Stirring One Another Toward Love and Good Works

Hebrews 10:24-25 calls the people of God to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. The text does not call for quick daps, Sunday smiles, warm greetings, and then everybody goes home untouched. Consider one another means paying close attention, looking with love, care, and compassion, and being intentional enough to notice where somebody needs encouragement, prayer, challenge, or a push toward Jesus.

God used a man named Shelton Coleman to show what that kind of life looks like. God put a former street dude, former dope boy, now living for Jesus, in front of a young man who was sick and tired of being sick and tired. God used that brother to pick him up, drive him to church, take him to Bible study, worship in the car, and live out a real example. That kind of influence was not random. That kind of impact came from a man already impacted by God.

The Holy Spirit supplies the love that makes this possible. The Spirit spreads the love of God in the heart and enables God’s people to walk different. The world may be dog eat dog, crabs in a barrel, selfish, greedy, vain, and conceited, but God’s people are sheep following Jesus, even sheep in the midst of wolves. The call of the household of faith is to pursue peace, edify one another, and build up what God is doing in another person.

The image of stirring shows how powerful believers can be in one another’s lives. Stirring can happen in the wrong direction, like old friends hyping each other up toward sin, violence, lust, pride, or foolishness. Stirring can also happen in a holy direction, where people get around other people who make them want to pray, worship, open the Bible, let go of old junk, and walk in holiness. The church needs authentic, Spirit-filled followers of Christ, not perfect people, but people who know Jesus and are actually following Him.

Community matters because what gets poured into a person has a way of coming back out. Bad company corrupts good habits, and Scripture says, “Do not be deceived,” because the danger is easy to underestimate. Healthy fellowship creates an atmosphere where faith can breathe, grow, and get stirred again. Hebrews warns that unstirred hearts can drift into unbelief and depart from the living God, so love must be willing to be vulnerable, even when that comes with risk. God must do the first stirring, and then God’s people stir one another toward love, good works, prayer, holiness, and a deeper hunger for Him.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Consideration is not casual kindness. Hebrews calls for more than being nice, smiling, and keeping things surface level. Biblical consideration means paying attention with spiritual intelligence, noticing where another person needs care, challenge, prayer, or encouragement. Love becomes intentional when it refuses to let people stay invisible in the room. [42:45]
• 2. Stirring needs Spirit-filled community. The life of faith was never meant to be lived disconnected from people who help stir holy desire. A believer can be hyped up toward Jesus the same way old circles once hyped up sin, but now the fire is for prayer, Scripture, worship, and obedience. Healthy community gives the soul a place where godly hunger can catch flame again. [49:10]
• 3. Bad company still corrupts. Scripture’s warning is not just about obviously wicked people, but about the slow deception of influence. What surrounds a person starts shaping what seems normal, desirable, and possible. A circle can either choke spiritual breath like smoke in the lungs or create space where faith can breathe. [61:43]
• 4. Love opens the guarded heart. Real stirring requires vulnerability, and vulnerability always carries the possibility of disappointment. Love does not mean foolish openness to everyone, but it does mean letting down enough guard for trusted people to speak, pray, challenge, and encourage. A closed heart may feel safer, but it also blocks the very help God may be sending. [68:10]
• 5. God must stir first. The deepest hunger for God cannot be manufactured by personality, hype, or human effort. God Himself must stir the heart toward Himself, because only the Creator can satisfy the thirst He exposes. When God stirs first, gathered believers can then stir one another with substance instead of empty religious energy.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [34:56] - Opening Gratitude and Prayer Support
• [36:41] - Hebrews Calls Believers to Stir
• [37:00] - A Call That Changed a Life
• [42:21] - What Consider One Another Means
• [48:39] - Stirring Up Love and Good Works
• [49:35] - Community That Catches Fire
• [53:11] - Intentional Impact Beyond Words
• [56:07] - Negative Stirring and Holy Stirring
• [59:52] - Bad Company and Healthy Circles
• [66:36] - The Danger of Unstirred Hearts
• [69:01] - What Gets Poured In Comes Out
• [69:53] - Prayer for God to Stir Hearts

1. In Hebrews 10:24-25, what are believers told to do for one another, and what role does gathering together play in that? [49:24]
2. What are some concrete examples of “considering one another” that go beyond greetings, smiles, and surface-level kindness? [42:45]
3. What pictures or examples help show the difference between negative stirring and holy stirring? [56:07]
4. According to 1 Corinthians 15:33 and the examples discussed, what kind of effect can a person’s circle or environment have on their life? [59:52]

1. Hebrews 10 says to “consider” one another in order to stir up love and good works. Why does that word “consider” call for more than simply being friendly at church? [43:10]
2. Romans 14:19 calls believers to pursue what makes for peace and mutual building up. What does that suggest about the kind of atmosphere Christians should help create around one another? [54:05]
3. Hebrews 3:12 warns about an unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. How does that warning help explain why believers need encouragement, exhortation, and real community? [01:06:48]
4. “Bad company corrupts good morals” comes with the words “Do not be deceived.” Why is influence so easy to underestimate, even for sincere believers? [01:01:49]

1. Who has been a real spiritual influence in your life, and what did that person do that actually stirred you toward Jesus? How might that example shape the way you treat others now? [40:18]
2. Where is it easiest for you to settle for quick greetings and surface-level connection instead of truly considering people? What would deeper, more intentional care look like in your actual week? [01:04:02]
3. What kinds of people, habits, media, or environments have been stirring your heart lately? When that stuff gets poured into you, what usually comes back out of you? [01:09:28]
4. Is there a person or group in your life that tends to stir up impatience, lust, pride, anger, compromise, or unbelief? What wisdom might be needed to guard your heart there? [01:01:43]
5. Where do you most need holy stirring right now: prayer, Scripture, worship, repentance, serving, or letting go of old junk? What kind of community would help that hunger grow? [57:06]
6. Love requires some vulnerability. Is there a trusted believer you need to open up to more honestly so they can encourage, challenge, or pray for you? What makes that hard for you? [01:08:10]
7. God must stir the heart first. What would it look like for you this week to ask God for a deeper hunger for Him before asking for anything else? [01:09:53]