Russell Stendal and George Warnock - 10-20-95 — George Warnock

And I see you folks arranged for some nice cool weather for us, you know, we appreciate weather like this. Down where I come from down in Columbia down in Florida, why don't we just have everybody stand up for a minute and We don't have time to introduce everyone and I know there's a lot of people from out of town.

Why don't you just turn around and introduce yourself to the people immediately around you? Hopefully the Lord will use this time to Kind of renew acquaintances and make new friendships. As the weekend progresses I just wanted to say a word about the books we have at the back.

They're all on a freewill donation basis. It's there's no set prices if you need some of the books and don't have any money you feel free and We're we're not here to sell books.

But they are available the.

Missionary Calling and Apostolic Ministry

Number of years ago down in Bogota, Colombia Where I was serving as a missionary Someone handed me a book that was spiral bound and rather thick and He said read this and the man who wrote it is in Minneapolis in a place called Becky's cafeteria and He knew I was going to Minneapolis on a trip and said stop in and see brother clay and he will enjoy your visit because he's a man who has Columbia on his heart and Little did I know but that was beginning of a friendship and That has become more than a friendship because it's it's been a joining of our hearts in ministry where the Lord had placed Columbia on my heart from a very early age as Many of you remember when my dad was up here in Grand Rapids, Minnesota Working on some radar stations for the US government and then we went back to Minneapolis and the Lord spoke through me as a four-year-old to be the one who really pressured my dad to Become a missionary and to go to Columbia and as a four-year-old I prayed that God would call my parents to be missionaries so I wouldn't have to wait till I grew up.

Because Lord I'd placed that on my heart and Through the years he's been defining that word missionary that word missionary Missionary is someone who sent it's very similar to the word apostle in Scripture and As reading where the Apostle Paul Was saying that he is qualified to be an apostle just like the others.

Just like the eleven that were in Jerusalem because he had also seen the Lord And been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to do a specific task and To take a message To the Gentiles. He was the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Gentiles means the ones that weren't Jews that weren't converted. That weren't circumcised. You know, so many have gone forth in our day and age in the name of the Lord without ever having seen the Lord.

Without ever having been sent by him. Without ever having been commissioned by him For specific task and duty and we look and we wonder why. The church is in such a desperate state and I believe that God is about to do an end time move of his Holy Spirit the clothes this age of the church.

And I believe we're going to see Apostolic ministry restored the life of which has never been seen since the days of the early church and I believe it'll go above and Beyond that. I believe that they're going to be some apostles raised up by God.

Not that we don't have people in apostolic ministry today. And I'm not trying to belittle anyone who's moving in apostolic ministry that is planting and and and building in the name of the Lord. And there are many men of God who I deeply respect who I would call Apostles in the Lord.

But I believe that we're going to see an apostolic ministry raised up in these days that goes above and beyond anything. That this church age has seen up until now. I believe that they're going to be some apostles that are going to go forth that have actually seen the Lord.

And been commissioned by him. We have a number of people come into our ministry from time to time talking about that. They saw the Lord. One girl. She said yeah, yeah, she saw the Lord. Well, what did he look like?

Oh, he was dressed as a Catholic priest. What did he say? Oh, he said that we should all go back to our Catholic Church and take all our Protestant friends and pray rosaries every day. Hmm. And The mother was very thrilled that this girl was having such a revelation from God.

But my wife asked her a question. She said well, how is your daughter living? Well, that's it. That's why I called really. It's this problem that in spite of all these revelations. She is still has some major problems in her personal life.

She's We don't know what to do with her. But she's seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. Is she really? Is she seeing the Lord Jesus Christ or she's seeing a counterfeit in the revelation? The book of Revelation the Apostle John saw the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was the one who was the beloved the Apostle who was maybe the closest to the Lord Jesus Christ is in his ministry here in flesh and blood and When he saw the glorified Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 1 he fell at his feet as though dead.

The Apostle Paul On his way to Damascus saw the Lord Jesus Christ and it was an experience he'd never ever forget. He was blind for three days afterwards. Friends when you see the Lord Jesus Christ it it'll leave a mark on you when Jacob came face to face with the angel the Lord and even though he struggled and wrestled all night and Obtained the blessing of God.

