Thought For Today

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

We go to the Book of Proverbs 18:24:

”A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” 

We really need friends in this day and age, don’t we? We can’t do it on our own. It’s no good saying, ”No, I’ll just do it my way.” Don’t do that, we need friends to help us. If there’s two of us, one gets stuck in the hole, the other one can always pull him out but if he’s on his own, he can’t.

Early this morning before the sun came up, I was cycling on my mountain bike and I saw a light in the distance coming towards me and it was my dear friend. This friend is very special to me. He was coming out and I was coming back. We stopped and we had a prayer meeting on the road, so much so that one of the neighbours came past in his pick-up and he thought maybe we were in trouble. We said, ”No, no, we are just having a prayer meeting. Would you like to join us?” But he was in a rush, a young man going to work, but we started to talk and you know folks, I want to say something to you, a burden shared is a burden halved. 

We are of the same age group and we started talking about different things - physical things, sore backs, sore knees. We spoke about family issues and we just spent about five or ten minutes together and then he prayed for me and I prayed for him and I want to tell you, it just brightened my day completely, and soon as I got back to my prayer room, I just had to tell you about this.

Sometimes we go to an old age home and you see an old lady or an old gentleman sitting there all by themselves and you feel, “Where is their family? Why is their family not visiting them?” But folks, you don’t know that old person. Maybe that old person is not friendly, maybe that old person doesn’t want anybody to visit them, which is so sad. Don’t be like that today. There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. His name is Jesus Christ. He is my friend. When I’m in trouble, I call upon Him. When I’m happy, I call upon Him. When I have tremendous needs, I call upon Him for wisdom, for advice, for counsel. Don’t neglect your friendship. Remember, a man who has friends must himself, be friendly. Go out today and make a new friend but don’t forget about Jesus Christ. He’s the best friend you could ever ask for. 

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 31st of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of John 19:30:

”…He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

“Tetelestai” -  It means, “It is finished”. The job has been done, the mission has been accomplished, the obligation has been met, the debt has been paid in full!

You know, I went to a restaurant one day with my dear wife. We had a lovely meal together and then I called the waitress and said, ”Can you bring the bill?” She came up and said, ”Sir, it has already been fulfilled, it’s been paid.” I said, ”I don’t believe it!”, She said, ”Yes.” I said,” Well, who paid it?” She said, ”People who have left the restaurant twenty minutes ago.” I could hardly comprehend the goodness and the love of those folk. Paid - you don’t have to pay anything, and you keep wanting to put your hand into your pocket and bring out your wallet to pay but it’s paid!

It’s like a bird that’s been in a cage for some years. You open the gate of that cage to let that bird out and the bird just sits there for a long time trying to comprehend that it is free, and then when it eventually realises it’s free, it goes out of that cage and it flies away. 

My dear friend, you are free. Jesus said it and He meant it. All we need to do today is two things: Number one is to believe it, and number two is to receive it and then walk out because your sins have been paid for in full by our beloved Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. The last thing He said was, ”It is finished!” He bowed His head and He gave up His spirit.  What a beautiful, mighty, gracious, compassionate God we serve! Go free, your sins have been paid. 

God bless you and goodbye.

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

We go straight to the Gospel of Mark 9:40. Jesus says:

”For he who is not against us is on our side.”

Then we go to John 18:38:

”Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.”

In fact he said that twice. He said it again in John 19:4:

“I find no fault in Him”.

He who is not against us is on our side.

We need to be very careful that we don’t judge people. Pontius Pilate was an infidel. He was a Roman governor. He had more compassion for Jesus than the Pharisees and the Chief Priests. In fact, he tried to defend Him. Always keep the door wide open. I’m talking to a lady who’s stressing because her husband does not want to pray the sinner's prayer with her. Keep the door open. He will come through, just keep praying for him. 

I’m praying for that young girl. Mom and dad are pulling their hair out. She just does not want to know about the Lord. Well, she’s not against the Lord. She just feels, she doesn’t need the Lord, at the moment. Keep the door wide open, she’ll come home just like the Prodigal Son. Never judge a book by it’s cover. What does that mean? Well, it might have a very nice cover on the outside and be quite boring on the inside. However, it might have a plain cover and be exciting inside.

