17/12/2024

Angus Buchan

17/12/2024

An Excellent Spirit

December 17, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Daniel 6:3, Proverbs 18:24

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 17th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Proverbs 18:24:

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly,…”

Then we go to Daniel 6:3:

“…because an excellent spirit was in him;…” Another version says, “an extraordinary spirit within him, it distinguished him amongst all the others.”

Do we have that spirit in us today? You see, that is what King Darius found in Daniel. He was different to the others. He was a man of an excellent spirit, and that is what we have to do, folks.

So often I have heard young people say, “Ja, but I have no friends.” Well, maybe because you are not friendly. Maybe you are always argumentative, maybe you are always critical, maybe you are sarcastic. They say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. It always comes at the expense of somebody else. We have got to stop that. We have got to start affirming people. We have got to start having a godly spirit within us. We have got to be known as trustworthy, honest, level-headed people.

I remember when I was a young man and I am not proud of it. I was a wild man, I had gone into the far country, and on a Friday night, after work, we were exhausted, all the boys working on the farms. I am talking about overseas, and when we went out to a party, we were going to have a real time of fun. You know what we did? We looked for the man who first of all was levelheaded. He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t swear, he was a bit of a corny kind of a guy. We didn’t think too much of him, but he had an excellent spirit. So we would give him the keys of the motorcar because we knew that when it came to coming home we would be under the weather but he would be sober because he didn’t drink alcohol. And I want to say to you, when I look back, he was an honourable man, a man who we might not have liked, but I want to tell you, we respected him.

Now today, let us be level-headed. Somebody said to me, “That Angus, he is just a Jesus man.” Folks, I want to tell you, that is probably one of the greatest compliments I have had in my life: “He is a Jesus man.” Of course I am! What other man would I love to follow than the One who had an extraordinary Spirit? His name is Jesus.

Have a wonderful day,

God bless you and goodbye.

22/12/2024

December 22, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Psalm 19:14, Hebrews 12:1

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 22nd of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Psalms 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Yes, a very special scripture to me personally, I pray it every time before I preach, whether it be a large gathering or a small one. On that point, I want to tell you, folks, I am so proud of my grandson, 17 years old, yes - he has been on missions with a spiritual son of mine who is 50 years old, and their small team. They walked along the foothills of the mighty Himalaya Mountains, where Mount Everest is situated. Over 5000 metres above sea-level they walked. They walked sometimes up to 20 km a day, eating very, very meagre diets, maybe a little plate of rice if they were blessed to get that from some small cottage. And what were they doing? They were taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. I heard that there was an old person, I can’t remember whether it was a lady or a gentleman, something like over 80 years old and they wanted to hear the Gospel. These boys walked 20 kms to go to this little cottage to pray the sinner’s prayer. I can just imagine them as they were walking along those steep paths, struggling for oxygen, probably praying this prayer: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Can you imagine them praying the sinner’s prayer with that older person? They came from the other side of the world to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and by the way, no - they were not speaking in any big stadiums, no - they were not on television, not at all, but I want to tell you they were surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. We find that in Hebrews 12, and I want to tell you something now folks, they have totally humbled me. Thank You, Lord, for faithful people who are prepared to take the Gospel to the ends of the world. Maybe today you need to go next door. That’s right, 50 metres, and knock on the door and say, “I want to speak to you. Can I have a cup of tea with you?” And tell them about the Saviour of the world! Jesus bless you and goodbye.

21/12/2024

December 21, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Matthew 25:40

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 21st of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of Matthew 25:40: “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” We want to speak today about the microscope of little things. I want to read something to you from that wonderful hymn-writer, by the name of Frances Ridley Havergal. She said: ”We talk about the telescope of faith but I think we want even more the microscope of watchful and grateful love. Apply the little bits of our daily lives in the light of the Spirit, and how wonderfully they will come out.” We need to remember the little things. Now, I have had the privilege, and it has been a great privilege, to meet many great leaders, kings - yes, prime ministers - absolutely, leaders of great companies, international sportsmen, I have met wonderful people all of them, but I want to tell you, and I honestly mean this, in my little prayer room, I have got some momentoes, and one of them is a sucker stick. I am telling you, a little sucker stick with little writing saying, “Jesus bless you”, given to me by a little boy. This little boy can hardly read or write, he is probably 3 or 4 years old. He came to me one day, very bashfully, at church, and he gave me this as a book marker. Well, I want to tell you, it is up on the wall. Oh yes! I have a photo of a little boy kneeling in the sand, his little bare feet put carefully behind him, his little hat off his head, his head bowed, and he is praying to Jesus. That brought many tears to my eyes. I have framed that photograph, someone sent it to me. It was taken at one of our large meetings where we were praying for the nation and there were thousands and thousands of people there, but that little photograph touched me so deeply, more than all the dignitaries who attended that great meeting, Governors of the different provinces, Representatives of the President, but that little boy touched me. Today, remember, it is the microscope of little things that will touch Jesus’ heart. God bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.

20/12/2024

December 20, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Mark 14:50, Hebrews 13:5, John 15:13

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 20th of December, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Gospel of Mark 14:50 - It says that all of His disciples abandoned Him and fled. They all deserted Him, all of them. James Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, was a wonderful man of God who took the Gospel to China in the early days. He lived with the Chinese people and brought a revival which I think has been unparalleled. Even today, China is a communist country, it is not a friend of Jesus Christ, and yet the underground church is flourishing like never before. They say there is something like over 60 million believers in China! James Hudson Taylor said, ”Separation never comes from His side”. Separation never comes from Jesus’ side. We are the ones that leave Him, He never leaves us. He said that to us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5), and He means it, my dear friend. Many a time, people write to me and they say, “Where is God? Angus, when I was calling for Him, He wasn’t there.” Oh yes, He was, my dear friend. He will never leave you and He will never separate Himself from you. That is why I love Him so much. I have been through many things in my life as I am sure you have as well, but I want to tell you, when the going gets really tough, He gets in even closer with us. Remember the story of the footsteps in the sand? Lord, every time things got tough, there were only one set of footsteps in the sand. Where were You, Lord?” “Oh My son, oh My daughter, I was carrying you on My shoulders.” Yes, Jesus Christ will never leave you and that is good news for you today. Go out and tell the world that many may betray you but Jesus, never. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends”. John 15:13 Does that sound like betrayal? Does that sound like separation, my dear friend? No! Today, draw close to Him and He will walk with you through the fire. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.