Episodit

  • Prayer of Faith

    Prayer of Faith

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Book of Matthew 13:58:

    “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

    What a sad scripture! Jesus did not do many mighty works in His own hometown, Nazareth, because of their unbelief. He says just earlier in the passage:

    “A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house.” 
    Matthew 13:57

    So sad. From Nazareth down to Capernaum is half a day’s walk. In Nazareth, where Jesus worked in the carpenter shop with His earthly father, Joseph, and his brothers, sisters and mother, Mary, He could perform very few miracles. Yet, a half a day’s walk, down to Capernaum, amazing miracles, feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five barley loaves of bread, walking on the water, healing the sick, setting captives free, delivering people from demons because the people believed.

    I want to ask you one thing, and I want you to listen very carefully. Please do not tie God’s hands because of your unbelief. When a person wants to pray for you, it is not the person who is going to heal you. It is the name of Jesus Christ, when a person anoints you with oil and prays the prayer of faith. You can find that in James 5:16. It is the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man that avails much, the Bible says. So many times when I have been overseas, people have come from distances to receive healing and they have received their healing, not because of me. I am merely a vessel of the Lord, but because of their faith in Jesus Christ. 

    Remember the woman with the issue of blood? She pushed through the crowd and touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. She said to herself, “If I can only touch the hem of His garment, I will be healed.” She was healed immediately. That woman had spent all her money going to doctors. What about Bartimaeus, the blind man? “Oh Rabboni (Teacher), if I could just receive my sight.” Immediately, he was healed. Do not tie God’s hands through unbelief - that is why He could not perform many miracles in His own hometown. 

    Jesus bless you and have a day where you contemplate the miracle working power of The Carpenter from Nazareth.

    Goodbye.

  • Be Patient

    Be Patient

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Book of Psalms 37:7: 

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

    Then we go to the Book of James 5:7-8

    “Therefore be patient, (there is that word again)  brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. 8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

    We need to be patient and today everything is almost working to the opposite of being patient. It is a case of “Hurry up and let’s do it quickly!”  Everything is fast - fast food, fast cars, a fast life. Folks, I tell you what, it does not last. The Lord says we must be like a good farmer who waits for his crop. Impatient, erratic people will never see the fruit of their labours. You and I have to work at things.

    I never had the privilege, and it is a privilege, to go to a theological college to learn about the word of God, but the Lord sent me to the field. He sent me, as a farmer. To put a crop of maize into the ground, or wheat, or corn, it takes a full year, not two or three months. You have to prepare the seed bed, you have to plant the seed, you have to nurture that crop through all kinds of disease, of weather extremes - I am talking about hail, I am talking about drought, I am talking about floods, and you have to stay with that crop. An old farmer once said to me, “Angus, how often do you check your cattle?” I said, “Every single day.”  He said, “Then you should check your crop of maize every single day because you will find something else that you can work on.” You need to deal with the weeds that spring up. If there is insect damage coming in, you need to deal with it. You coax it, you tend it, you love it until the day of harvest, and then, once it is in the bag, as they say, you can relax and give the glory to God.

    Work on your marriage. There is no such thing as a perfect marriage, I have never met one yet. Work on your marriage! Study hard to get that qualification, it does not come easy. If it did, everybody else would be doing it. Be patient, not only with your animals but with your loved ones. You see me riding a horse and you think that is easy. No, its not easy, it has taken years and years and years of patience and training to get that horse to do what I want him to do.

    Now, let’s spend time with Jesus and He will give us the grace to finish the job.

    God bless you and have a lovely day,
    Goodbye.

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  • Comfort

    Comfort

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in Old Testament in the Book of Lamentations 1:20-21:

    “See, O Lord, that I am in distress; My soul is troubled;
They have heard that I sigh, But no one comforts me.”

    Then we go to Psalm 42:5:

    “Why are you cast down, O my soul?
    And why are you disquieted within me?
    Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
    For the help of His countenance.”

