Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 30th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Luke 19:13:

“So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.”

Are you doing business for the Lord today or are you just playing it safe? You see, that was a parable that Jesus told the people. The man that he gave one mina to, went and he multiplied his minas, and the Lord was very pleased with him when he came back (the nobleman), the other one did the same but the last one, he said, “No,no…” He was scared he was going to lose that mina so he hid it. What did the Lord do? He took the mina from the man who had one, and he gave it to the man who multiplied his mina. Even the people said, “But Lord, that’s not fair,” and the Lord says those who are working hard, those who are using what God has given to them will even be more blessed, and those who are lazy, fearful and will not use what God has given them, even that which they have will be taken away from them and given to others.

I heard a story once about a farmer. A fertiliser representative, or maybe a herbicide representative; I don’t know. Maybe he was an Extension Officer. He drove onto the farm to come and see the farmer and he saw the farmer sitting on the porch drinking coffee. And he said to him, “How is the farm going?” And he said, “No, not very well.” 

So the Extension Officer said, “Why not?” He said, “I haven’t planted any potatoes this year”, and the Extension Officer said, “Why did you not plant any potatoes?” 

“Because they told me there was going to be a lot of blight and the potatoes wouldn’t grow too well.”

He said, “I see your maise fields are barren. There is no maise growing there.”  

“No, they told me that this year there is going to be a drought so I decided not to plant any maise.”

“I see you have got no green fodder for your cattle.” 

“No, I have sold off all my cattle because they said to me, this year it is going to be very, very dry.” 

And as a result, the farmer was sitting on his porch, drinking his coffee and quietly going bankrupt. 

I want to say to a young man, a young woman today, use what you have got for the Lord and He will multiply it. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33:

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Do not depend on what the politician says, or what the weather predictions say, or man’s opinion. Seek the Lord and then go for it with all of your heart and the Lord will multiply it for you. I have experienced that in my own life many, many times. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 29th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Luke 19:2-3:

”Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature."

He was a very short man but I want to say something to you today. Maybe you’re short. Short physically, maybe you are short of education, maybe you just haven’t had a very good break in life, short of opportunities. Well, I want to talk to you about Zacchaeus. You see, God always compensates. That’s what I’ve found in my life. He never lets you come short if you put your trust in Him alone. He did it for me.

Zacchaeus was a very determined, small man. There are some men that are big who are very slack. They don’t try, they don’t really make an effort. They feel they don’t have to, but he was short and maybe he was always left behind. So he became determined in his character. He was a feisty man. I love watching rugby, and normally, the most feisty man on the field is the scrum-half.  He normally is the smallest man on the field, but I want to say to you, that doesn’t mean to say he is the least. He is the link man and sometimes the most important man on the field. Well, this little man Zacchaeus was not going to be lost in the crowd, so he made a plan. He climbed up a sycamore tree and what happened? Jesus saw him. There weren’t any others up the tree. He saw him. He said, ”I’m coming to your house today.” How would you like the Son of God to come to your house today and have a meal with you? He was a chief tax collector, a thief and Jesus came to his house. Zacchaeus invited all his friends to come and join with him.

You know, if you’re a football fan, there’s a man by the name of Lionel Messi, he plays for Argentina. He is 1.7m tall and weighs a mere 67 kgs. At the age of 10 years old, he had a growth hormone deficiency. He has now become a giant in soccer in the world. Anybody who knows anything about soccer knows who Lionel Messi is.

I want to say to you today, don’t despise your situation. Look up to Jesus and He will see you. Not only will He see you, He will equip you and He will use you mightily. Put your trust in Him, look to Him, give Him all your cares and let Him do the work. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day today,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 28th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Exodus 1:1:

”Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household…”

Then we go straight to the Gospel of Mark 3:33-35:

”But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” 

I want to talk to you this morning about family. The first people that left Canaan and went down to Egypt were a family. Now Jesus was teaching and a messenger came and said, ”Your family is waiting outside to see you.” And He said, ”Who are My family?”

