Thought For Today

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 19th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 5:22:
”But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Those are strong words, spoken by the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We need to be very careful when we use those words!
There was a famous Scottish poet. His name was Robert Burns, and he lived a long time ago. He said, “A man is a man for all that.” What does that mean, Angus? Well, it means that he is not an animal. He is a man, a creation of God, therefore, treat him as such. We need to be careful how we speak.
Why am I speaking to you this morning about this very fact? Because a very dear friend of mine has just passed away. He gave his life to Jesus in our little Christian coffee bar in Greytown, many, many years ago. He died in his sixties. I think he gave his life to the Lord when he was a young teenager, maybe 14 or 15, and he became a friend of mine over the years. But he struggled. He struggled with mental illness and was very often mistaken for the things he said and did. He was an immensely strong man, very powerfully built, but I loved him dearly.
I can tell you right now that today, he is in the presence of Jesus Christ. Why? Because he loved God with a passion. I have not met many men who could memorise scripture verses like he could. What an incredible man. He used to love going up the mountains with me. We used to walk the mountains together. We need to really be careful that we don’t judge a book by it’s cover. We make that mistake too often, don’t we? He knew my birthday. I didn’t know his. He never, ever forgot to wish me happy birthday, and he knew the birthdays of every single member of my family, oh yes.
Have you heard of a man named John Nash? He won the Nobel Prize for mathematics, but he struggled with mental illness all his life. They made a movie about him called, “A Beautiful Mind.” Folks, I want to tell you something now, that movie and my dear friend have taught me one thing - to be kind, gracious and gentle with people who struggle with mental illness, because I want to tell you, they are definitely not fools. Let us love our fellowman, because he is a creation of God.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Sunday morning, the 18th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Gospel of Luke 9:16:
“Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.”
Then we go straight to the Gospel of John 21:12:
“Come and eat breakfast.”
Another version says: “Breakfast is ready.”
Oh, my dear friend, how are you feeling today? Are you feeling deserted? Are you feeling desperate? I want to tell you that Jesus has compassion on you and me. He saw that the people were hungry. A little boy had two little fish and five barley loaves that his mother had probably made for his lunch. Jesus took it and fed 5000 men, not including the children and the woman. I believe in miracles, but the point the Lord is making this morning is that He loves us and He wants to help us and he wants to feed us, not just spiritually but physically as well.
The story, you know it well, I have told it many times before. We were having a large men’s conference on this farm, Shalom. We were catering for 5,000 men. We said we would feed them three meals, supper on Friday night, lunch on Saturday afternoon and supper on Saturday night. Well, you know what happened! 7,500 men arrived! And the kitchen staff came running out and they said, “Please tell the men to go easy with the food.” I was so overwhelmed by the response and the amount of men that came. I said, “A message from the kitchen, eat as much as you can!”
Oh but folks, after those three meals were finished, my good friend, Peter, came running into the tent when we were all praying and he said, “We have just counted all the leftover food. There are thirty six baskets of left overs. Thirty-six divided by three, that’s right! Twelve baskets of leftovers per meal, exactly like when Jesus fed the five thousand!
Today, do not be anxious, do not be afraid because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) He will supply every one of your needs.
God bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 17th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in 1 Corinthians 13:1:
”Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
Then we just move on a little bit further to 1 Corinthians 14:10:
”There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance.”
There are a great many languages in the world and folks, we need to get the Word of God, Jesus Christ, out to a dying world. We are not talking about Bible studies, we are not talking about history lessons. We’re talking about the undiluted love of Jesus Christ Himself, and the best way we can do that is to get the Bible into individual languages as quickly as possible.
That is why I have a great respect for two groups of people in this world. Number one, intercessors. Those who lock themselves up in their closet and pray every day for the power of God to be manifest in this dying world through the name of Jesus Christ, and secondly, the Bible translators of this world. Those people who are sitting in the jungle somewhere, I know some of them. They don’t see any anybody, nobody seems to notice them but they are committed to translating the Bible from English into unknown languages, and that’s what Paul is saying today.
One of the great leaders in this country once said, ”When you speak to a man in English you speak to his head, but when you speak to him in his mother tongue you speak to his heart.” Today, you and I need to start speaking to the heart of people. The world is desperate for love. If we look at the four Gospels, we will see that people flocked around Jesus just like bees around a honey pot. Why? Because they wanted to experience the undiluted love of Christ. Now you and I have that privilege. Let us not waste the time that we have on this earth. Let us not get involved in things that have no consequence for eternal life. Let us talk to people about the future.
Let us tell them that there is a God Who loves them. Let us tell them that there is a Christ Who is coming back soon to take His people back to Heaven with Him. Let us leave no one behind. Today, go out and love the people with the Word of God.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 16th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go to the Book of Judges 16:30: “Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.”
Then we go straight to the New Testament, John 12:24. Jesus says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”
We had a Mighty Men Conference many years ago on this farm and we called it, “Dying to Live”. The biggest enemy you and I face is our own self-preservation and stinking pride. If you want to live, you have to die. As soon as you say, “No, I can’t do that because what happens if it doesn’t work?” And “I can’t do that because if I go up there and share my testimony, people will laugh at me.” They might do, but they might also give their lives to Christ.
I want to tell you a little story that happened in our little town, Greytown, 15 kms away from this farm. Greytown is nestled in a little valley. A massive 40-ton truck was coming down the road. It was loaded with some heavy cargo, and the poor driver, coming down that hill, had his brakes fail, and he couldn’t stop the truck. The truck started picking up incredible speed, and as he approached the town, coming down the hill, he didn’t know what to do, because just ahead of him was the end of the lessons for the little school down at the bottom of the hill. All the children were coming out of the classrooms and they were walking across the road.
Well, there could have been a mass disaster, but that brave driver- and I don’t even know his name, but Jesus knows his name - do you know what he did? He drove that massive truck into a huge gum tree that's still standing today. He drove his truck straight into the tree and of course, crushed himself to death because the cab literally disintegrated and the load was trapped at the base of the tree and all the children were saved.
That is what Jesus Christ did for you and for me! He sacrificed His life so that you and I can have eternal life. Today, go out and do something that will help somebody else.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.

I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 15th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We start in the Gospel of John 15:13:
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Then we go straight to 1 Corinthians 13:1:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
Very powerful words! 1 Corinthians 13 - known as the chapter on love. This is a very special chapter for me.
I have done many weddings. In fact, I have married two of my own daughters to their husbands in the little chapel on Shalom Farm, two sons and another daughter. I have many children, and it is such an honour and a pleasure, but I want to say to any young, budding preacher, if you are ever stuck at a wedding and you don’t know what to say, just read the full chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, and there is your sermon, there are your instructions for the young couple. It is the most beautiful and challenging chapter. The Lord speaks through Paul, but He speaks very clearly. He says, “If I have no love,” he says, ”though I bestow all my goods, feed everybody, and I even give up my body to be burnt, if I have not love, it profits me nothing.”
A wedding is a very sacred time, and we make vows. We make a promise to God, “Till death do us part, we will stay together." That is a huge commitment. I made it myself, not far off 50 years now, and I want to tell you, I remember the day like yesterday. Count the cost before you ask that young lady to be your wife. Count the cost before you accept that proposal because it is very serious, and then put into action everything in this chapter, and even if you are a young married couple, I want to encourage you to read this chapter often. It really does challenge us and God will enhance and make your wedding day all that much more purposeful.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.