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The Gospel Truth
Hardness of Heart: Episode 6
00:28:31
A hardened heart isn't just found in those living in sin—even those closest to Jesus sometimes struggled with it. When His disciples saw Him walking on water, they were amazed because their hearts were hardened (Mark 6:45–52). Learn how distractions,...
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Welcome to Gospel Truth with Andrew Wommack. Celebrating 25 years of sharing God's unconditional love and grace on television.
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There are no words that I can express to thank you enough for being faithful to the Word, for being faithful to your calling. So many other wonderful things that have come through the revelation that we get through listening to your teaching. So I'm very grateful that you have kept the faith.
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And now here's Andrew.
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Welcome to our Monday's broadcast of the Gospel Truth. Today I'm continuing a series that I started a week ago today talking about hardness of Heart. And I've got a book on this. We're asking for a gift of any amount for this book. If you'll send anything, we'll send this to you. And we're just asking you to do something, do what you can. If you could not or would not send anything, we'll send you this little booklet that is a 50 page summary of this at free and postpaid. And then we have cds, DVDs and also a USB that we will be offering at the end of the program today. So it was a week ago today when I started this series and this is something that is just one of the most foundational things that God has ever shown me. And I hadn't got time to go back through this. If you've missed last week's teaching, please listen to it. Because I talked about what is a hardened heart. And I tried to make it clear that this isn't just describing somebody who is rebellious towards God, but a hardened heart means you are cold, insensitive, unfeeling or unyielding towards God in any area of your life. And I put with this mark, chapter 8, verses 17 and 18, where it says that if you can't perceive and if you can't understand and if you can't remember things that God has spoken to you, then that is an indication of a hardened heart. And I believe that every one of us would have to admit that there are times it's like you've been to church, you heard a preacher say something and you think, man, that's great. And when you get home, you're going to study it and you can't even remember what he said unto you. That's a, that's a characteristic of a hardened heart. You know, I have spent so many years studying the Word that I'm sensitive to the Word. And, and I can quote scripture. And when the Lord speaks to me, I mean, I know the word, I don't know it as well as I should. I don't know as well as I'm going to. I'm still studying, like, yesterday. I bet you I studied seven hours yesterday. So I'm not claiming that I'm there, but I'm saying that I have seen the word of God. It's just I'm sensitive to the word of God. My heart is sensitive to it. But if it's outside of the word, you know, I live in this world, but I just don't relate to it. And I just don't remember a lot of things. You know, I haven't gotten into playing all of the games. I haven't gotten into all of the movies. I hadn't gotten into all of the music. Now I've heard all. I've heard songs, I've seen movies. I've been into sports. But those things just don't. Domini dominate me. It's not where my heart is. There was actually an instance that when Jamie's parents were still alive and their name was B.F. mary Jane, and when her. When Jamie's sister would come with her husband, there would be, you know, three couples of us, and we would play this Trivial Pursuit. And I'm fairly good at geography because I've traveled the world. I'm fairly good with history because I've learned a. And I like history. But when it came to sports, when it came to movies, when it came to, you know, songs and things like that, if it's not in the Bible, I just don't know it. And so we would play this game, Trivial Pursuit. And I honestly would just sit there without making any comment on these questions because I just didn't know things unless it was geography, history, or the Bible. And so anyway, I had been sitting there for a long time, hadn't contributed a thing. And I thought, I'm going to get this next question, whatever it is. I'm. I'm drawing on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And so I prayed, you know, inside, it wasn't outside, but I was in my heart. I was praying and saying, father, give me a word of wisdom. Just show me the answer to this next question. And so the next question that came up was, what magazine debuted April 1, 1953, or something like that. I don't remember what now. But anyway, as soon as this question came up, I knew the answer. It's the only answer I knew for an hour. And you know what it was? Playboy. And so the only answer that I was able to give was to what magazine debuted April 1, 1953, or whenever it was. And I said it's playboy. And boy, my daddy in law really let me have it over that. Yeah, sure. All you've been doing is studying the Word. How come you knew that? And I told him, I said it was a word of knowledge. Honestly, God just gave it to me. But when it's outside of the Bible, I'm just insensitive to it. And it's not that I haven't heard things, but it's just I don't perceive, I don't understand, I don't remember things because that's not where my heart is. But my heart is on God, it's on the Word. And boy, God can speak to me through the Word. I mean, it just comes across loud and clear. Did you know you can reverse this process to where in the same way that we've been cold, insensitive, unfeeling and unyielding towards God and it seems like we have trouble hearing and perceiving and remembering things from God, you can reverse it to where you get to where you just hear the slightest whisper from God and you don't know how to hear the devil. I know some people think that's impossible. I'm telling you you can get to where it's hard for, for you to hear the voice of the devil. Matter of fact, Jesus even said In John chapter 10, he says, My sheep hear my voice and the voice of a stranger talking about the devil, they will not hear. Did you know you can literally get to a place to where you just have trouble hearing the devil? You know, people come up all the time and say, well, the devil told