Thought For Today

They ridiculed Jesus.

That same statement is made in all three gospels, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke. To be ridiculed means to be mocked or to be laughed at.

With one accurate slingshot that young boy dropped the mightiest warrior in the Philistine army! What is that giant in our lives today?

Oh, that is why I love Jesus so much - I was a sinner, I was going nowhere very fast and so was Mary…

Father God looks into the heart of a person and not at his outward appearance. I remember years ago, preaching down in the Eastern Cape, an old farmer came up to me, “Son”, he said, “preach to us so that we can see you.” I had to work that one out, but he wanted to see my heart.

My old dad was an absolute stickler about food. We could take as much food as we wanted on our plates when we were children but the golden rule was that we had to eat it all and waste nothing.

We need to develop the relationship we have between Jesus and ourselves. Maybe you are lying in a hospital bed, maybe you are sitting in a prison or maybe you are driving a tractor in a field.

I come from Central Africa, that is where I originated from and when I came down and bought my farm in Zululand, the Zulu culture was very foreign to me. For example, I would give one of my workers something in my left hand (because I happen to be left-handed), but it is an offence. In Zulu culture, you never give a person something in your left hand - you always give it to them in your right hand.

I remember many years ago, in the '90s, coming back from a trip where I had been preaching in Britain. I had been there for three months, away from Jill and the kids and when I came back, I hit a downer. I had never experienced it before - All of a sudden everybody was carrying on and I just seemed to be a passenger on the farm.

I think it was the great evangelist Billy Graham who once said: “One day, you will read in the newspapers that Billy Graham died. Don’t believe a word of it - I have merely changed my address.”

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal towards Him.”