I want to tell you a little story. A very good friend of mine, Allan Kruger,  was the manager of the huge Kings Park Rugby Stadium. I approached him to book that stadium for the very first big event we ever had, and when I came into his office, he was flat out so busy organising Michael Jackson coming and all kinds of people and he didn’t seem to have too much time for me. He was trying to be kind but he was busy. Well, I want to tell you something now, eventually I persuaded him to hire it to us and then he said, ”Do you realise what’s involved? You’re going to have to have a disaster management committee.” He brought out a heap of forms. He said, ”But on second thoughts, I’ll handle that for you.” He said then, ”Do you realise that you have to have your lighting system?” I said, ”Yes.” He said, “Well, I’ll do that for you.” And he just went on and on. You know that that man organised everything for us. Yes, and he wasn’t a Christian, as per se, but on the big night when it was all over, I stood with Allan Kruger on the twenty-two metre line of that rugby field, and the two of us prayed the sinner’s prayer together. Never ever judge a book by its cover. Jesus says, ”He who is not against us is on our side.”

God bless you and goodbye. 

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

We start in the Book of Psalms 51:17:

”The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.”

Then we go to the Book of Joel 2:13:

”So rend your heart, and not your garments;…”

The Lord wants our heart, not our possessions. He wants us, not what we can do for Him. He doesn’t need anything from us. He formed the universe with one word. What can we give Him? He says, “a contrite heart”. Now “contrite” means sorry for something you have done. If you look at Psalm 51, that is the Psalm after Nathan, the prophet, came to David and exposed David for his adultery. He had an affair with Bathsheba, who was not his wife. She was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s choice generals, and then David killed him in order to try and cover up his tracks and it failed miserably. What is the difference between David and maybe you and me today? The difference is, David knew how to say, “sorry”. He knew how to rend his heart and not his garments.

Today, my dear friend, I don’t know what is troubling you. Maybe there is something in your life which you are so ashamed of, you’ve made a mistake and you don’t know the way out. Quite simply, go to the Lord today and say, “Lord I am terribly sorry for what I have done”. He will forgive you. He has promised us that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9. Just say, “sorry”.

A lot of suicides take place because a young person has made a mistake and they have no one to go and confide in, and they are too ashamed to go to their parents, and so they take their lives. Please don’t do that. Go and speak to somebody and say, ”Listen, I’ve made a terrible mistake. What must I do?” And you know, confession frees us. The devil doesn’t want you to do that. He wants to hold you captive. He doesn’t want you to tell anybody about the mistake you made, but the Lord says, “Rend your heart”. Open your heart and don’t try and cover it up with other things.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye. 

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

We start in the Gospel of Mark 8:2:

”I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.” 

Jesus was a kind person, Jesus is a kind person. Then 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.” 

Jesus had prepared a meal for His disciples on the shores of Lake Galilee, after His resurrection. He was concerned for the well-being of His disciples, even though they had run away and left Him - a kind man. “Compassion” means sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings of other people. Oh, my dear friend, we need to become kinder in this world. You know it’s one of the fruits of the Spirit. Yes, you’ll find that in Galatians 5:22. Kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit.

Just the other night, I was watching the news on the television. BBC World News said that when they interviewed little children all over Britain, the watchword for 2025 was kindness. “Little children, what is the most important word for you?” Kindness, I wonder why? Oh man, my eyes filled with tears. Why would the little child say kindness? Maybe because there’s a lack of kindness in the world we live in today.

You know, I love horses, I think you know that. Horses are beautiful animals. I can look into the eye of a horse and I can tell you whether that horse is a kind horse, and I’m very serious about it, or maybe he’s impatient, angry, uptight, self-centred, but a soft, kind eye in a horse is something that I look for very carefully before I will ride him.

