Thought For Today

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

We go to Mark 8:32-33: “Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He (that’s Jesus) rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

Peter rebuked the Master. We must never, ever get familiar with Jesus Christ. You know, I have a big problem when people talk about, “the man upstairs”, “the good man”, “the big man”, “my china”, “my friend”. Those comments are totally unacceptable when we speak about the Creator of Heaven and Earth. You know that old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt”? And it really does! When we forget our station in life, all of a sudden things turn pear-shaped, don’t they? 

You see, if you look at Philippians 2:10-11, the Bible tells us that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. We need to respect our God. Peter overstepped the mark, clearly, and the Lord rebuked him in front of the disciples. Respect, by the way, is learned at home. I want to say something very seriously to moms and dads. You might not like what I am going to tell you, but I am going to tell you because I believe it is the truth. You must teach your children to respect you when they are young at home. Don’t allow them to become familiar with you. Yes, you must roll on the grass and play ball with them, you must swim with them, you must shout, but there must be a mark of respect.

I have a major problem when I see young children treating grown-ups as equals. You see, it is not for the sake of the grown-up, it is for the sake of the child because when he goes into the big world and he doesn’t understand respect, he is going to get hurt badly. I remember reading a very sad story about tourists who came from a far-off country to the game reserve. They did not respect the laws and rules in the game park, and they saw a pride of lions, beautiful, big, massive lions, lying underneath a tree, resting. They got out of their vehicles and walked up close to them to take photos. Well, they got badly, badly mauled I think some of them got killed. Why? Because they had no respect.

I want to say to you, Jesus Christ is my Lord, He is my Saviour, He is my personal Friend, but more than all of that, He is my God.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

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

We start in the Gospel of Mark 8:15. This is Jesus speaking to the disciples: 

“Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, (be careful) beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

Leaven is another word for yeast. Now I looked up in the Oxford dictionary the literal meaning of the word “yeast”. What is it? It is a microscopic, single-celled fungus capable of converting sugar into alcohol. That is what yeast is. The Lord says to you and me this morning, be careful of the influence of the world system in your life. Look out for the Pharisees. They are not serving God, they are actually agents of the world system. I spoke to an alcoholic, you can speak to any alcoholic and say how did you start and they’ll tell you, this one drink. 

Many, many men and women, some listening to this message now are hooked on pornography. How did it start? Well somebody said I want to show you something on my device, and it was exciting and that is where it started, now you can’t stop. What about adultery? A man doesn’t just wake up in the morning and say, “I am going to have an affair today.” No, he starts off with a relationship that appears to be innocent but that woman is not your wife, sir. She belongs to somebody else. You have no right at all to get involved with her. And madam, that man is not your husband, he belongs to another lady. You have no right at all to get involved with that man. 

Gambling - gambling is on the increase, and it starts off innocently. You normally start off by winning but you always end up losing. I know men who are hooked on gambling who have gambled away their very homes and their wives’ jewellery, hoping to make it just with one more spin of the dice. Let us not do it today. I want to pray for you this morning:

Father God,

I am praying for somebody this morning, maybe a young person who is tempted to experiment with something that they know is not of God. Lord, please help them turn away and walk away from that thing and never to go back again. I am praying for those who already are involved. Lord Jesus, set them free today, because if the Lord sets them free, they shall be free indeed. 

I ask this is Jesus name, 

Amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 20th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Book of Psalms 37:7:

”Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; …” 

Then we go straight to the Book of Hosea 12:6:

“And wait on your God continually.”

Continually - we must wait on the Lord patiently this year as we start 2025. No more rushing around. That’s what gets us into trouble. You see, King Saul, the first king of Israel, would not wait for the prophet Samuel to come and offer up a sacrifice to God before the battle started, and what happened? He lost his kingship. He lost his kingdom because he would not wait.

