Afleveringen

  • The Little Things

    The Little Things

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 21st of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We go to the Gospel of Matthew 25:40:

    “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

    We want to speak today about the microscope of little things. I want to read something to you from that wonderful hymn-writer, by the name of Frances Ridley Havergal. She said: ”We talk about the telescope of faith but I think we want even more the microscope of watchful and grateful love. Apply the little bits of our daily lives in the light of the Spirit, and how wonderfully they will come out.” We need to remember the little things. 

    Now, I have had the privilege, and it has been a great privilege, to meet many great leaders, kings - yes, prime ministers - absolutely, leaders of great companies, international sportsmen, I have met wonderful people all of them, but I want to tell you, and I honestly mean this, in my little prayer room, I have got some momentoes, and one of them is a sucker stick. I am telling you, a little sucker stick with little writing saying, “Jesus bless you”, given to me by a little boy. This little boy can hardly read or write, he is probably 3 or 4 years old. He came to me one day, very bashfully, at church, and he gave me this as a book marker. Well, I want to tell you, it is up on the wall. Oh yes! 

    I have a photo of a little boy kneeling in the sand, his little bare feet put carefully behind him, his little hat off his head, his head bowed, and he is praying to Jesus. That brought many tears to my eyes. I have framed that photograph, someone sent it to me. It was taken at one of our large meetings where we were praying for the nation and there were thousands and thousands of people there, but that little photograph touched me so deeply, more than all the dignitaries who attended that great meeting, Governors of the different provinces, Representatives of the President, but that little boy touched me.

    Today, remember, it is the microscope of little things that will touch Jesus’ heart.

    God bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • He Will Never Leave You

    He Will Never Leave You

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 20th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We go to the Gospel of Mark 14:50 -  It says that all of His disciples abandoned Him and fled. They all deserted Him, all of them.

    James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, was a wonderful man of God who took the Gospel to China in the early days. He lived with the Chinese people and brought a revival which I think has been unparalleled. Even today, China is a communist country, it is not a friend of Jesus Christ, and yet the underground church is flourishing like never before. They say there is something like over 60 million believers in China! James Hudson Taylor said, ”Separation never comes from His side”. Separation never comes from Jesus’ side. We are the ones that leave Him, He never leaves us. He said that to us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5), and He means it, my dear friend. Many a time, people write to me and they say, “Where is God? Angus, when I was calling for Him, He wasn’t there.” Oh yes, He was, my dear friend. He will never leave you and He will never separate Himself from you. That is why I love Him so much.

    I have been through many things in my life as I am sure you have as well, but I want to tell you, when the going gets really tough, He gets in even closer with us. Remember the story of the footsteps in the sand? Lord, every time things got tough, there were only one set of footsteps in the sand. Where were You, Lord?”  

    “Oh My son, oh My daughter, I was carrying you on My shoulders.” 

    Yes, Jesus Christ will never leave you and that is good news for you today. Go out and tell the world that many may betray you but Jesus, never.

    “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends”.
    John 15:13

    Does that sound like betrayal? Does that sound like separation, my dear friend? No! Today, draw close to Him and He will walk with you through the fire.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

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  • Dying to Self

    Dying to Self

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 19th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We start off in the Gospel of Matthew 16:24:

    ”Then Jesus said to His disciples, â€œIf anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

    Then we go to the Gospel of John 3:3:

    ”Jesus answered and said to him (to Nicodemus) ”Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

    What are we talking about today?  We are talking about dying to self; we are talking about denying ourselves. You see the symbol of the Christian is the cross. I love to see young ladies with beautiful crosses hanging around their necks. It looks beautiful, but I wonder if many of them know what it actually stands for. It stands for dying to self and following Jesus. Jesus never promised you or me a bed of roses. No, but He did promise that He would walk with us, right through all our trials and our hardships.

    The other day I was listening to a song, a beautiful country and western song. I love country music, oh yes, I am a cowboy, and I really love American Country Western music. I heard this song and some of the lyrics go like this: “Everyone wants to go to heaven but no-one wants to die”. Wow, what does that mean? Well, it means you can’t have your cake and eat it. It means is you want to follow Jesus Christ you have to walk the Christian road. It means you cannot live like the devil and expect to go to heaven, it doesn’t work like that. If you’ve given your life to Christ, Jesus says you must be born again and if you do not give your life to Christ you are not going to heaven. It’s very simple.

