Thought For Today

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

We go to the Gospel of Mathew 3:8:

”Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,…”

When we come to Christ, there has got to be a change in our lives. We cannot tell people we have become Christians, and yet we continue to live in our former lifestyle. We have to demonstrate new behaviour that proves a change of heart and a conscious decision to turn away from sin. People we know well should come up to us and ask us the question, ”What has happened to you?” And you look at yourself and you say, ”Why? I’m still wearing the same clothes.” 
“No, there’s something different happened to you. We see a peace in your heart. We see a joy. We see a love in your heart. You never had that before.”

That’s when you can tell them you have had a change of lifestyle, and I want to tell you the people who will notice it first will be your very own family. When the men who have been at a Mighty Men Conference for a full weekend go back home and some of them get on their knees in front of their families and ask forgiveness for their lifestyles, and say, ”Things are going to change. I have been arrogant. I have been self-centred, and it’s going to change. I am going to start to live for my family.”

We get letters sometimes, that makes you want to cry, from a little 10-year-old child, with that big handwriting saying, “Thank you for giving me a new daddy.” Now, we haven’t given that child anything; God has, but the child has seen the change in daddy’s life and we get a beautiful letter from a wife who says, “Thank you for what has happened to my husband over this weekend. The man that I fell in love with 20 years ago has come back home again this weekend.” That is what a truly repentant life must look like. It’s like the Government. We’ve just had elections in South Africa. The Government promised us many, many things. Now, they must deliver if there is true change to take place.

Don’t just tell people that you love them, show them that you love them by your lifestyle. Prove it by living a changed life - no more swearing, no more drunkenness, no more self-centredness, but starting to live for Christ, and the fruit of that changed lifestyle will just come out of us, we don’t have to try and do it, it’s natural.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, it is the 16th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. I want to start by wishing all fathers a very Happy Father’s Day. Dads, well done for looking after your families.

We go straight to the Book of Matthew 2:14:

“When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,…”

So often, dads get overlooked. Now you don’t hear much about Joseph, but I want to tell you, Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, our Saviour, had a very important job to do. First of all, the Lord told him to name the baby, “Jesus.” Yes, that is right, Joseph actually named our Master, “Jesus.” He is the one that put the food on the table, he looked after that young maiden and her baby, and was a carpenter by trade. He was very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He was warned in the middle of the night. The Bible says, he arose and took the young child, Baby Jesus, and Mary, the mother and he departed for Africa. That’s right, I am talking about Egypt. He stayed there until the Angel of the Lord said, “You can now return to Israel.” He was a good father, he protected his wife and his child. He was sensitive, caring, responsible, obedient and protective. 

It reminds me, if you go into the bush, to a game reserve, and you see a pride of lions. Often, you will see the male lion. He will be sitting under a tree by himself, and all the cubs and the young lionesses will be playing together on their own, and it will almost look like he is uninterested, but he has a vital role to play. The hunting gets done by the females, and when they make a kill, who gets the first share? Yes, the male, he comes in and he eats. He has to be strong. I want to tell you something, without a male lion in a pride, that pride is vulnerable to the hyenas or to other lions. He has a vital role to play but you don’t always notice it. The same thing happens with dads. They sit there quietly and the children say, “Why isn’t dad participating?” Maybe dad is thinking about how he is going to put food on the table or about the future of his family.

Please moms, children, give dads plenty of love and respect today. He is doing a great job. He is the father of your children, mother and he is your dad, and you have got his surname. Just love him and treat him with lots of TLC today.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 15th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Book of Philippians 4:6, and I am reading it out of the Amplified Version:

“Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.”

Then we go to Matthew 7:7 (AMP):

“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.”

I am speaking this morning about prayer. You know, Jesus prayed more than anything else. He always prayed without ceasing and He asks you and I to do the same. I got a message on my phone yesterday to say that the Kouga Dam, outside Gqeberha, is overflowing at seven cumecs at the moment, spilling over the wall. God answers prayer.

