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Let Us

Jayson Combs · Sunday, 23 August 2026 · 39:59 · 6,034 words

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The sermon, part of a series on the Let Us commands in Hebrews, centers on the command to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. It urges believers to move beyond personal comfort and actively encourage fellow Christians toward love and good deeds. The speaker warns against a hard heart and reminds listeners that each believer needs the body of Christ. He asks those who know Christ to make stirring others a daily habit and invites anyone searching to turn to Jesus today.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

stir 82 consider 23 love 68 student 11 gather 20 difficult 14 hebrew 16 work 33 ministry 12 heart 25 automatic 4 church 37

Topics

Atonement & Sacrifice 4 Prayer 2 Sin 1 The Holy Spirit 1

Scripture referenced 12

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Hebrews 10 1:33 Hebrews 10 2:49 Acts 17 8:48 Romans 14 16:40 1 John 4:10 21:24 Titus 3:8 22:38 Proverbs 11 23:02 Proverbs 11:25 23:19 Hebrews 3 29:58 Hebrews 3 30:00 Hebrews 3:12 30:09 Titus 3:10 32:32

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 14 lines, 0:38. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Dave Hudgens.

Thanks for checking out one of our sermons today.

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Thanks again for joining us

and we hope that you are blessed by today's message.

Morning everybody, great to see you.

If you have your Bible, it will be in Hebrews chapter number 10.

So New Testament toward the back end of your Bible,

Hebrews chapter number 10.

As Roy was saying, I love the season.

Not necessarily that last night was like the first night

to like sweatshirt weather, I didn't like that.

But I love the season of joining the team

and our desire just for you to serve

how the Lord has gifted you.

So looking forward to that.

And growth communities are kicking off

and student ministry and kids ministry.

So I love the season.

Again, as Roy said, we have young adults.

So that crew of like 40 young adults that all sit right here.

This section is a little older.

Or they sit right here.

But we have almost 100 young adults at our young adult retreat.

And so really, really good stuff.

Just excited for that.

All right, well Hebrews chapter 10.

Last week, we started a new series.

It's called Let Us.

And looking at seven Let Us commandments

in the book of Hebrews.

Seven Let Us statements that really challenge us believers.

So if you know Christ as your Savior,

to live a life beyond you.

To live a life beyond me.

To live a life of us.

And so studying each of these Let Us statements.

So for the next six weeks, we're gonna be doing that.

Last week, as we kicked off in the middle of Hebrews

and we're gonna be doing a little bit more of that.

And we're gonna be doing a little bit more of that.

And we're gonna be doing a little bit more of that.

If you've read Hebrews, it's a difficult book to read.

Hebrews is written to a group of Hebrews

who knew the Old Testament.

So to understand Hebrews really well,

you have to understand the book of Leviticus.

Which a lot of us don't know Leviticus really well.

But it is a wonderful book where you see the writer.

We don't know who wrote it.

We do know his passion.

We see him as a pastor.

And he is just as a preacher.

So wanting the people who are hearing God's word

to follow the Lord.

And so as you read Hebrews, you'll see this passion.

And last week, we started in verse 19 in chapter 10.

And 19, verse 19, 20, and 21 really are a recap

of the first 10 chapters in Hebrews.

That the writer tells us about Jesus who is better.

And so he keeps pointing back to the old system,

the old covenant, the old sacrifice.

And he's saying Jesus has come.

He is better.

He is better than Moses.

He is better than the angels.

Jesus is the living sacrifice.

He brings them and says, listen, the sacrificial system,

the sacrifice had to be made over and over again.

Jesus is seated at the right hand of the throne of God

where your priests, they're standing up

because they keep having to sacrifice.

Jesus, the sacrifice is over.

Jesus is seated next to the almighty God.

It is complete.

And he is living.

So it is bringing us to know Jesus as the savior of the world.

God's son who came, died on the cross, rose again,

and offers forgiveness and life in him.