    Now, I want to say to you today, we need to check ourselves and we need to say, “Lord,” like Paul said, ”For me to live is Christ and to die is but gain.”

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
    Goodbye.

  • Hiding in God's Promises

    Hiding in God's Promises

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 18th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We start off in the Book of Psalms 91:2:

    ”I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; 
”

    What a beautiful promise! Then of course, we go to the Book of Hebrews 13:6:

    “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” 

    What a beautiful promise again from the Lord! At this time when we’re living in dangerous, fearful times, this is the time that we need to take the promises of God’s Holy Word and hide them in our hearts. I read a beautiful reading this morning. The little bird that builds his nest goes deep into the dark forest and looks for a leafy tree and then he builds his little nest there, where no one else can see it, and then he flies out and gets all the food he needs, and when he sees the big black clouds of a storm coming up, then he flies to his little nest, and he hides there until the storm is over.

    J R Miller said, ”There we should fly in any danger or alarm hiding there in our soul's nest until the storm is past. There are no castles in this world which are so impregnable as the words of Christ.”

    Today, make sure you’ve got a nest, you’ve got promises from God, Scriptures the Lord has given you over the years, and when those storms of life come up against you, you shelter yourself in your soul with the living word of God. Jesus says: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5. The Lord says, ”I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.” The Lord says “I will protect you”. Yes, He says, ”I will hide you in the cleft of the rock.” 

    Today, let us hide in the promises of God when the storms of life try to upset us.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
    Goodbye.

  • An Excellent Spirit

    An Excellent Spirit

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 17th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We start in the Book of Proverbs 18:24:

    “A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
”

    Then we go to Daniel 6:3:

    “
because an excellent spirit was in him;
” 

    Another version says, “an extraordinary spirit within him, it distinguished him amongst all the others.”

    Do we have that spirit in us today? You see, that is what King Darius found in Daniel. He was different to the others. He was a man of an excellent spirit, and that is what we have to do, folks. 

    So often I have heard young people say, “Ja, but I have no friends.” Well, maybe because you are not friendly. Maybe you are always argumentative, maybe you are always critical, maybe you are sarcastic. They say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. It always comes at the expense of somebody else. We have got to stop that. We have got to start affirming people. We have got to start having a godly spirit within us. We have got to be known as trustworthy, honest, level-headed people.

    I remember when I was a young man and I am not proud of it. I was a wild man, I had gone into the far country, and on a Friday night, after work, we were exhausted, all the boys working on the farms.  I am talking about overseas, and when we went out to a party, we were going to have a real time of fun. You know what we did? We looked for the man who first of all was levelheaded. He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t swear, he was a bit of a corny kind of a guy. We didn’t think too much of him, but he had an excellent spirit. So we would give him the keys of the motorcar because we knew that when it came to coming home we would be under the weather but he would be sober because he didn’t drink alcohol. And I want to say to you, when I look back, he was an honourable man, a man who we might not have liked, but I want to tell you, we respected him. 

    Now today, let us be level-headed. Somebody said to me, “That Angus, he is just a Jesus man.” Folks, I want to tell you, that is probably one of the greatest compliments I have had in my life: “He is a Jesus man.” Of course I am! What other man would I love to follow than the One who had an extraordinary Spirit? His name is Jesus.

    Have a wonderful day, 
    God bless you and goodbye.

