If you have a Bible I want you to get a copy of the Word, and I want you to look with me to 2 Timothy chapter number 4. The text from our final message from this 10-week series that we have been in in the book of 2 Timothy. Chapter 4, verse 16 the Bible says,

“At my first defense, no one came to my assistance, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me.” That’s a great term right there, a great phrase, if you have a pen you ought to underline it. “…and strengthened me, so that the proclamation might be fully made through me, and all the Gentiles might hear. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Then he writes these greetings. He says, “Greeting Prisca and Aquila,” some translations would say “Priscilla and Aquila.” They were two born-again believers, church planters, people who discipled in others, and invested in others, who had assisted Paul, and who were committed to assisting Timothy. They were gospel-centered, Christian men and women. “…and the household of Onesiphoros,” Onesiphoros is one who brought refreshment if you will remember correctly, refreshment into the life of the Apostle Paul. And then, “…Erastus has remained at Corinth;” Erastus was a treasurer, and he remained at Corinth. “Trophimus I left sick at Miletus.” Trophimus was a sick friend that the Apostle Paul had. He was ill physically, and probably Paul prayed for him but for some reason God chose not to heal him.

Great point here, while we need to pray for the sick, we need to remember God doesn’t chose to heal all people ultimately from their sickness, even friend, perhaps, of the Apostle Paul. And you know what? I just want to make this real clear one more time. It is God alone who is the only Healer. And then he says, “Make every effort to come before winter.” If you are at sea during the winter season your life becomes at stake. He said you’ve got to come now man, I need to see you know. Get here before it’s so tough to get here that you can’t even get here Timothy.” “Eubulus greets you also, Pudens, Lius, and Claudia, and all the brothers.” Those were 4 friends, leaders of the church there in Rome. “And the Lord be with your spirit. And grace be to you!” May God give you strength for the task in which is handed to you, and you be all God wants you to be.

You know there are so many things you learn when you do a series of messages like this, and I’ve been preaching for years, and years, and years, but I tell you what this series in 2 Timothy has reminded me of something that I already knew but never gets old to me. I hold in my hand today the most relevant piece of material, the most relevant book anywhere found anywhere in all of the world. It is relevant. It is real. And even though it is age old, it is not old in its truths. Its truths are real. Its truths are alive today as much as ever before.

And in this expositional text-driven series out of 2 Timothy for 10 weeks, we have learned about the Top 10 Ways to Make it Through Difficult Times. Remember what we talked about. If you’re going to make it through difficult times then you have to:

• Know You are Saved. You have to know you’re saved. You have to

• Hold On to the Grace of God. There are people here today who need to hold on to the grace of God. You need to;

• Work on Your Walk with Christ. You need to also today;

• Make the Right Choices. You know what? When you don’t make the right choices, it’s hard to make it through difficult times. That’s why you need to;

• Understand the Times. We talked about knowing the times in which we live, and;

• Continuing in the Sacred Scriptures. This book is a map. It’s like a road map, and if you will follow it, it will tell you how to get where you need to go. We talked about the importance of;

• Accomplishing Your Life Purpose. And then oh, my friend, oh didn’t we have a moment in the word when we talked about how we must;

• Live for Eternity. One of the reasons so many of you cannot understand what’s going on in your life is that you’re living for now, rather than living for eternity. And last week we talked about the importance of;

• Discerning Whom We Can Trust. And today, what we are going to close this series with is to tell you one of the most powerful ways to make it through difficult times, and that is;

• Expect The Lord to Stand With You.

I ask you this morning, are you expecting the Lord to stand with you? Some of

you are walking through some pretty deep stuff right now. Are you expecting the Lord to stand with you? Let me tell you some great news today, comes straight out of the Bible, are you listening? Expect the Lord to stand with you:

1. When no one else does. When no one else does, expect the Lord to stand with you. When everyone else walks out of your life that’s when God loves to walk into your life, and into your circumstances. Are you expecting the Lord to stand with you when no one else does?

Look at verse number 16, he talked about it. He said, “At my first defense…” That word “defense is the word “apologia” in the Greek language. It is where we get our word for apology. Paul is using a legal term like he is making apologetics, we might say from a Christian perspective. But Paul is standing up for his own defense. That’s where the term comes from.

