I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 6th of October, 2023 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Ecclesiastes 1:18:

“For in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”

Then we go straight to the last chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes 12:12: 

“And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.”

Now, these statements were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the wisest man who ever lived. He was no fool. I am talking about Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, next to Jesus Christ, of course. Basically, I believe the Lord is telling you and me today to keep it simple. You know the old adage, “If you don’t strike oil in 5 minutes, stop boring.” There’s a word there for all of us preachers - get to the point! You have five minutes to capture the crowd; if not, you will lose them all. 

I want to say to you that it is very important that you meet people where they are at, all of us. Keep it simple. Like the story I heard about the intellectual who was giving a talk on agriculture in the field to a group of ordinary, practical farmers. He was getting very involved with everything and there was a tractor parked behind him for his demonstration - but this man who had so many degrees couldn’t start the tractor! Why? Because he didn’t know that you have to put the tractor in neutral before the engine starts as a safety device, and he felt very embarrassed when one of those farm workers had to say, “Sir, please put the tractor into neutral and then you can start the engine.” Don’t become too clever. Let's meet people where they are and we will have much more success. 

One of the saddest cartoons I saw drawn was a picture of a big, stout minister with a big black Bible, preaching down to a little boy who also had a big tummy, but it was not because he had too much food, it was because he was starving. He had a begging bowl in front of him and the caption underneath read, and the little boy said, “And will there be food in Heaven?”

We really need to put our learning into practice. 

God bless you, have a good day and go and bless somebody with the simple news that Jesus is coming back soon.

Goodbye.