Episoder
-
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. -
Mangler du episoder?
-
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 12:24People 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. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 7th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to the Gospel of Mark 8:36:
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his family? We need to be very careful here today, because charity, which is another word for “love”, begins at home. I read a little quotation that was quite sad by an anonymous writer, and basically, it goes like this: “Be very careful, that in order to reach the roses, we do not trample down the daisies.”
You see, we have to put God first, and straight after God, we put our family, and then after our family, we do the work of the Lord. You know, something that is very tragic for me is when I speak to a young person and I say to them, “Why are you so “anti” the Lord? Why are you not interested in following Jesus? And then, with big tears in their eyes they say, “We don’t want to follow Jesus because Jesus took our daddy away from us.” How sad! I am talking about children of a full-time worker for the Lord.
We need to get our priorities in order. When travelling overseas, I meet new people. The first question they ask me, it’s not, “What degree do you have in theology, or what Bible College did you go to?” Just as well, because I didn’t go to any of them. The first question they ask me is, “How is your wife?” The second question is, “How are your children?” And then, “How are things back at the farm?” When I answer those questions correctly, then they say, “Can you please now tell us about your message and what has brought you across here to our country?”
We need to be brutally honest with ourselves today. I am talking to men and women. Why are we doing this? I remember as a young man, before I met Jesus, I was working 18 hours a day and I would come home when it was dark, and Jill would say to me, “Where have you been?” And I would say, “I have been working, Jill, to put food on the table for you and the children.” In the morning, I would leave before the children got up. They never saw me, and then I realised, when I came to know the Lord, that I wasn’t working for Jill and for the children, but for my own ego, for my own ambition, for my own vision. We can’t do that. We need to sit down and we need to take an account, because you and I are going to have to tell the Lord one day, why we really did it.
Let’s do it for the Lord, but never at the cost of our loved ones.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.
-
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 6th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Numbers 11:16-17 in the Old Testament:
“So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.”
You see, Moses was exhausted. There were a million people in the desert, they were hungry, they wanted food. He said to the Lord, “I can’t do this anymore on my own.” I want to say to some young aspiring businessman, some young lady who has a huge vision to help the poor, God will never give us a job to do that we cannot perform, and when it becomes too heavy for us, and the burden becomes too heavy, Jesus will send others to help you, but you and I have got to learn to delegate to others. You see, in the Kingdom of God, there are no one man shows. No, the Lord has purposely designed us so that others can help us. We can’t do it on our own.
I remember the Mighty Men conferences on this farm. Do you know, we started off with 240 men and we ended up 7 years later, with 450,000 men, I can’t believe it myself, on this very farm. Then the Lord spoke to me, almost audibly, and He said that was the last one that was going to happen on this farm. That was in 2010. He said, “Take the baton and pass it on to the young men,” which I duly did. I wasn’t very popular, people said, “You are stopping the revival.” No, we are not stopping the revival, we are growing the revival, because every one of those young men took up the baton, and they have done the same thing. We have over 20 Mighty Men conferences happening in South Africa, alone, this year, and in Canada, and in Australia, all over the world. Why? Because we delegated. We have got to pass it along.
Jesus, Himself, in Mark 16:15, said to the disciples:
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel…”
He also delegated. If you don’t delegate, it will die with you. Please don’t do that. God wants to use you powerfully, but you must learn to share the burden.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 5th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Revelation 22:18-19:
“If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life,…”
You and I need to warn people about the word of God and how sacred a book it is. Come on, let’s be honest, the Bible is Jesus in print. If somebody says to you, “Show me this Jesus you are always talking about”, give him a Bible. It is the best gift you can give anybody, especially when a young man is graduating from university or a young girl is graduating from high school, a Bible. I remember my mother buying me a Bible when I had left junior school. I didn’t really understand it. It was in the King James Version, but I treasured that book especially. The Bible is our pathfinder in this jungle that you and I are living in.
When a hunter or explorer walks through the midst of a dense jungle, that compass is a matter of life and death to him. If he loses that compass, he will die in that jungle, he will never find his way out. We need to look after our Bibles like that hunter or that explorer cherishes his compass. It shows him the way out. Do you know, the ancient scribes in Jerusalem were called by God to write out the word of God, the Bible. Before they started to write the scriptures, they would go and have a bath. They would wash their bodies, put on clean clothes before they started to write out the word of God. If they made one mistake, and that goes even today, if they made one mistake when they were writing out the scriptures, they would destroy the scriptures and start again.
