Bob Cassell,

Welcome to RICHES FROM THE CASTLE, where many bible messages may be found. Messages from the Castle are prepared to invite anyone who has not believed in Jesus Christ as savior to understand that HE alone is the exclusive way to heaven. An invitation is also extended to those who have believed in Christ, and are in varying levels of growth, who want to grow and develop, in order to become spiritually self-sustaining.

My intent in this message is to encourage, challenge, and admonish each of you, i.e. (parakletos) to come along side to help in the understanding and declaration of the gospel that Jesus Christ is the exclusive and only way to heaven. Acts 4:12, Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

I submitted to you … my intent…then, there is your intent… in my young life (old) I have noticed…we judge ourselves by our intentions, but we judge others by their actions, whether we are right or wrong, this is our approach.

I will be discussing eternal issues and you may be sure, there are no reset buttons in eternity. Eternity is a long time and we will be living in it forever, in either heaven or hell, (story of a sparrow and the rock of Gibraltar) The good news is we can do what we need to do now… the bad news is…we won’t do it at all.

If you have listened to gospel messages that clearly declare, everlasting life resides in the person of Jesus Christ…what a distinct opportunity it is to hear, believe, and accept Jesus Christ as Savior. Hearing and understanding this message is an invitation from God for you to take this soft pillow and place it under your tired and weary head.

In our communication exchanges we are faced with many options as we decipher what is being said to us.

We want to be sure that what is said is what the other person meant. We are meaning creatures and we want to know the meaning of the message we are hearing.

We create friction in our exchanges when we put ourselves above others as though they are inferior. A higher road of unity and cohesion will put others before ourselves. The root cause of failure in leadership is to devalue other people, to esteem self higher than others.

In our communication exchanges we not only provide information, we provide definitions and define the person we are talking to. We define them either upward, downward or equally!

Examples: Is this statement upward or downward? “I used to believe that, I can’t believe you said that…everyone knows that…how stupid can you get, what’s wrong with you? Are you crazy… you‘ll never amount to anything! You’ve done nothing, you’ll be nothing and.…you are nothing to me!”

Dissention comes when we are more impressed with self than with others. What’s the why behind someone who exalts self and diminishes others? Could it be that because they do not reach out and affirm others is because they have not been affirmed. The absence of affirmation creates a deep need and an internal cry for affirmation.

Their disdain toward others is a clear indication of a deep psychological need that has not been met.

How you see others is a reflection of how you see yourself and influences how well you interact with others and even how well you do in life.

Now to the unbeliever:

Are you aware of your condition before God?

If you have a keen sense of awareness, you can potentially control what is happening in your life… i.e., where you are and where you need to be…if you have little or no sense of awareness, you most likely, will be controlled by circumstances events and interchanges.

How do you see yourself? If you are not a child of God, do you realize you are a certified member of the world, the flesh, and the devil and you are blind and naked before God, undone, lost, without hope and without eternal life? You are a child of the Devil! Sounds harsh, I know, but these are not my words, this is what Jesus Christ says about you. You are of your father, the devil.

Does this sting? …. I’m sure it does, because the sting in any rebuke is the truth. We become the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus …. you remain a child of the Devil because you have not placed your faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jn 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Each step you take draws you closer and closer to your eternal destiny and into the jaws and smoke of a fiery, eternal hell that is waiting for you where there is no mercy and no hope forever. Oh, do you want eternal life? You have it…you will live forever but eternal life without Jesus Christ is not where you want to be…. it’s a dead and tormenting end and once you are there, all hope is gone… there is no escape.

But the good news is, you are here today…you are alive and breathing and there is hope and opportunity for eternal life in heaven… it is appropriated, not by doing, doing, and doing, but by understanding that through Jesus Christ it is finished and it is done, done, and done!

We are seen too many times as human doings when we are actually human beings. Because we see ourselves as doers, we erroneously associate our doings with salvation and find it difficult to believe, all our good doings are considered by God as filthy rags. Isa 64:6

You may not be there yet, but you can be wise right now and stop, look, listen, and see that there is light where blindness and darkness dwell… and that you don’t have to live there.

You are offered a robe of righteousness, the garments of salvation and eternal life in heaven. Isa 61:10

All of this amazing grace can be appropriated by you, if you stop, look, listen, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of your faith Eph 2:8-9 and Heb 11:6

Is it your faith alone? No, not your faith alone, it is faith in Christ alone. There is no merit in faith that is alone, it must be placed in Christ alone who is THE merit!