I want to say to you that spiritual ties are more important than biological ties. I am a family man myself, I’m very proud of my family, I’m proud of my roots, but I want to tell you, I met my real family when I gave my life to Jesus Christ. He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Do you know, we are in our sixth year of doing the thought for today? Some of you have been my family for six years and I’ve never seen you.

I want to tell you a little story. I went down to the spares department in a garage a couple of days ago to get a spare part. I walked out of the garage, said goodbye to everybody, got into my pickup and a young man came up to me. He walked up and his eyes were shining and his face was smiling. What a beautiful smile he had! He came up to me and he said, ”Baba Angus, I just wanted to shake your hand.” Now “baba” in Zulu means “father” and I said, ”And what is your name?” And he said, ”My name is Lethle.” “And where do I know you from, young man?”  “No, no,“ He said, ”this is the first time I’m meeting you.” He said, ”But I get your message every single morning and as far as I’m concerned, you are like a father to me.” I looked at this young man and I saw the love of Christ in his heart and we were able to pray together. I felt like I knew that young man better than some distant family members that I have never seen or heard from for years.

Today, maybe you are an orphan. Today, maybe you don’t have any biological family, but I want to tell you, if you know Jesus Christ, open your eyes and your ears, you have family all over the world. I’m your family, and every single day I meet with you, remember, I’m the friend that you need.

Have a beautiful day and remember, you are a member of a huge family!
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 27th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Luke 18:38:

And he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Then we go down to verse 41.

Jesus said to him: “What do you want Me to do for you?”

He said, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” “And immediately he received his sight,…”

Today I received a letter which has touched me very deeply. Obviously, without using the actual people’s names, for privacy, I need to read this letter to you because it has blessed me immensely. This is how the letter goes, it says:

“Dear Uncle Angus,

It has taken me some time, eight years in fact, to write you this letter. My wife and I grew up in God-fearing homes. We loved the Lord and we believed that the ideal family is a husband and wife and children, but once we got married and we had to work hard on our careers, we postponed having a family.” 

But when they got into their thirties, they say that they were trying to have a child and she could not fall pregnant. So they decided to go to a huge prayer meeting held in Bloemfontein. That prayer meeting had approximately 1.4 million people attending. In the middle of the meeting, I said, “I feel there are people here who cannot have babies and can you please stand up.” 

At first, he said he was hesitant, not because he doubted but because of the hundreds of thousands of eyes upon you - it is not easy to stand up, but praise God for the women! His wife stood up, pulled him up and the two of them stood there and prayed with me that they were going to have a baby. This is after going to many doctors and they said, “You are not going to have a baby because you can’t.” But we can do all things through Christ Jesus! Apparently, on the morning of 6th of August 2017, his wife called him in a shrill voice. He thought a snake was in her bed. They live in Johannesburg and he knew it wasn’t a snake and she stood there and she said, “I am pregnant!” Praise be to God! He has told me that they now have 4 children and he has given me the dates and the names, and I just had to share that with you today, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. (Hebrews 13:8)

Trust the Lord for your miracle!
God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 26th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Gospel of Luke 18:1:

“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,…” 

Then we go to Matthew 7:7 and this is what it says:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” 

Do not lose heart, never give up. If there is one thing that farming has taught me, it is to not give up, but to be persistent. Sometimes the best crops that I have ever planted started off almost as a disaster. No rain, and then the rain came and the crops grew and I ended up with a bumper crop but that was through persistence in prayer. Don’t lose heart. 

The mother of President Donald Trump was Mary Anne MacLeod. Yes, she was a Scottish lass. She came from the Isle of Lewis on the Hebrides. They tell me that her relatives, two older ladies, were prayer warriors. They prayed for revival to come to the Hebrides. One was blind, the other one was bent in two with arthritis, and they prayed and prayed and prayed and what happened? Yes, revival came to the Hebrides. But I wander too if their prayers didn’t influence Mary Anne MacLeod when she immigrated and went to America and eventually she became the mother of the current President of the United States, President Donald Trump! The prayers of two old ladies! That was long before Donald Trump was ever born. 

I want to say to you that we need to pray persistently for that prodigal son, prodigal daughter, for that business, for that future, and not to give up because Jesus tells us the story that a reason that the judge (if you read on from the Scripture I gave you) listened to that widow, wasn’t even because she was a Christian. It was because she persevered and did not give up.

