Our Guest Tommy Tenney
SID: Hello, Sid Roth your investigative reporter here with Tommy Tenney. Just before the break Tommy, he was saying it was not a formula; you were saying it’s a relationship. In other words you can’t say ABC and you will have favor with God. You can say ABC to have a relationship. These are some of the things that God is looking for. Tell me how we can have this relationship?
TOMMY: It’s like; you know this is a little program thing of what you and I are talking about. If everything in a marriage I have to write down, and you have to check list every morning: Kiss my wife at the door; make sure of a phone call,
SID: Flowers for her birthday…
TOMMY: Yeah, if it’s that regimented, it’s a ritual and not a relationship. And God refuses…
SID: Aren’t humans subject to ritual. Don’t we love tradition?
TOMMY: Yes. We do.
SID: Of course we Jewish people have the corner on the market, but you Christians have taken it a step further than us, I think
TOMMY: Well, we love our traditions. It’s like you’re in church and at a particular moment, they sing a song. It could have been a year ago, ten years ago, and you love that song. The next Sunday you maybe send a note and say sing that song again. Now, I understand, and the worship leader probably understands too, it’s not the song. It’s, you want that song to take you to the same place it previously took you. But I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Sid, you can sing the same song, but it may not take you to the same place. It’s as if God moves the door on you. Usually behind us sometimes, there’s draperies, like at a hotel; you can’t find the opening. You have to run your fingers across the pleat of the veil, until you find the opening. And God moves that door on you so that relationship does not deteriorate into ritual; that you have to feel after Him every time. That’s why women think men are unpredictable to some degree; men think women are unpredictable. That’s the magic of a relationship. And with God it’s the same.
SID: Now, I know you’ve been studying, like myself the book of Esther for years, it’s one of my favorite books. But when did it dawn on you that there’s a correlation between favor and Esther.
TOMMY: Okay. Looking for the equation, looking for what’s really not there. Esther found incredible favor in a hostile environment. Sid, Esther was an orphan. That means the deck was stacked against her. She was not only an orphan; she was a foster child. Everybody knows foster children don’t have half a chance. She was a minority; she was a Jew living in Persia. And in case our viewers don’t understand, that’s ancient Iraq and Iran, and the same prejudices that exist today, existed then. For a Jewish lady to become queen of Persia, it’s unprecedented. But she rose above all those obstacles. Somewhere between 400 and 1400 other young girls were brought into the palace. How did she get picked? What happened to create that moment of favor? And I thought if I study how Esther operated, maybe I’d figure my wife out a little better; maybe I can figure out this whole thing with God. And I found out that she is an incredible, incredible lady. And I’ve been studying…the word favor is the repetitive word in the book of Esther, it’s found in virtually every chapter. And it’s how a peasant girl was plucked up off of a farm, so to speak, placed into a palace, into an unfamiliar environment, learned, and here is the key: she learned the protocols of the palace. She learned how to act in the king’s presence, where to walk, where not to walk, what to do. And then rose above all that; the Bible says in Esther 2:17, the king loved Esther above all the women, so that he placed the royal crown on her head. There came a day, now I do feel the anointing about this, there came a day, where Esther walked into the palace a peasant, and she had one encounter with the king, and walked out queen. Never underestimate the potential of one encounter. One night with the king can change everything.
SID: And here people are focused on their problems, because their problems for some it’s health, life threatening, it’s marriage, it’s children and drugs.
TOMMY: Here’s the secret about that: One of the most freeing statements that I’ve ever discovered I learned from studying the book of Esther. Sid, people that are watching, you don’t need everybody to like you. I want that to sink in.
SID: Say it again.
TOMMY: You don’t need everybody to like you. Your boss may say it’s over
SID: It’s normally not in the five-point sermon “You don’t need everybody to like you…”
TOMMY: But listen, your boss may say it’s over, your spouse may say we’re through; your doctor may say I’ve done all I know how to do, but one nod from God. What if God were to look your direction and just do this. One nod from God is worth more that an arena’s applause from mankind. You don’t need everybody to like you, but in terms of what we are talking about with Esther, if the king likes you, it doesn’t matter who dislikes you. They cannot control your destiny.
SID: But one thing can control your destiny. One nod from God can change the impossible to “How come I couldn’t believe it before? It’s easy when God gives me favor. We’ll be back right after this, and there is a presence of God on Tommy’s wife’s singing from the brand new movie about Esther. We’re going to show a clip from it. We’ll be back just a moment; don’t go away. You’re about ready to experience the supernatural.
