God Never Forgets

Jesus, Jesus, at the mention of your name, every knee will bow to proclaim Jesus, Jesus. You are Savior, you are Lord, and you are God. Jesus, Jesus, at the mention of your name, every knee will bow to proclaim Jesus, Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, you are Savior, you are Lord, and you are God. Your name is your name, I love to hear, I love to sing. It's worth, it sounds like music in my ear, oh yeah. The sweetest name, oh yeah. Jesus, Jesus, at the mention of your name, every knee will bow to proclaim Jesus, Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, you are Savior, you are Lord, and you are God. We worship and adore you, we lift our hands and praise you. You are Lord of all creation, Lord of all creation. We've known you before, we've known you as your children gave you praise. You're the only one who can break the ice. Jesus, Jesus, at the mention of your name, every knee will bow to proclaim Jesus, Jesus. You are Savior, you are Lord, and you are God. There's nobody else like my Jesus. Savior, you are Lord, and you are God. There's no one like you, Lord. Savior, you are Lord, and you are God. You are God, yes you are. Oh, we worship you, bloody God. You're the only, yes you are, yes you are, yes you are, yeah. You're the only living God. You're the only living God. I said, you're the only living God, yes you are. You're the only living God.

Not Buddha, not Krishna, not Mohammed, not Allah, no. You're the only living God. We're not afraid to stand up and tell the world that. You're the only living God. We love, we love, we love you Jesus. We love, we love you, we love you. We love you, Jesus. You're mighty. We love you, Jesus. You're glorious. We love you, Jesus. We praise you. We praise you, Lord. We praise you. We praise you, Lord. To the King of kings. To the Lord of lords. We praise you. We praise you. We adore you. We adore you. We adore you. We worship you. As the only God. You're the King of kings. You're the Lord of lords. You're Jesus. We worship you. Yeah. You're the only living God.

You're the only living God. You're the only living God. You're the only living God. You're the only living God. You are Jesus. You are Jesus. You are Jesus. Come on, church. Clap your hands. He's in the house. Amen. Thank you. I think once you get to your feet, everybody gets established, we can do a whole lot better than that. He's the only living God. Hallelujah to God. Praise God. My heart is thrilled. Great music. The Spirit of the Lord is among us. Jesus is walking up and down these aisles right

now. And always I join with Pastor Tony and we thank you for joining us today from Lake Park and Wilmington and around the world. I understand that for some of you, you're in a different time zone altogether. You're watching it four o'clock in the morning, but we're glad you're with us today. And we want to hear from God. How many of you came to church expecting to hear from the Lord today? Expecting it. Well, let's just see what the Lord has for us. Almighty God and Father, in the name of your risen Son Jesus, the one before whom every knee will bow and tongue confess, that he is Lord. By the power of the Holy Spirit,

we stand in this place today redeemed by your blood. Thank you today for the fellowship of the believers. Thank you for the church. And I thank you today for this word that you've laid on my heart. May you help me to say it with conviction, with compassion. Let me say it the way you would say it, Lord, if you were preaching today. And when this is all over, in the next few moments, may we all be filled with hope and joy and promise at the faithfulness of our God. In Jesus' name we pray and everybody said amen. Thank you. You can be seated. They're going to take us to Hebrews chapter 6 in just a moment. There's no doubt in my mind the way the Lord and I have dealt with each other this week

that somebody desperately needs this word today. Desperately. And I want to begin by saying God never forgets. You got it? God never forgets. God can choose to forget my sins but God never forgets anything you do in His name for His name's sake. I randomly opened the Bible yesterday and it fell to Psalm 77. And I tell you, you ought to go home and read Psalm 77. Don't do it now. Wait till you get home. I was amazed that David actually said, has God forgotten me? Has God forgotten my prayers and my praises? Read it for yourself. Has God forgotten me? That's one thing that David feared. That's what the prophets feared. They didn't understand the dwelling power of God.

That's why David prayed after he sinned, don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Because to them it was tenuous and temporary. We know better today, he said, I will send you a comforter and he will never leave you. And I will never forsake you. So when you go through scripture, you find out, because the Holy Spirit puts these words in there, God never forgets. You could also say God always remembers. Several times I've preached about Abraham, how he negotiated with God. Think of the brazen faith he must have had to stand before the angels of the Lord after they told him we've come to destroy Sodom. Abraham had family in Sodom. It struck fear in his heart to think that his family might be destroyed along with all of the evil people in there. And so Abraham began to discuss, yes, negotiate with God. If you can find this many righteous people there, will you hold off? And finally he convinced the Lord, and that convincing saved his family. You know what happened. The angels of the Lord delivered Lot and his family out of Sodom. But just before the fire fell, the Bible says God remembered Abraham. God remembered the plea and the prayer. God remembered the intensity with which he did both. And the reason Lot and his family made it out of Sodom was that God remembered Abraham. He loved his family. He was willing to face God for his family, his blood kin. He was going to take a chance with the Almighty and actually talk a deal, make a deal with God because he loved his family. And God remembered Abraham. If you go back several chapters, you'll see the same thing happened to Noah. Noah spent 120 years building a boat and preaching.

Noah, over a century, pled with people, get right, repent. And, of course, we know the results of that. Nothing happened. So God told Noah, get your family. I'll take care of the animals. You take care of your family. You get on the boat. And God closed the door and sealed it. I've tried to ponder this. I've imagined this every which way I can. Folks, he was in that boat for over a year with only one tiny window at the top. So he never saw the waves. He never saw the bodies floating around. All they knew was that they were in a storm. They could feel the boat rocking and bumping and the waves smashing against that boat and animals bellowing and mooing and the family getting seasick at times, more than likely, and Noah being bounced around for over a year. He was trapped. He couldn't get out. Some of you today feel trapped. You don't see any way out of this. You can't even figure out what's going on around you. You'd do something if you could, but it's out of your hands. Trapped. I don't know of a worse feeling than to feel trapped. Not a thing I can do. But he was trapped. And at the right time, the Bible says,

God remembered Noah. You see, God knew how trapped he was. Noah felt, how claustrophobic some of them might have been, God knew it, but he was saving them from a greater disaster. And at the right time, I mean just the right time, God remembered Noah, and God opened the door, and a new world began. I think often, because you've heard me preach it often, about Joseph, who was essentially forgotten by everybody. His brothers hated him. They would have killed him, but one of the brothers stepped in and said, let's don't do that, let's put him in a cistern, put him down in a well, let him cry, who cares, at least we haven't killed him. And then of course some traders came by, some human traffickers came by, and they sold him for 20 pieces of silver, and they listened as their little brother screamed, brothers don't do this, brothers don't do this, and his voice got weaker as the caravan got farther away, and they finally said, well that's that, we'll just tell dad that an animal killed him, and we'll be done with it, and they forgot Joseph. It's amazing what the boy went through. He was 18 years old when that happened, and for the next 12 years, he spent time in prison and jail. He saw the hand of God, then he saw nothing. He felt the presence of God, then he felt nothing, and all of this time God was preparing him for the work he was ordained to do, but he had to go through being forgotten. He was forgotten by his brothers, even Potiphar's wife forgot about that little slave boy. Then Potiphar, who owed so much to him, finally forgot about Joseph, and went on with his business, and you know that when he found himself in prison, the Bible says, but God was with him. I'm trying not to lose it early.

Do you realize this morning, if you feel trapped, if you feel like there's nothing you can do, do you realize God is with you? But I don't hear him, pastor. He doesn't always talk, but he's always there. Everywhere Joseph went, and all that he did was blessed by God, and so when he was falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, and then was put in the Pharaoh's prison, I can hear him now. I don't know what's going on. I've been faithful to God, and I can't hear from God. I've done the right thing every time, and I cannot hear from God, but I will tell you this. My blessing is not based on whether I hear him or not. It's based on his faithfulness, and while I'm here, I'm going to be the best slave ever been in this prison. I'm going to be the biggest servant. I'm going to help the most people. I'm going to do my very best, because I still believe that God is with me, and you know what happened? The butler and the baker were in prison talking one day. They were both in royalty. They were in Pharaoh's very throne room, and one was saying, I don't know what's going to happen. I had a dream. The other said, I had a dream too, and Joseph overheard it, and Joseph said, I know what this means, and the baker said, tell me, tell me, tell me. He said, well, you're going to die. And the cup bearer of the butler said, what does my dream mean? Joseph said, in just a few days, you're going to be restored to your position in the throne room of Potiphar. I'm sorry, in the throne room of Pharaoh, and it happened exactly the way he said it. Before they took the butler out of the jail cell, Joseph said, don't forget me. Remember me. Remember, I'm the guy that told you this was going to happen. Hello? Remember me? My name is Joseph. These are heart-piercing words right here. The Bible says,

But he forgot Joseph. He forgot Joseph. You know how long? Three years. But isn't God amazing? Isn't God amazing? God has a time for everything. And so one night Pharaoh could not sleep because he'd had these dreams. And he goes into his royal throne room and he calls all of his advisors and the scientists and the magicians and all of those that delve into spiritual stuff. And he said, this is the dream I've had. Now tell me what it means. And they couldn't. And suddenly, wow, the butler went, whoa, wait a minute. You see, God can make people remember things. Not only does he remember, he can make people remember things. And the butler said, oh, that guy, I'm here today because that little slave in prison interpreted my dream. He said, I've got to tell Pharaoh. Don't you know with trepidation and knocking knees, oh, oh Pharaoh, live forever. Oh, oh Pharaoh, son of Ra, live forever. What is it? Oh Pharaoh, if it please you, I was the one you put in prison. There was a little slave boy, a Hebrew boy who interpreted a dream I had. Maybe he can interpret your dreams. And right on time and right on schedule, Pharaoh said, go get him. And they rushed down the hallways and went to the innermost prison and they grabbed him and they jerked his clothes off and they gave him a bath and they put robes on him that probably did not fit and they made him shave and they dragged him into the throne room right up to the foot of Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said, I understand you can interpret dreams. Listen to this. Joseph said, only God can interpret dreams. You know what's bold about that? Pharaoh was considered God. He was considered God on earth. But Joseph who had been in prison and Joseph who'd been left out and Joseph who'd been forgotten did not forget that there's only one God, one true, one living God and he's the only one that

can interpret dreams. And he interpreted Pharaoh's dream and Pharaoh said, now why wouldn't I want somebody like this to be my second in command? And that's exactly what happened. And you know the story. And if I preach on it till I die, I can't get all the juice out of this wonderful story. You see, God has a time. God has a place. God has a way. Noah didn't think God knew what was going on. He was just jostled and trapped. And Abraham didn't know what God was going to do about Sodom. His family was trapped in that wicked city. And Joseph was not hearing from God. And he wondered, why after I've done my best, after I've been honest and true, why hasn't God helped me? Where is my God? But you see, God can move on other people to help you too. You remember the prodigal son? Oh yeah. He had plenty of money when he left home. And let me tell you, young men with a lot of money do a lot of dumb things. They gamble, they drink, they chase women, they do it all. They think that money will give them happiness and that they've arrived. But you know, dumb people spend their money and they do it on dumb things. And after a while, they don't have anything left. And here was a young man who had it all at one time. But now, instead of being home with the father, he finds himself in a pig pen and he smells like pigs. He's even eating what the pigs eat. But God helped him remember something. He said, you know, this is not who I am. I'm preaching to somebody right now. This is not who I am. This is not the way I was brought up. This is not what I was taught. I should not be in this stinking pig pen. I should not be caked in mud. I should not smell like an animal. I should not be broke and sick. I tell you what, in my father's house have it better than I do. This is what I'll do. He remembered.