And so in this transition in chapter number 10,

it transitions to now, if you know Christ,

this is what it looks like.

Again, Kent Hughes said last week, and just to give a sentence,

he said that this shifts from the explanation of the superiority

of the person.

Person and work of Christ to the application

of what it then looks like to be the church.

And that brings us to verse 22 and 23 that we covered last week,

where our two let us statements,

let us draw near with a true heart,

a sincere heart and full assurance of faith

that we who know Christ have this confidence

to draw near to the Lord.

And I love the statement here is with a sincere,

this isn't a false,

it's phony front.

We get to draw near to the Lord.

We have this confidence and this is different

because as Christians, we go,

we don't draw near to the Lord,

hoping we're good enough,

hoping we did enough,

hoping, I don't know,

hopefully God will accept.

We draw near with confidence because of what Christ did

on the cross, that he died on the cross

because of the work of Christ, we may be saved.

And then verse 23 says,

let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

And we can hold tightly to that confession,

that proclamation of faith of trusting in Jesus.

And so now verse 24, this week, we're 24 and 25.

The Bible says,

let us consider how to stir up one another

to love and good works,

not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some,

but encouraging one another all the more

as you see the day drawing near.

When you came in today,

I hope you received my present from our present

from the Lord.

From the church, do you have your present

when you walked in the door?

Can you hold those up?

Those were really expensive right there, guys.

Took a lot of the budget to buy those stir sticks.

This morning, I want you to consider,

the Bible says, let us consider

how to stir up one another to love and good works.

I want you to consider this morning

that as we gather together

and going back to these let us statements,

these commandments the Lord gives us,

this is vital.

What is the church?

This gathering.

And this morning, I want to challenge you

about how important it is for us

to have the mindset to stir one another up

to love and good works.

That this isn't a side note of the gathering.

It isn't just a little part of it.

That a focal point of the gathering

is that believers are to gather together

considering how we are going to stir up one another

to love and good works.

One author said this.

It says,

each Christian desperately needs the body of believers.

And I just want you to hear that again.

Each believer, each Christian desperately needs

the body of believers.

And I hope to show that to you today,

that not from my argument,

but from what the Lord says.

Now in your heart,

you may be giving a little pushback here.

You may be saying,

pastor, what I need is Jesus.

And this is true.

We do need Christ.

But the Lord over and over again points to,

how important the church is.

And so you may argue,

and don't do that aloud right now.

That'd be awkward right now.

But if you want to argue like,

in my office this week,

or we could grab coffee at Starbucks.

I'll have a stir stick.

I'll just do this.

No, would love to hear, right?

But we desperately need the body of believers.

Why?

Because the body of believers are called

to stir one another up to love and good works.

Is that what you thought about this morning

when you came?

Is that what you thought about this morning

when you were combing your hair in front of the mirror,

going, man, who am I going to stir up?

Right?

Is that what you were thinking?

Or you're like, get in the car.

We got to go.

Consider how to stir one another up.

This word to stir up is an interesting word in the Greek.

It's a very, it's an extremely strong word.

Many times when it's used in the New Testament,

it's used in the negative form.

So like when Paul and Barnabas had a strife,

right?

When there was this argument, you see this word.

In Acts 17, when Paul was waiting for them at Athens,

it says his spirit was provoked.

It's the same word.

His spirit was stirred up inside of him

when he saw that the city was full of idols.

This word means to incite, to provoke, to stimulate.

So it has this heavy meaning.

And I think we miss this many times in the church.

I think we miss it.

I think we miss the point that we are called

as we gather together, whether Sunday or Tuesday or Wednesday,

wherever that is, that we're called.

There's this focal point that we're called, you know,

like just think about sitting at Starbucks

and you have that gross black coffee

and then you pour in the wonderful cream and sugar

that turns it into something drink.

You know what I'm talking about?

I know some of you are strong, like your weird coffee,

whatever you can do, whatever.

