BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

6 : B V O V them but, as He put it, "for them also which shall believe on me through their word" (verse 20). That includes all of us as believers! Either directly or indirectly, we all heard the gospel as a result of the testimony of those fi rst disciples. So in John 17, Jesus was praying for you and me. He was talking to the Father about us when He said: …they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (verses 14–17). The word sanctify means "to separate." So essentially, what Jesus prayed for us was, "Father, leave them there in the world where they can do what I've called them to do, but separate them from it. Cause them to operate and live above the evil in the world—not to be subordinate to it, but to overcome it." That's how Jesus Himself lived when He was on earth! When evil came against Him in the form of a great storm, that threatened to sink His boat and keep Him from getting where God told Him to go, He rebuked the wind and it ceased (Mark 4:37-39). When He needed to feed thousands of hungry people and all He had was a little boy's lunch, He BLESSED it, told His disciples to distribute it, and it multiplied in their hands until everybody was fed with lots left over (Mark 6:34-44). When multitudes of people su ering from all kinds of sickness and disease came into His presence, He healed them all (Matthew 8:16-17). Jesus lived in this world, but He never allowed the evil conditions in it to dominate Him. He never let them stop Him from walking in THE BLESSING of God and fulfi lling His calling. That's why, at the end of His earthly life, He could say to the Father, "I have glorifi ed thee on the earth: I have fi nished the work which thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4). Scoot Up to the Table Imagine being able to stand before God and say, "I have fi nished the work You called me to do." Wouldn't that be wonderful? Don't you want to be able to say those words when your life on earth is done? I certainly do! I aspire to be able to say what the Apostle Paul did right before he departed this earth: "I have fought the good fi ght, I have fi nished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7, New King James Version). Those statements thrill me! There is victory in them. "Well," somebody might say, "just getting to heaven is enough for me. I'm just happy that, like the old song says, 'This world is not my home, I'm just passing through!'" That's something to be happy about, for sure. It's wonderful to know that you're just passing through this world on your way to heaven. The question is, what condition are you in while you're passing through it? According to Jesus, that matters. It matters so much that, as we've seen, He prayed about it in His last precious hours on earth. If anybody ever expected to have their prayers answered, it's Jesus. So, we need to grasp and lay hold, by faith, of what He prayed about us in John 17, because the answer to that prayer is ours! We ought to fully expect, while we're in this world, to be kept from the evil in it. We ought to resist the devil when he comes around trying to do in our lives the same stealing-killing-destroying stu he does to the world. We ought to walk in the victory that overcomes the world and live the out-of- this-world life Jesus prayed for us to live. David prophesied about this in the 23rd Psalm. Looking ahead in time, he foresaw the abundant life Jesus would provide for Schedule is subject to change without notice. 2024 New Year's Eve Service Eagle Mountain International Church Dec. 31 | Newark, Texas 2025 Holy Ghost Meetings Jan. 3-4 | Murrieta, Calif. Branson Victory Campaign April 3-5 | Branson, Mo. Southwest Believers' Convention July 28 - Aug. 2 | Fort Worth, Texas For updated event information visit: KCM.ORG/EVENTS events Join us!

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