You and I need to respect God’s word a lot more than we are doing at the moment. They tell me that in some of the persecuted countries, where they meet underground they take a Bible and they take it apart, page by page, and they circulate the pages of the Bible through the congregation. They take it home and they memorise those scriptures, they bring them back to the next meeting and exchange that page for another one. We really need to memorise the word of God.
The young orthodox children in the Jewish faith memorise the first five books of the Bible before they become of age. That is quite something. I remember distinctly going to a Muslim’s home to have a cup of coffee with him, and I put my Bible on the carpet next to my chair, and he walked in and he said, “Sir, please don’t put that book on the floor. Put it on a coffee table.” That’s right. Let us start to respect God’s holy word.
Jesus bless you and have a lovely day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ name! It is Tuesday morning, the 4th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation 22:11:
”He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
The line is being drawn in the sand. Jesus says in Matthew 12:30:
“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”
We need to understand one thing today: that even as things are becoming more evil, more un-godly and more immoral in the world, one good thing is that we know who is for us, and we know who is against us. There has got to be a deciding moment in every person’s life. You see, for sin to abound, all good people have to do is nothing. When Emperor Constantine declared all of the Roman Empire to become Christian, I think that did more damage to the Christian faith than it did any good. Good is the enemy of best. Jesus has no time for a lukewarm Christian.
In Revelation 3:16, He says He would rather we be ice-cold than lukewarm, but if we are lukewarm, He will vomit us out of His mouth. Those are very strong words. We really need to have a good look at ourselves today and ask ourselves a question. Where do we stand? I was just reflecting again, on the 21 martyrs that died in Libya. They were ordinary construction workers, just ordinary people like you and I, 20 of them were Coptic Egyptian Christians, and one was a Ghanian Christian. They say that just before they had their heads cut off, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the last words they uttered were, “Jesus, Jesus.” They asked Matthew, “What about you?”. He said, “I am a Christian and I am like them.” And they cut his head off as well.
Folks, we need to understand that the time is coming when you and I have to be bold, and we have to literally stand for our faith. We cannot be undecided. We cannot be like the wind that blows the waves in the sea, this way and that way. We are either for Him or we are against Him. I pray today that you will be for Him because He is coming back very soon.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 3rd of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Jeremiah 6:16:
“Thus says the Lord:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.”Then we go to the Book of Matthew 11:29, Jesus says:
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
The old paths. Why do we always want to reinvent the wheel? Let us not become so arrogant and let us start to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has walked this old path before, He knows the way home. He knows about the pitfalls and the dangers.
You know the mighty Comrades Marathon that takes place in South Africa every year? It is two standard marathons, back to back. It is a killer, let me tell you. I tried it once and I didn’t finish. Why? Because I didn’t listen and I did not take advice, and I did not keep to the old ways.
You and I are running the marathon of our lives at the moment. We need a good bus driver. You might ask what is a bus driver. Well, I will tell you what he or she is. In the Comrades Marathon, you get an experienced runner who has run many, many marathons. They put a little reed on the back of their belt of their running gear and it has a little flag on it, and you get onto that bus and you run with that bus driver, and that bus driver will guarantee that he will take you home in the given time if you listen to him. He will tell you where to stop, he will tell you where to drink, when to eat, he will tell you when to walk and he will tell you when to run. He will tell you to swing your arms and sing songs when you are taking strain, and he will guarantee that he will take you home - if you listen to him.
Now, Jesus Christ is the absolute, all-time champion. He is offering you and I, today, the best way home. Let’s follow His instructions and enjoy the journey.
Jesus bless you and goodbye.
-
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 2nd of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Revelation 21:23:
“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.”
No darkness in Heaven, no need for any security lights at night because the sun doesn’t go down. There is no evil in Heaven, God will be our constant light and our security. Oh, my dear friend, what a day that will be! It’s worth waiting for, it’s worth getting prepared for, it’s worth getting ready for, because Jesus Christ, one of these fine days, is coming to take you and me home to a heavenly place where there will be no more fear, no more insecurity. There will be more need for any keys in Heaven, because nothing will be stolen, nothing will be lost, so there will be no need to lock anything up. Have you ever thought about that? I don’t know about you - I am always losing my keys. My wife is always saying, “Where did you put the key?” And I can’t remember where I put the keys. Now, in Heaven, there is no need to have keys. Everything will be open because there are no thieves in Heaven.
