Entries by Robert Shaw

Raising the Bar

1 Thessalonians 1:6-9 And you [set yourselves to] become imitators of us and [through us] of the Lord Himself, for you welcomed our message in [spite of] much persecution, with joy [inspired] by the Holy Spirit; 7 So that you [thus] became a pattern to all the believers (those who adhere to, trust in, and rely […]

Necessary Adjustments and the Soil of Your Heart

Ezra 1:1-2 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia [almost seventy years after the first Jewish captives were taken to Babylon], that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might begin to be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a […]

The Proof

2 Thessalonians 1:3-5 We ought and indeed are obligated [as those in debt] to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, as is fitting, because your faith is growing exceedingly and the love of every one of you each toward the others is increasing and abounds.4 And this is a cause of our mentioning you with pride among the […]

The Pain-Pleasure Worldview

2 Chronicles 1:5-7 Moreover, the bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought [the Lord].6 Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord at the Tent of Meeting and offered 1,000 burnt offerings on […]

Chief of Sinners

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. NKJV Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18:9-13 that is truly reflected in the life of the Apostle Paul: He also told this parable to some people who trusted […]

Big Things in Small Packages

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 Jabez was honorable above his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez [sorrow maker], saying, Because I bore him in pain.10 Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from […]

Set This Place on Fire!

2 Timothy 1:6-7 That is why I would remind you to stir up (rekindle the embers of, fan the flame of, and keep burning) the [gracious] gift of God, [the inner fire] that is in you by means of the laying on of my hands [with those of the elders at your ordination].7 For God did […]

A New Normal

2 Kings 1:7-10 The king asked, What was the man like who came to meet you saying these things? 8 They answered, He was a hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.9 Then the king sent to Elijah a captain of fifty men with his fifty […]

Manifest Destiny

Titus 1:3 And [now] in His own appointed time He has made manifest (made known) His Word and revealed it as His message through the preaching entrusted to me by command of God our Savior;… When Christianity first began the followers of Jesus were mostly of Jewish descent yet there were those, numbered among them, who were […]

Small Things

2 Samuel 1:14-15 David said to him, Why were you not afraid to stretch forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed? 15 David called one of the young men and said, Go near and fall upon him. And he smote him so that he died. Throughout Scripture from the fall of Adam and Eve to […]

The Swimming Hole

Hebrews 1:1-3 In many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the Truth] and in different ways God spoke of old to [our] forefathers in and by the prophets, 2 [But] in the last of these days He has spoken to us in [the person of a] Son, Whom He appointed Heir and lawful Owner of all things, […]

Haves and Have-Nots

1 Samuel 1:2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Tony Evans once preached that: Debt has become a way of life. There are now three groups of people in our nation: The Haves, the Have-Nots, and the Have-Not-Paid-For-What-They-Have. Instead of living for […]

Vines, Branches and Trees – Grow Up Into Jesus

James 1:5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. Years ago, while driving a semi in the winter, from central Colorado to Western Wyoming , I discovered I had a lot of time on my […]

Who’s Your Daddy?

Ruth 1: 1, 20-21 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons…..20 And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for […]

Staying Sown

1 Peter 1:1-2 Peter, an apostle (a special messenger) of Jesus Christ, [writing] to the elect exiles of the dispersion scattered (sowed) abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 Who were chosen and foreknown by God the Father and consecrated (sanctified, made holy) by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and to […]

Milk and Meat of God’s Promised Land

Judges 1:1-3 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them? 2 And the Lord said, Judah shall go up; behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.3 And Judah [the tribe] said to [the tribe of] Simeon his brother, Come […]

The Lighthouse and the Battleship

2 Peter 1:2 May grace (God’s favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. For several months I have been asking the Lord to […]

In God We Trust?

2 John 5-6 And now I beg you, lady (Cyria), not as if I were issuing a new charge (injunction or command), but [simply recalling to your mind] the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided […]

Reorienting to God

In 1977 the entire Chesapeake Bay froze over. The U.S. Coast Guard sent vessels to break up the ice in certain places. In an article from the Chesapeake Bay Magazine, titled: Ice Heroes – A Maryland Pilot’s Firsthand Account of the Historic 1977 Bay Freeze, states: The news reported that the Chesapeake Bay was shut […]

Seeing Jesus

1 John 1:3 What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah). There are some pretty bold […]

Where Am I?

Deuteronomy 1:2 It is [only] eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea [on Canaan’s border; yet Israel took forty years to get beyond it]. AMPC A helicopter was flying around above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft’s electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the […]

The Experiment

2 John 1-2 The elderly elder [of the church addresses this letter] to the elect (chosen) lady (Cyria) and her children, whom I truly love—and not only I but also all who are [progressively] learning to recognize and know and understand the Truth—2 Because of the Truth which lives and stays on in our hearts and will be with us forever…. […]

Cycles of God

Numbers 1:1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying,… Recently I saw an article entitled: Fasting – What a Blessing! When I was younger I […]

Everyone’s a Winner?

In the Gospel of John, Pontius Pilate responds to Jesus stance on Truth by asking, “What is Truth?” (Jn. 18:38) Unbeknownst to him he was having a conversation with – the TRUTH. We are all familiar with Jesus’ statement in John 14:6 in which He declares that He is the TRUTH and from that we […]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!?

We are familiar with the nonsensical word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious used in the Disney movie Mary Poppins. Those born in the 20th century are well aware of the degradation of the English language in which presently elementary age children are taught to simply spell a word based on what they feel. Modern media talking heads, and social […]

Underdog?

Exodus 1:12 But the more [the Egyptians] oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, so that [the Egyptians] were vexed and alarmed because of the Israelites. AMPC Amit Chaturvedi, of NDTV defined Quitters Day in the following way: Quitter’s Day, observed on the second Friday in January in the US and several countries, marks the point […]

Lost and Found – Fitness?

The New York Times: At its core, the secret to a healthy fitness routine is simple: Find ways to move. There are limitless options these days, but the best exercise is whatever you enjoy enough to keep doing it.…Exercise to ease pain. Take a walk. Get your butt in shape. Find the right balance. Exercise […]

The Last!

Revelation 1:10-12 I was in the Spirit [rapt in His power] on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice like the calling of a war trumpet,11 Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Write promptly what you see (your vision) in a book and send it to the […]

No King But Caesar?

In the Book of Exodus 7:10-12 Moses records the following: So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.11 Then Pharaoh called for the wise men [skilled in magic and divination] and the sorcerers (wizards and […]

Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise Dhuit!

Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth.2 The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.3 And God said, Let there be light; […]