Line Upon Line

Examining 2 Corinthians 12, Pastor Miles explores Paul's "thorn in the flesh," arguing it was not a physical ailment but the satanic-led opposition of false apostles, and uses it to address the difficult question of why God allows suffering in the believer's life. He concludes that God permits suffering—originating from Him, sourced through Satan—to humble us, refine us, deepen our dependence on H...

Paul reluctantly stoops to "foolish" self-commendation in 2 Corinthians 11 to protect the Corinthian church from false apostles. He gives four "for" reasons—God's jealousy for them, their betrothal to Christ, their drift from the gospel, and their departure from Paul himself—warning that any teaching added to the simplicity that is in Christ is a satanic seduction.

Paul defends his ministry against slanderous "super apostles" at Corinth by exposing their false claims and refusing to measure himself by human standards. Drawing on 2 Corinthians 10:7 and parallel passages, he teaches that God looks at the heart rather than outward appearance, and that the only boasting worth pursuing is glorying in the Lord and seeking His commendation.

As Paul opens the final four-chapter section of 2 Corinthians, he confronts the critics who slandered his character and ministry, doing so not by self-exaltation but by appealing to "the meekness and gentleness of Christ." Pastor Miles traces the painful backstory of Paul's relationship with Corinth and then turns the spotlight on us: true Christlike meekness is power under control, possible only...

Paul shows the Corinthian church how the collection for Jerusalem was handled with complete integrity—received and carried by multiple trusted men of good report, selected by the churches—so that no reproach would fall on the ministry. From this, Pastor Miles draws principles for stewardship and presses believers toward joyful, sacrificial, cheerful giving motivated by God's grace and the promise...

Paul exhorts the Corinthians to complete the giving they began a year earlier, illustrating that giving is a sanctifying work by which God purges greed from the believer's heart. From 2 Corinthians 8:10-15, Miles teaches that God honors willing desire, calls us to finish good intentions in action, and establishes a biblical model of equality in which all gather, all share, and none lack.

Continuing through 2 Corinthians 8, Pastor Miles teaches that New Testament giving is wholly a giving of grace—never a mandate, tax, or means to receive—and that Paul's audacious comparison between the Macedonian and Corinthian churches reveals giving to be a threefold test: of our love, of our faith, and of God's faithfulness. The supreme example and motivation is Jesus Christ, who though rich be...

Pastor Miles introduces the giving section of 2 Corinthians 8–9 by examining the example of the Macedonian churches, who gave generously despite poverty and affliction. He explains the relationship between Old Testament tithing and New Testament gracious giving, then walks through thirteen principles of giving exemplified by the Macedonians.

An extended preface to 2 Corinthians 8–9, this teaching frames the offering Paul collected for the poverty-stricken church in Jerusalem, exposing how the topic of money stirs the carnal heart and calling believers to trust God as their ultimate provider. Pastor Miles rejects both prosperity and poverty theology, surveys God's faithful provision in Scripture, and lays out biblical principles of giv...

Drawing on 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 and the painful history between Paul and the Corinthian church, this teaching contrasts godly sorrow, which produces repentance leading to salvation, with worldly sorrow, which is merely grieved at being caught and ends in death. Pastor Miles unpacks seven marks of godly sorrow and shows that both rebuke and discipline, when motivated by compassion, reflect the very...

This third message in the *Reconcile* series teaches that the fall severed humanity's communion with God and community with one another, and that Christ alone restores what was lost through the cross. Believers, reconciled and made one in Christ, are called to live out that restored oneness before a world that is unknowingly longing for it, becoming ambassadors and ministers of reconciliation.

Continuing the "Reconcile" series, Pastor Miles teaches that all sinners—including those the church most avoids—are estranged from the Father they long for, and that Christians are called to incarnational ministry: like Jesus, we move into the neighborhood, learn the culture, and bring the lost into connection with God through the cross. Using Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4, he shows that...