I remember like yesterday, thousands of us, standing at the base of that mighty dam wall, and I think there was less than 12%, that’s just a little mudhole in the middle of that dam. There was nothing, thousands of us prayed, and we continued praying at Jeffries Bay, at the Mighty Men Conference, and look what is happening! We are going into winter. It is winter in the Eastern Cape, and the dam is overflowing seven cumecs at the moment. I want to pray for you today:

Heavenly Father, 

I pray for my friend, listening to this message. I pray Lord, for those who are anxious, depressed, fearful and filled with anxiety. Lord, I pray today that they will lift up their eyes and see that Jesus Christ is seated on His throne in Heaven and He is waiting to hear our requests, our petitions. Lord, if we don’t pray, how can He answer? Lord, please show us and teach us to pray because when men pray, God moves, and I thank You, Lord, for the evidence that we see in this dam which is overflowing as I record this message.

In Jesus’ name! Amen.

God bless you and keep on praying,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 14th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Numbers 12:3, in the Old Testament,

“Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.”

I want to speak to you about humility, about genuine humility and humbleness, meekness. Now, Moses led a nation of over a million people, through the desert, a terribly tough place, for forty years. There was nothing soft about him. As some people say, the softest part of Moses was his teeth. I am looking forward to meeting him in Heaven. What a man! But he was the humblest man who ever lived, according to the word of God, and we are not talking about Jesus of course.

“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
1 Peter 5:5

Now, I want to speak to you about real humility today, not false humility. Sometimes when you watch some sport on television and you see a tennis player or maybe a soccer player, a rugby player, and they are interviewed and the interviewer says, “How did it go?” And the tennis player says, “Oh, I am so pleased with myself. I hit the ball so sweetly today.” Or a golfer, “I really connected that ball, I really am pleased with myself.” It sounds like he is really bragging you know, it sounds like he is really arrogant but the truth of the matter is, my dear friend, he is so excited about the improvement in his game. He is not talking about himself as per sé, he is talking about the fact that he hit the ball so nicely, he has been working so hard on it.

Like when you go to a farmer and he takes you around his farm and he shows you a beautiful maize crop and he says, “Man, I am so pleased with myself, I have got such a lovely crop.  And you think, “Come on man, stop bragging.” He is not bragging, he is so excited about the achievement, or a magnificent animal on the show when he has just got the grand champion, a beautiful big bull. He is so excited about it. False humility is walking around with sackcloth and ashes and saying, “I am suffering for Jesus.” That doesn’t bring any glory to God. 

I want to tell you a little story. I was at a book signing once, and a little boy walked up to me, and he was standing back, and he had a red face; he was very embarrassed. He had a cell phone in his hand, he had one of my books and a pen. I walked over to him and I got down on my knees. I said, “Son, would you like me to sign your book for you?” 

And he had a big smile on his face, “Yes please, sir.” 
“And would you like a photograph with me?” 
“Yes please, sir.” 

So we posed together, we did a nice selfie, and a lady walked past. She was pushing someone in a wheelchair, and she said, “Christians are supposed to be humble.” Ag, I just smiled and I said, “Yes, thank you, madam’, but that little boy walked away so happy. 

Today, shout it from the rooftops. Matthew 10:27. Tell people about your newfound faith and about how good God has been to you.

Have a lovely day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 13th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Psalms 10:16:

The Lord is King forever and ever;…”

Oh beautiful, and then we go to Jeremiah 10:10:

“But the Lord is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.”

Just before that, please read it if you have time, you will see that Jeremiah talks about people who worship idols made by human hands. They cut a tree down, carve it, make it into a beautiful carving, and then worship it, but it can’t talk, see, or hear. It is ridiculous, isn’t it? Then we go to the last scripture, Matthew 26:63-64:

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

Then they started to tear His clothes and beat the Master and eventually crucified Him, but on the third day, He rose from the dead. Our God does not live in buildings, there are no buildings on earth that can house Him, He is too big. Our God is not found inside statues of marble or gold, even though they might be beautiful, but they are all man-made. Where does He live, Angus? Oh, I am glad you asked that question. 

Early in the morning, when you see that sunrise, oh you will see Him. He is in the sunrise, He is in the late evening sunset. When you see a newly born calf and a mother cleaning, licking and loving her, He will be there. You will see Him when you see the roll of the waves onto the seashore and the power and the majesty and the smell of that salt air, He will be there. You will see Him in a newborn baby. Oh folks, what a beautiful way to see the Lord. You will see Him in a young couple that are in love. 

