Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 4th of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Hebrews 13:8:

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” 

The Lord is looking for consistency. This is what the world is desperately looking for and they can’t find it. I looked up the Oxford Dictionary, to find out the literal meaning of the word, “consistent”. It means, “always behaving in the same way.” It means, “unchanging, steady, stable.” This young man, is what a young girl always looks for and this is what the employer always looks for in his employees, trustworthy, consistent people, and by the way, that is absolute character of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

You know folks, this world is so up and down at the moment, isn’t it?  It is like a yoyo, it is like a roller-coaster. One minute you are up in the sky and the next minute, you are down in the dumps. You can’t live like that. This frantic, desperate world is looking for stability and dependable people and situations, something that they can trust. Well, I want to tell you about my best friend, my most trustworthy friend, yes - I am talking about my Bible, I am indeed. The other day I was in the shops and a young girl came up to me and she said, “I see that big red Bible of yours. It looks so big, why is that?” I said, “So I can read it easier.” You see, you can’t change the Bible. No, it has been there from the beginning of time. You can’t upgrade it, no. It doesn’t tell lies, that’s for sure. It cannot be persuaded this way or that way. It has all the answers that we need. It doesn’t tell lies. 

Matthew 5:18 says very clearly,

“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

Jesus is so steadfast. Today, consult Him. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes and He is there for you. He loves you. Call upon Him, spend time with Him. Read Him, He is the Word and He loves you so much.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 3rd of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Mark 14:11:

“And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.” 

We are talking about Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver. You know, folks, when you are betrayed by someone you don’t regard very much, it is painful, but it is not that painful, you kind of expect it, but when you are betrayed by someone who trusts you - and Judas was entrusted by Jesus to look after the money bag. He was from the inner circle. He was one of the twelve.

That is why divorce is such a painful thing. When people don’t regard you very much then it is not so hurtful, is it? But I want to tell you something now - when it is someone you love and you trust, then it is extremely painful. You know, when Judas Iscariot took the soldiers of the high priest into the Garden of Gethsemane in the darkness of night and betrayed the Master, he walked up to Jesus and he kissed Him. Folks, so painful, very painful! Maybe you are there today. Maybe someone has really hurt you and let you down. You need to stand because Jesus will never betray you. 

Do you remember that movie, The Cross and the Switchblade? There was a book written as well about that skinny preacher, David Wilkerson, who had a heart for the gangs in downtown New York. The leader of one of the main gangs was a man by the name of Nicky Cruz. He was the leader of the Mau Mau Gang, a fierce gang. His own mother called him “the son of satan.” He was an evil young man but he came to Christ. David Wilkerson preached the Gospel and he accepted Jesus, and one night he was tested. They had had a meeting in a movie house, or some place like that, and they took the collection and they asked Nicky Cruz to take the collection. Some of David Wilkerson’s men said, “Don’t let him do that. Don’t trust him with that money.” 

David Wilkerson allowed him to take the collection. He went right down the aisles and then he had to go up onto the stage, behind the curtain and there was a door, an open door there. He could have run away with all the money, and then he had to come around the curtain and down the other side of the steps to collect the money on the other side, but he didn’t run away. He carried on. That man has become one of the greatest evangelists of the modern era. 

Let’s not betray Jesus today by selling Him for 30 pieces of silver. Let’s be bold and stand up and say, “Yes, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.” Let us not turn our backs on Him. He has promised you and me in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you and I will never forsake you.”

He won’t betray you.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name. It is Saturday morning. The 2nd of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan with a thought for today.

We start in the book of Ezekiel 34:11:

“For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.”

Then we go straight to the Gospel of John 10:11:

”I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

Beautiful scriptures!  

The Good Shepherd, He will search for them and He will find them and He will save them because they belong to Him. They do not belong to you or to me. I’m speaking particularly here now to mothers and to fathers, and maybe you’ve got a son or daughter who has gone into the far country, a prodigal child that is rebellious, that is not listening, that does not want to have anything to do with the Lord, and they’ve gone into a foreign place. The Lord is reminding you today, mother and father, just pray for that child.

Maybe it's young people, and they are worried about their parents. Their parents are digging their heels in and they will not bow the knee to Jesus, and you can see that hometime is close for them and you are desperate for their salvation. The Lord says, “They are my sheep and I will find them and I will save them.”