  • He Paid Our Debt

    He Paid Our Debt

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 16th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We go to the Book of Daniel 5:27:

    “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting
”

    Now, this Guest was not even invited to the king’s palace, to his celebration, but He wrote on the wall. This was the One who was not invited but He came and He wrote with His finger upon the wall. What did He write? “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting
” 

    How is it with you this morning? I know with me, without God, I’ve got no chance. Without the Lord Jesus Christ, I am in terrible debt. I remember as a young farmer and I’m sure this applies to businessmen, it applies to everybody. We put in a beautiful crop, oh what a crop it was that year! It was golden unto harvest. We had two months to go and then we’d reap that crop, pay all our debt and we’d carry on living. Then we got the phone call from the bank. Oh dear! The lady said, “The Bank Manager wants to see you urgently.” Now I knew that my time was up, I had to pay. The crop was there it was on the ground but he wanted his money obviously. So I got in the pickup, I asked Jill - I said, “Please just pray for me," and off I went to town. I gingerly walked into his office. Of course, you take your hat off, especially when you owe money. I walked into his office, I sat down at that beautiful big oak desk and he sat at the other side of the desk. He had his glasses on and he looked at me over the top off his glasses. He said, ”Angus, I’ve called you here today with regard to your overdraft.” I said, ”Yes Sir, I understand and Sir, I’ve got a wonderful crop and I’ll be able to pay you.” He said, ”Hang on minute, I haven’t finished.” He said, ”Yesterday, somebody walked into this office and paid the whole overdraft, cash. He’s anonymous. He doesn’t want to be known.” I couldn’t believe it. I think I maybe broke into tears. I said, ”Thank you very much.” I went out rejoicing. As I was walking out the door, I said, ”Sir, who is he?” He said, ”He’s a Carpenter.” It’s just a story -  but so true is it not?

    Do you remember that beautiful old hymn we used to sing? I want you to sing it with me, it goes something like this: 

    He paid the debt, He did not own. 
    I owed the debt, I could not pay.
    I needed someone to wash my sins away, 
    and now I sing a brand new song
    Amazing Grace. 
    Christ Jesus paid the debt I could never pay.

    Jesus bless you and have a lovely day, 
    Goodbye.

  • Good Counsel

    Good Counsel

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 15th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start off in Proverbs 16:18: 

    “Pride goes before destruction,
    And a haughty spirit before a fall.”

    Then we go straight to the Book of Daniel 4:31 and:

    “
the kingdom has departed from you! “

    Oh my dear friend, we need to be careful of that terrible thing called pride. Nebuchadnezzar was the most powerful man on earth. He was the King of Babylon. That is modern-day Iran. He ruled the whole world in those days and yet he fell in a moment. He ended up grazing grass in the field like an ox. The Bible tells us his hair grew long, his nails like claws of a bird. For seven seasons he did that until he humbled himself and acknowledged that Father God was the Ruler of the earth and everything in it. 

    We need to put men and women around us that can advise us and then we need to be humble enough to take their godly counsel. It’s safe to have men and women around you to guide you. Listen to your wife, young man. She loves you and will tell you the truth. Be careful of flatterers, those who guide you and tell you what you want to hear. Yes-men around you are very dangerous. You don’t need them. I have no less than five advisers. These are men of substance. They are from different churches, different walks of life, and we meet every year regularly and they advise me on what to do. They don’t tell me what to do, they advise me, and they don’t necessarily agree with me because they are trying to look after me and the Word of God. 

    When Nebuchadnezzar finally had understanding, the Bible says, 'reason', he realised he could do nothing without God and when he did that, his kingdom was restored to him. Today, take good counsel from people who love you and don’t tell you what you want to hear but tell you the truth and then you will succeed and God will get all the glory through your life.

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Friend of Sinners

    Friend of Sinners

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 14th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

    We go straight to the Book of Mark 2:17:

    When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

    Oh folks, He came for the whosoever’s. He came for you and He came for me, and that is why we love Him so much. Isn’t that so? He came for the tax collector, the prostitute, the drunkard, the so-called untouchables. And you know, the amazing thing is, when people like this get saved, when they meet Jesus Christ, they change and they change forever, and they have an incredible witness to the world for what Jesus Christ has done for them. Like overnight, after being an absolute waster, becoming a follower of Christ. 

    Remember Zacchaeus, that little man who climbed up the sycamore tree because he wanted to see Jesus? When Jesus came past, the Lord looked up, and He saw Zacchaeus. I don’t think He had ever seen him before in His life and He said, “Zacchaeus, I am coming to your house today to have lunch with you!” Zacchaeus must have gotten such a fright, he probably nearly fell out of the tree. He went and called all his friends, all the thieves, the prostitutes, all the tax-collectors, and they had a huge banquet, and Jesus was seated right in the middle of them. 