But he limped for the rest of his life. God touched him in his thigh and The way that he was walking according to his flesh changed. God changed his name began to move him forward in another walk as Israel with the name of God on him.

Human Programs and Unity in the Body of Christ

God's problem has been That those claiming to be his people Have gotten their own ideas and their own plans and their own programs mixed up with His will and it has to be straightened out if we're going to see accomplished What is prophesied and promised in Scripture and God will bring about his purposes over the top of all of our human endeavors and Ideas and plans and programs but I believe that he's given us and Still holding open to us the door of opportunity and it's in little out-of-the-way places like Grand Rapids, Minnesota out of the limelight where sometimes the Lord might Have something very special and I've known a number of you some of you have known me ever since I was a little boy my Parents have a lot of friends here.

And we've seen the hand of the Lord on a number of you people we've seen the Lord preparing something and bringing something.

Just about to a time of birth, you know.

Brother Clate wrote in one of his books that the true sons of God aren't in agreement because they sat down and had a conference and had a council and Worked it all out. They're in agreement though, because if they're joined to the Lord.

And if he's the head and if we're the body.

Then we'll be in agreement if we're all submitted to the same head. Because the head isn't going to counterdict himself. And through the friendship with brother Clate. I later on Got to meet brother George Warnock.

My mother had been reading his book since 1967 and I went to see him and Spend a night with him in Cranbrook BC. But I didn't really know enough to ask the right questions. And I spent I think too much of the time Talking and not enough time listening and brother George graciously had given me a handful of his books 11 different ones.

And I stuffed them in my briefcase. Shortly thereafter instead of going up north which I thought I was gonna do up to Alaska in the Arctic. The Lord turned me around and told me to get in the car and go to Columbia.

We got in the car in Vancouver and In four days, we were in Miami. Driving just about day and night and And When we got on the plane there was a hurricane on the horizon. And we were one of the last planes that left Miami for a good long while.

Because that was when that major hurricane hit Miami a few years back. We got to Columbia and another strange thing happened before I went to Cranbrook. I had had a meeting here in Ely, Minnesota. The church up in Ely and I had my two daughters with me and I was supposed to be speaking to the adults upstairs and The kids were meeting downstairs, but my girls were shy and they didn't want to go and they didn't have any friends among the other children.

But I wanted to set a good example so I grabbed them one in each hand and I dragged him down the stairs just about kicking and screaming and crying and Stuck them in that class whether they wanted to go or not.

And kind of Came back upstairs and and continued on with my message. But you know there was a kid with chickenpox down there and that kid with chickenpox infected my girls. And there's an incubation period so halfway between Vancouver and Miami our first daughter started coming down with the chickenpox.

We didn't know what it was for sure until we got to Miami or already on the plane but there was something else that I didn't know and that is that I had never had chickenpox and When you're when you get chickenpox as an adult.

It's not the same as when you're a little kid. It's a whole different deal. I have never been so miserable. I mean I scratched inside and out and I had to stop everything in the ministry in Columbia and here I am laid up with the chickenpox for several weeks and the only Thing I had to do was sit there and read those books That George Warnock had given me and I as I read them I found myself doing something very very strange.

Never happened to me before. But I would lock them up in my desk drawer because I think it would be such a tragedy if one of these books were to get lost. I couldn't I couldn't couldn't bear to lose it because it's Ministering to me in a way in which I've rarely ever been ministered to just every word in place.

After going through all those 11 books the chickenpox ended and I could continue on. But I wouldn't the same afterwards so the wind had gone out of my sails for a number of things that I had been doing down in Columbia and I began to contemplate the idea of translating these books into Spanish and giving them to some of the people that I knew including a 150 or so charismatic Catholic priests that I know or know of and So I made another trip up to Cranbrook and got permission from Brother George, and he already had one of his books translated into Spanish and the one that he had already translated into Spanish was the one that I would have planned to translate last little book called the Feast of Tabernacles.

