Thought For Today

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

We go to the Book of Galatians 6:7: 

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” 

You need to understand that God will never be mocked or made a fool of by any man. We plant what we will reap, maybe not even in this lifetime but in eternity. As a farmer myself, I want to say to you, especially young farmers, never cut back on your seed. If you have to cut back because you have had a rough season and your budget is very, very low, you don’t have much money, what are you going to cut back on? Well, if you are really going to have to, cut back a little bit on your land preparation, maybe on your fertiliser, but never your seed because whatever you sow you will reap. So, if you think you are being clever by saving a bit here and there by buying inferior seed, you will never get a decent crop.

Cattle farmers who are wise will tell you that your bull is half the value of your herd, so if you have a hundred cows and you want to buy a bull, you should be prepared, I am talking theoretically of course, to go up to half the price of your entire herd to buy a good bull, because good seed does not cost, eventually it pays. That bull is half your herd.  

Now, you have heard of consortiums of men, farmers, getting together, going to a big sale to buy a particular bull. I mean it is ridiculous, they go into the millions to buy one bull, and they share the semen. That is a wise cattle farmer, the same with a shepherd, he should be able to pay half the value of his flock to buy a good ram because that ram is going to give him good seed. 

Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” 
Matthew 22:21 

Remember, whatever we do, or don’t do in this life we will have to give an account for when we go to Heaven. Let’s sow good seed and give to Caesar what is Caesar’s - that means the government, the authorities, and let’s give to God what is God’s.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 7th of March, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We go to the Book of Psalms 71:18: 

"Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come."

As we get older, we have a tremendous responsibility to the younger generation. Old age is not something to be afraid of, no - it is something to look forward to. I want to say to older folk we must never demand respect from young people. No, we earn respect from young people.  

Dr David Livingstone, that Scottish medical doctor and missionary who went into Africa, when he came to a village, the first man he would always seek out would be the elder. He was normally the herbalist, and this medical doctor would sit there and was amazed at how many things he learned from these older people. They had certain bark from a certain tree, and when they boiled it up, it was good for sore tummies. There were some other leaves that when you boiled up and when it was cold, you put a poultice on a boil or if you had a problem with eczema, whatever it was, for the eyes, and he would sit there, and he would respect them, and he would listen to them and learn from them.

The First Nation people in America have a saying. "When an old man dies, it is like a library that burns down." I want to say to younger people listening to this message, please do not waste time, go and sit with your grandfather, your grandmother, your aunt, your uncle, that old person and let them talk to you. They will tell you many stories and many incidents of their own lives which will help you. I have the privilege at the moment of mentoring a large group of men and every year we meet together. It's one of the highlights of my year and as I am getting older, I am finding that I am talking less and listening more, and some of these men that I mentor, every year that I see them they are getting a little bit of snow on the top of their heads! They are becoming wise men themselves. Today, let us respect our elders and thank Jesus for the years He has given us because there are many who never live to see their grandchildren and even their great grandchildren. 

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 6th of March, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in the Gospel of John 17:3. Jesus said: 

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, (He is speaking to His Father) the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." 

Then we go straight to 1 John 2:25: 

"And this is the promise that He has promised us (you and I)—eternal life." 

Oh, what a promise! Nothing to fear. Granny, grandad, don't be afraid of death. He has promised you, and he has promised me eternal life. It is a promise. By the way, Jesus never breaks his promise.

I looked up the Oxford Dictionary to find out the literal meaning of the word "promise". It means an undertaking, a pledge, a vow, a guarantee, or a total commitment. He will never leave you and He will never forsake you. You can find that in the Book of Hebrews 13:5.  

I want to say to that broken-hearted young lady, who promised he would marry you and has broken his promise. I want to say to that young man, she promised that she would be with you always and she has run off with another man. It's heartbreaking, to put it mildly. That business partner who promised he wouldn't let you down and has run away with the money, and so it goes on. They promised you a position in the team and they have dropped you and they have put somebody else in. It's devastating.  

Peter promised Jesus, "I will be with you, Lord, right to the end, I will die for you," and he denied Him three times. Jesus understands what it feels like when a promise is broken. But the good news is, He is dependable. If you look at His track record, He never once promised anything that He did not fulfil and He has promised us eternal life. He has promised us that He has gone home to make a place for you and me and then he is coming back to fetch us. You will see that in John 14. He is building us a mansion, not just a little hut, a mansion! He is coming back and He is taking us home to be with Him in glory forever and ever. His promise is sure.

Have a wonderful day and look up to those clouds because He is coming soon!

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 5th of March, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. 

