Line Upon Line

Drawing from Moses' charge to Israel at Kadesh Barnea in Deuteronomy 1, Pastor Miles teaches that God is always calling His people to move out of comfort and into the blessing He has prepared, recounting the church's recent history and his own decision to stay and lead rather than relocate. He urges the congregation to overcome fear and discouragement, plug in to serve, and pursue the much land that remains to be possessed.

Drawing from Deuteronomy 1:16-18, Pastor Miles argues that a culture survives only when righteous, impartial, and courageous leaders apply justice according to an objective, divinely-given moral standard. He contends that postmodernism's rejection of a superordinate rule and a moral lawgiver destabilizes society, and that the church must serve as a prophetic voice courageously calling people back to God.

Moses' instruction to Israel's judges to "judge righteously" reveals our innate, God-given capacity to make judgments and society's need for justice administered rightly, impartially, and courageously. Yet because God is the perfect Judge who sees everything, we cannot stand before His righteous judgment and need the mercy and grace provided through Jesus' New Covenant.

Drawing from Deuteronomy 1 and Exodus 18, Pastor Miles teaches that admitting "I'm not able" is wisdom, not weakness, and that humbly seeking, weighing, and acting upon wise counsel spares us from much pain and trouble. He walks through Moses' decision to share leadership at Jethro's counsel and offers practical guidance for identifying and emulating genuinely wise people.

Drawing on Deuteronomy 1:9-15, Pastor Miles teaches that God ordered Israel as a "Democratic Republican theocracy" governed by wise, understanding, and knowledgeable leaders who rise through a competence hierarchy. He contrasts this biblical worldview with modern sociological theory that sees all hierarchy as oppressive, tracing that critical idea back to the serpent's lie in Genesis 3.

Pastor Miles opens the book of Deuteronomy by examining how Israel turned an eleven-day journey into forty years of wandering through unbelief, fear, and self-reliance, and challenges believers not to merely experience redemption but to press on and lay hold of the abundant life and purpose for which Christ has laid hold of them.

Drawing from Genesis 2, this teaching shows that God created humanity for connection—with Him and with one another—a truth confirmed by both Scripture and modern science. Though sin in Genesis 3 brought separation and destruction, Jesus came to destroy sin, reconcile us, and restore that oneness, which is now expressed in the life of the church.

Drawing from Jacob's dream of the ladder in Genesis 28, Pastor Miles argues that the universal human desire for transcendence is itself evidence that we were created by God for connection with Him, and he offers five lines of evidence for transcendent reality against the skeptic's claim that the material world is all there is.

A new-year vision message tracing the Bible's meta-narrative—creation, fall, redemption, restoration—to show that life through Jesus is the basis for being connected to God and to one another. Pastor Miles prepares the congregation for communion by remembering Christ's finished work, which gives clarity in the present and a future hope.

In the final message of a Christmas series on the gifts of God, Pastor Miles teaches that hope is an essential, God-given gift that the advent of Jesus brings into a broken, hopeless world. Biblical hope is not blind optimism or wishful thinking but confident certainty grounded in God's faithful promises—an anchor for the soul that should move us to draw near to God, hold fast to faith, encourage one another, and share that hope with others.