Today, keep praying and let Jesus do the rest.
God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 25th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 23:12:

“And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Then we go to Luke 18:14:

”…everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The same scripture in two different gospels. I think the Lord is telling us something this morning. If you want to be first, you must be prepared to be last. If you want to be the greatest, you must be prepared to be the least. You see, it is the Lord that does the promotion, not you, not me. 

I want to tell you a little story. Many years ago, I had the privilege of doing a tour of Great Britain. I was preaching all over the place. I was a young man. I was full of energy. I would do Sunday services, mid-week services, and I was invited to this tea party on a weekday morning. I wasn’t too keen to go. I don’t like cucumber sandwiches and tea and making small talk, but you see, I was about to be humbled. That’s right! I arrived at this place. It was very special. There were a lot of senior people there. They were well dressed, and the man that had invited me said, “I want to introduce you to someone”, and he introduced me to this man. We will call this man John, and that is how he was introduced.

“This is John and John, this is Angus.” And John was a man who held himself very upright, very fit, very disciplined. I would put him at a man probably in his seventies. He was wearing gumboots so I presumed he was a farmer. I said to him, “Sir, what is your profession?”

And he said to me in the King’s English, “I am a soldier.” 

“A soldier?” 

“Yes Angus, and I have come specially today to listen to you, but I might have to pop out before the end of the meeting, so please forgive me, but I am very excited.”

Anyway, the service started and the meeting started. I got up and I preached and just towards the end of the meeting, he was standing at the back of the hall, a big tall man with his gumboots on, and he waved to me, so he didn’t cause any trouble and he slipped out of the back door. After the meeting was over, a gentleman came up to me. He said, “Angus, you see that man that left just before the end of the meeting?” I said, “Yes”., He said, “Do you know who he was?” I said, “No, he told me he was a soldier.” He said, “That man is the Commander General of the NATO armed forces of Europe and he reports directly to the Queen of England.”

Oh my friend, today be very careful who you speak to. Don’t be too quick to sprout off what you can do and what you have done. Just keep humble.

God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 24th of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Psalms 32:8.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

Then we go to Psalm 34:11:

“Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” 

Fear of the Lord - meaning reverence, respect. I want to say to you today, we need to listen to old people. I am talking to young men and young women. They will show you where the potholes are in the road. They will show you about the cul-de-sacs, the one-way streets that you go down, having to turn around and go back again, wasting valuable time. They will show you the right direction. Remember, shortcuts are not always the quickest way home. A lot of young people don’t understand that. I was one of them and it cost me dearly, many times.

When I go into the rural areas of Africa, one thing that has always amazed me and endeared these precious people to my heart is that they have a great respect for age. You will go into a village where they don’t have much and there will be an old man there with white hair and when he wants to talk to the people, they will gather around him in one of the huts and they will put a chair in the middle of the room, and they will all sit around him and listen to his advice. 

Folks, we need to understand something. We think we are clever - we are not that clever. If we had to do away with cell phones, iPads, one that I am using at the moment, and computers, some young people are struggling with basic arithmetic! Take away that calculator and they cannot add a simple sum together. They need to calculate, but an old person doesn’t need that. My wife, Jill’s dad, was an incredible mathematician. He could take his pen and run from the top to the bottom, six figures, and add them all up without making a mistake! We battle to get one column together and get it right. We need to respect older people.

You know, Thomas? We always call him “doubting Thomas” I want to stand up for Thomas today. Thomas always enquired of the Lord. I don’t think he was a doubter, I think he just wanted to know. He said in John 14:5-6:

“Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way,…”

Today, don’t despise and don’t have little patience for senior people. They have so much information and so much wisdom to give you. Just give them a chance to talk to you, and most of all, the greatest of all, Jesus Christ Himself, He is waiting to hear from you today. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 23rd of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Luke 17:20-21. Jesus said:

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” 

The Kingdom of God is not found in a place. I have been to Israel, and I want to tell you it is an amazing place. There is no doubt about it. My favourite place is Peter’s Landing, which is on the shores of Lake Galilee, you know, where Jesus asked the disciples, “Have you caught any fish?” But Gethsemane is another amazing place. But that is not where the Kingdom of God is, according to Jesus. It is not found by listening to an incredible orchestra playing The Messiah, it is not found in a powerful church service. It is found within you, it is found within me. That's where the Kingdom of God is. That is what the Master said. 

