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

I am reading out of the Amplified Version this morning.

“For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul?“
Mark 8:36

Folks, this morning I want to speak to you about family. We can add to that scripture, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his family?”  -  because your soul is tied up with your family.  The first family ever on earth was the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Remember, charity - love, begins at home. It is so precious to the Lord Jesus Christ, the family unit, and the devil knows that, and he knows the only way he can hurt the Lord is to hurt the family. We must never forget, the devil hates God and that is why the devil hates you, because he sees God in you. We need to protect our families with our very lives. 

Some of us are locking up the front door to make sure the devil doesn’t come in and the devil is walking straight in through the back door. We need to be so protective over our loved ones. Our priorities must remain in order: First, God, then your wife or your husband, then your children, and then everything else. Be sure that things are okay back at the ranch. It’s no good if the wheels are coming off at the ranch and you are out there, preaching the Gospel to the whole world. We need to start at home base. Let’s be honest with each other, sometimes the hardest place to be a Christian is in your own home. Isn’t that right? You can ask mom. She knows exactly what dad is really like when he is at home. 

I will never forget, one of the saddest things for me. When I was a young farmer up in Central Africa, we used to have a mixed farm. We had watermelons, pigs and cattle, and at that time, they were building a railroad from Dar-Es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean, right into the centre of Africa, where we were farming in Zambia. The Chinese would come in with their trucks, convoys of them, to buy all our watermelons, one time, all our pigs - and these men would come in and they all had the same grey uniforms on, and they would stop often and just sit and watch our little children (our children were very young at that stage), playing together in the garden, and then they would come to me, very, very sad and with sign language, they would tell me that back home in China, they would also have wives and children. I have never forgotten that. 

We need to spend more time together and we need to appreciate each other much more. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.