Encouragement
Hebrews 3
September 14, 2025
Something I’ve noticed over the years is that we are often totally unaware of how to meet the needs of the people we love.
A few years ago I preached through the 5 love languages, and yet, I want to look at something that is kind of related to love languages, but more about how to love someone.
It’s a topic I believe which is so lacking in our world and greatly impacts us.
Firstly, so you’re not wondering - - - - what are the 5 love languages? They are - - - -
Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Acts of Service
Receiving gifts
Physical Touch
I didn’t want you to be stuck thinking about them. Know what yours are, and what your loved ones love languages are, so that you can meet those needs and have yours met as well.
Back to what I want to talk about. It comes from a lot of reading lately about what seems like a pretty basic topic.
It’s encouragement!! How are we at it?
Personally, I know I’m not always great at it. I have no problem enouraging from our basic understanding of the word, but it goes deeper, and that’s where I and most people get lost.
So, over the next weeks, we’re going to talk about what the word means and how we can make that a real part of who we are.
I want to start by reading a passage from Hebrews 3. If you have a Bible, take a look at this passage.
Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians. And the writer is making the point that Jesus is greater than Moses. In the eyes of the Jews, nobody was greater than Moses and Abraham. They’re the patriarchs of the Jewish people.
Then he starts talking about the struggle with sin and unbelief. And then it seems like there’s this huge shift in what he’s saying. This series is based on these passages - - - -
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
13 But encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
15 As it is said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” - Hebrews 3:12-15
There’s a lot to this passage. Basically, we’re being told not to act like the Hebrew people did when they left Egypt and were traveling to Israel, the promised land. Don’t reject God. Don’t harden your hearts, even after witnessing all He’s done for you.
More on that next week.
The remedy comes in verse 13 - - - -
13 But encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
I have become more and more convinced that the greatest and most singular need of people who want to wake up, follow Jesus, and become imbued with his supernatural presence and power in the everyday world — which is holy love — is courage.
Now that may seem strange, yet courage is part of encouragement. We need to have courage put into us.
And we need it not just every now and then or before a big challenge or in the midst of a hard struggle or loss. So how often do we need to be encouraged?
Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” . . . That means - - - -
Every. Single. Day.
Every day? Yup, that’s what we read. And remember God is the one who knows our needs better than we do.
You might say - - - - But I don’t need encouragement. I’m good! I’m independent and don’t need idle cheering. I don’t need that half hearted pat on the back. Don’t make up something to say that’s nice.
Oh, your hair looks nice! Oh, nice shirt . . .
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?
But, that’s where we get it wrong. And we get it wrong because our hearts long for more, and it’s not happening. So, when someone walks alongside of us, we kind of reject those idle phrases of encouragement.
When we think of encouragement, we think of a William Wallace speech to his fear-filled warriors in Braveheart. It’s a great speech! One of my favorite movies!
Or maybe it’s Winston Churchill talking to the people of England, telling them ‘we’re not going to surrender.’ Or Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a dream” speech.
But encouragement, as the Bible reveals, is of another quality and magnitude. So, what would be a more biblical way to look at encouragement. Maybe a better definition, albeit it, a longer one would be something like - - - -
Participating with the Holy Spirit to extend grace to the heart and soul of others. Imparting life, love, courage, comfort, peace, strength, hope and faith as needed.
That’s a mouthfull and we’re going to process this over the coming weeks.
The definition is a work in process. It may change by the time we’re done with this series.
You see, to encourage isn’t just giving a pat on the back. That’s nice, but that’s not what we’re talking about in this series.
I’m talking about speaking into someone’s heart and soul. About filling another person with life, so when the storms hit, when the joys are to be celebrated, they have a basis which is filling them more and more.
And we do it through the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s not natural to encourage in this sense.
I know when I was coaching, I could encourage and say nice play, nice throw, nice shot - - - - but more than anything, and if you’ve ever coached, you’re aware of the default . . .
. . . you see what’s wrong, why the play didn’t work. Why they missed the block or didn’t make the shot.
We tend to be more critical, and that’s OK for training and helping, but what about the ways which we miss speaking life into someone. And that’s the struggle most of us have.
We’re taking a deep dive into encouragement. This isn’t the pat on your back, now get out of here. That’s not what God wants from us. He wants to go deeper. And Jesus and the disciples are great examples. Which we’ll look at during this series.
My hope is that as we learn more about what it means to encourage one another, it will change us. It will change your home, your work place, your family and friends and even your church.
Can you remember the last time someone deeply encouraged you? How about when you last deeply encouraged another person? What do you remember about these occasions?
Remember, it’s about speaking life into someone.
