Motivational Gifts #7: The Gift of Exhortation and Why We Need Each Other

The motivational gifts of Romans 12 explain why believers see the same situation so differently, and why they need one another to see the whole picture. In this seventh message of the series, Dr. William P. Hohman reviews prophecy, serving and teaching, then turns to the gift of exhortation: the encouragers who act as the mouth of the body of Christ. He shows how understanding each person’s motivation turns criticism into appreciation and helps us obey the command to love one another.

This message continues from Motivational Gifts #6: The Gift of Teaching, Its Strengths and Pitfalls. Below you will find the full video, a structured summary, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This teaching from NTC Ministries was posted on August 1, 2023. Dr. Hohman opens with a smile, promising to get through one gift today, and prays that the Holy Spirit would speak to each listener individually and bring more of His anointing.

The message moves from God as the giver of perfect gifts, through Romans 12 and the danger of comparing ourselves with others, to a review of the first three motivational gifts. Most of the time goes to the exhorter: what the gift is, who carried it in Scripture, its strengths, and the pitfalls to watch for. It ends with a call to return to our first love and to love one another.

God, the Perfect Gift-Giver

Dr. Hohman begins with gifts. From the very beginning, the kingdom has been about gifts: the first thing God did after creating Adam was give him all the works of His hands. Adam gave it away to Satan, and corruption came upon everything. Yet God kept giving, and the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). He never takes them back.

We give better gifts to the people we know best, he notes, and God knows us better than we know ourselves. That means the gifts He has given us are perfect; we simply need to understand them. He compares it to owning a car for five years before learning that the key fob could do far more than lock and unlock the doors. God wants us to know all the good things He has placed in us.

That is why he points to Philemon 6, quoted earlier that morning: the sharing of our faith becomes effective by acknowledging every good thing in us in Christ Jesus. Understanding the motivational gifts helps us understand one another, and ourselves, so that we stop feeling like the odd one out simply because we are different.

The Old Testament foundation is Psalm 46:1–5: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, so we will not fear even though the earth be removed. He links it to 1 Corinthians 12:7, where the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the profit of all. He teaches that manifestation means getting up and over problems and circumstances. Our gifts are one way God becomes that present help.

The Seven Motivational Gifts in Romans 12

The series rests on Romans 12:4–8. We have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. The passage lists seven gifts: prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading (which Dr. Hohman calls organization) and mercy. These show our position or function in life, and they describe what motivates us to function the way we do.

People usually have a combination of all the gifts, he explains, but one or two are dominant. He calls the dominant one the foundational gift. Once you learn the gifts, you begin to see them in others and understand why they do what they do. It is one reason the ministry he leads does not rely on detailed job descriptions: people who understand how they function can simply go for it.

Paul warns against those who measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves (2 Corinthians 10:12). We all wear motivational glasses. An organizer leading a project can seem controlling, because he wants every part coordinated. A mercy-motivated person can be hurt by someone motivated by prophecy, who seems blunt. A person with a burden to give or serve can become upset that others do not share it. Dr. Hohman’s counsel is to stop asking why others do not see things your way and start watching how they are motivated.

He quotes Don and Katie Fortune’s book Discover Your God-Given Gifts: God has purposely limited and focused our giftedness so that we must work together and depend on each other to grasp the whole truth. Then he retells the parable of six blind men and an elephant. One felt its side and called it a wall; others felt the tusk, trunk, leg, ear and tail and called it a spear, a snake, a tree, a fan and a rope.

No one was altogether right, and no one was entirely wrong. Only together did they see the whole elephant. So it is with our motivational gifts. We each need other people’s viewpoints for a complete picture, which also frees us from having to excel at everything. We can find the people who do and let them do it.

Love One Another, Like We Love a Sunset

For the body of Christ to function, all the gifts have to be in operation. But Dr. Hohman stresses that the New Testament tells us to love one another thirteen times. It is the new command Jesus gave (John 13:34). Understanding someone is not the same as loving them, he says, but when we see the value in people, that is created by love.

He points out how easily we praise creation and despise people. We look at trees, waterfalls and sunsets and say how beautiful, then look at people and say how rotten. Some of what people do is evil, he admits, but God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). He reminds the church of Saul, who imprisoned women and children, and yet Jesus met him on the road (Acts 9:1–5). The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).

In fact, creation is corrupted too. Romans 8:19–21 says creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God, and that it was subjected to futility. Dr. Hohman explains futility as something that cannot fulfill its purpose. Creation will be delivered into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and in the meantime believers are ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18–19).