What do we have to do? We have to pray, and we have to take our grubby fingers off because sometimes we mess up so badly. Maybe there’s a lady who is so desperate for her husband to come to Christ and she’s leaving those magazines on the coffee table, and she’s sending messages to him on the telephone, on the cell phone, maybe even my message. The Lord says, “Lay off.” You need to pray for him. Maybe it’s a wife that's rebellious - you need to pray for her and let God take care of His sheep because they are actually His creation and He paid the ultimate price for their lives.

It’s like when I was actively cattle farming, my sons are doing it now, we would have a large herd of cows in the mountains and we would be bringing them home because they were starting to calf down, they were starting to have babies, but there would be one calf and we just could not find it. We had been out on the horses looking in the krantzes, valleys, and forests; we cannot find that calf. We have had our workers walking over the fields looking for them. We cannot find that calf. Then what do we do, we bring the whole herd back home, and we take the mother of that calf, on her own and we let her go into the forests, into the fields and the next morning we go out and there she is suckling that beautiful baby calf.

Oh friends, I’ve seen it before, a mother at a creche, a whole lot of little children all shouting and playing and her little baby falls and hurts itself and starts to cry. She recognises that voice above all the other children and she goes straight to that baby.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He will save your loved one.
God bless you and goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus' precious name. It is Friday morning. The 1st of November, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan with a thought for today. 

We start in the book of John, the Gospel of John 13:14:

”If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

It's the little things that count. If you look at Matthew 25:40, the Bible says:

”And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” 

It’s the little things in life that really count, isn't it? You know, that cup of cold water for somebody that's thirsty, Matthew 10:42, doing something for someone who cannot repay you. I think of all the nurses in the hospitals and the doctors. We salute you. We really do. We love you. When I go into a hospital and I see the love that these nurses and doctors give to people that they don't even know, it touches my heart deeply. When I see a policeman trying to help someone who has been hurt, it touches me deeply. 

The people that have really impacted my life and the situations, are not the big massive splitting of the Red Sea, walking on the water, calling fire down from heaven. No. The things that have really impacted me is like old Uncle Jimmy, who stayed on our farm with his dear wife Moira for many, many years. He wasn't very well. He'd had TB that he got in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. He had a very weak chest. He didn't sleep much at night, spent most of the night on his knees praying. Jimmy would come down every morning to the farm with a little piece of paper and a scripture verse for me, touched me deeply. I miss him a lot. Old Aunty Peggy, she came and she stayed with us. She told her family on her 70th birthday, I'm going to join Shalom Ministries full time. She had sugar diabetes. They amputated one of her legs beneath the knee. She had blood pressure and all kinds of problems, but what a prayer warrior. I miss her terribly. There's a security guard in town that works at one of the hardware stores. He impacts me every time I go to that store. You know that that gentleman's shoes are shiny. They look like mirrors. I can almost see my face in his boots. His uniform is immaculate. He's got one of those old-fashioned moustaches that I'm sure he waxes that turn up at the ends and his bright and happy demeanor impacts me. Old Oom Johannes Nell came to us and started preaching underneath the trees to a handful of Zulu people. That was the beginning of the church that we have today, which can seat 500 on the farm and we have two pastors doing a wonderful job. It's the little things that really touched me deeply. 

Today don't underestimate your opportunities to help people. 
That's what Jesus did. 
God bless you and goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 31st of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Matthew 28:16:

”Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them.”

Then we read on to verse 19 and Jesus said:

”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,…” 

Small beginnings - don’t despise small beginnings. Eleven disciples took the Gospel right around the globe. There weren’t hundreds of thousands, no, just eleven, and they were obedient. I want to say to you today, do not despise small beginnings.

A man by the name of Charnock said, ”The biggest actions in the world have usually started from very small beginnings.” He says, “Of a few letters of the alphabet, how many thousands of words are made? Of ten figures, how many thousands of numbers have been made? A point, one point, is the beginning of all geometry. A little stone flung into a pond makes a little circle and then a greater one until it enlarges itself to the sides.” So from small beginnings, God causes huge things to happen right throughout the world. 

