Afleveringen
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 17th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Jeremiah 2:13:
“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”“Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.”
Proverbs 16:22Exchanging a fountain of water for a broken cistern is short-sighted and short-lived. But why do we do that? We disregard the blessings of the Lord so often. A spring is a fountain that comes out of the ground. The Lord says we must guard our hearts because it is the wellspring of life. We must be careful that we don’t pollute and muddy the living water that comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, in our hearts.
We tend to build massive dams for holding huge volumes of water, and that is fine as long as it rains and the rain fills the dam, but when there is a dry cycle and a drought, the water in the dam dries up, it evaporates, but that little spring which draws it’s water from deep down in the ground, just keeps coming up. The springs from deep down in the earth never dry up. We need to guard our hearts, my dear friend, with everything we have. Do not allow the pollution of this world to muddy the waters of our hearts.
In the Jordan River in Israel, if that river dried up, there would be no Israel. It is one river that runs from the top to the bottom of Israel. It starts in a spring, right up in the mountains in the northern part of Israel. Yes, we do have Mount Herman and it is covered with snow, and the snow melts and also fills the river, but it is the spring that comes out of the ground which is the life of Israel. No Jordan River, no Israel! The same thing in South Africa - we have a spring in a place called Kuruman, on the west side of our nation. I have been there; it is something to behold. Everything around is dry and desert-like but this spring just bubbles up out of the ground with beautiful crystal clear water.
Today, the Lord is saying, “Do not fill your life and your purpose with broken cisterns, but rather draw on the fountain, the spring, the wellspring of life, which is Jesus Christ.”
The Lord bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 16th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 1 Samuel 1:27-28:
"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord."
This is Hannah, the woman who could not have a child and who wept in the temple, so much so that the High Priest, Eli, thought she was drunk. God heard her prayers and gave her the most beautiful little baby, Samuel, who some say was the greatest of all the prophets in the Bible, but she had to give him back, and she asked her husband, "Let me just nurse him until he is weaned." In those days, they would suckle a baby, probably until it was three years old. And then that little baby, that little boy, was given back to the temple, to the Lord, and he served the Lord all his life.
Now, she used to go up every year, it brings a tear to my eye, I tell you what, and make a robe for the little boy and give it to him every year. Maybe you are struggling with something in your life today. The Lord gave you something and now the Lord wants it back. It might be your career, it might be a member of your family, it might be some vision, some expectation that you had, something that you were looking forward to, and the Lord says, "I want it back now." It's a very, very hard thing to do, but do you know something? Samuel's mommy, that's right, I am talking about Hannah, she gave her little boy, her only child, that she had waited for so long, back to the Lord. She said, "I lent him back to the Lord."
But my dear friend, that is not the end of the story. If you go on a little bit further in the Bible to 1 Samuel 2:21, you will see that after she had done that, the Lord blessed her with three more sons and two more daughters! What a lovely awesome story - so she gave what she had back to the Lord and He blessed her with 5 more children.
Do not be despondent today. Do not feel that the Lord has been unfair. Do not feel that you have been let down - not at all, my dear friend! Rather rejoice. You cannot out-give Jesus. Jesus is a giver by nature. He loves to give, so today, give freely and He will freely give back to you.
Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye. -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 15th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Revelation 14:13:
“‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labours, and their works follow them.”
We need to run our race, and once we get close to the end, there is sheer joy in knowing that we have completed our task here on earth. Paul, the great Apostle, in 2 Timothy 4:7 said:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
You see, it is not about all the trophies, it's not about all the goals that we achieve, no - its about finishing strong. Just recently, I have met a number of people who are dying, who are coming to the end of their race. They know it, they have told me, and the amazing thing is that they are looking forward to home time. I haven’t met one yet, I am talking about strong Christian men and women, who are fearful of dying. Some of them have accomplished great awards, great trophies. They have achieved the goals that they set before them, but you know, the funny thing is, not one of them speaks to me about their achievements here on earth. No, they speak about home time, they speak about having finished their race, completed their task, and now they are looking forward to going home.
