Truth Over The Noise

TIL Radio Network
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Truth Over The Noise is a weekly conversation where Nathan and Trey dig into culture, headlines, and everyday life through a biblical lens. Each episode cuts through the chaos with honest dialogue, thoughtful questions, and practical applications, helping you hear and live out God's truth above the noise.

  1. 1d ago

    Playlist Theology (Pt. 11): Sensual or Just Joyful?

    Is that song fleshly, or does it just make you want to tap your foot? Nathan and Trey define the most-used word in the Christian music debate. Part 11 of Playlist Theology covers chapter nine of Ben Everson's "Playlist Theology: If Not Unison, Then Harmony," "Music and the Flesh: What's Actually Sensual?" It opens with a man who told Everson his wife's restrained alto sounded sensual. What he was really hearing was her Southern accent and a lower voice than the sopranos he grew up with: conditioning, not sin. From Galatians 5:16–17, the flesh is the fallen nature, not the body, and it isn't the same as a feeling. The real test is what the music stirs up in you: is it drawing you to Christ, or just to the sound? Nathan walks through Everson's red flags: overly breathy vocals, grinding basslines, club-style grooves, riffs that show off ego, and exaggerated stage movement. Then the other side: joy is not the enemy. Psalm 33:3, Nehemiah 8:10, Ecclesiastes 3:4, and the music and dancing at the prodigal son's homecoming in Luke 15 leave no biblical warrant to condemn music just because it's upbeat. Trey adds that whether a song feels sensual often says more about the listener's heart and habits than about the song. In chapter ten, "Guidelines," Everson gets practical: biblical discernment demands consistency, and context isn't compromise. Trey explains why "Simple Man" made sense at a cousin's funeral. A pep band at a ballgame, love songs in a marriage, and David's harp in Saul's court show how a song can fit one setting and not another. For the home, think patterns, not just playlists. For personal listening, three questions: Is this helping me walk in the Spirit, or just killing time? Am I drawn to it because it's beautiful, true, and good, or because it scratches an itch? Is it forming me or deforming me? Scripture (KJV): Galatians 5:16–17 • Psalm 33:3 • Nehemiah 8:10 • Ecclesiastes 3:4 • Luke 15 • 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 • Galatians 5:24 • Ecclesiastes 3:1 • 1 Samuel 16:23 • 1 Corinthians 10:23 Part 11 of the Playlist Theology series, covering chapter nine and most of chapter ten. Next week, Nathan and Trey finish chapter ten, including the "church is just ten steps behind the world" argument. Got a topic you want covered in Season 2? Send it through the contact form at truthoverthenoise.com. Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

  2. Oct 24

    Why We Vote: The Price of Freedom

    Your freedom was bought at a price, and your vote is how you keep it. Nathan and Trey step away from Playlist Theology to talk about why Christians can't sit out the 2026 midterms. It starts with John Adams: "Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom." Trey covers the dates (Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and Georgia's early voting runs October 13–30), and Nathan tells Glenn Beck's story of 1916, when a missed courtesy call at a Long Beach hotel split California's Republicans and 3,420 votes gave Woodrow Wilson a second term. When margins are that small, midterms matter even more. Then they go back to 1776 with history from WallBuilders. Signing the Declaration of Independence was treason against the British crown. You'll hear John Hancock's "John Bull can read my name without spectacles," Benjamin Franklin's "we must all hang together," and Benjamin Rush remembering the "pensive and awful silence" as the delegates signed what many believed were their own death warrants. The youngest signers, Edward Rutledge and Thomas Lynch Jr., were just 26. Nine signers died during the war, five were captured, twelve lost their homes to fire, and not one went back on his word. To finish, they walk through WallBuilders' six steps for voting biblically: get a sample ballot, pray for wisdom, compare candidates to Scripture, put God's values first, research what candidates believe, and use christianvoterguide.com. The bottom line: vote biblical values, not personal preference. Trey gives his take, and Nathan explains why local races like the school board matter as much as national ones, why America is a constitutional republic, and why "if you didn't vote, don't complain." Nathan's full notes, including the history stories they didn't have time for, will be posted at truthoverthenoise.com through the election cycle, with links to WallBuilders and Glenn Beck. Playlist Theology returns next week. Questions or comments? Email truthoverthenoise.tilradio@gmail.com or use the contact form at truthoverthenoise.com. Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