    Now, you know, the interesting thing there, my dear friend, is that we read this scripture from Psalm 42 - it is written twice in Psalm 42 - in verse 11 as well. Then we go to Psalm 43 and it is written yet again, three times on two pages. People are distressed, people are troubled. I looked up the Oxford Dictionary to look up the meaning of the word “Distress” It means “extreme unhappiness”, and it means to be “heartbroken.” Now, you and I need to show more love and more compassion to people who are hurting. Please never say to a hurting and distressed person that you understand, unless you have been there yourself, because they can see right through you. Rather put your arm around them, weep with them, sit with them and just be quiet. What they need desperately is hope. 

    Faith is for the present and hope is for the future. Reassure them that this life is very temporal. It is not going to last, we are passing through, we are sojourners. We are going home. Tell them about the life to come, speak to them about Heaven. You know, Jesus spoke so much about His heavenly home. Paul, the great apostle said, in Philippians 1:21:

    “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

    You can’t frighten a Christian with Heaven. If we live, we live for Jesus, if we die, we go home. I see some of these top sportsmen in the changing room before they go out onto the field, banging their heads up against the wall to get psyched up!  You and I don’t have to do that. What we need to do is go for a good walk, sit somewhere in a quiet place, and have a heart-to-heart chat with Jesus. Tell Him about your troubles, tell Him about your distressed moments and then leave it in His capable hands, and you will feel so much better. That is what I do. Have a good chat with the Lord and He will reassure you that He will sort it all out in due time.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • Praise the Lord

    Praise the Lord

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Book of Psalms 113:1-3:

    "Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forevermore! From the rising of the sun to its going down. The Lord's name is to be praised."

    We need to praise the Lord, my dear friend, today. How are you feeling this morning? Not feeling so good? It's a good time to praise the Lord, especially when you don't feel like it.

    The other scripture is Isaiah 59:19:

    "
When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him."

    That is the power that we have as followers of Jesus. We can praise the Lord in all our circumstances.

    On a Wednesday morning here at the farm, very early before the sun comes up, there's a group of men that come together and we pray in the chapel. Now, when we get into that chapel for the prayer meeting, we've normally had a cup of coffee or a cup of tea, the first thing we do is we start to sing and we praise the Lord and we sing for quite a while, and then we start to pray, and I want to tell you folks, it clears the air. You can see smiles on the men's faces because they are praising the Lord.

    Now the reason why I'm sending this to you is because this very morning we had a power failure. There were no lights and the first thing is, I couldn't find the torch. Then eventually I found the torch and I tried to get hold of a candle. I got the candle but I couldn't find the matches. I'm laughing but I wasn't laughing at that time! Now, I'm trying to make a fire because it's freezing cold here and I don't want my dear wife Jill to get up. It's cold in the house but I can't get outside because there's no lights and there's no firewood next to the stove. Eventually I got it all sorted out and we got the candle going, and then the lights came back on!

    I want to say to you today, we praise the Lord unconditionally, not just because we feel like it. It's because He's worthy to be praised and when we praise the Lord, it's like that candle, when I've finally found the matches, I could strike the match and the darkness literally went out of the room. I could see what I was doing, make a nice fire for my wife, put the kettle on and give her a nice cup of tea, and then the lights came back on.

    Today, I don't know where you are at, I don't know what you are dealing with but just start to praise Him and you will be surprised how things will turn around. 

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • Unclogged

    Unclogged

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in 1 John 2:15 KJV:

    “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”

    We need to be unclogged from the things of the world. I read a beautiful reading, early this morning, by a man by the name of J. Ingels and this is how it goes:

    ‘If you go to the banks of a little stream and you watch the flies that come down to bathe in it, you will notice that while they plunge their bodies into the water, they keep their wings high out of the water, and after swimming about a little while, they fly away with their wings un-wet, through the sunny air. Now, that is the lesson for you and me. Here, on this earth, we are immersed in the cares and the business of the world, but let us keep our wings, the wings of our soul, our faith and our love, out of the world, so that with these unclogged, we may be ready to take our flight to Heaven.”

    Isn’t that beautiful? Don’t get bogged down with the things of this world that rob us of our joy. We start getting involved in things that have got nothing to do with us. Remember, you and I are sojourners, we are travellers, we are passing through. We are not remaining here forever. No, let us do what we can while we are here but let us keep our wings dry so that when the Lord calls us, we can fly away with Him into our heavenly home. 

