Message Notes

YAG-YC RETREAT                            SESSION # 12
Text: Psalm 80

Subject: Restoration

1. Calling upon God as the Shepherd of Israel            Psalm 80:1

a)    Remembering God as the One who led            Psalm 80:1

b)    Calling upon God who dwells in the Ark to shine forth    Psalm 80:1

c)    Pleading with God to stir up His strength        Psalm 80:1

d)    Pleading for salvation                    Psalm 80:1

2. Pleas for restoration

a)    First plea                        Psalm 80:2

b)    Second plea                        Psalm 80:7

c)    Third plea                        Psalm 80:19

3. Words of the Plea

a)    Cause Your face to shine upon us

b)    We shall be saved

4. Grappling with an estranged relationship with God

a)    How long would You be angry?             Psalm 80:4

b)    Against the prayer of Your people            Psalm 80:4

5. Struggling with suffering

a)    You have fed them with the bread od tears        Psalm 80:5

b)    Given them tears to drink in great measure        Psalm 80:5

c)    Made a strife to our neighbours            Psalm 80:5

d)    Our enemies laugh among themselves            Psalm 80:5

6. Remembering God’s original plan

a)    Brought out like a vine out of Egypt            Psalm 80:8

b)    Cast out the nations                    Psalm 80:8

c)    Planted it                        Psalm 80:8

d)    You prepared room for it                Psalm 80:9

e)    And caused it to take deep root            Psalm 80:9

f)    It filled the land                    Psalm 80:9

g)    The hills were covered with its shadow            Psalm 80:10

h)    Boughs reached to the sea                Psalm 80:11

7. The Present circumstances

a)    Hedges broken down                    Psalm 80:12

b)    Passers-by pluck the fruit                Psalm 80:12

c)    Wild animals attack the vine                Psalm 80:13

8. Plea for God to return

a)    Beseeching God                    Psalm 80:14

b)    Look down from heaven and see            Psalm 80:14

c)    Visit the vine                        Psalm 80:14

d)    Visit the vineyard the Lord planted personally        Psalm 80:15

e)    The vineyard was now perishing            Psalm 80:16

f)    Plea to have someone tend to the vineyard        Psalm 80:17

8. Appropriate response

a)    We will not turn back    on You                Psalm 80:18

b)    Plea for revival and we will call upon Your name        Psalm 80:18

YAG-YC RETREAT                                SESSION # 13
Text: Psalm 81

Subject: God’s Response to His people

1. God’s remembrance of Israel

a)    I removed his shoulder from the burden    Psalm 81:6

b)    His hands were freed from the baskets        Psalm 81:6

2. God’s response

a)    You called in trouble                Psalm 81:7

b)    I delivered you                Psalm 81:7

c)    I answered you in the secret place of thunder    Psalm 81:7

d)    I tested you in the waters of Meribah        Psalm 81:7

3. God’s word to His people

a)    Hear, O My people                Psalm 81:8

b)    I will admonish you                Psalm 81:8

c)    If you listen to Me                Psalm 81:8

4. A clear word to be obeyed

a)    There shall be no foreign god among you    Psalm 81:9

b)    No worship of idolatrous images        Psalm 81:9

5. God’s relationship with His people

a)    I am the LORD your God            Psalm 81:10

b)    Who brought you out of Egypt            Psalm 81:10

c)    Open your mouth wide and I will fill it        Psalm 81:10

6. God’s observation

a)    But My people would not heed Me        Psalm 81:11

b)    Israel would have none of Me            Psalm 81:11

7. God’s action

a)    I gave them over to their stubborn heart    Psalm 81:12

b)    To walk in their own counsels            Psalm 81:12

8. God’s desire for certain conditions to be fulfilled

a)    That His people would listen to Him        Psalm 81:13

b)    That Israel would walk in His ways        Psalm 81:13

9. God’s promise to deal with enemies

a)    God would subdue enemies            Psalm 81:14

b)    He would turn His hand against adversaries    Psalm 81:14

c)    Their fate would endure forever        Psalm 81:14

10. A precious promise

a)    He would have given them the finest of wheat    Psalm 81:15

b)    He would have given them honey from the rock    Psalm 81:15

11. An Appropriate response

a)    Sing aloud to God our strength            Psalm 81:1

