Wynne Prison - Part 4 — George Warnock

I'm afraid to open my mouth. God dwells in the midst of his praises and he is here tonight walking among you. Whatever our needs are, we just need to reach out and touch him as he passes by. Amen. You know, those of you who have children, you know how much you want your children to freely tell you what their needs are and how much more.

Multiply that, your earthly compassion and love, by about 10 trillion and that's the Father's heart towards you. So cry out to him tonight. Expect him to answer. Well, I do want to tell you that Sister Evelyn's husband is here tonight.

Stand up. That'll give you some little indication of how much they love her, right? You better be good to her because you got, you better be good to her, buddy. I mean, we're getting out of here all the time.

You better, we better not hear anything. No, they're, they're all getting sanctified. So they'll just, they come see you. It'll just be to love you and bless you. Amen. And we have John and Carol Steele here tonight.

Carol and John. And John's going to, John's going to come and bless the Lord and you through this song. What? You don't want to? Okay. Larry's not going to until tomorrow or sometime. Let John go first.

John, you come on first. Guests get to go first, Larry. Huh? I want to hear y 'all sing some more. Well, I appreciate the invitation. I was told that I'd be blessed and that's, I've been blessed. And y 'all just getting started, aren't you?

Well, appreciate it if you help me sing. You may know some of these, uh, they're old ones. God bless you. I had honestly planned not to sing. Sister Joyce brought me a new track and it's beautiful. And I, I was listening to it this morning and we had talked a little bit, maybe about trying to sing it tonight, but I wasn't able to learn it.

I know you guys, you get tired of hearing me sing. So y 'all bear with me. And this is for our guest tonight. Amen. Amen. Kevin, I, I hope it's, I hope it's in the right spot. We'll find out in a minute, won't we?

You know what? You can ask yourself, why, why are you here tonight? I'm not talking about in the penitentiary. I'm talking about, why are you here in church or tonight when you go back to your room? Why, why are you going to kneel and pray to a God or the God?

Amen. Amen. Or why when you see someone hurting that you, you feel led to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And I think this song answers that. It says Calvary is the reason why.

Thanksgiving and the Call to Hear God's Voice

Brother George, come on and give us what the Lord has laid on your heart tonight. We thank the Lord for all his goodness. Even today, thankfulness is something we must always remember. And I emphasize again that one of the first steps of man's apostasy way back in the beginning was because when men knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful.

What unthankfulness exists in the world today, especially in those countries which have an abundance of everything, is such unthankfulness. So we thank the Lord for his great mercy, for his great salvation, his great redemption.

Thank you. Yeah. And may we always be truly thankful for that. Maybe I'll continue a little in what we talked on this morning in Revelation chapter two, in the letter to the church at Pergamos. He that hath an ear, verse 17, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone. I did not do that. I'll give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.

Hidden Manna and the Wisdom of the Cross

And I remind you this morning how the hidden manna reminded me, and I believe rightfully so, of the hidden manna in the Ark of the Covenant, in behind the veil in the mercy seat, where God said though he had rained manna down from heaven and they gathered it fresh every day, it was God's daily provision for them all the time they were in the wilderness.

God says take a golden vessel and fill it with manna and put it in the Ark of the Covenant, that it might be kept there for your generations. And so the manna, that food from heaven, God has reserved for the future generations.

They only could partake of the type of the living bread in the Old Testament, but God said the overcomer is going to partake of that hidden manna that would be kept for future generations. So we thank the Lord that he has made known unto his people the hidden wisdom.

And let's never remember that when God talks about wisdom, there's nothing to do with the wisdom of man. It's hidden wisdom. It's the wisdom which none of the rulers of this world have known, for as Paul said, had they known that they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, it's the wisdom of God revealed in Christ crucified.

