Line Upon Line

Examining the opening of Luke's Gospel, Pastor Miles explores how the story of Christianity begins with two obscure pregnant women, revealing a biblical "subtext" that highly values women, conception, childbearing, and motherhood — values our culture has increasingly abandoned. He argues that a disordered value system produces a disordered culture and church, and applies this to current debates over the role of women in the church.

The opening chapters of Luke introduce Zacharias and Elizabeth, an old and barren couple whose patient waiting in hope pictures all of Israel—and all humanity—longing for a deliverer. Their story shows that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the ultimate answer to humanity's hope, reaching all the way back to the promise of Genesis 3:15 and opening once again the way to the tree of life.

An introduction to the Gospel of Luke that explains why there are four gospels, who Luke was, and the heart of his message: the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. The teaching presents Jesus as the Savior of sinners who pursues the broken, despised, and rejected, and calls believers to join His mission of reaching others.

Drawing on the contested origins of the gospels, Pastor Miles argues from practical, historical, and literary evidence that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are eyewitness accounts written within 25 years of the crucifixion, so that believers may "know the certainty" of what they have been taught. He calls Christians to let the Spirit produce visible fruit, since a transformed life is itself a powerful proof of the gospel's truth.

Pastor Miles opens a new series on the Gospel of Luke by arguing that we live in consequential times marked by a cultural shift back toward openness to Christianity, and that God's people must align with this move of the Spirit by knowing, embodying, and persuasively proclaiming the gospel. He frames the church's task using Aristotle's ethos, pathos, and logos, grounding it in Paul's declaration that he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the saving and sanctifying power of God.

At the start of a new year, Pastor Miles steps outside his usual verse-by-verse format to explain why Cross Connection Church exists and why believers should attend, support, and invite others. Grounded in the Great Commission and God's desire that none should perish, he argues the church is called to reach a postchristian San Diego with a rigorous, applied theology that produces real spiritual growth.

Beginning a new year, Pastor Miles teaches from John 17 (the high priestly prayer) that God made each person on purpose, to know and live eternal life through a oneness relationship with Him in Christ. Drawing on the Upper Room Discourse and Ephesians 2, he shows how Jesus reconciles outsiders into God's family and commissions believers as ambassadors of reconciliation.

Standing at the close of 2024, Pastor Miles sets aside year-end prophecy predictions to focus on what believers can absolutely count on in 2025: the unchanging nature of God. He offers five pieces of ancient, time-tested wisdom—trusting the Lord wholeheartedly, forgetting the past to pursue God's purpose, numbering our days, redeeming the time, and abiding in Christ.

Concluding his Advent series with the theme of love, Pastor Miles teaches from Romans 5, Ephesians 2, and 1 John 3–4 that Jesus is and brings the love of God to a dark and dying world. Because God loved us while we were still His enemies, His love is meant to transform us into people who love and share the gospel with others.

Drawing on Psalm 16, John 14–16, and Isaiah 9, Pastor Miles teaches that Jesus' Advent makes the fullness of joy accessible — not as a temporary feeling but as the embodiment of hope, peace, and joy found in Christ Himself. He shows how believers apprehend this joy now and forever by receiving Christ and abiding in His word, His love, and His body.