  3. Oct 17

    54 Conversations, One Unforgettable Week

    54 artist conversations in five days, and the trip almost fell apart before it started. Nathan and Trey recap the 2026 National Quartet Convention. The week before NQC, everything was packed and inventoried, and Nathan said it was going too easy. Then Trey's wife found out she could only get Thursday and Friday off. After a few days of scrambling, the Lord worked it out, and it turned into TIL Radio Network's biggest NQC yet: the first conversation at 4:00 p.m. Monday, the last at 8:30 p.m. Friday, and 54 in between. Nathan explains why TIL Radio calls them conversations, not interviews, and thanks Trey, who learned this year just how much goes into the week. Nathan walks through the lineup day by day, from Karen Peck & New River (finally, after years of scheduling conflicts), Greater Vision, and Tribute Quartet to Tim Lovelace of "Moments to Motivate," one of TIL Radio's three original programs, who stepped in off the hallway for a conversation. Trey shares his first Daywind artist showcase: Jason Crabb walking in before it even started, Weeks Revival, the Ledbetter Brothers singing "The Turn," Southbound's "Here Comes Mercy" ("we had church in that room"), Karen Peck & New River's "Mama Knows," which brought back memories of his grandmother, and Jason Crabb closing with the story behind "Through the Fire." They also introduce the TIL Radio Tune Challenge: hear a random 30-second clip, then name the song and the artist. Scores from the NQC artists ranged from zero to nine perfect games, Jordan LeFevre turned it into a clinic, and the artist leaderboards stay up for months so you can try to beat them. It's free, with permission from the artists and labels. Plus: a Cades Cove bear hunt, why the Monday videos show mostly the artist's side of the table, and the dates for NQC 2027: September 26 through October 2. Watch every Conversation with TIL Radio Network on YouTube, with a new one each weekday. Play at tilradiotunechallenge.com. Playlist Theology returns soon. Questions or comments? Email truthoverthenoise.tilradio@gmail.com or use the contact form at truthoverthenoise.com. Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

  4. Oct 10

    Playlist Theology (Pt. 10): What's Your Number

    Nathan and Trey both came out of this chapter with a 23. They got there completely differently. That's the point of Part 10. Chapter eight of Ben Everson's "Playlist Theology: If Not Unison, Then Harmony" is the first chapter in this series that isn't about anybody's background. It's about you. Everson hands you a made-up device — a metal box with "four unmarked knobs pointing to zero and a single toggle switch underneath" — and calls it the Music Standard Quotient Detector. It's a teaching tool for the mechanism every believer already uses to decide what music honors God. Four dials, each 0 to 10. Turning one up doesn't make you more spiritual; it just means that sensitivity runs stronger in your conscience. LYRICS — what does the song say? (Colossians 3:16) A high reading catches theology going vague. A low reading is at ease with simple, testimonial language. Nathan points to Ron Hamilton of Patch the Pirate, gifted at making a big Bible truth small enough for a child, versus a friend who thought every children's Sunday school song was inappropriate. STYLE — how does it say it? (Psalm 33:3, 1 Corinthians 14:15) Before the mind processes a lyric, the ear and the heart have already reacted — you know the song two seconds in. Everybody already believes style carries meaning: jubilant anthems on anniversary Sunday, something very different at the Lord's Supper. We only disagree on how much it matters. ASSOCIATIONS — what baggage does it carry? (1 Thessalonians 5:22) Everson calls it the volatile dial — the metal is worn where other hands have touched it — and it's the one that flips on most people. Not because the appearance is always sinful, but because perception can affect testimony. Two people hear the same melody; one hears beauty, the other remembers a life marked by sin. Everson brings Paul on meat offered to idols, an airport illustration about how much luggage each of us carries, a pastor's Raiders-themed Sunday his deacons talked him out of, and the ministries — Hillsong, Bethel, Sovereign Grace — who have said their songs carry their theology. His balance: not fear of guilt by association, but awareness and integrity. CONTEXT — where is the music being used? (1 Corinthians 14:40) Not about style at all, but fitness. A children's chorus in a classroom, a hymn in the sanctuary, a patriotic tune at a civic event. If a song doesn't fit our setting, we don't have to firebomb it — it belongs somewhere else. Then the switch: sacred or non-sacred. Sacred doesn't mean sinless — it means set apart for direct worship. Everson's non-sacred list runs long: patriotic, cowboy, folk, classical, sports music, Broadway, movies, cartoons, video game soundtracks, barbershop, Christmas, romantic. Psalm 96:1 and Ecclesiastes 3:4 — God's people have always written songs for the sanctuary and the street. Genuinely disqualified material never reaches the box; clear scriptural principle keeps it out. Add your four dials and you land between 0 and 40. There is no right number. Nathan's read 7 / 6 / 6 / 5; Trey's 8 / 5 / 5 / 7. Max everything out and you leave no room for grace or for the Holy Spirit to speak. Set it all to the floor and you've decided everything is permissible, which this book has already said it isn't. Nathan's charge to younger listeners: music is one of the touchiest subjects in Christendom, and you have to be ready to give an answer. Build the foundation on Scripture — without one, the world and other Christians will toss you to and fro. Scripture (KJV): Colossians 3:16 • Psalm 33:3 • 1 Corinthians 14:15 • 1 Thessalonians 5:22 • 1 Corinthians 14:40 • Psalm 96:1 • Ecclesiastes 3:4 Part 10 of the Playlist Theology series, covering chapter eight. Next week: the full National Quartet Convention recap. Two weeks out: chapter nine, "Music and the Flesh — What's Actually Sensual?" Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

