I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 1st of October, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in 1 Corinthians 15:55:

“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, (that’s hell) where is your victory?” 

Then we go straight to Luke 23:43:

”And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” 

Today, you will be with Me in heaven. O Death, where is your sting? I want to say to you, today I have no fear of dying, and I really mean that because even Paul said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is but gain.” You cannot frighten a Christian with heaven, can you? Death has lost it’s sting. Remember the two criminals were hanging on the cross, either side of Jesus? The one was negative, ‘If you are the Son of God, why don’t You save Yourself and us too?” But the other one said, “Why do you pick on this Man? He has done nothing wrong. Lord, please remember me in paradise.” He said, “Today you will be with me in heaven.”

I want to really say to you today, if you are doubting, please do not doubt, because the word of God is accurate. A very dear family friend of ours, a nursing sister and a wonderful woman of God, her name is Daphne, and she told my wife, Jill and I, that she can go into a ward where there is somebody lying there dying and they are unbelievers. That ward is full of fear, of anger, of gnashing of teeth, of blasphemy as that person dies, going literally to hell, because they do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Way. 

She said then she can go into another ward where one of the children of God is starting to breathe their last, she said it is like a fragrance in that room. It is peaceful, it is full of love and that person has got a nice smile on their face and saying, “Soon and very soon, I am going to dine with the King of Glory.

Where do you stand today? You might say, “Angus, is there any hope for me?” Oh yes, there is! “What do I have to do to have eternal life?” Simply the same thing as the one criminal did. “Lord, remember me when You get to heaven.” He acknowledged Jesus Christ as the King of Kings. Pray this prayer after me:

Lord, 

Today I acknowledge You as the only true and living God,

Amen.

Have a wonderful day, Jesus bless you,
Goodbye.

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

We go to the word of God, 1 Corinthians 16:9:

“For a great effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

The Lord never promised you or me a rose garden - no, no, not at all. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we must take the full package, and that sometimes involves a lot of adversity. "A great and effective door has been opened to you." Now that happened to me in 2009, here on the Shalom Farm for the first time in my life, I saw with my own eyes over 120,000 men gathered to worship God, not people, men!

I will never forget, we had a rotary platform so that I could walk full circle and the men were seated all the way around the platform. It was an amazing event, a great and effective door, something I had been praying for, for many, many years - but with it came adversaries, hard times. I was severely challenged on the Saturday morning, I had preached my heart out, it was very warm and after I had finished the message, I went down the steps, underneath the platform. My older son was finishing up the praise and worship, I was praying for a group of 50 Australian farmers, and then I felt a bit light-headed. I walked out and I collapsed. I had a heart attack. They took me to the house. I never knew that at the time. I came around, they sat me in the garden. My dear wife, Jill, brought me a nice hot cup of sweet tea. I drank half the cup and I collapsed a second time, a second heart attack. With that, they called the helicopter 911, and they cut the fence open. I was lying there, I will never forget, I had an oxygen mask on me and I am saying, “Lord, what is happening?” The greatest moment in my life up to then, and I now can’t even speak. They put me on a stretcher, put me in the helicopter and as the helicopter took off, the pilot just tilted the helicopter a little bit and I could see tens of thousands of hands raised into the sky and the men were praying for me. 

Well, the good news is that when I got to the helipad in Pietermaritzburg, a ten minutes flight but an hour’s drive, the specialist was there to see me. He put me on a treadmill and then after I had been on the treadmill for a while, he took me off the treadmill. He said, “Mr Buchan, there is nothing wrong with you. You can go home.” The next morning, I was preaching my heart out again. Oh look, I had to stop and sit down a few times. I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck but I fully recovered. 

So today, open your heart for the Lord. He has got great and effective doors for you but be prepared for the fight, but remember greater is He who is within you and I than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We start in the Book of Exodus 14:15:

“And the Lord said to Moses,’”Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.”

There’s no reverse gear in the kingdom of God, we are only going forward. There is no future in the past, we are not about to go backwards. Jesus Christ is coming back soon and we need to be going forward when He comes back. No more talking about it. No more double-guessing. Maybe I’m talking to someone today who is between a rock and a hard place. Oh, my dear friend, I know the feeling so well, by the way, so did Moses. Moses was looking at an ocean, the Red Sea before him, and behind him was the most powerful army in the world coming down upon him, and they were very bitter and angry. They had lost the oldest boy in each one of their families. They wanted revenge. 

