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All Things Through Christ
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 14th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We go to that well-known scripture, 2 Timothy 1:7, Jesus says, “I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”I want to tell you a little story about the strongest man in the world. Well, we are going back a little bit to 1956. Yes, his name was Paul Anderson. Paul Anderson went to the Olympic Games in Australia. It was a given that he was going to get the gold medal in the heavyweight division, but when he got to Australia, he got sick. He had a terrible fever. He lost 30 lbs and the doctor said he couldn’t participate, but he tried. He came all that way. Apparently, when he walked onto the platform, everyone could see that it was a given, this man weighed over 350lbs. Well, he started the first lift (you only get three chances). He failed miserably. The second one, he failed again. The third one, the last one to make him the gold medalist, he prayed in his heart, “Lord, if You give me the strength to get this bar and this weight over my head, I will serve You for the rest of my life’, and at that very moment, he said this himself, God gave him the strength and he pushed that weight over his head and he became the world champion. One lift!What are you struggling with today? What is the lift in your life? What is the challenge that you are struggling with? Folks, I want to tell you, Paul Anderson said, “If I, the strongest man cannot make it through one day without Jesus Christ, how can you?” You know, often God puts us through a test and He gives us an opportunity to call upon Him. You have probably heard this story before, but there was a year on this farm when we had a devastating drought. I had all my money in the crop. I had a young family, everything was at maximum. My overdraft was full, my production loan at the Co-Op was full, I had no money left and there was no rain and the crop was dying in front of my eyes. I said a similar thing as Paul Anderson. I said, “Lord, if you take me through this crop, I will preach the Gospel for the rest of my life.” That’s exactly what I am doing at the moment.You know that Paul Anderson went back home and started a youth movement. He started a home for young men. To help young, underprivileged boys, he brought them to his home. They looked up to him, and they respected him. You see, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Today, trust the Lord. He will pull you through.Jesus bless you and goodbye.
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3:22
Keeping Silent
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Thursday morning, the 13th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Proverbs 10:19: “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.”Then we go to the New Testament to the Gospel of Mark 14:61:”But He kept silent and answered nothing.” That was Jesus Christ when He was being interviewed and He responded by saying nothing. You know, this message probably applies to me more than it applies to you but we need to sometimes keep silent. Jesus never wasted His words. His speech was always “yes” or “no”, but nothing in between. He was decisive. You and I need to become more like that; it will cost us much less pain and confusion. We need to learn to measure our words. Do you know that international wars have started through foolish words? I know of marriages that have been destroyed by men and women who cannot control their tongues. We need to be careful. Many marriages have been destroyed through foolish words. If we haven’t got anything good to say about someone, then we'd rather not say a word. The Wesley brothers, John and Charles Wesley, were instrumental by God to start one of the biggest revivals the world has ever known. Charles was the hymn-writer. Some of the most beautiful hymns that we sing were written by Charles Wesley, and John was the evangelist. Charles used to often say about his brother, “If you want to keep a secret then don’t tell my brother.” I hope my wife is not listening to this message today.Billy Graham is an evangelist that I have a great respect for. He has literally touched millions and millions of lives all over the world. He wrote his autobiography called, “Just as I am.” It is a very heart-wrenching book because he kept nothing back. He said it all. Right at the back of his book he has a chapter that speaks about regrets. He said, “I have a few regrets”, he said, “one of them is, if I had to do it again I would speak less, I would study more, I would pray more.”I want to say to you today, “Let’s keep silent and only speak when we really have to.”Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,Goodbye.
