This is the second volume of Tuesdays With Tony, a collection of Facebook posts that center on the lessons I learn as I study God’s word. Many posts are single lined observations while others are fleshed out studies.
For the most part, this book contains the posts that I wrote in the order that I published them on Facebook. They also contain the same content, written the same way they were published. I do, however, reserve the right to edit the posts for grammar as I see the opportunity.
The idea for these posts came from one of the elders in the congregation I attend. When I was satisfied to keep my writings to myself as study aids to help me when I opened the Word of God, Terry encouraged me to share my notes on Facebook. I reluctantly agreed and Tuesdays With Tony was born on June of 2021.
The agreement I made with myself when I decided to publish these posts, observations, and studies was that they would be a way I would glorify my Lord and King, Jesus. To that end, I freely share with anyone who wishes to use anything in this, or any of my books to help bring honor to God.
If you wish, you may resproduce the lessons in any form with two exceptions.
I ask that you do not sell the reproduction of this work, though you may cite and quote from this book within a larger work you may produce. Simply, please do not reproduce this book to sell for your own profit.
You may quote me in whole, or in part, but please do not alter what I have written. To the best of your ability, please represent my work as an honest reproduction of what I have written.
Short of these two exception, consider the material in this book yours to share as you please. As you do, I ask that you join with me in prayer that God, if He wills, may use these lessons in a way that glorifies Himself while shielding any glory from me. Truly, to God, and God alone, may all praise, glory, and honor be given.
Thank you for picking up this book and for sharing it with whomever you feel may benefit from it. And if I may presume upon you, please pray for me that God will use me as His steward as I continue this work. May this book, and others I may write, be evidence of the confession I make before men of my Lord and Savior, Jesus, who is my King and my Creator.
June 1st, 2022
Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings of Judah. He began to reign when he was 25 and started off his reign by cleansing the temple. As he began this work, he gathered the Levites and priests to direct them toward the work of returning to the one true God of Israel. This is what he said to them:
“Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us.” (2 Chronicles 29:10 ESV).
It is in my heart… What an important phrase. While our hearts are not the foundation of truth, it is the beginning of our service to God. When it is in our heart to make a covenant with the Lord, we will do what Hezekiah did that made him a great king. We will search out the will of God. We will humble ourselves before Him. We will repent and turn away from our sins.
We do not let our heart determine how we follow God. But we must have a heart that is eager and willing to make a covenant with the Lord to do His will. Otherwise, we may go through the motions of worship merely to ease our conscience and make others happy.
But when we take ownership of making a covenant with the Lord in our hearts as King Hezekiah did, then we let His word guide and mold us. Not because it’s an expectation, but because it’s something we are actively seeking.
Have you made a covenant in your heart with the Lord, a covenant that has you actively seeking to serve Him and learn more about His will for you? If so, then you will find the Lord. But until you first make the covenant in your heart with God, you can never find Him.
“The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” (Lamentations 3:25 ESV).
Today is the last day I have been given to lock myself up in a cabin and work on my book, The Sovereignty of God. I have written a lot, though I will still have a bit left to do when I get back home.
I am finishing up my chapter on God’s Sovereignty Seen In Job. I thought you’d be interested in reading an unedited excerpt from the conclusion of that chapter:
“God never explains to Job why the bad things happened to him. Why do you suppose that is? We have examples in the Bible where God explains why He does or does not do things to people. The main message of the prophets was to explain God’s actions if the people didn’t repent. God over and over told the kings of Israel and Judah why God will send good or evil upon them. So why didn’t He explain why these bad things happened to Job? Perhaps it is because of the second truth about God’s sovereignty we discussed: ‘God answers to no man, no power or to any other authority’. Job had demanded that God explain Himself and why He had allowed him to suffer when he was blameless. It is one thing for a sovereign God to choose to explain His actions as a measure of grace to His creation. It is another thing for someone to demand Him to defend His actions. The sovereignty of God meant that God did not have to listen and explain Himself to Job. And God, in His sovereignty chose not to answer Job’s demands. And Job understood that. This is why Job placed his hands over his mouth and vowed to withdraw His demands against God. In essence, Job realized that he had overstepped his authority.”
Here is another unedited excerpt from my book, The Sovereignty of God: Chapter Two- Sovereignty: The Potter and the Clay.
How supreme is God’s sovereignty over His creation? Consider that the largest star we know of in the universe has a radius 1700 times greater than the radius of our sun and our sun has a radius of 109 times greater than the radius of the earth. We are talking about things so big that we can hardly wrap our finite minds around them. And the nonprofit news organization, The Conversation, estimates that there are 200 billion trillion stars in the universe. I have no clue how big that number is, but when you write it out, it looks like this: 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. I still have no clue how big that number really is. To help feeble minds like mine, The Conversation says the number of stars in the universe is 10 times the number of cups of water in all the oceans on the earth.
Okay, so it must be a supremely sovereign God who can speak this massive number of stars into existence, not to mention the planets, moons and asteroids that orbit each of them, correct? It’s not just in God’s creative power we witness His sovereignty, but it’s in His intimate knowledge of His creation that we see His sovereignty.
“He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.” (Psalm 147:4 ESV).
We struggle to find names for our children, don’t we? Yet God knows every one of the stars He made and He has given each of them names, all 200,000,000,000,000,000,000,000+ of them. But that’s not all:
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7 ESV).
Jesus, who is God the creator, tells us that He knows every sparrow He has created and He even knows every single strand of hair on every person He has ever created. I have no clue how many billions of souls that God has created since Adam and Eve, but His infinite mind knows every hair stand that He created on each of them.
My whole point in saying all of this is that when we speak of God’s sovereignty, we are speaking of things that we will hardly be able to wrap our minds around. God is so far above and beyond us, that our finite minds will never be able to fully understand His infinite nature. And this observation alone should be enough for us to acknowledge and submit to His sovereignty.
But there’s more…
I just finished the book of Malachi in my daily Bible reading. It will take you less than 15 minutes to read, and I would recommend that each person read it and see how relevant the message is for us today. In it, God speaks to people who have lost their fear of Him. They serve Him the way they want to serve Him and have little respect for what He wants.
When Malachi makes accusations, they turn their nose up at every accusation and ask, “When have we done the things you accuse me of doing? And God answers every one, yet they continue to scoff. Their attitude is that God should be thankful for what they offer Him. They forgot that God is God and they all should have revered Him and do their best for Him. Yet they gave God leftovers and treated Him with disrespect. Listen to these select passages from Malachi:
“When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 1:8 ESV).
“You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17 ESV).
This goes on throughout the whole book. Israel was a nation who was moving past God and serving Him the way they wanted to serve Him and not the way that He wanted to be served.
“You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts?
And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’” (Malachi 3:14-15 ESV).
To this, God gives warm counsel to the people who love him and live in the midst of a nation of people who are moving past God:
“Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.
“They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.” (Malachi 3:16-18 ESV).
May we all be among the faithful who love God and not be led astray by a wicked people who serve God their way and have no regard or respect for the mighty one true God of us all.
If Judgment Day were today, would you be ready?
No more meetings, vacations, honey-do lists, or TV shows to finish.
Just you and King Jesus, face to face.
Are you ready?
“Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God;
for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:10-12 ESV).
I just finished the book of Revelation in my daily Bible reading. It’s an interesting and captivating book to say the least. I have heard so many interpretations of what all the symbols mean. But if we take a myoptic approach to the book, it will be easy to miss the big picture that gives hope and peace.
This is a book of victory in the face of apparent despair and defeat. It’s a book that shows that our God knows everything that is happening, and if we suffer for our faith, God will even out the score for those who persevere.
It’s a book that says evil may have its day in the sun, but recompense is coming from a sovereign and powerful God. It’s a book that says when we suffer anything for standing by our faith in the one true and living God, the Conqueror will see and remember us.
It is a book that reminds us that the multitude around us may worship the beast, but in the end, there is no power in numbers when the final victory is won. It is a book that reminds us that the suffering and pain we may experience for the cause of Jesus is nothing compared to the reward and joy that await us.
It is a book that reminds us that victory is a foregone conclusion and we just need to remain faithful and let it all play out. It is a book that reminds us that no one will slip through the cracks in the end; whether for good or evil, the perfect and merciful Judge will stand face to face with everyone who He has ever created.
The book of Revelation reminds us that we are on the front lines of a great battle with enemies who will hate us, but our Protector hasn’t forgotten us. We will one day experience His glory and His power. It is a book that reminds us that those who boast in their evil and deny God today will fear Him when they see Him face to face in His power and glory.
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.” (Revelation 22:12-14 ESV).
“And it was so.”
I’m in Genesis in my daily Bible reading, and as I focus on the creation account, I read where God said that something was to be made. After He spoke, we see the phrase, “And it was so.”
So much is wrapped up in this phrase. It shows God’s power and the obedience of everything that comes from His mouth. Everything but man. It’s interesting that with His crowning creation, God can speak to us, and most often, it is not so.
Sometimes, when we see what separates us and the rest of creation, we focus on things like, “Behold, it was very good.” or this part of creation is made in the image of God. But the dark side of this creation shows that we are the only part of creation where God can use the power of His word to tell us something, and we can respond by not making it so.
Our free will is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing in that we are granted a gift of limited sovereignty that the rest of creation does not have. But it’s a curse, because it gives us the ability to do harm to ourselves and not fulfill the purpose that God intends for us.