We start in Isaiah 45:22: 

"Look to Me, and be saved,…" 

Then we go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 11:28:

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 

I want to say to those people today who are listening to this message and say, "I am not a preacher, I don't seem to be able to do much for the Lord, I am basically a nobody." I want to tell you that God uses nobodies. Many, many years ago in the 1800's, there was a young teenager trying to get home one night and a severe snow storm came up. He ducked into a little Methodist chapel on the road, and there was hardly anybody in the church. He didn't go there to hear the Gospel, he went there to get out of the snow storm. The pastor wasn't even there that night because it was a very cold, miserable night but there was a farm worker, not an educated man, and he took the service. He stood up and said the very scripture that I have just read: "Look to Me and be saved,…" And that young teenager gave his life to Christ that night. Who was he? Well, he was one of the greatest preachers that have ever lived. His name was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was a Baptist. Do you know that when he was 21 years old, they built the London Tabernacle for him to preach in because the crowds were so large, up to 10,000 people at one service? A farm worker used what he had for Jesus, and Jesus did the rest.  

You and I need to do what God has called us to do. There are people who are needing rest. "Come unto Me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden…" There are many people today, go out today and tell them what Jesus means to you, because that is all it's about, nothing else. I want to tell you that Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote 250+ books. He was an unlearned man. He spoke with a very strong English country accent and yet the crowds came in by the thousands, because one farm worker said, "I will do the service" on the Sunday night because the pastor couldn't make it.

Today, go out and tell people your story.  
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We start in the Book of Matthew 27:2: 

“…they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.”  

I think it has gone down in history that no man has made a worse choice than Pontius Pilate when he agreed to allow Jesus Christ, our beloved Saviour, to be murdered. If you look at verse 19 of the same chapter, you will see that his wife said, 

“Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” 

He still did not listen to his wife. I want to say to a lot of men listening to this programme today, you must listen to the godly counsel of your wife. She has got your back more than anyone else. But you see, because of peer pressure, Pontius Pilate buckled badly. It says in verse 21: 

“The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” 

He even offered up Barabbus, hoping that the crowd would go and allow Jesus to be released because He was innocent, He had never hurt anybody, He never did anything wrong - and take the murderer, Barabbus and get him crucified, but no, no - they didn’t want it. They wanted Jesus to be crucified. 

“Let Him be crucified!” 

“When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”
Matthew 27:23-24

What a terrible thing to do. He compromised, he backed off because of the crowd. He knew that Jesus was innocent. I believe that privately, he liked Jesus, if not loved Jesus. Still, because of the crowd and the pressure and because he didn’t have any soldiers at his disposal, he was worried about a complete revolution breaking out.  

Folks, one of the saddest scriptures is written in Revelation 3:16. 

“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”  

Jesus said that. Many years ago, I was invited to Durban to an interfaith meeting. I was not aware of that. I was told it would be televised live. I arrived at the open-air stadium, and there was a huge platform up there, and I could not believe my eyes. I got onto the platform. I was seated next to many, many leaders of many faiths. There were witchdoctors that were dancing in front of the platform and people were worshipping animals and all kinds of things. I sat there spellbound. What must I do? I felt the Lord say, “Leave this place immediately.”  

I want to say to you my dear friend, I got up and I walked out, off that platform, down the steps, through the crowd, into my car and drove straight home. It was the best thing I ever did. Do not compromise your stand for Christ. It could cost you your life.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We go straight to the Gospel of John 3:7, and that very, very famous scripture, Jesus says you must be born again.

"Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

A beautiful old book was sent to me by a farmer in England a few weeks back, a beautiful book that was written in 1950's, and in it was an illustration which I want to read to you because it touched my heart very deeply. It goes like this: "A father lay on his deathbed and was saying farewell to his family as they stood around him. Affectionately greeting his wife, his daughter and his sons, he used the same expression to each one of them, "Goodnight my dear, when we meet again in the morning, there will be no night there." But then turning to the youngest boy, he put out his hand and said, "Goodbye John".

The poor boy was hurt by this and said, "What do you mean, father? You said "goodnight" to mother and the others but "goodbye" to me." "Yes, my boy. Your mother, your father and your minister have prayed for you. The Spirit of God has been striving with you, but it has all been to no avail. This is goodbye for us." The wayward youth was so overcome that he dropped to his knees and he cried his way, sobbed his way, to Calvary. Then, with his last labouring breath, the father took his hand and said, "Goodnight John, when we meet again in the morning, there will be no night there."

Maybe I am speaking to a wayward son, a wayward daughter, I would encourage you not to leave it too late before you are born again. Maybe you would like to repent right now and pray this little prayer with me:

Dear Lord Jesus,

I heard this little story and it has cut me into the quick, and I know that I am not in the right place with you. Please forgive me today before it is too late. I will serve you with all of my heart and I repent of all of my sins.

In Jesus' name, amen.

The Lord bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

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

We start in 1 Corinthians 3:12-13: 

“Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.” 