I will go back to my father, and I will say, Father, I've sinned against you and heaven. I'm not even worthy to be called your son. And before he could get it out of his mouth, the father hugged him and said, This my son was dead, but now he's alive. You see, what I'm trying to get you to understand is things change in our lives, and people forget things, and you forget things, but God does not forget things. Do you hear what I'm preaching to you this morning? And let me throw this in. Boy, this one makes me happy. Everybody forgot Joseph except his father. His brothers forgot him. Potiphar forgot him. Potiphar's wife forgot him. The baker forgot him. The butler forgot him. Except his father. The father does not forget his children. Hallelujah. Let me read this verse to you right here from Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 6. It's a controversial chapter. People get very confused about it. It talks about people who are enlightened and people who have tasted the heavenly gift and partakers of the Holy Spirit. If they've tasted the good word of God and fall away, it's impossible for them to be renewed. I don't want you to make this complicated. It isn't for me. This is what that means. There are people who are faking it,

but when testing and trial comes, they quit. People who go through church motions, get involved in church activities. They can even teach scripture and quote it, but when the testing comes, when the trials are hot, they quit. That's how you know who's saved and who isn't. And that's why the writer went on to say, But beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you. Yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. Here it is. Read with me now, church. For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown towards His name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Do you see what he's saying? Just remember, God doesn't forget. Those who forget that, quit. Those who aren't truly saved, quit. He says, but you're not going to quit. God remembers what you've done. God has a file on your works and your walk. And what we want you to do is stay diligent till the end. Pray again. Work for God without ceasing.

Love the brotherhood. Go to church. Go to prayer meeting. Tithe. Give. Do all of the things that church people do. And don't do it with sluggishness. Don't slow down. Don't hold back. Don't quit. But imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Brothers, that's why you came to church today, to hear the Lord say to you through me, it may be tough. You may feel trapped. You are hurting for your family. You don't know what to do next. You feel forgotten. God is not talking. But God is faithful. God heard you the first time you prayed. God doesn't forget what you've done in his name. He doesn't forget every small thing that others have forgotten. God has made a big deal out of it. And God will reward you for it. It was 1991. I was standing in this pulpit just like this. and I had a semi-nervous breakdown. The room started spinning,

I got really hot and sweaty, and I lost control. I didn't know how to get off the stage. Others saw it. Some of the pastors saw it. Gene Sheldon was here, Porter Speakman, and they came up on the stage and helped me off the stage, and I couldn't even walk. So they carried me to a car right outside the door, and Porter drove me home, and I got out, and I sat down on the ground and sobbed uncontrollably, and I said, it's over. It's over. I can't do it. My ministry is over. You can imagine how Sandra felt. My children saw all of this. The church was upset, but in my mind, it was over. I flipped out. I can't even describe the feeling. Sandra made arrangements for me to see a psychiatrist. That's how bad it was, in Atlanta.

Some time passed, I sat around the house, I twiddled my thumbs, and I looked at my hands. They shook. Sometimes I could eat, sometimes I couldn't, but thinking about church made me break down. I had panic attacks all the time. I said, I'm gonna die. This is over. It's over. We got in the car, and I said to her, I'm driving. I'm a man. There's one thing I can't stand is to see a woman driving a man around. If you're a man, you get under that steering wheel, and you drive the car. And you gals, don't you dare let him say, you drive. No, you drive, bubba. You're the man, and I said to Sandra, I'm driving. She wondered if I could.

