Exhorting in Ministry

Romans 12:8

Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

I want my life to be one of exhortation and not a life of destruction. The ministry is supposed to be about exhorting people, and not destroying them. You will never exhort people without doing it on purpose. Let me share eight ways we can exhort people in ministry from Romans 12:8.

First, stay in your area. In verse 6, God teaches us to prophesy according to the proportion of faith. This is teaching us to stay in our area. You cannot exhort people to be what they are supposed to be when you're busy trying to meddle in another area. By staying in your own area, you have a better chance of exhorting people to continue serving God.

Second, use the ministry to build people. Verse 7 says, let us wait on our ministering. God is teaching us to use our ministry to build people instead of using people to build our ministry. You will be able to exhort people to serve God when your mindset is to use every ministry you have to build people. Our job is to build people; God's job is to build His church. Stop trying to do God's job in building a big church, and do your job to use your church to build people, and you will see God will build people and your church.

Third, God tells us to exhort with simplicity. Don't make serving God difficult. Point people to do these things: walk with God, stay faithful to every church service, tithe, and go soul winning, and you will build lives.

Fourth, be diligent. You must be diligent to watch that you do right. It is hard to exhort others to do right when you are not doing right. You must be diligent in your personal walk with God to stay faithful in God’s Word, in prayer, and soul winning, and staying away from sin if you will exhort others. Your personal walk with God in these areas will come through as you try to exhort others.

Fifth, be cheerful. It is hard to exhort others when you have a negative spirit. Having a cheerful spirit always exhorts others. If you stop feeding on the negative of society and your church, and if you stop focusing on yourself, you can have a cheerful spirit that will exhort others.

Sixth, be merciful. Nobody exhorts others who is not merciful. You don't have to destroy people because they have done wrong. God never destroyed us because we have done wrong; rather, he restored us to usefulness because of his mercy. You must be merciful to people if you want to exhort them. They will be hard enough on themselves; you just need to be merciful and encourage them.

Seventh, be real. Fakes are always revealed. Make the Christian life that you live 24/7. People will spot a fake in a moment, but the real person is the one who changes lives and exhorts others to live for Christ.

Eighth, be fervent. Being fervent means not to be lazy. You can't be lazy and build lives at the same time. It is the one who tirelessly works in the Lord's work that makes the greatest impact for Christ on others. Being fervent means that you are willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of helping others. Those who build the most lives are those who are fervent in what they do for God.