19/10/2024

Angus Buchan

19/10/2024

The Living God

October 19, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Matthew 22:32, Mark 16:6

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 19th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Matthew 22:32:

“God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

Those who know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour will never die. Isn’t that good news? For He is the God of the living. He is not the God of the dead, but the living. We, you and I, we do not worship a statue made out of stone or wood or precious jewels. No, no - Jesus is very much alive! Now when Mary Madeline ran down to the tomb early in the morning, to go and dress the body of Jesus with herbs and spices, she entered the tomb and there was an angel standing there, and the angel said to them, in the Gospel of Mark 16:6: “He is risen! He is not here.”

He is the God of the living, a living God! Now maybe this morning, you are feeling a little bit sad. Maybe you have lost a loved one, not so long ago, or maybe years ago. Those who have gone before us, if they are believers, they are not dead. They are very much alive and today, they are living in Heaven with Jesus, and they are waiting patiently for you and me to come home, to be in glory forever. Now, what I want to suggest to you is this - if that loved one could say one thing, this is what they would say, “Angus, please tell them - tell my mother, tell my father, tell my child not to worry, I am well but I desire to see them in Heaven one day. Please encourage them to live a life of faith and love in Christ and we will be reunited again.”

Father,

I want to pray for my friends this morning. Lord, it is a very painful thing when you lose a loved one, whether it is a little four year old boy, whether it is an old granny. We miss them, Lord, we really do. I pray that You will give my friends courage, You will comfort them, You will give them spiritual eyes to understand that their loved one is not dead and that they will be reunited because Jesus said so. I ask this in Your precious name,

Amen.

God bless you and goodbye.

18/10/2024

October 18, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Matthew 22:14, Matthew 7:21, Philippians 2:12

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 18th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of Matthew 22:14: “For many are called, but few are chosen.” I looked up The Message translation and it says: “Many get invited; only a few make it.” Many are invited into the banquet but few respond. Many are called but only those who truly repent are actually chosen. Now, that is Jesus responding to the story of the rich man who had a big banquet. He invited all his guests. None of them arrived so he sent his servants to the highways and the byways to bring the whosoever’s in. If we look at Matthew 7:21, the Bible says very clearly, that not all who cry, “Lord, Lord…” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven but only those who do My Father’s will. You see, you must not be concerned about what is happening in the world. Things are very unfair at the moment, I know that, and justice doesn’t seem to prevail. Don’t make that your excuse for not following after the Lord. When I was a young man, before I accepted Christ, when I saw some of these guys walking around with their hands in the air, shouting, “Hallelujah!”, like I do now, but those guys weren’t putting food on the table, they weren’t taking care of their families, they weren’t walking in truth - I used to say to my wife, Jill, “Well, if those guys are going to go to Heaven, I will get there before them.” I want to tell you something folks - what will happen on the Day of Judgement when you stand in front of the Lord and you say, “Lord, I didn’t serve You, I didn’t go to the banquet because I saw the way some of your people were behaving, and I said, “If that is the way they behave, I will get there before they do?” And the Lord says, “Well, look around. Those people are not here.” We cannot determine our faith in God by the actions and lifestyle of others. Philippians 2:12 says very clearly that we must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Today, let’s go to the banquet. It is open for everyone who truly loves Jesus and believes in Him. God bless you and have a lovely day, Goodbye.

17/10/2024

October 17, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Ezekiel 28:2, 1 Corinthians 2:5, Psalm 20:7, Psalm 146:3

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 17th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in Psalm 146:3: “Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.” Then we go to the Book of Ezekiel 28:2: “Yet you are a man, and not a god,..” Then the last scripture is 1 Corinthians 2:5: “…that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” You know folks, it is actually grossly unfair to put the responsibility of making important decisions merely upon men. Now, madam, it might be your husband. It is not fair to put a tremendous responsibility on him because you don’t want to hear from the Lord. Of course, you must submit to him but you must also hear for yourself what God is saying. You can’t put that kind of responsibility on your pastor, it is not his responsibility to make those decisions. You can’t put that responsibility on your own children or your financial adviser. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” Psalm 20:7 Now you are asking me a question - how do you do it? Well, first of all, you go to your quiet time room, you spend time with God. Secondly, you read your Bible, and you read it personally. Thirdly, you trust men of God to give you counsel, and then by faith, you do it with all of your heart. “What happens when you hear nothing, when there is no answer from God?” Then that is an answer in itself, it means, “Don’t do it.” It means, “Stay where you are”, it means, “Don’t do that investment, don’t make that investment. Don’t be pressurised by men.” I want to tell you a little story. Up in the North East of Scotland after they discovered the North Sea oil, the big companies from overseas came in and they bought up all the land to put their oil refineries on the land, and there was one farmer, who had a croft, a small little 10 acre farm, and that crofter said he was not selling, and all his friends laughed at him. They said, “You are mad man, sell! The prices are fantastic.” He said no, he is not selling, a little 10 acre plot. And do you know what happened? He ended up right in the middle of the refineries. They wanted his land because they had to build those pipelines right around his farm and eventually, they came to him with a blank cheque and they said, “Fill it in” and he made millions because he waited! Wait on the Lord, Jesus bless you and have a lovely day, Goodbye.

16/10/2024

October 16, 2024 • Angus Buchan • 1 Corinthians 10:12, Matthew 21:28–31

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 16th of October, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to 1 Corinthians 10:12 out of the New King James Version: ”Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” We’ve got to be so careful how we’re standing. Jesus said that harlots, prostitutes, tax collectors and thieves would enter in first before the religious churchgoers who started so well but finished so poorly. We think of Mary Magdalene. She was a woman of ill repute, Jesus drove seven demons out of her, and yet she became His most faithful handmaiden. Zacchaeus, Chief of all tax collectors, an absolute rogue, yet when he met with the King his life was changed instantly, forever. Early this morning, I was reading the account that Jesus told the people. He said: A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Matthew 21:28-31. I remember as a brand-new Christian, I think I had known the Lord for three months, I was so on fire for God. What do they say? “You need to lock a new Christian up for 6 months because he is like a bull in a china shop!" But rather have that fire, and that zeal, and that love and that excitement for Christ, than to just carry on doing the old thing. I had the privilege of preaching in our little church in Greytown for the first time ever. I was so excited, I was in a cold sweat, standing in the vestry behind the building, and the elders put their hands on me and were praying for me, and one old lay preacher, after they had finished praying said, “Son, get in there and preach because I have done my bit.” As a brand-new Christian, three months old in the Lord, I couldn’t understand what he was saying. How could you ever do your bit? How can you ever say, “I have done enough for the blood that Jesus shed on the Cross of Calvary for your sins?" I was very devastated, I have never forgotten that. We need to be so careful that we finish strong, on fire for the Lord and not taper off and say, “I have done my bit.” That is what happened to the son who said, “I will go” and then he didn’t go. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.