Understanding the Anointingthen. The apostles had laid hands on him and he was set into the
office of deacon first.
Later, in the 21st chapter of Acts, we read that Luke and
Paul and their company went down to Caesarea and were in the
house of "Philip the evangelist." When God began to raise up
ministries, He made an evangelist out of Philip.
It takes time to develop ministries. You may get saved—and
even baptized in the Holy Spirit—today, and the call of God
may be on you to be a pastor, but you can't start pastoring
tomorrow, dear friends. You're not ready for it. You'll have to be
prepared for it.
So start out to obey God, whether you're in the ministry or
not, and God will promote you and use you in a greater way. If
you, like Philip, learn to be faithful wherever you are, God may
see fit to move you on. If He does, fine. If He doesn't, just stay
faithful where you are. He'll not be able to use you if you're not
faithful.
In the Early Church, because there was a lack of ministries,
they would appoint an elder ("an older person") over a particular
flock. Out of these elders God developed pastors or overseers.
It is certainly unscriptural to take a layman who has no
anointing upon him and put him in the office o f an elder or
make him overseer o f a congregation. He doesn't have the
anointing to do it. He only has an anointing like any other
believer.
So we see that the bishop, overseer, or elder is the same
office: the pastoral office.
Who has the oversight of the flock? The shepherd does.
What does "shepherd" mean? The Greek word translated
"shepherd" is translated "pastor." Who, then, would oversee the
flock? The shepherd would. Jesus is called by Peter "the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" (1 Peter 2:25).
And in First Peter 5:4 we read, "And when the CHIEF
SHEPHERD shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory
that fadeth not away."