I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 27th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Proverbs 18:24:

“But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

You don’t have to be lonely today. Then we go straight to the New Testament to the Gospel of John 16:7, and this is the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples. He says:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” 

The Lord Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit.

I want to say to you this morning if you are feeling lonely or if you are feeling fearful, you have got a huge task on your hands next week and you just don’t know what to do, call upon the Holy Spirit. You know, so often we talk about our Heavenly Father, we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ, our best friend, but we don’t always talk about the Holy Spirit, and I want to tell you, He is part of the Holy Trinity, and we cannot do it without Him, believe me! Whenever I stand on that platform and I look out on that sea of faces, I say, “Lord, Holy Spirit, please help me because I can’t do this.” And He does, every single time. In Zulu, we call Him, “Umoya oNgcwele”. Umoya oNgcwele - the Spirit who lives within us. Isn’t that beautiful? In Afrikaans, we say, “Heilige Gees”, He is my Friend, He is my Helper. The Greeks call Him, Paráklētos which means The Helper.

I want to say to you today, we need to call upon Him, we need to love Him, we need to speak to Him because He wants to speak to you. Do you remember that beautiful chorus, “Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me”?  Why don’t you sing it with me?

Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.

God bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye.