The Hardness of Heart series deals with the crisis, the cause, and the cure for a hardened heart. A hard heart is simply a heart that is more sensitive to other things than to God. It is caused by what we focus our attention on, and it dictates the level of unbelief in our lives.
welcome to gospel truth with Andrew
Wommack a teaching ministry that focuses
on God’s unconditional love and grace
and now here’s Andrew today I’m going to
begin a series that I think is really
going to be a blessing to you
if this touches your life half as much
as it has impacted me this is going to
be one of those major revelations that
just is life transforming about
20-something years ago the Lord spoke
some things to me about my heart and one
of the things he told me was that I had
a hardened heart and this is what I’m
going to begin to start talking about is
about a hardened heart what having a
hardened heart is the crisis and then
we’re going to talk about what causes it
and then we’re going to talk about the
cure for it and I tell you this has
become one of the foundational things
that God has taught me and it has just
transformed my life this is a truth that
I apply to my life every single day
I am constantly monitoring whether my
heart is focused on the things of God
whether I’m becoming more sensitive to
God or whether I’m neglecting the things
of God and thereby becoming hardened and
this is just the truth that I use every
single day of my life and I really
believe that this is going to have that
kind of an impact on you so I really
want to encourage you to go to the
effort of watching these programs of
course you can go to our web site and
you can get all of my programs you can
even watch them in advance on the
website but you could get this entire
teaching or you can get our materials
but this is a teaching that every single
person needs to understand and one of
the reasons that I’m placing it on our
television teaching in the sequence that
I have is because I have really been
ministering very hard on the grace of
God talking about how God loves us
independent of our performance and of
course this is something I’m always
teaching on this is what changed my life
and you know some people could abuse
that teaching and think well well the
grace of God since God loves me in
despite of how holy I am therefore it
doesn’t matter whether I live in sin
whether I seek God whether I pray
whether I study the word and some people
could abuse that now I really can’t
relate to that because there is a
scripture in Titus chapter 2 verse 12
says the grace of God teaches us to deny
ungodliness and worldly lust if you
really understand the teaching of grace
grace does not encourage sloppy living
some people call it sloppy agape that
you know I’ve heard people criticize me
with terms like that
it really doesn’t do that if you truly
understand what I’ve been teaching the
goodness of God the grace of God God’s
unconditional love for you would make
you live holier accidentally than you’ve
ever lived on purpose and I really
believe that but I can logically
understand that I have been talking
about how God loves us independent of
our performance how that we’ve been
forgiven of all sins past present and
even future sins have been forgiven and
logically I can understand that somebody
might come to a conclusion that
therefore it doesn’t matter whether you
seek the Lord whether you pray whether
you study the word or anything because
God’s love is unconditional and this
teaching on a hardness of heart if you
put it into the proper context and
that’s one reason I’m teaching it in
sequence the way that I’m doing right
here it will show you the importance of
seeking God and living a holy life it’s
not in order to make God love you more
if you live holy God doesn’t love you
more if you live unholy God doesn’t love
you less God’s love for you is not based
on your performance but it’s based on
what Jesus did for you and if you put
your faith in Jesus then you are
accepted by God on the basis of what
Jesus did and your acceptance of that
not based on your goodness all of that
is absolutely true but does that mean
that we just therefore don’t have to
seek the Lord don’t have to do anything
don’t it doesn’t matter about what
happens no and that’s what this teaching
is going to explain is that the way your
heart
goes affects your relationship of God
here’s another way of saying it holiness
will not make God love you more a lack
of holiness won’t make God love you less
but holiness seeking God will cause your
heart to be more sensitive towards God
and unholiness will cause your heart to
become hardened towards God
holiness doesn’t change God’s attitude
towards you but it will change your
attitude towards God if you live a godly
life and seek God with all of your heart
it’s not going to make God love you any
more but it will make you love God more
now those are major points major major
points and here’s another thing I want
to bring out before I get right into the
midst of this teaching is that the way
