Line Upon Line

Continuing in 1 Corinthians 12, Pastor Miles teaches that God has sovereignly made believers one body with diverse members, and that while God creates the body's unity and diversity, it is our responsibility to maintain its harmony through humility and selfless love. The spiritual gifts are useless without the fruit of the Spirit, and the local body thrives only when each member, especially the seemingly feeble ones, serves others rather than self.

Pastor Miles teaches from 1 Corinthians 12:12 that all believers are baptized into one body by the Holy Spirit at conversion, then shows how the human-body illustration reveals the church's unity, diversity, divine sovereignty, and harmony. He concludes that the church is a living organism organized by Christ Himself, not an organization run by human community organizers.

A communion meditation built around the truth of God's mercy, drawing especially on Exodus 34 and Ephesians 2 to show that God "defaults" to mercy and grace while still maintaining His justice through the atoning death of Christ. The teaching prepares believers to partake of the bread and cup as a remembrance of the body and blood that secured their relationship with God.

Continuing a series on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, Pastor Miles surveys the gifts of miracles, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, apostleship, helps, administration, evangelism, and pastor-teacher, urging discernment grounded in Scripture and warning against both undue dogmatism and false signs and wonders.

Christ has set us free from slavery to sin, and the paradox of the gospel is that He calls us to use that liberty not for selfish license but to willingly make ourselves servants of one another in love. Pastor Miles traces the Old Testament picture of bondage to sin, the Messiah's coming to free the captives, and the call of Galatians 5:13 to "by love serve one another."

Continuing a study of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12–14, Pastor Miles teaches that every believer is gifted by the Spirit to glorify God and edify the body, then examines five gifts in detail: mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, and healings. He stresses that gifts are tools, not measuring rods of spirituality, and that God still heals today, though not always, sometimes allowing illness for His glory.

Pastor Miles teaches that every believer is gifted by the Holy Spirit for the profit of the body of Christ, then begins working through the New Testament's lists of spiritual gifts—covering prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, and leadership. He urges believers to step out by faith to discover and exercise their gifts for God's glory and the church's edification.

This teaching opens Paul's discussion of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 by warning against using emotional experience as the measure of the Spirit's work, then answers four foundational questions: who gives the gifts, who receives them, why they are given, and when they are received. Pastor Miles argues from Scripture that all believers are baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit at conversion and are thereby gifted for service, rejecting "second blessing" doctrine as unbiblical and divisive.

Opening his teaching on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, Pastor Miles explains that the Corinthians were not lacking in gifts but in understanding—their pagan background and ignorance of spiritual things allowed counterfeit, ecstatic, and false practices to invade the church. Paul provides the first test of true spirituality: no one speaking by the Spirit curses Jesus, and no one can confess Jesus as Lord, in word and life, except by the Holy Spirit.

Building from Paul's words that the Lord's Supper proclaims Christ's death "until he comes," Pastor Miles surveys the biblical doctrine of the second coming and the signs of the end through Jesus' Olivet Discourse, arguing that we are likely living in the last of the last days while warning against speculation and date-setting. He calls believers to respond not with sensationalism but with holiness, urgent evangelism, and Christlike living.