There is nothing to be afraid of in Heaven. We really need to lift up our eyes and we need to look to the Lord because He is our light, He is our security, He is our strength. Oh folks, in the meantime, let’s press on, let’s be good stewards of what God has given us. Yes, we have to look after what we have, and I can tell you something now, when you get to Heaven, you can throw those keys away. You won’t need them, you won’t have to lock up anything, you won’t have to put on the security lights, you won’t have to close those gates, because everything will be open, because there are no secrets in Heaven, there are no dark places in Heaven. It is a place of peace and joy and love.
God bless you as you have a special day today and you look forward to your home in Heaven.
-
I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 1st of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to the Book of Revelation 21:5:
"Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
That is a wonderful promise from God. He doesn't do patch-up jobs, He doesn't try and renew something that's old and broken. He does a brand-new job.
One of my favourite verses in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5:17 says:
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
It is a miracle, an absolute miracle, and it is something I can never, ever get used to, and I have seen it for 45 years. You preach the Gospel with love, with sincerity. You challenge the men and the women, the boys and the girls - I have seen it from Sunday School, to men's conferences to ladies meetings, and then you give them an opportunity. You say, "What about giving your life to Christ today?" And you see the change in the countenance of the person. A person who is down and out, who is broken, who has been defeated, all of a sudden, it is the power of God, folks, it is the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who moved in the upper room. A group of people who are cowering in the corner, absolutely petrified, waiting for the Roman soldiers to come in and to execute them, all of a sudden filled with the power of God and completely new life comes into them.
Remember Peter? He preached his first sermon and 3,000 people came to Christ. The same thing has happened, wherever I go I see it, and it touches me deeply. A man who is an alcoholic and is giving up, he prays that prayer, he asks Jesus into his heart, and God takes that thing away from him; broken marriages restored; physical healings taking place. He is the God of the impossible! Put your trust in Him today. I want to pray for you. Maybe you have never prayed this prayer yourself. Why not do it on the 1st of June, a new beginning? Pray this simple prayer after me:
Dear Lord Jesus,
I am tired of living the way I am living. Today Lord, I surrender my old life to You, and I ask You to make me a new creation. I want to start again, Lord. I repent of my sin, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. I will serve no other gods but You, today onwards, in Jesus' name,
Amen.
God bless you. Now, go out and tell the first three people that you meet what you did today. You are a brand-new person!
Jesus bless you and goodbye.
-
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is the 31st of May, the last day of the month, Friday morning, and the year is 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to the Book of Psalms 39:3:
“My heart was hot within me;
While I was musing, the fire burned.”“Musing” means contemplating. It means thinking deeply. It means being in a quiet place. You know that lovely old blind preacher, by the name of George Matheson, you hear me often speak about him. They loved him so much that when he died, and they buried him, they put the coffin in the grave, and they say they filled that grave with red roses. He was a wonderful man of God. George Matheson says we must come apart and we must sit quietly and allow the fire of God to fill our hearts, before we go out and speak to others.
He says, “Oh my soul, would you have your life glorified, beautified, transfigured, to the eyes of men? Get up into the secret place of God’s pavilion where the fires of love are burning. Your life shall shine gloriously to the dwellers on the plain. Your prayers shall be luminous, they shall light your face like the face of Moses, when he knew not that it shone. Your words shall be burning, they will kindle many a heart, journeying on the road to Emmaus. Your path shall be radiant when you have prayed in Elijah’s solitude. You shall have Elijah’s chariot of fire.”
We need to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us. Get alongside the Lord, sit by that little fireplace, and look into those beautiful bright coals and flames, and let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Then go into all the world and tell people about your beloved Jesus, and you will get amazing results. Because you see, they won’t see you; no, they will see Christ in you.
Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 30th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Gospel of Luke 9:25:
"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?"
