A Provocative Sermon: Provoke One Another

[0:00] Hebrews 10, 24 through 25 talks about provoking one another.! Hebrews 10, 24, it says, And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

[0:25] I want to urge you today to be provocative, provocative, to be a provoker, to stimulate faith, to stir it up, to encourage it.

[0:36] And some things we should provoke. Firstly, we should provoke unto love. Encourage love, brotherly love, the love of the church, the love of the assembly, the gathering, the love of the truth.

[0:50] Our Lord says, love one another. Be a lover of God more than lover of pleasure. How we need to be stirred to that greater love, a greater love.

[1:02] Love the Lord thy God, it says, with all thy heart. Let that first love be refreshed, rekindled, renewed. Be provoked today, I pray. Be stirred, stirred up, stirred, disturbed, convinced, convicted of these truths.

[1:20] Let God tug on your heart strings. Be moved, be quickened by his spirit. How we need that prompting, don't we? That reminding, that prodding.

[1:32] We get that little prod, that provoking. Yes, I need to be stronger. I need to press on. I need to provoke one another.

[1:46] And myself be provoked. He takes that sharp sword of the spirit and he digs it in sometimes. His word, he jabs it at our heart and hearts.

[1:59] Where is God at? In our thinking, in our planning, in our priorities. Are we provoked to think of such things as really matter? Do we love him?

[2:11] We ought to be provoked in that, shouldn't we? Do we love him? Where has the love gone? Have we lost that, have we lost that air of excitement, of desire, of delight in our Lord?

[2:25] Are we driven by that passion, that purpose? Do our convictions mean anything such that it's translated into our shoes, where we walk, how we live, what we do, who we are?

[2:39] Or are we complacent, careless? Let us learn to love him. Love him. He is love, personified, incarnate.

[2:53] Follow in his steps. Be a lover of the truth. So let's be provoked unto love. Unto love. Secondly, provoke unto good works, it says.

[3:07] Some good works we need to be provoked in. Faith, zeal, witness, fellowship. We can be a healthy, vibrant church. But we must take the message outside the walls.

[3:21] To join the rescue effort. To take it out there. To people. To join in the war effort, if you like. There's that sense of, that combat of, that fight we're called to fight.

[3:34] But there's a generation in crisis all around. A generation without morals, without truth. Without that moral compass, it's gone.

[3:46] And they're seeking answers. And we need to impart that to them. Friends, how we need to mobilize and reach out.

[3:58] The Christian life isn't meant to be boring. It's a life of action. One we can experience and apply. Life with a capital L. Life.

[4:10] Life more abundant. How we need to be provoked unto good works. God cares about people. He wants people in his family. He wants his church to be his family.

[4:21] To be a growing, loving family. That's what my heart is. I'm sure your heart too. That we will be such a family of God. Hang out with God's people.

[4:32] Be part of the action. With an arm reaching out. Inviting others to be a part. We need to rescue the spiritually dying. Let us be provoked.

[4:44] Motivated to that action. Soul winning action. It's time to rally. To rouse. To not to relax. But to awaken. To stir up.

[4:55] Let the Holy Spirit who is that divine heavenly wind from heaven. Let him stir you as wind would ruffle feathers. We need that stirring, don't we?

[5:05] That provocation. To be provoked. To be fired up. To be convicted. To be convicted. I urge you to put aside the humdrum. To lay aside that which hinders.

[5:17] That which would make us careless and complacent. And stop the wishy-washy, she'll be right kind of attitude. That kind of thinking needs to go. Rather, may we be provoked.

[5:31] Galvanized. Inspired. Unto. Good works. Good works. Spur one another. Challenge one another. Urge one another. There's a work of love.

[5:43] A work to be done. Where is the life? The power? The blessing? Let's pray for it. Let's seek after God. Seek his face. His will. His leading.

[5:54] Be provoked. Be alerted. It's necessary. If necessary, be offended. Be upset. Be unhappy with yourself.

[6:08] Let's not settle for complacent and careless. Where we are wrong, let him sort us out.

[6:19] That's what we need, don't we? Provoking can mean making waves. Let God waken that love, that passion. Enflame it.

[6:30] Be provoked. Be worked up. Be enthused. Make a radical decision for Jesus Christ. This is no time to dilly-dally. Let God generate in you his power unto good works.

[6:44] To do his works. To do his works. That in the ordinary and everyday we might have that sense that there's something supernatural happening.

[6:55] Even in our day-by-day lives. What do I mean? The works that God has for you may be different from what he has for me. We've all got a work to do. A job to do.

[7:07] Find what God has put on your heart to do. Find where God wants you to be. Find where he has a work for you to do and do it. Being provoked can be disturbing.

[7:20] It means we don't stay where we are. We don't stay in the status quo. We don't stay in the shallow. We exceed. We lift our effort.

[7:34] God the Holy Spirit is the comforter. God the Holy Spirit is the comforter. But he also discomforts people from staying in sin. He discomforts us. He challenges us such that we cannot stay there.

[7:48] We cannot rest there. It says of the Holy Spirit he will convict the world of judgment. Of righteousness. Of sin. When someone yells out fire.

[7:59] There's a discomforting. There's a disturbing of the sleeping ones in the building. The one who yells out fire wants to disturb. He wants to cause a discomfort. A waking up because it's necessary.

[8:11] It's needful. And it's important. An important message needs to be relayed. Romans 13.11 it says it is high time to awake out of sleep.

[8:24] For now is our salvation closer than when we believed. In 1 Corinthians 15.34 it says awake to righteousness and sin not.

[8:37] Wake up and be provoked today. And be a provoker of others too. To provoke others unto love and to good works. May the Lord provoke us to greater zeal.

[8:50] Amen. Let's pray. Lord we thank you that your word gives us such a stirring up. And Lord you say in your word that we should stir up ourselves.

[9:01] Lord to lay hold of you. Help us to be such a people. And to be good stirrers of others in these good things. In Jesus wonderful and precious name we ask.

[9:12] Amen. May the Lord bless you. And be stirred today. Go forward. Go forward.