    Today, folks, let us focus on the most important things that count - first of all, God, secondly, our loved ones, our family, then our friends, and then our work or our ministry. But let us keep them in order so that we do not get bogged down. We get our wings wet and then we cannot fly out of that water. Today, let us fly into the sunshine with dry wings and a body that is ready to face the Lord Jesus Christ, when He calls us and He says, “Well done good and faithful servant, come and enter into thy rest.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • Pearl of Great Price

    Pearl of Great Price

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Old Testament, the Book of Proverbs 3:15:

    ”She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.”

    Then we go to Mathew 13:45-46:

    ”Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” 

    That pearl of great price! Oh, my dear friend, it is our salvation. It’s when we find the Lord Jesus Christ, isn’t it? That is exactly what it is like. So often, we forget what God has so freely given to you and me: eternal life, freedom, and a new opportunity to serve Him. We don’t even know sometimes what we are holding in our hands, do we? The Passion Translation says: “When he discovered one very precious and exquisite pearl, he immediately gave up all that he had in exchange for it.” The Message Translation says: “Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.” 

    On the 26th of January 1905, in South Africa, the largest rough diamond ever found on earth was found in the Cullinan Mine. It weighed 621.2 grams. It is worth 19,000,000 British pounds. It was named after the mine owner, Thomas Cullinan. Incredible! But I want to tell you, I found my diamond on 18th February 1979, at about 10 o’clock in the morning - an absolute pearl of great price. Yes, I met Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, and you know, since that day, everything else in this world has paled into insignificance in comparison. What about you? Would you like to find that diamond of great price? Maybe you did and you lost it. I want to pray a prayer with you today, that you would again commit your life to Jesus. Please pray this prayer after me:

    Dear Lord Jesus,

    I have been searching all my life for peace, joy and purposeful living. Today, by faith, I accept you as my Lord and Saviour. I thank you for dying for a sinner like me and today, You will become the most important person in my life.

    In Jesus’ name, Amen.

    God bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • The Smallest Seed

    The Smallest Seed

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Book of Matthew 13:31-32:

    " Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches." 

    Then we go to the Gospel of Luke 17:6:

    "So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."

    The smallest of the seeds becomes the biggest plant in the garden. In fact, so big that even the birds of the air can build their nests in it. Never despise small beginnings. What is it that the Lord requires of you and me in order to do something big for Him? He requires faith and obedience that's all, nothing else.

    You know the true story of the little boy who's mom gave him two little sardines and five small barley loaves for his lunch, and when he went to hear Jesus preaching and there was a crowd of over 5000 people, he took his two sardines, his five barley loaves - yes, his mustard seed. He gave it to Jesus. Jesus multiplied it and fed a crowd exceeding 5000. That is what we have to do today. Just take what you've got and give it to the Lord, and He will use it and multiply it, and it will bless many others.

    I love that beautiful story about a little Dutch boy walking along a dike late one afternoon. Now we know that large parts of Holland are below sea level and there was a little hole that sprung forth from the dike and the water was starting to pour in. The little boy got down on his knees, he put his finger in the hole where the water was coming through, and he stayed there all night and kept his finger in that hole, until people came the next day and helped him. He saved a whole town from a devastating flood.

    I want to say to you today just use what you've got. I carry little bottles of mustard seed around with me in my pocket and often when people are feeling down I give them a little bottle of mustard seed and they say, "What is that?" And I say, "That is a reminder that all you need is faith, the size of one mustard seed and the Lord will undertake for you."

    Put your trust in Him today. Give Him what you've got and let Him show you what a miracle working God He really is!

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Wheat and Tares

    Wheat and Tares

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the 2 Samuel 19:6:

    ”
you love your enemies and hate your friends.”

    That was a word that Joab, the general of the armies of Israel, told King David. Then we go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 13:27:

    ”So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” (or weeds). 

    The Lord is speaking to us this morning very clearly because the farmer said to his servants, “Leave the weeds and concentrate on the wheat. Let them both grow out together and then at harvest time, we take the weeds out first, burn them, and then we’ll reap the rich crop of wheat.” We need to be very careful that we are not spending our valuable time in the wrong place. We need to start to spend more time with those who want to spend time with us. 