But that stir stick, you just think of sitting down

at Starbucks and you have that coffee

and somebody and you just think about stirring them up

to love and good works.

This is what the gathering of the church is called to be,

to stir up one another.

And I guess for my life, there are times that I've missed that.

There's times that I can just miss.

Now, do I think, yeah, we're supposed to be kind

and love one another?

Yes, but to consider how, let us consider how

we're to stir one another up,

to show you how I miss this at one point in my life.

My son, and I've told this story,

before, but I think it's so helpful.

When my son got into middle school,

I was really excited for him.

He was getting to go into the youth ministry at the church.

Like I was just like, man, son's going into middle school

and I grew up a youth pastor for over 15 years.

So I love student ministry.

I have great fond memories of students coming to know Christ

and being discipled and looking at their lives now

and following the Lord.

And I just love the events and the activities

and the discipleship.

I loved it, right?

The holidays were Christmas, Easter, and summer camp, right?

That was just, I love, I love student ministry.

And so when my son got to that age, I'm like,

here we go, it's going to be great.

And then we got to student ministry

and my son didn't really like it.

Like, you know, he'd come home, how'd it go?

How'd you get here?

And I was thinking like, you don't, what do you mean

you don't love student ministry?

Do we need to go counseling?

What's going on here that we, you know,

why?

Why don't you, do you like this?

And my wife and I, we just, we would talk about it

and he just, he didn't love going to student ministry

and events and what was even crazy.

He didn't like summer camp.

He didn't like it.

So I was like, oh man, okay, all right.

And I will tell you about my son.

Not because he didn't like those things

because he's a rebellious kid or he loves the Lord.

He is, he serves the Lord as a high schooler.

He is, has a testimony.

He is honorable to his parents.

They're a fruit of his belief in Jesus Christ.

And so as, as my son and just his testimony,

knowing the Lord, like he'd served the Lord

and, but, but youth ministry just didn't,

student ministry was like, and so he would come home

after student ministry, my wife and I come in the door

and I look at him and go, hey son,

did you have fun tonight?

Did you like, was it like awesome?

Did you, was it great fun?

And he would just go.

And Sunday night after Sunday night, I would ask him,

did you have fun?

Did you have fun, son?

Did you enjoy it?

Was it comfortable?

Did you, yeah, you know, you come home.

So I was great.

And it was really when I began to study this verse

that my eyes were awakened,

that I was pouring into my son something

that wasn't healthy at all.

I was saying over and over again, son,

hey, is the gathering of the church comfortable for you?

Because that's the most important thing.

Are you having fun, son?

And, and I, as a pastor, as a father,

was convicted to go, wait, is that why we gather?

Do we gather so, because we come

and the music's exactly what we want

and the chairs are exactly what we want

and the temperature in the room's exactly what we want

and the pastor preaches the length of sermon that we want

and the people around us are,

have we moved the gathering of church?

The focal point is the comfort, that we're comfortable

and we're missing what the church is called to be.

And my wife and I, we were just convicted of this.

Now, it's not that I don't enjoy being gathered with the church.

I love it.

I, I, I enjoy the fun.

I love laughing together and I, I enjoy,

I enjoy the company of the church.

But have we made the focal point that the coffee tastes

what you want, how you want it to taste

when you come in the door?

Have we made that the focal point?

Instead of going, what is the church?

It's a gathering of Christians that, that we come

and we know the Lord with this focus

on stirring one another up to love and good works.

So I read that, my wife and I, we have changed the way

that we talk to our son.

We literally ask him now, he comes home, we go,

hey son, did you stir anybody up today?

Did you stir any, now, I know that my son knows the Lord.

So it's, right, if you don't know the Lord

and don't know his grace and his love and his mercy, right?

It's not just to put on a phony thing.

It's going, hey, because we know Jesus

and he has saved us, we know his love.

Are we looking, is it on the front of our mind?

Am I here?

How can I stir somebody up to love and good works?

How can I encourage them?

So this morning, just challenge you.

