Andrew Wommack - Effortless Change - Part 20
Welcome to our Friday’s broadcast of the gospel truth. Today is my last day of teaching on a series that I’ve entitled, effortless change, and I tell you, I love this teaching. It has transformed my life and I’ve seen this really impact other people and change them effortlessly. Today is going to be my last day to offer these materials over the television, so I would encourage you to please go to the effort of getting these materials. I know some people think, well, I’ve heard this whole series.
Why do I need this? Because you need to hear it over. I can guarantee you, this is just a foundational thing that you need to hear over and over and over. You get a bigger, it makes a bigger impact on you when you get it in its entirety and you can sit down and like, read a whole book at a time or listen to a whole CD at a time, plus, this is just something that everybody needs to know, so this would be a great way for you to share it with people, and remember that today is our last day to offer this over our television programs.
I’ve been teaching from the parable of the sower sowing the seed, and this was taken from Mark, chapter 4, verses 14 down through verse 20, and yesterday I ended up with verse 19 talking about how that satan comes with the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things, and I was making the point that for the Word of God to have its maximum output in your life you have to be focused on it. You can’t just do it in spurts, you can’t do it casually. You have to commit yourself to the Word of God and establish priorities to where you don’t let even good things come into your life and choke the Word of God. I tell you, that is a major deal. I could probably talk about that a lot longer, but today’s our last day to teach on this.
The last type of ground, the type that actually produced fruit is in verse 20. It says, these are they which are sown on good ground: such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. And so there was four types of hearts revealed in this thing. Only one out of four produced fruit, and then out of those that produced fruit, there was variation there, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold. The seed had the exact same potential in every type of soil, and even in this fourth type of soil that actually brought forth fruit, the potential was there for a hundred fold in every single plant, but the difference is again, the soil, it’s our heart, it’s how much you commit yourself to something.
You know, when I saw this, I just made a decision, that father, if these things are true, which they are, and if the seed has the exact same potential, it’s never a bad seed, it’s never that, you know, God just created some people to be duds, the Word of God will work for every single person the same way. When I saw that, I just determined that I was going to give myself to the Word of God to the max so that I could get the maximum benefit and I don’t believe that it’s God that ordained that some people only produce fruit thirty fold, some sixty fold and some a hundred.
I believe God wants all of us to be producing and, and reaping this hundred fold return on what he sows in our life, but we, it depends on how much you’re committed to something, and here’s another great truth that I learned, and this really ministered to me because during the time that the Lord showed these truths to me, I had been in my first year of college and the l, and I had this miraculous encounter with the Lord and God called me out of college and told me to quit college.
Now, that’s not for everybody. There are some people that need college to be able to, you know, get a job and do what they are called to do, but I’m saying for me, God told me to quit college and when I did, I was bombarded with people telling me that, you’ll never make it, and even in the, you know, in the realm of being a minister, they knew I was committed to the Lord, they said, you’ve got to go to cemetery, I mean seminary, and you’ve got to get this degree and you can’t ever be a preacher if you don’t go through seminary, and so I was just bombarded from all directions, and this really ministered to me because the type of ground that brought forth the most fruit wasn’t the ground that had more of everything.
These three previous types of ground, they had more of everything, more rocks, more hardness of earth, more weeds, more all of this stuff. The type of ground that brought forth and that the Word of God really began to work in was the type of ground that was less, not more, and I don’t know if that helps you, but again, this background, I was being told that you’ll never make it unless you go and get all of this education and do all of these things, and the Lord spoke to me that it’s being less, it’s not being more. It’s not based on your great talents and abilities. It’s the Word of God that is what changes your life and that makes it really productive and makes you reap a hundred fold, and when I saw this, I thought, man, I’m not sure I can be more, but I am absolutely certain I can be less.
If this is talking about just being focused on the things of God and not leaning unto your own talents and abilities and stuff like this, but being totally God dependent, I said, I can do that. I can be committed. If it’s just being committed to the word, I can do that as much as anybody, and you know, I really consider this to be one of the things that God has done in my life that has really blessed me and made a difference.
