But from what I understand the term comes from Revelation 5:9-10: “9 And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

In essence a Revelation 5 church is one that embraces people from every tribe, language, people and nation. It is a church of priests who serve God and advance God’s kingdom. (Sound familiar)?

You can’t do those things if you hold to your own tradition, cast out anyone with a differing opinion or try to silence your critics. You need to be a man of the Spirit and of the Scripture, both passions, in order to pastor and lead this kind of church.

Dr.Samuel Lee’s prayer topic for a kingdom of priests and a holy nation was correct and full of God’s vision for the end times churches. Sadly, his prayer was mostly misunderstood.

GCC claims to be a “Revelation 5” church. I see that they indeed are such a church, which is said by some to be impossible. But it is possible, though may require God’s “smashing work” to destroy old traditions and build a new church and replace hurt with joy.

I believe a Revelation chapter 5 church needs to have “evangelical charismatics” join together with “charismatic evangelicals”!

In the end I think we all need to lose these denomination type labels. I am simply a man with a testimony trying to live according to the Bible, and a believer in the Father, Son and Spirit.

Christians try to have unity by religiously enforcing their brand of uniformity. What we really need to do is look at God and see the perfect unity of three distinct, harmonious Persons.

I love to call myself an “evangelical charismatic”! I teach the Bible, preach Jesus and also pray for the sick and ask for supernatural intervention of the Holy Spirit in practical life issues. I also sincerly wish to receive the gift of tongues for my personal edifications. Jesus in the Bible preached the gospel and also performed signs and miracles. When the early disciples laid hands on someone who repented, they said, “recieve the Holy Spirit” contrary to what we say today “receive Jesus.” And the converts were filled with the Spirit with His manifest presence. I think after 2K years, christian history is moving toward correct understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit and also toward bringing closer the evangelicals and the charismatics/pentecostals.

“This thinking contributed to a number of movements in Britain and the United States –the Keswick “Higher Life” movement, the Holiness movement, and Pentecostalism – and God used the men and women involved to bring about genuine spiritual growth and revival.”

I did some research on a very good church here in Detroit. I found that it has pentecostal roots. I further found there is a movement among some pentecostal and charismatic churches to add mission, structure and Bible study to their ministries. The result is a wonderful approach to mission that is appealing to this generation. The pentecostal church becomes a magnet, drawing people in who wouldn’t otherwise even think about church.

It seems so very difficult to add the Spirit’s work to a rigid, structured ministry. But it seems God is working the opposite way greatly: adding some structure to Spirit-based ministries.

This is just an observation. I’m not sure what it means…but I want to find out.

The ultimate revelation about God  is the person of Jesus Christ, who is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of his being (Heb 1:1-3).

And there is a great deal we can learn about this created world, about human beings as a whole, about one another, and about ourselves  through personal experience, shared experience, empirical observation (science), human reason, art, music, culture, etc. Those things that we learn from “extrabiblical” sources should inform and deepen our study of Scripture, and the study of Scripture should inform our learning from those “extrabiblical” sources.

It is dangerous  and wrong when  religious groups (Mormons, Christian Scientists, etc.) treat other texts as being divinely inspired and on equal par with the Bible. That undermines the authority of the Bible for sure. But the even greater problem, in my opinion, is that these groups  undermine the centrality and sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the focus of all human spirituality.   I fear that well-meaning evangelicals spend such a great deal of time and energy trying to uphold the supremacy of the Bible  that they are not as  concerned as they ought to be about worshiping and following Jesus. God doesn’t call  Christians to  a Bible-centered life; he calls us to a Jesus-centered life (Jn 14:6).

I am not here trying to advocate that the Bible is old and outdated and tapped out for spiritual truth. I am not saying this at all. If all we had was the bible, we should know how to live a good life that is pleasing to God. Nevertheless, I am saying that we should not hold the Holy Spirit hostage to only that which is presented in the Bible. The Holy Spirit will not contradict the Bible but that doesnt mean that the Holy Spirit wont go further than what is revealed in the Bible.

I can see the hesitation in  endorsing  this view as it opens up a door of potentially “new revelations” (i.e., Mormonism). So I make this statement with the caveat that we have an infallible teaching authority from which the Holy Spirit speaks. Ofcourse, if I didnt believe there was such a thing, I too would be weary of thinking that the Holy Spirit would reveal to us more. But in the end, the Bible itself tells us that Jesus promised us all of this. If this additional truth was to be found in the Bible then why didnt Jesus tell his  disciples, “guys write this stuff down and turn it into a book as it is sufficient for knowing all truth.”  2 Timothy 3:15 tells us scripture is useful for these things but not sufficient. But I guess I then have to answer why that passage ends with, “…for every good work.”  

But even in this trap I set for myself, I think it highlights the neccesasity of the Holy Spirit in helping us to know truth when we have two diffrent interpretations of scriptures that both cant be true. So even if I though everything that the Holy Spirit has to reveal to us can be found in scripture, at the very least, we can agree that we need the Holy Spirit to work through a *visible authority* to settle matters on scriptural interpretations and doctrinal  differences  no?  

I think this line of  thinking  represents an argument from silence. The bible has nothing to say about X, therefore X must not be true. But again, Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit would reveal to us more of the truth so we might expect the will of the Spirit not to contradict the bible but shouldnt  necessarily  expect the will of the Spirit to find support IN THE BIBLE. It can, but it doesnt have to.