    You say to me, ”but what about those who hate us? What about those who are constantly putting us down, bad mouthing us? What do we do in that case?” I will tell you what you do - you commit them into the Lord’s hands, you pray for them and then you move on, and you spend time with those who want to spend time with you, and you do not allow those negative things, those weeds, those tares, to influence your life to such a degree that the people that love you are neglected.

    C. H. Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, was walking down the high street one day and a man came up to him and said,

    ”You! You are the chief of all fools”, or words to that effect, and he turned around and said, ”Well, at least I’m the chief of something!” Don’t let those negative words, those negative influences, put you down.

    Today, let us walk with those who love the Lord and those who want to walk with us. Let the Lord take care of the weeds and the tares, and let’s start to be grateful for the friends that the Lord has given us.

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Nevertheless

    Nevertheless

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Gospel of Luke 5:5:

    “But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 

    There is our key word for today, “nevertheless”. “Nevertheless, even though it is not working, Lord, You said it, nevertheless I will do it once more.” And Peter threw that net over and the fish that swam into that net were so many that the net was breaking and he had to call the boats to help him bring in the catch.

    Do not stop, do not give up. Never, ever, ever give up. Throw it in once more, try it once more, write that exam once more. Keep going, don’t stop, work on that marriage, work on that degree, don’t stop. Simon threw the net in once more and what a catch! Do you remember the story of the King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce? He was one of the mightiest kings that Scotland ever had but he was getting defeated by the enemy. His army was scattered everywhere. In fact, the King of Scotland was hiding in a cave for his very life. He was sitting in that dark cave, he was totally disillusioned, he didn’t know what to do. Then he saw a spider, and this spider was trying to weave a web and was swinging from one side of the cave to the other side but he kept missing. He couldn’t make it. He came short and he fell and he crawled up the wall again, and he climbed up the wall again and he swung across again, and he did it many times and eventually that little spider made it to the other side, and then he was able to weave his web. That little insect prompted the King of Scotland to get out of that cave, to rally his troops and once more take on the enemy. Yes, and he defeated the enemy and chased them out of Scotland.

    Today, do what the Lord says. If He says, “Nevertheless, do it once more”, please obey what the Lord tells you.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • Trustworthy

    Trustworthy

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Book of Malachi 3:6:

    ”For I am the Lord, I do not change;
“

    Isn’t that a beautiful promise? Our Lord cannot tell lies, it is against His nature, He can’t do it. If we look at Numbers 23:19, the Bible says:

    ”God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” 

    Oh, you can bank on it, He will not disappoint you. I think, one of the hardest things for us to face is broken promises - when your husband promised he’d be home at 7 o’clock and he doesn’t come home, or that young lady promised that she’d deliver and she didn’t do it. It is so heart wrenching, isn’t it? But the good news is, there is One that we can be absolutely confident in, yes, His name is Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6:

    ”being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” 

    Isn’t that wonderful? I want to say to you today that with a world that is so insecure, where you can’t trust anyone, there is One who is trustworthy. I read a beautiful reading early this morning, written by a mighty man of God, Samuel Rutherford. He said, and I quote:

    ”Our hope is not hung up upon such untwisted thread as for example, “I imagine so” or “It is likely”. No, rather it is the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor. It is the oath and the promise of Him who is eternal truth. Our salvation is fastened with God’s own hand and Christ’s own strength, to the strong stake of God’s unchanging nature.”

    Today, put your trust in the Lord. He will never disappoint you.

    Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, 
    Goodbye.

  • Imitate Jesus

    Imitate Jesus

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the 1 Corinthians 11:1. Paul says:

    “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” 

    Wow, there is a challenge for us! It’s no good shouting at your tractor driver because he is ploughing in the wrong gear, and he is wasting diesel as the black smoke goes out of the exhaust pipe. Stop him at at the headland, ask him to move over, jump on the tractor and show him how to do it and he will not argue with you. I remember years ago, buying a beautiful Simmentaler bull from a very, very well-established stockman. His name was Cedric Taylor. There was a group of young guys trying to help me, and we were trying to load this huge one-ton Simmentaler bull onto my truck, and he would just not go on, and we were trying everything, and then I heard the old man say, “Excuse me, can you just move over a bit?” And then he walked up to that bull and he put his big hand on the middle of the back of that big bull, and said, “Come on boy, let’s walk onto the truck’, and that big bull walked straight onto that truck. 

