Line Upon Line

Using the painful reality of "complicated grief," Pastor Miles traces Peter's threefold failure—failing to pray, defending Jesus wrongly, and denying Christ three times—into the despair of Good Friday, then shows how the resurrection message "tell his disciples and Peter" reveals that Jesus calls for and forgives failures. The Easter gospel is that the risen Lord pardons sinners.

Continuing a series on what the Bible says about hell, Pastor Miles examines Jesus' radical teaching in Matthew 7, arguing that hell is real and terrible, that most people travel the wide road to destruction, and that many religious people who say "Lord, Lord" will be turned away because salvation comes not by works or appearance but by believing in the Son.

Pastor Miles begins a series on what the Bible says about hell by examining Jesus's teaching in Luke 16:19-31, arguing that Jesus believed and taught hell is real, used culturally familiar metaphors to describe it, and revealed ten truths about the eternal state of humanity. The teaching aims to stir believers to a passion for God's grace and for the lost.

In the final message of the "Identity" series in Ephesians, Pastor Miles teaches that the Christian's secure identity and set destiny do not exempt them from a very real spiritual battle, and that victory comes by fighting in the Lord's strength with the whole armor of God. He walks through the seven spiritual armaments of Ephesians 6:14-18 as keys to victorious Christian living.

The final study in a series on Christian identity moves from what we should be and can be in Christ to what we must fight to be. Pastor Miles teaches Ephesians 6:10–18, showing that the believer's identity is certain and destiny is set, yet there remains a real spiritual battle to be won by standing in the Lord's strength and putting on the whole armor of God.

Continuing the Ephesians "Identity" series, Pastor Miles teaches that the "should be" commands of Scripture become "can be" realities for the Christian, because God's grace enables our obedience through the saturating work of His Spirit and the sanctifying work of His Word.

Continuing the Identity series in Ephesians, Pastor Miles argues that the Christian gospel provides a coherent framework for morality and ethics that modern and postmodern worldviews cannot supply, then turns to Ephesians 4 to describe the "worthy walk"—practical holiness flowing from a renewed mind that makes believers become in practice what God already declares them to be in Christ.

Pastor Miles traces the philosophical shift from theism to postmodernism to show how the modern world fails to answer life's deepest questions, then turns to Ephesians 3:20–21 and Paul's two prayers to reveal the Christian's destiny "in Christ." This destiny is not merely heaven but a here-and-now experience of God's power, presence, and love, grounded in the certainty that God is able to do excee...

Continuing the "Identity" series in Ephesians, this teaching from Ephesians 2:1-10 explains how conversion transforms a person's "I am" into "I was"—moving from being dead in sin, opposed to God, and under wrath to being alive, befriended, and graced in Christ. Pastor Miles argues that this transformation must be evidenced by a changed life marked by the fruit of the Spirit rather than the works o...

Opening a six-week series on identity from Ephesians, Pastor Miles argues that the Bible answers life's core philosophical questions—identity, origin, destiny, purpose—better than any worldview, and that for the Christian, our "I am" (our God-given identity as saints by grace) determines our "I do" rather than the reverse.

Drawing on the imagery of an NFL draft, Pastor Miles teaches 1 Peter 2:9-10 to show that every Christian is chosen, set apart, and redeemed by God as part of a royal priesthood with the purpose of declaring His praises. He calls the church to know God through Scripture, to recognize the priesthood of all believers, and to get off the sidelines and engage in the ministry of reconciliation through C...

Drawing from Joshua 1, where Israel stands at the edge of the Promised Land after Moses's death, this teaching calls believers to leave the comfortable past behind, step forward in faith, and lay hold of all God has prepared for them. As a New Year approaches, Pastor Miles urges Christians to resolve to possess their possessions in Christ through obedience and commitment.

This teaching traces joy through the biblical storyline—from its fullness in creation, through its loss in the fall, to its prophesied and fulfilled return in the advent of Jesus—arguing that the Christian life should be marked by joy that we experience, express, and extend to a miserable world.

This Advent teaching argues that all humanity lives under the fearful shadow of death and coming judgment, but the incarnation of Christ at Christmas breaks death's power and frees believers from fear. Pastor Miles connects Christmas to the whole gospel—without the advent there is no Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, or church—and defends celebrating the holiday as an opportunity to incar...

Drawing on Israel's seven centuries in the Promised Land and the dark night of Assyrian and Babylonian conquest, this teaching shows how Isaiah 9:6-7 promised a coming light, and how Simeon and Anna in Luke 2 witnessed God making good on that promise in the child Jesus. Jesus is presented as the source of hope and the longed-for answer to every human longing.

Opening a Christmas series on the goodness of God revealed in the giving of His Son, this teaching contrasts a good God with sinful humanity, traces the origin of evil to the fall in Genesis, and shows how the gift of Jesus addresses humanity's deepest need—calling Christians to receive that gift and extend it to others during the Christmas season.

A teaching from Colossians 2:5-7 showing that genuine salvation produces newsworthy faith, faithful conduct, and—above all—a life of overflowing thanksgiving. Pastor Miles argues that gratitude is the dominant, visible outcome of being rooted, built up, and established in Christ.

Paul commends the Colossian church for its newsworthy faith and good conduct, then calls believers who have received Christ Jesus the Lord to walk in Him—rooted, built up, established, abounding, and overflowing in thanksgiving. Pastor Miles develops a "theology of gratitude," arguing that genuine happiness flows from thankfulness and that thanksgiving is the dominating evidence of a life truly ro...

Jesus' letter to the faithful church at Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7–13) shows that He has only commendation and no indictment for them. Their faithfulness—expressed in power, obedience, loyalty, and endurance—is rewarded with a fuller revelation of Himself, an open door of opportunity, protection from the hour of trial, and a permanent place in God's temple.

Jesus addresses the fifth church, Sardis—a congregation with a reputation for being alive but which was spiritually dead. As the one who holds the fullness of the Spirit and possesses His church, Jesus issues seven summons to move this "mostly dead" church from death to life, and promises white garments and a confessed name to those who walk in purity and overcome.

Speaking to a gathering of law enforcement officers, Pastor Miles uses Romans 13 to show that police officers, like pastors, are ministers of God who bear the sword as His servants. From Micah 6:8 he draws three practical callings for those in authority: to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

Pastor Miles teaches Jesus's fourth letter in Revelation, addressed to the church at Thyatira—a congregation commended for growing love and service yet rebuked for tolerating "Jezebel," a false prophetess leading them into idolatry and immorality. The message calls believers to increase in good works, refuse compromise, hold fast to sound doctrine, and overcome through faith in Jesus the Son of Go...

Jesus examines the church at Pergamos in Revelation 2:12-17, a faithful church that nonetheless tolerated compromise with the surrounding pagan culture. The teaching warns that while compromise is healthy in marriage and negotiation, it is dangerous and unacceptable in our walk with Christ, who comes to His church as the one bearing a sharp two-edged sword.

An exposition of Jesus' letter to the church at Smyrna (Revelation 2:8–11), showing how Christ comforts His suffering people by revealing Himself as the eternal One who died and rose again. The teaching insists that Christians are never promised a tribulation-free life but are assured that death is not the end and that the faithful will receive the crown of life.

Examining Jesus' first letter to the seven churches—addressed to Ephesus—this teaching shows Christ intimately involved with His church, commending their doctrine and discernment yet indicting them for leaving their first love. The summons is to remember, repent, and return to simple faith and love, lest He remove their lampstand.