me this and the devil told me that it ought to be that you ought to say, how is it that you hear the devil? I hear God all the time, but I don't hear the devil. I know some people think, boy, you're weird because this is certainly not the norm. But I believe it's what God intended us to be. So anyway, last week I spent a lot of time summarizing that. I was talking about what is a hardened heart. I want to go back to the scripture I started with in Mark, chapter 6, verse 52. And it says after they were sore, amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered, in verse 52 it says they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened. And as I meditated on this, we've already talked about what are the characteristics of a hardened heart. So now that's the crisis. What is the cause of a hardened heart? Right here it is they considered not the miracle of the loaves. Did you know if they would have been focused on the fact that Jesus just fed 5,000 men, not including all the women and children at 10 or 15,000 people, with five little loaves and two small fish, if they had been focused on that and just milking that for all it was worth, and if their mind was stayed upon that, and they remember that in verse 45, he had to constrain them to get into the ship. They knew it wasn't smart to go out when a storm was approaching. And yet he was responsible for them. They had done it. Not at their. This wasn't some situation they got themselves into. God got them into this. And so therefore he was responsible. He was in the same storm. He. If they would have been really focused on the miracle that they had just witnessed a matter of hours before, they wouldn't have been shocked to see Jesus come walking on the water. They would have expected that he could do it. Anybody who can feed all of these thousands of people with just a little tiny amount of food, they could also walk on the water. So what? Here. Here's one of the greatest things that the Lord's ever taught me, and that is that whatever you consider, you become sensitive to, whatever you fail to consider, you become hardened to. And again, if you compare this with Mark, chapter eight, when Jesus said that their heart was hardened, he says, don't you remember when I fed the 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments we took up? And they said 12. And then, then the seven loaves among 4,000, how many baskets full took you up? And they said 12, 7. They remembered facts, but they had lost all of the spiritual significance and application to their life. They had become hardened to it. They were just totally dominated by the physical facts. So whatever you consider that means study, ponder, deliberate examine, focus upon, meditate on. Whatever you give yourself totally to, you become sensitive to. And whatever you neglect, you become hardened to. Now, it doesn't happen automatically. It's over a period of time. And because it's not instantaneous, many times people miss this. But this is what this is saying. If they had considered the miracle of the loaves, their heart would not have been hardened. They wouldn't have been shocked to see Jesus come walking on the water. And so it really comes down to whatever you focus your attention on, whatever you consider. Study, ponder, deliberate examine, meditate upon, focus upon. That's what's good. You're going to be dominated by. And brothers and sisters, the sad fact is that very few of Us are focused on God the way that we should be. And there's just many scriptures on this. But in Joshua, chapter one, verse eight, the Lord told Joshua, he says, this book of the law shall not depart from thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written. For then when you've meditated on it day and night, then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. You could say that then your heart will be sensitive to God and it will be hardened to the unbelief and to the devil who's trying to come against you and steal the good things that God wants to do in your life. And there's many, many scriptures. Psalms chapter one goes along with this about, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. Remember that the word consider here means to study, ponder, deliberate, examine, meditate. So when you meditate, you are considering the day and night. This book of the law doesn't depart from your mouth, but you meditate therein day and night. Then you will make your way prosperous. It goes on to say in Psalms chapter one that you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in his season. His leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he does will prosper. The I the picture is that you will be like where there's a water source, and even when other people are going through a drought, you will still be able to produce because you're planted by the rivers of the water. If you are meditating in the word day and night. So what it really amounts to is that whatever we give the majority of our attention to, it's going to dominate us. Whatever we neglect it. You don't have to reject it, just neglect it, and you will begin to start being insensitive towards it. And again, I'm not saying this to condemn anybody, but I'm saying it to enlighten us that the vast majority of believers do not meditate in the word of God day and night. The truth is, most of us spend more time in the light of our television than we do in the light of God's word. The it's just a matter, you know, Some people will say, well, I'm so busy, I don't have a lot of quantity time, but I have a lot of quality time. You not only need quality time, you do need that in the word of God and in prayer, but you need quantity time. You need to keep your mind stayed upon the Lord. And I know somebody's thinking, but you know what? Not all of us are preachers like you. Somebody's got to go to work, somebody's got to make a living. And I can't just be in the Word of God all day long. Well, yes you can, because the Bible says you can meditate in the Word of God day and night. Matter of fact, it says over in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down of imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, every thought to the obedience of Christ. Those who say, but I can't just keep my mind stayed on God all of the time. You aren't taking advantage of those weapons that are given to us. 