God weighs what we bring to Him. He does not measure it, He weighs it. What do we mean by that? Well, often you have seen a little donkey walking along a country road with a huge bundle of hay tied on his little back. Sometimes you can hardly see his face, it looks very cruel, but you know, the hay actually weighs nothing, it’s just bulk. Now we take a little honey bee - have you ever felt the weight of a small jar of honey? It is solid weight. It feels like lead. It’s heavy because it has cost that little honey bee everything. They say a bee only lives for about 3 weeks and it literally works itself to death. It works very, very hard. I am a beekeeper. I love bees and that is why I will not see anybody destroy a little bee. They work so hard. It takes them about a lifetime to produce one teaspoon of honey, but that honey is solid and that is how we have to be with our service towards the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It’s not all froth and bubbles and noise. God is interested in solid things. We have to walk the talk, we have got to be an example to the world of how a Christian lives, not so much by what we say but rather by who we are. Today, let us start building that house with gold and silver and precious jewels, not wood, hay and stubble that will burn up. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.

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

We start in Isaiah 45:4: 

“I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me.”  

Called by my name even before I knew Jesus! Such an intimate and personal God we serve, don’t we? That’s why I love Him so much. When we remember someone’s name, it means a lot to them. Just the other day I met a young widow who greeted me. She stood right in front of me. We were at a church service and she had a big smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. She was waiting for me to call her by her first name. I knew her very well, her dad and her mom are very dear old friends of Jill and myself. She was in the same class as my oldest daughter at school but I hit a blank. Desperately, I was praying, “Holy Spirit, please help me! And her name just popped out, that lovely name, and when I called her by her first name, such a beautiful smile came over her face and we gave each other such a lovely hug. 

Father God knows the first name of every single person who has ever walked on this earth, and by the way, so does His Son, Jesus Christ. Please never forget to use His name when you pray. Now, the way I pray, I pray to the Father, through the Son, Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to ask you also to personalise your Bible reading. It becomes so special, for example, Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd” - the way I read that is - “The Lord is Angus’s Shepherd, Angus shall not want.” Put your own name there because He knows your name. He named you before you were even born. That is why Jesus Christ is the Friend of sinners and He is the soon-coming King, and when He comes He is going to call you by your first name.

Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We go straight to the Book of Isaiah 44:22:

“I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

Then we go to Philippians 4:19: 

“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” 

No more fear, no more uncertainty.

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
John 8:36

We are free, we are free indeed! He has covered all our sins like a thick cloud, no more fear, no more guilt, once and for all, the chains are broken and you and I are free.  

When I was a young man and I had a big family, five children and we always had a couple of extras, we had a children’s home as well, and when I had met the Lord, I was so in love with Him. One day, I was walking through my “green cathedral” - that's right - my corn crop, my maize crop, and the maize was looking beautiful. Those stalks were high, they were actually joining at the top, the cobs were forming, the beautiful thick green leaves drinking in the moisture - it was a beautiful season with plenty of rain. But you see, with that rain and heat comes hail. We have a lot of hail in our area, sometimes so heavy, so vicious that it can split corrugated iron. About 4pm in the afternoon, I was walking through my fields and I was so afraid. I was talking to the Lord, I said, “Lord, you know, in a couple of minutes a black cloud could come over, full of hail stones and destroy this crop in a moment and I would be completely ruined.”

Maybe you are there today. Maybe you are so afraid, afraid of the future. “Who will take care of my children if I am not here?” So afraid whether your business is going to make it or not. And then it was like a penny dropped. The Lord said, “But I will take care of all your needs because I have redeemed you.” I want to say to you folks, it was like a 50 Kg bag of cement fell off my shoulders. I was free because He has redeemed me.

Cast your cares upon Him because He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 

Needless to say, we had a beautiful crop that season and He has never failed me once, in 45 years of walking with Him.

Do the same today. Let Him redeem you and set you free.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.

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

We start in the Book of Revelation 3:20, Jesus says: 

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”   

Our Lord Jesus Christ wants fellowship with us. Yes, He ministers to our needs constantly, doesn’t He? He is always there. He is a phone call away, as they say, but I want to say something to you - this morning, the Lord laid on my heart that the Lord wants us to minister to Him. You see, it is not a one-way relationship. It's a two-way relationship, and he wants us also to spend time with Him. He washes our dirty, smelly feet constantly. He forgives us when we cry and we say we are sorry, but He also desires from you and me, exclusive, uninterrupted time so that we can wash His feet.

Remember the story of the lady, the woman who came in to where Jesus was sitting? She was a woman of ill-repute, she wasn’t a godly woman necessarily, but she fell in love with Jesus. She came in and started to cry and weep over His feet. She washed His feet with her tears, then with her long, beautiful hair, she dried His feet. That touched Him so deeply that it is written in the Bible. Just like our loved ones who really want us, they don’t want our efforts, they don’t want our gifts but they want time with us alone. Jesus is the same. Often, He took His disciples aside on their own so that they could rest but He also, I believe, even more so, wanted exclusive time with them because He loved them. They were His friends. He wanted fellowship with them. 

Today, come aside and wash the feet of Jesus, spend time in His presence and let Him talk to you, because He loves you.

God bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.