Exodus 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

Here is a people that had been in bondage for four hundred years. God revealed Himself to them, so that they might come to know who had set them free. Did they embrace their Savior? No. Did they respect their salvation? No. Were they free? No.

Slavery is a condition of the mind. You can remove chains from off the neck, hands and feet but how do you remove the chains of the mind? You cannot do it if you do not embrace the One who has the power to set you free. All that God did to free them from Pharaoh was to show them that He had the power to set them free. Their actions in 20:18 showed God they were not willing to be set free.

Freedom apart from embracing your Savior and respecting the salvation that has been won for you only keeps you enslaved to the vain imaginations of your own mind. Freedom to pursue the lust of the flesh makes you a slave to those lusts.

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Strong’s Number G3136 Mammon:

a common Aramaic word for “riches,” akin to a Hebrew word signifying “to be firm, steadfast” (whence “Amen”), hence, “that which is to be trusted;” Gesenius regards it as derived from a Heb. word signifying “treasure” (Gen.43:23); it is personified in Mat.6:24; Luk 16:9,11,13.

That which is to be trusted is a condition of the mind not the body. Do you trust God? Do you trust your Savior? Then whom do you serve? Service is the only indication of mental loyalty.

Can I get an AMEN?

Philippians 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

Did you know the first use of stand is defined as to draw near, to approach? At first glance that doesn’t make sense but look at it from a standpoint of the action of a stand happens only on two occasions. You either stand from a sitting position or stand from a moving position.

First use meanings within the bible are always important. The spiritual implication there being that since the definition was related to draw near or approach, then we were not there yet. We had not yet come to that place which was drawing us closer.

The meaning of apostle is sent. One who is sent has already stood before the One who draws us to Himself. I presented Philippians 2:16 because to hold forth implies that one who is sent has to stand in order to hold forth or present that which he was sent to do.

Take a stand! What do those words mean to you? My guess would be to be principled. To defend that which you have chosen as worthy of defending might be another. Either way it is a position of ridged and fixed position. Stiff as in stiff-necked or stubborn. It is unyielding. Men do so love to take a stand.

Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

We who belong to the Lord stand only twice. First we stand as we approach the Lord to receive that which we are sent out to deliver. The second is to stand and hold forth the word of life to a lost and dying world.