Guitars and Theology Podcast
A podcast that shares thoughts about God and life, occasionally featuring a song. The host, Tim Miller, explores theological topics and personal reflections.
Episodes
Songs In Babylon
Psalm 1371 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord &nbs
God Uses Means
God isn't just operating in the world in "supernatural" events. He's WAY more involved than that. He's also working through the world in the most ordinary and natural things.But recognizing God's handiwork takes faith.
Let's Take A Walk (and Michael's Baptism)
This is a reflection based around the biblical theme of walking with God.
You crushed Leviathan’s heads
Psalm 74, Isaiah 27, Job 41, Palm 104 all have Leviathan in common.This message includes a lot of ancient near eastern religious parallels that Israelites would have known.It ends with some thoughts on what at least some modern spiritual warfare might be like.
Image of God
Genesis 1:26 raises some fascinating questions and has wonderful implications. Let's talk about it.
Faith's Foundation (1 Corinthians 2)
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your
Theology 101 - Part 2 (whiteboard)
Here we recapped God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, and Scripture, and then moved on to briefly address creation and humanity.It's important to distinguish between what Christians hold in the closed hand (must believe) and what we hold in the open hand (may believe).In the closed hand are that God made all things visible and invisibe, that he is Lord over all things, and that humans are made in God's imag
A Cosmological Argument
This is a chat about...oh, you know, the universe.
Theology 101 (whiteboard chat)
in which we discussedGodJesusHoly SpiritScripture
Milk and Meat (Heb 5:12-14)
This chat is about spiritually growing up.
World Christians
"Let all the peoples praise you" part 2.
Let All The Peoples Praise You
This is based on Psalm 67's invitation to all the people's of the earth to worship God, but mainly the global vision of redemption present within Scripture and the kingdom from beginning to end.You're on a ball in space. Zoom out.
Fruitful in the land of my suffering
This one is about Joseph's names for his two sons born in Egypt.
Immorality erodes hope - Love restores
“Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." — Matthew 24:12
Listen to your life
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob contributed something fascinating to the Bible: their story. Story is significant. You are hidden in God's story, and he's hidden in yours too.Listen to your life.
Are all sins the same?
Part 1 - how sins are differentPart 2 - how they're not
Understanding the cross differently
For many believers, the cross has been explained as Jesus dying to pay God a debt we owed for our sins. Is this explanation how the early church fathers understood the cross?
What's on your heart? (Prayer in the age of anxiety)
“Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (Phil 4:6-7 MSG)
What is life asking of me?
I guess this is some reflections on the inward journey.
"What I was taught no longer make sense"
A friend came to me this week with all kinds of questions about the Bible...
Thank You For My Life
This one's about gratitude.
Ew, Self Improvement
A conversation about being and becoming.
The one about Sackcloth
“You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.”(Psalm 30:11)
God Enters The Chat
Luke 24:15 "As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them."
Glorious Presumption
In Psalm 30, verse 9, David banks on the glorious presumption that in delivering him, God is serving his own interests, because he's THAT precious to the Father.
4 Attachment Styles
I make the case that our attachment style affects all our relationship, including our relationship to God. And we can change. And that Scriptural prayers model some very healthy convictions regarding attachment. We started with Psalm 5.Secure, anxious, avoidant, disorganized...
Seek His Face - Psalm 27
Grounded in God in the midst of life's troubles...
The Apple of Your Eye
Keep me as the apple of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Thy wings, From the wicked who despoil me, My deadly enemies, who surround me.(Psalm 17:8-9 NAS)
Repeat After Me Prayers
Our Father in heaven,Reveal who you are.Set the world right;Do what’s best— as above, so below.Keep us alive with three square meals.Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.You’re in charge!You can do anything you want!You’re ablaze in beauty!Yes. Yes. Yes.Smile to Father, Son, and SpiritSmile to yourself.Smile to someone el
Michel de Montaigne
Occasionally at a Wednesday Whiteboard I give a brief biography and some highlights of people I've been reading...
When You Are Disturbed
Psalm 4:4 When you are disturbed, do not sin; ponder it on your beds, and be silent. Selah
What is life for?
An exploration of the question looking at different worldviews, including people from Gateway's answers.
The Euthyphro Dilemma aka God Is Good
Psalm 115:2-32 Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?”3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.Psalm 116:68aYou are good, and what you do is good.
Flip Matthew 23 - 16 Points
This talk takes the words of Jesus directed against the hypocrisy of the scribes and pharisees in Matthew 23 and turns them into healthy, positive goals for us to pursue.Yes, it's a 16 point sermon.
Sweet Apples
Three ways Christianity is utterly unique among world religions, plus a point about apples.
Incarnation: God In The Ordinary
This one's about Jesus becoming -- and remaining -- a full human, and some implications of that."And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." (Jn 1:14)
This Happened Because You Believed
Jesus often told people that. "This happened because you believed." How do we grow in the faith Jesus walked in?
Onramps for Encounters
This talk is about our task as leaders to engage people in a way that invites them to excercise their own faith and collaborate with the Spirit, not just "minister to" them. It's based on the way Jesus engaged the two blind men who chased him down and demanded a meeting in Matthew 9:27ff.
Prayers Over People
Today's only agenda was to pray over individuals and see what happens.
Spiritual Vitamins
Jesus said it isn't the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. And he didn't come to call good folks, but broken people. This is why we've called the church a kind of hospital for souls...
Digging Wells Old and New
"And Isaac redug the wells of his father Abraham..." Genesis chapter 26
Who's Happy?
This talk is about the deepest drive underneath all other human drives.Section 1: Data on HappinessSection 2: A few philosophers (and a mathematician)Section 3: A castrated medieval theologian on happinessI ended by talking about how Christianity is completely unique.
