9. Loves to do personal counseling.
This is one on one... the Exhorter preference. The Exhorter will
counsel a group, but the first love is one on one coaching and encouragement. It is easier to measure results when the counseling is one on one and that is a must fuel for the Exhorter--results. (When I learned this, I finally understood why is was so necessary for me to find out results of my prayers. It took a while for me to understand that prayers don't always have immediate results. God uses prayer to draw us into His plan as well as a way to test our hearts. After I learned that, it was okay not to have an immediate result to a prayer. I no longer got depressed when I prayed and prayed with no evident answer. God was in control and His will be done regardless of a result. Results are not answers, results are evidence, but not answers.)10. Will discontinue personal counseling if no effort to change is seen.
11. Is fluent in communication.
12. Views trials as opportunities to produce growth.
Now that you have read the whole book of Galatians, it should be easier for you to identify chapter and verses to illustrate the different aspects of an Exhorter. Also, by now, if you are strong in the gift of Exhortation, you should be extremely frustrated because there have not been Life Lessons in this week. You are asking yourself, “Yes, I understand these principles already; where are the Life applications? How is anyone to know how to apply this to their life? Where is the 1—2—3, step-by-step?” In fact you may have already jumped ahead and read this page because of your frustration.
In order to satisfy that need in the Exhorters taking this study and also to satisfy the teachers taking this study, we will focus on two things. The first is this: Write down a few of the different illustrations that Paul used in his writings to the churches. Galatians is full of them. I’ll start you off with one.
1.Last Will and Testament Gal 2:15
I just love Galatians because we find out lot of personal information about Paul. It is here we find out that Paul studied under Jesus Christ for three years in Arabia. It is here we find out that Paul met first with Peter and stayed with him for two weeks only seeing one other apostle, James— Jesus’ brother, when he went up to Jerusalem. We also find out he waited another fourteen years before meeting with the Christians in Jerusalem.
Paul did not need any authority from any of the apostles to spread the Gospel. He only recognized the authority from Jesus, Himself (Gal 1:11- 2:8). I am pointing this out because I want you to recognize this is not a quality or attribute of an Exhorter. It is a strong attribute of an Administrator. This is important because in Galatians we see Paul exhibit several attributes of the other gifts, too. This is very important because all we Christians have all the gifts, just in different proportions. The least of my gifts is Service, the greatest is Administrator.
This is a crucial point in our study. The reason is because we all are strong in one particular gift and we all have several attributes of other gifts. This is what makes us unique and uniquely fitted specifically for God’s purposes and His plan for our life. Look how God molded and taught Paul. God uniquely fitted Paul for his ministry to the Gentiles. Only Paul could fit perfectly into the work that God had prepared for him. And Paul understood motivational Spiritual gifts and his own ministry very clearly. He also understood why he was gifted with the attributes he had. No one can say Paul was a clear and straight forward writer. Some of his sentences do wander around a bit before getting to the point, however, Paul always had a strong point. He consistently used imagery and illustrations as did Jesus. Paul was “running the race” or “harvesting the harvest” or “being a slave for Jesus”. I hope you recognize these as life applications for Biblical principles. An excellent example of this is Paul’s recognition of God’s own allegory in Genesis.
Read Galatians 4:21-5:1 This is a most excellent example of real life depicting God’s principle except it actually happened about 4500 years ago. This story that Paul retells along with his explanation should satisfy the teacher’s interest in accuracy and history, the Perceiver’s interest in God’s Word and the Exhorter’s interest in real life applications.
Never = 0
Seldom = 1
Sometimes = 2
Usually = 3
Mostly = 4
Always = 5
Total _______________
Continue the Study...
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