22/05/2024

Angus Buchan

22/05/2024

Good Soil

May 22, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Jeremiah 4:3, Matthew 13:7

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 22nd of May, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Jeremiah 4:3:

“Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns.”

Then we go straight across to the Gospel of Mathew 13:7:

”And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.”

We have to prepare our hearts just like the good farmer prepares the land that he will plant his precious crop into. A lazy farmer does not take pride in his land preparation and he doesn’t do a fine job. It is rough, it is unkempt, and from the start the seed is going to struggle. We must be very careful that we don’t try and cut corners because if we do we are wasting our time. The thorns and the weeds and the thistles will grow up and strangle those precious little plants as they emerge from the ground.

If we look at verse 22, we see that the word of God tells us that the distractions, the worries of this world cause the plants not to grow because of the competition on the land. Compromise, pleasures, delights and the riches of this world choke the word of God and it yields no fruit.

I remember a farmer came into our area many, many years ago. He came from a different part of the country. Here we have very fertile land and it rains beautifully in this area. This man came from a marginal area where the land was quite dry. He did most of his weed control by mechanical means, cultivating his rows of maize with a tractor and a cultivator. We said to him, ”You need to spray all your weeds because they are getting out of control.” He said, ”No, no, I’ll just let them grow and then I will come in on a nice hot day and I will cultivate them out of the ground.” Well, of course that dry hot day never came. It just rained and rained and rained and eventually his whole crop was strangled by the weeds. We couldn’t even see the little plants. After a couple of years that man left this district because he couldn’t farm here anymore.

We need to cultivate our walk with the Lord. My dear friends, sometimes the most dangerous thing is when you go on holiday and you don’t get up in the morning and don’t have a good quiet time with the Lord every day. You don’t read your Bible, you don’t pray because you say you’re having a rest, but that is when the weeds come in and strangle your relationship with the Lord. When on holiday you need to be spending more time with the Lord and reading His word and praying. Cultivate your land and God will give you a mighty crop.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.

16/06/2024

June 16, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Matthew 2:14

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, it is the 16th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. I want to start by wishing all fathers a very Happy Father’s Day. Dads, well done for looking after your families. We go straight to the Book of Matthew 2:14: “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,…” So often, dads get overlooked. Now you don’t hear much about Joseph, but I want to tell you, Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, our Saviour, had a very important job to do. First of all, the Lord told him to name the baby, “Jesus.” Yes, that is right, Joseph actually named our Master, “Jesus.” He is the one that put the food on the table, he looked after that young maiden and her baby, and was a carpenter by trade. He was very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He was warned in the middle of the night. The Bible says, he arose and took the young child, Baby Jesus, and Mary, the mother and he departed for Africa. That’s right, I am talking about Egypt. He stayed there until the Angel of the Lord said, “You can now return to Israel.” He was a good father, he protected his wife and his child. He was sensitive, caring, responsible, obedient and protective. It reminds me, if you go into the bush, to a game reserve, and you see a pride of lions. Often, you will see the male lion. He will be sitting under a tree by himself, and all the cubs and the young lionesses will be playing together on their own, and it will almost look like he is uninterested, but he has a vital role to play. The hunting gets done by the females, and when they make a kill, who gets the first share? Yes, the male, he comes in and he eats. He has to be strong. I want to tell you something, without a male lion in a pride, that pride is vulnerable to the hyenas or to other lions. He has a vital role to play but you don’t always notice it. The same thing happens with dads. They sit there quietly and the children say, “Why isn’t dad participating?” Maybe dad is thinking about how he is going to put food on the table or about the future of his family. Please moms, children, give dads plenty of love and respect today. He is doing a great job. He is the father of your children, mother and he is your dad, and you have got his surname. Just love him and treat him with lots of TLC today. Jesus bless you and goodbye.

15/06/2024

June 15, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Philippians 4:6, Matthew 7:7

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 15th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go straight to the Book of Philippians 4:6, and I am reading it out of the Amplified Version: “Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God.” Then we go to Matthew 7:7 (AMP): “Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” I am speaking this morning about prayer. You know, Jesus prayed more than anything else. He always prayed without ceasing and He asks you and I to do the same. I got a message on my phone yesterday to say that the Kouga Dam, outside Gqeberha, is overflowing at seven cumecs at the moment, spilling over the wall. God answers prayer. I remember like yesterday, thousands of us, standing at the base of that mighty dam wall, and I think there was less than 12%, that’s just a little mudhole in the middle of that dam. There was nothing, thousands of us prayed, and we continued praying at Jeffries Bay, at the Mighty Men Conference, and look what is happening! We are going into winter. It is winter in the Eastern Cape, and the dam is overflowing seven cumecs at the moment. I want to pray for you today: Heavenly Father, I pray for my friend, listening to this message. I pray Lord, for those who are anxious, depressed, fearful and filled with anxiety. Lord, I pray today that they will lift up their eyes and see that Jesus Christ is seated on His throne in Heaven and He is waiting to hear our requests, our petitions. Lord, if we don’t pray, how can He answer? Lord, please show us and teach us to pray because when men pray, God moves, and I thank You, Lord, for the evidence that we see in this dam which is overflowing as I record this message. In Jesus’ name! Amen. God bless you and keep on praying, Goodbye.

14/06/2024

June 14, 2024 • Angus Buchan • Numbers 12:3, 1 Peter 5:5, Matthew 10:27

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 14th of June, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Numbers 12:3, in the Old Testament, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.” I want to speak to you about humility, about genuine humility and humbleness, meekness. Now, Moses led a nation of over a million people, through the desert, a terribly tough place, for forty years. There was nothing soft about him. As some people say, the softest part of Moses was his teeth. I am looking forward to meeting him in Heaven. What a man! But he was the humblest man who ever lived, according to the word of God, and we are not talking about Jesus of course. “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 Now, I want to speak to you about real humility today, not false humility. Sometimes when you watch some sport on television and you see a tennis player or maybe a soccer player, a rugby player, and they are interviewed and the interviewer says, “How did it go?” And the tennis player says, “Oh, I am so pleased with myself. I hit the ball so sweetly today.” Or a golfer, “I really connected that ball, I really am pleased with myself.” It sounds like he is really bragging you know, it sounds like he is really arrogant but the truth of the matter is, my dear friend, he is so excited about the improvement in his game. He is not talking about himself as per sé, he is talking about the fact that he hit the ball so nicely, he has been working so hard on it. Like when you go to a farmer and he takes you around his farm and he shows you a beautiful maize crop and he says, “Man, I am so pleased with myself, I have got such a lovely crop. And you think, “Come on man, stop bragging.” He is not bragging, he is so excited about the achievement, or a magnificent animal on the show when he has just got the grand champion, a beautiful big bull. He is so excited about it. False humility is walking around with sackcloth and ashes and saying, “I am suffering for Jesus.” That doesn’t bring any glory to God. I want to tell you a little story. I was at a book signing once, and a little boy walked up to me, and he was standing back, and he had a red face; he was very embarrassed. He had a cell phone in his hand, he had one of my books and a pen. I walked over to him and I got down on my knees. I said, “Son, would you like me to sign your book for you?” And he had a big smile on his face, “Yes please, sir.” “And would you like a photograph with me?” “Yes please, sir.” So we posed together, we did a nice selfie, and a lady walked past. She was pushing someone in a wheelchair, and she said, “Christians are supposed to be humble.” Ag, I just smiled and I said, “Yes, thank you, madam’, but that little boy walked away so happy. Today, shout it from the rooftops. Matthew 10:27. Tell people about your newfound faith and about how good God has been to you. Have a lovely day, Jesus bless you and goodbye.