Oh, my dear friend, we have to stop working so hard. We have to stop trying to please God. The Lord loves us as we are. We don't have to do anything to earn His love. We just have to love Him, that's all. So many of us are trying to earn our way to Heaven. You can't earn your way to Heaven, it is for gratis, it is free. You don't have to pay for it, you just have to receive it. The Lord just wants you and I for fellowship. He created us so that He could speak with us, love us, and we love Him. That's all.
The other night, Jill and I were sitting, listening to the most beautiful song. It's called "Broken Ladders". The song was written by Samuel and Becca Mizell. I think that's how you pronounce their name. I want to read this to you. It is the most beautiful song:
You never asked me to be king
Build my tower up to the sky
So why do I try
You never asked me to be rich
And buy the things that gold can buy
So why do I tryAll You ever wanted was my heart
My heart, my simple heart
To You that's all that really matters
Why do I feel I have to reach
Believe I have to rise
When You never said I had to climb
These broken laddersYou never asked me to be complete
By myself, find all I need
So why do I try
Oh, You never asked me to stand alone
Face the struggles on my own
So why do I tryWhen all You ever wanted was my heart
My heart, my simple heart
To you that's all that really mattersWhy do I feel I have to reach
Believe I have to rise
When You never said I had to climb
These broken laddersCause all they do is take my eyes off You
And make me forget the truth
All You ever wanted was my heart
My heart, my simple heart
To You that's all that really mattersWhy do I feel I have to reach
Believe I have to rise
When You never said I had to climb
Oh You never said I had to climb
These broken ladders
Oh these broken laddersWhat beautiful words! Today, stop trying to do things for God and just love Him. That's all He wants.God bless you and goodbye.
-
I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 29th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to probably the most famous scripture verse in the whole Bible. Oh, my dear friend, this one verse sums up the whole Bible, 66 books of scripture in one verse, and we know it together, let's say it together:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16What a beautiful scripture! Do you remember that magnificent hymn, "The Love of God"? Now, I am going to read the last verse to you, but as I read it to you, and I am talking to the young people particularly, I want you to imagine and try and dream and think of what these words say. This is how it goes:
"Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made;
were every stalk on earth a quill,
and every man a scribe by trade;
to write the love of God above (listen to this)
would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky. "Wow! Imagine if the whole ocean was ink and the skies were paper, and every stalk on earth was a pen, and every single man and woman, boy and girl, was a writer by trade and had to write the love of God above, it would drain the whole ocean dry, and nor could that piece of paper contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky. That is how much Jesus loves you today, my dear friend. He loves you more than you can even imagine.
Yes, there is a lot of sadness, destruction, war, it's all foretold - but the love of Christ is bigger and more powerful than all of that put together. Today, when you go out, look at the sky, have a look at the ocean, look at all those stalks in the field, and think to yourself, if all of that were put to pen, it still would not explain the love of God.
Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 28th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Psalms 3:2:
Many are they who say of me,
“There is no help for him in God.” SelahAnd then we go on to verse 8:
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your blessing is upon Your people. SelahAnd then we go on to Psalm 4:2:
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood? SelahThe word, “selah”, literally means to pause, to think about it. Right through the Psalms, you see the word “Selah” at the end. I looked up the Oxford Dictionary to find out the literal meaning of the word, “pause”. It means to take a break, to rest, it means to wait, to take a breather, it means to stop talking or doing something for a short time before continuing again. I think this word is more for me than I think it is for you. If you don’t believe me, maybe you should ask my wife because she keeps telling me, “You don’t stop.”
Now, we have got to pause, and that is what the psalmist means when he says, “Selah”. You read that scripture, then you pause, and you think about it, you “chew the cud” as the cow does, and you think about it, and then it makes sense. You and I need to slow down and start to “selah”, start to pause. The musicians tell me (and I love music, I think you know that, I can’t play any instruments but I love music) if there is no pause in the score in the music, then it doesn’t sound like anything.
For example, you know that beautiful song that we sing, “Because He lives”?
And because He lives (pause)
I can face tomorrow (pause)
Because He lives (pause)
All fear is gone (pause)
And because I know (pause)
Yes, I know, He holds the future (pause)
And life is worth the living (pause)
Just because He lives.Jesus bless you today, as you take a cup of coffee, a cup of tea, and you pause when you read God’s word.