For Paul says we speak wisdom to them that are full grown, those who are mature, and that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to them which are saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks gather wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

The preaching of the cross, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And so Paul said when I came to Corinth, I came not to you with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. He had learned that Christ crucified was the only message. He had just come over from Athens where he had spoken on Mars Hill to the philosophers and to the wise men of his time.

And he preached a very eloquent sermon about the unknown God that they worshiped but knew not. And he declared him unto them. It was very eloquent, but somehow it seems that he didn't find too much result from it.

And when he came to Corinth, he decided, when I come to you people, I must come preaching Jesus Christ and him crucified. Because he knew that that was the wisdom of God. And though it's foolishness to the natural mind, to God it's his very wisdom revealed.

And we want to just go over that briefly. That the wisdom of God is revealed at the cross. That's where God in his wisdom did something that man in all his previous wisdom could not do. And that was to destroy Satan, to destroy the powers of darkness, to manifest the love of God here in the earth by that man Christ Jesus in such a way that it brought him to the cross.

It was the manifestation of everything that's good and righteous and holy in Jesus that brought him to his cross. Because men despised it, hated it, rejected him and therefore crucified him. But he overcame the world in doing that.

The Lamb on the Throne and Victory Through the Spirit

And he stands today, he sits today at God's right hand in heavenly places. A lamb that was slain. Conqueror of the whole universe. A lamb that was slain. Not just a lamb, I think the Greek implies it's a little lamb and a bleeding lamb.

And so here in the States you've got the powerful eagle as your emblem and Britain has the lion and Russia the bear. And I believe in different countries in Europe they have the leopard and powerful creatures that know how to defeat their enemy.

But God, if I might use the term, the emblem of victory and power is a bleeding lamb on the throne. And that's how he's seen all through the book of Revelation. A lamb on the throne, a bleeding lamb. And I know that when God took John on that tour as it were in the heavenly places, showed him so many things, he saw sitting on the throne the ancient of days and the voice came forth.

One came forward and took the book out of the hand of the ancient of days. And the voice went forth, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals of it? Nobody was worthy. And John wept when no one was worthy to come and take the book, which speaks of the unfolding of God's righteous judgments and purposes in the earth.

For that's the book of Revelation is all about. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And let's never forget that. We're inclined to think it's the revelation of antichrist and beasts and pestilences and you know, the harlot on the scarlet covered, scarlet beast and all those things and all those things are there in the realm of evil.

But it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. And he's seen all through the book as a conqueror. He's always seen as the lamb. And because no one was worthy, John said, I wept. But one of the elders said, weep not.

One has overcome the lion of the tribe of Judah, and he will open the book. And so he came. But when John looked, he saw no lion. He saw a bleeding lamb. I've heard it said many times that in the book of Revelation, he's seen as the lion of the tribe of Judah.

And I discovered that all through the book of Revelation, he's only seen as the lamb reigning on the throne, declared to be the lion of the tribe of Judah, declared to be powerful and mighty and king of all kings and Lord of all lords, but he's only seen as a lamb.

28 times in the book of Revelation, he's revealed as the lamb that was slain. And so that gives us instruction from heaven that if we're going to overcome as he overcame, it's not going to be by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord, through the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.

We're in a day of great evil, and evil seems to be running rampant, seems to be having its own way. But the time is at hand when God's going to deal with it through a people who are following the lamb.

These are they that follow, not the lion. These are they that follow the lamb, whithersoever he goeth, and they overcome by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. And so Paul came to Corinth preaching the cross, because he not only preached the cross, but walked under the shadow of the cross, walked carrying his cross, having taken up his cross and carrying it.

Paul’s Weakness and Dependence on God’s Power

Therefore, he says, I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.

He says, I didn't try to use words of eloquence, but I came to you carrying my cross. I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, not with enticing words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God.

And God wants us to learn that kind of weakness, that kind of utter dependence on the spirit of God in our lives, not to make us strong in ourselves in any sense of the word, but that he might clothe our weakness with his strength.

Paul says, therefore, I rejoice when I am weak, because when I am weak, then am I strong. He goes on to say, nevertheless, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.

