Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 10th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 20:15. Jesus says:

”Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” 

Why are we always telling God what to do? He says here, “Can I not do what I want with my own things?” Then we go to Romans 9:21:

”Does not the potter have power over the clay,…?”

Folks, I used to keep sheep on this farm. We had 500 beautiful stud Isle de France ewes, beautiful sheep. We won many prizes with those sheep at the local shows but never once did my sheep tell me how to live. You’ve never heard of a sheep telling a shepherd what to do or how to look after the flock. Now the Lord says to us the same thing with the clay. Where have you ever seen a lump of clay telling the potter how to make a pot? It’s ludicrous isn’t it? it’s ridiculous! - the same as the worker who does not tell the employer how much he must pay his men, we can’t argue with God, we need to simply obey.

Now, we know the story of the landowner who got up early in the morning and wanted to hire labourers for his vineyard. So the first men that came, he said he would give them a denarius a day, that’ll be the pay, and then later on in the day he hired some more men and he said here that he would pay them as well, and so the day went on and right to the very end of the day, there was only one hour left and he went and employed another group of men. When it came to paying the men he hired last, he paid them a denarius. Now, the men that had been working all day thought, “Well, these men have only worked for an hour, so we are going to get a lot more money because we’ve worked all day”. Then the landowner gave the men that came early the same pay, one denarius. They were most upset, ”How can you give us only one denarius and these men here have only worked for one hour and we’ve worked for eleven hours?” And that’s when the landowner said, ”Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?”

Folks, we must stop saying “It’s not fair” because Jesus will do as He pleases. It’s only Jesus who has paid the full price for your salvation and my salvation. Did you hang on a cross? Did you die for anyone? Therefore you’ve got no right to say anything. What we need to say is, ”Lord, thank you for saving us.”

Today remember who is in charge and I’m so happy to tell you, His name is Jesus.

God bless you and have a lovely day, 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 9th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in Ezekiel 18:32:

”For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”

Then we go to the Gospel of John 3:7:

”Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”

That scripture from Ezekiel puzzled me for a long time - “I have no pleasure in the death of a dying man, therefore repent and live.” What is the Lord meaning? He is saying that He does not want a sinner to die and go to hell, but He wants everyone to be saved and go to Heaven. It’s all about choices, isn’t it? Jesus is known by many titles. He’s known as the Great Ploughman; the Shepherd of the sheep; the Alpha and the Omega; the Beginning and the End; He is known as the Bright Morning Star; He is known as the King of kings, but the title I love the most is known as the Friend of sinners. We have to make a choice, and it’s not about good people going to Heaven at all. You have heard me saying that so many times. When you think about it, when Jesus walked on this earth, He spent most of His time with tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, lepers, widows and orphans - not the successful! He said, ”I came for the sick, not for the healthy.” So what about you today, where are you standing today?

I looked at The Message Version of the Bible and this scripture ends up where He says, “Make a clean break! Live!” You and I, let’s start to live today.

I want to pray for you and I want to really pray this prayer from my heart, not only for you but for myself, because you know folks, we’ve got to work out our salvation with fear and trembling the Bible says. What does that mean? It means we can’t live a life where one day we’re in and one day we’re out, one day we are for the Lord and the next day we are not. We can’t live like that. We have got to make a decision. ”For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!” 

Why don’t you pray this prayer with me? 

Father God, 

This morning we come to You and we ask You to save us. Save us Lord from sin, from iniquity, but save us mostly from ourselves, we keep letting You down. 

Lord, we commit our lives completely and entirely to You today. 

In Jesus name, Amen.

God bless you and goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 8th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We go straight to Psalms 91:1, and today I’ll be reading it out of the Amplified Version of the Bible. It says:

”He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand].”

Yes, that shelter we are talking about is our quiet time every morning, in our special place, wherever that might be, spending time in the presence of the Lord, praying, reading the word of God, meditating, and then we are strong enough to go out. I received a beautiful poem just the other night, we were having a prayer time up in the chapel and my son Dougal said, ”I want to read something to you.” He got it out of a Scripture Union booklet, that was printed in the 1950’s but listen to this poem. It’s called The Secret:

I met God in the morning when my day was at it’s best 
And His presence came like sunrise, like a glory in my breast.  
All day long the presence lingered, all day long He stayed with me 
And we sailed in perfect calmness over a very troubled sea. 
Other ships were blown and battered, other ships were sore distressed 
But the winds that seemed to drive them brought to us a peace and rest. 
Then I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind
When I too had loosed the moorings with the presence left behind. 
So I think I know the secret learned from many a troubled way. 
You must seek Him in the morning if you want Him through the day.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 7th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

“Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler…”
Psalm 91:3

- now the Amplified Version says: “For He will save you from the trap of the fowler,…” It’s the little things we need to look out for. Now, the fowler is the devil of course, and he is continually trying to trip you up and to trip me up.