I remember in 2003, in a game reserve in the north coast of Kwazulu-Natal, sitting, having a rest with my dear wife, Jill, and the Lord impressed upon my heart to mentor young men. That was the birth of the Mighty Men Conferences. The first one we had at Shalom, there were 240 men that came. The last one we had at Shalom, approximately 450,000 men came and now I can report with great joy and humility that we have over 20 Mighty Men Conferences taking place in this year alone, and I’m talking about places like Canada, places like Australia, Namibia, all over South Africa, and they are starting one in South East Asia and Nigeria. They are wanting them all over the world - started by one word from the Lord! And you know the amazing thing folks? I’m not going to be at any one of those Mighty Men Conferences myself this year. The Lord is doing it! Do not despise small beginnings, just do what He tells you to do and He will do the multiplying.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 30th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Jeremiah 8:20:

“The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!”

Then we go to the Book of Matthew 25:2-4:

”Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.  Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” 

We must be ready! Oh my friends, time is flying by, isn’t it? You know, as I talk to you now, you can see in the shops people are starting to get ready for Christmas. Yes, Christmas is around the corner. I want to ask you a question today and I’m asking myself the same question. Are our homes in order or are we going to say to the little baby that was born in a manger, a feed trough, in a little village called Bethlehem, two thousand years ago, ”Not this year, don’t come yet, I’m not ready for you”?

When it was time for Jesus to arrive, He came. Now, I’m talking to a lot of mothers and fathers. Do you remember when your first baby was born? There was no notice given when it was time for baby to arrive, baby was coming whether you were ready or not. Our beloved Jesus, He never had a beautiful baby room all prepared with a decorated cot, no. His cot was a manger. Now a manger is a feed trough, it’s where you put food to feed your animals. No, but you know something folks? When it was time for the Saviour of the world to come, He didn’t waste time, He came and Joseph and Mary had to be prepared.

You and I cannot say, ”Next year Lord. We’ll think about it next year,” because next year may be too late. There may be people listening to this message now who will never see another Christmas time. I want to say to you today, the Lord says do not postpone action - that’s what a procrastinator is. Be ready, be prepared and when the Lord comes you can say, ”Lord, I am ready for you to come.”

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 29th of October, 2024 and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Psalms. I just love the psalms! Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

Now folks, I don’t know how it is with you but with us here at Shalom, the Lord gave us a specific scripture to stand on. Now, we have adopted this scripture verse as our verse for this ministry. Now, we got it from George Müller, the man who started the children’s home in Bristol, England. Something like 10,000 children went through his home, 60 million pounds through his hands, and what a man of faith, a great inspiration to me, a practical man. 

I never had the privilege of going to Bible College, and I tell you what - it is a great privilege and I am very sorry about it. I would have loved to have gone to Bible College but the Lord sent me to a different Bible College. It’s called “the school of life, the school of hard knocks” - that’s right. My school fees were paid on the farm, through drought, through fire, through personal tragedies, through economic hardships, through disease. That is where I learned to delight myself in the Lord and He gave me the desires of my heart. That is why I am speaking to you this morning, my dear friend. Please today, focus on Jesus and He will take care of the rest. 

The very next verse, verse 5 says: “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” 

That was one of the great explorer’s verses. I am talking about Dr David Livingstone from bonny Scotland, who discovered the Victoria Falls, who was instrumental and one of the main players in abolishing that horrible human trade of selling people as slaves - David Livingstone. I want to say to you folks, there was many a time he didn’t know where he was going because no one had ever been there before, but he committed his ways to the Lord, and the Lord did the rest.

Today, delight yourself in the Lord. Let Him take care of your situation. Commit your way to the Lord and let Him direct your paths. 

Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 28th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Ezekiel 33:5:

“He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life.” 

Then we go to the Book of Hebrews 2:3:

”…how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, …”

We need to listen for the sound of the trumpet calling. It’s a warning, my dear friend, for the time is running out. I just feel in my heart I am speaking to a man at the moment, and maybe a woman as well, who is continually digging your heels in and you are saying, “Tomorrow, I will make my peace with the Lord.” But the trumpet is blowing. The Lord is saying, “This is the day that you need to seek Me with all your heart." This is the day that you need to make your peace with God.

