20/05/2024

Angus Buchan

20/05/2024

Merciful

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.

02/06/2024

June 2, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Revelation 21:23

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.

01/06/2024

June 1, 2024 • Angus Buchan • 2 Corinthians 5:17, Revelation 21:5

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.

31/05/2024

May 31, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Psalm 39:3

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.