Columbia Heights: Fret Not

[0:00] It's just a really, really pleasure to be here. I have quite a history of worshiping in this church. In fact, back in June or July, I preached for the Canaan Baptist Church for Pastor Owens.

[0:13] But years, for many years, when I was literally a little boy, they would have choirs, gospel choirs come and sing here, and I would come here, part of it.

[0:24] And my uncle, who is my father in gospel, the pastor of the Isle of Patmos Baptist Church, and Pastor Cornelius Carter, who is a former pastor of the church, were dear friends.

[0:36] So just a rich, rich history. And so it's just really interesting for me to be coming and worshiping here. Every once in a while, God uses me to do something noble and noteworthy.

[0:51] And without a doubt, I thank God for using me to bring about this relationship. What I think God is really trying to do, does anyone here ever, have you ever had an Arnold Palmer?

[1:05] You've had an Arnold Palmer? You know it's iced tea and lemonade in the same glass.

[1:17] I think that's what God is really trying to do here. To put together a spiritual Arnold Palmer. All right, the rules of engagement for congregation and African American preacher.

[1:35] Rules of engagement. We like to hear you respond. You know, a football team, sports teams, they love to play at home because they'll get the crowd into the game.

[1:53] And that's the way we need. We need you to get into the preaching with us. So you'll need to laugh at my jokes. You'll need to say amen when something, you know, find something to say amen about it.

[2:06] So that you can get, and if you don't, then it takes me longer to preach. All right, all right, all right. All right, we'll figure this out.

[2:18] This morning I dedicated my sixth grandson, my son's fourth son, and having a big family dinner.

[2:32] And that's why my wife is not with me. Mabel's always with me. Lord has blessed us to be married 49 years. Amen. Amen.

[2:45] And so I'm just a little off for her not being here. Lord, would you see fit to anoint the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart?

[3:00] Let them bless your people and change them so that they leave out of here better than when they came in.

[3:10] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Psalm 37 and 1. Fret not thyself because of evildoers.

[3:23] Neither be thou enviates against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut off. Wither like the greener. I want to talk for a few minutes about fret not.

[3:40] Fret not. I preached this message a couple of times. And I keep repeating it until finally I'll do what I'm preaching about and not fret.

[3:53] Because if there's anything I'm good at, I'm good at fretting. I know how to fret.

[4:04] Am I by myself? Yeah. I know. I know how to fret. I retired from pastoring the triumphant church, but now I pastor the church of the fretters.

[4:20] And I have this thing down to a science. I know when the best time to fret. The best time to fret at my age, I have to get up during the middle of the night at least one time to go to that little room.

[4:38] And when I come back and get in bed around four o'clock, that's the best time to fret. I can solve so many of the world's problems at four o'clock in the morning.

[4:54] It's just the best time. And you know, just between you and me, we have a lot to fret about in this time in which we live.

[5:06] I mean, we hit the menu button on the computer and have the drop down, and that drop down of choices is just endless of so many things.

[5:17] I mean, you know, one of the things I fret about is whether or not my personal information is out on the dark web, as they call it. By the way, I don't know why it has to be the dark web.

[5:29] Why can't it be the light web? Some of you got that. And of course, David is the one that has said to us, fret not.

[5:43] But I guess David can say fret not. I mean, David didn't have any bills to pay. He didn't have an aggravating boss.

[5:58] He didn't have a child that was contrary. David never got a pink slip or the flu. David never got stuck in traffic on the way to an important meeting.

[6:14] David never had more month than he had money. He never had more refrigerator than he had food.

[6:25] David was never on the brink of divorce. I guess he can say fret not. Those of us who live in this world and this day and time, we've got some things that consume our fretting.

[6:47] As I was daring to challenge David, David said, just hold on, hold on. I'm not through talking. That's not the only thing I've said.

[7:00] He said, tell them how to have a fret-free life. This sermon will only work for you if you do these four things.

[7:15] You can actually come to church tonight, hear the sermon, and leave here a fretter unless you do these four things.

[7:25] Are you ready to go? We're ready. First of all, verse 3 says, trust in the Lord and do good.

[7:37] So shall thou dwell in the land, very light as thou shalt. The first thing to have a fret-free life, you must trust in the Lord. Somebody say, trust in the Lord.

[7:49] Trust in the Lord. I had an experience last year. Most of my friends down through the years have been pastors.

[8:01] And when I retired five years ago, most of my friends had had me come and preach for them. And one of my friends had not asked me to come and preach.

[8:12] And it bothered me that he had not asked me to come and preach. And I kept wrestling and saying, well, maybe I should just call him and let him know. You know, I'd like to come preach.

[8:24] And I kept wrestling. I mentioned it to Mabel. She said, no, don't do that. Don't do that. And I kept going back and forth with it. And I have a group of young church planners that I meet with in my home the first Monday of every month.

[8:39] And I invited him to come and speak to them. And he agreed. He loved to do it. And so agreed to come, gave a date. And so I said to myself, you know, well, he's coming to speak to me.

[8:54] So maybe I have the right to just sort of suggest that he should have me come preach.

[9:05] And so I was getting ready to do it. I told Mabel and she said, Tio, please don't do that. And I said I was just going to do it anyway. And I started walking toward the telephone.

[9:19] And the Lord said to me, I got this. He said, I got this. In fact, he actually said, I told you I've got this.

[9:34] Reminded me he had said this before. And so that was on a Monday night. He came and spoke on the Monday night. Joined himself one at a time. Thursday morning, about 8 o'clock in the morning, he called me.

[9:45] He said, T.L., I just enjoyed my time with you and the young men. And you're doing such a wonderful job. Could you speak for me Thanksgiving morning?

[9:57] And I said, I'd be glad to do it. And as soon as I hung up, God said, I told you that I had said, I got this.

[10:14] I've come to help somebody tonight. I want to catch you before you do that self-promoting thing that we know how to do so well in Washington, D.C.

[10:28] I want to catch you before you try to use your skills to open some doors or try to hustle someone.

[10:39] I came to tell you that your father says, I got this. Am I helping anybody?

[10:52] What are you fretting about? What are you fretting about? While you're trying to figure it out, there's a song that says, he's already worked it out.

[11:09] In fact, Jeremiah 29, 11 says, I know the plans I have for you. Plans for you to prosper, not for you to fail.

[11:20] Another scripture says, he knows the end from the beginning. And while you're fretting, he's saying, I got this.

[11:31] Come on, somebody say, I got this. Come on, say, I got this. This will help you just a little bit with trusting in the Lord.

[11:45] He's actually your father. He's actually your father. That's the problem. You're thinking he's God to you.

[11:56] But David said, trust in the Lord because that was his relationship to God.

[12:07] He was the Lord God to David. He was the shepherd God to David. He was a rock to David. He was a shelter in the time of storm.

[12:20] But to you, he's dead. Somebody say, ah. Jesus said, when you pray, say our father.

[12:37] Not enough of you know that. When you pray, say what? Our father. Father. You know, that changes everything.

[12:53] When God is your father. That's a game changer. Because there's some things I'll do for my children that I won't do for anyone else.

[13:06] Yeah. When my granddaughter, Kennedy, she is the only of the seven grandchildren I have. She's the only girl. She's the oldest. She's poor rotten. And my pastors, when they call me, my young pastors, they might say bishop.

[13:22] They call me, say bishop. And, of course, professionally, I'm Pastor T.L. And at Triumph, I'm Pastor T.L. Rogers. But when Kennedy calls me, she doesn't say Pastor T.L.

[13:39] No, no, no, no. She doesn't say bishop. She says poppy. She says poppy. Yeah, because, and, and, yeah.

[13:50] How you doing today, poppy? I'm doing well. Everything going good for you? Yeah. I know she's setting me up, but it's all right. Kennedy's parents were out of town.

[14:03] And, by the way, out of town again. She needed to get to this birthday party on Saturday night.

[14:13] And she said, you know, the party doesn't start until 9 o'clock. I said, well, Kennedy, I'll take you. But I have to preach the next morning, so I'm going to need to go to bed. She said, well, how about I get home?

[14:25] I said, well, I'll take you. And so we'll figure it out. And so I took her, and she's getting out of the car. And she said, now, how am I going to get home?

[14:36] And I said to her, I got this. I said, call me when you're ready to go. So she called me, and she said, I'm ready.

[14:49] And I used my Uber account. Yeah. Yeah. And I sent a car to pick her up. I didn't use her account.

[15:00] Ah. She didn't have enough money on her account. I used my account and got her picked up. Can I just tell you that your father has some accounts?

[15:15] Woo. Woo. Philippians 4 and 19 says, and my God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches in glory.

[15:29] And he will supply. So what are you fretting about? What are you fretting about? Are you fretting about the election or rejection or tax reform or an intercepted text message to your spouse or alternative facts or personal tax issues or an ailing parent or student loans?

[15:54] Oh, God forbid, student loans. You worried about that promotion? Or maybe you felt a lump. Whatever it is. Ah.

[16:06] I've just come to tell you that your father in heaven says, I got this. Am I helping anybody here tonight? I need to add a little qualifier here, though.

[16:22] The Lord God is not everyone's father, though. Only those who have been born into the family of the father through the process of new birth.

[16:39] And I know we say all the time, we're all God's children. Well, that's not quite right. We're all God's creation. But in order to be one of God's children, you have to be born into the family of God.

[16:57] And then you can call God your father. The second thing you need to do if you are going to have a fret-free life is in verse 4.

[17:15] It says, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of your heart.

[17:27] It didn't say he will meet your needs. Yes, he will. It didn't say he'll answer your prayers. Yes, he will. It says he will give you the desires of your heart.

[17:43] Hmm. Hmm. Do you delight in the Lord? I tell you, I really do delight in Uber.

[17:55] I delight in Uber. I was telling Mabel yesterday, Uber is just wonderful. It's really the best thing since apple pie and ice cream. Amen. If I lived in Washington, D.C., I would not have a car.

[18:08] I just wouldn't have. Why have a car, $400 car note, and insurance, and gas, and parking? Would you just use Uber? I delight in Uber. I enjoy using it.

[18:20] I was telling Mabel, Mabel said, do they tell you ahead of time how much it's going to cost? I said, yeah, they tell you ahead of time, and then you can choose. Yeah, if it's too much, you just don't use it.

[18:31] I delight. And because I delight in Uber and use Uber so much, there are certain perks that I get with Uber.

[18:42] There are certain discounts that I get because I delight in Uber. When you delight yourself in your heavenly Father, please hear this old gray-haired man.

[18:58] There are certain things that he will do for you that go beyond just meeting your needs. But he actually will give you the desires of your heart.

[19:13] It was Mabel's birthday was coming up, and it was a significant number, and so I wanted to do something special for her on her birthday. And so I invited several of my pastor friends and their wives to come over to the house, and I hired a professional chef.

[19:35] Oh, that's an African-American joke. I'm sorry, you didn't get that. Not Leroy's barbecue down the street.

[19:48] But I hired a professional chef. I had him come, man. And he fixed horse divers. You all are slow.

[20:03] You're slow. Horses. We had soup and salad, and I wanted those lamb chops, the lollipop lamb chops, you know, those really good ones.

[20:20] Oh, it was just such a wonderful dining experience, and she was so happy, and she was just thanking me for all of the trouble I went through to have this meal.

[20:33] And I was saying, but you just wait until you see your present. And she was so excited. She came with an ugly neck, and all excited, and it was time to give her a present.