    But you see, what happened was, there was such repentance in that place that Zacchaeus got up and he said in the midst of all his friends, “Lord, if I have taken anything away from anyone, I will repay them four-fold, 400%.” Some of us think we are doing well because we give the Lord our tithes of 10%. This man who had been saved, this sick man, this sinner, who had been set free by Jesus Christ, said, “I will pay any man that I have taken anything away from, 400% in return."  And what did Jesus say? He said, “Today, salvation has come to this house.”

    We really need to understand what The Friend of sinners means. I love all the titles that are given to the Lord, make no mistake - The Alpha and the Omega: The Beginning and the End; The Bright Morning Star; The Lily of the Valley; The Great Ploughman; The Shepherd of the sheep; but the title that I love and brings tears to my eyes, more than any other is when He is known as The Friend of sinners.

    Oh today, speak to Him. He wants to meet with you.
    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Unconditional Surrender

    Unconditional Surrender

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 13th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We start off in the Book of Job 13:15. And Job says: (Even)

    ”Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” 

    Unconditional surrender! It’s not a case of, “Lord, I will serve You if You give me that.” No, unconditional surrender! Then we go to the Book of Daniel and this is when the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, was threatening Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego, and saying, “If you do not worship the god that I made out of gold, we will put you in a fiery furnace and this was their response in Daniel 3:18:

    “But if not, (if the Lord will not rescue us)
”But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

    Oh folks, that is boldness! 

    The Coptic Church in Egypt, those people are so in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, that they take it as a great honour if they die a martyr’s death. Remember those 22 Coptic Christians that were working in Libya, when they were caught by ISIS? They were marched down to the Mediterranean Sea in orange uniforms with one man behind each one of them in a black suit with a sword, and they were told to deny their faith in Jesus Christ, and they could live. Not one of them relented. Not one of them said, “Okay, I won’t, I will go back to Islam or whatever it was.” No - they said, “We love Jesus.” They weren’t bishops, they weren’t reverends or evangelists. They were working men. They died for their faith. When we get to Heaven, they will be sitting very close to the throne of Jesus Christ. 

    Then one of my favourites, an old father of the church, you have heard of him before - Polykarp. Polykarp, was the Bishop of Smyrna. He was 86 years old. They took him to the theatre where they were going to burn him at the stake and the soldiers who came to arrest him said, “Look, just deny the name of Christ and we will let you live old man, and you can live peacefully in your old age.” He said, “Never,” He said, ”For 86 years the Lord has never once failed me. How can I betray Him now?” And they took him to the Proconsul, who was the representative of Caesar of Rome, and the Proconsul said to him, “Do you know who I am?” He said, “Yes, I know exactly who you are. You are a son of the devil!” How is that for boldness? And they burned him at the stake. 

    I want to say to you today, you and I need to serve Jesus Christ unconditionally. 

    Jesus bless you, have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye. 

  • Power in the Name

    Power in the Name

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 12th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We go straight to the Book of Acts 11:26:

    “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”

    Another translation says, “the anointed ones.” This means that if we say we are Christians, we belong to Jesus. Isn’t that beautiful, folks? He should mean everything to us. Believers - some of the early Christians were called “The men” or “The people of the way.”  

    There is a secret sign for the early Christians, because in Rome, when they were being hunted by the Romans, two Christians would meet each other in the street with a stick and they would draw a fish in the sand. And that was the sign to say, “I am a Christian.” We should be known by our fruit. Christians are full of love, the love of Jesus - power, patience, loving-kindness, faithfulness. By the way, there is no such thing as a secret agent Christian. Oh, folks, we have got to be a little bit more outspoken, hey? Romans 1:16:

    “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

    What an honour to be called a follower of the most high God! It’s not something to be ashamed of. Oh, I love it if they say to you, “Are you one of those Christians?” Yes, I am indeed. You see, that is the name where the power lies! Folks, there is power in the name of Jesus Christ, power for healing. When I pray I don’t say, “In the name of God, be healed” - no, I say, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, be healed.” There is power in the name of Jesus. 