I married twelve couples in the City Temple in London, just right off the cuff. They were in their ordinary clothes. The Holy Spirit moved in the City Temple, a beautiful building that was built to commemorate the Lord. But you know, when those couples were in love, they were weeping, they were repenting, the building just faded into insignificance, when the glory of God was manifest through those young couples who decided they were not going to live together anymore. They were going to get married immediately. 

Remember today, wherever you go, open your eyes and you will see the glory of God. Jesus is alive, I tell you, He is not dead.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 12th of June 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the book of Jeremiah 9:23-24:  

"Thus says the Lord:
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me…"

We should only glory in knowing and understanding our Lord, Jesus Christ. Job 28:28: 

...the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,  And to depart from evil is understanding.

Jesus was 12 years old when He was in the temple. Remember how His parents lost Him and couldn't find Him? They went back to Jerusalem to find Him sitting in the temple amongst all the teachers, the wise men, and the priests, and He was confounding them with the truth (Luke 2:47). 

There is a wonderful old gentleman who is one of my advisors. He is a chartered accountant by profession. We often cannot balance the books because we get to the end of it and don't know where the next income is coming from. Thankfully, the books seem to balance. In God's kingdom, two plus two can sometimes equal seven, which confuses the mathematicians!

A few years ago, Jill and I visited Ethiopia to look at the incredible, miraculous stone churches. King Lalibela built them 800 years ago out of solid rock. There are architects who are not even Christians who come from all over the world to see this miracle. You see, King Lalibela, the then King of Ethiopia, had a dream, and the Lord showed him how to build 11 churches. He didn't create them from the bottom upwards, no, no, but he built them from the top, downwards with a chisel and hammer. Now, I've been to those churches; they are beautiful, 40 to 50 metres high. You can walk in there. There are beautiful arches and carvings, and they are incredible, all made out of stone. The local people say that the angels built them at night. You can say you don't believe it, but I want to tell you something now: I believe it because I believe in miracles! I've seen too many miracles in my life not to believe it. 

I want to say to you today that it's very important to get an education. Study as much as you can, but never overrule the fact that whatever happens in your life, give the glory to Jesus. God bless you, and have a wonderful day.

Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, it’s the 11th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We go straight to the Gospel of Mathew 1:25:

“And he called His name Jesus.”

Now we don’t often hear much about Joseph, the country carpenter, but I want to tell you, he fulfilled a major role in this Bible. The Lord used him to name the Son of God, Jesus, yes, the  Saviour of the world. I want to say to you today that it is very important to remember a person’s name. You know what its like when when somebody comes up to you and says, ”Hello brother, hello sister.” They’ve forgotten your name, but it’s so nice, isn’t it, when somebody comes up and says, ”Hello John, I haven’t seen you for years”, and he says, ”And you still remember my name?” “Of course I do. We went to school together.”

The importance of a name can be encouraging, it can break down, or it can build up. Unfortunately, the name of Jesus can be used as a swear word or with great respect. I want to tell you a little story. There was a rough man who worked on the railways. He was a guard on the railways, and he was working in the yard one day and he had given his life to the Lord just a few months before, and his friends used to mock him and say,” You won’t last.” “Oh!” He said, ”I will. That name saved me, the name of Jesus, the most beautiful name I’ve ever heard in my life.” One day, he was working in the yards where they were shunting trucks, rail trucks back and forwards, and the driver of the train was way up in front and the guard was standing at the back, and he was waving the driver on for the connection of the two carriages when he got his hand trapped in between the two carriages, and it crushed his hand and he let out a tremendous swear-word. He used the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in a manner of disrespect completely. His friends were all standing around him, they were shattered. This poor man was trapped between the two carriages. Eventually, they managed to get the train to move forward and they took him out, called the ambulance, his hand was just a bloody mess. He was on his knees as the ambulance driver came to call him, ”Let’s go to the hospital.” He said, ”Just wait, please. Wait!” And right there, in front of all his friends, he repented. He said, ”Lord, please forgive me for using your name as a swear word.” After he had done that he said, ”Now, you can take me to the hospital.”

I want to say to you today, be very careful that you never use the name of our beloved Jesus, the Saviour of the world, in a manner which is unfitting. It cuts me to the quick when I hear a man using the name of my beloved Saviour as a swear word. Don’t do that. Let’s love Him today. Let’s respect Him by the way in which we act. and most of all, the way in which we talk.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day. 
Goodbye

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 10th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the book of Mathew 1:23:

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

What a beautiful scripture and of course you know the very same scripture is in the Book of Isaiah 7:14, which was written about seven hundred years before the birth of Christ. Isn’t that incredible?

