of Israel by Assyria and Babylon to purify a remnant and prepare the way for the Messiah, who was prophesied to come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and who will one day return to reign in peace, security, and purity.

Pastor Miles works through Micah 4, showing how God answers the devastating prophecy of Jerusalem's destruction (3:12) with a series of promises marked by temporal stamps—future restoration and Christ's righteous reign, exile to and redemption from Babylon, and judgment on Israel's enemies. The fulfilled prophecy of Babylon (foretold 150 years in advance) gives confidence that the yet-unfulfilled...

Through Rich Gary's testimony of miraculous healing from stage-four cancer and the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, this teaching calls believers to let God adjust their focus from the fleeting means of this life to the eternal ends of His glory, so they can be salt and light in a dark world.

Opening a new series in Colossians, Pastor Miles argues that the Bible is not merely interesting but irrelevant; it is living, powerful, and proven true in transformed lives. The central theme of Colossians is that Christ is the foundation and center of life, so that a life without Him is incomplete and lacking.

Through the story of Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul, this teaching shows that the forgiveness we receive from God in Christ is pure grace that must in turn make us gracious and forgiving toward others. Drawing on Philemon 1, it argues that forgiveness is the fitting response of the forgiven sinner, that grace makes us more useful to God, and that eternal outcomes outweigh temporal difficulties.

Drawing on Paul's appeal to Philemon to receive his runaway slave Onesimus, this teaching shows that forgiveness is the personal responsibility of every Christian, made possible because Christ bore the just punishment for our sin and absorbed a debt we could never pay. Because we have been forgiven much, we should be compelled to extend forgiveness freely, unchaining us from the bitterness that de...

In Micah chapter 3, Pastor Miles examines God's judgment against the corrupt leaders of Judah—the princes, priests, and prophets—who led the people into sin through injustice, greed, and false comfort. The teaching challenges believers to see their own sin as God sees it rather than minimizing it by comparison to others.

In Micah chapter two, God pronounces "woe" upon His people for the sin of covetousness—premeditating wicked schemes to seize their neighbors' lands and houses. Because they devise iniquity, God devises a corresponding judgment of exile, yet His punishment aims at purification, promising that a refined remnant will ultimately return.

Opening a new series on the book of Philemon, Pastor Miles introduces the letter's first-century context and its central theme of forgiveness and liberty, arguing that the gospel of grace is the greatest good in the world and the only true source of freedom from the tyranny of death and slavery to sin.

An introductory session to a nine-week study of Micah, explaining the inductive Bible study method (observation, interpretation, application) and setting the historical, biblical, and prophetic context for the book before examining its opening verse. Micah, an eighth-century BC minor prophet near Jerusalem, brought God's corrective word to a wayward Israel and Judah, calling them to do justice, lo...

Opening a new series on the book of Philemon, this teaching frames Paul's short letter as a message about liberty and forgiveness, arguing that the gospel is the true engine of freedom in the world. Pastor Miles unpacks Philemon's praiseworthy character as evidence that God's forgiving grace produces sweet fruit in transformed lives.

Working through Psalm 67, Pastor Miles shows that God delights to bless His people not as an end in itself but so that His salvation—Jesus—would be known among all nations, producing global joy and worship. Believers are blessed to be a blessing, called to experience and extend the gospel until all peoples praise God.

A verse-by-verse teaching on Psalm 133, showing that the unity of God's people gathered to worship is both good and pleasant, illustrated by the anointing oil running down Aaron's beard and the dew of Hermon descending on Zion. The message argues that there is no life in Christ apart from the community of the saints, and calls believers to live life in connection with God, one another, and the wor...

A verse-by-verse study of Psalm 67, tracing God's blessing back through the Aaronic blessing (Numbers 6) and the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12) to show that God blesses His people for the purpose of global praise, joy, and the spread of salvation in Jesus to all nations.

Drawing from the setting of Psalm 63 — David fleeing into the wilderness during his son Absalom's rebellion — Pastor Miles shows that the master of our life is revealed by what we turn to in trouble, and that the soul which seeks the Lord will be satisfied, supported, and ultimately vindicated by Him.

A teaching on Psalm 46 by the sons of Korah, showing that God alone is our refuge, strength, and very present help in trouble, so that believers need not fear—even cataclysm or death—because their hope and home are in the heavenly city of God, not in this shaking world.

A verse-by-verse study of Psalm 32, David's contemplation of the blessedness of forgiveness, showing that there is no lasting happiness without being pardoned by God and that confession and repentance are the doorway to that joy.

A verse-by-verse study of Psalm 32, David's contemplation on the blessedness of forgiveness, showing that there is no lasting happiness apart from confessing sin and receiving God's pardon through Christ.