Born-again believers are new creations, perfected forever (Hebrews 10:14), but corruption is still at work around us. So he urges the church to love people the way we love sunrises, flowers and snow. Because others are part of his life, he says, he is in a sense motivated every way, drawing on gifts he does not carry himself.

Prophecy, Serving and Teaching: A Review

Before reaching the new gift, Dr. Hohman reviews the first three motivational gifts in the order Romans 12 lists them. The table below gathers the body-part picture and the key traits he gives for each one, including the exhorter covered in this message.

Prophecy, in this sense, is not seeing devils under every rock. Those motivated this way are the seers and watchdogs of the church. He recalls the early days of the church, meeting in a bowling alley, when an unmarried couple came forward to receive Jesus and the religious front row demanded he put them out. He refused. About a month later the young woman told him they could no longer live together and needed to marry, and they did. That, he says, is the difference between perceiving and being a critical Pharisee.

Servers find joy in short-term goals and can grow frustrated with long, multi-step projects, so they need organizers who break the work into bite-sized pieces. Teachers love to study; he compares them to the robot in the movie Short Circuit crying out for input. He notes that the Greek word he gives for teaching means to instruct, clarify, illuminate, simplify and illustrate.

The teacher’s principle of success is Joshua 1:8: meditate on the Word day and night, and you will make your way prosperous and have good success. Revelation, he says, has nothing to do with our thinking capacity.

The Gift of Exhortation: The Mouth of the Body

Romans 12:8 says, “he who exhorts, in exhortation.” Dr. Hohman reads the New Living Translation’s wording: if your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. Every gift meets opposition. A giver may see a gift misused, and an encourager may find that no one encourages him. The temptation is to quit. His answer: keep functioning, because Satan will use every tool to keep you from fulfilling your purpose.

Exhorters are the mouth of the body, the cheerleaders who want believers to grow and mature. The Greek word he gives is parakaleo: para, alongside, and kaleo, to call. It means to call near, entreat, implore, encourage and comfort. Exhorters are practical and positive, and they draw on real-life experiences, saying, in effect, look what God did for this person; He can do it for you too.

Joseph was such an encourager that the apostles renamed him Barnabas, son of encouragement (Acts 4:36). When John Mark turned back, Paul and Barnabas disagreed so sharply that they split (Acts 15:37–39). Barnabas took Mark and encouraged him, and later Paul wrote that Mark was useful to him for ministry (2 Timothy 4:11).

Dr. Hohman tells of a couple whose marriage was on the rocks. He asked Gordy, a single man in the church and a quiet encourager, to let the husband stay with him. After about a month the husband went home, and the marriage has been strong ever since. He also tells of a golf tournament in Florida where he and Paul spent the day encouraging the most negative man on the course. That man’s name was drawn for the top prize, a two-week trip to Ireland, and the encouragement opened the door to share the Lord with him.

Paul, he says, was a great exhorter, using the phrase I exhort you 14 times in his letters. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1 he urges and exhorts believers to abound more and more. He told the Corinthians they were still babes, fed with milk, because envy, strife and divisions showed they were carnal (1 Corinthians 3:1–3).

Then Paul exhorted them to run to win the prize, to be temperate in all things and to discipline the body (1 Corinthians 9:24–27). The more we mature and walk in love, Dr. Hohman says, the more we can receive from God and from the ministries He sends us. Paul knew how to receive revelation, having been shown things not lawful to utter (2 Corinthians 12:4–7).

For exhorters especially, he highlights Romans 12:12: rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. There will be seasons when an encourager lands in a nest of discouraged people with no one encouraging him. Keep going, he says, because you have a purpose to fulfill. The key to the exhorter’s ministry is accepting God’s design in his own life and the sovereignty of God.

Strengths and Pitfalls of the Exhorter

Dr. Hohman defines the exhorter as one who motivates himself and others to grow closer to God. He describes them as people-oriented, eager for discussion and brainstorming, and in need of feedback. They are forward thinking, action oriented and practical, and they recognize when hardship will bring spiritual growth.

That last trait can surprise people. He recalls a pastor from Ohio who called him because a youth minister had left to start a church across the street. Dr. Hohman answered, “Praise the Lord, good for you,” and said God was going to move. The pastor wanted sympathy and did not speak to him for over a year, but the exhorter saw growth coming.

Exhorters also love unity, confront problems, are decisive and see people through God’s eyes as He wants them to be. That is why many become counselors. A Christian counselor, he says, is somebody that sees for you until you learn to see for yourself. They are non-judgmental, meet people where they are, read the Bible for practical application and prefer to evangelize by living a Christlike life.