I want to say to you today, yes - we need to live the life that God has called us to, we need to be an example to others, especially unbelievers, but we must focus on the finish line.
“No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62
We need to plough the field, we need to complete the task, and then we need to look forward to home time. The older I am getting, the more I am looking forward to meeting the Lord one day, face to face, and the more I am walking on this road, the things of this world are becoming less interesting to me and less desirable. I am looking forward to eternity, to spending the time with my beloved Jesus. You should be the same. We are not here forever; we are simply passing through, but we need to live the day that God has given us; we need to live it to the full, but our eyes must always be on the finish line.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 14th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Isaiah 66:4:
“when I called, no one answered,…”
And then we go straight to the Matthew 26:40:
“Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour?”
Without a doubt, one of the hardest things to deal with in life is loneliness, don’t you agree? You know, our Heavenly Father desires fellowship with you and me. That is the main reason why He created us. He created us for His own good pleasure. He loves us so much and He desires to spend time with us. He didn’t create us because we had to do something for Him. There is nothing we can do for God, He did it all. He created the whole universe with one word. In the beginning was the Word, but loneliness,…I really believe our Heavenly Father gets lonely and desires fellowship with His people, but so often you and I are so busy doing other things that we don’t get a chance to speak with Him.
Remember, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus really needed His disciples, more than ever before - they were fast asleep. Don’t you and I do the same thing? We really need to understand that we have to spend time with the Lord, not just for our sake but also for His sake.
I have learnt what loneliness is. Over the years I have travelled all over the world, preaching the Gospel, and it sounds very glamorous and it sounds very exciting, but I can tell you something now, after the evening is finished and we have preached to multitudes of people, and we have seen the power of God moving, and people are so excited, they are born again, Spirit-filled, they are healed physically and mentally, then I get ushered back to my hotel, and I walk up those stairs or catch that elevator, I go to my room and I sit there all by myself. Oh yes, and that is the time when I think of Jill and the children back home, and my grandchildren, and I might be on the other side of the world, and I wonder, are they safe? Are things good there? It is the middle of the night there because we have big time changes as well. That is the time that I have to lock in with God, and He becomes a friend to me, that sticks closer than any brother.
You need to do the same. We really need to spend time with Him and then we won’t be lonely like that again. After I have had a good chat with Him, I turn over on my side, and I go sound asleep.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, and remember, you don’t have to be lonely!
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 13th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Isaiah 66:8:
“Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?”Can a woman give birth to a child without going through pain? You know folks, I want to tell you with our Jesus, all things are possible. He is the miracle-working God. Do you remember the prayer meeting that we had in Bloemfontein, in the centre of our beloved nation, South Africa? We called the nation together to pray. We called it, “It’s Time”. If you remember, no less than over 1 million people came together in less than 6 weeks. We prayed, we praised God, we worshipped, we wept, and we asked the Lord to please undertake.
2 Chronicles 7:14 - you know it so well, it says:
“If My people who are called by My name” (which people is that? Those are the people of God, those are the believers, the Christians) “will humble themselves, and pray…”
And that is exactly what we did, and what happened afterwards? Folks, there was a change in the government, yes, a national maize crop that was doomed to be a failure, turned around to be a bumper crop. There was singing of hymns and Bible readings in Parliament! Do you remember that? The government were about to build a nuclear power station which would have bankrupted the nation. It was deemed unconstitutional and was put aside. So many miracles took place. Yes, we are coming to the elections yet once again. People are very anxious. I want to tell you, we need to pray because when we pray, God moves. Even as I am recording this programme, people are praying all over the nation of South Africa and indeed the whole world because nations are going to the polls, in the USA and all over the world, but we need to pray the prayer of faith, not just pray. You see, a lot of people pray but they don’t believe what they are praying. We need to pray, we need to be intentional, we need to be determined, and then we leave it in God’s hands.