Peter, the apostle, experienced the Kingdom of God in prison when those gates were flung open and those shackles were miraculously taken off his feet and his arms. Daniel experienced the Kingdom of God in a lion’s den, when those lions could not eat him. By the way, when they took Daniel out and they put the accusers in, they were eaten immediately. The Kingdom of God was found in a grave when Lazarus was raised from the dead.

I want to tell you that the Kingdom of God is within you. Take time out. That is why Jesus spent a lot of time on His own with His Heavenly Father. The Kingdom of God needs to be cultivated in your quiet time room, early in the morning. The Kingdom of God is found when you allow the Holy Spirit to speak into your life, and that takes time, sitting in the presence of God. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 22nd of August 2025, and this is your friend,  Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Genesis 47:3:

“Then Pharaoh said to his brothers (Joseph’s brothers), “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.”

Then verse 6:

"And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

We need not to despise our occupation or our profession. If you are a doctor, be the best doctor you can be for Jesus. I have heard of doctors who have gone into rural areas where people are struggling with their eyes, and all it is, is cataracts. They take those cataracts out of the eyes, (apparently, it is not a major operation) and all of a sudden, people who were basically blind, can see. That is a sermon that has got more power and impact than any preaching I have ever heard. The people just want to know, “Who is your God, because we want to serve Him.” Use your occupation or your profession for the advantage of telling people about Jesus.

I want to tell you about one of my best friends. He lives in Zambia. His name is Brian Oldridge. Now, Brian has got more invitations to go around the world preaching than any evangelist I know of, and what does he do? He shows people how to grow food, especially when they don’t have tractors and they don’t have fancy implements - just by using a mere hoe, and just the very basic giftings that God has given to each one of us and He is so popular and of course, that is his in-road to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What was Jesus? What was His occupation? Yes, He was a carpenter. He was not a great internationally famous evangelist, He was a carpenter. Oh, but what a carpenter! What was Paul? He was a tent-maker by occupation. What was Peter? Peter was a fisherman by trade. I heard someone say, “Preach the Gospel with all your heart and if you really have to, then use words.” Preach the Gospel using your profession, your talent, your gifting from God, and that will open a door for you to tell people about your beloved Saviour. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 21st of August, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Mark 6:31-32:

”And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.” 

We are getting too busy!

I’m going to tell you something, it’s laughable, but it’s actually very true. Very rarely have I ever heard the Lord speak to me personally, in my heart, so clearly. One day, He said to me, ”Angus, your busyness is making Me tired.” Can you imagine God saying that to you? I’m telling you, in my heart, ”Your busyness is making Me tired.”

I want to say to you on a serious note today, my dear friend, we’ve got to stop doing and we’ve got to start being. Stop doing and start being! You can’t earn your way to heaven. You know that. You need to start being. Mom, Dad, I want to say something to you very seriously today. Your child does not want what you can buy them, does not want what you can do for them, they actually want time with you. Don’t go down that line and say, ”No, well I have to do this because I want to send them to the best school. I want to buy them the best vehicle. I want to give them the best …no! They want time with you. At the end of the day, that is what they want.

At the end of the day, Jesus wants time with you and me. You see, Jesus does not need you, He doesn’t need me. I mean, He can say one word and raise the dead. He can say one word and part an ocean. What He wants is time with us. He created us for fellowship, that is what He wants. I want to say to you today, rekindle that first love before the fire goes out!

On the farm here in our little house, we make fires. We make fires to warm us. We have a coal stove and we make fires so that we can cook our food on the stove. We know how to make fires. You’ve got to coax a fire. When you start a fire, you don’t just throw a whole lot of wood on top, otherwise the fire goes out. You coax it, you gentle it, and when that flame is burning brightly, then you add fuel to the fire. You need to spend time with Jesus.

God bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye