BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Jesus spoke to Ken very clearly about this some years ago. “LORD,” Ken told Him, “I think You’re coming soon!” 'Well,' Jesus answered, 'I’m coming sooner than you think!' All of us, at times, need to be reminded of that. Otherwise we tend to get overly occupied with the natural things of this earth. We start thinking things, as we know them right now, are going to continue forever, when the reality is they’re not! This age is like a book. It has a final page that says, “The End.” When we get to that page, if we’ve received Jesus as Lord and Savior, we’re going to take off with Him and begin a wonderful, new adventure. In the meantime, according to the Bible, we’re to purposely look forward to that adventure. We’re to stir up our anticipation about it because that anticipation has a powerful effect on how we live. As 1 John 3:3 says, the believer who focuses on the hope of Jesus’ appearing “purifies himself, just as He is pure” ("New King James Version"). He runs his race here on earth in such a way that at the end of it he can say, like the Apostle Paul said to Timothy: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). Personally, whether Jesus returns in my lifetime or not, I want that to be my testimony when I stand before Him someday. I don’t want Him to just look at me with a sigh and say, “Well…?” I want Him to be able to say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” If you love the Lord, then that’s what you want to hear too! When the last trumpet sounds, you don’t want to realize you haven’t yet gotten around to doing what Jesus called you to do. You want to know you’ve been fulfilling your assignment so you’ll “have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming” (1 John 2:28). You want to have been living and walking with Him every day so that you’re excited and ready to meet Him. If you’re not ready when that time comes, it will be too late to do anything about it. You won’t be able to convince Jesus to change His schedule for you. He won’t be able to give you a few more years to prepare for His return. No, I believe the time of His coming has already been set! God has already fixed an appointed date for it, and He’s never late. He always keeps His appointments right on time. That’s just the way He operates. You can see that by reading in the Old Testament about the appointment He made with Abraham to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God set the date for that appointment before the Israelites even existed. He told their forefather Abraham, “They’ll be enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years, and then they’ll be delivered.” Sure enough, that’s precisely what happened. The Israelites lived as free men in Egypt for 30 years, and then became slaves there for the next 400: “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:41). Isn’t that amazing? Hundreds of years after God spoke to Abraham, He delivered the Israelites just as He said He would—on the exact, appointed day! Safe, Dry and Ready to Sail I’m telling you, God is an operator! You need never worry about Him getting His plans finished and keeping His appointments. He gets the job done! He set an appointed time for Jesus to come the first time, and at that appointed time He was born as a Man into this earth. He’s set an appointed time for Jesus to come back for His Church and, you can rest assured, that’s going to happen too—right on time. * * * article continues on next page * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Read Through the Bible JANUARY Old Testament / New Testament 1 Mon Gen. 1-3 / Matt. 1 2 Tue Gen. 4-7 / Matt. 2 3 Wed Gen. 8-10 / Matt. 3 4 Thu Gen. 11-15 / Matt. 4 5 Fri Gen.16-18 / Matt. 5 6 Sat Gen. 19-22 7 Sun Ps. 1-5; Prov. 1:1-19 8 Mon Gen. 23-25 / Matt. 6 9 Tue Gen. 26-28 / Matt. 7 10 Wed Gen. 29-30 / Matt. 8 11 Thu Gen. 31-33 / Matt. 9 12 Fri Gen. 34-36 / Matt. 10 13 Sat Gen. 37-39 14 Sun Ps. 6-9; Prov. 1:20-33 15 Mon Gen. 40-41 / Matt. 11 16 Tue Gen. 42-44 / Matt. 12 17 Wed Gen. 45-47 / Matt. 13 18 Thu Gen. 48-50 / Matt. 14 19 Fri Ex. 1-2 / Matt. 15 20 Sat Ex. 3-4 21 Sun Ps. 10-13; Prov. 2 22 Mon Ex. 5-6 / Matt. 16 23 Tue Ex. 7-8 / Matt. 17 24 Wed Ex. 9-10 / Matt. 18 25 Thu Ex. 11-12 / Matt. 19 26 Fri Ex. 13-14 / Matt. 20 27 Sat Ex. 15-16 28 Sun Ps. 14-17; Prov. 3:1-18 29 Mon Ex. 17-18 / Matt. 21 30 Tue Ex. 19-20 / Matt. 22 31 Wed Ex. 21-22 / Matt. 23 BVOV : 29

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