And Paul said it was at my first defense, what is known in Roman law as being prima actio, is what it’s called. It’s like our Grand Jury in America. It’s where the charge will be established, and there would be, or there would not be sufficient evidence to transfer it on to the next level of guilt or innocence. That’s what we would call the secunda actio, there in the Roman government in Paul’s day, which means that the establishment would determine whether or not he was guilty or innocent, and the punishment would be administered or their freedom would occur.

Paul said no it was not at the secunda actio when I didn’t have anybody with me, but even in my first time, even in my prima actio, my first offense, no one was there with me. Every one seemed to desert me, Paul said. Wonder why they didn’t come.

The scripture here says that no one came, meaning along side of me, meaning no one was there to support me, meaning that no one was there to stand with me. I wonder if they were fearful for their own lives. They knew Paul was nearing death. They knew that death was impending for him. Were they afraid for their own lives? Where was Luke? Luke seemed to always be with him. Maybe Luke was gone for a brief journey away from Paul. We don’t know. But where was Luke? Where were the rest of those guys? Where was the church at Rome, in which he had written those powerful words in Romans chapter 1, when he said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for as the power of God in His salvation.” Where were they? Well, evidently they had forgot those words, because no one was with him at all.

Let me ask you today, do you ever feel like everybody walks out? Do you ever feel lonely? There’s not a Sunday go by that I don’t talk to a lot of lonely people, a lot of people who feel rejected. They feel like their own lives are totally by themselves. They’ve experienced those moments of loneliness and rejection beyond what many of us can even imagine in this room here this morning. Well I want to tell you some great news today, Jesus is willing to stand with you when no one else does.

And you know Paul could have been bitter about that. You think about all that Paul went through. You think about all that Paul did for the church. You think about all that Paul did for Jesus. Where was the church in his moment of greatest need? But you know what? He wasn’t going to be bitter about it. He wasn’t going to hold it against him. He was not going to be filled with unforgiveness, and go to his death filled with bitterness and anger over that kind of issue. Oh no, not this godly man. You know what he said? He said, “May this not be charged against them.”

Hey guess what? Paul had heard those words before. You know where he heard those words? He heard those words as recorded by Luke over in Acts chapter 7, verse number 60. You know where he heard those words personally? The first Christian martyr was a man named Stephen. You know who administered the martyrdom? The Apostle Paul. His name was Saul then. And Saul literally administered and led the charge against Stephen, and he must have been so moved by Stephen, when Stephen was facing his last moment, taking and gasping for his last breath, what did Stephen cry out? “Lord may this not be charged against them.” Where did Stephen get it? From Jesus, “Father forgive them for they know what they are doing.”

Oh my friend I challenge you today, please know that you’ve got to expect the Lord to stand with you when no one else does. Do you know that today? Is He standing with you today? But you’ve got to expect the Lord to stand with you also:

2. When you need strength. The scripture here talks about those moments when we obviously need strength over there in verse 17. He says, now think about it, notice what he is saying, here I am in the last moment. I go to defend myself. Nobody was there with me in the court, and here I am defending myself, trying to make it through the moment. And all of a sudden everybody else, they weren’t there, but the Lord stood with me! What a great phrase. But the Lord stood with me!

What does it mean that the Lord stood with him? It means that Jesus stood by his side. It meant that he sensed that Jesus had come to him in his greatest moment of need, even when he sensed loneliness, and he sensed abandonment, and he sensed a desertion by those who knew him, and who had loved him, and who had been with him to some degree at that point. But the Lord stood by his side.

Do you remember the words that the Lord gave Moses about Joshua? Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse 6, “Be strong and courageous, don’t be terrified or afraid of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you,” and listen to what he says, “He will not leave you or forsake you.” Look at verse 8 of that same chapter. “The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, Joshua. Do not be afraid or discouraged.” And I challenge you today to know the Lord will go before you also.

Do you remember what Joshua testified in his own book, chapter 1, verse 5? “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you,” God says, “Just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.” Is that not a good word? Amen! Pastor that is a great word from the word of God.