    You see, we need to imitate Jesus because He is the only one that can help us. Now that old gentleman didn’t have to tell me that he was a stockman, I saw it with my own eyes and I have never forgotten it. John, the apostle, the legend goes that when he was a very old man, he was the last of the disciples to die, they used to carry him in on a bed, to the meetings that he had, and he would always say, “Little children, love one another.” And they would say to each other and to John, “But John, why do you always tell us that?” And with tears in his eyes he would say, “Because that’s what the Master always told us to do.”

    1 John 4:8 says very clearly that:

    “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

    Today, let’s go out and imitate our beloved Lord Jesus. 
    God bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • No Limits

    No Limits

    · Thought For Today

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

    We go to the Gospel of Matthew 13:16:

    “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;
”

    The Lord has given us spiritual eyes and spiritual ears so that we can see and hear directly from Him. You and I need to lift up our eyes and open our ears much better. He who aims at the stars aims too low! We have got to aim higher, above the stars. 

    1 Corinthians 2:9: 
    “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
    Nor have entered into the heart of man
    The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

    You know how much God has in store for you, why are we grovelling when we should be standing tall and aiming high?  I want to ask you a question, how big is God? Well, God is as big as you allow Him to be in your life and today we need to lift up our eyes and open our ears.

    A very famous South African statesman, Jan Smuts said, “A man is not defeated by his opponents but by himself.” We really need to understand that. I remember going to Sweden, many, many years ago. We were praying in the vestry at the back of the church before the service started. One man said to me, ‘What are you doing over here? Why don’t you go back to Africa? We don’t have poverty or hunger here.” And then a lady started to cry. She said, “Angus, here we have everything that opens and closes  - we have water that we can drink out of the lakes, we have the biggest trucks in the world but we keep Jesus in a matchbox and sometimes we just let Him out a little bit. Please pray for us. 

    Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

    Don’t tie God’s hands by doubt and unbelief. Write that book that you want to write, start that business that you believe God wants you to start. Study and finish - to be that doctor that can help the poor and the sick.  Train hard and be an international sportsman so that you can glorify God on the podium, like so many Christians have done in the Olympic Games. Do not limit God in your life.

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Tell Your Story

    Tell Your Story

    · Thought For Today

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

    We go to the Book of Acts 6:15:

    “And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him (that was Stephen), saw his face as the face of an angel.” 

    You and I need to tell our story. Stephen was waiting on the tables. He wasn’t one of the apostles and yet he told his story. That story led to his death actually. They eventually stoned him, but the man who orchestrated the stoning - yes, Saul of Tarsus, because of that testimony, became the greatest of all the apostles when his eyes were open and he realised what he had done. We need to tell our story. When was the last time you told somebody about how you met Jesus Christ? Yes, it could make you very unpopular, it cost Stephen his life, but I want to tell you, there is no power greater than personal testimony. We need to tell our story.

    Now, Fanny Crosby lived 100 years ago plus, and at 6 weeks old she went blind, but she became one of the greatest of all hymn writers, and probably her most famous hymn was the one, “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine”. I want you and I to sing it together this morning and then maybe we could go out today and tell somebody our story. You say, “But I am not a preacher.” No, Stephen wasn’t either! He was a waiter, he waited on the tables. It goes like this:

    Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
    Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
    Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
    Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

    Perfect submission, all is at rest,
    I in my Saviour am happy and blest,
    Watching and waiting, looking above,
    Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

    This is my story, this is my song,
    Praising my Saviour all the day long;
    This is my story, this is my song,
    Praising my Saviour all the day long.

    Go out today and tell your story, 
    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • The Cost

    The Cost

    · Thought For Today

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

    We go to the Gospel of Mark 8:34,

    ”When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, â€œWhoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” 

    It’s a costly business, following the Lord Jesus Christ. It requires a change of lifestyle. When I first left school, I worked as an apprentice printer in a daily newspaper. Now, if you are working at a daily newspaper, that means the newspaper must be printed in the evening, so when all my friends went to work early in the morning as the sun was rising, I was going home to sleep, and in the evening as the sun was going down I was going to work and it cost me. It became very lonely. My friends were going out together to parties and to play sport and I was going to work.