I am very optimistic for the future, not by what I see with my eyes but by what my spirit tells me when I spend time with God every day, in the closet, and I read my Bible and I pray. If Christ is for us, my dear friend, there is no man that can stand against us. Romans 8:31.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 12th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in Luke 1:46-48: And Mary said:
"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 all generations will call me blessed."That was spoken by the mother of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. I want to say right at the beginning, a very, very special and precious Mother's Day to every mother and to every prospective mother listening to this message. At the end of this message I want to pray for young ladies who are unable to fall pregnant. I really feel the Lord wants me to pray for you, that you too will become a mother.
When we look back at the history of the Bible, starting right at the back of the Old Testament, with Abraham. Remember, Sarah was unable to fall pregnant, and then the Lord blessed her with a son and his name was Isaac. And it goes right through the Bible. Hannah couldn't have a baby and then God gave her Samuel, which some regard as the greatest of all the prophets.
We go right on to Elizabeth. Elizabeth couldn't have a baby. She fell pregnant very late in life, and John the Baptist was born through Elizabeth. Jesus Himself said, "There has never been a man born from the womb of a woman who is greater than John the Baptist." And we can go on and on - Samson's mother couldn't fall pregnant.
I want to say to you today, mothers, we love you, we cherish you and we appreciate you, and I want to say particularly to fathers, husbands, I want to say to young men, appreciate your mother while you still have her. I remember my own mother very, very specially. She was a wonderful woman and I look forward to seeing her in Heaven. I had the privilege of praying the Sinner's Prayer with my mom. I led her to Christ. It was one of the highlights of my entire life.
Now, I am going to pray for those young women who are unable to fall pregnant:
Father,
Your word says, "Ask and you will receive, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be answered unto you." I pray for these women right now in Jesus' name, that You will give them the desire of their heart. They want to have a baby. I ask you to honour this prayer in Jesus' mighty name, Amen.
God bless you mom. Get up in the morning, look into that mirror and start speaking. Dad, start calling her "mother" because she is going to have a baby. And when that mother becomes pregnant, please contact us. I want to rejoice with you.
Jesus bless you, and Happy Mother's Day!
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 11th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to 1 Corinthians 15:58
“…be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord’
The Amplified Bible says: ”Always doing your best and doing more than is needed.”
I read a beautiful reading by Bishop Ryle who lived many, many years ago. He said: Activity in doing good is one recipe for being cheerful Christians. It is like exercise to the body and it keeps the soul in health.” Doing good makes cheerful Christians. It keeps us spiritually fit. Just like exercise, going to the gym, keeps us physically fit, when we do Christian deeds for others, it makes us spiritually strong.
Remember, no man is an island. We were never created to be on our own. We were created by the Lord to help one another. There are no lone rangers in the Kingdom of God. We really need to help each other. Now, I have told you this story before, but it is worth hearing a second time, and this is a true story about a young man, many years ago, in this district where we live. He was looking for a job.
He was riding on his horse and in those days the district roads all had gates which led from one farm to the other, and he heard this old motorcar coming from behind, probably a Model-T Ford, and an old couple were driving this motorcar and he jumped from his horse and opened the gate to let them go through. They tipped their hats and said, “Thank you,” and he closed the gate behind, got on his horse and the motorcar stopped just ahead, and as he rode up, the old gentleman said, “Where are you going, son?” He said, “I am looking for a job, sir.” So he said, “Well come along, come along to my farm and I will give you a job, it’s right down the road”, and that is exactly what he did. That young man eventually inherited that farm because the old farmer and his wife never had any children. So, by opening that gate and doing something good as a Christian, he inherited a farm.
Today, we don’t do it for any return or reward, we do it because it is what God wants us to do, to help one another and to be cheerful about it. Go out today, make that phone call, take that bunch of flowers to your teacher at school, send a text message and tell people you are praying for them. It will do you the world of good.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 10th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Genesis 46:34 - This is Joseph speaking to his brothers:
“…that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; (Now, listen to this) for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
“Every shepherd is repulsive to the Egyptians.” The Amplified Version says.