I want to give you an example. I’ve used this before, but it’s one of the greatest examples I can give of speaking life into someone. It’s personal!
As I was working on my doctorate, very honestly, I really didn’t think I could write that final paper and defend it. I was intimidated, anxious, nervous, scared and defeated before I started.
But Debbie encouraged me that I could do it. So, with trepidation I started writing. I had to turn in my first 2 chapters. I wrote in my style, knowing, grammar is my weak link. Debbie read and reread and questioned to the point she could have been a coauthor.
Finally, I sent in my first 2 chapters. Dr. David Larsen, who I had in one class was my primary reader. He was an intimidating figure with a booming voice. A great preacher and he had a photographic memory! Great!! Just what I wanted!
I finally received his response - - - -
Your initial draft is in hand - I love it! You have done a great job! There are of course matters we want to discuss in the oral defense. Dale, the form editor, will have some suggestions for your final draft; we will need to talk about the length. Thanks, by the way, for the reference list. We will now wait for Dr. Wayne Johnson's reaction - we will be patient because he has done very few of these. But you should be hearing from us fairly soon. Again, praise God. I am very pleased with what you have done. Yours as ever in Christ who is our hope, David L. Larsen Isa 54:10
My first thoughts were “Are you talking to me?”
I was shocked at what he wrote! Because I didn’t believe in myself. But he did! He spoke words of life into me!
There were criticisms and comments. Along the way he outlined 17 points of emphasis, to which the doctoral secretary gave me the best advice, he has stated he will not be ignored. He checks to see if you’ve responded to every comment he makes.
That’s the kind of encouragement I’m talking about. It’s not that pat on the back, that we do with our dogs, and their tail wags.
While it’s important to give some words of praise, we need to have our hearts and souls stirred by words which are NOT manufactured, but given to us through the Holy Spirit.
Look again at our primary verse - - - -
13 But encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
You know what a really important word is in this verse? It’s the first word: but.
This is a strategically placed word. It tells us to “encourage one another every single day, as long as it is called ‘Today.’” AND THIS IS IN contrast to something that has gone before.
It calls us to explore the context. The word BUT tells us something else is going on in the text that we need to examine. We’re going to start looking at this today, and come back to it next week as well.
You see, the context is fascinating. Look back to verse 12 - - - -
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
We must encourage one another daily as long as it is called “today” not because we all need more attaboys and attagirls . . . and pats on the back. Even though we do, but it’s way more serious than that.
This cuts to the very core of the human condition. The nature of fallen, broken people can be diagnosed as follows: “an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”
Though we’ve been saved from eternal death by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, sin still crouches at the door.
satan still prowls around like a roaring lion, waiting to devour us. He lies, he’s a thief looking to steal and kill and destroy us.
So, when we talk about this verse, this sin issue, we aren’t talking about the temptation and giving in to taking that last piece of pie. That’s not what this is about.
Behavior is a symptom. Sin is the disease. We need a far more robust understanding of what sin is and how sin works if we are to truly understand what grace is and how salvation works. (That’s another series)
Our typical view of sin and salvation is very transactional. I do this - - - you do that! End of the story and our salvation and heaven is assured. Done deal! Next!
Sin goes much deeper than our basic assumptions. It could be that verse 12 gives us a deeper, maybe a more succinct definition of what sin most deeply is: an “unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
This is why encouragement is so essential. Hear the text now with the context added when it comes to sin.
NOW, see to it brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today.’”
Our hearts can so easily be deceived. And an “unbelieving heart” can be unbelievably deceitful. Jeremiah calls is the way he sees it - - - -
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? - Jeremiah 17:9
Man, that bites!! None of us want to think of our hearts in this way! Do we? Who can understand our hearts? How about our motivations for doing what we do? It’s so complex, yet that’s what’s so amazing about this passage in Hebrews 3.
It cuts to the core of the issue and the reason to encourage.
Charlie Kirk?
Behavior management is not the cure for sin’s deceitfulness. That’s like taking an allergy pill for a broken leg. Or cough syrup thinking it will calm our anxiety. It doesn’t work.
The medicine that we need comes from the Holy Spirit. The remedy that I am seeing and taking in from the Holy Spirit is that in order to bring healing we need heavy doses of encouragement.
OKAY . . . . today was about planting the seeds.
I want to plant in your hearts, souls and minds the need for this heavy dose of encouragement.
Again, when’s the last time someone spoke these words of life into you and when did you do that for someone?
There’s more to come. For now, consider how you can speak words of encouragement into someone.
As long as it is today, encourage one another.
Don’t be as writer Jon Gordon talks about, don’t be an Energy Vampire! Don’t suck the life out of someone, add life!! Add life by being an encourager!