  5. Oct 3

    Playlist Theology (Pt. 9): Where Did Our Joy Go?

    "We're singing about the resurrection with the energy of a budget committee." That line from Ben Everson's chapter seven stings because it's fair. In Part 9, Nathan and Trey take on the chapter titled "Where Is Our Joy?" — and the harder question underneath it: not how do we hype things up, but where did the joy go, and why did we stop looking for it? Trey opens with the honest version of the problem — some church music physically and spiritually puts you to sleep. He talks about the first time a student brought a guitar into youth service, and what it did for him to finally walk into a room with a full band. Nathan's read: style isn't the issue, repetition is. Do the same thing the same way for decades and it fades, no matter how true it is. Even your favorite song stops being your favorite if you play it for six months straight. And what won the last generation won't automatically reach this one. From there it's the difference between joy and hype. Gen Z doesn't want manufactured energy, and they can tell. But if hype is all you chase, you'll never get to real joy — joy isn't a garnish on the service, it's fruit of the Spirit. The heart of the episode is stillness versus suppression. "We've convinced ourselves that emotional stillness equals spiritual maturity, but sometimes emotional stillness is just emotional suppression." Real stillness is knowing God's voice when He speaks. Suppression is a room full of people afraid to move. Both guys tell on themselves here — Nathan at six years old at a jubilee in North Carolina, watching a man pull out the handkerchief and run the aisles while the pastor beside him laughed at the size of Nathan's eyes; Trey at beach camp this summer, so lost in a worship set that another leader said afterward he thought Trey was about to go Pentecostal. Go read David, Nathan says. The man worshiped with everything he had, and it was real. Then comes the part aimed at conservative rooms: fear kills joy. Fear of sounding too contemporary, of looking too expressive, of being misunderstood — "fear of man dressed up as the fear of God." When people are more worried about clapping on the wrong beat than about missing the presence of God, that isn't holiness, it's paralysis. Everson's counterweight, by way of John Van Gelderen: when someone raises a hand in the service, it might not be rebellion — it might be obedience. Both hosts bring stories on the flip side too. Nathan's years in the sound booth at a church where the Sunday plan got rewritten fifteen minutes before service, week after week, until the scramble drained the life out of the room. Trey's nineteenth birthday, singing "Only You" in the nine o'clock hour, when the preacher told them to stay up there and keep singing — about forty-five minutes of it, with a second service still to come. One of those is a script problem. The other is the Spirit moving. Learn to tell them apart. The chapter closes with a charge: let the music breathe again. Let the harmony surprise you. Let a child smile while singing, let an old man weep, let the congregation open their mouths and not worry how they sound. Not louder music — truer music. Not performance but participation, not hype but holiness with a pulse. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," and where there's liberty, there just might be joy. Scripture (KJV): Psalm 63:4 • Psalm 134:2 • 1 Timothy 2:8 • 1 John 4:18 • 2 Corinthians 3:17 Part 9 of the Playlist Theology series, covering chapter seven of Ben Everson's "Playlist Theology: If Not Unison, Then Harmony." Next episode: chapter eight, the Music Standard Quotient Detector. Two weeks out: the full NQC recap. Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