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 27th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Book of Revelation 21:4:
”And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Now, isn’t that something to look forward to? Wow, I can’t wait! The former things have passed away, there will be no more tears in Heaven, there will be no more death in Heaven, there will be no more sorrow in Heaven, there will be no more crying in Heaven, there will be no more pain in Heaven, and the past has been wiped away. What a future to look forward to. There will be no anticlimax, there will be no disappointment.
A few years back, I had the privilege of being invited to meet, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest evangelists to have ever walked on this planet, yes, Dr Billy Graham, himself. I was flown up in a jet from Tennessee, USA, up to Montreat, North Carolina, where he lived. They fetched us at the airport. I was so excited to meet this man. They drove me to his home, but at the gate there was a security guard, and he asked the gentleman who supposedly organised the meeting for the credentials, and of course, the thing fell flat. He said, “You can’t see Mr Graham because we don’t know about this appointment.”
I was so disappointed, honestly. Look, they were very kind to us, they took us to the museum, they showed us where he grew up, where he lived, his home. They showed us all the different, wonderful things that he had done in his life. Many other retired evangelists were there. They took us around, it was wonderful, but it was an anticlimax. When we go to Heaven, there will be no anticlimax. If we look at verse 3 it says:
“God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
Revelation 21:3That is a guarantee, that is a given. He personally will meet us at the gate, He won’t send His angels, He won’t send Peter or any of the disciples, He has promised us, He will meet you, Mary, He will meet you, John, personally, and welcome you home. I can’t wait for that day. In the meantime, maybe today, you are feeling a bit down, you’re feeling a bit lonely. Maybe you have also been disappointed. Well, I want to tell you something now, lift up your heads and look for your redemption draws near. I want to pray for you as we close.
Dear Lord Jesus,
I pray for my friend today who is not feeling very happy. Maybe they have lost a loved one, maybe they have been terribly disappointed by a relationship, maybe they don’t have work, maybe they are fearful of the future. Oh Holy Spirit, reassure them today of the wonderful future that awaits them when You come to fetch us personally, and to take us home to be with You in glory, forever and ever, Amen.
God bless you and goodbye.
-
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 26th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
I am reading out of the New King James Version, out of the First Book of Peter 5:7:
”…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
What a beautiful promise! Then if you look at the Amplified Version, this is how it reads:
“…casting all your cares, all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all on Him, for He cares about you with deepest affection and watches over you very carefully.”
Isn’t that beautiful? I remember like it was yesterday, many, many years ago, we booked the Kings Park Rugby Stadium in Durban to hold an outreach. It was very exciting for me. It was the biggest attempt I had ever had and the first major stadium I had ever booked, and that night, I was so excited when the crowd came. We were talking about casting your cares upon the Lord, and what had happened was, there was a warning of el Niño, that massive drought that was going to hit South Africa, and the radio stations and the TV stations were saying to the people, “Don’t plant your crops on marginal land because it will fail.” That night, I stood up on the platform and I said, “To hell with el Niño, I am going home to plant up all my fields, and I am going to plant potatoes!” And folks, you know, after I got off that platform, I mean I had cast all my cares on Him, I had burnt my bridges, there was no turning back, I had committed myself, and then the devil started on me, “Well, yes, that is the end of you. You are going to go down because it is not going to rain and you are supposed to have irrigation when you plant potatoes.” I had no irrigation. But by faith, I went home and I planted that potato crop and I planted a maize crop, and I leased some other land and planted maize there, and then I started to pray, and I cast my cares on the Lord, every single day.
Folks, I want to tell you, the good news is, we had a wonderful crop of potatoes, we had a beautiful crop of maize. It was a wonderful year for us. I want to say to you today, cast your cares on the Lord, lift up your eyes higher, higher folks. One man said, “He who aims at the stars, aims too low.” That’s right, we have got to aim above the stars. Philippians 1:21, Paul says:
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
So what have we to be afraid of? Nothing. Today, cast your cares on the Lord and get on with the job that God has called you to. He will do it for you, He is not a man that He should lie.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 25th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Gospel of John 15:7:
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Wow! That is a beautiful promise from the Lord, but the key there is abiding in Him.