    The other day, I was talking to some of my grandsons and they said, ”Sometimes it becomes lonely to be a follower of Jesus Christ.” You become excluded from some friends. You are no longer popular because you have made a definite change. Your Christian belief has cost you. What do we always say at Shalom? If it has cost you nothing, it’s worth nothing. There’s always a price to pay for anything worth having in life. If you want to pursue a certain career it’s going cost you. If you want to be a follower of Jesus Christ, with all your heart, it will definitely cost you. 

    Oh but my friend, I want to tell you something, it is so very worth it and it will pay off handsomely at the end, so don’t despair, and you are not the only one that is walking tall for the Lord. There are many others, you just need to find them, but the most important thing is that you are prepared to change your lifestyle and to live a life of holiness, in order to achieve what God has in store for you, and He has so much in store for those who will put their total trust and their lifestyle in His hands.

    God bless you and have a lovely day, 
    Goodbye.

  • The Closest Friend

    The Closest Friend

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Gospel of John 15:14. Jesus says:

    ”You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”

    Then we go to Matthew 12:50:

    ”For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

    Remember, Jesus was teaching the disciples and a person came in and said, “Your mom and your brothers are waiting for you outside.” Jesus said, ”Who are my mother and my brothers but those who do the will of My Father.” 

    We need to understand who our family are. You know that the Lord has no grandchildren. What does that mean? Well, if you love the Lord your God but your children are in the far country, there is no guarantee they will get to heaven. Each and every one of us needs to meet the Lord personally, and by the way, it’s not how long we have known Him that counts but rather how closely we have walked with Him that counts.

    Even the devil himself knows Jesus, make no mistake about that but he’s not going to heaven, I can tell you that, not him or any of his demons. Now, we see the thief on the cross, he had known the Lord Jesus only for moments, but intimately, and yet Jesus said to him, ”Today, you will be with me in paradise,” because the thief acknowledged and believed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and the Son of God. You’ll find that in Luke 23:43.

    I’ve got people that I’ve known for 40 years. I know them casually just to greet them in the street but I don’t know them personally. Then there are other men and women that I meet and I’ve only known them for a short while, maybe when I’m overseas, maybe in Australia, in the USA, in Britain, and I feel that I have known them all my life. How is that? Well, it can only be through the Holy Spirit. There is the Holy Spirit who unites us together, and even though we’ve only met each other for half an hour at the airport we become firm brothers and sisters in Christ forever.

    So today spend time with Jesus. Spend quality time and spend quantity time because indeed, He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. 

    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Speak Life

    Speak Life

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Book of Psalms 19:14:

    “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
    Be acceptable in Your sight,
    O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”

    Then we go straight to the New Testament to the Gospel of Matthew 12:37:

    ”For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

    Oh, we need to make sure that our words are sweet, as the saying goes, because someday we might have to eat them. If you’ve got nothing good to say about someone rather say nothing at all. Remember, people who live in glass houses don’t throw stones.

    You know, before preaching at any meeting, whether it’s a large one or whether it’s a small one, I first kneel, I humble myself before the Lord and then I pray aloud the verse that I’ve just read to you:

    ”Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 
    Be acceptable in Your sight, 
    O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” 

    Then I start speaking words of life to a dying world. In Proverbs 10:19, the Bible tells us that:

    ”In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.” 

    We need to be so careful that we don’t talk too much. You see, it’s not how much we say that makes an impact but it’s about timing and it’s about sincerity of words that count. Like the lady who got up one morning and she was so down, she said, ”Lord, I really need a word from You today, otherwise Lord, I’m not going back to church anymore.” She came to a church that I happened to be preaching at, a very large church in Durban, South Africa, and it was a packed out house. This little lady came all by herself, it wasn’t her home church, and she sat there and participated in the service. Remember she said, ”Lord, if You don’t give me a word, that’s it, I’m not going back anymore.” Right at the end to the service, I think in order to avoid the traffic, she started to slip out of the back of the church and when I preach, my eyes go all over the place and I shouted, I don’t know why I did it, obviously it was the Lord and I said to the lady, just trying to quietly get out of the church, ”lady!” And she turned around and I said,” Can you please come up to the platform.” She was very shy. She came up to the platform and I told her something very simple like God loves you, and that was it. Then she wrote me a letter a week later and said, ”My life has been transformed because Jesus (not me), spoke to me directly out of a crowd of a few thousand people.”