This morning I believe I’m talking to some people who are lonely. Are you lonely today? I looked up the Oxford dictionary to define the word loneliness. It means sad because one has no friends or company. It means solitary. People even advertise in the newspaper, the Lonely Hearts Club. It’s not funny - it’s very, very sad. But I want to tell you the good news this morning, there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. You’ll find that in Proverbs 18:24.

In the kitchen of our little house, Jill has put something up on the wall and this is what it says, “Where there is tea there is hope.” Where there is tea or you can say coffee if you want, there is hope. You know there is nothing nicer than to come home when I’ve been away, and to sit by our wood stove in the kitchen, with a nice hot cup of tea and have a good chat to my best friend. Yes, it is something I always look forward to.  

Now maybe today you are feeling lonely. Well, I want to tell you that Jesus Christ came down from heaven to earth because He knows that you are lonely, and He wants to be your friend, but if you look at that verse in Proverbs 18:24, it starts off and it says:

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly.”

If you want to have friends, you must be friendly. Today we need to go out and be friendly to other people, but I just feel I need to pray for you. 

Father, 

I want to pray this morning for our dear friend who is feeling lonely. Maybe their loved one has gone to be with you, Lord, or maybe their children have gone overseas or maybe there’s a young student who is studying in another country and just feels so lonely for that cup of tea with their family. Today, remind them that You are with them always. You’ve said in your word in Hebrews 13:5: ”I will never leave you and I will forsake you.” 

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 9th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Galatians 2:20, and I am reading this verse out of the Amplified Version of the Bible:

“I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

The great paradox! I got hold of the Oxford Dictionary to find out the literal meaning of the word, “paradox”. This is what it says: “A statement that sounds absurd or seems to contradict itself but is in fact, true.” So a paradox is self-contradiction, inconsistency, it’s puzzling, but I want to tell you, it is true. 

I don’t know if you remember, some of the men listening to this message, we had a Mighty Men Conference on Shalom, and we called it, “Dying to Live”. If you want to live, you have to die.  Our biggest enemy today is not the devil. Remember when Jesus died on the Cross? He said, “It is finished.” Our biggest enemy is ourselves. Jim Elliot was a young missionary who went out to the South Americas, to the jungle in the Amazon, and he was murdered for his faith. He was 29 years old. He said, “It is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” We cannot keep our faith, we cannot keep our lives, but we can have eternal life.

“…unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”
John 12:24

People say, “What a waste of a young life.” He left a young wife and a baby girl behind. But folks, I want to tell you that was no waste. They say thousands of students from university went out when they heard about the death of a young missionary, and they went out to preach the Gospel all over the world. 

Today, die to self, live for Christ and then you have a reason to get up in the morning, and have a wonderful day.

Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 8th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

If we go to the Gospel of Matthew 1:1:

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:…”

Then it goes right right the way back and up to the present moment. Jesus has always been and always will be. The family tree is an important thing in most people’s lives. Where did you come from? Who were your forefathers? Well, I am just going to share a couple of personal things with you. My mother came from Scotland, and so did my dad. On my mother’s side, her mother was a Livingstone, and I am hoping that maybe there is a connection between the great missionary, Dr David Livingstone, and our family. On my father’s side, his mother was a Finney. You have heard of the great American evangelist, Charles Finney, who really started a massive revival in America. Then of course, our family name, Buchan. There is a county in Scotland, in the north-east of Scotland, just past Aberdeen, called the Buchan County, and my first name, Angus, is also after another county, just south of Dundee. This is all about roots, it’s about family trees. 

But I want to be honest with you, my dear friend, when you come to know Jesus Christ, as your Lord and Saviour, it doesn’t matter if you are an orphan, and you say you have no roots, you have no family tree - that doesn’t matter a thing. When you become a Christian, you become part of the family of Jesus Christ, and that family dates back to Adam and Eve. So if we are believers, that makes you my brother, my sister, and I have family all over the world, in China, in India, in Africa, in the Far East. Yes, we are family and those are the roots that you and I need to really look forward to because one day we are going to be together in Heaven forever. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.