Line Upon Line

Responding to Sigmund Freud's claim that belief in God and heaven is mere wish fulfillment, this teaching argues from C.S. Lewis and Scripture that our longing for an eternal world is not an illusion but a signpost pointing to what we were made for. Through Revelation 21 and Paul's confidence that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord," Pastor Miles shows that death is a doorw...

Pastor Miles examines Revelation 21 to correct common misconceptions about heaven, showing that the believer's hope is not an ethereal, floaty afterlife but the kingdom of God—the new Jerusalem—coming down to a renewed earth where Jesus will reign and undo the curse of sin. He traces the biblical promise that Jesus will make all things new, transforming believers and all creation on the day of the...

Examining Luke 4:31-44, this teaching shows that Jesus was never unclear about his mission—he came to proclaim the kingdom of God—and that his miracles authenticated rather than constituted that mission. It challenges followers to surrender their own agendas, embrace Jesus as king, and make his kingdom their focus.

Beginning at the earliest point of Jesus' ministry in Nazareth, Pastor Miles shows that the rejection of Jesus was woven into His story from the start, demonstrating that the road to Calvary began in His hometown. Yet through the resurrection, that rejection becomes redemption for all who accept Jesus as the resurrected Redeemer rather than reject Him as the Messiah He revealed Himself to be.

On Palm Sunday, Pastor Miles teaches Luke 4:1-13, Jesus's wilderness temptation, showing that temptation is common to all humanity and falls into the categories of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He demonstrates that Jesus overcomes temptation by being filled with and led by the Holy Spirit, wielding Scripture, and humbly relying on the Father — the same pattern...

John the Baptist preaches that genuine change begins with personal repentance, not external revolution, and points to a mightier One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit (salvation) and with fire (judgment). The teaching unfolds these two baptisms and shows that those who turn to Christ in faith receive a new identity as beloved children of the Father in His coming kingdom.

Continuing in Luke 3, John the Baptist confronts the multitudes with "bear fruits worthy of repentance," teaching that God moves us into His will by changing our desires, that genuine repentance and faith produce visible external evidence, and that fleeing the inescapable wrath of God requires turning to Him rather than relying on heritage. True repentance looks like integrity—doing right even whe...

A study of Luke 3:1-6 examining the wilderness ministry of John the Baptist against the bleak political and religious backdrop of first-century Israel, showing how God shows up at the right time, in unexpected ways, and calls his people to join him. Pastor Miles applies this to our own day, arguing that God is once again on the move and inviting believers to be "all in."

Drawing from the rapid, sparse summary of Jesus's first thirty years in Luke 2:21-52, Pastor Miles examines how God's view and use of time differ dramatically from our culturally-driven, productivity-obsessed approach to life. He calls believers to trust that God's timing is perfect and purposeful, and to faithfully "do the next thing" — even the mundane — while waiting on the Lord.

A verse-by-verse study of Luke 2:1-20 showing how God brought the King of Kings into the world in obscure, humble circumstances—commandeering Rome's authority to fulfill prophecy and announcing the Savior's birth to lowly shepherds. The teaching draws four points: God's plan annexes earthly authority, His purpose thrives in humble places, His promise breaks through in power, and His coming demands...

Drawing from the birth and naming of John the Baptist in Luke 1:57-80, Pastor Miles teaches that obedience to God overrides tradition, culture, and personal ambition, and that yielding to Christ's lordship means embracing God's purpose for our lives—even when it differs from what family, culture, or we ourselves had planned.

Examining the opening of Luke's Gospel, Pastor Miles explores how the story of Christianity begins with two obscure pregnant women, revealing a biblical "subtext" that highly values women, conception, childbearing, and motherhood — values our culture has increasingly abandoned. He argues that a disordered value system produces a disordered culture and church, and applies this to current debates ov...