But in His love and patience for us, God grants us forgiveness when we humble ourselves and repent before His Son’s throne. When God says something to us, and we refuse to let it be so, we can connect with His blood and turn the “not so” of His word into “And it was so” for our lives.
The great theme of redemption is that we can move from rebellion against our Creator to living in harmony with His powerful word. It’s true that God lets us rebel against Him, but in His long suffering and love, He gives us a way to return to the relationship with Him that we were created to have.
By His grace and strength, rebellion can turn into “And it was so” for His Word in our lives.
In my daily Bible reading, I am well into Genesis. In Chapter 13, we read about the tension between Lot and his uncle Abraham. God had blessed both men with riches and livestock. God’s blessings for the men were so great, that the land could not support them both. This led to strife between Abraham’s men and Lot’s men.
“Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” (Genesis 13:8-9 ESV).
We learn some things about Abraham in how he handled this situation. First, he was a man of peace and looked for ways to live in peace with others. As Christians, that should be the type of people we should be as well (Romans 12:18). But too often, we fight for what is due us and for our claim. This wasn’t so with Abraham.
We also see that he was a man who trusted in the Lord and not in himself. Abraham was the patriarch and could have chosen the best land for himself and sent Lot to the inferior land. But Abraham knew that it didn’t matter which way he went, because in the end, God would provide. Friends, this is the epitome of faith. Abraham struggled with this concept regarding his heir, but in this case, he knew his destiny was in God’s hands. This allowed him to go to the right or to the left and leave his future in God’s hands, and not in his own hands.
In the end, Abraham and Lot’s choice was moot at best. First, God said to him that it didn’t matter which way Lot went, He was giving it all to Abraham.
“The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” (Genesis 13:14-15 ESV).
Second, the choices we often make are choices based on selfishness, and not on faith. Lot chose what looked good to him and it cost him dearly. The land he chose was under a death sentence. Perhaps a little due diligence would have let him know of the evil that lurked in this Eden that lay before his eyes.
In the end, Lot made decisions based on carnal appeal and not on spiritual appeal. Abraham, on the other hand, made his decision based on spiritual principles of peace and deference to others, and not on carnal, selfish reasons, and God rewarded him for it.
When we are faced with decisions like these, how many times do we look at things from a spiritual perspective versus jumping at a decision based on carnal considerations only? Do we pray for the wisdom in choosing what is best in God’s eyes, for the way we can best please and glorify Him? If we truly do this, then we can have every expectation that the Lord will be with us in making the decision that is best for us. It may not be the decision we like, but the Lord can take the apparent loss we experience from making a prudent decision and turning it into a tremendous blessing.
This is what living by faith looks like.
When I think of what I can do for God, I quickly realize that there really isn’t anything I can offer that He needs. It is the most lopsided relationship that I am in. I get up each day and pray that He gives me and my family our daily bread, because I have learned never to take the basic necessities for granted.
I pray that He gives me my daily allotment of wisdom because I realize that without Him, I have nothing of value to offer anyone I meet. I pray that He opens my eyes to ways that I can serve Him so that I may hear the words of His dear Son say to me, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.”
No matter how many words I may write, or conversations I may have, or how many people I may baptize, in the end, I feel privileged that God has allowed me to have any stewardship He sees fit to bestow upon me. And when all my work is done, I pray that people may not see me in my work, but that they see Jesus and Jesus only.
I never want to boast, but in Jesus. I never want glory; I want my King to get all the glory. I never want praise; I want the Lord of lords and King of kings to get all the praise. I Never want honor; I want He and He alone to get all the honor. The one verse that brings me joy and contentment is this:
“So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:10 ESV).
When I think of all that I can do for God, it is not in my abilities that I focus, but in His stewardship that He in His grace will bestow upon me. And whatever that is, it is with humble thanks that He finds me worthy enough to serve and do what is only my duty.
I am reading about Joseph in Genesis for my daily Bible reading. Sometimes we focus on his rise to tremendous power and glory and forget the years of his fall and struggles. He was hated, sold, accused and forgotten, all while remaining faithful to God.
It reminds me of the importance of not becoming too myopic with my life. It is my tendency to see good and see God, and see evil and think that God has forgotten me. But there are great lessons for me in the pit of Joseph’s life that are just as important as the lessons I learn from his pinnacle.
When good happens to me, it is right to see God in that; but when I am suffering, or things are a struggle, it’s just as important to see God in that, too. God never promised a life of ease, but He has promised to walk with me when things get difficult. God was with Joseph in the pit and the prison as well as when he was on the throne.
I want to develop Joseph’s steadfast faithfulness in the times of trials that help me move to the times of deliverance.
“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” (Genesis 39:21 ESV).