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 5, you can bring every thought into obedience to Christ. In Isaiah, chapter 26, verse 3, it says, the Lord will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed upon him because he trusteth in him. The Word stayed there is talking about focused, it's talking about considering, studying, pondering, delivering, examining day and night. And I know that there's some people thinking, but you can't. I've got to go to work and I'm an accountant and I've got to focus on these things, or I'm doing this and I've got to focus on my job. Let me use this illustration that I can guarantee you. Every person watching this sometime or another has had something happen, either physical, where you were worried about a health problem, or maybe it was financial or something. But anyway, you have been able to go to work and you work and you do your job and yet your mind is never really off of your physical problem. You're wondering, how am I going to survive this? What do I do? Or you're worrying about your finances and you're thinking, oh God, I just need help. And did you know you have gone to work and you've been able to fulfill your job and yet you worry all day long about maybe an argument that you had with your mate about something that happened, about a child that's going off the rails, it never leaves your consciousness, and yet you're able to do your work. Did you know the same part of you that worries is the same part of you that meditates? You can meditate. Matter of fact, let me say it this way, that meditation or worry is nothing but meditating on something negative. You can meditate on positive. You can study the Word early in the morning. You can get a truth. And you could go to work, and you could do your job, and you could do your job even better because you would be having God speak to you. The word of God will just come alive. It'll make whatever you set your hand unto will prosper, is what it says in Deuteronomy, chapter 28. And if you keep your mind stayed upon the Lord, it will keep you from being overwhelmed by fear and worry and care and deception and all of the things that affects other workers around you. You can actually do a better job, but you can keep your mind stayed upon God day and night. But the sad fact is, very few people do it. Most of us allow ourself to be taken off course. You know, there are people that you will sit there and seek the Lord and you love the Lord and you study the Word. You may have a devotional time and do all of these things, and yet you will go watch some movie that is completely contrary to everything you believe. It's lying, it's stealing, it's sexual, there's lust in it. Or you could go watch some horror movie, which I just do not understand people that love horror movies because fear is not of God. God didn't give us a spirit of fear. And if you have fear come at you, that's contrary to keeping your mind stayed upon the Lord and keeping your heart sensitive to the Lord. And yet there are people that just departmentalize their life. And so they. They seek the Lord during a devotion. They go to church at certain times when they're in a crisis situation, they may eliminate other things and focus on God. But there's people that just have part of their life that, oh, this is my secular life, and I go watch this movie. And I would never do the things that I'm seeing these people watch. I'm watching these people do, but I watch it for entertainment. And you will entertain yourself with something that is completely contrary to what God told us to do. David said, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. You know, you ought to put that on a piece of paper or something and tape it to your television set or to your computer screen where he says, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. And yet there are Many of us that watch things that we shouldn't be watching, we read things that we shouldn't read. And you know what this does? It sensitizes your heart to that. I'm going to get into this more. But you can't be tempted with something that you don't think. If you don't think on these negative things, Satan cannot come to you and bring lust and bring fear and all these things. You have to be taught to do all of this stuff. I know there's a lot of people watching this that think that's not so. It's just natural for me to automatically lust, to automatically feel, to automatically worry, to automatically be bitter and critical and negative and things like that. But that's not true. You have to be taught those kind of things. It is an acquired trait. And the sad fact is that many Christians, they would never go out and commit adultery. They would never go lie, they would never go steal. They want to live a holy life, and yet they will watch people commit adultery. They will watch people lie and watch and steal. And they will do that for entertainment. Not realizing that when you do that, when you consider anything other than the truth of God's word, then you start being sensitive to it, and it opens up a door to those kind of things. If we were to neglect that, whatever you fail to consider, your heart becomes hardened to. You can literally get to a place to where you don't know how to disbelieve God. You know, I was raised in Arlington, Texas, and I was raised in a Christian home, and it was a conservative area. But I heard about homosexuality. I heard about prostitution, I heard about adultery, but those things weren't for me. And I honestly never thought about it. I never got into pornography or any of those kind of things. And after the Lord touched my life, my mother thought I had lost my mind. And so she signed me up to go on a Baptist youth trip to Bern, Switzerland, to Billy Graham conference that he was holding there. And she sicced this Baptist pastor on me for three weeks, trying to talk me out of all the things that I had been through. But the very first night, we were in New York City, and here I am, a hick from a small town in Texas. And when we were on Times Square and I was seeing things, I was hearing things that I had never seen or heard in my life. And so I had hundreds of tracks with me, and I just went down alleys and saw gangs, you know, dressed all in black with these chains and different things. And I guess I had heard about Gangs, but it wasn't for me. So I hadn't focused on it. I was insensitive to it. And it just never dawned on me that these people were really dangerous. I just went down the alleys, passed out tracks and emptied the alleys. Amen. Witnessed to them all. And I remember going on 42nd and Broadway, and there must have been a hundred prostitutes lined up along this wall. And I had heard of prostitution, but I. It wasn't for me. And I was insensitive to it. And it just never dawned on me that there would be a hundred women lined up there just to go out and commit sexual sins. And so I didn't. I didn't understand what was happening. I just thought, this is a great opportunity. And I went down the row and passed them all out a track and witnessed to them and emptied the entire street. And I had a pimp come up to me. And I guess I had heard about pimps, but I. I just wasn't focused on it. I was insensitive to it. And he was trying to sell me one of his girls. And I kept saying, what? What? I just. It didn't dawn on me what this guy was trying to do. He was using this street language that I wasn't. And so anyway, he. He just walked off, threw up his hands in the air like this, shook his head and walked off, like, wondering, what rock has this hick crawled out from under? And anyway, I went back to the hotel room with the guys I was staying with, and I began to tell them what this guy was saying, and they had to explain to me what he was doing, what he was saying, what he wanted me to do. But here's my point in relating all of this. I was insensitive to all of that because I hadn't considered it. Because this wasn't something that I had ever gone there in my mind and I had never imagined. I just didn't live there. Did you know I was totally hardened towards all of this? I didn't have any fear of gangs. I didn't have any temptation for these prostitutes. I ju. You can't be tempted with something that you don't think I was insensitive to them. The reason many of us are so sensitive and so easily pulled into sexual sins, into depression, into fear, into hatred, bitterness, and on and on, is because we have considered those things. We live there. If you were to just do nothing but consider the word of God, your heart wouldn't be hardened towards God. You would be receptive to everything he has to say. And you would be hardened towards everything and that the devil is trying to do in your life. It really is as simple as what I'm saying, but it's not easy. I've got a lot more to share about this and I encourage you to stay tuned. Please go back and get the materials from our web site or get this book. We're a offering this for a gift of any amount. If you'll just send whatever, we'll send this book to you. If you could not or would not send anything, we'll send this little brief summary. It's about a 50 page summary of that teaching and then we have cds and DVDs and a USB that will have the audio and the video on it. I tell you the things that I'm sharing here, this is just life changing. It's changed my life. It would make a huge difference in your life. You need to get this so that you can go over it and remember it. So check it out. Listen to our announcer and then please call or write today.
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Learn how to keep your heart yielded and responsive to the Lord when you get Andrew's Series Hardness of Heart Andrew is offering his booklet An Introduction to Hardness of Heart as his free gift to you today. This offer is limited to one free booklet per household and is available in the us, uk, Canada and Australia. Contact us today to receive your free booklet. Andrew's complete series Hardness of Heart is available as a book and as a newly updated CD album or DVD album made from our daily television broadcast. You can also receive the full teaching on a USB that includes both the audio and video. Each of these valuable resources are available for a gift of any amount when you contact us for a limited time. You can also receive the book and USB together as a special Bundle for just $25. Scan the QR code on the screen or go to awmi.net to see all the ways you can get these products. We also want to remind you of Andrew's Living Commentary software. The Living Commentary includes more than 50 years of Andrew's Bible study notes and and personal encounters with God and is available as a web based software that you can access by computer or any mobile device. Get Andrew's Living commentary today for $120. We would like to say a special thank you to the Grace Partners of Andrew Wommack Ministries. Your gifts make it possible to put free ministry materials into the hands of many people in need. If you're not already a Grace Partner, we ask you to pray about becoming one today. You can become a Grace Partner through our web site@awmi.net while there, you can discover more product details and download additional free resources. Also, our products and additional resources are available in various languages through our web site. You can also order resources or receive prayer by calling our helpline at 719-635-1111. Our helpline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To write us, use the address on your screen.
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Praise God. I just thank you for Andrew Wommack's ministry. He's changed my life. Andrew's teachings I can't pinpoint one that's more important than the other because it took all of them all together for.
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25 years, the friends and partners of Andrew Wommack have been blessed to invest in a television ministry that ignites their relationship with God. And not only does each donation support Andrew, but it supports his mandate to disciple nations through Charis Bible College. Every seed sown by Andrew's partners is multiplied through the lives of Charis graduates who carry God's Word out into the world.
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I've seen students learn and discover who they are in Christ. How much God loves them is just affecting their lives and those around them. If we can't physically go, we're sending somebody that can go.
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Jesus said in Matthew 6:19 do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Those who have gone to support the ministry of Andrew Wommack are making an eternal investment beyond all we can share in this short video. Thank you friends and partners. These are your treasures in heaven. As we continue to sow the seed of God's Word in our lives and in the lives of our students, the Lord of the Harvest will multiply our investment to his glory in the exciting days that are still ahead.
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Did you hear about our website? We designed it with you in mind. Now you can browse on all your mobile devices. It's fast, easy and it just makes sense. Check it out@awmi.net.