your heart goes is the way that your
life goes now that is a very simple
thing to say and yet most people don’t
understand this and practically very few
people function that way most people are
after results like I can take a million
things this is just one example but say
for instance wait you know that is a
major deal people are making billions of
dollars off all their exercise things
their weight-loss deal their diets and
on and on and I mean the American
culture many people are watching this
program around the world are just
obsessed with trying to control their
weight it’s a big thing to most people
most people are after you know a certain
result they want to be in a certain size
dress or they want to be a certain
weight or whatever and they’re after
this results and they don’t recognize
that your weight is actually a heart
problem now there’s probably people
watching this that are going to be
offended by this immediately and start
criticizing this but you know I could
take a side road here and spend a couple
of days verifying this by scriptures
especially out of proverbs 23 verses 1
through 7 and Ecclesiastes there’s a
number of scriptures but really weight
is a heart issue and people see most
people are approaching this differently
they’re approaching it as
it’s only an organic physical thing what
they need is more exercise what they
need is to restrict certain calories
they don’t eat certain foods they will
go to extreme they will do these extreme
diets that I mean punished it’s just
amazing what people will do but the
bottom line is that proverbs 23:7 as he
thinks in his heart so is he
and you know again I could spend the
whole day I’m just going to say some
things real quickly some of you may not
agree with this and I hadn’t got time to
put it into a context where I could
convince you but let me just throw this
out if you’ll receive it this would
change your life but you know the bottom
line with being overweight is you can’t
be overweight by eating one meal it’s
not one meal that’s going to cause it
it’s not one food that’s going to cause
it it’s none of those kind of things to
be overweight you have to eat more than
your body needs and you have to do that
over and over and over and over and over
you could gorge yourself to the point
that you literally passed out from being
so full and I guarantee you might gain a
couple of pounds but to be 10 20 30 40
pounds overweight you have to do it over
and over and over and over and really if
you just trace it back to the bottom
line the bottom line to this is that
you’ve got a heart problem with me the
Lord told me that I was a glutton that I
love food I love to eat and so you know
I have decreased the amount of food that
I eat I’ve decreased as I don’t need as
often I eat anything I don’t have a
restricted diet and yet you know I’ve
been able to lose 20 pounds and keep it
off I still got more to go but I’m
saying that it’s a hard issue the
problem you see people want to go on a
diet they will punish themselves for a
week or for a month but they don’t
change their heart and the moment that
the diet is over they go back to lusting
and eating more than their body needs
more often than they need it and
eventually the weight will come back and
your body will actually feel like it was
starved and it will store up it’ll
change your metabolism and you’ll be
worse off than you were before
if you would just change your heart
issue if you would deal things with a
heart level it will eventually result in
physical outward change but see our
society today is just wanting these
results there’s people that want to win
the lottery and they want to get all
this money and think that that’s going
to solve their problems really financial
prosperity is a hard issue if you would
not spend more than you bring in if you
would discipline yourself learn to be
content with what you have and not
overspend and not get into debt when a
person gets into debt and starts paying
interest I guarantee you you are
shooting yourself in the foot
you are causing problems it really comes
back to a covetous hard issue that’s the
problem
anybody anybody could prosper in this
society we could see things happen if we
would control our lust it comes back to
a heart issue if we would live within
our means if you would spend less than
you make and do that consistently over a
long period of time anybody would
prosper there’s people that struggle
financially because they have a poverty
attitude they see themselves poor they
don’t see themselves as being somebody
who is a quality person and it can
perform at a certain level and so they
it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
it’s actually a hard issue you know I
can give a personal testimony on this
that on January the 31st of 2002 there
was a lot of things that led up to this
over the previous couple of months but
on that day January 31st 2002 the Lord
finally got through to me that I was
limiting what he could do through me in
this ministry because I had small
thinking I had been persecuted I had