  6. Sep 26

    Playlist Theology (Pt. 8): Emotion Is a Gift, Not the Enemy

    "Not every instinct — even one based in love — is correct." That line from Ben Everson's chapter six is where this episode lands, and it's a hard one. In Part 8, Nathan and Trey finish the chapter they ran out of time on last week and get to the question underneath the whole series: what do you actually do with what you feel about a song? It opens with the point they teased at the end of Part 7 — the mind is not the enemy, and neither are your emotions. Trey is honest about it: when he's worshiping, his emotions take over and his mind goes blank, and he'll lose a thought completely mid-song. Nathan's answer isn't to shut that down but to name what's happening — Romans 12:2, the renewing of the mind, is often exactly why the noise in your head clears out when good music points you at God. The response that says "if I'm feeling something, I must be in the flesh" isn't biblical. God made us emotional beings, wired each of us uniquely, and music is one of the strongest ways He reaches us. Emotion is a gift. The real question is what kind of emotion is being stirred, and by what. From there the chapter hands you a tool instead of a verdict. When a song, a mood, or a worship style gives you pause, don't jump straight to "good" or "bad" — open your Bible and ask three questions. What fruit is this music producing? What truth is it supporting, or confusing? Does the spirit of this music match the Spirit of God? Nathan deliberately leaves all three open-ended, because the point isn't for two guys with microphones to tell you what to think — it's to send you back to the Word with a framework. He and Trey work through the second one together, landing on songs that lift Scripture straight out of context versus songs that send you running to read the passage they came from. Then comes the part that makes this chapter more than a music discussion: six case studies from Scripture on testing what you sense. The ones that held up — Nehemiah's private burden confirmed by planning, support, and fruit (Nehemiah 2:12); Paul's Macedonian vision confirmed by circumstance and immediate obedience (Acts 16:9–10); Peter's vision at Joppa, repeated three times before a stubborn man was convinced (Acts 10). And the ones that didn't — the prophet Nathan telling David to build the temple before he'd ever asked God, then having to walk it back that same night (2 Samuel 7:3); Paul pressing on to Jerusalem over the warnings of Spirit-filled believers around him (Acts 21:4, 10–14; Acts 20:22); and Peter rebuking Jesus for predicting the cross out of genuine love, and hearing "get thee behind me, Satan" (Matthew 16:22–23). Everson's anchor for all of it: "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Proverbs 28:26). The chapter closes with an assignment, and Nathan hands it straight to you. Pick one song you have on repeat. Break it into three parts — lyrical content, musical style, emotional impact. Then ask: is this song forming me spiritually, or just feeding a mood? The last stretch of the episode is National Quartet Convention. TIL Radio Network is at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, September 27 through October 3 — booth 801, and this is the first year the network has an entire room to itself. Nathan gives walking directions from the new main entrance, the afternoon-to-evening hours, and a rundown of the 30-plus artist interviews on the schedule. Tell them you're a Truth Over the Noise listener when you walk up. Scripture in this episode (KJV): Romans 12:2 • 2 Timothy 3:16 • Nehemiah 2:12 • Acts 16:9–10 • Acts 10 • 2 Samuel 7:3 • Acts 21:4, 10–14 • Acts 20:22 • Matthew 16:22–23 • Proverbs 28:26 This is Part 8 of the ongoing Playlist Theology series, and the second half of chapter six — start with Part 7 if you haven't heard it. Chapter seven is next. Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