Look at chapter 13 of Hebrews. Listen to what he says in 5 and 6. He says, “He, Jesus Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore we may boldly say the Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Oh notice the transition in those 2 verses. He said therefore, when you see a therefore, you’ve got to what? You’ve got to stop and look and see what it’s there for? And what he was saying was what? You’ve got to see it’s there for. In other words he just said the Lord is not going to leave you. He’s not going to leave you or forsake you. He’s with you at all times. Therefore, you’re going to walk through life and you’re going to know that the Lord is your Helper, and I don’t have to be afraid of that, regardless of what I face, because of the reality of what can man do to me? what can someone else really do to me, the Word of God says. What tremendous, encouraging words for you and me. Oh I tell you today I have seen the Lord stand with people through some difficult, difficult circumstances. I’ve seen the Lord stand with people in the middle of death. I’ve seen the Lord stand with people as they were leaving this world, and they were leading, and walking, and living into eternity. I have seen the Lord stand with people when they are going amidst hurt, pain, hurt, rejection, abandonment, loneliness. I’ve seen the Lord stand with woman whose husbands walked out, and I’ve seen the Lord stand with men whose wives have walked out. I’ve seen the Lord stand with teenagers. Listen to me teenagers when daddy walked out. I want to tell you today you may not know who your daddy is today, or you may not have seen your daddy in years, but I want to tell you some great words today, the Heavenly Father is the Father to the fatherless. And today, you need to know Jesus, He’ll become your Heavenly Father.

I’ve seen the Lord stand with people in the midst of discouragement, in the midst of transition, in the midst of embarrassment. I have seen the Lord stand with people at all kinds of situations, even to give them strength, is what Paul was saying. That word strength there means to be empowered, meaning that God’s power is sufficient. God’s power is more than sufficient. While the world system is lagging, God’s power never lags. While the world’s economy suffers, God’s economy never suffers. I want to tell you today, trust in God and in His power.

There is some of you here today you, you need spiritual strength today. You’re walking through some challenging moments in your life spiritually. What does God say? God says the Lord’s power will strengthen you.

Some of you need emotional strength. A Father’s Day to some of you is somewhat like any holiday, emotions are not good within you. You need spiritual strength. You need God’s spirit to strengthen you today emotionally.

There’s some of you here this morning, you need physical strength. You’re tired. You’re worn out. You think you need a vacation, and maybe you do need a vacation. But oh I tell you what you need more than a vacation, what you need is for God’s power to strengthen you like never before in your life.

And some of you today, you’re weak mentally, and I’m not making fun of you if you’re weak mentally. I’m not talking about being that weak. I’m talking about you’re mentally tired. You’re mentally worn out. And you need God to strengthen you. I want to tell you the God that we serve, the Jesus that changed my life, is able to stand in your life when you need strength! Are you trusting God for strength today?

Some of you are worn out and frazzled by this system of this world, stop that! You trust God’s strength. You let God be your strength today. But also know today, you’ve got to expect the Lord to stand with you;

3. When you present the gospel to the lost. When you present the gospel to the lost. In the second part of verse 17, you know what he talks about? He says, “So that I need strength from God. I need the Lord to stand with me, even though death is impending.” He says, “SO that the proclamation that the message might be fully made known through me.” Oh I want to tell you what we’ve got to understand here is that Paul wanted the gospel to go to the Gentiles.

You know who the Gentiles were? The Gentiles were all people who did not have the full truth of God’s Word, who did not have the full truth of Jesus’ life-changing power. And you know what those Gentiles were? They were lost without Jesus. They were hopeless without Jesus, and they were on their way to hell without Jesus. Yes, they were on their way to hell without Jesus.

We need to recapture something today, and I want to challenge you in the name of Jesus to recapture this conviction today, and here’s the conviction: Lostness leads to hell. Lostness leads to hell. You know what it’s like to be lost? It means that you’ve not been found. You know what it’s like to be lost? It means that you don’t know the direction you’re going in your life, you don’t sense that there’s spiritual leadership, there’s spiritual direction, you don’t sense that there’s peace and there’s power in your life, and that’s because you’re lost without Jesus. I want to tell you today the church of America hardly even believes anymore in saying the word lost.

