“Yesterday” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released on the album Help! in August 1965. It was a song about how easy things were yesterday. The songwriter believes that the past was better.  He is struggling with the present.

You can’t get yesterday back, but if that were possible, it would sure make today miserable.  We need to concentrate on the present, and trust the future to our Lord. The Scripture tells us much about the future based on the now.

Revelation 3:21

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Philippians 1:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Know who you are, where you’re going and always remember Jesus has dealt with your past.

Give it some thought.

Gary

There is no room for Jesus in the economic world.

There was no room for Jesus in the legal realm.

There was no room for Jesus in the realm of the religious order.

There was no room for Jesus in the world of politics.

Is there any room for Jesus in your world?

Have you any room for Jesus,
He who bore your load of sin?
As He knocks and asks admission,
Sinner, will you let Him in?

Refrain:
Room for Jesus, King of Glory!
Hasten now His Word obey;
Swing the heart’s door widely open,
Bid Him enter while you may.

Room for pleasure, room for business,
But for Christ the Crucified,
Not a place that He can enter,
In the heart for which He died?

Matthew 7:23

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Give it some thought.

Gary

She is unknown to most, but is owed a debt by many. Here is a brief account of her service.

The opening paragraph from a chapter in Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation:

There are so many impressive numbers connected to World War II that it’s difficult for one or two to catch your eye. Here are a few that caught me by surprise: more than sixty thousand women served in the Army Nurse Corps. Sixteen died as a result of enemy action. Sixty-seven nurses were taken prisoner of war. More than sixteen hundred were decorated for bravery under fire or for meritorious service.

The chapter is titled “Mary Louise Roberts Wilson.” It’s a profile of Mary L. Roberts, a Methodist Hospital nurse who enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1942. She served with the 56th Evacuation Hospital Unit alongside many other medical professionals from Dallas (the unit — sometimes called the “Baylor Unit” — was organized by the Baylor University College of Medicine in Dallas). She knew she would be serving overseas in field hospitals in combat zones.

As far as seeing action, the worst of the worst for the 56th was on February 10, 1944, when their hospital tents on the Anzio beachhead in Italy were attacked by German long-range artillery shells for a full thirty minutes. Several operations were underway during the attack, and Roberts, the chief nurse of the operating tent, managed to keep a calm head and help to maintain as much order as possible.

“I wanted to jump under the operating table, but first we had to lower litter cases to the floor. Pieces of steel already were ripping through tents. There were four litters. I saw a patient on the operating table had his helmet near him, so I put it over his head to give him that much protection.” (Mary L. Roberts, Dallas Morning News, Feb 23, 1944)

I often ponder as to how many in the Lord’s army served under dangerous conditions for the good of all.  She never let her fellow soldiers down and neither should we. She made sure they suffered no added injuries.

Romans 16:1

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,

Give it some thought.

Gary

The Christmas Truce is memorialized in the following song:

“Belleau Wood,” sung by Garth Brooks; songwriters Joe Henry and Garth Brooks (1997).

Oh, the snowflakes fell in silence
Over Belleau Wood that night
For a Christmas truce had been declared
By both sides of the fight

As we lay there in our trenches
The silence broke in two
By a German soldier singing
A song that we all knew

 Though I did not know the language
The song was “Silent Night”

Then I heard my buddy whisper,
“All is calm and all is bright”

Then the fear and doubt surrounded me
‘Cause I’d die if I was wrong
But I stood up in my trench
And I began to sing along

Then across the frozen battlefield
Another’s voice joined in
Until one by one each man became
A singer of the hymn

Then I thought that I was dreaming
For right there in my sight
Stood the German soldier
‘Neath the falling flakes of white

And he raised his hand and smiled at me
As if he seemed to say
Here’s hoping we both live
To see us find a better way

Then the devil’s clock struck midnight
And the skies lit up again
And the battlefield where heaven stood
Was blown to hell again

But for just one fleeting moment
The answer seemed so clear
Heaven’s not beyond the clouds
It’s just beyond the fear

No, heaven’s not beyond the clouds
It’s for us to find it here

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Isaiah 26:3

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

In a world gone crazy, heaven’s not far away.

Give it some thought.

Gary

The children get together and decide to give their father a history of the family, drawn up by a professional, for his 75^th birthday. But they warn this man about the family’s black sheep, the skeleton in the closet, Great-Uncle George. He went over to the states after the war and ended up being executed in the electric chair for murder. “It’s all right,” said the biographer. “I can handle that. I’ll say that Great-Uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution in America. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties and his death came as a terrible shock.”

                         –  Author unknown

Perfect example of giving a message to an audience that, on face value, is truthful but leading one away from honesty. This is how false teachers in the Word were described.

Jeremiah 23:16

This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.

Matthew 24:24

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

When listening to the modern preacher, perhaps we need to check a little deeper than the surface.

Give it some thought.

Gary

A person’s mental attitude has an almost unbelievable effect on his powers, both physical and psychological. The British psychiatrist, J.A. Hadfield, gives a striking illustration of this fact in his booklet, The Psychology of Power. “I asked three people,” he wrote, “to submit themselves to test the effect of mental suggestion on their strength, which was measured by gripping a dynamometer.” They were to grip the dynamometer with all their strength under three different sets of conditions.

First, he tested them under normal conditions. The average grip was 101 pounds. Then he tested them after he had hypnotized them and told them that they were very weak. Their average grip this time was only 29 pounds! In the third test, Dr. Hadfield told them under hypnosis that they were very strong. The average grip jumped to 142 pounds.

–       Bits and Pieces, May, 1991, p. 15

The word for today is encouragement:

Hebrews 10:24-25

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching”

Others could do better if we just found it in our hearts to encourage them to do better.

Think about it.

Gary

A. B. Simpson is reported to have said, “The gospel tells rebellious men that God is reconciled, that justice is satisfied, that sin has been atoned for, that the judgment of the guilty may be revoked, the condemnation of the sinner cancelled, the curse of the Law blotted out, the gates of hell closed, the portals of heaven opened wide, the power of sin subdued, the guilty conscience healed, the broken heart comforted, the sorrow and misery of the Fall undone.”

2 Corinthians 5:18

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

Colossians 1:20

And through him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.

One great act by the Son of God proved to be more powerful that the beginning of Creation itself.

Give it some thought.

Gary