What does it look like to stir one another up?

How do we do this well?

In verse number 24, it says, let us consider.

And so just stopping at this word consider,

I think it's important.

This word consider means, it has to do with thinking

or noticing or paying attention to or looking closely at.

So if you have a child, sometimes you have to tell them,

hey, I need you to consider this.

I need you to see this.

I need you to think about this.

I need you to think that when you get up, after you eat,

I need you to consider that you can't just leave your food there

for the next four days and not notice it.

I need you to consider.

I need you to see it.

I need you to think about it.

So that brings you to action.

The verse says, let us consider,

is let us pay attention to, let us look closely at.

One book says, we must give thought

to how we can be of help to other believers.

We must consider the impact

of our actions on the faith of others

and often surrendering personal freedoms

so as not to offend the weak.

In Romans 14, you read there, speaks of helping the weak.

And sometimes that's giving up things, freedoms of ourselves.

I think it's important to see this isn't an automatic thing

that you come to know Christ.

Now, all of a sudden you consider it's not an automatic thing.

It's not like breathing or swallowing

or taking that step or eating.

Last night, I, you know, eating a steak,

I didn't go, I gotta figure out how I'm gonna eat.

How is this gonna get in here?

I didn't even consider.

I knew what was gonna happen.

It wasn't, it was automatic with this to consider.

It's not an automatic thing.

It's something we have to stop and focus and pray through,

diligently think through.

That in the gathering, that I think it would be great

if all of us on Sunday morning got up that morning

and go, Lord, may I stir somebody up

to love and good works this morning.

May I have a mind, a mindset to,

care for people as Christ has cared for me.

May I have a mindset to think about

that maybe there's someone this morning

who's struggling and is discouraged.

How can I stir them up?

Maybe there's somebody this morning

that's struggling in temptation.

How can I stir them up?

Maybe somebody is fearful or lost or new

or needs help or doubting.

Maybe that person that I've come week after week

and there's been this lady or man,

they sit in front of me every single week

and they're not here.

Maybe I need to stir them up.

Maybe I need to pray for them right then.

Maybe I need to think about how can I care for them

after the gathering.

Maybe there's somebody I need to pray with.

May we consider.

Let us consider.

And the next word is just how,

and I just couldn't skip by it

because it's how do we, how do we do that well?

How are we a church that stirs one another up lovingly

by our good work?

How do we do that?

As a young man in our church who's come to know the Lord

and just has a fire for the Lord,

excitement in his heart.

And he called me.

I said, pastor, I think I may have taken the word of God.

Maybe I took it too literally

because it said that I need to care for widows.

And he just has this fire to care for people.

And he works with animals

and found out this lady who was a widow lost her dog.

He thought, you know, I want to care for her.

So he got her flowers and he got her a gift card

and he tried to find out where she lived

and he took it and dropped it off.

And come to find out he dropped it off at the wrong house.

So he wrote me.

He's like, I don't know if I messed up.

And I just want to say, you didn't mess up there

in the forefront of your mind

in what you are thinking about.

You have this thought in this care to go, man,

I'm called because of God's love for me.

How can I stir somebody up for loving good works?

He texted me back and said, what's interesting, pastor?

I dropped it off.

And it was the birthday of the house

that I dropped it off at.

So, but in all of that, just this thought,

do we think about stirring one another up?

Phillips says, true community care

expressed in love and good work and mutual encouragement

that active participation in the gathering

of the community makes possible.

This is not an invitation for us to be

judgmental, busy bodies looking over everybody's life

going, well, I got to go stir them up.

It's where we really care and love one another.

And Phillips goes on to say, he says,

we are to study and implement schemes

that motivate one another in God's love.

We desperately need the church

because as we need to stir one another up,

we need others to stir us up.

So the Bible says to stir one another up to love

and this word agape love,

it's this non self-seeking love.

So 1 John 4, 10, in this is love,

not that we have loved God,

but that he loved us and sent his son

to be the propitiation for our sins.