    The important thing about a name, if you take the Zulu people, I love what they do. Many of them will not name their child until he is maybe a few months old, because they want to look at him, study his personality, his character, and then they give him a name according to the way in which he looks and acts, and I think that is fair, and he normally lives up to his name. Mom, dad - be very careful when you give a name to your child. It has a tremendous significance.

    So today, do not be ashamed to call yourself a follower of Christ, a child of the Lord Jesus Christ, because when He comes back, He will know you by your name. 

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • The Way

    The Way

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious Name. It is 11th December 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day.  We start with 2 Corinthians 12:10:

    “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  

    God’s way is different to the way of the world. With God’s way, we advance by going backwards. Oh yes, we become strong by becoming weak!  We become wise by being fools. You know, the San Bushman call the Baobab Tree the Upside-down Tree. Why? Because in the winter, it loses all its leaves, and the branches look like their roots. So it seems as if its head is buried in the sand, and the roots are in the air - like it has been planted upside-down.

    When we become children of the Lord, we don’t work according to the system of this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, was a foot-washer. He washed the feet of His disciples, remember? They were arguing about who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. What did He do? He went, got a towel and tied it around His waist. He got a basin full of water and started to wash their dirty feet because they had been arguing about who would sit next to the Lord in the Kingdom of God. 

    If we want to be good servants of the Lord, we must understand that we must take a backseat. We have to prefer our fellow man. That goes for our children and our parents. God will promote us when He sees fit, but until then, let us remain humble and work hard. Let us give all the glory to Jesus Christ and let Him be the One who promotes us. Remember, if you want to go forward or advance in the Kingdom, you must be prepared to go backwards. 

    Jesus bless you richly as you start to live according to the principles of our Lord and not the principles of this world, which is to stand on everybody until you get to the top. That never works, folks. Let’s do it God’s way, and He will promote us in His good time.

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • The Word

    The Word

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious Name. It is Tuesday morning, 10th December 2024 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day. We go to Psalm 119:105:

    ”Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” 

    My most precious possession on this earth is Jesus Christ in print. Yes, I’m talking about my Bible. You know, some scribes might know God’s Word better than me. Some may even be theology professors at a university, but unless they have met the author of this book, they are merely history teachers. You will rarely see a photo of me without me holding my Bible. Why? Because my Bible has Jesus in print. When somebody says to you,” Show me this Jesus you’re always talking about.” Give them the Bible.

    I call it my Agricultural Manual, and I get criticism from many people. They say I’m making a mockery of God’s Holy Word. No, not at all, not at all, my friend! This book has instructed me how to farm for over fifty years. It teaches me to love my wife, respect my elders, and not antagonise my children. It teaches me to pay a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. It’s the book that comforts me when I am in distress. It’s the book that lightens up my life every morning when I open it and read it.

    Oh, my dear friend, if you have never read this book, you have never lived. I want to tell you, according to John 1:1:

    ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  

    I really want to encourage you to start reading your Bible in the first person. You see when I read the Bible, I make it very personal. Let’s take Psalm 23:1:

    ”The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” 

    I read it differently: “The Lord is Angus’ shepherd, and Angus shall not want.” 

    Go out today with the book that changed the world. Start to read it - eat it, digest it, and enjoy it because the Lord is coming back very soon to take you and me home to glory forever. His Name is Jesus, the Author of the Bible.

    God bless you, and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • Determination

    Determination

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious Name. It is Monday morning, the 9th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We go to the Gospel of Mark 2:5:

    ”When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, â€œSon, your sins are forgiven you.”

    Determination! Those four friends of that paralysed man were determined at all costs to make sure that Jesus was able to pray for him. The crowd was immense. They couldn’t get anywhere near the front door. So what did they do? Yes, they made a plan. They climbed up onto the roof of the house, removed the tiles and let the paralysed man down with ropes and placed him right in front of the Master. You talk about persistence! There’s no ways they were going to let the Lord leave without praying for their dear friend. I looked up the meaning of the word, “determination”. This is what it says: “Persistence in continuing to do something even when it is difficult.” Now that event touched Jesus tremendously. So much so that Jesus healed the paralysed man immediately and forgave his sins.