Let me tell you something today, every one of you today, I don’t care what your color is, and I don’t care what you’re dressed like. I don’t care how much money you make, and it doesn’t matter whether this building is where it is today, or it’d be jammed packed with people today, I can tell you one thing today, you’re either lost, or you’re saved. You’re either lost or you’re saved. You’re either lost in your sin, or you’ve been saved miraculously by the power of Jesus Christ. And I want to challenge you today to understand that without the power of Jesus Christ, there is no hope. Lostness leads to hell. You hardly ever even hear churches talk about hell anymore. God help us! We act like we’re too cool to talk about hell.

Let me tell you something man, hell’s real whether you recognize it or not! Whether you want to talk about it or not! It doesn’t go away because you don’t want to talk about it. People when they die without Christ, they enter into an eternity called hell. No, it’s not God’s will. No, it’s not God’s intention, and that’s why Jesus has come to die for the sins of the world so that no one has to perish in that kind of place!

But notice what the scripture says. The scriptures says, “So that the proclamation can be done.” The preaching of the word can be done. The presenting of the gospel be shared by you, and by me. And may I remind every one of you today, you have been commissioned by Jesus to share the gospel with the world. You have been commissioned as a layperson to share the good news of Jesus with people where God opens up an opportunity. You need to be willing to do it here. You need to be willing to do it across America, and you need to be willing to do it across the world.

You know what? Some of us get real fired up about going across the world and doing it, but we don’t even attempt to do it here. You know what you call that? That’s hypocrisy. What we need to understand is balance. Balance that we’re going to do our best to try to share the gospel with all of this region called NWA. Share it with the world called it armed with America, our nation in which we live, and also share it with the world.

You know what the scripture talks about here, is that it might be fully made known. Notice what the text says. That means that it’s clearly understood. The gospel needs to clearly be understood, and extensively presented to people everywhere. Now there are many of you today, you don’t understand the lostness of this region. There are people lost here in NWA. Surely you believe that. surely you’re not lulled to sleep by that. And guess what? If they don’t meet Christ, their future is hopeless, and their present life is hopeless.

But what is the gospel? May I remind you today what the gospel is? It’s important for us to understand. People who have never received the gospel, they are lost. They are perishing. Lostness leads to hell. The gospel also says Christ died for their sins so they would not have to pay for their sins. The gospel also says that on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead so that when we die we enter from death into life. The gospel also says my friend, something very important, and that is the way to get there, and that is through repentance. Another word you’ll hardly ever hear in church today, but people need to repent. That means to turn from where they are living in their life, and to turn from their ways, their ways of living a life without God to a life with Jesus as the Savior, and Lord.

No, that doesn’t mean that you’ve got to go out here and try to get your life all cleaned up before you come to God. No! You’ve got to come to God first, and He’ll take care of cleaning it all up. But it all begins with repentance, and then it’s by faith and trust in Christ and Him alone for your salvation. That’s the gospel ladies and gentlemen! And guess what? Some of us heard the gospel so long ago, and, and, and it doesn’t mean near as much to us as it used to because we’ve been lulled to sleep by it all these years. But the gospel, you know what it is? It’s good news! And the reason it’s good news is because of the bad news. And the bad news is that without Christ, your life is hopeless, which leads to hell. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus died for you. Jesus was raised for you. And if you will repent and believe in Christ, then Christ will come in your life, and you will go to heaven when you die, and your sins will be forgiven, and you’ll live life with Christ right now in your life.

I’m telling you today, what we need to do in the name of Jesus, is that we want to call our church today, I want to call our church to two things, and I call it unashamedly. I call us to:

(1) Return to the gospel. The gospel. We’ve got to stop believing

that everything in the world that people need is some feel good mentality, some feel good message, whether it be casual or formal, whether it be hit music, traditional music, or contemporary music, or whatever it may be, we have got to come to the condition that none of that’s the answer. What’s the answer is one thing, the gospel of Jesus Christ. that’s the answer. And that’s what we must understand. [APPLAUSE] Some of us think, “Oh if we just had this or we had that in America. Oh if we just had this group in America and White House. Or we had the one we’ve got right now in the American White House.” That’s it. I don’t know what the answer is! You’ve got to deal with that on your own, but I tell you what I know ultimately the answer is, is none of that stuff! I don’t care who’s there! The ultimate answer is one thing! The gospel of Jesus Christ! You can beg people to change all you want, but their not going to change until the gospel of Jesus gets a hold of them. And they can pretty it up, and you can put a band aid on them, and maybe, maybe they won’t start keep on getting drunk so much, or maybe they won’t stop sleeping around so much, or maybe they won’t do this so much, but I’m going to tell you something friend. Bottom line is this. Until Jesus gets a hold of them, and the gospel changes their life, their hopeless, and we’ve got to return to the gospel.

And I challenge you in the name of Jesus to:

(2) Become a gospel-centered church. In everything we do we’re gospel-centered. I don’t care if it’s a student function, the gospel’s there. It doesn’t’ matter whether it’s an adult choir, all the way to standing with our workers and equipping them to, to, to go out and do small groups in our church, we’ve got to share the gospel. It doesn’t matter what the setting may be, whether it be on the backside of a trailer home, and developments out there, or some subdivision, or some apartment complex, or whether it’s in some setting here on this campus, we’ve got to be a gospel-centered church! We’ve got to believe that that’s the hope, and that’s the power to change the world. And many of us, we don’t believe that anymore! God help us to believe that! We have bought into a lie, and it is a lie! But our future is solely in the gospel. The need is now folks. The need is urgent. And we cannot wait. We must understand the need is urgent.

But the good news doesn’t stop there. Expect the Lord to stand with you:

4. When you are in danger. You know I believe we’re in danger many times when we don’t even know we’re in danger. Look at verse 17, the last part of verse 17. He said, “So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.” That’s a figure of speech in this situation. It’s a biblical metaphor here meaning safe from danger, even from the danger of death. Now there may have actually been a time in Paul’s life when he actually was saved from the actual lion’s mouth. We know that Daniel was at one time. But you know what we must understand? Is that death many times is at danger, and Satan many times is lurching around us, looking around for us. You remember what Peter said about Satan? He’s like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So what we must understand is that there are times in our lives when we are in danger and God and God steps in, and rescues us from our danger.

I noticed this week in Psalm 22, verse 21 these words, “Save me from the mouth of the lion. You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.” A picture I have in my office right above my prayer alter in my home office, is a picture that records this verse, and what a powerful verse it is. Over in the book of Daniel, a man who was in the middle of the lion’s den, what did God say to him in Daniel 6:22? “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths. They haven’t hurt me, for I was found innocent before Him. Also, I have not committed a crime against you my King.” Daniel said, “Oh there are moments in my life when I was in that lions’ den,” and he talked about them. He recorded them. But the Lord took those lions, and He shut the mouths of those lions.

I promise you today there are many times in your life when you are near danger, or danger seems to be impending, but the Lord delivers you from the danger, and you don’t even know it’s happening. Some of you right now are in the danger of various matters. You’ve got to expect the Lord to be with you in the middle of a danger. Some of you are in the danger of possibly losing your economy, losing your job, losing your life fortune. Some of you are in the middle of almost losing family, losing intimate moments with your spouse who is leaving, losing so much in life. Life is filled many times with a lot of losing circumstances, and none of us win always, but I want to tell you when the danger is there, whatever the danger may be, some of you’ve got a bad diagnosis this week. Others of you know that death is inevitable in the next few weeks, or months in your life. I want to have you some good news today, and the good news is you’ve got to expect the Lord to stand with you when you face danger in your life.

But also:

5. When you face death in your life. And every one of us we will face death. May I remind you of those words over in verse 18 of 2 Timothy 4? “For the Lord will rescue me from every evil work, and He will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom, and to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” When you face death, God will be with you. Paul knew that he would be executed soon. There was no debate at all. He knew it. He knew it was just moments away from his life, but notice God does not always release us from this present danger. God always does not shut the mouths of the lions in our life. Sometimes the lion of death captures us, and what Paul said when that happens, what does he do? He releases us from the present danger. He releases us from the evil in which we are in. I wonder what that meant?