And so God has that hidden manna for his people. He wants us to begin to partake of it now. It's our heritage. It's for the overcomer, but it's those to partake of even while they're overcoming. And God wants us to partake of that hidden wisdom, the wisdom of the cross, and to know that in taking up our cross and following him is the only pathway to victory.

We're not to lay down, when do we lay down our cross? Never as long as we dwell in these mortal bodies. God has caused us to dwell in mortality, that in our mortality we might experience the power of his resurrection life working in us and through us.

The White Stone, the New Covenant, and the New Name

And so God says, I've given them, I will give the overcomer that hidden wisdom, that hidden manna, and I'll give him a white stone. Again, I'm reminded that in the ark of the covenant, there were the tables of stone upon which God had written his holy law.

And so I think it's related somehow to this white stone. And I remember reading one time, sort of casually, I wasn't looking for anything, but I picked up this book and I read how that in certain times, certain days of ancient times, a man would give a white stone to his betrothed, and she would give him a white stone.

Something like they use rings today. They would exchange a white stone to signify their covenant one with another. And so God put the tables of the covenant in the ark. The first ones, Moses broke. But after God had dealt with Israel because of their sin and iniquity, in having made the golden calf and worshipping it, Moses had smitten the, had thrown down the stones and they were broken.

And God dealt with the people and Moses interceded for them. And then God said, make two tables of stone like the first ones, like the ones you broke, and bring them up to me and I will write upon them my laws, which I wrote upon the former tables.

And so God once again wrote his law upon tables of stone and gave them to Moses to take down to the people. God doesn't really repeat himself in the same manner in which he did something the first time.

God doesn't have to do that because he is full of wisdom and knowledge and understanding. He doesn't have to keep trying over and over again. God doesn't try again the second time, the third time, but he does repeat himself in a sense that what he wanted to do the first time, the next time he does it, it will be done right.

And so we can take courage in that. We think, oh, we've messed up with it. We failed God and it's all lost now. God does give us a second chance. He does do it again. And so God taught Israel that lesson through Jeremiah the prophet.

He says, Jeremiah, go down to the potter's house. Well, he went. These prophets did some strange things and they'd obey God. Generally, they'd pray God, as true prophets would, and not knowing what they were doing.

So God says, go down to the potter's house, Jeremiah. So he walked down, walked into the potter's house, and here they were making these vessels on the wheel. I saw a man doing it once, something, I guess, I don't know if they do anything similar to that today, but they turn the wheel and while the wheel's turning with the vessel on it, they keep forming it and shaping it.

And Jeremiah watched. He didn't know why he was there, I guess, but he was there to observe. And suddenly the thing was ruined in the hands of the potter. So what did he do? He took that lump of clay and he crumpled it all up again and started over and made it again another vessel as seen good to the potter to make it.

What's this about, Lord? Jeremiah says, that's what I'm doing with my people. They've spoiled things, they've disobeyed me, they've broken my covenant, but I'm making the vessel again. So he made a new vessel.

Oh, the same material, perhaps, and perhaps made in somewhat the same way, but this time it was right. So we can take courage that, you know, if things don't go right, God does a great work and it fails, seems to fail, maybe it did fail.

God's got something better in mind. And I remember hearing a prophecy, I think by Dr. Charles S. Price, who said he saw a mighty move of the Spirit of God coming. It came in the middle of this century and God has been moving mightily ever since.

Not that he hadn't moved before, I don't mean that. But by the middle of the century, the Pentecostal revival that came at the turn of the century was pretty well dissipated. Things were dry once again.

The hearts of God's people were hungering and thirsting for a greater reality than we were seeing. God began to move in the earth and did a great work. We won't discuss that, but God did a mighty work in the earth, sending forth gifts of the Spirit.

And men carried a great anointing from God. Great things happened. But in the midst of it all, there was a lot of kingdom building. A lot of people using the gifts God had given for their uh to magnify themselves.