The opening chapters of Luke introduce Zacharias and Elizabeth, an old and barren couple whose patient waiting in hope pictures all of Israel—and all humanity—longing for a deliverer. Their story shows that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the ultimate answer to humanity's hope, reaching all the way back to the promise of Genesis 3:15 and opening once again the way to the tree of life.

An introduction to the Gospel of Luke that explains why there are four gospels, who Luke was, and the heart of his message: the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. The teaching presents Jesus as the Savior of sinners who pursues the broken, despised, and rejected, and calls believers to join His mission of reaching others.

Drawing on the contested origins of the gospels, Pastor Miles argues from practical, historical, and literary evidence that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are eyewitness accounts written within 25 years of the crucifixion, so that believers may "know the certainty" of what they have been taught. He calls Christians to let the Spirit produce visible fruit, since a transformed life is itself a powerf...

Pastor Miles opens a new series on the Gospel of Luke by arguing that we live in consequential times marked by a cultural shift back toward openness to Christianity, and that God's people must align with this move of the Spirit by knowing, embodying, and persuasively proclaiming the gospel. He frames the church's task using Aristotle's ethos, pathos, and logos, grounding it in Paul's declaration t...

At the start of a new year, Pastor Miles steps outside his usual verse-by-verse format to explain why Cross Connection Church exists and why believers should attend, support, and invite others. Grounded in the Great Commission and God's desire that none should perish, he argues the church is called to reach a postchristian San Diego with a rigorous, applied theology that produces real spiritual gr...

Beginning a new year, Pastor Miles teaches from John 17 (the high priestly prayer) that God made each person on purpose, to know and live eternal life through a oneness relationship with Him in Christ. Drawing on the Upper Room Discourse and Ephesians 2, he shows how Jesus reconciles outsiders into God's family and commissions believers as ambassadors of reconciliation.

Standing at the close of 2024, Pastor Miles sets aside year-end prophecy predictions to focus on what believers can absolutely count on in 2025: the unchanging nature of God. He offers five pieces of ancient, time-tested wisdom—trusting the Lord wholeheartedly, forgetting the past to pursue God's purpose, numbering our days, redeeming the time, and abiding in Christ.

Concluding his Advent series with the theme of love, Pastor Miles teaches from Romans 5, Ephesians 2, and 1 John 3–4 that Jesus is and brings the love of God to a dark and dying world. Because God loved us while we were still His enemies, His love is meant to transform us into people who love and share the gospel with others.

Drawing on Psalm 16, John 14–16, and Isaiah 9, Pastor Miles teaches that Jesus' Advent makes the fullness of joy accessible — not as a temporary feeling but as the embodiment of hope, peace, and joy found in Christ Himself. He shows how believers apprehend this joy now and forever by receiving Christ and abiding in His word, His love, and His body.

A Christmas/Advent teaching on Isaiah 9:6-7 showing that the Prince of Peace came to restore the peace lost in Eden, offering both peace with God (reconciliation) and the peace of God (inner tranquility) that sustains believers through life's trials. The message calls listeners to personally receive Christ's offer of peace and let it flow through them to others.

A Christmas Advent teaching tracing the theme of hope across all of Scripture, showing that Jesus is the hope promised from the beginning, revealed at His arrival, secured through His death and resurrection, and still our reason for hope in daily life and trials. Anchored in Romans 5 and 2 Corinthians 4, it argues that even afflictions, in the Lord's masterful hands, produce endurance, character,...

A Thanksgiving-season teaching on 1 Thessalonians 5:18 that examines why gratitude requires a command, walks through Elijah's depression in 1 Kings 19 as a model of God's gentle care, and shows scientifically and biblically how gratitude protects against depression and fulfills God's will for us in Christ.

Through the story of the sinful woman who anoints Jesus's feet in Luke 7, Pastor Miles teaches that gratitude overflows from a heart that recognizes its own desperate need for Christ's saving and forgiving grace. He contrasts the self-righteous, blind Simon the Pharisee with the woman who saw her sin clearly and rejoiced, showing that seeing our need is the key to genuine thanksgiving and fullness...