A man by the name of Mark Pierce says, “He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler” - that means from the little things, the hidden traps, the nets that are set for us. Great sins frighten, but little snares entangle. It is easier to escape the huntsman’s arrow than the crafty lure, and where are they not set? In riches and also in poverty, in sickness and in strength, in prosperity and adversity, in friendships and in loneliness, the work and the lack of it. Each has it’s snare wherein not only are the unworthy caught, but the wise and the watchful also sometimes fall prey. Little things, mere threads, hardly worth guarding against, yet they are strong enough to hold us and to hinder us, and may be the beginning of our destruction.”

We need to be so careful. Years ago when I played rugby, I remember clearly, I used to play in the loose forward position, either a flank or an 8th man, and we were known as “the spoilers.” A young man would break away with a ball and all you would do is just grab the edge of his rugby jersey and just pull him back for half a second, that’s all, and he would miss his move, and that is why often, you would see in the middle of a match, the guy stands up and punches somebody else, and you say, “Look at that dirty player” but it is actually not him at all! It’s somebody in the scrum that has just held him back for half a second from making his move. Now that is exactly how the devil works. It is the little things, the things that we don’t notice that hold us back, but the Lord says that He will deliver you and I from the devil and his sly moves if we keep our eyes on Him. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 6th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Ezekiel 18:20:

”The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

The Lord has got no grandchildren. Every single person will have to give an individual account of their lives here on earth. What do I mean by that?  Well, If your father is a believer that does not guarantee that you will get to heaven. You have to accept the Lord for yourself. Now, maybe there are some young people who are very concerned about their parents because they will not turn their lives towards Christ. Our responsibility is to pray for our loved ones, that’s all we can do. To love them and to be good examples of a Christian life. You and I will not be held responsible for their lifestyle here on earth.

I had the privilege many, many years ago of leading my dearest old mother to Jesus Christ. I remember it like it was yesterday, one of the highlights of my life. Sitting by the fireplace on a very cold morning in Greytown, the little town where we had bought a house for our mom and dad and she was crying and I said, ”Mom, what’s wrong?” She said, ”It’s not the same anymore.” In that beautiful Scottish brogue. “It’s nae the same anymore, Angus.” “Why mom?” She said “Things are different.” What had happened was I had given my life to Christ a few weeks before, myself, my wife, Jill and my children and straight away there was a blockage. Oh, I got on my knees and I started to weep with my mother. I said, "Mom, don’t you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour as well?” She said, "Aye, laddie that would be very good.” At that moment, we prayed the sinner's prayer together. Oh folks, I want to tell you from that day onwards, my mom and I had fellowship every single day. 

Then a while later, the same thing with my dad. He was in hospital. My mom had already gone home to be with Jesus and I said the same thing. ”Dad, don’t you want to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour.” In that Scottish brogue he said, ”Aye, laddie, not before time. It’s time for me to give my life to Christ,” and I led my dad to Christ in front of everybody in that hospital ward and what a hallelujah time we had.

Romans 10:13
“…whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Pray for your loved ones, your children, your parents, your families and leave the rest in God’s capable hands.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 5th of October, 2024 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Ecclesiastes 12:13:

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.”

Very simple, very profound, spoken by the wisest man that has ever lived, next to Jesus Christ, of course. Then I looked this Scripture up in the Amplified Version, this is what it says:

”When all has been heard, the end of the matter is: fear God [worship Him with awe-filled reverence, knowing that He is almighty God] and keep His commandments, for this applies to every person.” 

The only thing in this life that matters at the end of the day, spoken by a man who had every worldly possession that money could buy, he says, in the same book, in Ecclesiastes 2:26:

“This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.” 

That is what it is like when you are trying to do something, trying to make yourself something. You are wasting your time. Fear God, do what He tells you to do. Keep His commandments, for this is the most important thing in life. I heard a young girl, the other day, describing it like this: “Solomon was like a modern rockstar.” He had everything that money could buy. He made Bill Gates look like a poor man, like a pauper but you see, the Bible says in Mark 8:36:

“For what will it profit a man (or a woman) if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” 

Solomon says it is like grasping for the wind. So what is the conclusion for you and me? Number one: Fear God - that means don’t be afraid of Him but you must treat Him with reverence and respect, and most of all, love. Number 2: Keep His commandments. It’s not for God’s sake, it is for your sake and my sake. That is why He wrote them, and then Number 3: This is the ultimate purpose of every man on earth - to worship God, to love Him, to have fellowship with Him, because everything else is going to burn up, everything. So let’s do it God’s way and we will succeed and we will accomplish, and we will be people of significance.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 4th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

Colossians 1:27:
” …Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Our Lord is not a fire escape, something built on the outside of the building, just in case a fire begins in the building. No - It is Christ inside us. That is our security! Now Phillips Brooks put it so beautifully. I want to read it to you: 

”Religion is not the simple fire escape that you build upon the outside of your dwelling in anticipation of a possible danger and leave there until danger comes. No, no, no, no! You go to it some morning when a fire breaks out in your house and the poor old fire escape that you built up there and thought that you could use someday, is so rusty and broken, and the weather had so beaten upon it, and the sun so turned it’s hinges, that it will not work. That is the condition of a man who has built himself what seems a creed of faith, a trust in God in anticipation of the day when the danger is to overtake him and he has said to himself, ”I am safe for I will take refuge in it then.” But religion is the house in which we live; it is the table at which we sit; it is the fireside at which we draw near; the room that arches it’s graceful and familiar presence over us; it is the bed on which we lie and think of the past, anticipate the future, and gather our refreshment.” 

