Being an Encourager
Hebrews 3:7–13
September 21, 2025
Have you ever noticed the times when scripture quotes scripture? It’s really unique and another indication the Word is alive and active. It’s a powerful reminder that the writers have already had their hearts and spirits touched by the power of God’s Word through the Holy Spirit.
It can also be beautiful and powerful because, in a crazy sense, when we read a passage and think - - - I’ve seen this before.
Where was it? Then we search and find it. It’s great because we’ve been in the Word and recognize it. God’s Word is resonating within us.
It’s powerful because we see God at work. It’s a continuum of His plans and actions coming alive right before us. We see what happened in the OT is still a powerful force in the NT.
Don’t we do that with Jesus? We see so many verses / prophecies in the OT which points us toward Jesus, and that gives us hope. It comforts us because we see God’s promises and purpose at work
We’re in our second week of looking at encouragement. What is it? What does the word even represent? We’re going to get there today and then look at biblical examples in the coming weeks.
So, where am I going with this talk about scripture quoting scripture? Great question!!
Sometimes the only way to understand Scripture is through a wider and deeper Holy Spirit inspired reading of Scripture. I want you to notice how the Bible does this.
We’re in Hebrews 3. And we’re going to see some fun things in today’s scripture. As we talk about encouragement, we’re learning it’s not just a pat on the back and walk away, thinking we’ve been an encourager.
That’s not the biblical message at work. There’s a much deeper context for us to grasp.
We’re in Hebrews 3:12-13. But if we back up a few verses in Hebrews 3, we see scripture quoting scripture.
The writer is quoting scripture from Psalm 95, which is recounting the events of Exodus 17. In a sense it’s scripture quoting scripture quoting scripture.
Exodus 17 to Psalm 95 to Hebrews 3
When we see this . . . it’s God telling us something He really wants us to grasp! It’s important for us to come to a full understanding. That’s why I’m taking the time to go back over this.
If you know Psalm 95, you quickly recognize these verses. If you have a Bible, turn to Hebrews 3, beginning in verse 7.
You can even look at Psalm 95, beginning in verse 7, since these passages are very similar. We read - - - -
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion (Meribah), on the day of testing in the wilderness (Massah),
9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
That’s a pretty brutal statement from God. They shall not enter my rest. WHY? Because the people had hardened their hearts.
The writer of Hebrews is remembering Psalm 95, which recounts events in Exodus 17. It’s the story of the people being faced with a lack of water while they were in the wilderness at a place called Meribah (which by the way — means quarreling).
Rather than leaning into the God who had provided for them every step of the way, they began to bitterly quarrel among themselves and angrily grumbled against their leaders.
It was a defining moment, a place where their faith was tested and failed. It turned out to be the place where their hearts continued to be hardened.
Now, in light of this context, in light of these harden hearted, yet God delivered people, look at our main text again - - - -
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.
Over the course of our lives, all of us have been through difficult trials. Unjust treatment, unforeseen losses, tragic deaths, life-stealing diseases, betrayals, relationship failures, and all types of pain and suffering.
These events can create wilderness seasons that can go on for long periods of time.
These are the places where we slowly and often imperceptibly lose faith in God. We generally wouldn’t identify it that way, but we begin to shrink back from real trust in God.
We believe in principle - - - - but not in an everyday kind of trusting reality. We take on a wilderness wound, and our hearts slowly begin to harden.
And here is the key. Which, I’ve found so true in life!!
We don’t really choose hardness . . . . as much as we fail to pursue healing.
Do you know what I mean? We allow a wall of protection to be constructed around our heart, and while it does protect us in some ways, it also slowly and imperceptibly isolates us from God and others. It’s a wall which doesn’t allow the power of the Holy Spirit to enter our woundedness — — ultimately to bring healing.
So, we don’t really choose to have a hardened heart. That’s not what we wanted, yet at the same time, we don’t pursue the power of the Holy Spirit to bring us healing.
This is how sin deceives us. We mistakenly focus on sin at the level of our behaviors, but our behaviors are merely the symptoms of the sickness.
Think about a child who acts out. That’s their behavior, but it’s really a symptom of something deeper that’s occurring in their heart, soul and mind.
We tend to focus on the outward action and don’t fix what’s really at issue.
Sin, in its deepest essence, is the condition of an unbelieving heart, and an unbelieving or untrusting heart inevitably becomes a hardened heart. And a hardened heart can be the most dangerous place on earth.
For example, when we choose to allow bitterness to overwhelm us, that’s the outward appearance, but the inner struggle is different, it’s the inner hurt and that’s what leads us to commit the sinful act. It’s true across the board and ultimately it’s a deep commentary about who God is in our lives. (That’s another series too)
It’s usually a subtle occurrence. It’s satan, that deceiver and liar, who seeks to steal and kill and destroy us - - - - all the while Jesus is offering us abundant life.
So what does encouragement have to do with any of this? Psalm 95 says, “Today, if only you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. . . .”
Encouragement, in the biblical sense, is about personally hearing the voice of God from another person. This means we become the encouraging voice of God for others.
Not that we are God or even claim to have received a word from God, but our words and actions are like God’s words to another person.