This is not a quick-fix religion that you and I are involved in. No, no, no. This is a lifestyle. Wait continually, not a one-off thing, it’s a lifestyle. You know, that’s one thing farming has taught me, is to be patient because the farmer that’s rushing around never reaps anything that’s worth anything. We need to be patient. Remember Jesus, when they called Him, His best friend Lazarus was sick and dying. He came four days late but what happened? Oh, one of the greatest miracles in the New Testament -  Lazarus was raised from the dead! Jesus was never early, Jesus was never late, Jesus was always spot on time. We need to get into that habit.

My late dad was involved in the 2nd world war and was up in North Africa with the South African troops when he was caught by Rommel and the Germans. They put him in a prisoner-of-war camp for three and a half years, but my mother was back in Britain and she was in the Air Force. Those two were going to get married. My dad said, ”I’ll come out to Africa. I’ll make some money and then I’ll come back to Scotland and I’ll marry you.” But of course the war got in between them. Do you know that they waited patiently for each other for no less than six years? And I want to tell you that it was the most beautiful marriage. I am so blessed to have been raised in a family of love.

Today, wait for that thing that God is going to give you. Do not rush ahead and He will give it to you in His time. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 19th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Book of Proverbs 27:20:

“Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.” 

Wow! Powerful words. Then we go to the Book of Ecclesiastes 5:10:

“He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.”

Chasing the wind, folks, chasing the wind, and then lastly we go to the Book of Hosea 12:1:

“Ephraim feeds on the wind, And pursues the east wind; …”

Now we as farmers know there is nothing good that comes out of the East wind. There’s no rain that comes from the East wind, not to speak of. We need to be careful what we are chasing today. People who are chasing money. I want to tell you about a man by the name of Howard Hughes. He was worth, by today’s standards, $55 Billion US dollars. He died as a recluse and he was just an absolute shell of a man. What about fame? Marilyn Monroe was probably the most famous woman when it came to modelling and acting in the world. She died at 36 years old from an overdose. What about power? Wall Street collapse, men jumping out of windows and committing suicide? Chasing the wind. 

Young people, don’t wait and wait and wait before you get married. I’ve spoken to many couples.“ No, as soon as we pay for our house we’ll get married.” Don’t do that. It’s easier for two people to live than for one person to live on their own and you might lose your first love if you wait too long. That young successful farmer, he’s doing very well but he’s getting greedy, he wants to buy the farm next door. That farm could sink you completely. Don’t do it. The young evangelist just keeps on getting sought after, can’t say no and eventually he’s never at home. He’s all over the place. He says he’s doing the Lord’s work but he’s fooling himself because it’s for his own ego and what happens? He loses his family in the end.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14:

“Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether  good or evil.”

Let us rather obey 1 Timothy 6:6:

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 18th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in 2 Corinthians 5:20:

”Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us:…”

Isn’t that a beautiful scripture, the Lord speaking to the lost through you and I? Then we go straight to the Book of Revelation 1:11, and Jesus says to John:

“What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches… “

You and I have been called to be representatives of Jesus Christ. We have been called to be ambassadors for the Lord. Now, I’ve just spoken to you about two great ambassadors. One was Paul, the Apostle, and the other was John, the blessed disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Both of these men wrote the word of God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. You and I have a responsibility to tell the world about the soon-coming King. Now I can hear someone saying, ”Ja, well I haven’t got much education, I can’t write a book,” or somebody saying, ”I’m in an old age home. I can’t do much anymore.” Or someone is maybe in a hospital and cannot move around. What can I do?” 

The most important thing to do, of course, is to pray, pray and pray! That is the most important thing for any believer to do, but I want to tell you about John Bunyan. Now John Bunyan wrote a book called The Pilgrims Progress, probably the most powerful and well-known book next to the Bible itself. Where did he write it? He wrote it in jail! He was in jail for 12 years off and on. He was a tinker by trade and yet that book, to this day, has impacted lives all over the world. What about C S Lewis, C S Lewis who wrote the book, Chronicles of Narnia? He wrote the Screw Tape Letters. He wrote many books.

Folks, what I’m trying to say to you is, we don’t need to travel around the world in order to get the Gospel out. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, you might be a farmer; you might be a businessman; you might be a teacher or a nurse; you might be a professional sportsman. You can be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Today let’s start standing up and start shouting out from the rooftops that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He loves sinners, that He’s coming soon to take us home to be with Him in heaven forever!