Then we go to Matthew 7:6, this is Jesus speaking:
“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”
Very, very strong words. They are spoken by the Lord, Himself, and the Old Testament reading spoken by Joseph to his brothers, when they came to Egypt. This really shocked me when I read this scripture initially from Genesis. You and I need to be very careful. Joseph was a very wise man and he told his brothers, “Don’t say you are shepherds”, because actually that is what they were. In fact, God said to Peter, on the shores of Lake Galilee, “Do you love Me?” He said, “I love You, Lord.” He said, ”Feed My sheep.” So Peter was a shepherd, a shepherd of the flock. We need to be very sensitive when we share our faith with people in the world. Some don’t understand, some don’t want to understand and some will actually get quite aggressive towards you.
We need to pick the time. Often I say, “Tell the first three people you meet, after you give your life to Christ, what you have done, and I still maintain that, but we need to be clever. The Bible says we must be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves. So when we share our testimony with somebody, we must pick the right time and the right place, otherwise we will be rejected severely. That’s why it wasn’t a lie that Joseph was telling his brothers not to tell the Egyptians. He said, “Tell them that we are keepers of livestock and not shepherds.”
I want to say to you today, we never apologise for our faith, we are never ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, but we need to be very, very wise if we want to lead people to Christ. So today, when you go out, just be very careful who you share with and when you share it, but never hold back on the truth.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 9th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Isaiah 66:2. The Lord says:
“For all those things My hand has made,
And all those things exist,”
Says the Lord.
“But on this one will I look:
On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And who trembles at My word.”There is absolutely nothing that you and I can do for God. Earlier on, He says, “Heaven is my throne”. He says, “The earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you can build for Me?” We can do nothing for Him, He has done everything for us. What He requires of you and me is a contrite (which is a repentant), a broken spirit that trembles at His word. The Lord wants us to be simple, plain and reverently responsive to what He says. You will find that out of the Message in Isaiah 66:2.
We need to be so careful, and maybe I am speaking more to myself today, my dear friend, than I am to you. We need to be so careful that the work of the Lord does not become more important to us than the Lord of the work, if you know what that means. You see, Jesus actually doesn’t need anything from you and I. He has made it all, He has done it all, there is nothing that we can do for Him.
Now, there was another farmer and he was having a conversation with the Lord. He was quite upset with the Lord, and maybe you are today, but if you look at Job 38 - yes, I am talking about the farmer Job, and you can read that whole chapter from verse 1, the Lord takes him and brings him to attention and says, “Listen, sit down a minute. I want to ask you a few questions. Where were you when I made the earth? Where were you when I did this? Where were you when I did that?” How dare we question our creator!
He says in Job 40:2:
“Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?”
I mean, it’s ridiculous isn’t it? It’s absolutely ridiculous. What we have got to start doing now is to be plain and simple in front of God and go to the Lord like a little boy goes to his dad and sits on his lap and asks him, “Please help me, dad, to fix my bicycle, please help me dad, to do this.” And dad loves doing it! Don’t argue with God, love God and appreciate what He has done for you and me.
Have a wonderful day.
Jesus bless you and goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 8th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Psalms 32:5:
“I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden. (in other words, I have confessed my sins)
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”Then we go to the Book of Daniel 9:23:
‘At the beginning of your supplications (your prayers) the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; …”
That was the angel, Gabriel, who brought a message to Daniel from the Lord. I want to say to you today that the Lord hears and knows your prayers, even before you speak them. Isn’t that wonderful news? You might say, “What is the point in us praying?” Well, mother, that little boy of yours, he comes into the kitchen. You know that he is ravenous, you know that he is so hungry but you want to hear him say, “Mom, could I please have something to eat?” And then you give him that lovely sandwich or whatever it is that he needs.
I remember going down to Cape Town like yesterday. They had no rain for two years, and the people were literally about to start dying of thirst. We had a prayer meeting on the sand dunes of Mitchell’s Plain, one of the most dangerous places on the Continent of Africa. Something like a quarter of a million people cried out to the Lord, asking God to send life-giving rain. I want to tell you, it makes me want to weep when I think of it. In the middle of the service, we hadn’t even finished the service, it started raining and it hasn’t stopped since. That huge dam that supplies water to the city of Cape Town was dry. It was like a desert. They said it would take seven years to fill if it started raining. Well, it was overflowing in 4 months. God knows what we are asking before we even ask and yet He still wants to hear us praying and saying, “Lord, please help.”