What could they do? The people cried out to Moses, ”Why have you brought us here? It would have been easier if we’d remained in Egypt as slaves.” Maybe you’re saying that today, ”I shouldn’t have done this. I’ve got myself into a position now. If I’d just stayed the way I was before, I would have been alright.” That’s not the truth and you know it, we’ve got to go forward!

Now we’ve got to do it by two things: Number one, by faith, and number two, by obedience. You see, by faith Moses stretched out his arm with his staff, and the ocean parted, and they walked through it. What you need to do is hear clearly what it is God told you to do at the beginning, and then follow through. Go forward, and then do it by faith and obedience, and the Lord will do the rest.

Hebrews 11:1:

”Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” 

That is what we’ve got to do. We can’t please God without faith, folks. He doesn’t want our good works. He wants us simply to obey Him. 

Verse 6 says:

”But without faith it, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

That’s why the Lord loved Peter so much. There were twelve disciples in the boat. Jesus came walking on the water and Peter said, ”Lord, call me and I’ll come.” The Lord said, “Come!” He stepped out of the boat and he walked on top of the lake of Galilee. Folks, there’s no man in the world that has ever walked on water. Peter did, through faith and obedience. Yes, he started sinking but the Lord was there to pick him out.

Today, look to the Lord and go forward. 
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We start in the Gospel of Luke 23:34:

“Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

The power of forgiveness! When the Lord Jesus, our beloved Saviour, said that statement, He was hanging on a cross. There were crude spikes nailed through His hands and through His feet. He was suffering, He had a crown of thorns rammed onto His head and the blood was flowing, and yet through it all, He could say, “Forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.”

Forgiveness is a very powerful weapon. It is used in order to be set free. It’s a massive paradox. Although the Saviour of the world was nailed to the cross, yet He was totally free. You see, when you forgive someone then you receive freedom, you receive life abundantly. It is very liberating.

I want to tell you a story about one of my dearest friends. He is now in his mid-eighties. He came to see me a week ago, all the way from England with his beloved wife. This man is stone blind. He cannot see anything. He wears hearing aids because he can’t hear too well, he has had two hip replacements, but I have never seen a man so happy, so content with life before. Folks, do you know what happened? When he was a very young man in his early twenties, he went to Uganda. He went there to help the poor and he spent everything he had when he was over there. 

His father was a very wealthy farmer and he said to him, ”If you don’t come back to England I am going to sell the farm.” But while he was in Uganda, he contracted malaria and when he came back to Britain they gave him the wrong dosage of medicine and it made him blind. But I want to tell you, they said, “You can sue the hospital for millions of British pounds.” Do you know what his response was? “No, I forgive them because it was only a mistake. It was never intentional.” That is a giant of the faith. You see, when you don’t forgive, then you have hatred in your heart, revenge, jealousy, but when you forgive, then you have liberty and freedom. Today, forgive that person who has done that thing to you.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name!

It is Saturday morning, the 27th of September, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Exodus 14:13-14:

“And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

What a scripture!

The important part for me of that scripture this morning is, “Stand still.” Stand still and see what Jesus is going to do for you. I don’t know what situation you are in today, my dear friend. Maybe you’ve got a situation in the family where someone is very sick. The Lord says, ”Stand still (after you’ve prayed) and see what the Lord will do.” Do not panic and do not make a plan. I’ve tried many of them. None of them have worked for me. Stand still and see what the Lord will do! 

You know that old saying, caught between a rock and a hard place? That’s exactly where Moses and the Israelites were. They had the mighty ocean, the Red Sea in front of them, and they had the mightiest army in the world chasing them from behind because they had just lost the firstborn child in each one of their families. They wanted revenge, and this nation of Israel had no weapons of defence. All they could do was listen to Moses. He said, ”Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” 

I want to say to you today, stand still. I don’t know how many times in my own life, I’ve come to the end and I’ve said, ”Lord, I can’t do anymore.” He said, ”Stand still and see.” You know my story. You know that fire that was going out of control, heading towards the neighbours pine plantation. If it had got in there, we would have lost our farm because we were not insured and we never had anything like the money to pay for the damage.