O Ye of Little Faith
Does God expect blind faith? Are reason and faith opposed?
Wednesday Whiteboard - Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
We discussed some fascinating quotes from this Stoic Roman Emperor who sought to live a virtuous life. Much of his advice to himself can be helpfully applied to us in our life lived with and for Jesus.
Beautitudes - The ancient gospel we REALLY need
Hope for the broken based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 5.
In Praise of Boredom (re: phone addiction)
We're made in the image of our Creator, who is creative (Gen 1) and who designed us to be creative (Gen 2).Here's the thesis: To be creative we must allow ourselves the luxury and the discomfort of boredom.The algorythms disrupt this God-given impulse, turning us into consumers.
Let Go and Let God
Tonight we dug deeper into the theme of how we are meant to let go and let God, and what we are meant to hold onto instead of what we naturally do.This was a Wednesday Whiteboard chat.
Let Go - Q and A
Questions and answers after one of my annual counseling weeks with short term missions students.
A Process of Change
Hurt enough - realize need for changeLearn enough - realize change is possibleReceive enough - able to change
Jenga Faith
"I don't know," can be scary. But it's part of the posture of a learner.
Covenant, Individualism, and Generational Blessings
This Wednesday Whiteboard session was about how we are a part of a much larger story of God's covenant with family lineage, not just individuals.We ended by making some declarations and doing some good spiritual work breaking agreements and making agreements with gospel truths.
Devotion on the Edge of Despair
Joseph of Arimathea laid him in his tomb.
Hallelujah, I Am In Despair
"Be merciful to those who doubt." Jude 1:22
What's next?
A chat about the afterlife.
Am I A Christian
This is a reflection on the nature of faith. It tries to work out some implications of what James says in chapter 2 of his letter when he tells us, "Oh you say you believe in one God? Well guess what? The demons believe, but they tremble." Real faith isn't about what we claim to agree with, but what we stake our lives on. This truth cuts two ways:1. If we say we believe, maybe we're wrong.2. If
A Meeting Place
Mark 6:46 “He went up on the mountain to pray.”Where are your meeting places where you go to meet with God? How does beauty play a role in that? How do you set the mood to tune and align your soul to the Father?
An Text from a Friend and What Is Holiness?
The Wednesday evening group helped me process a text from a friend.Then we talked about the question, "What is holiness?"
A Good Story (or why I like The Empire Strikes Back)
A real hero bleeds, fails, and grows, because the line between good and evil isn't out there, us and them, but much closer.
The Children's Bread
Was Jesus racist? What is the children's bread? And other questions... (from Mark 7:24-30)
Nothing Is Wasted
This chat is about the leftovers in the multiplication of food miracles. It's about how we deal with leftovers historically vs now, and it's about what Jesus wants to do with broken people, and the broken pieces of our lives. Also, cheese is amazing.
Caught In A Storm On The Lake
47 When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. 49 But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately
Hometown Struggles
After Jesus raised a little girl from the dead one town over, we read in Mark 6 that he couldn't do any mighty works in his hometown because of their unbelief. What's up with that?
The Messianic Secret
43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44 saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came
Authority Not Like the Scribes
“They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and NOT as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22)
Repentance AS good news
Why in the world were people so drawn to John the Baptist? What are some negative associations many of us have with the word "repent?" What is repentance NOT? What is it? What are 6 elements of a great apology? Is repentance easy or hard?This is based on Mark 1:1-8
Heart Fuel
The goodThe beautifulThe true
Delay, Dissapointment, and Dissilusionment
2 Peter 3 seems as relevant as ever.
PART 2 - Emotionally Intelligent Gospel
It isn't enough to avoid the wrong things (empty and sweep the house). In order to really live the abundant life we are designed to crave, we have to "fill the house."The question I keep considering over and over is, "How do we do that?"
An Emotionally Intelligent Gospel
People don't do what's most logical, we do what we believe will make us feel good. Science, psychology, and marketing all verify this, and it makes us often confused by our own choices and the choices of others.How do we leverage this insight for our thriving?How does this impact our approach to God and inviting others to the life of faith?
Words are a rudder
"The tongue is connected to the heart!" (Theresa said that during the chat.)James 3 provided the context of this Whiteboard session.
The Center
What matters most? This chat is about the bullseye of the target and what we tend to get sidetracked by instead.(Based on the parable of the good samaritan in Luke 10).
Striving vs Abiding (Whiteboard)
John 15:4-5 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
This sets Christianity apart
An easter message from Romans 5."For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" (Rom 5:10)
A Cursed Snake On A Pole
"As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life."John 3:14-15
Blind To Beauty (Wedding at Cana)
The master of the banquet tasted the good wine, but didn't know where it came from. He completely missed both the miracle and the divine love it revealed. How often do we do that?
Spiritual Weapons - Pleasures and Pains
The Lord Almighty fights for us.Therefore teach usto fight with weapons of light, not carnal weaponsthe way of the cross, not the way of the swordto bless and not curse (Rom 12:14),to give thanks and not grumble.As we suffer injustice, following Jesus,we entrust ourselves to our Faithful Creatorand continue to do good. (1 Peter 4:19)Pain and pleasure come and go, but God remains. So today I inte
Tend The Inner Garden
Coming home to God also entails coming home to yourself and returning to what you've neglected and misused, learning from Jesus the art of really living.
Janelle called this one "The Boat Sermon"
"The Lord takes pleasure in everything he made." (Ps 104:31)
Going Through
Don't avoid it. Don't get stuck in it. Go through.5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. 7 They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Zion.(Psalm
Gaze: take time to look Jesus in the face
This chat centers around the concept of how transformation happens, which is by gazing upon the beauty of God seen in the face of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 4 was the main text.
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