I want to tell you a little story, maybe you’ve heard it before but it’s worth listening to again. A young pastor, many years ago, told me here in Greytown that he was studying theology in Scotland. He and his young wife were walking down the high street on a very cold, windy, wintry day, and they saw this beautiful little home, and the door was wide open. There was a bunch of flowers on the table and they walked in and this kind old lady walked out and said, ”Can I help you?” “Yes please, can I have some tea and scones?” She said, ”No problem. Please be seated.” And she started to prepare them. They were fresh and they could smell them cooking. They did get a bit impatient because she took such a long time. Eventually, she came out with fresh tea, hot scones buttered with strawberry jam and cream and when they’d finished their meal they stood up and they said to her, ”Madam, how much do we owe you?” And she looked surprised. She said, ”No, this is a private home. You don’t owe me anything.” That is kindness.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We go to the Gospel of Mark 9:5:

”Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”

That was the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord spoke to His Heavenly Father and also to Moses and Elijah. Peter, James and John must have stood there with their mouths wide open, not believing what they were seeing. It was so amazing that they did not want to go back down into the valley, where all the trouble is, and the pain and all the suffering and the misunderstanding. Have you ever had a mountain-top experience? Oh yes, I have as well, and you just don’t want to come back down, do you? You just want to stay up there. You know, I am a mountain man, I love the mountains. My dear wife, Jill, loves the sea, and often we have a little giggle together. I say, “Jill, I love the mountains”, and she says, “Oh, but I love the sea.” And then I say, “Jill, Jesus never went down to the sea to pray!” But we cannot live on top of the mountain. We have got to go back down to the valley. We have got to roll up our sleeves. We have got to deal with things in our home, in our workplace. We have got to get involved. 

Moses went up the mountain, that’s right, he went to Mount Sinai and he got orders from the Lord. He got the Ten Commandments and then he came back down again into the valley to deliver Jesus’ message to the people. That mountain doesn’t literally have to be a physical mountain. It’s your closet, it is your quiet time place, it is where you spend time with Jesus every day. 

There is a thing called “extempore preaching”. I looked up the Oxford Dictionary. The word “extempore” means done without preparation, and to extemporise means to make something up as you go along. Now I am not arguing with the Oxford Dictionary but the great preachers would preach extempore preaching. In other words, they would take one verse out of the Bible, like Romans 1:17: “The just shall live by faith”  -  and they would preach on that for up to an hour and even longer. The young people would admire them and think they could do the same but what they didn’t realise was that these great preachers had spent hours in their quiet time room getting the message into their spirit man and then simply go out  into the open and deliver it to the people.

Today, spend time up the mountain and then you will not make so many mistakes when you have to buy that new motorcar, or you have to sell that house, or you have to go to university, or go to trade school, or get married. Spend time on the mountain first. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 26th of January, 2025 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of Luke 9:26. This is Jesus speaking:

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.” 

Are you ashamed to tell people that you are a Christian? Well, the Lord says very clearly, “If you are ashamed of Me, I will be ashamed of you.” You see, when Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary for your sins and my sins, He hung on that tree, He was naked but He was not ashamed to die for you, young lady. Why are you so secretive of the One that you love? It is time for us to speak out about our faith. He has never made you ashamed of Him, He has never done anything to bring any disrespect to you. He is the only one who is pure, without spot or blemish, has never, ever sinned for the whole time He walked on this earth, for 33 years.

Many years ago, I was privileged to go to that beautiful Emerald Isle. Yes, I am talking about Ireland, and my dear friend, Andy, took me to a maximum security prison. These are very sad places. There were men who were put into that jail for life, and they called the prisoners out into an open area. I remember it was tarmac and I had plenty of room to speak to them. They were standing on the one side of this huge wall and I was standing in the middle, and after I had finished preaching, I said, “I want to give you the opportunity and the privilege of acknowledging Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour publicly, not secretively. I want you to walk across this wall, (it was about maybe 20 or 30 metres) and I want you to come across here and get on your knees, and repent before God. And I don’t want anybody to close their eyes or slip their finger up, acknowledging the Lord.” 

I waited and waited and then they started coming. Some of these were tough, hardened men, some of them weeping, and they knelt on that tarmac floor and they gave their lives to Christ openly. But what shook me more than anything, there was a man there. I don’t know if he was a resident pastor, a man of the cloth, a clergyman. He had been to university and studied theology. He started to walk on his own, right across that floor, and got on his knees and repented before God. He said to me afterwards, when I said, “I was so impressed by what you did”, he said, “That was the first time in my life that I made a public confession of my faith in front of everybody. Thank you.”

Go out today and tell three people that you are not ashamed of Jesus Christ.

God bless you and goodbye. 

