19/03/2024

Angus Buchan

19/03/2024

Keep Going

March 19, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 50:7, Isaiah 50:6

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

We go to Isaiah 50:7:

"For the Lord God will help Me;

Therefore I will not be disgraced;

Therefore I have set My face like a flint,

And I know that I will not be ashamed."

The Lord Jesus will help you and me to succeed; we will not be disgraced; we will set our faces like a flint. Verse 6 tells you, just before that, that He gave His back to those who struck Him,

…"And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting."

Isaiah 50:6

Even though the Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely, shamefully treated, it did not stop Him from going to Jerusalem and completing the task that the Lord set before Him. He did not retaliate; no, He pressed on to the goal of His high calling. A flint is a very hard rock—a hard, grey rock. It's used to produce a spark. If you take two flints and knock them together, it causes a spark. Now, giving up is not in Jesus' vocabulary.

David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer-missionary who discovered Victoria Falls in Central Africa, was instrumental in abolishing the slave trade. He said, "I will go anywhere as long as it is forward." The Lord Jesus Christ set His sights on Jerusalem, He knew what was waiting for Him but He never looked back once.

Paul, the apostle, knew he had to go to Rome; he knew he would die in Rome; even his dear friends tried to persuade him not to go, but he went and he got his head cut off in Rome for his faith.

A young German, by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was able to escape from the Nazis and go to the USA. He was 39 years old. He had only been there about three months when he said, "No, I have to go back; I have to go back and help my friends." The Nazis caught him and hanged him at the end of the war.

You and I, too, must follow the example of Christ and not be led by our circumstances but rather by the calling that the Lord has put in our lives. Then we shall succeed in whatever we are doing, whether it is that degree you need to get, whether it is that sporting achievement that you are desiring, as long as it is for God's glory, whether it's that business proposition, keep your eyes on the ball, keep your eyes on Heaven and you will succeed.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,

Goodbye.

28/04/2024

April 28, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Ezekiel 36:36, 2 Corinthians 5:17

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 28th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start off in the Book of Ezekiel 36:36: “Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.” Rebuilding the old ruins - Jesus will help us. Jesus is a builder, He is not a demolisher. We have been called to be builders with Him, not demolishers. We are called to reinforce. 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” We must never write people off, God never does that. I don’t know about you but I love to see new buildings going up. I really love it, I get so excited, and I am quite sad when they break down old buildings, and I know it has to be done sometimes. That big steel ball and that chain suspended from a crane, knocking down old buildings, it breaks my heart sometimes. We need to cultivate virgin land. When I arrived on this farm with my young wife and children 48 years ago, nobody wanted this piece of ground. It was full of weeds and invader trees. There was nothing here. There was no water, no lights, no electricity, and we started from square one, but those were good days because we were building. I love speaking to young men and women. I love hearing their dreams their visions and their new ideas and projects. I just love it. The other day I went to town with my dear wife, and she loves going to these secondhand furniture shops and looking for pieces of furniture that she can purchase. I was sitting there and a gentleman came out and introduced himself to me. He was a former headmaster of a school and he is retired and he is doing the thing he loves the most. He goes around buying old furniture and he brings it back to his factory and he restores it like new. It was wonderful to meet him. As he came out with a piece of furniture that my wife had bought, I shook his hand and said, “I am Angus.” He said, “Yes, I know the voice.” He said, “I hear it every morning at 5 o’clock in my bedroom.” But what a lovely man! He is a restorer, he is not a demolished. Most of all, you see the Holy Spirit make brand-new people out of people who have been broken and pushed aside - Mary Magdalene was one of those. Seven demons were cast out of her, she was a woman of ill-repute, but what a faithful servant and follower of Jesus. Don’t write off anybody today. Don’t disregard people. Every one of them has incredible potential. Jesus bless you and have a lovely day, Goodbye.

27/04/2024

April 27, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 40:31

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 27th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to Isaiah 40:31: "But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; (now listen to this) They shall mount up with wings like eagles, ..." You and I need to fly high, just like that eagle. I love that bird so much. Often on the farm, when I am riding my horse, Snowy, I look up into the sky and I see that solitary bird flying high in the sky. He is not flapping his wings like those crows on the power lines. No, he has locked his wings, he has caught the thermals of the air, and he is flying high. He is keeping away from the corrupt things of this world. I really mean this - I think the Lord wants us to be very careful that we do not become polluted or contaminated by the things of this world. We must not be like that foolish eagle that kept pushing his luck, and kept flying lower and lower and lower until one day a farmer came out with his shotgun, thinking that, that majestic eagle was a chicken hawk that was going to kill his chickens. He shot that mighty eagle down and as the eagle lay there dying he looked up with his eyes, into the sky and he realised he had made a terrible mistake. He should never have flown so low and contaminated himself with the things of the world. Today, let us fly high. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. Let us use those wings, those wings of the Holy Spirit to escape from all the hurts and all the troubles in this world of ours. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.

26/04/2024

April 26, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Isaiah 60:11, Revelation 21:25

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 26th of April, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Isaiah 60:11: “Therefore your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night,…” Isn’t that beautiful? No need to lock yourself up at night. Then we go to the Book of Revelation 21:25: “Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).” There will be no night in Heaven, no need to shut yourself up, no need to lock the gates, put on the alarm, or make sure there is nothing left that someone can steal. There will be no night in Heaven, no darkness. Jesus will be there; He will be our light. I want to ask you a question this morning. Are you afraid of the dark? Do you struggle to go to sleep at night? Well, I have got good news for you. The Lord Jesus wants to assure you today that He will be with you in the dark of the night. You know, I have a picture of the Lord sitting on a big armchair, maybe next to a fire, on a cold night, and He is asking you to come and sit on His lap, and He wants to put His big strong arms around you and pull you into his ample bosom, into his chest, and just lie there and I will tell you before you know it, you will be sound asleep. It's not about counting sheep when you are trying to go to sleep. Just close your eyes and talk to Him and He will comfort you. You don’t have to worry about closing the gates, locking the doors, making a big fire so that no-one will come and disturb you. I think of many hunters when they camp at night, they make a big fire because they don’t want lions and hyenas to come into their camp, but when we are with Jesus we have nothing whatsoever to fear. There will be no gates in Heaven, the Lord says He will be our gate. So tonight, close your eyes, just rest in Him and He will give you ample sleep. Jesus bless you and goodbye.