BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

to receive God's righteousness. Not everyone takes advantage of it, but everyone has the opportunity. Statements like that shock religious people. Do you know why? Because, as Romans 10:3 says, "They being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." That's what religion always does. It tries to establish its own righteousness, its own rules, its own right-standing with God. Religion says, if you act right, talk right, dress right and look right, then God will give you favor. But God isn't religious. He says, I don't want you to establish your own righteousness. I want to give you Mine. But before you can receive it, you have to quit trying to establish your own. You can't earn the righteousness of God. There's nothing you can do to deserve it. It's God's gift. All you can do is receive it. When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord, God declared me righteous. I didn't look very righteous. I called on liquor stores back then. Alcohol was my business. I sold it and I drank it. But the day I submitted to Jesus, my life changed. I went back to work the next Monday morning in those same liquor stores. I didn't know a thing about the Bible. I only knew I was di erent. Soon, I began to tell people that I had two kinds of spirits, alcoholic spirits and the Holy Spirit. "Which one do you want to hear about fi rst?" I'd ask. I found that many of them were interested in Jesus. They weren't interested in religion, but they were interested in knowing that God was no longer "imputing their trespasses" to them. They were interested in knowing that He had settled the account of the whole world's sins. That was good news! The sad thing is many believers—people who have already been made righteous in Jesus—don't fully grasp that news. They don't realize God isn't mad at them. They don't realize they can go boldly before the throne of God without shame—dressed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's because they've been taught to focus more on how they've messed up than on what Jesus has done for them. They're more sin-conscious than they are righteousness- conscious. by Happy Caldwell People (believers and unbelievers alike) have been told how unworthy they are. They've been told what sorry creatures they are. They've been told they don't act right or talk right or pray right. Sound familiar? If so, I have some good news for you today: God is not mad at you. In fact, He's not mad at anybody! The Bible says He [God] "was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Every person ever born on this earth already has been guaranteed by God the right to stand before Him without any sense of guilt or shame. Every person, no matter how covered in sin he may be, qualifi es Now That's Good News! Go ye therefore and teach all nations that God is mad at them. That's not what Jesus said in the Great Commission. But all too often, that is the message traditional religion has preached. Jesus stripped Satan of all authority and placed it in your hands. 2 4 : B V O V

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