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 17th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Book of Hosea 11:7, a very sad verse:

“My people are bent on backsliding from Me.” 

Then we go to Matthew 21:29:

“He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.”

Remember, the Lord told the story of the farmer who had two sons. He told the one son to go and do a certain job. The son said, “I will not,” but later on, he regretted saying that, and he went. The other son said he will go but he never went. Which one will the father prefer? The Lord said the first one. I looked up the Oxford Dictionary to find out the literal meaning of the word, “backslider” - a return to bad behaviour after an attempt to improve. It is plain selfishness, folks. That is all it is, and it is a dangerous place to be. Having known the truth and then turned your back on it and gone back, like the pig goes back to it’s own muck. 

I read an article once of a man who walked out of the divorce courts. He had just divorced his sixth wife, and when they spoke to him he said, “She tried so hard to please me.” That is the ultimate in selfishness. He had six wives, but he never could see the log in his own eye. He was always busy taking the speck out of everybody else’s eye but never looking at himself. You know, it is better for us never to have known our beloved Lord Jesus, than to have known Him and to walk away from Him. 

The ultimate example, of course, is Judas Iscariot.  For three years, he walked with the Lord, saw Him walk on water, saw Him multiply food, He saw miracles, signs and wonders, and still he denied the Lord and betrayed Him. You and I need to understand we cannot live like that today. I want to pray today. Maybe you have a loved one, a son, a daughter, or a father, a mother, who purposely will not walk with the Lord. We need to pray for them because it will be a perilous thing for them to stand in front of the Lord one day, knowing the truth, no excuses and still turning their back on God. 

Father,

I pray today for that backslider. Whatever it takes Lord, bring him home, whatever it is, let it happen so that he can repent and come home. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 16th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of John 8:36:

”Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”.

What a beautiful scripture verse! 

Just the other day I had the privilege of attending a funeral service. I walked in and I could feel the presence of the Lord in that place, a beautiful church. The pastor was waiting, the coffin was positioned in front of the altar. It was a very plain and simple pine box, not even varnished. The handles consisted of sisal rope handles, but some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen at any funeral. The dear sister who had passed on had organised her own funeral before she died. She kindly asked me to bring the message of salvation and to give the people an opportunity to accept Christ. The music was glorious and triumphant, the tributes from the family were warm, loving and even humorous at times, and most of all, the freedom and the love of Christ, our Lord Jesus, was tangible. At the altar call there was not one person who did not respond. Indeed, the whole congregation prayed the sinner’s prayer together.

Now, the order of service was beautifully printed with lovely photos, but this beautiful poem I want to read you was written on the fly-leaf. I want to say, well done my dearest sister in Christ, go and rest in peace, all your desires have been fulfilled. And this is how the poem goes. It is titled, “I Am Free”:

Don’t grieve for me for now I’m free,

I’m following the path God laid for me

I took his hand when I heard him call,

I turned my back and left it all

I could not stay another day,

To laugh, to love, to work or play

Tasks left undone must stay that way,

I’ve found that peace at the close of the day

If my parting has left a void,

Then fill it with remembered joy

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,

Ah yes, these things I too will miss

Be not burdened with times of sorrow,

I wish for you the sunshine of tomorrow

My life’s been full, I’ve savoured much,

Good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch

If my time seemed all too brief,

Don’t lengthen it now with undue grief

Lift up your heart and share with me,

God wanted me now and He has set me free.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 15th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off in the Book of Micah 6:8:

“…But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” 

This year we are going to keep short lists. Yes, I am talking about New Year’s resolutions. They never work, do they? Maybe some of us have already broken resolutions we made on the 1st of this month. We need to keep them short and we need to execute them. Short lists - don’t just talk about it, but do them. Do justly, starting in your own home with your own wife and your own husband and your own children. Do justly to those people who you work with and that you work for. Honour them. Do justly as if you were doing it unto the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself. 

