Desert Days Podcast: Recent Episodes
Gabalfa Baptist Church Cardiff
Some deep verses about God the Father's hatred of wickedness flood Jesus' mind early in the morning as He prays.
We wrap up our chat on Psalm 4 discussing the joy that is greater than a good meal and a lush wine.
"Who can show us any good?" is what the world is asking whilst simultaneously rejecting the One who can truly bring about good! We see how this experience and prayer of Christ is something we too can pray
We continue with Psalm 4 where it seems Christ tells all who are believing deceptions to go to their room for a time of reflection.
Christ seems to change the direction of his speech in this verse. Sam and Aron discuss who He is speaking to and how we can pray this verse of the Psalms.
As a little interlude between Psalm 3 and 4, we answer a question that's been sent in. It serves as a bit of a recap of some of the main things we've discussed on these pods.
When was the last time you prayed "Break their teeth Lord!"
Jesus prayed it! How exactly do we pray this? Why would Jesus of Nazareth pray this prayer?
HOW HAS PRAYING PSALM 3 HELPED YOU? Let us know :)
Jesus practiced dying and rising - we do too.
How did Jesus ever good a good night's sleep when there were people who wanted Him dead?
We discuss sleep and how we incorporate sleep and waking up as themes in our prayer life.
As Jesus of Nazareth prays, how does He counter the lies spoken about Him and His God and Father? What is His assurance? How do we replicate this prayer in our lives?
What do the enemies of Jesus of Nazareth say?
"Your God will not deliver you!" - it's an attack on Jesus' assurance and the character of God His Father!
It's the same for us. Perhaps the biggest lie we believe is that we aren't saved (despite our baptisms and being members of God's household).
We discuss why this is such an important thing to reckon with.
O Lord how many are my foes?
It's a good question - how many are our foes?
What's the significance of this being the first sentance of the first proper prayer in the Psalms (after going through the gateway of Psalms 1 & 2)?
We discuss the beginning of this prayer of Jesus and how we can pray it.
We kick off Psalm 3 by discussing the 'superscript' / title of the psalm. The Spirit gave King David these words when we was on the run from his son who wanted to murder him - what's the significance of this?
We have a chat about what the Father says the Son should ask Him for (ie "the nations" aka those who rage against the Father and the Anointed Son)
We have properly launched "Project Psalmify" in Church, focussing on one psalm a month, learning to pray like Jesus of Nazereth prayed, and sing the songs He did. We weren't organised enough to get some proper Psalm 1 pods out there but we have a couple to (hopefully) help us think thought and pray Psalm 2.In this ep we discuss those words in the final verse of Psalm 2 - "Kiss the Son". Bit weird isn't it? Certainly to our modern ears!What does Psalm 2 mean by this?
Having discussed a bit about the nature of these judgement psalms - we now want to delve into the big question of how we pray them!
How do we pray the psalms which call down judgement on our enemies? We've been toying with doing an episode on the "imprecatory psalms" for a while... Well, here it is!
"To the chief musician", "to the choirmaster", "to the director of music" etc
Depending on your version, many psalms begin with this note - but who exactly IS that? Is it just for the lead musician in the Ancient Church during the time of writing or is there someone else we should be thinking of?
Speaking of Anomalies (see previous episode) - if Jesus is the speaker, singer and pray-er of the Psalms then what about the Psalms where sin is confessed. Jesus is (and we must be very clear on this!) without sin. He knew no sin. He is the spotless Lamb...
Surely, then, He cannot pray the Psalms of confession can He?
We let the bible interpret its self to find some answers!
What about when "Jesus is the pray-er of the Psalm" just doesn't seem to fit? In this episode we discuss some Psalms which seem like out-liers to that rule.
When Jesus is asked by his disciples "how should we pray" why doesn't Jesus just point them to the psalms?
Or does he in fact point us to the psalms in the Lord's Prayer? Maybe so!
YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/Mk1C4NGgQcU
How else are the Psalms written for us, the Church? If these psalms are first written for Jesus, how is it we can take them up?Hopefully our chat helps you think through these things.
YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/hrqEo5QZzUs
OK we've done quite a few epis making the case that the Psalms are primarily the prayers of Jesus during HIs days on earth. So are they just about Jesus? What do they have to do with us?The key word for this episode is "imputation"
YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/8BUze2hEzoo
Jesus is God of God, True God of True God - Yes and Amen! But if these Psalms are the prayers of Jesus then the Psalms are a massive insight into Jesus' humanity. It's Jesus of Nazereth's prayers.
We ponder this marvellous insight into Jesus' humanity that the Psalms give us
YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/pf17K2pk-Jc
We're stepping away from our hermenutic chats to think again to Jesus Himself. How can we know the Psalms are His prayers? When exactly does He pray them? Why does it matter?
When you begin to dig into it, this really opens up the Psalms and it's quite mind blowing!
YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/HeL5HJoogXs
We love your questions! On this epi we are answering a question that was sent in regarding what the Church Fathers actually said on the Psalms. Clearly we want to be in line with what the Church has always believed about the Psalms rather than what it currently believes the Psalms are.
Keep your questions coming!
YOUTUBE - https://youtu.be/Om2ClDx1aSs
Following on from the previous epi, we chat through a couple of examples of where gender neutralising / pluralising of the Psalms central figure can really change how we read the psalm.
YOUTUBE LINK - https://youtu.be/D2ueUefXicw
WARNING: Aron gets out his duelling gun and shots are indeed fired as we talk bible translations.
Has Jesus been removed from the psalms altogether in more modern translations? How can that even be?! What should we do about it?
Hope you find this helpful!
WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/eP_5B8Vx1yw
How we interpret the bible is so vital!
How should we interpret the Psalms? Perhaps a better question is - how does the BIBLE interpret the Psalms?
Wondering what we're referencing with the scream thing? Watch this - https://youtu.be/W0V-2WdubTs?si=x9DDm84VJLwwsOHj
Who is the primary prayer in the Psalms? Is it any ol' Dave? King David? Or the Son of David - Jesus Himself?Basically - where do we fit in the Psalms?
A new podcast series for the members of Gabalfa Baptist Church!
Got questions on the Psalms?
Message Sam or Aron. Or email sam.smith@gabalfa.co.uk
In this first episode, we tell you why we think it's worth doing this new podcast series. Hope it helps :)
What is the biggest danger facing the church as they prepare to enter the promised land? (Hint: it isn't the giants!)
The dangers in the desert come from three places. Firstly, the lust of our flesh. Secondly, from the evil one and then finally, in this episode, Sam talks about the part the world plays.
"The Rock that accompanied was Christ" - It is only Jesus that can satisfy us in the desert.
The Church are reminded that Jesus can make them whole; Jesus can heal them; Jesus can make them new.
In the desert another way we can point the finger and complain is at the church. Is that such a big deal?
One of the phrases connected to the desert days life is, "If only..." But it is what comes after that phrase that matters!
In the desert we are in grave danger unless we are content with the sustenance God provides in Jesus.
How did we wind up in this desert and how do we proceed? Who got us here and who will lead us from this point on?
It wasn't only Jesus' resurrection that was put before the church in the desert everyday - but also His ascension AND His return! This is how we are to live in our desert days as well.
Lee reminds us what the church in the desert had with them in their travels - and what we have in the desert of this life