The fire escape is actually on the inside, it’s not on the outside.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 3rd of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 18:21-22:

”Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” 

Wow, the one who hurts us, we have to forgive him. The one who offended us, we have to forgive him. The one who sins against us, we have to forgive. I can hear somebody saying to me right now, ”I can’t do it.” You can and you must. “Why?” you ask. Well, because Jesus did it for you and I.

In the Gospel of Luke 23:34, the Lord Jesus when He was dying on the cross of Calvary He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” We never condone the sin - but we forgive the one who has sinned against us. Some of us might be saying, ”But it’s not fair! Where is the justice in all of this?” Well, on the great day of judgement, our Heavenly Father will deal with it. Justice will be carried out, that is a fact. That’s why the Lord says to you and I, we must pray for our enemies, because every single person will have to give an account of their lives when they go to Heaven. 

When we forgive, it actually benefits us - really, it frees us up. It’s like a 50 kg bag of cement that we’ve been carrying on our backs for years. We lay it down at the cross. We say, ”Lord. I forgive that person for what they did to me.” Maybe it’s adultery, maybe it’s theft, maybe it’s bad using of your name, your reputation. Today, forgive them for what they’ve done to you and move on with your life. You know, some of those people are not even aware that they have offended you or hurt you. Forgive them. I want to pray for you and I want to pray for myself as well. 

Heavenly Father, 

This is a tall order that you’ve asked us today, seventy times seven. We can’t do it Lord, in our own strength, that’s the honest truth, but today we come to the altar and we lay down that offence, that sin that someone has done against us. We lay it down at the altar because we can’t do it Lord and we ask you to take care of it please. You forgave us Lord, give us the strength to forgive others. 

In Jesus name. 
Amen

God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 2nd of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Proverbs 27:17:

”As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” 

We need each other folks. We need each other - there is no way we can do it on our own. Matthew 18:20, Jesus said:

”For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Beautiful encouragement!  Psalm 133, the Lord says where the brethren dwell together in unity, God commands a blessing. Now the family that prays together, stays together and it’s not always easy is it? I know it. Sometimes the children don’t want to pray, they’ve had an argument, they’re not talking to each other. They must pray. It’s a time of getting us together. We pray in the morning, Jill and I, before we get out of bed. We pray for our family. We must pray together. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9 says:

”Two are better than one…”

Verse 10 says if the one falls into a hole, the other one can pull him out - especially when it’s decision making. In our house, I’m the accelerator and Jill is the handbrake. Oh folks, I don’t know how many times I would have got into a massive hole. If that wife of mine says, ”Just hang on a minute, Angus, let’s just pray about this thing that you want to do,” there are no one-man shows here at Shalom. We are a team, we work as team and when we work as a team, then we are effective. 

When you look at sport, whether it be rugby or football or hockey, you’ll find that the team that always wins the match is not full of superstars, no, just good solid players that when they work together, they’ll beat any team full of individuals. Why did Jesus send out the disciples two by two? For that same reason, so that we can look after each other and protect each other.

Today remember, we need each other, let’s spend time together.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 1st of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Genesis 18:17:

“And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,…?” 

Abraham spent a lot of time with the Lord. The Lord was about to obliterate Sodom and Gomorrah off the face of the earth, but first He warned His servant, Abraham, about what was to happen because Abraham spent time in communion with the Lord. We need to spend time with God if we want to hear His still small voice speaking to us. 

I read a beautiful little quotation from an anonymous writer who said, “Abraham in communion with God knew long before Lot in Sodom, of the destruction of that city. Oh for more communion, spent time with the Lord.” If we look at the Book of Acts 9:25:

“Then the disciples took him (that is Paul, the Apostle) by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket.”

When God is directing our operations, we are safe. The Jews were trying to kill Paul and so the disciples let him out of the city in a basket which they lowered down from the city wall. God always makes a way out for those who know Him. One of my favourite scriptures is Daniel 11:32:

”…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”

Many years ago, I was preaching in a large stadium in Kwazulu-Natal. I made an outrageous statement. The farmers had been warned, especially the marginal farmers - “Don’t plant your crops because it is not going to rain, el Nino is on its way.” I was so angry that day on that platform, I said, “To hell with el Nino.” I wasn’t swearing, I actually meant it. “I am going back to the farm to plant potatoes!” Now, I didn’t do it because I wanted to be a hero. I did it because God wanted me to make that statement to encourage the poor people to have faith and plant their crops, otherwise they were going to eat nothing. And the rest, of course, we know, is history. God gave me a crop of potatoes out of dry land with no irrigation.

Today, trust Jesus and He will show you what to do. 
God bless you and goodbye.