Today, let us ask the Lord with faith, believing, and then we start to thank Him for what is coming.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 7th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Jeremiah 7:13:
“and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,…”
Jesus is calling us. Matthew 6:33:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
We cannot live a life of disobedience, doing our own thing, and then expect God to bless us. It doesn’t work that way. It is no use getting up early in the morning, having a good quiet time, listening to the voice of the Lord, and then going out and doing our own thing. Delayed obedience is actually disobedience. As followers of Christ, we need to start hearing the word of the Lord and obey it immediately. For example, pay your accounts on time, when they are due, otherwise if you don’t, your motorcar will be repossessed, and then we cry out and say, “Lord, why have you done this to us?” No, you didn’t pay your account on time.”
I am a farmer and we are facing winter now in South Africa. This is the time when farmers’ firebreaks should be in place. The farmers should have made their firebreaks by now. It should be in position. Now, if you don’t make the firebreak in time, and the fire season is upon us, after the first frost things turn over night. The grass is dry, it’s vulnerable, the wind gets up and a fire breaks out in the middle of the night and burns right through your farm, and now your cattle have got nothing to eat. Then you cry out, “Lord, why have You allowed this to happen to me?” No, not at all. What’s happened is, you have delayed doing what you know is right.
We really need to start hearing from God now, not only hear from God but also apply His principles, and we will succeed like never before.
Have a good day, Jesus bless you, and start listening and obeying the word of God.
Goodbye.
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 6th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Isaiah 64:6:
“And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;…”
Wow! That is a powerful statement made by God. Our good works, He says, are like filthy rags.
Then we go straight to the New Testament, to the Book of Philippians 3:9:
”…and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;…”
We will never get to Heaven by doing good deeds or by doing good works. Now, I am going to say something that is controversial and a lot of people don’t like it when they hear it, but it is the truth, and that is that good people don’t go to Heaven, believers go to Heaven. If it was good people who went to Heaven, I want to tell you that people from other faiths would get to Heaven before most of us Christians. It is not by our efforts. It is purely by faith in Jesus Christ that we get to Heaven. You say, “Well, prove it.” Do you remember the thief on the Cross? He wasn’t a good man, he deserved to die and go to hell, but just before he died, he said to Jesus, “Lord, please remember me in Heaven.” He believed that Jesus was the Son of God, and Jesus said to him, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.”
I remember officiating at a funeral of a man. He wasn’t a good man, he had made many bad and poor choices in his life. His family was in a bit of a mess, he had done lots of things that he wasn’t proud of, but that man loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and at his funeral, we were standing by his grave. I said to the people, “This man is going to be with Jesus in Heaven, because I knew him and he loved God and he repented of his evil ways, and I really believe that he is going to Heaven, because good people don’t go to Heaven, believers go to Heaven.” After the service, a man who was furious, came up to me and said, “How can you say that good people don’t go to Heaven?” I said, “Because it is in the Bible, our good works are like filthy rags before God, that is what He said. We go to Heaven because we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and because we repent of all our sins.”
Today, remember it is faith in God that will save us, nothing else.
God bless you and have a good day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 5th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in Psalm 31:19:
“Oh, how great is Your goodness,
Which You have laid up for those who fear You,
Which You have prepared for those who trust in You
In the presence of the sons of men!”Then we go straight to 1 Corinthians 2:9:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”Why do you and I always seem to settle for second best? The Lord has stored up such good things for you and I. He has stored up such good things for those who reverently respect God. Jesus has prepared so much for those who hold Him in affectionate reverence. Isn’t that beautiful? I got that out of the Amplified Bible (affectionate reverence), for those who obey Him and for those who recognise the benefits that He has given to us.
We think of the Prodigal Son. He had so much prepared for him, he had an inheritance. His father was a wealthy farmer. He was going to inherit part of that farm with his brother, but what did he do? He went and squandered everything he had, and if you look at Luke 15:16, he ended up thinking to himself, “I will gladly eat the food that the pigs are eating.”