    Speak the word of life and God will do the rest.

    Have a wonderful day
    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Who Do You Believe In?

    Who Do You Believe In?

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Gospel of Mark 8:29:

    “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”

    A beautiful scripture! Remember, we always say on this programme, good people don’t go to Heaven, only believers go to Heaven. I get into trouble, I know that - some people say, “You cannot say that.” Well, that is what the Bible says. Like never before we need to start to know what we believe in. Who is Jesus? He is the Son of God. How are we going to get to Heaven? By faith in Him alone.

    Last night Jill and I watched an old movie. I am sure you have watched it. If you haven’t you need to get hold of it. It is called, “God is not dead.” The story is very simple, a young student is going to university and he goes into a lecture hall where there is a professor who is not only an atheist but an angry atheist. He puts out a piece of paper for all the students to sign which says, “God is dead.” When this young man gets the paper, he can’t believe it. He says to the professor, “I cannot sign this paper,” and the professor humiliates him in front of the whole class. He then said, “Okay, then explain yourself.” The story goes on, he was really humiliated, his own girlfriend left him, “Why don’t you just sign the form and carry on with your studies?” He said, “I can’t because I believe in Jesus Christ.” It is a wonderful story with a wonderful end. In the end, the 80 students who had all signed that form repented and acknowledged that Jesus was the Lord. 

    When I was a young boy, I was taught to learn the Apostles’ Creed by heart. Now folks, I want to say to you, you need to know Who you believe in. There is so much compromise out there, there are so many stories to tell you how to get to Heaven but we need to know the basics. I want to read the Apostles’ Creed to you. This is how it goes:

    I believe in God, the Father, Almighty,
    The Creator of heaven and earth.
    I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, 
    Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, 
    Born of the Virgin Mary,
    Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
    Was crucified, died and was buried. 
    He descended into the dead.
    On the third day, he rose again,
    He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the righthand of the Father
    And will come again to judge the living and the dead.
    I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, the communion of saints,
    the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, amen.

    We need to know it, Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • The Prayer of Faith

    The Prayer of Faith

    · Thought For Today

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

    We go to James 5:16 in the New Testament,

    The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

    Today the Lord has just impressed upon me that He doesn’t answer prayer - no, He answers the prayer of faith! There is no use in you and me wasting God’s time and praying for things we don’t believe are going to happen. It’s a waste of time.

    Now, if you remember, Elijah was just an ordinary man like you and me, and yet he prayed, and there was no rain for three years and six months, and then he prayed again, and it rained, and the ground produced its fruit. God answers the prayer of faith. If we go to 2 Kings 2:21-22, we see that the people came to Elisha and said that the water in this town, was bad, it was causing a lot of sickness and so what happened? Elisha came and took some salt and put the salt in the water and he prayed and said:

    “Thus says the Lord: ‘I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’” 

    Verse 22 says: ”So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.” Folks, I’ve been to the town of Jericho. I’ve seen that spring. Oh yes and it is bubbling out with beautiful fresh water. Now this account took place years before Jesus was even born. 

    I remember getting a phone call a few years back, from a farmer by the name of Job, that was his name. He said, ”My farm is in a terrible state, there’s no rain.” He said, ”I have to sell my herd of dairy cows if we don’t get any rain.” I felt the Lord say, “Go and take salt with you”, and I took a bag of salt, maybe five kilos and I went to the farm. We flew up, right up in the North West of our beloved South Africa. I said, ”Where is your borehole where the water comes from?” He took me to a big windmill. I said,” I’m going to pour this salt into the borehole, into the spring. I did that, we prayed, we left, and we got some photographs a few weeks later that there was literally a flood on his farm. Folks, the road was washed away, he wasn’t complaining!

    Today, pray the prayer of faith and God will answer you.
    Jesus bless you and goodbye.

  • Gentle Jesus

    Gentle Jesus

    · Thought For Today

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

    We go to the Book of Isaiah 42:3:

    ”A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench;
”

    We’re talking about gentle Jesus. He is so gentle that He will not even break a bent reed or extinguish a smouldering reed.

