Entries by Robert Shaw

Jesus With Skin On

A little boy was trying to get to sleep but was frightened. He shouted down from the bedroom, ‘Dad, it’s dark up here and I’m scared.’ His father shouted back, ‘Don’t be afraid. God is with you.’ After a few second’s pause, the boy yelled again: ‘Get up here, Dad – I need somebody with […]

Take Me to the Beach

Proverbs 1:7 The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline. Summer officially begins June 20, 2025 but many have already begun heading to the coast to walk or lie on the beach, swim in the ocean or ride […]

Double Damn

Galatians 1:6-9 I am surprised and astonished that you are so quickly turning renegade and deserting Him Who invited and called you by the grace (unmerited favor) of Christ (the Messiah) [and that you are transferring your allegiance] to a different [even an opposition] gospel.7 Not that there is [or could be] any other [genuine Gospel], but there are [obviously] some who are troubling and disturbing and bewildering […]

Nothing Else Matters

Rev. 3:17 For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. On April 14, 1912, 10:00 p.m. the Titanic crashed into an iceberg in the mid-Atlantic and four hours later sank. One woman in […]

Need or Obligation?

Hebrews 2:11-12 states: For both He Who sanctifies [making men holy] and those who are sanctified all have one [Father]. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren;12 For He says, I will declare Your [the Father’s] name to My brethren; in the midst of the [worshiping] congregation I will sing hymns of […]

The Starfish

Proverbs 21:20 There are precious treasures and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a self-confident and foolish man swallows it up and wastes it. Critics of Jesus’ ministry could have said that He was wasting His time on the likes of one woman caught in adultery, or the Samaritan woman, Blind Bartimaeus, Zachaeus, or the Gadarene […]

The Time Illusion

Geoff Brumfel, from NPR wrote an article titled, Time is an illusion so why are we all obsessed with it? He stated: But time has another side to it, one that the clocks don’t show. “A lot of us grow up being fed this idea of time as absolute,” says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist at the […]

The Foolishness of God

1 Cor. 1:27-31 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may […]

The Mandate!?

2 Kings 19:35 And it all came to pass, for that night the Angel of the Lord went forth and slew 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when [the living] arose early in the morning, behold, all these were dead bodies. One angel of the Lord killed 185,000 men – single-handedly! But this wasn’t just […]

Who or What is Your Jericho?

Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho [a fenced town with high walls] was tightly closed because of the Israelites; no one went out or came in. AMPC Jericho was the first fortressed city that Israel encountered in their advancement into the Promised Land. It was the first thing that stood between them and the manifestation of their […]

Time = Life

Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.2 But his delight and desire are […]

Can Two Walk Together?

Ephesians 1:16-19 I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.17 [For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] […]

Stumbling Blocks or Stepping Stones?

Philippians 1:12-13 Now I want you to know and continue to rest assured, brethren, that what [has happened] to me [this imprisonment] has actually only served to advance and give a renewed impetus to the [spreading of the] good news (the Gospel).13 So much is this a fact that throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest [here] […]

The King is Coming!

Esther 1:10-12 On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who ministered to King Ahasuerus as attendants,11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king, with her royal crown, to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she […]

Heir Borne

Colossians 1:24 [Even] now I rejoice in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf. And in my own person I am making up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church. Years ago I was reading Acts 5:40-42 that stated: […]

The Air I Breathe

Nehemiah 1:11 For I was cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah, the author for whom this book was named – simply, and humbly wrote that he was a cupbearer to the king. But what exactly was a cupbearer? Got Questions states: Historically, a cupbearer was a high-ranking official in charge of serving the king. It was […]

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 […]