It’s like a little child. Have you ever seen a little baby who gets a beautiful Christmas present or a birthday present with all that shiny bright paper and big ribbons around it? The baby undoes everything, and there is a beautiful gift awaiting that baby, but the baby ends up playing with the paper and the ribbons and doesn’t even look at the gift.
You know, a very sad story - King David who killed Goliath, I think he was only about 13 years old, he traded in his glorious future for a lustful affair with another man’s wife. Oh, it cost him dearly. Yes, he repented and yes, God forgave him, but he paid a terrible price after that. You never hear of David killing any Goliaths after that affair.
You and I today, rather let’s wait for the beautiful promises which God has prepared for us, and He will bless us immensely.
Jesus bless you and goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 4th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Hebrews 10:19:
”Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,…”
Boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies in the temple of the Lord. You know, for 15 centuries—that’s one thousand five hundred years—there was no access to the Holy of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem. But since the death and resurrection of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, that curtain has been torn in two from top to bottom, and you and I are free to enter.
Listen to this beautiful scripture in Hebrews 10:23:
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
The Lord has made a way for you, my dear friend, and for me. He has made a way for us to enter into the Holy of Holies, whereas before it was only the High Priest who could enter once a year. It was such an absolutely holy place, they would tie a rope around the ankle of the High Priest because they could not go in there, and they would put bells on the edge of his garment and while he was in the Holy of Holies, ministering to the Lord, the bells would be ringing. If the bells stopped ringing, that would mean that the High Priest had collapsed or died and they would pull him out, backwards, by the rope. It was such a very, very precious place. There would be signs up there, “No Entry!” Have you ever seen those signs? “No admittance. Danger!” The skull and the crossbones, “High voltage electricity!”
Dangerous, but Andrew Murray says the sign has been changed since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It now says, “Enter in, the veil is torn, free access anyone, come in!” The holiest of holy places in the world is open, and you know God is waiting for you and me. He is waiting to welcome us, my dear friend, “Come in”, He says, “And I will take you in my arms, into my ample bosom, and hug you and love you and have intimate fellowship with you.”
You don’t have to be lonely, you don’t have to be left out in the cold any longer because Jesus has made a way that we can have fellowship with our creator, our Heavenly Father.
Today, go in and spend time with Him. He is waiting for you. Jesus bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye.
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I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 3rd of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Proverbs 20:22:
"Wait for the Lord, and He will save you."
I read a beautiful quotation by James Hudson Taylor. He was the man who took a thousand families to China to preach the Gospel, by faith! He says, "Quiet waiting before God would save from many a mistake and from many a sorrow. We need to wait for the Lord. It will save making many mistakes by quiet waiting upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This will save us from many a sorrow, quiet waiting."
I am just thinking at the moment of all the students that are going to be writing exams again very shortly. I want to say to you, when you go into the exam hall and you sit down to write that important exam, take all the time they have given you. Do not rush. You see, some of the bright stars, they will write up their answers and they will be up and out of that exam hall so quickly, and that will put pressure on you. It will make you panic. "I better hurry up!" No, take your full time and when you have finished writing your paper and you have still got a half an hour, sit there quietly, spend a little bit of time in prayer and go through your answer paper again. I guarantee that you will pick up one or two mistakes, and that might just give you those extra marks you need to pass.
I want to say to that businessman, don't make a rash decision. Tell them you will come back tomorrow. "Aah, but they said I have to make a decision today
otherwise the deal is off." Well, rather let the deal be off. There is no pressure from the Lord. There is no rushing.
That crop that you want to plough in - I have done it myself before. You want to plough it in because you can see there is nothing coming in from this crop. Just wait a little bit. You will be very pleasantly surprised. You might just get that last shower of rain that will just turn the crop and get it full to the brim with good grain.
Folks, we need to wait upon the Lord quietly, and we won't make as many mistakes as we have in the past, and we won't be so sorrowful. That proposal that that young man has made to you, just wait, young lady, there is no rush. Tell him you will come back to him, you are going to pray about it. Absolutely, and then you can be sure that God is with you on that decision that you have made.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 2nd of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Isaiah 62:2:
“You shall be called by a new name,…”
Then we go forward to the Book of Hosea 1:10:
‘You are sons of the living God.’
Sons of the living God, wow! Very personal and so intimate. A son has access to anything a father has. A son can go into the Holy of Holies. Oh yes, visitors have to wait outside until they are invited in. You and I need to understand something today - we are not hirelings. We are sons and daughters of the living God. We are not working for wages, a hireling works for his wages. He carries a watch on his wrist and whether it is 5 o’clock or whatever the time might be, he knocks off. It doesn’t matter what is happening on the farm or in the business. He is only working for a wage. He is not working for his inheritance. That’s the difference, but a son is working for his inheritance. He doesn’t wear a watch, he doesn’t watch the time, he does his job.
You know the story of the Prodigal Son? We are always pretty hard on the older brother. Remember he said to his dad, “So this prodigal son has come home, he has wasted all his money, and you have killed the fatted calf for him and you wouldn’t even give me a lamb, to have a party with my friends.” And his father said to him, listen carefully, Luke 15:31:
“Son”, I get tears in my eyes: “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”
Maybe today you are going through a hard time and you say, “Where are You, Lord? I am Your son”, or “Your daughter”, but you are going through a time of learning, a time of testing. When I was on the farm with my two boys, they would work harder than anybody else. Don’t ask them about that, they always exaggerate of course, it wasn’t really that bad! But you know, when the cattle broke out in the middle of the night and went into the maize crop, who had to get up out of their beds? Yes, the boys and me, and we had to put the cattle back. You can’t expect the staff to get up in the middle of the night because they are not paid for that. We have to go the extra mile.
Now, when you are a son of God and the Lord has promised you that He has given you everything you need and more - when we go home, we are not going home to Heaven as strangers, we are going home to Heaven as sons and daughters of the living God. He is waiting for us. He wants to spoil us.
Now, today, we need to man up as they say; we need to understand that the going is tough for the sons because He is preparing us for eternity because He loves us so much. So, son, daughter, go out today and take your inheritance.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is 1st of May, Wednesday morning, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Habakkuk 3:18:
“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.”Then we go straight to Nehemiah 8:10. We all know that verse:
“…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Now, you might say to me this morning, “What is there to be joyful about?” Well, let’s start with our salvation, because He has saved you and me from a terrible life of bondage to the devil. He has set us free! He has covered us with a robe of righteousness; He has hidden our shame; He has clothed us with garments of salvation. That’s right, yes, a new beginning. He has given you and me a brand new life.
You know that scripture in Isaiah 61:3? He has given us a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Folks, this joy that the Lord is speaking to us about is not a feeling, it’s a fact. We don’t have to walk around with a big smile on our face all the time and be happy all the time. It’s a deep knowing that if we have to die today we are going home to be with Jesus, not because we are good people but because He is a Good God, and He loves us and we have acknowledged Him as our Lord and Saviour. It is a guarantee. For us to live is Christ and to die is but gain - that is what Paul, the Apostle said. I want to say to you today, it is the joy of the Lord.
We need to praise God because when we praise Him, that is what takes that spirit of heaviness off us.
Do you remember that song which the Gaither’s wrote, Bill and Gloria Gaither? It’s a song that has gone right around the world so many times. Early in the morning, on a Wednesday morning, there are men who get together in our little chapel on the farm, and we sing together, and this is one of the favourite songs that the boys love to sing, and I want you to sing it with me. It goes like this - Because He lives, that’s right, I can face tomorrow:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
And because I know, yes I know, He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!Now come on, all together:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
And because I know, yes I know, He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!Go out now and praise the Lord because He lives.
God bless you and goodbye.
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I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 30th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
“For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.”
Isaiah 41:13Then we go to the Book of Hebrews 13:6 in the New Testament.
So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
A famous old preacher from way back said, “Don’t try to hold God’s hand, let Him hold yours. Let Him do the holding, and you do the trusting.” I think that is a beautiful reminder, the Lord has got hold of us. We don’t have to be concerned about that. You know, when you look at those trapeze artists in the circus, the one that we are all concentrating on is the flyer who goes through the air, doing somersaults, but we forget that the most important part of the act is actually the catcher. He is the big one with the strong arms who is flying backwards and forwards on the actual swing, and he catches the flyer. If he misses, it’s a disaster. I want to say to you that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Catcher in our lives.