Because I thought it was kind of too complicated and maybe it should be last and we do some of the easier ones first but that was the one that he had ready to go in Spanish and so we started with that one and I Put it out in Spanish and I took it over and I started giving it to some of these Catholic priests who are friends of mine and Some of them never had another good night's sleep after they read those books.

I Underestimated what was going to happen when that message hit? Because you see if you've been trained as a priest in a hierarchy type of a situation to where you become a mediator between the people in God and Then you have all of these feasts and all of these fiestas as they're called in Spanish and each Saint has one and there's a Saint for every day in fact some Saint some days have more than one Saint and There's all these holidays and all of these Ah Processionals and special events and they're all Called fiestas or feasts in Spanish.

Well if you get that little book and find out what the real priesthood of all believers is and Find out what the real priest feasts of God really are and what they mean. It throws a monkey wrench in the works, and I didn't realize it was going to throw a monkey wrench in their work so bad but it did and Then one thing led to another and we translated one of brother Clayt's books beyond Pentecost into Spanish and That followed up one thing just just things just kept kept adding and adding and adding and Until we're in the middle of a revolution.

But it's not a revolution that anybody sat down and planned. There's no headquarters to the revolution. There's no movement. There's no Anyone trying to find you know, what is the Leadership of this thing can't can't find it because it the head is sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.

You can't chop that head off again. And all we are here on the ground is the feet the feet of the body of Christ. There's a promise in Scripture. It says that There's going to be a serpent whose head is going to be crushed under the feet and I believe that that day is coming.

Maybe even almost here I'm not going to take up too much time. I want to leave time for brother George. To share with you folks because you've heard me several times and you haven't heard him. But I do want to share one little thing to start this this Conference it's a word that the Lord Put on my heart back in Colombia, I didn't know if I was going to come or not and I was in the middle of Studying a Bible that somebody brought me from Spain an original copy of the translation made in 1559 the original Spanish Bible made in the middle of the Reformation.

The man who did it spent 20 years fleeing the Inquisition with 11 children all over Europe one of the best Hebrew experts, but with an anointing that has rarely ever been equaled in a Bible translator and The experts have spent the last Almost 500 years trying to water down this translation in Spanish but there's some places and some verses that really shined and as I was studying and Finally decided to edit this Bible and print it in Spanish.

Because all of the study Bibles have been discontinued. They just all they want to put out is is paraphrase editions. There's nothing that would be the equivalent of a King James Bible printed anymore in Spanish.

There's not even anything would be the equivalent of a new King James Bible printed in the study Bible anymore in Spanish and So as I was studying Began to see that one of the things that was emphasized there in the Reformation when God was restoring the clarity of his word.

Was the word conversion this fellow Castillo de Rey not reuse the word conversion all over the place in the Old and New Testament. He's talking about conversion conversion one of the main themes in the scripture God Converting the hearts of his people back to himself.

The need for this to happen the need for this to happen in each and every one of our hearts just like Jacob was called of God before he was even born and chosen above his brother and Jacob could have been the heir To That Heritage or lineage of Jesus Christ and could have been lost personally as Were many of the Kings?

Who were the sentence of David? But Jacob had an encounter with God face-to-face encounter. He had a conversion experience at Peniel which means the face of God and he had his name changed from Jacob to Israel.

Jacob the surplanter. Who's trying to get the kingdom by hook or by crook? Had his name changed to Israel Prince with God. God gave Jacob his name and God took Jacob's name. God became the surplanter and God can do it, you know, because he wants to surplant everything that's wrong in us with his own nature.

Because that's what a name means it means everything that the person is. The first Kings chapter 18 verse 30. There was a problem in the land of Israel. The fire had gone out there was no longer any fire on the altar of God.

In fact, the altar itself was broken down and in extreme disrepair and In the Old Testament when the fire went out there was no provision for any man-made fire. If you read the book of Exodus, you'll find that when somebody decided to make some fire of their own.

There were two priests that decided to to have a little experiment with some strange fire and not only cost them their lives, but it cost the lives of Twenty some thousand men that fallowed them. We're at a day and age when in many places in many groups in in in many So-called Christian environments.

There's no fire on the altar. Friends when there's no fire on the altar. It means you can't bring a sacrifice. If you can't find a keep you can't bring a sacrifice. Because we are to be living sacrifices according to the Apostle Paul I'm in a pretty bad way and the only provision to get the fire started again is God himself has to intervene.

Elijah in Hebrew means the Lord is the God. In the sense of the only God or it could have been translated God himself and here Elijah is facing this problem. Verse 30 and Elijah said unto all the people come near unto me and all the people came near unto him and he repaired the Altar of the Lord that was broken down.

Friends the altar the Lord has broken down in our day and age. Everybody wants to come to God on their own terms instead of coming to God on God's terms. Verse 31 and Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob unto Whom the word of the Lord came saying Israel shall be thy name.

Twelve stones is the order of God. It's the number that symbolizes that order the order of God to convert the Jacobs into Israel it has to be God's way. It has to be God's altar. Has to be his terms in Exodus chapter 25.

I'm sorry. Exodus chapter 20 verse 25. It says this and if thou wilt make me an altar of stone thou shalt not build it of hewn stone. For if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it. If we mess with God's terms We're gonna pollute his altar.

We can't change God's terms and God says we have to come to him with an unblemished sacrifice. God says we have to bring everything. God says if we're gonna enter into covenant with him that means then that we belong to him.

Verse 26 neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. Friends it isn't that we can decide how we're gonna approach God and we'll take a little step today and we'll take another little step tomorrow and We'll we'll we'll decide that he can be our Savior today and then a little later on He can have a little more control of our lives and and at some future point We might decide to just make him our Lord, but it's totally optional.

Of course We can't go up by steps. If we do our nakedness is going to be exposed. If we try to come to God by little steps and stages what's going to happen is the enemy is going to get in there and He's gonna latch on to whatever's left of our flesh that hasn't been placed under the authority of God and he's gonna make us a tremendous problem and our nakedness is going to be exposed and The Christian Church is full of people whose nakedness is being exposed right now.

Because they try to go up to God's altar in steps and in stages when he's saying if you want to come to me. It's all or nothing. Now we may not fully understand what that means. There may be things that he'll reveal to us later.

There may be things that would be uncovered that when we know about them need to be laid on the altar. But he wants us to come and make an unconditional surrender on his altar. That's the gospel. That's the gospel according to the Lord.

Jesus Christ. In fact that word gospel was used to announce the King. The Romans used it to announce a new emperor the gospel of Emperor so-and-so and the trumpets would blare and the heralds would go forth and when that gospel sounded Everyone had to come and they had to decide right then and there if they were going to worship Caesar or not and If they did they had to kneel down and swear allegiance to him right on the spot.

And if they didn't they were dealt with. That's why so many early Christians were killed. They wouldn't worship Caesar as God. The gospel the Lord Jesus Christ means exactly that it means there's only one Lord.

It means when you hear it you have a choice you can either kneel and bow before him and submit and surrender or Else you can decide not to. There's only one Lord. We can't make him the Lord. He already is the Lord.

We can either accept him or reject him, but he's the Lord. Back to 1st Kings chapter 18 verse 32 and with the stones He built an altar in the name of the Lord and he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed.

The Old Spanish Bible is a little clearer on this it it makes it sound as if the two measures of seed were actually put into the altar the trench. And why would we be talking about two measures of seed.

You remember when Jesus was approached by some Greeks right before the Last Supper. He gave a very strange answer instead of going out to meet these Greeks and see what he could do for them. He said something that was very puzzling.

Said unless a grain of seed that fall into the ground and die. It can't bring forth fruit. In other words Jesus before his death. What he was saying is I can't help you Greeks now you Gentiles now I have to die first to be resurrected and Multiplied in a many-membered body and Then there'll be help for you and friends now.

We've got two measures of seed. Two would speak of a corporate body of Christ and if we're that corporate body of Christ, we also have to be willing. Not just to believe John 3 16. But friends we have to be willing to be the fulfillment to first John 3 16.