One book I was reading, this just stuck out to me.

It says, this non self-seeking love

is a love whose paradigm is the cross of Jesus.

And if you're like me, I'm like paradigm.

I don't know what that, okay, I have to look that up.

But the word means model or example

or framework or way of thinking.

It's saying what true love is,

is we as Christian is wrapped around the cross of Jesus.

It's the framework of how we're called to love

that Jesus came because he loves you.

He died on the cross.

Taking our place, the propitiation, he takes our place.

The wrath of God is placed upon Jesus for us.

And to love Jesus gives us the framework

to stir one another up in the love of Christ,

to do good works that we serve one another.

We sacrifice for one another.

Titus 3, 8 says,

the saying is trustworthy

and I want you to insist on these things

so that those who have believed in God

may be careful to devote themselves

These things are excellent, profitable for people

and the blessing of stirring one another up.

There's this passage in Proverbs,

I think it's Proverbs 11

that talks about those who stir will be stirred.

There's this blessing of stirring one another up

to love and to good works.

And this takes us into verse 25.

So look at 25.

It says this,

not neglecting to meet together

as is the habit of some.

So in speaking to the church,

speaking to the,

hey, let us stir one another up

of love and good works.

It says,

don't neglect to meet together

as is the manner,

as is the habit of some.

Now studying this is interesting.

You see some people abuse this passage.

You can easily,

you have to be careful

to not turn this into a legalistic,

do not forsake the assembly.

So if we're open Sunday and Wednesday

and then Tuesday morning Bible study

and Wednesday night visitation,

Thursday morning,

and they put all these legalists,

go, hey, if the door's open,

you have to be here

or you are in trouble.

I don't believe this is what it's saying.

What it is pointing to,

well, let's first look at what the reader,

when they first read this letter,

the Hebrew church,

what are they reading?

there were some

that stopped gathering together.

There were some that were backing away

and it doesn't tell us why,

but there's some things as we read

the whole book that you can conclude.

One, the church is being persecuted, right?

It wasn't a beneficial thing

to be a part of the church

in the community.

People would go,

oh, you're part of the river.

That's great.

No,

you were a part of the church.

You follow Jesus.

I'm done with you.

I can't be,

and so it costs them.

And so where there were some

that were forsaking this,

some were forsaking

the being together,

the gathering together,

it was difficult.

One author said their Christianity

had not been a worldly advantage.

Rather, it sent them,

it set them up for persecution,

a loss of property,

a loss of privilege,

and could possibly cost them their lives.

So because of that,

some would withdraw

from the world

of the worshiping community.

Yes, we see that a little different.

Thankfully, we're in a country,

we can come here,

we're not worried

about going to jail

because we gather together.

But yet the same temptation is today.

See, if we're going to stir one another up,

we have to be together.

If we're going to stir one another up,

if you're not here,

it's hard to stir someone up

and to see the importance.

I think it says

that it became a habit of some.

It became a custom.

It's just what,

it was kind of normal.

This church,

this church become a part

of the normal for you.

This is who we are.

This is what we do.

Sometimes there's difficult,

sometimes it's hard,

but I know the call

because what Christ has done,

I'm called to consider

how to stir one another up.

Again, one author says,

whatever the reason,

the author sees

their discontinuance

of common fellowship and worship

as fatal for perseverance

of the saints.

And the author just challenges,

says,

encouragement cannot take place

if we don't stir one another up.

Just to see how vital

the let us is,

the being together

to stir one another up.

So the end of 25,

it says,

but encourage one another.

Now, I want to tell you something

because I think we can,

when we think about stirring up,

sometimes we can just take

of just thinking

if we see a brother or sister

and be like,

hey, greet them at the door,

which is great

or someone back in the nursery

taking your child

so you can come

and listen to the sermon.

Like how that stirs you up

to love and good works.

Doesn't it?

Or the kids ministry

or a greeter at the door.

