Line Upon Line

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 exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think.

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 of the flesh.

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 Christ.

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 incarnate Christ's glory.

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.