He must be the object of your weak and trembling faith! Faith is transitive and action is required by you and the required action is that you deposit all of your faith in Jesus Christ as the end product and object of your faith. JN 20:31.

Today, if you will hear his voice, if you stop, look and listen, to the message of eternal life, and if you believe in him, you can have, in a moment of time, everlasting life.  

Effective hearing must be converted to listening and listening to the word of God.

Suppose you could hear God’s voice tenderly calling you to believe in his son for everlasting life. It would be chilling to hear the voice of God but suppose you do hear him just now and he speaks in an audible voice… I don’t believe you would scoff and question his statements. Suppose an angel at his side speaks up and says “make a record of God’s remarks.” What did he say? You have that record…He has already said it in writing, find it in your bible…won’t that be good enough? 1st Jn 5:11-13

You can stop wondering if you are going to heaven! IF you have believed in Jesus Christ, you can certainly know you have eternal life. God has said it he is correct, and that settles it! This message of life has been in God’s word for over 2K years and that message is in your lap…it is declared by God and you can believe it.

Having tangible or audible voices to give you a message is the very absence of what God requires, in order for you to believe, what you can’t see or feel. Heb 11:6, without faith it is impossible to please God. To appropriate eternal life, where do you put your faith? Not in yourself, your life, in the church or in your behavior… but in the person of Christ. In Adam all die…

1 Cor 15:22 but in Christ all are made alive with everlasting life and go from death to life.

You can only become a child of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Gal 3:26

The foregoing has been addressed to those who have not believed in Jesus Christ.

Now for those who do believe in Him!

Are you growing in grace or are you the same today as you were years ago? What’s the problem? Have you been drinking at the fountain or are you just sitting on the banks of the dried-up brook wondering why you are not advancing or growing in grace and are not more mature today than you were yesterday?

God has designed for you to become spiritually self-sustaining and to depend on his life-giving word for growth and development to maturity. “but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2nd Pet 3:18.

Have you expanded your capacity as a growing believer or are you stagnant, stunted and spiritually depleted?

A growing believer must be proactive and not reactive in expanding the capacity to live and produce for our Lord.

How is that accomplished? It begins by stopping, looking, listening and learning from the infallible word of God. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Mt 11:29, He is the word of truth, sanctify yourself through his word, JN 17:17, it is exalted above all his name, Ps 138:2.

Acts 1:1 state “of all that Jesus began to do and teach.” He could do without being taught because he knew all and could teach from what he has always known!

We can’t do without first being taught because we must learn and then do. If we don’t learn, we don’t know that we don’t know and we become deceivers and unfaithful ministers of the word of truth and can’t rightly divide it.

2^nd Tim 2:15 says, Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

What an opportunity we have here on planet earth to study the word of God for the remainder of our lives. If you study consistently you will notice many changes that are good for you and those around you.

You will begin this journey as an infant, we all do. But then growth begins as an infant and then thank God you will grow to adolescence and then on and on and on to maturity. You can become a valiant warrior on the spiritual battlefield of life. The alternative is to lose ground to the enemy and become a casualty on the battlefield. This wonderful growth process will bring many good things to your life and to those around you.

The stairway to maturity begins by:

1) Orienting to the grace of God and the word of God and as you continue to grow, and stabilize you will develop…

2) A relaxed mental attitude and the world around you will become a place where there is certainty, understanding and encouragement as opposed to instability, hostility, criticism, implacability and vindictiveness. Keep growing and you will develop…

3) Mastery of the details of life and will not be enslaved by them. New house, new car, clothes, jewelry, furniture, new surroundings…have you found that these provide nothing but temporal approval for a while and then we

become accustomed to whatever was new that is now old and familiar.

Things won’t bring you happiness they are temporal and perish with the using. Have our lives not proved this to us? What once was, is no more…and what is to be will be here for a while and it too will be gone. Having Mastery of the details of life will weather most of our storms.

Further growth and development will provide another capacity and it is a wonderful capacity…it is something that most of us want, need, and must have…it is a nonnegotiable, it is one of our greatest needs, and that’s 

4) To be loved and to have the capacity to Love. You cannot love without having a biblical capacity that comes with spiritual growth.

A young man came to me years ago and asked for help in his marriage…he was confused and wanted guidance! He was convinced that he and his wife no longer loved each other because the feeling was no longer there.

I thought, hmm… love is a verb and we demonstrate it through our loving actions.

