I greet you in Jesus' precious Name. It is Tuesday morning, the 20th of February 2024, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a thought for today.

We go to Galatians 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

I want to speak to you today about branding. Now, on our farm we have cattle and we brand our cattle - We put our sign on the side of the animal. We use a branding iron, why? So that people can see our cattle from a distance, they can see that they belong to Shalom Farm. People should be able to see you and I from a long distance away because we are branded by the Lord Jesus Christ. Our brand mark is the fruit of the Spirit. When we walk into a public place, it should be very easy for us to be identified by the way we stand back and let other people in first; by the way we take care of older people; by the way in which we treat our waiter - Yes, they are getting paid to wait on us but we should treat them with love and patience. There's a ranch in America called King Ranch. They own 825,000 acres. They run 35,000 head of cattle and 200 quarter horses. They have a brand called "The Running W." It's a 'W' that they brand on the side of the cow; why? So that they can see their cattle from a long way away. You and I are branded, yes we are rebranded by the Name of Jesus Christ.

One of these fine days the Lord is coming to fetch us, whether we meet him in the air or whether he comes and takes us home to be with Him. My prayer for you today, my dear friend, is that when the Lord comes to fetch us He won't have a problem identifying who we belong to. Whether we belong to the Lord or whether we belong to the devil. You see, it is not only the brand mark; it's the condition of our animals that tells people where they come from, and we need to be in good condition. We really need to be ready for the coming of the Lord and what a beautiful opportunity you and I have today, to stand up for Jesus, when people can say that man walking down the street - He is a Christian! How do you know? Well, look at the smile on his face; look at the way he's walking. He is a proud man but he is very humble as well. He is a man you can trust, he is a man of God.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day goodbye