Line Upon Line

Beginning a new year, Pastor Miles works through Paul's concluding exhortations in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-18, urging the church not to drift but to grow in faith, hope, and love by warning the idle, comforting the fainthearted, upholding the weak, being patient with all, refusing to repay evil for evil, rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in everything.

A year-end "prophecy update" teaching that surveys what the Bible actually says about the last days, the second coming of Christ, and Calvary Chapel's premillennial, pre-tribulational position—held with humility—before concluding from Matthew 24 and Acts 1 that the chief sign of the end is the worldwide preaching of the gospel, which means the church has work to do.

A Christmas-season teaching from Romans 3:21-31 showing that all humanity is hopelessly guilty before a just and holy God who cannot simply overlook sin, and that the Advent of Jesus Christ is the answer to how God can remain just while justifying sinners through faith in Christ's atoning death.

A meditation, occasioned by the Sandy Hook tragedy, on Romans 3:9-20, showing that Scripture declares all humanity "under sin" and that the law was given not to make us righteous but to expose our guilt and drive us to Christ. The teaching closes by pointing to the Advent of Jesus, the only source of righteousness and true peace (shalom).

Paul anticipates the inevitable questions a Jewish reader would raise after being told that descent from Abraham gives no advantage at the day of judgment, affirming that the Jews' chief privilege was being entrusted with God's word, and that God remains faithful and just even when people fail to believe. The teaching applies this to America's stewardship of Scripture and our calling to carry God's word, like clouds carrying rain, to those who have never heard it.

Continuing through Romans, Paul turns from the open hedonist and the moralistic judge to a third group—the self-righteous religionist who trusts in Jewish privilege, the Law, and circumcision yet fails to keep what he teaches. The teaching shows that religion only reaches skin-deep, that all three groups stand guilty before God, and that true circumcision is of the heart, setting the stage for the good news of righteousness by faith.

Continuing his study in Romans, Pastor Miles examines how Paul turns from the hedonist of chapter 1 to the moralist of chapter 2, showing that those who judge others stand equally guilty before God because sin is fundamentally a matter of the heart. The teaching argues that God's perfect, heart-searching judgment leaves every person—hedonist, moralist, and religionist alike—inexcusable and in need of the gospel.

Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel both announces God's salvation and confronts humanity with its lostness. Before Romans can speak of grace, it must establish God's verdict — 'there is none righteous' — and trace how, when people suppress what God has revealed, He 'gives them up' to the consequences of misplaced worship.

Teaching through Romans 1:8–17, Pastor Miles examines Paul's thanksgiving for the Roman believers' active faith, his prayerful and debtor's heart to preach the gospel, and his bold declaration that he is "not ashamed of the gospel" because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Examining Romans 1:1-7, this teaching unpacks the gospel of God as the eternally planned, prophetically promised good news concerning Jesus Christ—fully God and fully man, proven by His resurrection. Through Jesus we receive grace and an apostolic calling not in order to earn salvation, but for obedience to the faith, carrying the gospel to all nations.