b)    Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob        Psalm 81:1

c)    Raise a song and strike the timbrel        Psalm 81:2

d)    The pleasant harp with the lute        Psalm 81:2

e)    Blow the trumpet at the time of the New Moon    Psalm 81:3

f)    At the full moon                Psalm 81:3

g)    On our solemn feast days            Psalm 81:3

12. Making it a Law

a)    This is a statute                Psalm 81:4

b)    A law of God for Israel            Psalm 81:4

c)    Established in Jacob as a testimony        Psalm 81:5

d)    When He went through the land        Psalm 81:5

YAG-YC RETREAT                                SESSION # 14
Text: Psalm 82

Subject: God’s Word to those in Power

1. A special word from the Lord

a)    As One who judges                Psalm 82:1

b)    To those who are judges            Psalm 82:2

c)    They are called “gods”            Psalm 82:1, 6

2. Admonition to the bad judges

a)    They judge unjustly                Psalm 82:2

b)    They show partiality to the wicked        Psalm 82:2

3. The work of the Judges

a)    To defend the poor                 Psalm 82:3

b)    The fatherless                Psalm 82:3

c)    To do justice to the afflicted            Psalm 82:3

d)    And needy                    Psalm 82:3

e)    To deliver the poor                Psalm 82:4

f)    And needy                    Psalm 82:4

g)    From the hand of the wicked            Psalm 82:4

4. Rebuke and warning to the bad judges

a)    They do not know                Psalm 82:5

b)    They do not understand            Psalm 82:5

c)    They walk in darkness                Psalm 82:5

d)    Foundations are unstable             Psalm 82:5

5. The so-called gods

a)    They wield power like gods            Psalm 82:6

b)    But they are mortal children of the Most High    Psalm 82:6

c)    They will die like men                Psalm 82:7

d)    They will fall                    Psalm 82:7

6. Plea to God to arise and be the Supreme Judge        Psalm 82:8

YAG-YC RETREAT                                SESSION #15
Text: Psalm 83

Subject: An Imprecatory Prayer

1. What is an Imprecatory Prayer?

a)    It is a call to God to punish the wicked

b)    It is a strongly emotional prayer for Divine judgment to be visited upon evil doers

c)    A call to God to respond quickly

2. An urgent Plea to God

a)    Do not keep silent, O God                Psalm 83:1

b)    Do not hold Your peace                Psalm 83:1

c)    And do not be still, O God                Psalm 83:1

3. Causes for Imprecation

a)    Your enemies make a tumult                Psalm 83:2

b)    Those who hate You have raised up their head        Psalm 83:2

c)    They have taken crafty counsel against Your people    Psalm 83:3

d)    Consulted together against Your sheltered ones        Psalm 83:3

e)    “Let us cut them off from being a nation”        Psalm 83:4

f)    “That the name of Israel may be no more”        Psalm 83:4

g)    They have consulted together with one consent        Psalm 83:5

h)    They have formed a confederacy against You        Psalm 83:5

i)    List of confederated nations                Psalm 83:6-8

4. Plea for Divine judgment (citing known examples)

a)    Deal with them as with Midian and Sisera        Psalm 83:9

b)    As with Jabin at the brook of Kishon            Psalm 83:9-10

c)    Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb        Psalm 83:11

d)    All their princes like Zebah and Zalmuna        Psalm 83:11-12

5. Imprecatory language

a)    Make them like the whirling dust            Psalm 83:13

b)    Like the chaff before the wind                Psalm 83:13

c)    As the fire burns the wood                Psalm 83:14

d)    As the flame sets the mountains on fire            Psalm 83:14

e)    So pursue them with Your tempest            Psalm 83:15

f)    And frighten them with Your storms            Psalm 83:15

g)    Fill their faces with shame                Psalm 83:16

h)    Let them be confounded and dismayed forever        Psalm 83:17

i)    Let them be put to shame and perish            Psalm 83:17

6. The name of God

a)    That they may seek Your name, O LORD            Psalm 83:16

b)    That they may know that Your name alone is the LORD    Psalm 83:18

c)    That You are the Most High over all the earth        Psalm 83:18

DEEP AND IMPACTFUL LESSONS LEARNED AT THE YAG-YC RETREAT

1. Worship

2. Prayer

3. Knowledge of God

REFLECTIONS AND RAMIFICATIONS

1. Personal

2. Congregational