Be merciful, love mercy. Folks, people are suffering. We get letters every single day of the week, hundreds of them. People are suffering. They are sick physically, spiritually and mentally, and they need mercy, they need love. People make mistakes, all of us. Be merciful to them because it is only by the grace of God that you are standing today. And then, walk humbly with your God. Oh, He is a beautiful friend who sticks closer than a brother. We are saved by grace and grace alone. We are not saved by any good works, by any effort. It is just because He loves us. Let us not become arrogant. Arrogance, I think is one of the things that keep people away from the Lord because they see the way we strut around and they say, “Well, if that is how a Christian is going to behave, I don’t want to be a Christian.” Let’s be humble, let’s prefer one another, let’s get to the back of the queue. If somebody wants to push in, take a step back. Let him go through, let her go through. 

If somebody overtakes you on the highway and pushes in, one gets so angry sometimes but you don’t know why that person is in such a rush. Maybe they have a sick child in the car, you never know. Just put your hand up and bless them rather than shake your fist at them. Let’s walk the talk. This year, let’s be Jesus to a dying world. 

Have a wonderful day,
God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 14th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Hosea 8:2:

“Israel will cry to me, “My God, we know you!”

But the children of Israel did not know God at that time. They thought they did but they were playing the harlot. They were building things they said were for God but it wasn’t for God, it was for them. 

Then we go straight to the Book of Titus 1:16:

“They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him,…”

You know, the Westminster Confession was a group of men of God who many, many years ago got together and they wanted to seek the main purpose for God’s creation for man on earth and this is the conclusion that they came to: “The main purpose of man is to glorify God (number one) and to enjoy Him forever.” That’s it. You see, God doesn’t need us. He really doesn’t need you and I. He wants us, He created us so that we could have fellowship with Him. He wants us but He doesn’t need us. He said one word and everything you and I can see came into being immediately. A few years back, quite a few years back now actually, I virtually heard God speak to me audibly. Now, He has never spoken to me audibly but He spoke to me in my heart so clearly one day. It is laughable but it is actually very serious and this is basically what He said, “Angus, your busyness is making Me tired.” Oh folks! It was a rebuke - “Your busyness is even making Me tired!” You see, it is not what we can do for God, its fellowship that He is wanting, folks.

Now, moms and dads, it is like your children. Please hear what I am saying, I have walked this road. Your children want you. They don’t want what you can do for them. What does it say in the Book of Mark 8:36:

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

Well you can change that a little bit to, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his family?” Remember, a good idea is not always a God-idea. We don’t need to help God, we need to obey God. Now, if it is not working for you today, stop it. I really mean that. Stop it. Stop chasing around, wearing yourself out and wearing everybody else out, building things that you say are for God, but they are not. They are idols. Lay them down, spend time with God, spend time with your children, and your life will be much more successful.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 13th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Luke 19:40, Jesus said:

“I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

Oh folks. The Pharisees said to the Lord, ”Listen to these people; they’re worshipping you. Tell them to keep quiet.” And the Lord said the very stones would praise Him if the people didn’t. You know, we go to an early morning men's prayer group, and we gather together when it is still dark. We have been doing it for years, and these men are working men but they come out to pray and to worship the Lord, and we pray before the sun rises, just ordinary men, we pray for our families, we pray for the countries of the world, we pray for the lost, we pray for revival but before that, we sing! No, no, no, we are not opera singers. No, no, we are not famous singers, we are not on the hit list, but you know something? We praise the Lord.

Folks, I want to tell you that when we go into that little chapel on the farm, men come in there with all kinds of burdens, but when you praise the Lord you can feel the burdens literally lifting and there is an openness that comes and a joy, and laughter, and faith and expectancy. I want to sing a little song. You all know it, and I want you to sing it with me. It goes like this:

And He is Lord, He is Lord,
He has risen from the dead 
And He is Lord.

Every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess,
That Jesus Christ is Lord.

Come on, you in your pick-up, you are driving, you are getting the kids ready for school, I don’t know where you are - come on, sing it with me!

And He is Lord, He is Lord,
He has risen from the dead 
And He is Lord,

Every knee shall bow,
Every tongue confess,
That Jesus Christ is Lord.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.