    I want to tell you the story of a determined young man. He lived in my house. He is a son of mine in the faith. He joined the elite Parabat Regiment, one of the elite regiments in the South African Defence Force. He was on his last event when he jumped out of an aeroplane with all the other soldiers and something went terribly wrong, some of the ropes of the parachute caught his fingers and amputated a couple of them. It was just before he was going to graduate and get his purple beret with his wings. But he did not give up. He went to the officers in charge and said to them, ”I want to do the course again.” This course is an extremely hard course. Many men don’t finish -  and that young man did the whole course twice. You talk about determination! That’s the kind of man that I would like to go to war with. Oh, by the way, he’s now fully committed into God’s army.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
    Goodbye.

  • Don't Rush

    Don't Rush

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name. It is Sunday morning, the 8th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

    We start off in 1 Samuel 16:11:

    ”Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.”

    What was his name? Oh yes, that was David, the Champion of Israel. When Samuel wanted to anoint the future king of Israel, Jesse called his oldest son in first, then the second one and then seven sons later, the prophet Samuel said, ”Do you have anymore sons?” “Oh yes, I have one. Right at the back looking after the sheep.” He said, ”Bring him.”  Yes, he was the one!

    Then we go straight to the gospel of Luke 14:11:

    ”For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  

    I read a beautiful reading this morning by a man named Thomas Champness, and this is what it says: “He who is willing to take the lowest place will always find sitting room. It won’t be crowded. There is no great crush for the worst places. There is nothing like the jostling at the back that there is at the front. So if we would be comfortable we shall do well to keep behind.” Isn’t that true?

    No jostling for the back jobs, the jobs that are not seen or heard. No, all the jostling and the competition is in the front but I want to tell you, if you know Jesus Christ, you don’t have to jostle because He will take care of you. Psalm 37:4:

    ”Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

    Don’t be in a rush young Lady. Don’t be in a rush young man. Spend time with God and your time will come. I used to love watching the Comrades Marathon, that long race, from Pietermaritzburg to Durban and then the next year from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Two standard marathons, back to back, with an extra few kilometres - and that little blonde-headed man by the name of Bruce Fordyce. I used to study him. You know, when that gun went off it was very, very busy in  the front, jostling, pushing - where was he? No, he was hanging in the back. You see, he knew what he had to do. He worked with a watch. He didn’t worry about the crowds and he won nine gold medals, eight of them consecutively, unheard of before.

    Today, don’t be in a rush to always get to the front. Don’t be in a rush to always make yourself known or seen. God will promote you like he did with David. 

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Make Him Known

    Make Him Known

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name. It is Saturday morning, the 7th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We start in the Book of Daniel 2:28:

    “But there is a God in heaven
”

    That is what Daniel was telling Nebuchadnezzar when he interpreted his complete dream for him. 

    Then we go to the Book of Acts 17:23:

    “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:..”

    That was Paul, the Apostle, speaking to the academics in Athens, where they made an altar to the Unknown God. He said, “I know Him, oh yes, I know His name.” In this sad and fearful world people are desperately wanting to meet Him, just like Nebuchadnezzar,  just like the wise men in Athens did, but they never knew His beautiful name, Jesus Christ. The Lord used Daniel to reveal God to Nebuchadnezzar, and God used Paul, the Apostle, to confound the academics of Athens and to tell them the name of the Unknown God. 

    What about you and I? We need to get out there folks, and we need to tell them. You know, there was a mighty man of God by the name of Sadhu Sundar Singh. He was a Sikh, a man who met Jesus Christ, and I want to read something to you out of this book: “I remember a story told to us and a conversation that this man had with a Professor of Comparative Religions in the University of Cambridge in England: “Tell me“ said the Professor, “What have you found in Christianity that you did not find in your old religion?” And the Sadhu replied, ”Oh Professor, I found the dear Lord Jesus.” ”Oh yes,” he said, ”I quite understand but what particular principle or doctrine, tell me what new philosophy in Christianity did you find that you did not find in your old religion?” And again the Sikh replied, ”Oh Professor, I found the dear Lord Jesus.” You see, his witness was to a person and not to a principle, to a life and not to a philosophy. Christ was real. Folks, go out today and make Him real to our dying world. 