I prayed, I got on my knees and I stood still. There was nothing else I could do and the Lord changed the wind! The wind was coming from the north, fanning the fire. It turned, after those prayers and started coming from the south, and the fire went out because it started to rain. Stand still today. It might be a business deal, it might be a huge decision you have to make for your future. The Lord says, ”Do your best then stand still and wait and see what the Lord will do for you.”

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye 

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

We go to the Gospel of Matthew 27:32:

”Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross.” 

Simon of Cyrene came from Africa. He was an African, just like me, but he wasn’t born in Southern Africa, he was born in North Africa. He came from Libya. Simon of Cyrene, just minding his own business, just walking in the streets of Jerusalem and all of a sudden the Roman soldiers got hold of him and said, ”You will carry this man’s cross to Golgotha.”

I want to say to you today, we need to always be ready for whatever God allows to happen to us. What an honour to be able to carry the cross of the Son of God! Irrespective of whether Simon knew it at the time or not, is not the point. He was selected, and he was ready, and he did it. I was told as a young preacher, “Always have a sermon in your top pocket”. We need to be ready in season, and out of season. No good saying, “No, I can’t do it now.” We have to be ready. We are living in perilous times.

I want to tell you a light-hearted story. Many, many years ago, my wife and I were invited to a wedding. We got there late and we just sneaked in the back of the service, and we found two seats right in the back row and we sat there quietly minding our own business, we didn’t want to disturb anything. All of a sudden one of the ushers spotted us, walked up to us and said, ”You need to come to the front, the groom and his party are expecting you.” 

They took us all the way down the aisle, right across the front row, and we were seated right next to the bridal family. I didn’t know what to expect. The service was beautiful. They said their marriage vows, they were proclaimed man and wife and then the MC, the master of ceremonies said, ”We are now going to hear the message, the word of God. Can I please ask Angus Buchan to come to the front and to preach the sermon?” My wife looked at me as if I’d had something to do with it. I looked at her and I said, ”I’ve never heard of this.” Well, I was ready, always ready in season, but what a challenge! I had to get up, congratulate them and then preach my heart out for half an hour. 

Always be ready. Simon of Cyrene was ready to carry the cross of the King of Glory. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye.

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

We go to the Gospel of John 21:9:

“Then as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it and bread.”

Faith has got feet, faith is a doing word, not a noun. A noun is a table or a chair. It can’t move, it can’t do anything, but faith is active. Don’t tell people that you love them, show them that you love them. Now, the Master taught us very well. Remember, after He had been resurrected He was at a place called Peter’s Landing on the Sea of Galilee. It's actually a big lake. It is 21 km long and 13 km wide, and very, very deep and full of fish. The disciples had been fishing all night. Now they were coming to land, and there was the Master, but He wasn’t just standing there. He had already taken time to take flour to make bread, to catch fish, to prepare them on the fire, and He was waiting for them. 

That is what I love about our beloved Jesus. He is not just a talker, He is actually a doer. Now, what about you and I, today. Why don’t we do something and especially for someone who can’t repay us, then we know that our motive is pure. I want to say to the men, why don’t you cook supper tonight? You say, “I don’t cook!” Well you better learn. If Jesus can cook, you can cook too! Why don’t you wash the dishes? Get up a bit earlier and do something for your family. Mow the grass! 

Now ladies, I am not letting you off the hook either. Why don’t you sit down and watch that rugby match with your husband? “I don’t like rugby.” No, he knows you don’t like rugby and that is why I am saying, why don’t you do it? Then he knows you are doing it because you love him and do it joyfully, and don’t forget to shout for the correct team! But jokes aside, let’s start to put our faith into practice, let’s start doing what Jesus would have done. Let’s start helping people physically, not just with a word of encouragement but following up by action.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. 

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

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 26:63-64:

”Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!” “ Jesus said to him,’ It is as you said.”

Then we go to Mark 14:61-62:

”Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus said,” I am.”

Then lastly, Luke 22:70:

”Then they all said,” Are You then, the Son of God?”  So He said to them,” You rightly say that I am.”

I think like never before, my dear friends, we need to be outspoken when it comes to the question, ”Who do you say that He is?”

If you look at Matthew 1:23, Jesus is Immanuel, which translates to “God with us.” He is not, “the man upstairs”, He’s not my mate, He’s not one of many gods. He is the Way. There is no other way. The early Christians were not known as “Christians”. They were known as, “followers of the Way.”

