Thinking that Everyone should Use Your APEST Gift

I'm big into insomnia...especially now with the quarantine going on.

So last night I wasn't sleeping. I have a boom box by my side of the bed with ear buds plugged in.

Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk comes on one of the local Christian stations at 3:00 a.m., so I decided to see who he had on.

His guests were Greg Laurie and Barry Meguiar talking about Christians using the Coronavirus as an opportunity to advance God's Kingdom.

These guys are both rabid APEST Evangelists.

(One thing that I love about people who are genuinely gifted to be evangelists is that they talk repentance all the time. And, these guys did.)

I love how you could hear in their voices the joy the Spirit gives them when they live in their gift and when they share the gospel. Their joy brought me joy.

But,...

...and I think this is true of all APEST gifts, but especially, I think, of evangelists.

They kept talking about what would happen if everyone did what they did and shared the gospel as joyfully and freely and as often as they did.

And, that's the thing about APEST that so many don't get.

First Corinthians 12 is about Spiritual Gifts...and it is about APEST, in particular.

In Christ, we are a body. A body has many parts. Each part has its own purpose. Together, with Christ as the head, we function effectively.

Despite what we may all be tempted to think, from time to time, it would not be a good thing if everyone did, for instance, what Greg Laurie does...or, what I do.

The Western church has rediscovered the teaching of APEST...

...but, it doesn't practice APEST well.

We don't empower all of the gifts. And, we have lost the conviction that we need to live, as Paul says in Ephesians 5, "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ."

I loved hearing those guys groove in their gift, but, we're not all evangelists...or apostles...or shepherds.

Two things we lack: Empowering all of the gifts, and, mutual submission.

We must repent.