But stirring one another up

isn't always the light

and fluffy like,

oh yeah,

I want to stir them up.

Sometimes stirring is difficult.

Sometimes stirring isn't easy.

It isn't light and fluffy.

It's difficult.

You have to step into situations

that are hard,

that are heavy.

You have to say some things

truthfully out of love,

but you don't run away from it.

So sometimes stirring,

we talk about stir one another,

love and good works,

It's not always the light

and fluffy thing.

My wife gave me

an incredible illustration.

She just said,

you can put all the right ingredients

in a bowl,

but if you don't stir it correctly,

you're not getting a delicious cookie.

Now she has one of those

KitchenAid stir things

that I think if you get your arm caught,

it'll snap it off, right?

Like I was like,

that stir stick goes, right?

That stir stick is making sure

you're not going to get

a clump of flour in there,

that it's going to stir it correctly.

And that thing is working.

You see that thing going to town.

And when we think about

stirring one another up,

sometimes it's not easy.

Sometimes you got to step

right in the middle

of a difficult situation

because you love them so much.

Go, I can't leave it here.

I can't run away.

Not because I want to be a gossip

or not because I want to be judgmental,

but because I love you so much.

I'm going to step in the middle of this

because God has called me

to stir us up to love and good works.

And it's not easy.

I was talking over the sermon

with Justin,

and he says,

hey, when you guys first hired me,

I wish you'd have put that

on the front of the list.

Hey, you're going to have to step

into difficult situations

to stir one another up

to love and good works.

He goes,

I wish you'd have told me that first

because that's hard.

If we're just a church

that just smiles and go,

yep, we're just going to stir

one another up to love and good works

and never step into the difficult spots

and never talk about sin,

never talk about the flesh inside of us

that wants to run away from God,

that wants to return

to what we did before,

that wants to run

back to what we were doing

to the death of this world.

If we're not willing to do that,

we're not willing to stir one another

up to love and good works.

And it's difficult.

So turn with me to Hebrews 3.

there's a couple of verses here,

step right into it.

Tell us why it's difficult.

Hebrews 3, verse 12 says this,

watch out, brothers,

or take care, brothers.

It's this, hey, listen.

Again, the preacher who writes this,

you see the passion.

Watch out, brothers,

lest there be in any of you

an evil, unbelieving heart

leading you to fall away

from the living God.

Listen, why is stirring difficult sometimes?

Sometimes it's difficult

because we are sinners.

Sometimes we see things and go,

man, that's really making me mad

and I can't believe somebody would do that.

We have a heart that is easily hardened.

We have to be careful

because the truth is

that there are times and situations

where our first thought

about what's happening

or what somebody did

is not a righteous thought.

That in the church,

when we're called to stir one another up

and we see somebody do something,

it's so fascinating

that so many times

we think the worst of what they did

instead of going,

that's a believer in Christ,

let me first think the best of what they did.

And why stirring gets difficult right here,

that we can easily be led by our flesh.

And so in stirring one another,

we look at ourselves,

we watch out that we are not,

that we are not being selfish.

Verse 13 says,

but exhort or encourage one another every day,

as long as it's called today.

I love that.

Every day that's called today,

you should be encouraging one another.

So when you get to tomorrow,

whatever that's called,

and then the next day,

whatever that day is called,

it'll be called today.

We're called to encourage one another.

It says that none of you may be hardened

by the deceitfulness of sin.

Here's the truth.

Sin tries to trick you.

It's deceitful.

And so if we're not careful,

when we see things,

we're not seeing it clearly.

We see it selfishly first.

And we're like,

I'm gonna step into that situation,

stir it up.

You are,

but you're not gonna stir it up for love and good works.

And Titus,

it tells us that there were those in the church,

Titus 3:10,

as for a person who stirs up division

after warning him once and then twice,

have nothing more to do with him.

There were those in the church,

they weren't stirring up for love and good works.

And so,

they were stirring up division.

