Living in Overflow: How Spiritual Gifts Release Blessing-Living
As a pastor, I’ve noticed firsthand many times over the importance of the local church and having spiritual fathers and mothers in the faith.
You need a pastor—someone who can speak into your life. Many times they can see what you cannot see. Staying teachable is one of the greatest keys to success in any area, but it’s especially important spiritually. That is the reason God gave these ministry gifts to us.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure and the stature of the fulness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him Who is the Head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).
We commonly refer to this as the “fivefold ministry” or “ministry gifts”—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Although each one of these gifts have certain anointings for their areas of ministry, it’s important to note that everyone is called into the ministry—the ministry of reconciliation.
We Are All Called
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
We are all called to share the good news of the gospel wherever the opportunity arises. God will use you in amazing ways in your neighborhood, your school, the grocery store— your mission field is all around you. Go into all the world and preach the gospel, doesn’t mean you have to get on a plane and go all around the world, its talking about you going into your world. You have a sphere of influence more than you realize; God has planted you where you are for a reason. This is not talking about reaching people far from home, it’s talking about reaching people far from God.
Ephesians 4:12 gives us insight about how that works. God gave these five gifts for the equipping of the saints. A saint is anyone who has become a new creation to do the work of the ministry, which is edifying of the body of Christ. In an essence, the fivefold ministry is to equip believers to be ministers as well.
These gifts are also to keep you stable and solid, so you aren’t tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. A pastor is especially important in that area. Other ministry gifts emphasize certain areas as the Lord leads them, many times like you would think of a specialist in the medical field. Although a pastor may have anointings in certain areas, a pastor is more like a general practitioner. Everyone needs a pastor. They are so important and can be a real stabilizing factor in your life.
There’s an old country song I used to sing, “Me and Jesus, got our own thing going, me and Jesus got it all worked out. Me and Jesus got our own thing going, we don’t need nobody to tell us what it’s all about.” Although you might think that’s a good country song, it’s not a good gospel song, and it’s not the truth. You do need somebody; and as long as you are here on earth, you will need somebody with skin on! You will always need other people— like friends and mentors. And Jesus said you will always need a pastor.
Sheep Need A Shepherd
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:36).
In other translations, putting this altogether, Jesus says that without a pastor you will be weary, scattered, bewildered, harassed, distressed, dejected, and helpless. Like a lone sheep wandering lost around the desert with no one to feed or protect you. Yet notice Jesus didn’t say like a sheep without a prophet, a sheep without an evangelist, a sheep without a teacher, or like a sheep without an apostle. As wonderful and necessary as all those gifts are to the Church, they will never take the place of the local church and the pastor. Jesus said, “like sheep without a shepherd.”
I know we like to read Psalm 23 at funerals, but it is not a type of heaven. It’s a type of living here on earth. There are no enemies in heaven and no death in heaven, so it couldn’t be a type of heaven. We have under shepherds in the church; shepherd is the same word as pastor. But Jesus is the Great Shepherd. Let’s look through Psalm 23 verse by verse, because it paints a picture of the life Jesus wants us to have here and now on earth.
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” That word want also means lack. He’s not just a Good Shepherd, but He is my Shepherd! The AMPC says, “He feeds me, He guides me, and He shields me.” Wow! No lack, protected, fed, and led! That is amazing! And all that is in the first verse.
“He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters.” That is peace and that is rest. The Bible says those who have believed have entered into rest. If you’re a sheep, it doesn’t get any better than this. Cool, clear, still waters, and beautiful green pastures. That is the very picture of peace. That is a peace that passes understanding. If you are full of peace, there is no room for fear or anxiety, no depression, no despair. He led you to that place of green pasture and still water; He is leading you. He is taking care of you! Notice how still the water is. This is not dangerous water with whirl pools and sharp rocks and rapids. These are still and restful waters.
“He restores my soul; He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.” He is the God of restoration. If you are broken, don’t stay that way! He doesn’t want you broken; He wants you restored. He is a Restorer. Restore is the opposite of broken. You can’t be broken and restored, you’re one or the other. You may come in broken, but don’t leave that way! Your soul is your mind, your will, your emotions, your intellect, and it’s the seat of all your affections. He wants to restore all that for you. Righteousness here simply means right! He leads you to the right place at the right time! One of the definitions of the word righteous is prosperity! He wants to lead you into prosperity this verse says!
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” When you’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death, as I said before, just keep on walking! Don’t stop there. That is not a stopping point, just a very temporary circumstance. I will fear no evil is a choice. You are the only one who can make the decision to yield to fear or not. It has nothing to do with feelings of fear; you can feel all kinds of things, that doesn’t mean you have to yield to it. But why would you fear when you read the next line, for You are with me! Because God is for you and with you, what does it matter who is against you! With a rod and staff, the shepherd leads and nudges and steers and protects the sheep. That is what your Shepherd does for you.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” Even though we live in a world where the enemy is all around, he can’t get up to the table! God has a table prepared with every good thing—it’s full of healing and peace and prosperity. He has it stacked for us and the enemy can’t stop it! He’s like a little obnoxious dog barking and trying to get up to the table, but he can’t reach it! The only way he can have access to anything that belongs to you on the table is if you allow him to. God prepared that table for you! You anoint my head with oil.
That is the oil of joy, and the joy of the Lord is your strength! My cup runs over! We’ve heard that before in John 10:10 (AMPC) when Jesus is talking about the Good Shepherd! He says, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” Our cup is running over! We are not glass-half-empty people, and we are not glass-half-full people. We are not even just glass-full people, we are cup-running-over people!
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” You may be thinking, Well, you know, brother, we have good days and bad days. Wait a minute, what verse is that? This verse says goodness and mercy, every day! “Surely,” not we hope so, not it might happen. No, this is without a doubt! “Goodness and mercy,” mercy means we didn’t deserve it—good stuff we don’t even deserve. That is what He says here! This psalm is about our life here on earth, so why not just set our faith for goodness and mercy every day like He says? This psalm is a picture of blessing-living as He intended us to live. It doesn’t happen automatically just because He said it. Your faith is what activates it. To get these truths in you, you need to hear them on a regular basis. Faith comes by hearing.
Your local church is where you should be hearing the Word preached on a regular basis. We love and are thankful for all the ministry gifts, but you need a steady diet of the Word of God. We all need to be fed continually. Faith doesn’t come from having heard, it comes from hearing and hearing. When you stop hearing, your faith stops growing. It’s just like eating naturally. You eat the same thing over and over even though you know what it tastes like. You go to the same restaurants time after time. When they ask, “Do you want a menu?” you say, “No, I already know what I want. I get the same thing every time I come here, and that’s why I come here.” Think about it! You will drive a distance and pay money just to eat something that you already know exactly what it tastes like! We do that naturally all the time. We need to do the same thing spiritually. Continue to feed yourself on the Word of God.