[20:45] And I gave her a present, the gift bag. I mean, I spent some money on this gift wrapping. And she pulled it out, and it was a box.

[20:57] And I knew her iPhone had had a cracked case. She cracked the face, rather. And I knew she needed a new iPhone. So when she opened the wrapping and she saw this iPhone, AT&T iPhone box, you know, Apple box, oh, she just went crazy.

[21:19] Oh, wow, you knew that I needed this. Oh, thank you so much. And then she opened the box, and there were a set of car keys.

[21:33] You all are, come on, come on, come on. There was a set of car keys where the phone was supposed to be. And earlier, earlier, earlier that week, maybe a couple weeks before, we had gone out.

[21:47] We just sort of driving around and went into a car lot. And she said, boy, I love that car. I said, really? She said, if you were to get one, what color would you like?

[21:59] And she told me she would like blue. So I went on there and found they had a subsidized lease on them. I mean, it was just really inexpensive. So I got the car.

[22:09] And so when she went outside, there was this car with a blue boat sitting up on top of it. And she went crazy because I had not just given her what she needed, but I had given her the desire of her heart.

[22:32] Can I help someone tonight? That if you will get excited and thankful about God meeting your needs, if you'll get excited and thankful when he opens a door that's been shut, if you'll get excited and thankful when he just answers a prayer, you'll be surprised when he not only does that, but he will actually give you a desire of your heart.

[23:10] Somebody thinks God is not into giving you the desires of your heart. I've often tried to explain this away. But when you realize the person we're talking about is your father, you know fathers like to make dreams come true.

[23:29] Am I right about it? So it says he will give you the desires of your heart. If you want to have a fret free life, third thing you have to do is, verse five says, commit that way unto the Lord.

[23:48] Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. The third thing you must do, might be a little tough. You have to commit your way to the Lord.

[24:02] I decided, I've been up here many times to this church. I literally used to drive a cab when I was in school. I know Washington pretty well, but I decided I better put it in ways.

[24:19] Because I wanted to get here the quickest way. And I put it in ways and I got here. The other day I was coming home, been up in Bethesda, and I was going to live all the way out in Bowie.

[24:33] And it was about rush hour traffic. And I put it in ways. And she started taking me away. I didn't have a clue where I was.

[24:44] I told Mabel, I called her, I said, I sure hope this thing is right. Because I don't even know where I am, let alone how I'm getting there. But I went on and went with her.

[24:55] And the reason I went with her is because I had had such good experience. With her in the past. That she had taken me places, directions I would not normally have gone.

[25:06] But when I arrived, I arrived when I was supposed to. And safely, because I trusted her.

[25:18] Can I just say to you, there's a way, Proverbs says, that seems right to a man.

[25:32] But the end thereof are the ways of death. Did you hear me? There's a way that it seems right.

[25:43] Say with me, seems right. It just feels so right. Everybody's doing it.

[25:56] Pastor Rogers, don't be old fashioned. Times have changed. There's a way that seems right.

[26:09] But the scripture says, but the end thereof are the ways of death. If you're going to have a fret free life, you better stop doing what seems right to you.

[26:27] And find out what the word of God says. There's a passage of scripture that you might not know. It's in 1 Timothy 4 and 2.

[26:39] That says, In the latter times, men would fall away. The King James says, giving heed to seducing spirits.

[26:51] And doctrines of devil. The English Standard Version says, being deceived. You know how Eve got in trouble.

[27:01] The world got in trouble. Because what Satan the serpent was suggesting made sense. It sounds good.

[27:14] But it deceived her. And because of that, we're having all the problems that we're having. Commit your way to the Lord. I mentioned to you, Tiffany and Daniel had gone out of town.

[27:25] They were in Chicago for the weekend. On Friday night, Tiffany told us, said, Dad, now tomorrow morning, Carter has to be at football practice at 930.

