I greet you in Jesus' precious Name. It is Sunday morning, the 4th of August, 2024, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a Thought for Today.

We start in Matthew 8:34

"And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region."

What a sad scripture verse. I think it's probably one of the saddest scriptures in the Bible. The people didn't want Him. I feel like crying, because I see it so often. He had just set a madman free that no one else could. That man must have terrorised that district and those people. They tried to tie him up in chains, but he broke the chains. Jesus came and set him free, and then the people said: "Please leave us; we don't want you to be here."

You know, folks, people don't like to change, do they? And they don't want to be controlled, so they think. Jesus doesn't control us; Jesus leads us and loves us. Often, I get phone calls from concerned relatives phoning up: "Please can you phone my dad? Can you please phone this lady? They need to know Jesus. They are in a desperate state." So, I go ahead and phone them, and then I get rebuffed: "Who are you? What do you want? No, I'm not interested!" I feel like saying: "Look, I didn't ask to phone you. Your loved ones asked me to phone you" - not interested. So now, before calling anybody, I still will but I say to them: "You phone your relatives and ask them if Angus can speak with them." If they say no, then I'm not phoning them.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples ran away from the only One who could help them in the whole world. Matthew 26:56 says,

"Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled."

They ran away from the only person in the whole world who could help and protect them. Don't do that. Today, decide to call upon the Lord. Sometimes, we hear reports of people who want to avoid coming to our outreach meetings. They say, "Nah, it's just a money-making racket. I know these evangelists - I'm not interested." But then they get a bit of a shock when the person turns around and says: "But they don't take any collections at those meetings, and they don't even mention money." And then the man says: "Yeah, well, maybe..." He still doesn't believe it.

I want to tell you, do not harden your heart against the Lord today. He wants to help you. He's there for your benefit, not for His. That's why I came down from Heaven to Earth to help us undertake what we must go through.

Today, call upon Him, He will help you.
Jesus bless you, and goodbye.