06/01/2025

Angus Buchan

06/01/2025

Use What You Have

January 6, 2025 • Angus Buchan • 1 Kings 17:12, Mark 6:37

I greet you in Jesus' precious Name. It is Monday morning, the 6th of January, 2025, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a thought for today.

We start in 1 Kings 17:12:

So she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar."

That's what the widow told Elijah, the prophet when he asked her to make him a small biscuit. Then we got to Mark 6:37:

But He answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat."

Now, there was a large crowd of people, and they were hungry. Jesus says, "You, give them something to eat." You do it. "But you know, I'm an old-aged pensioner, I really don't have much income." or "I'm just a working man or a working woman. I'm a widow, I don't have much. I can't help..." But the Lord says that we are to use what we have.

Remember, the Lord took two fishes and five barley loaves and fed 5000 men, not including women and children. This morning, God is looking for willing hearts who are prepared to step out with raw faith and obey the word of God. That widow did what the prophet said, and her flour and oil never ran out until the drought was over. If she had refused to make that biscuit, it would have been the last biscuit she and her little son would have eaten. It's in giving that we receive.

What do you have in your hand? Give it to the Lord, and He will multiply it for you. In 2008, many of you will remember that we had the biggest tent in the world on this farm. Oh yes. We were expecting 23,000 men and 60,000 men arrived. The tent was full - 30,000 seats inside the tent and 30,000 men outside the tent. But listen to this. We also told them that we would feed them. Well, folks, I want to tell you something now. We slaughtered 40 oxen for one meal. Then we had those foot-longs, which we call footlong sausages, like hot dogs, and we fed those men. Then we gave them bunny chow, the famous Natal bunny chow. Where you take half a loaf of bread, take the inside out, and fill it up with stew. We fed them the whole weekend, and we never ran out of food.

Today, give the Lord what you've got. He says we must give them something to eat and let him do the rest.

Jesus bless you, and good bye.

08/01/2025

January 8, 2025 • Angus Buchan • 2 Corinthians 5:17

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 8th of January 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a Thought for Today. We start in 2 Corinthians 5:17, out of the Amplified Version today: ”Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Saviour], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].” Wow, what a beautiful scripture! As we start this new year, which is still the first month of a brand-new year, I can hear somebody sitting there and saying, “Angus, I have messed up. I am done and dusted. There is no hope for me - I have let the Lord down, I have let my family down, I have let my husband down, I have let my parents down. There is no hope for me.” Oh yes, there is, according to this scripture! If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away. Look at Mary Magdalene. Jesus cast seven demons out of that woman. She was an immoral woman, according to the word of God and yet the Lord used her. I want to tell you that if you get to Heaven before me, the woman who will be sitting closest to the Lord, the most beautiful woman in Heaven, will be Mary Magdalene. Why? Because God takes broken things, He renews them and makes them new again. What about Peter, the big fisherman? “I will die for You, Lord.” He denied the Lord three times. He was absolutely disgusted with his life, but he repented. He said sorry, and God gave him a new beginning. What about Paul (Saul), the Pharisee? Paul, who thought he was doing a good thing by killing Christians? He was an evil man, but the Lord gave him a second chance, a new beginning, and Paul wrote two-thirds of the New Testament. I want to pray for you this morning. Put the past behind you. You know, the Lord has got a bad memory. What do I mean? When He forgives, He forgets. So let’s say, “Lord, please give us another chance; give us a new beginning.” Pray this prayer after me: Dear Lord Jesus, This morning, on the 8th of January 2025, I give my life to You afresh. Lord, I want to make a new start. I want to put the past behind me. I see that big blackboard duster rubbing out all that chalk, all those sins paid for, done. And Lord, I want to serve You this year with all of my heart. I ask it in Jesus’ name, amen. God bless you and have a wonderful year, Goodbye.

07/01/2025

January 7, 2025 • Angus Buchan • 2 Corinthians 10:5, Romans 1:21

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 7th of January, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Romans 1:21: “…became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” We are talking about vain imaginations, thinking things that aren’t true. Then we go to 2 Corinthians 10:5: “…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,…” Oh my dear friend, we really need to be careful what we are thinking about. What am I talking about? We get an attitude against somebody because when we drove past them on our way to work and we waved to them, they did not respond, so we thought, “Oh, they are too good to speak to a humble person like me!” Okay, but what actually happened was, the sun was in their eyes and they didn’t see you. And that other time, you were in the shops and greeted that man who was walking right in front of you, “Hello John,” and he never responded but what you don’t realise is, John left his hearing aids at home and he can’t hear too well, so he never heard a word you said. I really want to say to you that we need to capture those vain imaginations because they pull you down and start arguments and thoughts that have no foundation, no meaning at all, just the devil trying to cause trouble. So I want to say to you today, read books that are solid, that are encouraging, that are true. Watch movies that have solid backgrounds. Don’t watch rubbish, don’t make your mind like a garbage pit but rather think about things that are pure and good and what the Lord says about you and your neighbour, and you will live a much more pleasant and positive life for Jesus Christ. God bless you and goodbye.

05/01/2025

January 5, 2025 • Angus Buchan • Mark 16:18

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name, it is Sunday morning, the 5th of January, 2025, and this is your friend Angus Buchan with a Thought for Today. We go to Mark 16:18: “They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Can you imagine the hands of Jesus being laid upon you, my dear friend, to take away all your sickness, all your pain, all your suffering, all your fear and all your anxiety, those beautiful, beautiful hands. Of course, you know they will have a hole through them. They have been pierced by nails when the Lord was nailed to the cross for our sins, but what beautiful hands. Early this morning I was repairing a fence the back of our garden, and because I'm a preacher now and not a farmer, I must confess, my hands are very soft. I was quite embarrassed. I just remember my dear old Dad. Man, he had hands like you can't believe. He was a blacksmith, and he used tongs and 14-pound hammers, standing next to that fiery furnace and heating up that steel and banging it. He had the most incredibly powerful hands, yet they were so gentle - I never once saw him try to break a man's hand. He would shake your hand and it was like it was in a vice. It was firm, it was secure! Hands, hands are so important. I remember, one day, going to the chemist's shop and as I was paying for something I said to the lady, look at my hands. I've got hands and like a woman now that I don't farm actively anymore. She looked at me and she said, “Don't insult women's hands.” Now, when I speak to farmers, I have to put my hands in my pockets because when they see those hands, they'll say those aren’t a farmers hands. But you know, on a serious note, the Lord tells us to lay our hands upon the sick and to pray for healing over them. To get a touch from the Lord is so beautiful and so precious. I love to stop and pray for somebody in the street and I will put my hand on their shoulder; sometimes I don't even pray and they start to weep. It's the love of Christ in us that people need to experience, so it doesn't matter whether your hands are strong or soft. I think of the hands of that incredible neurosurgeon, Dr. Carson, who had the gift of separating Siamese twins with one operation taking something like 48 hours. Those were hands of compassion and hands that are strong. Remember, folks, people love a handshake, they love a hug, and it doesn't matter whether your hands are rough, or whether they’re smooth but make sure they're always clean. My Dad had the cleanest hands of a man I've ever seen. He made sure that when he went out, his hands were clean. There might be rough and gnarled, but clean, and most of all filled with the love of Jesus. Have a blessed day. God bless you, and goodbye.