And so the Bible speaks to the people in the church,

says, hey, watch out, careful, sin's tricky.

When we're trying to care for one another,

watch this first.

And then in 13, it says,

but exhort, encourage one another every day,

as long as it's called today,

that we must encourage one another.

In chapter three, and I won't dive into it

because we'll look at it in a couple of weeks,

but it gives the example of the Israelites who,

saw the power of God, saw the deliverance of God,

and then went back to grumbling and complaining

and not following the Lord.

And they're an example saying,

hey, if you see and know what God is,

who God is and what the cross is,

don't run back to being grumbling and complaining

and disobedient, encourage one another.

When pastor said how to combat an evil, unbelieving heart

is in mincing oneself in the community of saints,

in the care,

in watchfulness of the local church,

in the preaching of God's word,

in the exhortation of fellow believers.

Here, the passage is saying, how do you,

when you have this hard heart, what do you do?

Run back to the church,

which runs to the teaching of the Lord,

which runs to the love of Christ.

It says, be careful that we don't become hard-hearted.

So I don't want to become a man

that spends years and years in the church

and doesn't have a soft heart to hearing what God is saying,

what God is calling us to do.

I don't want to have a hard heart when God goes,

hey, you need to care for that couple over there.

The Holy Spirit speaks.

You go, hey, you got to reach out to them.

You got to care for them.

I want to have a soft heart to listen to what God has.

Preacher, just crying out, going, hey, listen.

And he's speaking to the gathering of people,

some who had trusted Christ, some who have heard it,

some who were on the fence, some were like, I don't know.

And he's saying, don't be hard-hearted.

Don't come to a place where you miss what God has for you.

One book defined hard-hearted as the opposite

of a tender heart, the opposite of a tender heart,

one that is easily penetrated by the word of God,

is easily impressed by its teaching,

is moved by God's love and is touched

and won over by God's great redemptive work.

See, a hard heart is opposite of that.

And you may be here this morning, you hear this and go,

yeah, pastor, I sure wish they would have stirred me up.

I know what they did.

And you've been heard in the church.

Can I tell you that church is full of people

who fall short of the glory of God.

But we must keep our eyes on Jesus

and what he did and what he calls us to.

So to fight against this hard-heartedness,

we seek the church and the love

that should be in the church, pointing us to Jesus.

And maybe if you're honest, it's been years

where you hear about stirring one another up

to love and good works, but if you're honest,

that hasn't been church in a long time.

Maybe this morning, you hear the Holy Spirit

softening your heart,

run to the life that he has for you,

stirring one another up to love and good works.

Maybe you're in here and the truth is

you've become hard-hearted.

There's such a warning here.

The Bible says, hey, listen to the call.

Today is the day of salvation.

Hear the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart.

And some of you, you're running down the path

where your heart is becoming harder and harder.

And you're going, yeah, one day I'll follow,

one day I'll follow.

And your heart is becoming harder and harder

to the truth of Jesus Christ.

Today, be the day that you follow.

Be the day where you stop, repent of your sins,

and turn to Jesus.

Respond to the Holy Spirit today

and confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Let us consider how to stir one another up

to love and good works.

May we be challenged, for those of us who know Christ,

that this would be a constant thought,

a constant thought of how can I stir one another up?

In our church, being right at a place

where there's greeters, what are they doing?

Stirring one another up.

There's a parking lot crew and they're crazy

in the parking lot.

What is their desire, to stir one another up?

Our nursery team back there, what are they hoping?

Stir one another up.

Kids team or student team or young adults,

like it's amazing, there's a stirring going on.

We look at the student group and the young adult,

there's the stirring.

May God soften our heart to hear how us believers

were called to stir one another up, to love good work.

Let's stand together, worship team's gonna come.

Pray, Lord God, thank you for your salvation.

May this week we think about stirring one another up.

Sometimes in the difficult situations,

and sometimes just in those loving, cheerful ones.

Thank you, Lord, we praise you

and pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

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