25/04/2024

Angus Buchan

25/04/2024

Shine for Jesus

April 25, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 60:1, Ephesians 5:14

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

We start in the Book of Isaiah 60:1:

“Arise, shine;

For your light has come!

And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.”

Then we go straight to the Book of Ephesians 5:14:

“Awake, you who sleep,

Arise from the dead,

And Christ will give you light.”

Oh, like never ever before in this world of ours, it is time to shine for Jesus, so that the people will be taken out of their darkness. This world, my friend, is in an absolute state of desperation. It is lost, aimless, it is seeking for direction, for purpose for living. This is our greatest opportunity to show the sad world the way home, the way to the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is man’s purpose for being here on earth? Maybe you are asking yourself that question this morning. “What am I supposed to be doing on this earth? Why am I here?” Well, two reasons: Number one is to glorify God, number two is to enjoy Him forever. I can hear somebody saying, “But I am not a preacher, how can I tell the people? We need to let Jesus shine through us today wherever we have been put.

I love horses - I think you know that by now. Monty Roberts, the horse-trainer, the horse whisperer, was taken over to England to show the Queen Mother (she loved horses), how he could gentle a wild horse that has never been ridden before, a racehorse, a hot blood, in one hour, and he did it! A jockey got onto that big horse within one hour, having never been ridden before. You know, that it overwhelmed the old lady so much, she started to weep and Monty Roberts comforted her.

Use what God has given you, the gift that God has given you. I remember an old man who came from Mozambique. He used to walk with a limp, I even remember his name, Napila. He was on our farm when we were in Zambia. That old man was a blacksmith and he had no equipment to work with. He had a home-made set of bellows. He made a hot fire, he used car springs. Now, any mechanic will tell you how hard a car spring is. He made the most beautiful axe-heads, out of those car springs which he put into indigenous wood. Have you ever seen a potter, working with clay that comes out of the earth and making a beautiful creation? Some of our African women are incredibly talented at creating the most beautiful vases and pots.

So, I am going to encourage you today to use whatever gift God has given you. You might be a homemaker, a school teacher, a policeman, or a doorkeeper. It’s time to shine for Jesus!

God bless you and have a wonderful day,

Goodbye.

23/05/2024

May 23, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Revelation 19:9, Ephesians 5:27

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.

22/05/2024

May 22, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Jeremiah 4:3, Matthew 13:7

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 22nd of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Jeremiah 4:3: “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns.” Then we go straight across to the Gospel of Mathew 13:7: ”And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.” We have to prepare our hearts just like the good farmer prepares the land that he will plant his precious crop into. A lazy farmer does not take pride in his land preparation and he doesn’t do a fine job. It is rough, it is unkempt, and from the start the seed is going to struggle. We must be very careful that we don’t try and cut corners because if we do we are wasting our time. The thorns and the weeds and the thistles will grow up and strangle those precious little plants as they emerge from the ground. If we look at verse 22, we see that the word of God tells us that the distractions, the worries of this world cause the plants not to grow because of the competition on the land. Compromise, pleasures, delights and the riches of this world choke the word of God and it yields no fruit. I remember a farmer came into our area many, many years ago. He came from a different part of the country. Here we have very fertile land and it rains beautifully in this area. This man came from a marginal area where the land was quite dry. He did most of his weed control by mechanical means, cultivating his rows of maize with a tractor and a cultivator. We said to him, ”You need to spray all your weeds because they are getting out of control.” He said, ”No, no, I’ll just let them grow and then I will come in on a nice hot day and I will cultivate them out of the ground.” Well, of course that dry hot day never came. It just rained and rained and rained and eventually his whole crop was strangled by the weeds. We couldn’t even see the little plants. After a couple of years that man left this district because he couldn’t farm here anymore. We need to cultivate our walk with the Lord. My dear friends, sometimes the most dangerous thing is when you go on holiday and you don’t get up in the morning and don’t have a good quiet time with the Lord every day. You don’t read your Bible, you don’t pray because you say you’re having a rest, but that is when the weeds come in and strangle your relationship with the Lord. When on holiday you need to be spending more time with the Lord and reading His word and praying. Cultivate your land and God will give you a mighty crop. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

21/05/2024

May 21, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Revelation 19:1

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 21st of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Revelation 19:1: “After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honour and power belong to the Lord our God! “ A victory shout, a singing in Heaven, the devil has been defeated, his demons will never rule again! I want to say to you today, you might be feeling a little bit sad, you might be feeling a bit angry actually and you might be saying, “How is it that evil people seem to get the victory?” and “Where is the justice? How do these people just carry on doing their own thing and nobody apprehends them?” My dear friend, I want to tell you that vengeance belongs to the Lord. Leave it, put them in prayer before the Lord, and you and I need to start praising God for the victory He has given us already in Christ Jesus. You see that Babylon has fallen, the powers of darkness will never, ever overcome the Lord. That is good news, that is worth singing about, isn’t it? It is worth singing about because the end of the story is not yet written. It is still coming, and I want to tell you, every unrighteous deed will be dealt with, and every person who feels they have been short-changed, will be dealt with by the Lord. He will overcome, He has overcome, and the victory is ours! Do you remember that old song, that beautiful worship song? I am sitting in my prayer room here, it is still dark outside, and I just wanted to sing with you. Remember that chorus, Alleluia? Let’s sing it together: Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Thank You, Jesus, Oh thank You, Jesus, Thank You Jesus, Thank You Jesus, And we thank You, Jesus, Thank You, Jesus, Alleluia, Alleluia! Go out today and thank Him because you have got the victory in Him, and nothing else will overcome you. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.