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • The Miracle Working God

    The Miracle Working God

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 6th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

    We go to the Book of Daniel 2:19:

    ”Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of heaven.” 

    Then we go straight to the Gospel of Mark 4:41:

    ”And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” 

    -  Jesus, speaking to the weather and calming the storm, a physical impossibility. Here at Shalom, we’ve got a favourite saying, and it goes like this: ”One genuine miracle equals a thousand sermons.” 

    If you imagine Nebuchadnezzar telling his wise men, ”I want you to interpret a dream I had last night because I cannot sleep and I’m very anxious and fearful.” And they said to him, ”Well King, tell us what you dreamt and we’ll interpret it.” “No, no, no, no. You must tell me what I dreamt and then interpret it.” They said, ”There’s nobody on earth that can do that.” And the king started to kill the wise men, the sorcerers and the magicians, until the soldiers came to Daniel, Meshack, Shadrack and Abednigo. Daniel said, ”Give us time and we will interpret it.” Folks, you see, that’s a genuine miracle, and of course, we know that when Daniel interpreted the dream, everything changed.

    I want to tell you a little story, a few years ago, I’m sure many of you in South Africa remember it, we had a prayer meeting in Bloemfontein, in the middle of our country. Our country was in dire straits. Over one million people arrived at that meeting, an open-air meeting. It was an incredible occasion. One of my sons brought his friend, a professional rugby player, an unbeliever, to the meeting and he told me afterwards that the young man was very impressed by the beautiful music. He was impressed by the massive crowd and he was interested in the message that I brought, but that didn’t change anything. Then out of the blue, a whirlwind started at the back of the crowd and it came right forward taking up into the air, blankets, deckchairs, cooler boxes, never to be seen again, and hovered over the stage for a while, in a perfectly calm day with not a breath of wind. This young man was so amazed by this event that he gave his life to Christ.

    Today, let us not underestimate the miracle-working power of our God.
    Jesus bless you and goodbye. 

  • Use What You Have

    Use What You Have

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 5th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

    We start in the Book of Mark 1:16-17:

    ”And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.” Then Jesus said to them, â€œFollow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

    I want to say to you this morning that possibly the least effective way of preaching the Gospel is through the pulpit or the platform. It’s ordinary working people like you who are making the difference in the kingdom of God.

    I’ve just read the scripture, Simon Peter and Andrew, his brother, were fishermen, they weren’t preachers, they weren’t professors of theology. What about the farmer, Job? They say Job is probably the oldest book in the Bible. He was a farmer and if you’ve been through a rough time today, my dear friend, and you’re looking for some encouragement, read the Book of Job. Job lost everything but he did not deny the Lord. He said in Job 13:15:

    ”Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

    And what happened at the end of his life?  The Lord recovered everything for him and he had exactly twice as much as he had at the beginning.

    David, the darling of Israel, the hero of the Jews, King David, he was a shepherd, he wasn’t a priest, and of course, our biggest and best example of all, our beloved Master, Jesus Christ. He was a tradesmen. He was a carpenter. For thirty years He was on the bench and then for three years, into ministry. What about the man who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, Paul. Paul was a tentmaker by trade. I want to say to you today, don’t despise small beginnings. Use what you’ve got.

    Remember, Moses said to the Lord in the burning bush, ”What can I do, I’ve got nothing?” When the Lord said, ”Go and tell pharaoh to let my people go.” 

    The Lord said to him, ”What have you got in your hand?” 

    He said, ”I’ve got a stick, a staff.” 

    “Well, use it.” And the rest is history.

    Today, don’t despise small beginnings. Don’t put yourself down. God uses anyone who will put up their hand today. Go out today and tell people what Jesus means to you because that’s what preaching actually is all about.

