Line Upon Line

In the final week of an Advent series, Pastor Miles teaches that the coming of Jesus is the advent of love—the foundation beneath the peace, hope, and joy of Christmas. Drawing chiefly from Romans 5 and Ephesians 2, he shows that because God is love and Jesus is love incarnate, God's love for us in Christ compels us to love and share that love with others.

On the third Sunday of Advent, Pastor Miles teaches that the arrival of Christ makes "fullness of joy" accessible, since Jesus Himself embodies the joy of God's presence. Drawing from Psalm 16, John 14-15, Isaiah 9, and Romans 5, he shows that lasting joy is received through faith in Christ and grows toward abundance as we abide in Him, His word, and His love.

This Advent message proclaims that the coming of Jesus is the coming of hope—not the blind optimism or wishful thinking of the world, but a sure and steadfast hope that anchors the soul through every storm. Tracing the thread of hope from Eden to Eternity, Pastor Miles shows that ultimate hope is found only in Christ and his coming kingdom.

As the church enters the Advent season, Pastor Miles teaches that the coming of Christ, the Prince of Peace, brings biblical *shalom*—total human flourishing and reconciliation with God and one another. He shows both how to access this peace through faith in Christ's finished work and how to experience it daily by setting one's mind on God in prayer.

In the closing "farewell" chapter of Joshua, Pastor Miles explores how the Bible's farewell speeches teach that human thriving is conditional: we fare well *if* we apply the wisdom of God's revelation. Joshua reminds Israel that all they possess is God's gracious gift, and that success and survival in the land depend on faithful obedience to God's word—a principle that ultimately points to Jesus Christ as our only hope.

Using Joshua 22, where Israel nearly went to war against the eastern tribes over a misunderstood altar, Pastor Miles warns against the cultural and personal impulse to "shoot first and ask questions later." He calls Christians to follow Christ's example of being slow to anger and leading with mercy and grace in an age of outrage.

Drawing from Joshua 21:43-45, where "not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken," Pastor Miles teaches that the God of the whole Bible is gracious and merciful from cover to cover and will not fail to fulfill His promises and spiritual blessings to us in Christ. Believers are guaranteed in Christ the fullness of every spiritual blessing—chosen, adopted, redeemed, given rest, peace, love, and hope—all secured not by our works but by Christ's finished work on the cross.

Drawing on the Cities of Refuge in Joshua 20 and the events of October 7th in Israel, Pastor Miles teaches that Scripture shows us both how to think and how to live through life's twists and turns, including how to respond justly to evil and injustice. Because human life bears the image of God, injustice rightly provokes anger and demands a just response—but that response must be slowed, weighed, and tempered by mercy, ultimately resting in Christ as our only hope.

Using the daughters of Zelophehad and the tribe of Ephraim's request for more land in Joshua 17, Pastor Miles argues that the Bible is not the source of misogyny and oppression—as today's gender ideology claims—but the divine revelation that elevates human dignity, and that God plants a "divine discontent" in His people to drive them to courageously possess the fullness of their inheritance.

Using the firefighter practice of "mop up"—extinguishing hidden hot spots so they don't flare up later—Pastor Miles teaches Joshua 16, where Ephraim and Manasseh fail to fully dispossess the Canaanites from their inheritance. He shows how this incomplete possession later led Israel into idolatry and judgment, and applies the principle that unattended secret sin imperils believers, urging confession and Spirit-empowered holiness.