They can bring the power of God’s grace, power and presence into someone’s life.
As we encourage one another, we learn to speak to one another in the voice of God in the humble authority of Jesus and in the loving power of the Holy Spirit.
This doesn’t come to us naturally. It only comes supernaturally, and we have to learn it.
You see, it’s so easy to reduce encouragement to speaking a positive word to another person. And let me be the first to say there’s nothing wrong with that. We all need atta boys and atta girls. But biblical encouragement is much deeper and richer than this.
This is part of the beauty that the Word of God was written in Greek. Because when we hear we’re supposed to encourage - - - - - we think give a quick affirmation and move on. But we’re falling short of what God wants from us. Most of us have been guilty of that on many occasions.
The Greek word is pa?a?a?ete.
Par - a - kah - lee - te.
It comes from the Greek word “parakaleó.”
At it’s deepest level it means “to come close beside another person and call or speak into the depths of their being.” It’s doing it from up close and personal.
So, just stop for a moment and take that in. To encourage another person means we walk along someone and we seek to speak into the depths of their being. That’s going pretty deep with someone. It’s not just a simple, good job.
This is what Jesus does. It’s who He is. Notice the way Jesus spoke to the people and to His disciples. He spoke life into them. That’s encouragement in a biblical sense.
And then after the Passover, Jesus is speaking life into His disciples and He tells them - - - -
16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another ADVOCATE to help you and be with you forever. - John 14:16
Jesus knows His time is coming to an end. He’s going to be betrayed and crucified. So, He seeks to bring comfort to the disciples and tells them a Helper / an advocate / a comforter is going to come and be with them forever.
He’s talking about the Holy Spirit. The one who comes alongside us and within us, to fill us ... and advocates by encouraging, comforting, and helping us.
This is where it gets fun. The Greek word for “advocate” is “parakléton or as some say, parakletos.
But, there’s a connection that we miss. And we miss it because it’s Greek!
Here’s what’s so amazing about what we see in the Greek. So, humor me for about 2 minutes - - - -
Here’s the words for you in Greek. Look at the similarities. The root for all of them is PARA.
pa?a?a?e?te PAR AK LEE TE Encourage
pa?????t?? PAR AK LEE TOS Helper / Advocate
pa?a?a??? PAR AK LEO
This is the root word to both!!
The phrase in the first 4 letters is the root meaning of the word and it literally means “FROM CLOSE BESIDE.”
That’s part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. But it’s also what an encourager does. We come close to one another and offer life.
So as the Holy Spirit fills you and me with the presence of Jesus, He leads us to come close alongside each other to speak into the depths of one another’s beings as He inspires us. That’s called biblical encouragement.
We are standing in the position and place of Jesus, participating in the work of the Holy Spirit. It’s following His leading and becoming an encourager to those whom Jesus wants us to encourage. Jesus is the Master Encourager, and if Jesus is in us, we become the servant encouragers.
It is so important for us to understand and begin to grasp this distinction. Speaking a good word, a kind word, is always a good thing. Speaking a word from God is always a better thing.
And the great thing is we can do both. But understand the difference. Why do we need God words of encouragement? Because it is our relationship with God that is under attack. Step back for a moment and remember our context. It’s vital for us - - - -
Take care, brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
It is easy to read this and think, “Of course I believe in God.” The assault of darkness, evil, and even suffering and hardship is not to get us to stop believing in God.
It is to cause us to stop believing God.
Do you see the difference? It’s an easy thing to believe in God. It is another thing entirely — to believe God. Believing in God is an affirmation of faith. Believing God is faith itself.
We don’t need to know God is with us in principle. We must know it, trust it, believe it, in reality.
There are lots of people who believe in God, and yet their hearts have slowly turned away from the living God.
Again, Scripture tells us - - - -
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.
Encouragement is the work of Jesus in and through His children, His disciples. That’s me and you.
That’s part of our call. It goes back to the question I asked last week . . . who has spoken this life into you? And who are you speaking this life into?
Make it a point to speak life into someone everyday.
It’s so easy to fall into this life of a hardened heart. We don’t seek it, but we embrace it, instead of healing and wholeness.
To encourage someone doesn’t mean we have to use a lots of words. Sometimes it’s the action behind the words which speaks volumes. Let me give you a final example.
A couple of weeks ago, Debbie and I went to a college football game to watch someone play.
After the game we were on the field talking to him and his parents. We were dissecting the game and his performance.
Then as we were standing there, his dad looked at him, and simply said, “I’m proud of you, I love you!”
That was it. It was easy to miss. It could be what all dad’s are supposed to say.
But it was the way he said it! It wasn’t that flippant I love you, I’m proud of you kind of statement. He looked at him, and said it with all seriousness and earnestness. He wanted his son to hear those words.
That’s a simple example of encouragement!
Come alongside someone and speak life into them. Impart or plant courage, faith, hope, power, grace, comfort or strength into someone. That’s part of my definition to encourage.
Next week, we’re going to start looking at some biblical example of encouragement.
That’s our assignment. Speak life into someone.
As long as it is TODAY!!
Encourage EVERY SINGLE DAY!!