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3:21
Personal Testimony
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 12th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. I want us to read from the Gospel of John 21:24: “This is the disciple who testifies of these things,…” That was John, he was giving a testimony - the power of personal testimony! I want to say something to you my dear friends. Every one of us is called to testify for what Jesus Christ has done in our lives. I mean after all, that is what preaching is, is it not? I love Charles Swindell, and I read something he wrote once. He said there are different types of people giving testimonies. He said there is the “eager beaver” approach where there is no follow-up. You have got to be saved and that’s it and away you walk. There is the “varsity approach” which is all about discussion and talking about the things of the Word but no opportunity for the person to get saved. Then there is the “silent approach”. Well, you have just got to live the life, you have just got to relax and people will see Christ in you but that is where it stops. No folks, he says we have got to be available, we have got to be Spirit-led, we have got to be obedient and timing is so important. We have got to be sensitive and we have got to get to the point and stop arguing. I love that little story of Gypsy Smith, the evangelist (His name was Rodney Smith actually). He used to ride around England in his little painted wagon with his horse pulling that wagon. He would stop on open common ground, and crowds of up to 10,000 people would come and listen to him bringing the word of God. One day when he had finished preaching, a lay-preacher came up to him and said to him, “I really admire the way you just keep on preaching, you never seem to get tired. You know, I have preached the Gospel from Genesis through to Revelation and I am so tired and I have got nothing left. What must I do?” Gypsy Smith said to him, “Just keep telling them what Jesus Christ means to you.” That is what preaching the Gospel is, spending time telling people what Jesus means to you. You see, that is the personal testimony. As you know, we have got a movie called Faith Like Potatoes, that’s all it is, it is our testimony, myself, my wife, my family and my friends. Today go out and testify about the goodness of God in your life.Jesus bless you and goodbye.
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3:13
No Condemnation
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Tuesday morning, the 11th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start off in that very well-known scripture, Romans 8:1:”There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,…” What a beautiful promise! Then we go to 1 Peter 5:7:”…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” You see the devil condemns us. Put that baggage down, that burden, that guilt, that insecurity, that fear. Put it down, give it to Jesus. Just after I gave my life to Christ, I had been very burdened up until then with responsibilities. I had a big family, five young children, a farm that I had to pay off. I put a wonderful crop in but every afternoon at four o’clock, those black rolling clouds would come across my maize crop and there was a green tinge in them, often representing hailstones, and I would go into a bit of a tailspin panic, but the one day I was walking through my fields and the penny dropped. I realised that when I gave my life to Christ, I gave Him everything. I gave Him my family, I gave Him my career, I gave Him my life. I gave Him everything, even the maize crop. I gave it to the Lord and I realised I was no longer responsible for the outcome of this wonderful crop of maize because I was merely the Lord’s manager. He was the owner because I had given everything to Him.Do you know the freedom that came upon me? I was so free. I thought, “Lord, if this crop gets wiped out by hail then it’s Your crop and I’m Yours, my family’s Yours, therefore You’ve got another plan for me.” Folks, I want to tell you it set me free.Today, cast your cares upon Jesus because He cares for you and when He took your sin, He said there is no more condemnation. Just move on for the Lord and He will take care of the rest.Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, Goodbye.
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2:44
Watch and Pray
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 10th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Gospel of Mark 14:41: “Then He came the third time (that’s Jesus) and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough!” Folks, it’s wake up time. There is no time left for sleeping! Jesus is coming back very soon. Then we go straight to 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.” (AMP Bible) We need to wake up. We need to take authority in our homes. Really folks, we need to tell our children, “In this house, we are Christians, in this house we don’t do things like that, in this house we are followers of Jesus Christ. You will pray and we will spend time with the Lord and you will not bring that filth into this house.”“Aah, but dad, everybody else is doing that.”“It doesn’t matter - not in this house!” We have to look after our families. Jesus says, “Stop sleeping, it is enough.” Remember - it might be your business, “Well whatever will be, will be.” Well, that’s not the attitude. Stand up like a man and get back into the fight. Remember, the best form of defence is attack. If the Lord is on your side, you have nothing to fear. Don’t listen to the lies of the devil which are defeat - “You will never make it, you are washed up, you are done.” Don’t listen to that. Remember the word of the Lord. You see, that thing that you fear is not going to go away by having a sleep - no, no, no! You have got stand up, face the enemy eye to eye and say, “This far and no further”. Draw a line in the sand. But how are we going to do this? I will tell you how you are going to do it - by prayer. You see, Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane when the disciples were sleeping. Three times He came and said, “Watch and pray.” Folks, I am telling you now, you need to watch and pray. Gentlemen, you need to get out of bed in the morning, you need to be on your knees praying for your beloved wife and your children. Yes, it’s not your wife’s job, it’s your job. Children, you need to pray for your parents. Oh yes, they need help. You need to pray for your headmaster and your teacher. You need to pray for your friends, and Jesus will undertake.God bless you and have a wonderful day,Goodbye.
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3:15