Philippians 4:13 - we know that scripture so well:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Its Christ Jesus, folks, it is not our own efforts. Jesus spent thirty years with His Father, His Heavenly Father, in the carpenter shop for a mere three years of ministry, thirty years of preparation for three years of ministry. The devil wants you and I to rush, rush, rush. He keeps us off balance all the time, running, running, running, so that we cannot spend time with the Lord. But Jesus is the opposite. He is never in a rush and He is never late.
Remember, He came to the tomb of Lazarus, His friend, 4 days after He had been summoned by Mary and Martha, Jesus’ friends. But what happened? A miracle took place. Lazarus was raised from the dead. The main objective of the believer is to spend time with Christ and to allow His strength to flow through us. Then, there shall be nothing too hard for us. Nothing is too hard for us when the Lord Jesus Christ is flowing through us, absolutely nothing. Remember the story I told you before about one of the greatest presidents of the United States of America? Abraham Lincoln was asked, “If you were given six hours to cut down that large tree, what would you do?” “Well,” he said, “I would spend four hours sharpening the axe.” Now, I cut trees and I split wood, I want to tell you, that is profound. There is nothing more sad for me to see than a man trying to cut a tree down with a blunt axe. It doesn’t work.
John Wesley went across to Europe to meet with a very special man of God, Count von Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravian church. Do you know what happened? This man, John Wesley, had an MA in theology, and von Zinzendorf made him work in the garden for months. He was so offended. What was he doing? He was trying to get Jesus into the man of God, and out of that, started one of the greatest revivals that the world has ever known.
Today, spend time in His presence. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.
-
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 24th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Old Testament, in the Book of Proverbs 16:32:
“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”Wow! That is a powerful scripture. We need to exercise self-control. In other words, we cannot afford to lose the plot, as they say. You know, a moment of anger loses all your respect from other people. They just do not respect you at all. It is so sad when you see a grown man “throwing his toys”, as they say. And if we happen to be famous, or we happen to be rich, that has got nothing to do with it. I really want to say to you, some of the most wealthy people I have ever met, and famous, are normally very, very humble people.
If we lose the plot then we become totally unacceptable. Jesus loves to see a person who is in control of themselves. I always say to people, if you have got a short fuse, count to ten before you say something, and then you will probably never say it. Don’t throw your reputation away in a fit of anger. Now, the greatest example for you and me when it comes to self-control is our Lord Jesus Christ. If you go to the word of God in Matthew 27:13-14, when Jesus was standing before Pontius Pilate, and this is what He said:
“Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.”
He couldn’t believe it! Pontius Pilate was trying to help Him. He said, “Speak up for Yourself” The Lord never said one word.
I read something beautifully written this morning, by a man named Dean Stanley. He says, “More dear in the sight of God and His angels, than any other conquest, is the conquest of self, which each man with the help of Heaven, can secure for himself.” Today, let’s go out and let’s make sure that we don’t cause people offence, we don’t cause our brother to stumble, and that we answer every accusation with a gentle answer, and then the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, will be very happy with us.
Have a wonderful day today.
God bless you and goodbye. -
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 23rd of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Revelation 19:9:
”Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’”
If we love Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we will be invited guests. We are the called ones. It is going to be the greatest marriage feast that we have ever seen in our lives. We are not being called as casual observers or spectators, looking through the fence at the amazing spectacle taking place. No, no, it will be our time. It will be our wedding day with our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, you know folks, I have done many, many weddings in my life, and I just love to stand and observe and see how excited the bridegroom is when he is waiting for the bride to arrive, and his best man, some of them have got more than one, they are making sure that he is looking smart, that his collar is out and his shoes are shining, that everything is in place. Then of course, the bride, with all the bridesmaids, coming behind, making sure that her dress is in order, that the train that is flowing behind her dress, that no-one stands on it, that her head covering is beautifully put in place, that lovely bouquet of flowers is positioned nicely on her arm, and everybody is excited.
If we go to the Book of Ephesians 5:27, this is what the word says:
“…that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
When you are getting ready for your wedding, you don’t want anything out of place. Your hair must be beautifully done, everything must be in order. The same thing is going to happen on a much grander scale when you and I go home to be with our beloved Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ. Get yourself ready for the greatest marriage feast that you can ever even imagine! Get yourself in order. Don’t wait for the last minute. This is your time to get ready for your wedding with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye. - Se mer