been criticized it’s like when you reach
over and pet a dog if every time you try
to pet a dog and bite you after a while
you get gun-shy about petting dogs you
become very hesitant to do it well the
Lord had put in my heart that I was
supposed to have a worldwide ministry
with a dominant influence and that the
message he’d put on my heart was going
to be major it was going to touch a lot
of people I knew that in my heart
and yet I wasn’t seeing that on the
outside we had seen growth but not like
what not consistent with what God had
put in my heart and a number of things
converged and the Lord finally spoke to
me that it was a hard issue that in my
heart I was limiting God I was afraid of
the criticism that people would come
against me with I was afraid of the
temptations that went with getting a
larger ministry and having greater
influence and the Lord dealt with me on
a heart level now in the natural see I
had been doing all kinds of things to
increase the ministry to reach out to
touch people and to generate the
finances that we needed to accomplish
all of this and I had been praying and
asking for this result but I’ve been
trying to get the end results without
changing my heart and again I go back to
that scripture proverbs 23:7 as he
thinks in his heart so is he
you’re in results the way your life is
going externally in the physical realm
is a reflection of what is going on in
your heart again some people don’t like
that because they say that you’re making
it my fault you’re saying it’s my
responsibility and that’s exactly what
I’m saying and people hate to accept
responsibility we love to push it off on
somebody and say it’s a color of my skin
it’s the fact that I don’t have this
education it’s the bias of this person
it’s my boss who is mean and that’s the
reason and you know on and on we love to
point the finger and make somebody else
responsible for the misery in our life
but the Bible says as you think in your
heart that is the way your life is going
now there can be some you know little
bumps along the way that come through
other people but ultimately your life
will go the direction of your heart
nobody can keep that from happening and
see the Lord spoke this to me I had been
praying for change for growth for
increase in finances increase in
influence getting the message out
touching more people I’d been praying
was frustrated to a large degree and the
Lord finally got it across to me that
it’s because of my heart
I had limited God Psalms chapter 78
verse 41 says in their heart they turned
back unto Egypt and tempted God and
limited the Holy One of Israel and the
Lord used that verse to show me that it
was a heart issue with me I was afraid
of a number of things he dealt with me
on that heart issue I remember it was
February the 11th of 2002 that I called
my staff together and I confessed this I
showed them what God had been speaking
to me I said I don’t know how long it
takes to change your heart I don’t know
if it’s a day a week a month a year five
years but I’m going to change and I was
just absolutely shocked when I changed
on the heart level my physical
circumstances changed so quickly that it
just literally shocked me it overwhelmed
me there was all kinds of things I again
could spend a week teaching on this I’m
trying to say these things in
introduction to this teaching about
hardness of heart but I think it’s very
important that you get this point
because again most people today are
praying for change they want this to
change they want their way to change
they want their finances to change they
want their relationships to change they
want their joy level to change they want
their relationship with God to change
they’re praying for change but they
think that it’s external it all begins
in the heart you change your heart and
then everything external will change as
a byproduct of that and so my testimony
is that when I made this heart change
within just a week of that within a
matter of days I had been trying to go
on the Daystar Network and I knew Marcus
and Joni lamb I had been on their
program I think at that time four or
five times I had talked to them about
going on their network and I don’t know
why but it just wouldn’t work out and
again I go back to that scripture
proverbs 23:7 as he thinks in his heart
so is he
you’re in results the way your life is
going externally in the physical realm
is a reflection of what is going on in
your heart
did you know within one week
of me making that statement to my staff
I got a letter from Marcus Lam and he
says you know we’ve had you on our
program as a guest we know that you’re
on television on other networks why
aren’t you on the day star network we
need you on this network and he says you
just make plans to be on we’ll work out
the details and I mean within one week
of me changing my heart this door that
I’d been knocking at for two years all
of a sudden just boom opened up and
there was a number of things that happen
we had reached a place to where Jamie
and I we had gone as far managing the
ministry as we possibly could we had
about 33 employees and I guarantee you
that was just maxing us out that’s not
my gifting is to be an administrator and
yet we were struggling about how do we
get somebody else to run our ministry
see in the past I’d had three general
managers of our ministry and I wound up
firing them all nobody less lasted over
two years and basically one of the
reasons there is multiple things but one
of the reasons is I give materials away
we make our materials available on a
donation basis we don’t deny people
access to our teaching and we had
financial problems and every manager
fought me on this you need to start
selling you need to do this and there
was just conflict and it was a different
philosophy and every person that I ever
had in here we wound up having a
different philosophical approach towards
this ministry and they wouldn’t agree
they tried to change me and that was one
of the things there’s other things but
we wound up having to fire all of these
managers so Jamie took it over she was
in agreement with me and we were doing
good as far as harmony between us but
you know it was just a struggle for us
to manage 33 people so we had been
praying and saying god we need help and
yet where do you get somebody that has
the business skills and the smarts that
you need to be able to run a
multi-million dollar of ministry and yet
is willing to give everything away where
do you find somebody with our heart that
wants to give and bless people and yet
has the financial savvy
and the the giftings to make the thing
work and we were just at a loss and we
had just talked about it within one week
of me making this heart change in
telling people I was going to change in
my heart I was going to believe God I
called a man David Hardesty who was on
my board of directors and I called him
to cancel a board meeting because I had
a death in the family and I had to go to
the funeral and as I called him in on a
Sunday morning and just told him I
wasn’t going to be able to make this
board meeting he says well I’m glad you
called because last November two or
three months before the Lord spoke to
him and his wife and says it’s time for
us to come out there and take your
ministry to the next level and David is
a man that I’ve known for many years he
had my heart he just loved the ministry
he loved what we were doing and yet he
was one of the leaders in the Sears
Corporation he actually taught in Sears
University training management he was a
high level management he had all of
these skills for 37 years Sears
Corporation trained him he had all of
the smarts that we needed but he had my
heart and I mean within one week of me
making a heart change boom here was one
of the major pieces that had to fall in
line for us to see this visible outward
change we had to have the right
personnel and David and his wife Gail
came out in 2003 and took over the
ministry and we’ve grown from 33
employees to over 200 employees in those
five years and the ministry has just
expanded the finances begin to change
and some people might think we’ll see
you went and told your people what God
had spoken to Eunice but did you know
before we ever got a letter out to my
mailing list before I ever went on
television and told about what God had
done because we make these television
programs like two months in advance and
so there’s a lead time and it takes
about two months for us to write a
letter and to get it all done and to get
it out and for it to reach the people
during those two months from the time I
made this heart change until we could
put the promotion out did you know that
February and March were both record
income
it’s for this ministry when I changed my
heart before I had the opportunity to go
on television and tell a single person
before I was able to put out a letter
and explain it to a single person before
there was any physical reason that
outward things could have changed
I mean instantly we started seeing a
huge increase and you’ve got to remember
this is right after the September the
11th terrorist attacks on the US every
major ministry that I’m aware of in the
United States when this happened people
panicked they began to start sending
money to the people who had been hurt in
these terrorist attacks people’s
attention were drawn away from Christian
television they were watching secular
television wondering where things were
going and I mean across the board every
ministry that I’m aware of
plummeted in their finances during that
period of time some of them had severe
crisis it was right after that that the
Lord spoke to me and before I had any
physical way to advertise and tell
people and generate response against the
trend of every other ministry our
finances nearly doubled just went
through the roof I’m saying all of this
to say that I can testify and this is
what the scriptures say that your heart
is the deciding factor in what is
happening external and yet most
Christians are ignoring this they’re
wanting change they’re wanting their
finances to change their marriage to