In John 14:6, Jesus says: ”I am the way…” He goes on to say, ”No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Now, that’s a very controversial statement, but if you do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you cannot be a Christian. We need to be very definite about that, and it could cost you a lot. It could cost you your job, it could cost you your popularity, it could cost you a position in a team, just by saying, ”I believe that Jesus Christ is God made flesh.” Folks, when you do say that, that is when the power of God is within you. I can tell you that for a fact. The more outspoken I get about the love of Christ, the more powerful He is within me.

We are not here to criticise other faiths. We don’t have time for that. We are here to speak about our beloved Jesus, who died for us. There is no other faith where their god, that they are following, has professed to be God Almighty, not one. They talk about the son of god. They talk about a disciple of god but Jesus says; “I am the Son of the living God.”

Go out today and comfort people, and tell them that Jesus is your Lord and Saviour and He can be theirs as well. All they have to do is to acknowledge it. 

God bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye.

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

We go to the Book of Job 13:15:

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

Now that is ultimate trust, isn’t it? Then we go to the Book of Romans 1:16:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” 

- not ashamed of the Gospel.

Early on a Wednesday at 5 am, we meet. In the winter in South Africa, it is dark, and we have a group of men who come faithfully and pray every single week. When we were having a prayer meeting, a young man prayed and thanked God for giving him the courage to stand up for Jesus. He said, “I took my family out to a restaurant and we sat together in a large group of people.”  He said, some of the people in that group, he wasn’t sure whether they were Christians or not, so he was debating if they should just eat their food when it arrived or whether they should do what they always do at home, and that is to hold hands and thank the Lord for the food. Well, praise God, he was bold and he said very gently and very respectfully, “Can we give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for our meal?” They all held hands and they prayed in that restaurant a beautiful, gentle, respectful prayer, and the people in that group were very pleased.

We need to be outspoken. There comes a time when we cannot hold it in anymore. On the farm here at Shalom, we have a 30-foot cross to tell the world that we are Christians and we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. At night, it comes on with a time switch and it shines brightly, right through the night until the early morning when the sun comes up. Then the lights go out, but the cross remains. Very near to this farm, there is a tarmac airstrip where a lot of planes land. Many a time, a pilot has told me that on a stormy night when they were struggling to find the airstrip, they saw this cross shining on the hill, and it gave them their bearings, and I think it gave them a lot of strength and courage as well. You and I need to shine brightly in a world at the moment that is totally lost and has no direction.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

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

We go to the Gospel of Matthew 26:75:

“So he went out and wept bitterly.”

Oh, what a sad verse that is! The man that Jesus was grooming to take over the leading of the church promised the Master that he would stay with Him to the end and never let Him down. The Lord said, “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” You and I need to be very, very careful before we make that statement or that decision. 

Young man, don’t make idle promises. Don’t promise that young lady that you will marry her and then, at the last moment, change your mind. It can destroy a woman. Young lady, don’t lead on that man and make all kinds of promises only to leave him and marry someone else. When you make a decision with your partner to go into business, make sure you don’t drop the ball. 

Yes, Jesus forgives, we know that, praise God. I know that maybe better than most of you, and if we repent and say sorry He forgives us, but the scar remains. That is a fact. If we go to the Book of Colossians 1:9, this is what Paul says:

“For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;…”

We need to ask the Lord to give us direction before we make a commitment. My brother was a golf professional when he was a young man. He is actually a preacher today, and he couldn’t get to church on a Sunday morning because that was his busiest day playing golf, but every now and again, if it was a rainy day or whatever, he would go to church with his family, and the minister, when he left the church would shake hands and say to him, “Oh, so good to see you. I am going to come and have a cup of tea with you one of these days”. And he never ever came, and that upset my brother a lot and disappointed him. Rather don’t say it, than say like Peter said, “I will be with you till the end”, only to deny Him three times. Peter loved Jesus. That is why he was there. He didn’t run away but when the crunch came he didn’t come through with it. Don’t do that today!

Father God,

I want to pray for my friend who is listening to this message right now, 

Lord, that they would think before they speak, 

Lord, that they would really think it over before they make a decision, and once they have made that decision, Lord, give them the courage to fulfil it.

In Jesus name, amen.
God bless you and goodbye.