T. F. Tenney - What I've Learned

Tom Fred Tenney

Besides admiring Tom Fred Tenney (T. F. Tenney) as a Christian, leader, writer, teacher, and a great preacher of the Gospel, I, along with many others, appreciate the way he uses quips and well-turned phrases to convey a truth. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered the following gem on the Internet.  

In 2011 the Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a great Oneness Pentecostal/Apostolic organization, held a conference entitled: "Let's Talk," and T. F. Tenney was one of the main speakers.

If you click on the following link you can here Bro. Tenney speak on the topic: "What I've Learned" -- http://aljc.org/media/Tenney_Learned.mp3.

Since I like collecting interesting quotes and words of wisdom, this presentation is a treasure trove for me, and the following quotes are things he said during that message. While some of these nuggets might not be original with him, keep in mind that we're interested in the way he uses these phrases to present some expert advice about ministry, relationship, marriage, and the church:

• "Success is a spiritual enterprise, and it's built on commitment." -T. F. Tenney
• "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." -T.F. Tenney
• "Any church is in trouble if it exists more for the insiders than the outsiders." -T. F. Tenney
• "You know how Jesus prepared for a storm? He took a pillow." -T. F. Tenney
• "You need to know where you want to go." -T. F. Tenney
• "The most important ability is responsibility." -T. F. Tenney
• "You don't ever recover from dropping a baton when it exchanges hands." -T. F. Tenney
• "You'll never know you're loyal until you're given an opportunity to be disloyal." -T. F. Tenney
• "The first trouble in the New Testament Church is there came a murmuring about how the widows were taken care of...and that's usually how it starts, a little disloyalty with murmuring." -T. F. Tenney
• "To be productive I've got to be responsible, and the blessing of trusting Jesus is to fail every time I don't." -T. F. Tenney
• "Not all of the old is out-of-date, and not all of the new is acceptable" (Matt. 13:52). -T. F. Tenney
• "You can't traffic in unfelt truth." -T. F. Tenney
• "I'd rather meet a fence at the top of a cliff than an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff" -T. F. Tenney
• "I cannot use my comfort zone for discernment of the spirit." -T. F. Tenney
• "There's no place where prayer can be eliminated. Carnality follows hard on the heels of prayerlessness." -T. F. Tenney
• "The tyranny of the urgent crowds out the important." -T. F. Tenney (paraphrase)
• "Two words you always remember: 1. Priorities 2. Discipline." -T. F. Tenney
• "Your talent will take you up, but it's character that keeps you up." -T. F. Tenney
• "There's no place where prayer is unimportant." -T. F. Tenney
• "People feel sorry for insecurity, but they won't follow it. You need to know who you are....God made you as you are to use you as He planned." -T. F. Tenney
• "Yesterday's peacock can be tomorrow's feather duster." -T. F. Tenney
• "Truth never changes - Truth is narrow." -T. F. Tenney
• "Gossip is halitosis of the brain. Gossip can turn an earful into a mouthful." -T. F. Tenney
• "Submission is a mandate of God." -T. F. Tenney
• "If I had to sum up the whole Bible in one word it would be SUBMISSION." -T. F. Tenney
• "Fire doesn't fall on empty altars." -T. F. Tenney
• "Flattery is a narcotic, and I've known of preachers that OD'd on it." -T. F. Tenney
• "A backbiter is just a backstabber that temporarily misplaced their knife." -T. F. Tenney
• "Men are headliners, women want details." -T. F. Tenney
• "You may come in wanting 4th of July in the bedroom, but it's been Labor Day for her." -T. F. Tenney
• "Man will never understand woman because God made woman while man was asleep." -T. F. Tenney
• "Embrace this Christ, and love Him, and serve Him." -T. F. Tenney
• "Our Savior is fair." -T. F. Tenney

If you want to check out the other topics and speakers from the ALJC Let's Talk Conferences visit: http://aljc.org/media/.

 

2011: Advance

Happy New Year!  I trust you had a great holiday.  I enjoyed time with my family and some friends.  Most of all, I enjoyed some time with God and was able to hear from Him regarding this new year.

I believe that 2011 will be a year in which the Apostolic Church will Advance.  I think we will make great strides in all areas.

As I was praying the other day about what 2011 would be like the Holy Ghost seemed to speak one word to me, "Advance."  Along with that word, I also read a powerful verse that I believe goes with it: "Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him."

Let's sow into this new year and allow God to bless us -- perhaps even an hunderdfold. "Impossible," you might be thinking, but if God could do it in the natural for Isaac then He can do it for us in the natural and in the spiritual as make great strides for God and move forward into this year.  We don't need to wait until next year, but we can advance today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and see a great time of growth and harvest.
There can be so many ways that we move forward, but of primary interest to me today is that of the souls we need to reach.  I believe a great harvest of souls is in our future for 2011. Take time each day to sow the Word of God into the lives of people and watch as God blesses that Word, your effort, and this year.