You'd like to read first John 3 16. That's not a favorite verse for most people in this day and age. First John 3 16 says this. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Verse 33 and he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in pieces and Laid him on the wood and said fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. Friends if we're going to re-establish this altar of God, not only does it have to be according to God's specification on his terms with whatever those twelve stones Signify without us taking a tool and and trying to to fix those stones up.

And without building any stairs. But there has to be this trench and we have to actually be willing to lay down all of our plans and ambitions. Everything having to do with that bullock which would symbolize our flesh.

And even the good things that we can think up for God all of the dead wood of our human plans and projects in Acts the second to the last chapter when Paul is in the middle of a shipwreck, which is a very Allegorical shipwreck because I believe the ship symbolizes Something having to do with the church in these last days in this old Spanish Bible I have says that after they got done lightening the load and throwing out the cargo and then they started chopping off the rigging to See if they could save themselves from the storm this old Spanish Bible I have says and they chopped off all the dead works off the chip and Threw him overboard.

Friends if we're gonna make it through the storm. We're gonna have to start chopping the dead works off to all that dead wood has to be laid on the altar and has to be arranged properly.

Under that bullock of.

Everything that would pertain to the flesh still in us. And God said to start pouring water on this thing and he told him to do it three Times with four barrels of water each time anytime something gets meant done three times in Scripture.

It's extremely important the washing of water of the word. Friends there's a certain amount of cleansing and cleaning that God can do through an honored teaching of the Word of God and Through applying it directly into our lives as we read his word on a daily basis and as we minister to one another.

And he wants to make sure That that's going forth. Now that Water being poured in the trench and on the altar and on everything else and saturating everything It it also makes sure that none of that green is gonna have any spontaneous combustion.

But also make sure there's not gonna be any false fire in there. Because the water from God's Word is gonna put out All of our best Human plans and ambitions. Can be like in Isaiah chapter 6 when Isaiah was finally touched by that coal from off the altar and said here I am send me and guess what happened next.

You keep reading in Isaiah chapter 6 which you can do later on. You'll see that everything got totally this and demolished as a result of him having that encounter with God. And it said even if a tenth should survive it'll still be destroyed until all that's left is a holy seed.

All that's left is what God wants planted because friends we get what we plant we reap what we sow. If we sow according to the flesh, what are we gonna reap? Corruption. But God wants us to sow to righteousness.

He wants us to reap incorruption. And he said do it the second time and they did it the second time and he said do it the third time and they did It the third time and the water ran round about the altar and he filled the trench also with water.

Mm-hmm. Very important thing in this hour in which we're in is We have to listen to what God says. My opinion or someone else's opinion is not important. What's important right now is God's opinion. And we have to get saturated with his opinion and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice.

That Elijah the Prophet came near and said Friends, there's been a morning sacrifice In this church age. It was the Lord Jesus Christ and a lot of people have said that just because Jesus died on a cross that now We can go out and do whatever we please.

That's not true. The same Jesus that died on that cross also said that if we're to be his disciple We have to take up our cross and follow him. Guess who the evening sacrifice is. It's a people that are willing to lay down their own plans and ambitions.

It's a people that are willing to identify in the way of the cross. It's a people that are willing to come in through the narrow gate and not try and seek a Broad gate. It's a people that are willing to count the cost and Say to the Lord Search me.

It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. That Elijah the Prophet came near and said Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel. Let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all These things at thy word.

Elijah didn't think any of this up on his own. And God is calling forth and preparing an Elijah company to minister in this last hour. That isn't going to be doing things on their own that are going to be going to be able to say We've done this at your word Lord, but I was Preaching on this to some brothers down in Columbia when all of a sudden it dawned on me that this doesn't say the Lord God Of Abraham Isaac and Jacob like it says dozens of other places in the Old Testament.

This says Abraham Isaac and Israel and there's only a couple of references to the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel in Scripture. I Only know of three to be exact. You see Israel is a converted Jacob and God as many times referred to as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob because he puts up with all of these Jacob tendencies as we try and come into the kingdom by hook or by crook as We try and pretend that we're something we're not.