Have you ever seen a fireman’s lift? Do you know what that is? It is when someone takes a hold of your arm and they hold your forearm with their hand and you hold their forearm with your hand. It’s a double lift, and if you are tired and you are weary (I have been there by the way) and eventually you can’t hang on anymore and you let go. You don’t fall because the fireman has got you by his hand. The fireman is nobody else but Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and today you might feel like letting go. You might say, “Lord, I just can’t anymore.” He says, “Rest, relax, I’ve got you. Together, we can do this and we will.”
Remember the Catcher, His name is Jesus Christ. He has never dropped anybody in His life before and He is not about to drop you.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 29th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Revelation 5:11-12:
“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain…”
What a day it will be when you and I meet the Lord Jesus Christ, face to face, in Heaven! It’s going to be amazing, folks, I tell you what. You know, I can only just….I haven’t even got a glimpse of it but I want to relate something to you. On this little farm, Shalom, I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears, approximately 450 thousand men worshipping and praising the Lord and saying, “Amen”, like a gunshot going off. You know that Greytown, the little town next to our farm, is approximately 15 Kilometres from this farm - they could hear us in Greytown! But I want to say to you, that was only maybe close on half a million men. What is it going to sound like when thousands, ten thousand times ten thousands are worshipping the Son of God and worshipping Him and thanking Him, the One who died for your sins and for my sins?
Maybe as you are listening to this message you are driving in your motorcar or maybe you are sitting in your home by yourself, and maybe you are feeling a bit down and a bit hard-done-by. I want to encourage you to start worshipping the Lord. Start singing to Jesus, start praising His name and you will be surprised how that heaviness will lift up off you and you will have freedom.
Just thank Him. “Thank Him for what?” you say. Thank Him that you are alive, thank Him that you have got a future, thank Him for dying for you, thank Him for the soon-coming time when we will meet together in Heaven, all of us and our loved ones, and we will praise the Lord together with one voice. What a day that will be! I can’t wait.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 28th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start off in the Book of Ezekiel 36:36:
“Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”
Rebuilding the old ruins - Jesus will help us. Jesus is a builder, He is not a demolisher. We have been called to be builders with Him, not demolishers. We are called to reinforce. 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
We must never write people off, God never does that. I don’t know about you but I love to see new buildings going up. I really love it, I get so excited, and I am quite sad when they break down old buildings, and I know it has to be done sometimes. That big steel ball and that chain suspended from a crane, knocking down old buildings, it breaks my heart sometimes. We need to cultivate virgin land. When I arrived on this farm with my young wife and children 48 years ago, nobody wanted this piece of ground. It was full of weeds and invader trees. There was nothing here. There was no water, no lights, no electricity, and we started from square one, but those were good days because we were building.
I love speaking to young men and women. I love hearing their dreams their visions and their new ideas and projects. I just love it. The other day I went to town with my dear wife, and she loves going to these secondhand furniture shops and looking for pieces of furniture that she can purchase. I was sitting there and a gentleman came out and introduced himself to me. He was a former headmaster of a school and he is retired and he is doing the thing he loves the most. He goes around buying old furniture and he brings it back to his factory and he restores it like new. It was wonderful to meet him. As he came out with a piece of furniture that my wife had bought, I shook his hand and said, “I am Angus.” He said, “Yes, I know the voice.” He said, “I hear it every morning at 5 o’clock in my bedroom.” But what a lovely man! He is a restorer, he is not a demolisher.
Most of all, you see the Holy Spirit make brand-new people out of people who have been broken and pushed aside - Mary Magdalene was one of those. Seven demons were cast out of her, she was a woman of ill-repute, but what a faithful servant and follower of Jesus. Don’t write off anybody today. Don’t disregard people. Every one of them has incredible potential.
Jesus bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye. - Laat meer zien