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • The Name of Jesus

    The Name of Jesus

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious Name! It is Wednesday morning, the 4th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

    We start in the Book of Daniel 1:7:

    ”
he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego.”

    Then we go to John 1:42:

    “Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, â€œYou are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).”

    Lastly we go to the Book of Acts 13:9:

    ”Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit
”  -  the power in a name. 

    Now when the Name of Jesus is spoken there is either a riot or a revival. You know people have died for that Name, they have been burnt alive; they have been fed to the lions; they have been disowned by their families. Yes, it’s the Name above every other name on earth or in heaven. At the very mention of that Name blind eyes are opened, deaf ears unstopped, the dead have been raised, sins have been forgiven and brand new life is born.

    2 Corinthians 5:17 says:

    ”Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 

    We need to be very careful when we choose a name for our newborn baby because that name has tremendous significance. Today folks, when you go out, mention the Name of Jesus. When people ask you: ”Who do you believe in?” Don’t say, ”I believe in God.” Because that is generic, God is whoever you presume him to be, he might be the trees that you are worshipping. When you say the Name Jesus, that’s when there is power in the Name. Oh, I love that Name so much. Treat that Name with the utmost care.

    God bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • Honouring Women

    Honouring Women

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 3rd of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.  

    We start in the Gospel of Luke 1:46:

    “And Mary said “My soul magnifies the Lord...”

    We want to really pay tribute and give honour to our women folk today. Mothers, grannies, aunties, sisters, great-grandmothers - we want to say we love you and we appreciate you. Early this morning, I was in a prayer meeting with a group of men and the leader said, ”Today, we need to remember the women because they are so vital to us, all of them.” I really want to speak today about the greatest woman that has ever lived on the face of the earth. Yes, I’m talking about Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

    Think about this, that God our Heavenly Father, must have looked all over the Earth to find a young maiden, a virgin, a young girl who had never, ever known a man, and to allow her to give birth to His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. What an incredible lady! He didn’t choose the Queen of Sheba, He didn’t choose the Empress of Rome, He didn’t choose any royalty. He chose a humble handmaiden, a young virgin from Nazareth by the name of Mary. No, she was not divine, she was an ordinary person, but God chose her to look after His son until He came of age. 

    If we look at verse 35 of that same chapter in Luke, we see that the Holy Spirit came upon her and the seed was planted in her. Yes, and His name was Emmanuel, which means, “God with us”. What a miracle! That is why you cannot believe in this book, the Bible, if you do not believe in miracles. 

    Now I just want to read what Mary said, this wonderful woman chosen by God.

    “My soul magnifies the Lord, 
    And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. 
    For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; 
    For behold, henceforth (from now on) all generations will call me blessed. 
    For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.” 
    Luke 1:46-49

    Today, let us remember our mothers, our wives, our daughters. Let us remember women and treat them with great love and great respect and protect them.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

  • Believe

    Believe

    · Thought For Today

    I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 2nd of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

    We go to the Gospel of Mark 1:15:

    “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 

    Wow, what a beautiful, clean, crisp statement made by the greatest preacher who has ever walked on the face of the Earth. This is what He says, I’m talking about he Master Himself, Jesus Christ. He says the time is fulfilled. There’s no time to waste, my dear friend, we are coming to the end of another year. Don’t say next year, there might be no next year. The time is fulfilled. Number two: Jesus says He’s coming back soon. You better be ready for that. Aah, but He’s been saying that for 2000 years. My dear friend, maybe tonight your soul will be required of you by the Lord.

    Jesus is coming back very soon. Therefore we need to repent. What does repent mean, young man, young lady? It means to say sorry and to stop doing it and start living a Godly life. Then the Lord says finally, “Believe in the gospel”. Stop arguing about it, stop trying to disprove it - just believe it. Believe it! Believe that it is the truth and that it is God’s Holy Word. That is what that scripture verse means.

    Now I’m a preacher and I want to tell you something now, if you don’t strike oil within five minutes, stop boring! That great evangelist, George Whitfield said, ”If you don’t finish your message within 30 minutes, even the angels will start getting bored.” We need to get to the point. We need to tell people about the coming of the Lord.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye. 

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