Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 25th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We go to the Old Testament to the Book of Isaiah 50:10:

“Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who walks in darkness
And has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.”

Are you going through a rough time at the moment? Oh yes, I know those rough times very well. Is everything dark? Have you lost direction? Do you know where you are going? Is there anybody to help you? Listen to this beautiful reading that I stumbled across early this morning, written by a man by the name of Richard Fuller. 

He says, “In fierce storms,” said an old seaman, “we can do but one thing. There is only one way; we must put the ship in a certain position and keep her there.” This, Christian, is what you and I have to do today. Sometimes, like Paul the Apostle, you can see neither sun nor stars, and no small tempest lies on you (a massive storm). Then you can do one thing, there is only one way. Reason cannot help you. Past experiences give you no light, even prayer fetches no consolation. Only a single course is left. You must put your soul in one position and keep it there. You must stay upon the Lord; come what may—whether there are winds, waves, lightning, thunder, huge rocks, roaring breakers— you must tie yourself to the helm and hold fast your confidence in God’s faithfulness, His sovereign engagement, His everlasting love in Christ Jesus, and He will see you today through that storm, and the sun will shine again, and He said, “I will never leave you and I will never forsake you.”

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 24th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 23:37. Jesus said:

“How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”

Have you ever seen a mother hen, the way she fusses over her little chicks? It is quite something to see. One of my daughters has got a big flock of chickens, little bantam chickens. They are minute in size and they strut around the farmyard, picking up all the insects and making a big noise. They are beautiful! I remember a story like yesterday that I was told from a pastor in the Eastern Cape, many, many years ago. When they were burning fire-breaks on the mighty Drakensberg Mountains, as winter was approaching, that grass burnt very, very quickly, and they finished burning a massive break on the side of the mountain and they were doing a clean-up operation, and as they were walking they found a partridge that had been caught in the fire and it was lying face-down with it’s wings spread out. And as they walked up to this partridge, they turned the partridge over and underneath the partridge was a clutch of little chicks. The mother had protected her chicks from the fire by giving her life up. That is how Jesus is with you and me!

We need to know that He loves you so, so much, more than you will ever realise. In Israel, in Jerusalem, you have the Mount of Olives, and on the side of the Mount of Olives is a little chapel. It is formed in the shape of a teardrop, and you can go into that little chapel and there is a huge window and you can look out of that window and look straight across from the Mount of Olives, through the Kidron Valley, up the other side, and there is the Old City of Jerusalem, and that is where Jesus wrote this. He wept over Jerusalem.

Jesus today is weeping over us. Folks, do not harden your heart against the Lord. He loves you so very much, like that partridge, He too has put His arms out to protect you and I. He died for our sins so that we could have a second chance. Let us love Him and serve Him with all our hearts today. 

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 23rd of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Gospel of Matthew 23:12. Jesus says:

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

Humility - the Oxford Dictionary defines humility as a humble view of one’s own importance. Whoever humbles himself shall be raised to honour. I like what The Message says about this scripture verse. It says: “If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.” When I think of humility, I think of a big ship, a huge cruiser, these massive ships that are about six or seven decks high, they almost look top heavy, and thousands of people go on holiday on those massive ships. But you know, there is a little part of that ship called the rudder. The rudder of the ship, it is underwater all the time, no-one ever sees it, no-one ever speaks about it, but I want to tell you something, my dear friend, without that little rudder, that ship is going nowhere, the captain has got no control over that ship and it will probably end up heading for the rocks.

We are called to be humble, the Lord is the One who raises us up. When I was sitting here, contemplating someone who I regard as humble, I remember reading about a man by the name of Father Nash. That was his nickname, that is what they called him. Now we have all heard of the great revivalist, Charles Finney, but not many people have heard of Father Nash. You see, he was just the rudder of Charles Finney’s ministry. What would happen is, Charles would be going to a town but a week beforehand, Father Nash would go to the same town, check into a little hotel room and start to pray for revival, and he would pray for a solid week. They said that he prayed so loud they could hear him down the street, and the day before the revivalist, Charles Finney, arrived in town, Father Nash would pack up his little suitcase and he would leave town and go to the next town and do the exact same thing. A humble man indeed! But I think when we get to Heaven we will realise just how much work Father Nash had done.