Here’s the insight. Death is a rescue. Sometime we don’t see death as a rescue, but I’m telling you death is a rescue. Death is a rescue that this evil age you won’t have to put up with any longer in your life. I can remember moments in the last 3 years since my dad has died, that my mom has said, “You know Ron, I’m really kind of glad the Lord called your daddy home because he wouldn’t do well with what’s going on right now. It would so upset him.” What was she saying? Even though she didn’t know what she was saying, what was she saying? Death rescued him from the evil age in which we live! Surely you’ve been, or you’ve known somebody who’s been on the brink of death, and you’ve watched them suffer, and you’ve watched them suffer, and they’re born-again believers in Jesus, and, and you would just all of a sudden in those last few moments and days, and weeks, you were just praying, “Lord give them strength to go home. Help them release to go home.” Why? Because you know what? We know it intellectually that death is a rescue at times! And that’s what Paul was saying. Death was rescuing.

And notice what it says, he says, “He brings me safely home.” In other words, Jesus will usher me into heaven! Paul knew that there was going to be a time in his life when the lion’s mouth would no longer be shut, and it was impending, and it was coming, and months it would be there. There would be no getting out of it, and Jesus would come and literally would walk him into the heavenly kingdom. And Paul go so caught up in it Josh, kind of like you do in your, in your singing like a moment ago, which I love, and in all that, he got so caught up in it, you know what he did? He said, “Amen! And Amen! May God get all the glory even in my death just like He’s gotten it in my life!”

What a testimony. If you’re facing death today, or when you face death today, expect the Lord to stand with you. Can we fast-forward 2000 years? Or excuse me, let’s push rewind 2000 years ago for a moment. Let’s push rewind 2000 years ago, and here’s Paul and what some would say is a dungeon, a Roman jail cell, he knows the moment is coming. The secunda actio has occurred. Death is impending. And he knew the day was today. And he began to hear the Roman soldiers coming after him. Clank. Clank. Clank. They get to the door, and they open the door. And they grab the Apostle, ushered him, one on each side of the arm, some in front, and some behind him, ushering him into that final moment of beheading. Dying for his faith.

Insight: Don’t forget what I just taught you. While they thought they were ushering him, Jesus was there ushering him as well. I wonder what his feelings were. Confused? No, I don’t think so. Angry about it? I don’t believe so. Scared? Perhaps scared a little bit. Who wouldn’t be if you know you’re about to die? Concerned about the mode perhaps what it would feel like. But oh there was a calm inner peace because Jesus was ushering him. And every step he heard that those Roman soldiers took him to the beheading, he knew Jesus was standing with him all the way to the end in order to usher him into the heavenly kingdom. Should that surprise us? oh no. that should not surprise us. You know why? Because everything the spirit of God had shown him before in his life is now coming back to him. Things like this, “Oh death where is your victory? Oh death where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Oh my friend, he remembered that. He must have remembered it when he penned those words under the Holy Spirit’s leadership right there to the city whereby he was about to be killed. “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor high, nor death, nor any other creative thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And oh it must have been a reminder to him of what he had just penned earlier. “I’ve got to believe that I fought the good fight. I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith. But in the future,” and that future was nearing now more than ever before, “there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, will give me on that day!” Remember he will have it handed to him personally, and not only to me, but all those who have what? Who loved His appearing.

And you know as Paul was thinking all of God’s stuff coming back to him, you know what I really think he thought of? At the end, he would have had to have thought of Stephen. Why would he not think of Stephen? Isn’t it interesting the way God works in life? The very thing he had administered now was going to be administered to him. But he remembered what happened to Stephen, and it was such a testimony to this lost man, but Stephen filled by the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven, he saw God’s glory with Jesus standing at the right-hand of God, and he said, “Look! I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” And I wonder if Paul thought would Jesus stand for me?

Do you realize this is the only place in scripture where at the right hand of God, Jesus is standing? Stephen was so applauding, so applauded by Jesus, that Jesus stood the moment He saw him dying for his faith. The first of many more to come.

Friend I want to tell you today, whatever you are facing in your life, I challenge you in the name of Jesus, expect the Lord to stand with you!