Really. We got a hotel. The night was miserable. I didn't know what to expect. Phone calls were coming. We didn't have cell phones like we do now, but people would contact us. She was checking on the kids all the time. We got up one morning. We were getting dressed to finish the trip to Atlanta, so I, the man of God, could see a psychiatrist. There's a knock on the door. I opened the door, and it was the housekeeper, a little Hispanic lady. I said, oh, you want to clean the room? See? I said, oh, give us five minutes. Give us five minutes. We'll be out. She said, I don't know what she said, but she went to the next room because I don't speak a Spanish. And I closed the door, and as soon as I did, the Holy Spirit said, give her all the money in your pocket. I was upset.

I said, Lord, you've not spoken to me in weeks, and the first thing you want to say to me is give everything in my pocket? I just shook my head. And as I was going back to the dresser, the Holy Spirit said, give that woman everything in your pocket. I didn't know how I was going to tell Sandra, so I didn't. So I went to the door and opened it up, and she's down the hall at another room, and I went up to her. I said, excuse me, and I, you know, trying to do the Spanish thing, do you speak a English? She said, I speak English very well, sir. And I said, you don't know me. Please don't be afraid. But I'm a Christian, and I believe God answers prayer, and I believe God talks to people, and God talked to me this morning and told me to give you this. And she held out her hand, and it was all I had. It was a lot, too. When she looked at it, I kind of grabbed her hand and said, God bless you, and she broke down and wept. We went to the car, I said, I'm driving.

And we headed to Atlanta. Can't tell you what a mess my mind was in, it was awful. Sandra said, I brought a cassette from the last shirt service, cassette. She said, do you mind if I put this in and let's listen to it? I said, I don't care. She put it in and the choir was singing. And for the first time in a long time, I felt a little jolt, I felt something. It was a cloudy day too, on I-85. And at that moment, a beam of light came through the window on this side and hit me in this eye. And I said, oh, oh. And God gave me the scripture, the Holy Spirit said, Cornelius, God has heard your prayers and God is remembering your offering. And at that moment, I got healed. I could think, it all came back to me. I looked at Sandra, she looked at me. I said, I think the Lord healed me. She said, I think he did. And we went on down to the psychiatrist's office and I went in and after about an hour, he said, sir, there's nothing wrong with you. He said, all you need, wait, all you need is to slow down, take it easy, take some time off, you'll be fine. But I didn't, because after God touches you like he touched me, I don't have time to back up. I don't have time to stop and slow down.

God's been good to me, God's been good to all of us. And what I wanna tell you, wait, what I wanna tell you is, you may think that money you gave to that person, God didn't see it. You may think that all these little things that you did in his name, God didn't see it, but God remembers everything. And God, listen, God rewards everything. You got a reward coming. Hallelujah to God. Things don't just evaporate with God, God writes it down, God stores it up. And there's a day when God says, hmm, I think I'll bless them to death. I'm not gonna wait till they get to heaven. I'm gonna bless them today. Which reminds me of the book of Esther. That's a great, you ought to read that book when you go home, just read it. So Mordecai, the uncle of Esther, somehow found out that two guys were gonna assassinate King Ahasuerus. And he told the guard and they found these two assassins and the king's life was saved. Time passed. Now watch this. One night, the king can't sleep. He going, hmm, I'll tell you what, bring me some court records. I just wanna read some court records.

Now who does that? Somebody under the hand of God. And they bring him the court documents and he said, well, wait a minute. Who is this fellow that gave me the information that saved my life? Oh, sir, that's Mordecai. He said, Mordecai, I barely remember that. By the way, did we do anything for this guy? No, sir, we forgot. But God didn't forget. Come on, don't make me shout all by myself. Everybody else forgot except God and then God made somebody remember. He said, I tell you what, you find this guy and you bring him in and I'm going to give him the royal treatment. I'm gonna do it right now. Church, listen to the preacher today. Church, listen to the preacher today. Your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Do not become weary in well-doing for in due season you will reap if you do not faint. Can everybody hear me? There is a due season. There is an appointed time. Even though you're trapped on an ark, even though you're stuck in Sodom, even though you're in chains in prison, God sees it. God did it. God's got a time. God's got a place. God's got a day. God's got an hour that He's gonna say, I remember that, and He's gonna set you