Today, remain humble and the Lord will exalt you.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,

Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 22nd of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Romans 8:19:

”For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.”

The Amplified Version says:

”For [even the whole] creation [all nature] waits eagerly for the children of God to be revealed.”

The whole of the universe is waiting for what the children of God are going to do. You know how often people come to us as followers of Christ and they say to us, ”What are you going to do about it?” I’m laughing because it’s ridiculous or, ”How can God allow this to happen?” Now when people come and say that to you do not be upset, it’s actually a backhanded compliment because they see you and I as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we see the chaos taking place, and we weep with the world, and people come to us and say, ”You know, how can your God allow this to happen?” It’s a wonderful compliment because they recognising that you are a representative of Jesus.

When there is a crisis, that is when we are called in to sort it out, isn’t that right? Where there is a tremendous drought, I don’t know how many times it’s happened to us, they call us, ”Please come and pray for rain.” It’s something that touches me deeply when I drive up to the robots and I’m waiting for the robot to turn green and a pick-up drives up alongside me and a farmer winds his windows down and says, ”Where’s the rain?” -  as if I’m the rainmaker, no, but I am not the rainmaker - but I am the rainmakers son, and then they say, ”You’ve got a hotline to heaven.” It almost sounds disrespectful but you must understand that’s how they see it before they come to Christ, “You’ve got a hotline to heaven. Why don’t you pray about it?” Do not get disheartened. The world is always looking to us for the answers because they don’t have them, but you and I must exercise extreme compassion. Jesus wept with the people before He raised Lazarus from the tomb. You can see that in John 11:35.

So if there’s a family dispute and they call you in, maybe try tears before you start telling them what to do. Maybe there’s a business confrontation where two partners are almost at blows with one another, that’s the time to come in and bring peace and sanity into the situation. Marriage arguments - sit down and talk with the couple. Yes, you and I, as followers of Jesus Christ, we have the ability to defuse a potential disaster. How do we do it? We use the manual, we use the Bible and Jesus will rejoice and people will even perceive that we are wise, just by using the Word of God.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 21st of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Genesis 28:16:

”Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”

Then we go to the book of Luke 24:15-16:

"So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.”

The two men on their way to Emmaus. Jesus arrived and walked amongst them and they did not know Him. Often we look for Jesus in famous places, in beautiful cities, in lovely church buildings. We hear great preachers preach wonderful sermons only to find out that He has been with us all along and we did not recognise it. So it’s not looking for Jesus in famous places, it’s opening our spiritual eyes and ears because He’s right there with us. 

Listen to this little story. It’s very cute, I think. It was written by an unknown author. It goes like this. The parish priest climbed up into the high church steeple to be nearer to God so that he might hand down His word to the people, and in sermon script he daily wrote what he thought was sent down from heaven and he dropped the papers down on the people’s heads two times a day. In his old age, God said, ”Come down from the steeple, it’s time to die.” And the old priest cried out from the steeple, ”Where are you Lord?” And the Lord replied, ”Down here among my people.”

Oh folks, He is so close, He is in your heart. Speak to Him today because He wants to speak with you.

Jesus bless you and goodbye. 