And we don't have to point any fingers. It just happened and is happening today. It's happening, continues to happen. But he saw this revival that God began at going man's way and getting under man's control.

And he saw all that desolation that it came to. And then he saw God coming on the scene and doing a pure and wonderful work by his Spirit, by his own power, and by his own by his own grace, and by his own wonderful workings.

And I believe we're there. I believe we're going to see a mighty move of God coming over the land. Not a repetition of anything really, but what man has spoiled. God doesn't give up when man has spoiled something that he did.

He'll wait a season. He might wait a long time, but what he declared, he will do it. The first generation that he brought out of Egypt failed God, but God didn't give up. He said, I will take your children for whom you feared, and you wouldn't let them, you wouldn't take them into Canaan because you're afraid for your children.

God says, I'm going to wait for them to grow up and I'll bring them in. The ones that you feared would not be able to stand the wars of Canaan, I'll bring them to maturity and I'll take them in and you'll die in the wilderness.

So the end of the old generation became the beginning of a new one. And what was judgment for the old generation was the beginning of a new dealing of God with the new generation. And I believe that new generation is here.

I personally believe it's here. And I believe God is preparing this new generation to go in, but they're going to go in according to the leading of God's Holy Spirit and according to his working in their hearts and lives, that he might have all the glory.

So just a few more minutes here. He says, I'll give them this white stone. God has made a new covenant with his people. It's a work that he alone will do. The old covenant said, thou shalt do this. The new covenant said, I will do this.

The old covenant said, thou shalt and thou shalt not. The new covenant says, I will write my laws in their hearts and in their minds will I write them and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

It's God's work. It's entirely God's work. What's our responsibility? Man always has a responsibility, whether it's receiving a free gift or whether it's receiving this covenant that God says, I will perform.

And you know, I've come to the conclusion that our responsibility is to so yield ourselves to him that we're not going to hinder him doing it. We can't do it, but he does require that we just let him do it.

And that's why as you read the New Testament so many times, especially in Paul's epistles, you'll find that word let. I used to read that like, oh, it sounds so, you make it sound so simple, Paul. Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.

You make it sound so simple. Write upon that white stone a new name. Which no man knoweth saving, he that receiveth it. God wants to change your name and mine. He wants to change your name. You ready for the new name?

God's got a new name for his people. But it's not what we're inclined to think. It's not that God doesn't like John, so I'll call you Joseph. It's not like that. Names in the scripture speak of God's character or something pertaining to that individual.

God names them because of some character they're going to have, some work they're going to do. Names have meaning pertaining to the one who has it. I shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Jesus. Yesus in the Greek. Yahshua in the Hebrew. He shall, Jehovah will be the Savior. And so, names in the scripture, when they're given by God, reflect the nature, the character, the ministry, the work of that one who has that name.

And so, God wants to change our name because he wants to change us. He wants to change our whole character, our whole being. He wants to transform us. So, he says, I'm going to write upon you a new name.

He calls that name upon us, even before we fully qualify, that that name might be something that we will bear often to our reproach, that in bearing that reproach, we might be able to identify with him who was rejected at Calvary.

The very name Christian ought to be a name of reproach. These are Christ's ones. Christ was hated. Hated by everywhere where the gospel preached, that name was hated. But nevertheless, because Paul preached Christ crucified, that message penetrated the hearts of people until tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands came into the kingdom of God very quickly.

It is said that within the first century, half the empire was converted to Christ. We have no way of knowing statistics of those times any more than we have today. But the gospel went forth in might and in power because here was a Christian people.

Here were Christ's ones. Here were anointed ones. Sad to say, that name has lost its meaning. And God wants to give his people a new name. Oh, I'm not saying we won't be called Christian any more. I'm not saying that.

But you and I, that name we have, whatever name you have, it does not relate to that character and nature and the kind of ministry God wants us to have in this hour. So he's calling upon us a new name and God continues to work in us until that new name becomes that which we are called will be that which we become.

Jacob’s Defeat, Israel’s New Name, and Strength Through Weakness

When God sent Jacob back from having worked with Laban these 20 years or so, he put it in his heart to go back. And so you know the story perhaps how he had this confrontation with Laban, but how he took his families and they went back to the land of promise.

Then he sent a message to his brother Esau, whom he had deceived many years before, and as a result of which he had to flee up into this strange country. He sent a message to him in gifts. He wanted to pacify him.

He wanted to meet him in peace. And then the messengers came back saying, Esau is coming your way with 400 men. And Jacob was terrified. What will I do? God told me to go back. He sought God out there in the open fields near a place called Jebuch.

And he sought God and he was afraid and he prayed unto God. And we're told that there at Jebuch there wrestled a man with him all through the night. And Jacob was fighting back. I used to get the impression, I suppose from Sunday school days, that Jacob came across this mighty angel and went up to him and started to wrestle with him.

Until I discovered that it was the angel that wrestled with Jacob. It was the angel that took the initiative. The angel come along and laid hold on Jacob and tried to conquer him and he couldn't. Couldn't defeat him.

The wrestling went on all night and he couldn't seem to get anywhere with Jacob. Does that amaze you? That this one who represented God, because one place it says that Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed.

Does that amaze you that God was not able to prevail over Jacob? Not until you put yourself in Jacob's position and you realize what a hard time God has had with you and I to defeat us. Oh yeah, he could smite us and be done with it.

But because we're chosen of him, he wants to deal with us in a way that will break our will that we might yield to him. He got nowhere with Jacob until he smote him in the hall of his thigh and crippled him.

And then he conquered him and then Jacob conquered after he was defeated. It says he had power over God and prevailed. And the angel said, your name shall no more be Jacob but Israel shall your name be because thou has power with men and with God.

How did he come to this power with God? Only after God had smitten him. Only after he was made weak. And in the morning he went forth having had that confrontation with this mighty angel in whom God was there somehow.

The angel of God in the Old Testament, God is often there present in him. And so he wrestled with God and Jacob triumphed because God was able to smite him and weaken him. And he walked away, Jacob walked away limping, his halting upon his thigh.

As far as I know he walked that way the rest of his life. It wasn't until God had defeated him that he conquered. We are only going to conquer when God defeats us. All our plans and devices. Jacob was a schemer.

Right from birth he was a schemer. Before he was born he grabbed the one first born by the heel, hung on to him. He was a schemer. Some say the very word Jacob means heel holder. And that characterizes his life, scheming, always scheming to come to a place of success.

And God told him to go back. He took all his belongings with him, his wives and his families and his herds. He was a rich man, but when he got to Jabbok he sent it all across the river until he was left alone.

And that's when the angel of God met him, defeated him, and in his defeat changed his name to Israel, which no longer was to signify the cunning Jacob, but a man, a prince of God. Israel, prince of God, or mighty with God.

God had to change him and change his name, call a new name upon him. And yet oftentimes God uses the old to comfort you and I. Not only is he the God of Israel, the one who is an overcomer, but I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.

So we get in on that because we still, we know we still have much of the Jacob nature, the conniving, the scheming, the planning. And God wants to bring us to be princes of God, mighty in God and not in ourself, walking with a limp.

One man said, when I hear of these great men of God, I look to see if I can see the limp, because God's men walk with a limp, a sign of their confrontation with God and their defeat at the hands of God that they might go forth not in their own strength, but in the strength of another.

Paul walked with that limp. When I came into you, he says, I came not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that our strength would not lie in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

It is not by might nor by power, said the prophet, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, always bearing about in my body, said Paul, the dying, the putting to death, the crucifying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

I know God is doing signs and wonders and miracles and all that's very precious. But God wants to do more than that. He wants to manifest in his people that resurrection life, that resurrection life of Jesus.