change their health to change their
relationships to change their praying
for all of these different results but
they don’t want to change at the heart
level it’s just the opposite if we would
just change our heart as you think in
your heart that’s the way that your life
is going to go and as I talk about a
hardness of heart and describe what that
is what causes it and what cures it if
you can receive this teaching it will
change you at the heart level and then
you’ll find out that change externally
will just come effortlessly if you get
your heart changed if your heart is
really sensitive and soft towards God
you’ll find out that the other change
that you need in your life is just
effortless
look at these verses in proverbs chapter
4 verse 23 he says keep thy heart with
all diligence for out of it are the
issues of life that’s basically what
I’ve been saying this entire program
that as your heart goes that’s the way
that your life is going to go most
people are saying oh no my heart’s just
fine but everything in my life is just
totally a mess out here and so they’re
praying that God will do something to
change this and change that nope as your
heart goes that’s the way your life goes
keep your heart with all diligence for
out of it are the issues of life and you
know what I’m just about out of time
today but we’re going to continue this
on our program tomorrow let me just
summarize today by saying that as I
start teaching on this subject of
hardness of heart I believe what it’s
going to do it’s going to open up a
brand-new way of approaching God instead
of approaching God on the basis of oh
god I need this done in this done in
this done and just trying to get
external things fixed if you would
approach God and say God hears my heart
and whatever it is in me that is
hindering your perfect will from coming
to past touch me on the heart level
change me at the heart level and as your
heart changes proverbs 23:7 says that’s
the way that your life will go as he
thinks in his heart so is he
Andrews complete teaching series titled
hardness of heart is available on either
CD or on DVD as seen on our daily TV
program each is offered for thirteen
pounds
remember to specify the CD or DVD when
you order this series is also available
for audio download absolutely free on
our website go to a WM e net after
choosing English click on resources at
the top of the page and then mp3
downloads if you prefer the hardness of
heart teaching series is available in
book form when you send six pounds the
first audio teaching in today’s series
is also available for three pounds
right or call but if you’re simply
unable to afford it Andrew and his
partners will send this first CD titled
the crisis free of charge we’d like to
remind you that we’re offering Andrews
latest book titled effortless change for
8 pounds 50 contact us today to get your
copy you can use your credit card to
order resources by telephone our
helpline number is 0 1 9 2 2 4 7 3 300
when calling from outside the UK you
must dial your international calling
code then 44 1 9 2 2 4 7 3 300 helpline
hours are from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Greenwich Mean Time or you can visit our
website where you can order ministry
materials 24 hours a day 7 days a week
and a WM e net to write us use the
address on your screen we hope to hear
from you today
when Andrew and Jamie were young they
went to a conference on Biblical
prosperity they desperately wanted to
get the teaching but simply could not
afford it Andrew promised God that if he
was ever in a position to make his
teaching available he would never deny
it to someone for lack of funds and
that’s what motivated me really to give
is the fact that he gives us stuff away
our hearts are just tied with what
Andrews doing what he’s trying to
accomplish partnership is helping do
what I can’t do I know that I’m a part
of something so good and my gifts can
help reach the nations and the people
whoever has ears to hear they will hear
while flipping TV channels in their home
in Kathmandu Nepal Bob in Dawa Wesley
stumbled across the gospel truth
broadcast with Andrew Wommack and their
lives were changed forever when I found
out that how much God loved me in what
he did for me
I started understanding the gospel
actually desiring to fulfill God’s call
in their lives Bob and Dawa moved to
Colorado Springs and attended Karis
Bible College then it was back to Nepal
and back to work I started walking
toward my office and I started seeing
these two little boys and their feet was
cracked and you know their clothes were
really really dirty
I asked the law what do you want me to
do and the Lord said feed them with that
direction from God their ministry was
born feeding the destitute boys of
Kathmandu both physically and
spiritually
I’ve always focus on sharing the gospel
with these kids and it is only the Word
of God that changes the lives of the
people it is only the gospel
another changed life changing the world
Andrew Wommack ministries and Cara’s
Bible College