Over here in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, the apostle Paul said in verse 26, he says, for you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise: and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty: and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence, and you know, this is just like God putting up a help wanted sign and then he lists your requirements. He says, if you are base, if you are despised, if you are nothing, if you are weak, if you are rejected by the world, apply within. God’s qualifications are different than ours.
Now again, you need to, you know, interpret this in your situation. If you’re called to be a doctor, you better go to school and learn what you’re doing. If you’re called to be a nuclear scientist, you need to know what you’re doing or you can get hurt or hurt somebody else. I’m not saying that we just throw away education, but I am saying that most people depend upon themself and they trust their own ability and that becomes a hindrance to God actually using you. You know, I’ve got some friends, I’ve got a guy that I know very well, who in the natural is just one of the nicest, kindest persons that I’ve ever met in my life. I mean, he’s just a good, good person. I’ve known him for 40 years and he’s a good person, but you know what?
Now, he’s getting older and he’s retired, and you know what? He’s come to the end of himself. He functioned better than most people. He had all of these talents and abilities and I’ve talked to him about the Lord many times and he really just didn’t need a crutch the way that I did. He didn’t need to depend upon God because he was an athlete, he was healthy, he could do all of these things, and he just, you know, he looked at me as, it’s okay for those of you that are weak and despised, but he just had his act together and everything was going good.
Now, he’s retired, now he’s getting older, now he’s struggling, and you know what? He’s trying to believe God for his health and he is just really unable to do it and one of the reasons is because he has always depended upon himself. He’s always been able to do it. He just put enough effort into it, he could get everything done, and I’m telling you, you may be like this guy that I’m talking about and you may be better than I am, better than the average person, but I can promise you, you will come to the end of yourself in this life sooner or later, and when you do, if you don’t know how to be less the way that I was talking about over here and where you just depend upon the Word of God.
And it’s not your great intellect and it’s not your ability and your natural strength and power, if you haven’t learned how to be God dependent and absolutely trusting in the word above everything else, there will come a day that you will come to the end of yourself, and if you, if you can’t make that transition and get into depending upon God, the word won’t work for you, and I think it’s a shame that a person has to crash and burn and be in a crisis situation before they realize that they really need God and they need to depend upon God. I believe I’m speaking to some of you right now that maybe your life is just going very well, especially relative to everybody else and you feel like everything is okay, but the truth is, you aren’t committed to the Word of God.
There may be some of you that have listened to this whole series about how important it is to have the word dominate you and control you and your life has been relatively good and you’re just thinking, I don’t think it’s that serious. I don’t think I have to be as God dependent on the word and meditate in the word day and night the way Andrew talks about. Well, I can, I can guarantee you, sooner or later, if nothing else but in old age, you are going to come to the end of your strength and your power and if you’ve spent 40, 50, 60, 70 years just trusting in yourself and doing things your own way, you’re going to be too late.
You can’t cram for a harvest. You need to be taking the word right now and planting it in your life because there will come a time, if it hasn’t already happened, there will be a time that you are going to need the fruit that the Word of God produces, and sad to say, most people don’t turn to God until you’re in the midst of a crisis, and if these things I’ve been saying about the word being like a seed, if these things are true, one of the things about a seed is, it takes time for that seed to release its strength and power, and this is why so few Christians really prosper is because they don’t take the word, they don’t live by it, they don’t let the Word of God dominate them.
They go through their life and they wait until they’re in a crisis situation, until the doctor says you’re going to die, until the banker says, they’re going to foreclose on you, until your marriage is reaching at an end, and then you go to pleading with God for change and, oh God, change this situation, oh God, help me to get over cancer, help me to get over this marital problem, and you go to seeking God in a crisis situation. If you get help then, it’s going to be because of a miracle, not because of the blessing of God’s word, and it is true that God sometimes comes through with miracles, but you know what? You can’t grab a handle on a miracle: you can’t make a miracle happen. You can plead for it and believe for it, but you can take the Word of God and you can make whatever situation you need to see come to pass in your life, you can make it happen.
If you need healing, Hebrews, well, there’s many scriptures. I was going to quote Hebrews 4:12, the Word of God is quick, that means alive and powerful and the word will minister life to you. Proverbs, chapter 4 talks about that the word is health unto all of your flesh. Psalms 107:20, he sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from all their destructions. The Word of God will produce healing. You know, there is a major ministry on television, I won’t mention the name, but every one of you know who I’m talking about, and they have a ministry of miracles and they have crusades and so, show people being healed all of the time and that does happen, and praise God for it, but I’ve been in those services and there may be a thousand people there who have critical life threatening issues and there might be 15, 20, 50 that get healed, but the vast majority leave.
Yes, there are miracles that happen, but not all of them get healed, and this minister is a television ministry and people call into his ministry and you know what? He knows how to minister the miraculous and just have a supernatural encounter where, boom, the power of God hits you and you get free, but if people call in and they’ve been to his meetings and they still aren’t seeing healing, you know what he does? He gives out our telephone number and has those people call us because he says, Andrew can teach you how to take the Word of God and get healed. See, there’s different ways to receive healing. You can receive it through a gift of the spirit as a miracle, but you can also plant the Word of God in your heart, and I can guarantee you that if you were to take the word and meditate in it day and night, you would produce healing.
Some people would get thirty percent healing, others sixty, others a hundred percent depending on how much you take advantage of it and do it, but to get, receive from God this way through the word, you can’t wait until you’re in a crisis and then start the process because there’s going to be a harvest and it may be nine months down the road, it might be a year down the road before your heart really gets changed and starts releasing this, and if you’ve only got a few weeks to live, well then you’re just in a crisis situation.
So, I’m saying to those of you who find yourself in a crisis situation, you need to, it’s like, you know, the scriptures talked about in Matthew, chapter 6, I believe it was that the man built his house on the sand and when the rains came, the floods came, then the house fell, but the man who built his house on a rock is like the person who built his house on the Word of God, and you can withstand the problems.
If you’re in a crisis where you’re going to be dead in a month or six months, you may have to run next door and get in and take shelter with somebody who’s already built their house on the rock and you may have to weather the storm. But the best is for you to learn how to take these promises, the Word of God, plant them in your heart and receive, and if you are one of those that right now everything’s good, if you’re prosperous, if you’re healthy, if you’re emotionally good, if your marriage is good, if everything’s going good, don’t discount what I’ve been saying because you don’t need it right now.
I can guarantee you, you will need it. A storm will come. They will beat upon your house, and if it has not been founded on the rock of God’s word, then you are going to be in trouble. You’re either going to have to run next door and let somebody else believe God and help you, or you could take the Word of God right now and start building your house on the rock. You could start sowing this seed, and it may take a year or two years, but then when you do have a, a health crisis come, when you have a financial crisis come, you’ll be able to weather the storm. You’ll be able because the, the word will be producing in your life. I tell you, that is so important and it’s just so hard for me to get to get people to see this.
Most people have to wait until they’re in the midst of a crisis and I’m telling you, that is not the time to be trying to build your house is in the midst of a hurricane. You just aren’t going to prosper. You need to do this now. If everything’s going great now, praise God, and start ministering and meditating in the Word of God day and night and letting it take root because I can guarantee you, you will need it. You know, I’ve been in the ministry a long time now. I’ve been in the ministry for 46 years and I have seen, I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve seen a lot of people come to my meetings who have the attitude that I’m trying to change right now and everything’s just so good with them.
They don’t take everything seriously, but you know what, over 46 years I’ve seen hundreds, maybe thousands of those people who just weren’t that serious because everything’s good, I’ve seen them in crisis come to me, and they may have thought I was extreme, they may have thought, man, you’re missing out on all of this stuff. You don’t know all of the trivia, you don’t know all the sports stuff, you don’t know all the movie stuff. You are just, got your nose in the Bible, and they look at me as being weird, but guess what? When they get in trouble, they know where to go and they run to me and they ask me for help. I’m saying, you don’t have to be that way. You could take, you can learn through what the Word of God is saying, you do not have to learn everything by hard knocks.
I’m telling you, the Word of God is given to make you perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, 2 Timothy 3:17, and you need to take this seed and start sowing it in your life now, not later. Man, that’s awesome. You know, let me share one last thing here in Mark, chapter 4, and just because of time, I only have a few minutes, I’m just going to summarize this, but in verse 35, the Lord took his disciples and that same day he compelled them to get into a ship and he said, let’s pass over to the other side.
Now, it’s significant that it said, the same day, because it was the same day that he had taught about the importance of the word. He taught 13 parables in one day, every one of them was about how that the Kingdom of God is dependent upon the Word of God the way that life in this physical world is dependent upon a seed, and that same day that he had taught these 13 parables, he gave them a seed. He said, let’s pass over to the other side. He didn’t say, let’s go half way and drown. He gave them a seed. In other words, what this was, it was like a pop quiz. He had been teaching them about the word and now, here’s an example.
Let’s go to the other side, and then he got into the ship and he went to sleep and while he was asleep, a wind came up, the boat was filled with water. You’ve got to remember this wasn’t a cabin cruiser where Jesus was down below the surface and dry. He was out in an open boat. He was sloshing around in the water. He was bound to have known what was going on and yet he didn’t get up and do anything, and the disciples got mad at him and actually woke him up and said, Lord, don’t you care that we perish? You know, very similar to many people watching this program who are in a crisis situation and you’re saying, God, don’t you care that I’m going to die? Don’t you care what the doctors say? Don’t you care about my marriage? Don’t you care about my finances?
There are some of you saying that, basically the same thing and saying, do something, but Jesus basically told them, he says, why don’t you do something? I gave you a seed. I’ve been teaching about the power of the word. I said, let’s go to the other side, and he rebuked them and he said, you should have gotten up and have spoken to this wind, you should have stilled the storm. I’ve been teaching you about how powerful the word is, and I said, we’re going to the other side. If you would have understood and have applied what I said, then you could have rebuked this storm, and I’m telling you, there are people watching this program that you’re in a crisis and you’re upset, you’re angry at God. God, why don’t you do something? Oh, God, move…
And God is saying, I have moved. I’ve given you a seed. I’ve told you that by my stripes you were healed. I’ve told you that I want you to prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. I’ve told you about how I would move and answer your prayers, all things are possible. He’s given us the seed. There are promises in this word that will produce whatever result it is that you need, and instead of us going to the Lord in prayer and getting mad at him and saying, why don’t you do something? God is trying to speak to you through this program and saying, I gave you the seed that will produce whatever it is that you need.
You know, if you had a financial need and if I gave you a seed and I said, this seed, you plant it, it’ll produce money. Now, there isn’t such a seed, but I’m saying, if I had something like that and if I gave it to you and then you didn’t use it, why would you get mad at me? I gave you a seed that would have produced all the money that you needed. If you had a seed that would produce physical healing that you could just put it in the ground and it would make you well and then you get mad at me because you’re sick, I would say, I gave you a seed.
Well see, God has given us a seed that will produce whatever it is that you need. They are called promises and they are in this Bible and yet many people are upset with God, God failed me. God didn’t fail anybody. If anybody has failed, it’s us that has failed to take this seed and plant it in our heart, and when these disciples, he had to get up and rebuke the wind and the waves and then he says, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word. He had been teaching them all day long about the word and the power of a seed and they should have had faith and yet they just had a disconnect here.
The Word of God didn’t produce in their life. I’m telling you, brothers and sisters, the things I’ve been talking about, effortless change, is really simple. God has given us everything that we need in seed form in this Bible, everything. It says over in 2 Peter, chapter 1, all things that pertain unto life and Godliness come through the knowledge of him, and then verse 4 says, through this knowledge are given great, exceeding great and precious promises.
The knowledge of God is the Word of God and everything that you need comes through this. There is a seed in here for anything that you need, anything, no exceptions. Everything is in here, and rather than get mad at God and wonder why he hasn’t done something, he’s done it, he’s given it to you in seed form. Plant the seed in your heart, protect it, nourish it, and I guarantee you, it’ll produce some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold, but you will see the Word of God change your life.