And we're only going to know that resurrection life of Jesus as we bear about in our own mortal bodies, the dying of the Lord Jesus, which will be our lot if we're truly taking up our cross and following him.

It is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. And this new generation that God is preparing, they're going to know that. They're going to know that God is going to strip this generation.

Entering the Promise Through God’s Leading

As that generation crossed over Jordan to Gilgal, after they crossed the river and they were right there under the doorstep of that mighty city, Jericho, God commanded, circumcise all the young men before you go any further.

Why didn't they do it the other side where they'd be safer at least? But right there in the presence of their enemies, Jericho was right before them. God commanded to circumcise the whole army, crippling the whole army in the face of their enemies, exposing them helplessly to the might of the armed men of Jericho.

That's God's way. What happened? The fear of God came upon the inhabitants of Jericho and they locked the gates and barred them. In the presence of a crippled army, let us be assured that what God is doing, the Lord our God is going to go before us if we'll walk in his spirit.

And he'll put his fear upon the enemy before we get there. But he won't do it until he puts the fear of God upon us first. Can you imagine the fear in those people? I mean a godly fear. We're submitting to this ordinance because God said, but here we are totally helpless.

And there's the strong men of Canaan right there in Jericho, totally helpless in their sight. But God said he was going to bring the new generation in and he did. They weren't any better than their fathers.

But because he swore with a nose, I'll bring them in, he brought them in after dealing with them very severely sometimes. And after crippling them, he brought them in, gave them victory over their enemies.

It is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. May the Lord bless this word, dear hearts. You've had a big day and had a lot of teaching. What do you do with it? The same thing as I said yesterday.

Here's another today. Today if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. May the Lord bless. You know the word that God brings through Brother George gives us hope, doesn't it? That even though we make mistakes and even though it looks like it's over for us sometimes, that that's when God does his best.

God’s Choice of the Outcast and the Enemy Within

Brother George and I have talked since he's been here and we both believe that that end times army that God's preparing, that many of you are a very important part of it. God's way is to choose the outcast and to make them into something, someone who looks just like him.

And it's all him. He is the author and he is the finisher of our salvation. And we have a part. Our part is to just keep saying, yes, Lord. Our part is to keep agreeing that the primary enemy that the Lord wants to destroy is in us.

The selfishness and the self-centeredness, the lust, the anger that many of you have never dealt with, the unforgiveness, which is probably what the anger stems from, that fear of rejection, fear, those are the enemies on your land right here that God is dealing with tonight.

You know, it's easy for us to talk about our being the army of God and all of that. But when we really see that we're the enemy of all that God wants to do on this earth. We are the enemy is right here in our heart.

It's so easy to look out there and to say, well, that's the problem. And that's the problem. And that's the problem. No, no, this is the problem. But the good news of the gospel is that he promised that he would cause us to be overcomers.

And he promised us that he would drive out every enemy off of this land as we become fruitful and possess it. Well, that sounds strange. Is he going to do it? Are we going to do it? Our part in being fruitful is to agree with the dirt that's in our heart.

Confessing Sin and Receiving Grace

When it's exposed to just agree. Many of you have heard of Milt Green and Milt. God gave Milt a parable that some of you have heard me share before, but it's so good. Milt was a carpet cleaner and he took his crew out to do a house and he walked through it with them and showed them where they needed to give special attention and all the things they needed to do.

And he left and he came back in about an hour and a half to see how they were doing. They were loading up the equipment and he went in and positioned himself right before a big spot of dirt that he knew would be there because they hadn't had time to finish the job.

And he said, Carl, what happened? Carl was the one in charge of the job and Carl began to say, well, we did this and we did this and we did this. And Milt waited until he just had eye contact with him.

And he said, Carl, what's this? Carl dropped his head and he said, it's dirt. Milt said, I sure am glad you called it what I called it because if you didn't, I'd have to separate my money from yours because we're in the dirt business.