A long time ago, I heard a story about a miller - you know, the old-fashioned mill where it had a wheel and a little stream running past, and the water turned the wheel, and the wheel turned the two huge grindstones, and they ground the corn into meal. This miller was very hard-working but he was totally obsessed by his work. He wasn’t interested in anything to do with the Lord, but he got very sick and his family was worried about him, and they realised the old gentleman was dying. They called an evangelist in, “Please come and tell our dad about Jesus because he is going to meet the Lord very shortly.” They came down to the mill and the old man was now bedridden, and what he had done was, he had asked them to put the bed right next to the grindstone so that he could hear the wheels grinding the corn and making money for him. The evangelist walked up and he started to say to him, “Please sir, the trumpet is calling, home time has arrived. You need to make your peace with Jesus. ”And he kept saying, “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you because of the noise of the mill, grinding the corn.” And eventually, he died and he went to hell.

Folks, I want to tell you, we have got to speak up. I want to pray with you today. I just feel that there is a man and a woman listening to this programme who have never made a commitment to Christ. You know what to do, you know what you are supposed to do but you have been so busy, busy with your work, busy with your vision, your ambition. If you are that person, I want to give you the privilege of praying this prayer with me, a simple prayer. Let us pray together: 

Dear Lord Jesus,

I acknowledge today that I have been wasting valuable time. I ask You therefore, to be my Lord and Saviour. I am so sorry that I have been chasing after other gods, like money and fame and ambition. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Amen.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 27th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Proverbs 18:24:

“But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

You don’t have to be lonely today. Then we go straight to the New Testament to the Gospel of John 16:7, and this is the Lord Jesus speaking to His disciples. He says:

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” 

The Lord Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit.

I want to say to you this morning if you are feeling lonely or if you are feeling fearful, you have got a huge task on your hands next week and you just don’t know what to do, call upon the Holy Spirit. You know, so often we talk about our Heavenly Father, we talk about the Lord Jesus Christ, our best friend, but we don’t always talk about the Holy Spirit, and I want to tell you, He is part of the Holy Trinity, and we cannot do it without Him, believe me! Whenever I stand on that platform and I look out on that sea of faces, I say, “Lord, Holy Spirit, please help me because I can’t do this.” And He does, every single time. In Zulu, we call Him, “Umoya oNgcwele”. Umoya oNgcwele - the Spirit who lives within us. Isn’t that beautiful? In Afrikaans, we say, “Heilige Gees”, He is my Friend, He is my Helper. The Greeks call Him, Paráklētos which means The Helper.

I want to say to you today, we need to call upon Him, we need to love Him, we need to speak to Him because He wants to speak to you. Do you remember that beautiful chorus, “Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me”?  Why don’t you sing it with me?

Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me.
Spirit of the Living God,
Fall afresh on me.

God bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 26th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Book of Isaiah 40:8:

”…the word of our God stands forever.”

Then we go to the New Testament, to Matthew 24:35:

”Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

Now that’s Jesus speaking Himself. You see, the word of God is the Bible. It is Jesus Christ in print, as I always say, and that is why even the Master Himself quoted the word of God when He was tempted in the desert by the devil. Remember He said, “It is written, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the Lord your God.” It is an extremely powerful weapon. It’s like a sharp two-edged sword, that’s what the Bible says.

Have you ever watched those fencers at the Olympic Games. It’s incredible, the speed that they use those weapons with, but there’s no good having a fancy jewel-studded weapon that we can’t use. Now, when I read my Bible I don’t just read the Old Testament or just the New Testament, I read them together. I read them systematically. I read them daily. I read them in the first person. What does that mean? Well, let’s take Psalm 23:

”The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

When I read it I read it like this. ”The Lord is Angus’ shepherd and Angus shall not want.” Then it becomes extremely personal. I also want to encourage you to get a sword that you can handle. Get a translation that you can understand. I personally use the New King James Version. I find it very easy and accurate to handle. You need to get lessons, like any sword fighter! Somebody can give you a brand new set of clubs, that doesn’t mean to say that you will be able to hit the ball like my dear friend, Gary Player. Oh no, you need lessons. You need to know how to hit that ball. I really want to encourage you to start using the weapon which God has given you. He’s told us that even heaven and earth will pass away but the Bible will never pass away. Carry one in your pickup. Carry one in your motorcar. Folks, I love Bibles, I really do and every time I read the Bible it means something new to me, it’s so exciting. Now, if you don’t know how to read the Bible, why don’t you start in the Psalms. Start with the Psalms and read about ten verses every morning and get a little notebook and write in the notebook what it means to you, and then go to the New Testament and start in the Gospel of John, and every day just read a portion of the Bible in the first person and it will change your life. It will protect you and it will comfort you. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye.