01/05/2024

Angus Buchan

01/05/2024

Joyful

May 1, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Habakkuk 3:18, Nehemiah 8:10, Isaiah 61:3

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

We start in the Book of Habakkuk 3:18:

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

Then we go straight to Nehemiah 8:10. We all know that verse:

“…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Now, you might say to me this morning, “What is there to be joyful about?” Well, let’s start with our salvation, because He has saved you and me from a terrible life of bondage to the devil. He has set us free! He has covered us with a robe of righteousness; He has hidden our shame; He has clothed us with garments of salvation. That’s right, yes, a new beginning. He has given you and me a brand new life.

You know that scripture in Isaiah 61:3? He has given us a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Folks, this joy that the Lord is speaking to us about is not a feeling, it’s a fact. We don’t have to walk around with a big smile on our face all the time and be happy all the time. It’s a deep knowing that if we have to die today we are going home to be with Jesus, not because we are good people but because He is a Good God, and He loves us and we have acknowledged Him as our Lord and Saviour. It is a guarantee. For us to live is Christ and to die is but gain - that is what Paul, the Apostle said. I want to say to you today, it is the joy of the Lord.

We need to praise God because when we praise Him, that is what takes that spirit of heaviness off us. Do you remember that song which the Gaither’s wrote, Bill and Gloria Gaither? It’s a song that has gone right around the world so many times. Early in the morning, on a Wednesday morning, there are men who get together in our little chapel on the farm, and we sing together, and this is one of the favourite songs that the boys love to sing, and I want you to sing it with me. It goes like this - Because He lives, that’s right, I can face tomorrow:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

And because I know, yes I know, He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

Now come on, all together:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

And because I know, yes I know, He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

Go out now and praise the Lord because He lives.

God bless you and 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.

20/05/2024

May 20, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Psalm 145:8, Psalm 85:2

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 20th of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Psalm 145:8: “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy.” Isn’t that beautiful to know? Then we go to Psalm 85:2: “You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin.” Praise God that you and I serve a merciful saviour! Peter asked the Lord Jesus, “How many times must I forgive my brother? Seven times?” And remember what Jesus said to Peter? “Seven times seventy.” Wow! I thank God that our Lord is slow to anger and He is quick to forgive. He is a merciful God. I want to tell you a little story about when I was looking for forgiveness, mercy, and grace from my neighbours. Many years ago, I was burning firebreaks on our farm. We have a huge wetland right on the boundary of our farm. It is the sponge which supplies the water to the Umvoti River, which goes all the way down to the Indian Ocean. I was burning away there. Fortunately, I had contacted everybody and all of a sudden, a gust of wind came up and took the fire straight into the huge swamp. Now, inside that swamp are 12-foot-high reeds; it is like an ocean inside there, and the most massive fire got going, where the clouds were black and literally covering the sun. I felt so terribly embarrassed. I had to get on my radio on my pick-up and radio all my neighbours who were on the boundary of this massive wetland on the other side. This was in the middle of winter, when those those reeds were snow white. Fortunately none of the farms were affected, but that day I needed mercy and grace and you know, my neighbours were so kind, they were more understanding and gracious to me than I could ever have imagined. Today, remember, Jesus Christ loves you, He is not here to condemn you. He is not here to cast you away. No - He wants you to grow. Sometimes we have to be chastised a little bit, we have to be disciplined through the mistakes we make but He is always quick to pick us up, dust us off and say, “Come on now, you can do this.” Jesus bless you today as you are also understanding and forgiving to others. Goodbye.