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 20th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Book of Proverbs 6:10:

“A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,…” (like a thief)

Then we go to Luke 4:16:

“So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” 

We want to speak today about habits. There are good habits and there are bad habits. Discipline is absolutely vital for a Christian to succeed. You see, a good farmer will check his crop of corn or maize or wheat every day. A poor farmer will check his crop maybe once a week, and it could be his downfall. I remember like yesterday, we had a neighbour who came and farmed very close to us. He was a wonderful man but he came from a different district. He was a sugar cane farmer, a very successful one and a very good one, but he started to grow seed maize, a very technical, tricky crop to grow. One day, I was driving down near his farm and I stopped and looked over the fence and I saw that there was an infestation of cut worm. Now cut worm had just arrived overnight and they were decimating his crop. I phoned him. I said, “Did you check your maize yesterday?” He said, “No, I have been away for a few days. I said, “Please get there quickly.” And he got there and he saw that this infestation of cut worm was literally decimating his crop. We got the spray out and we were able to save his crop. You need to check your crop every single day if you want to succeed as a good farmer. 

Now, the Lord Jesus was extremely disciplined. Many times His disciples tried to find Him. “Lord, where have You been? The crowds are waiting for you.” Where had He been? That’s right, up the mountain, spending time getting instructions from His Heavenly Father, as Jesus continually did, a good habit. I want to say to you today if you are taking a lot of strain in your life, have a good look at what your habits are like. You need to maybe spend more time praying and less time speaking. You need to maybe get up earlier in the morning, and go to bed earlier at night. You maybe need to read your Bible more intentionally. Just show me a man’s Bible and I will show you how much time he spends with God, reading the Old Testament and the New Testament systematically, every single morning, and then you need to meditate. Sit quietly with that cup of coffee, that cup of tea, and just let your soul meditate. You will find that your life will become totally different.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 19th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Matthew 22:32:

“God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” 

Those who know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour will never die. Isn’t that good news? For He is the God of the living. He is not the God of the dead, but the living. We, you and I, we do not worship a statue made out of stone or wood or precious jewels. No, no - Jesus is very much alive! Now when Mary Madeline ran down to the tomb early in the morning, to go and dress the body of Jesus with herbs and spices, she entered the tomb and there was an angel standing there, and the angel said to them, in the Gospel of Mark 16:6:

“He is risen! He is not here.”

He is the God of the living, a living God! Now maybe this morning, you are feeling a little bit sad. Maybe you have lost a loved one, not so long ago, or maybe years ago. Those who have gone before us, if they are believers, they are not dead. They are very much alive and today, they are living in Heaven with Jesus, and they are waiting patiently for you and me to come home, to be in glory forever. Now, what I want to suggest to you is this - if that loved one could say one thing, this is what they would say, “Angus, please tell them - tell my mother, tell my father, tell my child not to worry, I am well but I desire to see them in Heaven one day. Please encourage them to live a life of faith and love in Christ and we will be reunited again.”

Father,

I want to pray for my friends this morning. Lord, it is a very painful thing when you lose a loved one, whether it is a little four year old boy, whether it is an old granny. We miss them, Lord, we really do. I pray that You will give my friends courage, You will comfort them, You will give them spiritual eyes to understand that their loved one is not dead and that they will be reunited because Jesus said so. I ask this in Your precious name, 

Amen.

God bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 18th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to the Gospel of Matthew 22:14:

“For many are called, but few are chosen.” 

I looked up The Message translation and it says: “Many get invited; only a few make it.” Many are invited into the banquet but few respond. Many are called but only those who truly repent are actually chosen. Now, that is Jesus responding to the story of the rich man who had a big banquet. He invited all his guests. None of them arrived so he sent his servants to the highways and the byways to bring the whosoever’s in. 

If we look at Matthew 7:21, the Bible says very clearly, that not all who cry, “Lord, Lord…” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only those who do My Father’s will. You see, you must not be concerned about what is happening in the world. Things are very unfair at the moment, I know that, and justice doesn’t seem to prevail. Don’t make that your excuse for not following after the Lord. When I was a young man, before I accepted Christ, when I saw some of these guys walking around with their hands in the air, shouting, “Hallelujah!”, like I do now, but those guys weren’t putting food on the table, they weren’t taking care of their families, they weren’t walking in truth - I used to say to my wife, Jill, “Well, if those guys are going to go to Heaven, I will get there before them.” I want to tell you something folks - what will happen on the Day of Judgement when you stand in front of the Lord and you say, “Lord, I didn’t serve You, I didn’t go to the banquet because I saw the way some of your people were behaving, and I said, “If that is the way they behave, I will get there before they do?” And the Lord says, “Well, look around. Those people are not here.” We cannot determine our faith in God by the actions and lifestyle of others. Philippians 2:12 says very clearly that we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. 