Deviating from 2 Corinthians for a three-part mini-series called "Reconcile," Pastor Miles addresses how the church should engage the cultural debate over marriage, arguing that since marriage is a God-ordained religious institution the state should grant civil unions only, while Christians remain ambassadors of Christ called to bring all sinners—including the LGBT community—into reconciliation wi...

Paul pleads with the Corinthians to open their hearts and receive him, defending himself against accusations of wronging, corrupting, and defrauding them, while assuring them his convicting words flowed from a father's love. He then testifies that in the midst of severe tribulation in Macedonia, God comforted him through the coming of Titus and the good news of the Corinthians' repentance, demonst...

Building on Paul's portrait of the ambassador of Christ who lives between two worlds, this teaching unpacks 2 Corinthians 6:14 and the command not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, showing from the Old Testament that God created purposeful divisions and that believers must enter every relationship with a kingdom mindset, remaining separate and holy as the temple of God.

Drawing from 2 Corinthians 6:1 and following, Pastor Miles teaches that having received God's grace freely, Christians must not hold it in vain but live with urgency, integrity, and patient endurance as ambassadors of Christ. He walks through the costly hardships Paul endured and the Spirit-produced character that authenticates a true minister of the gospel.

Continuing in 2 Corinthians 5, Pastor Miles teaches that the love of Christ compels believers to preach the gospel, expounding on five reasons for evangelism and the truth that all humanity is dead in sin until reconciled to God through Christ, who became sin for us. He shows that anyone in Christ is a new creation, entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation as God's ambassador.

Continuing in 2 Corinthians 5, Pastor Miles teaches that because believers have absolute confidence in eternity through Christ's finished work, they labor not to earn acceptance but to be well-pleasing to God. He explains how the certainty of standing before the judgment seat of Christ—reconciled with salvation by grace through the Book of Life in Revelation 20—should stir believers to a passionat...

Teaching through 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, Pastor Miles explains that our earthly body is a temporary tent destined to dissolve, while God has prepared an eternal, heavenly body for those who trust Christ. This confident assurance—guaranteed by the indwelling Holy Spirit and grounded in Christ's finished work rather than our own—enables believers to face trials with joy and to be absent from the body a...

Building on the contrast between the old covenant ministry of condemnation and the new covenant ministry of righteousness, this teaching shows that believers have been given a ministry of righteousness and reconciliation that they cannot fulfill in their own strength but only as they rely on God's unfailing mercy. Paul then identifies three obstacles to this work—the flesh, the devil, and the worl...

Paul contrasts the old covenant (the letter of the law, which brings death and condemnation) with the new covenant (of the Spirit, which gives life and a transformed heart), showing that while the law is glorious, its glory fades and was always meant to point us to the surpassing glory of Christ. As we behold Jesus, the Spirit transforms us from glory to glory, freeing us from a merely legal relat...

In 2 Corinthians 2:12-3:6, Paul gives a third defense for not visiting Corinth—an open door at Troas and his anxious search for Titus—revealing his very human struggle with stress. Pastor Miles teaches that when distressing circumstances hinder God's work, believers must refocus on the God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, making us the fragrance of His knowledge and living le...

Paul defends his decision not to visit Corinth, explaining that he postponed his coming out of love so as not to come "in heaviness," and that his role was to be a helper of their joy rather than a lord over their faith. The teaching applies this to Christian fellowship, urging believers to distinguish essential ("national border") doctrines from secondary ("state border") preferences and to pursu...

Drawing on Psalm 63, written by David while on the run from his rebellious son Absalom, Pastor Miles teaches that worship is far larger than singing songs on Sunday—it is the entirety of life lived for God's glory. He calls believers to seek God early and continually, to meditate on His word, and to worship Him in spirit and truth in every circumstance, even amid suffering and injustice.

Paul defends himself before the Corinthians not for his own reputation but for the glory of God, appealing to his clear conscience and to God's faithfulness. Through trials God brings believers to a place of weakness and total dependence, and as ambassadors of Christ our lives testify to who God is.