And he has a lot of patience with us the friends. Now, it's time for the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel to manifest himself. The God who's going to convert the hearts of his people back to himself and he's going to do it by fire.

Because there's certain things that can't be cleansed in us through just the washing of the word. There are things that have to be purified by fire. Verse 37 hear me O Lord hear me that this People may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back again.

And the original says converted their heart back again. God wants to convert the hearts of his people back to himself. Conversion in the biblical sense of the word means a total turning to God without reservation.

It means having a heart completely for God with no mixture and no impurity and nothing pulling different ways and In to the double-mindedness that has plagued God's people for so long and Only God can do that if God doesn't give us the grace for that kind of repentance.

We can't do it on our own. We can think we've done it, but the fruits won't bear us out. Unless he does it the God of Abraham Isaac and Israel is about to act. Verse 38 then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench and When all the people saw it they fell on their faces and they said the Lord he is the God the Lord He is the God.

And in the Hebrew that the article is there the God which means the only one none other except for him because this was the problem up until now they had bail and they had God. And Bail is Lord's plural with a small low case L instead of Lord with a capital L.

That's what bail is. Notice if they fell on their faces. Brother Clayton I've been running around and seen some meetings where people were falling on their backs all the time instead of on their faces.

That's covered in Isaiah chapter 28. If you want to look that one up The drunkards of Ephraim you can see what happens to them. When the true fire falls people are gonna fall in their faces before the Lord.

The fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice it consumed everything having to do with the flesh and the wood. All those dead works are just gone. And the stones even if what we thought was divine order in our different groups and Different things that that have some semblance of God or divine order to them and the dust.

Even of our Adamic nature and licked up the water that was in the trench friends when this fire of God falls. There's gonna be some major changes. Nobody's gonna be able to stand up and say, you know, we were the first ones with this word our group has an inside track.

It's all gonna be licked up in the fire. The only things that will be left is the fire the fire of God. And that altar is going to be operational again. That's something to say. The last set of meetings on baptism and I believe that has something to do with it you know the rest of the story how they killed the false prophets and how Elijah told the king that you better get home because it was going to be a storm.

And the king took off and Elijah sent his servant out several times on the seventh time he came back and said That there was a little cloud likened to a man's hand. That little cloud grew and it started to thunder and lightning and the rain came down and then war was joined with Jezebel.

God's gonna raise up apostolic ministry. Ministry of the hand of God. Like never before and it's gonna thunder and lightning. And there's gonna be a conflict of light and darkness. The like is which has not been seen since the days in which the Lord walked this earth.

And I believe that the ministry that the Lord is raising up in this day is not going to run from Jezebel. All of these Old Testament types and shadows break down at some point. David was a perfect type and shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ until the Bathsheba incident and Each one of the heroes of the faith had their flaws and God honestly put down everything that was there.

So that we could learn from it. We need to fire of God. We need to ask him to light the fire. We'll have fellowship with many of God's people who have come. And I'm confident God will do a work in hearts.

Pentecostal Renewal and the Coming Purification

I grew up in more or less Let's say Pentecost. We our folks never did belong to any organization, but By that I mean we believed in the Pentecost experience. And I grew up in that except I just say that I might need a little bit of water or someone with all this thing.

I Wasn't first-generation Pentecost. I call myself second-generation Pentecost. But I I would hear people talking about the fire ghost in Winnipeg and I can still Remember her testimony every time she's then Thank God for saving me and sanctifying me and baptizing me with the Holy Ghost and with fire and you knew there was something to it and God used her in her own little corner to pray for the sick and So forth so I was close to Pentecost, but I felt by the time I was a teenager.

I'd missed a lot When I heard of what happened in the beginning but now there's Second third fourth almost five generations of Pentecost. Until there's hardly any semblance Of what God did in those early beginnings.

When God invaded the lives of men and women then there was a holy Reverence and awe when they came to meet together in his name. And the fear of God was there and I suppose I went through a lot of backward-looking Looking back wondering what it is all about until God began to give a little vision and Hope because I love the Word of God.