free. He's gonna answer your prayer. He's gonna bring your family out. He's gonna give you the reward that He's already got laid up for you in glory. Can somebody shout and praise God this morning? Monday night prayer meeting, you should have seen it. It was a move of God. I had people put names on cards, hundreds of them. There are so many in this box, and so many in that box, and they were all laid across this altar. And then I call moms down, mothers, just mothers. I said I want you to come down and pray for all these people. You talk about crying, and praying, and stammering lips. It was going on Monday night. Let me tell you something, God heard every prayer. God saw every tear. God knows everything about everybody in this box. If your heart was laid on this altar Monday night, and you prayed a prayer, don't you dare let anybody make you think God has forgotten. People may forget. You might even forget, but God never forgets. And there will be a day when you will see the glory of the Lord because of the prayer you prayed. Thank God for Jesus. Hallelujah. You've been praying a prayer for years. Yeah, years, years. Well see here's the thing, God heard you the first time you prayed. We keep praying, but He heard you the first time. And I want everybody in here to know He's a faithful God. He has not forgotten. He will not forget. So keep working. Keep praying. Don't become sluggish and weary. Just act like the prayer is, the answer is on the way. And one of these days, that's all I'm gonna say, one of these days, bless His holy name. Well I'm looking at a man right now whose wife prayed for him for 26 and a half years. 26 and a half years to get saved. He's been saved three weeks now. He got saved three weeks ago. God bless you man. Yeah. 26 and a half years. Right? Deborah, is that right? I know I'm loud. I don't care. 26 and a half years. I'm sure there were times she thought, is this ever gonna happen? What if he dies beforehand? I'm sure Joseph said, when is this ever gonna be over? But God is not unfaithful. God is not like us. He's got eternity to work things out in time. How many of you have something you believe God is working out right now? I do too. Come join me in the altar if you would please. We can't all get here but we can all try. Amen. You know it could be possible that God is

working on a sinner somewhere, causing a sinner to remember something that will be an answer to your prayer. You just can't figure God out. But he's faithful. You know how I know it? Where you're here, aren't you? Still here, aren't you? Still here. I'm still here. 1991, I thought it was over. Do you know what this year is? 2026. Decades have passed. It wasn't over. It felt like it at the time. No, sir! It was just the beginning. I'm telling you what you feel today. The loneliness, the emptiness, the hopelessness is just a phase. God is able. Sing it, David. You are my healing When I'm broken, Lord You are my strength You're my strength You're my love You're my life You're my joy My song in the night How I marvel At Your mercy

And I sing Sing it! I sing praise Praise to the Lord I sing praise Praise to the Lord For He is good and merciful His love is great He's so wonderful My Lord Sing it! I sing praise I sing praise Praise to the Lord Praise Praise to the Lord For He is good and merciful His love is great He's so wonderful My Lord I'm not asking you to say this to anybody But I think we ought to just say it in the building Let the enemy hear it Let the angels hear it Most of all, let God hear it Just with this mouth Say, God is faithful Did you hear that, devil? Do you hear that, angels of the Lord? Do you hear that, Holy Father?

Sweet Jesus? Holy Spirit? Say it again God is faithful And we believe that Praise your name, Jesus May you walk out of here Believing That the appointed time Is soon Let the words of my mouth And the meditations of my heart Be acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my strength, my redeemer Amen We pray that today As you watch Pastor Livingston's message You will be encouraged And ready to dig deeper into a life with Jesus To help you on this journey Central has two resources for you First, you can sign up to receive Central's Jail and Prison Correspondence Course Through the mail by writing to Central Church Jail and Prison Ministries Discipleship Center 5143 Sardis Road Charlotte, North Carolina Second, by using Central's app and clicking on the button

below, you can read a short daily devotional that will encourage you to read and pray daily as you draw closer to Jesus Thank you for watching