The pitfalls are real too. Exhorters can set goals others are not ready for and expect too much too soon, so people become projects instead of relationships. They can be opinionated, interrupt, trust their own counsel too much, or give in too easily under pressure. Others can lean on them as a crutch. And because they want the best for people, they can value experience above Scripture, as with a minister who accepted his son’s prophecy over several clear verses.

Dr. Hohman closes with Revelation 2:4: the church at Ephesus did great things but had left its first love. The first commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul and strength, and the second is to love our neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39). Exhorters carry an energy that the body needs passed around, because everyone, including the exhorter, goes through hardship.

He adds that being forsaken is good company: David, Paul and Jesus all knew it, and even if father and mother forsake us, the Lord will take care of us (Psalm 27:10). The closing prayer asks God to help believers look not only on their own things but on the things of others (Philippians 2:4), because knowledge without love is nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).

Living It Out This Week

Dr. Hohman asks how many see themselves as exhorters, and several hands go up. Whatever your foundational gift, these steps from the motivational gifts teaching can help you put it to work:

• Acknowledge the good in you. Following Philemon 6, thank God for the specific gifts He placed in you in Christ.
• Watch before you judge. When someone handles a task differently, ask what motivates them before you criticize.
• Stop comparing. Be what you were made to be, without envy or pride, and let others excel where you do not.
• Encourage one person on purpose. Like Barnabas with John Mark, take time with someone others have written off.
• Keep going when no one encourages you. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and stay constant in prayer.
• Return to your first love. Let relationship with God and people come before projects and mechanics.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Opening prayer: ears to hear
• 1:06 The kingdom is about gifts
• 4:27 Philemon 6 and Psalm 46
• 7:34 Romans 12: seven motivational gifts
• 8:48 The dominant or foundational gift
• 12:01 Stop comparing and criticizing
• 15:54 Six blind men and the elephant
• 18:11 Love one another, thirteen times
• 20:38 Romans 8: creation subjected to futility
• 24:03 Review: the gift of prophecy
• 26:36 The couple at the bowling alley
• 28:44 Review: the gift of serving
• 30:40 Review: the gift of teaching
• 34:13 The exhorter: Romans 12:8
• 39:55 The golf tournament story
• 42:04 Parakaleo and Barnabas
• 44:22 Gordy and the struggling marriage
• 46:21 Paul the exhorter: 1 Thessalonians 4:1
• 49:37 Run to win: 1 Corinthians 9
• 53:11 Romans 12:12 for encouragers
• 55:53 Traits of an exhorter
• 1:01:24 Pitfalls to watch for
• 1:04:58 Revelation 2:4: your first love
• 1:07:55 Closing prayer

Motivational Gifts Series

This message is part of a ten-part teaching series at NTC Ministries. Start from the beginning or continue where this one leaves off:

• First message: Motivational Gifts #1: The River, the Streams and the 21 Gifts of God
• Previous: Motivational Gifts #6: The Gift of Teaching, Its Strengths and Pitfalls
• You are here: Motivational Gifts #7: The Gift of Exhortation and Why We Need Each Other
• Next: Motivational Gifts #8: The Gift of Giving, the Arms of the Body of Christ

Frequently Asked Questions

How should an exhorter respond to someone who stays negative?

Dr. Hohman admits the hardest thing for an encourager is someone who sees only the dark side and answers every encouragement with “yeah, but.” He does not tell encouragers to avoid such people. Instead, he suggests not investing as much in them: sow some seeds and move on. He also advises encouragers to focus on believers who want to grow, because they will respond far more positively to what the exhorter has to give.

Why do motivated helpers sometimes need to be told what to do?

Dr. Hohman explains that most people do not understand the way they function, so they want to be told exactly what to do and how. He distinguishes a helps ministry, where people need instructions, from a ministry of helps, where people see what needs doing and figure it out. Both are valid. Understanding the motivational gifts helps people grow in confidence about how God made them.

Can an exhorter’s encouragement ever go wrong?

Yes. Because exhorters want the best for people, they can take a verse out of context or trust an experience over what the Bible says. Dr. Hohman describes a minister who held to his son’s prophecy even when shown several scriptures that contradicted it. Exhorters can also become a crutch, interfering with God’s plan for a person. The safeguard is keeping Scripture above experience and relationship above projects.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Romans 12:4–8 — the seven motivational gifts
• Romans 12:12 — rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation
• Philemon 6 — acknowledging every good thing in you
• Psalm 46:1–5 — a very present help in trouble
• 2 Corinthians 10:12 — comparing ourselves is not wise
• Romans 8:19–21 — creation waits for the sons of God
• Acts 4:36 — Barnabas, son of encouragement
• 1 Corinthians 9:24–27 — run to obtain the prize
• Revelation 2:4 — you have left your first love

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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