[27:42] Lincoln has to be at karate practice at 10 o'clock. And Kennedy has to be at swim practice at 10 o'clock.

[27:53] I said, Well, how do you all do this? How am I supposed to do this? 930? 10 and 10. How am I supposed to do it? And you know what she said? You'll figure it out. She went on, Chicago, her and her husband, having a wonderful time, going out to eat, shopping, just having a ball, and didn't even worry about it.

[28:16] Because she had committed it to us. And guess what we did? We figured it out. Can I help someone tonight and let you know that the thing you're fretting about, the thing you're wrestling about, give it to God and say, you figure it out.

[28:35] Go on and say, God, figure it out. Come on, say it. God, figure it out. In fact, he says, I got this.

[28:48] Fourth thing, and I'm through. in one minute. Rest and wait patiently on the Lord.

[29:00] Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way.

[29:10] We know how to wait, but we don't know how to wait patiently. We wait because we don't have any choice.

[29:24] We did my last story. About two years ago, I went in the hospital for eating something I shouldn't have eaten.

[29:38] It was so dumb, I couldn't even pray. Couldn't pray in this, Lord, heal me. I'm in here because I hadn't been seen when I was eight. I'd gone on a three-day liquid fast because I wanted to lose some weight and I went on this liquid fast for three days.

[29:54] Did well. I lost seven pounds in three days on this liquid fast. Came off on Thursday. Sunday, we went to one of Mabel's niece's house for a family dinner.

[30:10] Can you figure out where I'm going? We had barbecue ribs. We had pork chops. We had fried chicken.

[30:22] We had cheeseburgers. We had sausages. And I ate like I was crazy. And around Monday evening, I was sick as a dog.

[30:40] I was sick. I couldn't even burp. There was nothing passing, no kind of way. I was sick.

[30:51] I mean, I was so sick and I began to throw up and went in the bathroom and threw up and fell all over. I said, Mabel, I've got to go to the hospital.

[31:01] And Mabel took me in the hospital. It was when they were having the problems about Ebola. And we went in the hospital and I walked straight to the trash can and I threw up and they said, have you ever been to Africa?

[31:12] I said, no. I mean, it doesn't matter. They took an x-ray of me. They took an x-ray. And when they took an x-ray of my intestine, they said, it looks like you have a kink in your intestine.

[31:31] And they asked me, what did you eat? And I started naming the problem. And when I got to the sausage, he said, that's a sausage right there.

[31:42] that has clogged up. He said, sir, you sent your intestines into shock.

[31:54] He said, the only way we're going to get this cleared up, we need you to rest. You have to relax your intestines.

[32:07] You just have to rest the following week. It was coming up, Mabel's anniversary and my birthday.

[32:18] And we had planned to go on a cruise, one of these cheap cruise, you know, the $2.99 cruises. And we were going on a cruise that weekend.

[32:29] And I wanted to get well so we could go on this cruise. And so I was waiting, I was waiting, but I was restless and I was, and the doctor came in and said, you passed anything? No. He said, sir, if you're going to get out of here, I need you to rest.

[32:47] Rest. Relax. And if you will rest and relax, then that thing will move. Well, finally, after about three days, after relaxing, that sausage moved.

[33:04] And a whole lot of other stuff moved. Listen to me. Listen to me. If you will learn to rest in the Lord.

[33:18] Hallelujah. If you will learn to not just wait, but to wait patiently.

[33:29] Somebody say patiently. Patiently wait. The Lord will release some stuff and start moving some, some stuff you've been praying about, some stuff you've been, warning, some stuff you've been anxious.

[33:43] You've been anxious about it. And if you will learn to wait patiently, the Lord will move some stuff for you. And I, I, I've come tonight to let you know to fret not, fret not, fret not, fret not, because your father says, I got this.

[34:00] In fact, Kennedy, my 16 year old granddaughter, when I told her about the sermon, she told me, tell him, tell him that God says, you good.