Today, let’s go to the banquet. It is open for everyone who truly loves Jesus and believes in Him. 

God bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 17th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in Psalm 146:3:

“Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.”

Then we go to the Book of Ezekiel 28:2:

“Yet you are a man, and not a god,..”

Then the last scripture is 1 Corinthians 2:5:

“…that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

You know folks, it is actually grossly unfair to put the responsibility of making important decisions merely upon men. Now, madam, it might be your husband. It is not fair to put a tremendous responsibility on him because you don’t want to hear from the Lord. Of course, you must submit to him but you must also hear for yourself what God is saying. You can’t put that kind of responsibility on your pastor, it is not his responsibility to make those decisions. You can’t put that responsibility on your own children or your financial adviser.

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
Psalm 20:7

Now you are asking me a question - how do you do it? Well, first of all, you go to your quiet time room, you spend time with God. Secondly, you read your Bible, and you read it personally. Thirdly, you trust men of God to give you counsel, and then by faith, you do it with all of your heart. “What happens when you hear nothing, when there is no answer from God?” Then that is an answer in itself, it means, “Don’t do it.” It means, “Stay where you are”, it means, “Don’t do that investment, don’t make that investment. Don’t be pressurised by men.”

I want to tell you a little story. Up in the North East of Scotland after they discovered the North Sea oil, the big companies from overseas came in and they bought up all the land to put their oil refineries on the land, and there was one farmer, who had a croft, a small little 10 acre farm, and that crofter said he was not selling, and all his friends laughed at him. They said, “You are mad man, sell! The prices are fantastic.” He said no, he is not selling, a little 10 acre plot. And do you know what happened? He ended up right in the middle of the refineries. They wanted his land because they had to build those pipelines right around his farm and eventually, they came to him with a blank cheque and they said, “Fill it in” and he made millions because he waited!

Wait on the Lord, Jesus bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 16th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go to 1 Corinthians 10:12 out of the New King James Version:

”Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

We’ve got to be so careful how we’re standing. Jesus said that harlots, prostitutes, tax collectors and thieves would enter in first before the religious churchgoers who started so well but finished so poorly. We think of Mary Magdalene. She was a woman of ill repute, Jesus drove seven demons out of her, and yet she became His most faithful handmaiden. Zacchaeus, Chief of all tax collectors, an absolute rogue, yet when he met with the King his life was changed instantly, forever. 

Early this morning, I was reading the account that Jesus told the people.

He said: A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to Him, “The first.” 
Matthew 21:28-31. 

I remember as a brand-new Christian, I think I had known the Lord for three months, I was so on fire for God. What do they say? “You need to lock a new Christian up for 6 months because he is like a bull in a china shop!" But rather have that fire, and that zeal, and that love and that excitement for Christ, than to just carry on doing the old thing. I had the privilege of preaching in our little church in Greytown for the first time ever. I was so excited, I was in a cold sweat, standing in the vestry behind the building, and the elders put their hands on me and were praying for me, and one old lay preacher, after they had finished praying said, “Son, get in there and preach because I have done my bit.”  As a brand-new Christian, three months old in the Lord, I couldn’t understand what he was saying. How could you ever do your bit? How can you ever say, “I have done enough for the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross of Calvary for your sins?" I was very devastated, I have never forgotten that. We need to be so careful that we finish strong, on fire for the Lord and not taper off and say, “I have done my bit.” That is what happened to the son who said, “I will go” and then he didn’t go.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.