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

We start off in the Book of Hosea 8:14:

“For Israel has forgotten his Maker,…”

Then we go straight to the Book of Ephesians 2:10:

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” 

God does not make junk! No, He doesn’t. It does not matter what you feel about yourself today. You might feel that you are no good, you are not going to make it, you messed up and that is over - not at all! God made you, Himself. That is what He says. He says that you are His handiwork. He has created you and I beforehand, that we should walk in that. We really need to understand something - we are not created by ourselves. God created us. Colossians 1:27:

“…Christ in you, (and in me) the hope of glory.” 

It is Christ in us - that is why we can say Philippians 4:13 says:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Now, I can hear what you are saying. You are saying, “No, but I made a mistake and I am done.” No, not at all. If you look at the history in the Bible, you will see that God had a habit of using men and women who blew it, who messed up, but what they did was, they repented, they said sorry and got back into the fight. 

I am talking about Moses. Moses was a murderer. He killed the slave-driver in Egypt. King David, he did the same thing. He messed up, he took another man’s wife. He was an adulterer and then he murdered her husband to try and cover his tracks. He wasn’t a good man. Peter, the big fisherman, he was a foul-mouthed man, he was arrogant. God used him and God uses ordinary people right through history to do His work for Him. God loves you and He wants to use you.

Now, stand up, dust yourself off and say sorry and get back into the fight. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We go straight to 2 Corinthians 10:4 (Amplified Version):

“The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” 

Folks, we need to understand something. We are in a war. We are in a full-scale war and it’s not a physical war. It’s a war raging in the mind, and we need to use the weapons God has given us to combat this war. “What weapons?” You say. I am talking about prayer, the power of prayer. We’ve got to pray more and speak less. The Bible - that is our weapon. It’s the sword of the Spirit. The word of God says we’ve got to use it. We’ve got to watch what we read, what we watch on TV and especially social media. This very message you are listening to now is coming to you on social media, and thank you very much for praying for me and for listening and watching it, because there is so much rubbish that can be watched even by a small child, ten, fourteen years old - things like pornography which is poisoning people, causing people to be depressed, and causing people to stress and to even contemplate suicide.

Now I want to read something to you that I’ve heard from a lady named Cindy McGarvie. She is an Australian lady, and I want you to listen to the power of social media. Iran attacked America and they were expecting the Americans to retaliate with bombs and guns. Listen to this. “The US could have ordered air strikes on Iran’s military bases where the missiles were launched, but instead they used both soundless and formless computer technology to achieve a similar end. This is called Cyber Warfare. Cyber Warfare is the use of computer technology to destruct activities of a state or organisation.” They didn’t even send a missile or anything. They destructed the whole thing by social media.

We need to be careful what we allow our children to watch and what we are watching and we need to use it for the benefit of the Kingdom of God. Remember the Bible tells us in 1 John 4:4: “…greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world.” And that is the whole purpose of thought for today, to bring to your attention, every morning, the importance of God’s Holy Word which He has given us to stand against the lies of the devil.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

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

We go to 2 Peter 3:18. The Lord tells us to,

“grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

What is grace? Well, grace is undeserved loving-kindness. It’s unmerited favour. We don’t deserve it, but because of God’s love for us, He has given us His grace. We are saved, not by our own efforts but by His grace. Ephesians 2:8 says we have been saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; for it was a gift from God. So let us not become too harsh with others who are, at this point in time, still trying to find the Lord. Some of them are in a bad place and maybe they say some ugly things to you. Just extend grace to them, just like the Lord extended grace to you and me. 

The Lord says, “Before you try and take the speck out of your brother’s eye, rather take the log out of your own eye first.” (Matthew 7:5). When you start to realise what Jesus Christ has done for you, then it's very easy to extend that grace towards others. I was cycling on my mountain bike early this morning before the sun came up, using a light, and as I was riding and talking to the Lord, it was as if I remembered all the things that I had done before I met Him as my Lord and Saviour, and I was overwhelmed by His kindness and the fact that He has forgiven me of every one of those sins, because I confessed them. You will find that in 1 John 1:9. 

Let’s you and I today extend the grace and the love of Christ to those who are struggling and even to those who are our supposed enemies so that they too might meet the King of Glory. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.