25/06/2024

Angus Buchan

25/06/2024

Watchmen

June 25, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Matthew 5:13

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 25th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Matthew 5:13:

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavour, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men."

Have you ever tried to eat a plate of food without salt? Have you ever tried to eat a plate of porridge with no salt! Oh folks! Coming from a Scottish background, where porridge is our staple diet, aah - it is terrible. It is bland, tasteless, it is extremely hard to swallow. It is like listening to a preacher bringing the word of God to a congregation, who is just so very boring, no passion, no conviction. I remember once preaching to a group of farmers down in the Eastern Cape and at half time, it was an all-day affair, I was in the bathroom, and an old farmer walked in and he said to me, "Son, when you preach, you don't have to sweat so much." I said him, "Sir, you haven't seen anything yet. Wait for the second half!" We need to be committed to our walk with Jesus Christ. Some people don't even believe in what they are preaching. There is no emotion, no tears.

Charles Finney was a great revivalist from America. He said, "Where there are no tears and no "amens" there is no revival." No conviction, no love, no desperation - you and I have been called to be watchmen, we have been called to warn the people of the evil one. We need to prepare people's hearts for home time. We mustn't preach to the head, we must preach to the heart, always preaching for a response, expecting results. We want a verdict. It's like a defence lawyer. Have you ever seen him pleading for the life of his client who has been condemned to death? He is not playing the fool, he is desperate. He only has one opportunity. You and I are exactly in the same position. There must be an urgency for your loved ones to be saved. People must have an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Now, maybe you are listening to this message for the first time and maybe you say, "I don't know what you are talking about, being born again. What does that mean?" It means you need to stop your life of total disregard for God, and you need to start living for Jesus Christ.

Pray this prayer after me:

Dear Lord Jesus,

I repent of my sin today. I am sick and tired of doing things my own way. From today onwards, I choose to follow You and only You.

In Jesus' name, amen.

God bless you. Now, go out and tell the first three people what you have just prayed.

Goodbye.

29/06/2024

June 29, 2024 • Angus Buchan • John 3:16, Jeremiah 20:9

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 29th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” That is the whole Bible in one verse. Sixty-six books in the Bible, the whole Bible summed up in one verse, for God so loved you today, my dear friend. I listened to a Gospel song last night. I love country and western music and this young cowboy was saying something before he started his song. He said when he was a young boy, his grandfather was a preacher and he said, “Son, are you coming to church today?” And the young boy said, “No, grandfather, I don’t think I will go to church today.” And then his grandfather said to him, “Well son, I wouldn’t go to church either if Jesus Christ had done nothing for me.” Very profound. Why do we go to church? “Well”, you say, “I go to church because it is the right thing to do.” No, that is not good enough. “No, it is a tradition in our family.” That’s not good enough either. “Well, my parents expect me to.” That’s not a good enough reason. “My boss expects me to go.” That’s not a good enough reason. “My girlfriend goes to church.” Son, that’s not a good enough reason either. None of those reasons are good enough. We look at Jeremiah, the Prophet. Jeremiah had been made a fool of. They put him in the stocks and he was the laughing stock of the city, and he says in Jeremiah 20:9: Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, (in other words, I will not speak about Him anymore.) Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not. (I could not hold it back, I had to keep telling people about the Lord) I want to tell you today, I go to church to meet with the Man who saved my very life. He did everything for me. I go to church every Sunday to say, “Thank You,”. I go to church to learn from Jesus, I go to church to be with His family, my friends. You might say to me, “I get nothing out of church.” Well then you need to find a church that is preaching the Gospel and your life will be transformed. Go to church because He loves you and He wants to meet with you. Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.

28/06/2024

June 28, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Acts 18:9

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 28th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to the Book of Acts 18:9: “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” Now, that was a message that the Lord gave to me personally, many, many years ago. That was my calling to go out and to do the work of the evangelist, but up until then, I had, had no experience whatsoever. I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to go to a little town, about an hour’s drive west of our farm, Shalom. I drove into that town, I will never forget it and I felt the Lord say, “Book the town hall and have a campaign for a week.” Well, I want to tell you, my dear friend, it doesn’t come easy. I started knocking on doors, and I got no response at all. I went to each and every church in that town almost, knocking on the doors, saying, “I am coming, we are going to have a campaign, bring your people. We are not trying to start our own church and we want to support what you are doing in the town.” I got very little, if any support at all. But you see, I think, the Lord was testing me, because there was one minister who was out of town. I knocked on his door, there was no answer. I left a little note underneath his door with my phone number and said I had been to see him and what we intended to do. I came home and I said to my wife, Jill, “I think I have missed it, they don’t really want me there, they don’t know who I am, they have got no need for me. That’s what it appears to be like.” But you know, the next morning, at about 6am, I got a phone call from that town. That minister had come home that night. He said, “You won’t believe this - we have been praying for six months on top of the hills around this town, and we have been asking the Lord to send a revival. We are waiting for you and you are most welcome.” And the rest is history, as they say. That was the beginning. But I want to read something to you that is very interesting. It was written by a man by the name of F B Meyer, a great man of God. This is what he said, he said: “Obedience to a divine prompting transforms it into a permanent acquisition.” Now for the young people, what does that mean? It means the Holy Spirit puts something on your heart, and you are obedient to what the Lord has placed on your heart. Maybe He said, “I want you to go to university, I want you to become a doctor so that you can help poor people; I wanted you to start a business so that you can support the work of God; I want you to play good sport so that you can be a witness for Me,” and you don’t feel that you can do it, but you are obedient to it. Listen to this: “Obedience to a divine prompting transforms it into a permanent acquisition.” Once you are obedient to what you feel the Lord told you to do, it becomes a reality. Now go out and do it! Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.

27/06/2024

June 27, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Jeremiah 17:17, Romans 8:31

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 27th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Jeremiah 17:17: “You are my hope in the day of doom.” Are you going through a tough time at the moment? Well, He has told us He is our hope, and that is a wonderful thing to know! Then we go to the Book of Romans 8:31: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” It's a win-win situation, isn’t it? Oh my dear friend, you know, I love watching rugby, and they tell me when the South African Springboks go across to Wales to play rugby, the Welsh have a reputation of singing. They are beautiful singers, I have heard them myself, especially the male choirs. They have these male choirs come on the field and they start singing those beautiful Welsh songs before the match begins. It’s total intimidation. It is like they have ten points on the board before the Springboks even run onto the field. Well, I have got good news for you. For you and I, remember this, the score is on the board. Before we run onto that field, it is a clear-cut victory. Jesus Christ has told us that if He is for us, there is no-one who can be against us. As we go out today, we need to remember that. It doesn’t matter how much tribulation, how many trials, how many hard times you are going through at the moment. The bottom line is we know the end score; it is a victory because Jesus has fought the good fight, He has run the race, He has paid for our sins, and He said all we need to do is believe. I want to encourage you today to go out and tell somebody the score is on the board. It’s a win-win situation. The devil is a liar and a thief, and he can do nothing to God’s people. Today, remember, in bright lights, the score is on the board. We have the victory! Jesus bless you and have a lovely day, Goodbye.