He asked what can I do, Bob? I said, you can begin by really loving her. No Bob, the feeling is just not there anymore for either of us… I said, “then all the more reason to love her.” The feeling of love is the fruit of love and not the tree or root. So, love her, sacrifice for her, stop, look and listen to her, appreciate her and affirm her.

We are not the end product of our feelings, in spite of the soap operas and Hollywood. Love is a special value that resides in our soul and we should demonstrate our love through loving actions.

We can and should subordinate our feelings to our core and spiritual values! The good news is…even the feeling of love can be recaptured…

I told my young friend to begin acting the way you want to feel and soon you will feel the way you are acting.

Make eye contact, give focused attention and physical affection! Miracles will happen! Kiss her for more than a peck! Make it a long one!

Further growth and development brings us to the penthouse in our spiritual fortress, which is…

5) Inner peace!

Peace within your soul!

Not by having or not having people, places and things but by living under spiritual cruise control. How does this happen?

It happens by going outside yourself to the living word of God and taking that word inside by means of the teaching ministry of God the Holy spirit! Jn 16:13

Outside and then inside to your spiritual magazine. In loading great munitions to the guns on a ship, where are they from and where do they go? The projectiles are loaded into the magazine where they can be used. Without this inner arsenal there could be no withdrawals, no victories and no advancements, no impact. Without the word of God resident in your soul you have nothing to withdraw and you cannot be a victor, you will be a victim and will be slaughtered on the spiritual battlefield of life.

See me, free me, be me.

What does that mean? How do you see you? Could it be that the way you see you communicates to others how they see you? Do you see you the same way God sees you? He sees you perfectly clothed in the righteousness of your savior Jesus Christ.

He sees you positioned in Christ and not as you perform in yourself. Suppose he only sees you in your performance rather than in your perfect position in Jesus Christ? If so, you would be doomed!

You must see yourself as God sees you…how’s that? From your position in Christ and absolutely not in your condition in self. See yourself as you are positioned in Christ and work your position into your condition or you will be working from your human condition which will obscure your view of your high and exalted position in Christ.  The danger is you may function according to that skewed view! This is a downward definition of yourself, it is self-induced and it will neutralize you.

This is truth and is also mental health.

The pinnacle of maturity as a believer in Christ is to be occupied with him day by day and moment by moment.  Consider him, he is greater than any difficulty, Heb 12:3

One hour per week will not be enough fuel to carry you to and through all of the exigencies of this rapidly passing life.

If a child is fed only one-time a week or if you are fed only one time a week you would soon die. So, you must continue in the word of God and if you do you will be his disciple indeed. Jn 8:31

Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior and become spiritually self-sustaining…feast on the meat of the word, go down deep and stay awhile. Go from milk to solid food and then to the meat of the word.

If you feed daily on his word you will eventually arrive and will become one who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb 5:14

If you stop look, listen, study, learn and apply his word to your life…it will be a wall of fire around you… it will be your fortress, your high tower, he will fight for you and you will see that the battle is the Lords… 1 Sam 17:47, he will fight for you, he is your shield, he is your exceeding great reward. 

Strong meat from the word of God will equip you to reject the bad and embrace the good and do that which is right and good that it may be well with you and good for everyone around you.

Deut 6:18, And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord; that it may be well with thee.

Living by the good and rejecting the bad…the bad is bad for you because it is bad…the badlands in South Dakota are called badlands because they are bad lands.

The good you can have in your life is good for you because the good makes the bitter sweet and leaves a good taste in your mouth! If you embrace that which is bad for you remember…we become what we behold and we embody what we embrace! The same is true for good things.

Where will you go from here? I hope up and outward to your highest and best and not downward to your lowest and least.  

If you as a man or woman embark on an unwise journey of self-consumption and degradation; that downward journey will take you farther than you want to go, from those you love, and will keep you longer than you want to stay, and will certainly cost you much more than you want to pay!

You must stay close and loyal to those who love you and to those you love… your circle may be smaller than you think.

When you become dependent upon the King of Glory and are occupied with your Savior, you’ve done the right thing! When you behold him consistently and in reality, you will be lifted up to the highest spiritual mountain that lies just before you, and it is breathtaking.

These great heights are the pinnacle of the Christian way of life. This is where you should be… these heights can be ascended, and they must be ascended, if you are to advance in this quickly passing life.

I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are set apart unto his great glory and grace. Acts 20:32

I suggest you memorize Ps 121 and become totally occupied with the only King immortal. Look to the great heights that can be scaled when this word becomes a permanent part of your spiritual frame of reference.