  7. Sep 19

    Playlist Theology (Pt. 7): Discernment and the Holy Spirit

    "Somewhere between the gut and the graph is the biblical path." That one line from Ben Everson's chapter six sets up the whole conversation. In Part 7 of the Playlist Theology series, Nathan and Trey tackle the question the series has been building toward: when you feel something about a song, how do you know whether that's the Holy Spirit leading — or just you reacting? It starts with a story from the book. A young pastor travels to ask a well-known music teacher, point blank, how you decide what's right and wrong in music. The answer he gets: "you just know." He leaves disappointed, and rightly so — a gut feeling can be wrong. From there Nathan lays out the two ditches on either side of the road: getting so "spiritual" that you shut your brain off and build a wall of rules, or getting so analytical that you tune the Spirit out completely. Scripture asks for both a sensitive heart and a sound mind. The hard part is telling your spirit apart from the Holy Spirit. Nathan walks through what Scripture says your own spirit can genuinely do — be stirred (Psalm 77:6), be grieved (Daniel 7:15), be burdened (2 Corinthians 2:13) — all real, none of it automatically God speaking. Only the Holy Spirit is infallible, He never speaks contrary to the written Word (John 16:13), and He will not tell Trey one thing about a song and Nathan the opposite. So impressions have to be tested: "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits" (1 John 4:1). Then it gets personal, and honest. Nathan tells the story of a Matthew West concert about a decade ago where the opener came out to fog, fireworks, and a wall of guitar — from the balcony it felt like a rock concert, and it felt off. Looking back, he admits his read on it was probably overreaching: it was a concert, and part of his reaction was preference and background, not conviction. Trey shares the flip side — going from organ, piano, and hymnbook-in-hand to his first taste of a praise band, and the culture shock that turned into the thing he now loves most about their church. That leads into the chapter's central framework: three different kinds of inner responses that can look identical from the outside. An aesthetic response (a real reaction to beauty or craftsmanship — God-honoring, but not automatically spiritual). Conditioning or culture shock (something feels off only because it's unfamiliar). And genuine spiritual discernment (the Spirit using the Word to show you something is stirring the flesh, glorifying man, or quietly undermining truth). Everson's line: this isn't about the feelings, it's about the fruit. This is Part 1 of a two-part look at chapter six — there was too much here for one episode. Next week Nathan and Trey pick up with "the mind is not the enemy, and neither is emotion," plus a look ahead to National Quartet Convention. Scripture in this episode (KJV): John 16:13 • Psalm 77:6 • Daniel 7:15 • 2 Corinthians 2:13 • 1 John 4:1 This is Part 7 of the ongoing Playlist Theology series — catch up on Parts 1–6 first if you're just joining. Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

  8. Sep 12

    Playlist Theology (Pt. 6): What the Bible Actually Says About Music

    What does Scripture actually say about music? Not as much as legalists claim, and more than skeptics assume. In Part 6 of the Playlist Theology series, Nathan and Trey open chapter five of Ben Everson's "If Not Unison, Then Harmony" and pull seven biblical principles for music straight from the text — from Jubal's harp in Genesis to the new song sung before the throne in Revelation. They walk through all seven: music must glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Peter 4:11), be offered with understanding (1 Corinthians 14:15, Psalm 47:7), function as a teaching tool (Colossians 3:16, Deuteronomy 31:19), stay distinct from the world (Romans 12:2, 1 Peter 2:9, James 4:4), affect the flesh (Galatians 5:16–17, 19–21), start as a heart issue (Ephesians 5:19, 1 Samuel 16:7, Matthew 15:8), and hold onto melody as Scripture's one specific musical prescription (Ephesians 5:19, Psalm 33:3). Then it gets personal. Nathan and Trey debate which principle churches enforce best (glorify God, easily) and which gets neglected most — staying distinct from the world, or is it really the heart issue? Trey also tells the story behind "How He Loves," the John Mark McMillan song that split churches over two words: "sloppy wet kiss," later changed to "unforeseen kiss" in David Crowder Band's cover — and why the fight over the line nearly buried the song's actual message. Scripture in this episode (KJV): Genesis 4:21 • Exodus 15:1–2 • 1 Chronicles 25:1 • Mark 14:26 • Revelation 5:9–10 • Revelation 14:2–3 • 1 Corinthians 10:31 • 1 Peter 4:11 • 1 Corinthians 14:15 • Psalm 47:7 • Colossians 3:16 • Deuteronomy 31:19 • Romans 12:2 • 1 Peter 2:9 • James 4:4 • Galatians 5:16–17, 19–21 • Ephesians 5:19 • 1 Samuel 16:7 • Matthew 15:8 • Psalm 33:3 This is Part 6 of the ongoing Playlist Theology series — catch up on Parts 1–5 first if you're just joining. Next week: discernment, the Holy Spirit, and how to actually apply all of this (it might end up being two episodes). Listen and subscribe at truthoverthenoise.com or on Spotify.

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Truth Over The Noise is a weekly conversation where Nathan and Trey dig into culture, headlines, and everyday life through a biblical lens. Each episode cuts through the chaos with honest dialogue, thoughtful questions, and practical applications, helping you hear and live out God's truth above the noise.

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  • Creator
    TIL Radio Network
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © TIL Radio Network
  • Show Website
    Truth Over The Noise