    We go to Matthew 19:14:

    ”But Jesus said, â€œLet the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

    You see, the disciples were trying to protect the Lord. He had been preaching all day long, and He was exhausted. He was sitting underneath a tree, probably trying to have a rest, and the parents were bringing their children to the Master because they wanted Him to bless their children. The disciples rebuked the parents and said, “Don’t bring your children here, the Lord is tired. He needs to have a rest.”  What did He do? He said to the disciples,” Don’t do that, bring them to me.” And He laid his hands upon them and He blessed them. I want to say to you today, we need to be gentle, our Master is gentle. We need to have patience with children and with the old people, and with those who are not prominent, and not just chase after people that can help us.  Our Lord is very gentle and He is very kind. The Bible says He won’t break a bent reed or extinguish a smouldering reed.

    When I was a young man farming, I would often come in and have a cup of tea with Jill. I would be sitting in the kitchen and a visiting fertiliser representative or herbicide representative would come to visit to get some business. I would be sitting, having my cup of tea, looking through the kitchen door, and I would see him get out of the car, and I watched the way he treated my little children who were playing in the garden. Some of them would come in and not even see the children, they were so busy trying to get business. They would walk right past them and ignore them, and then my dog would come up, and he would push the dog away, not interested, and then he would come and knock on the door and with a big smile, he would say, “Good morning Mr Buchan, can we have a chat?” The answer was normally, “No, not today. I am too busy.”

    Then another representative would arrive on the farm, much later, and he would get out of the pick-up and he would walk in through the back gate, and I would be sitting there having my tea, and he would see the children in the garden and he would stop and walk over and get on his knees and have a little chat to them, find out what their name was, and “How are you? Is your dad here?” And the little one would take him by the hand and bring him to me, but as he was walking past, he would stop and pat the dog and say, “That’s a nice dog you have got!” And then knock on the door and say, “Mr Buchan, I would like to speak to you about some business,” and I would probably say, “Come in and have a cup of tea and let’s do the deal.”

    Folks, we need to be so careful how we live. We need to be like Jesus, gentle and loving.

    God bless you and have a wonderful day,
    Goodbye.

  • First Love

    First Love

    · Thought For Today

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

    We start in the Book of Psalms 51:10-12:

    "Create in me a clean heart, O God, 
    And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 
    Do not cast me away from Your presence, 
    And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 
    Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, 
    And uphold me by Your generous Spirit."

    How is your first love for the Lord? Do you remember what it was like the day you first gave your life to Christ? It was a romance, wasn't it? It was incredible. You could never get up early enough in the morning to spend time with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You scrambled to get into your poustinia. What is a poustinia? It's a little house at the end of the garden where the Russians spend time alone with God. 

    This morning, how is it with you? It's so easy to get sidetracked in this day and age. What kind of company are we keeping, you and I? What do we talk about mostly these days? We've got to get back into the gym. We've got to get back into training, not only physically but more importantly, spiritually. Maybe you and I have forsaken our first love. You say to me, "Please don't say that". No, I'm very serious because this scripture was written by God's very, very special man. His name was David. He used to sit on the hills with his harp, watching his father's sheep, singing to the Lord, praying to the Lord, and then he fell, didn't he, into adultery? He says, "Give me a clean heart, Lord, please don't cast me away from Your presence."

    In 2003 I was up in the Mkuzi Game Reserve, in the Northern part of our beloved Kwazulu-Natal, having my quiet time, working as hard as I could, planning my next year of appointments all over the world, and this is the scripture which the Lord gave me, which absolutely flattened me, and I want to share it with you. It's in Revelation 2:4. The Lord says:

    "Nevertheless
" meaning, you've done all these things but" I have this against you, that you have left your first love."

    We must repent today and get back to our first love. If we lose that, we've lost everything. The Amplified version says: "But I have this [charge] against you, that you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]."

    Oh, my dear friend, both you and I today, let us repent before the Lord and say, "Lord, I'm so terribly sorry that I have forsaken my first love. Please renew a right spirit in me."

    God bless you and have a wonderful day, 
    Goodbye.

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