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Watch 2024-2025 online sermons » Andrew Wommack » Andrew Wommack - Effortless Change - Part 5

Andrew Wommack - Effortless Change - Part 5


TOPICS: Effortless Change

Welcome to our Friday’s broadcast of the gospel truth. Today I’m continuing to teach on a subject that I’ve entitled, Effortless Change. Man, that’s a powerful, powerful truth, and I’ve already covered a week’s worth of this teaching. Today I’m going to continue to talk about this. We’re now into the second teaching in this four part set, and this second teaching is entitled, overcoming doubt. So, what I’ve said basically so far is that change comes through the Word of God and the Word of God doesn’t just change things outwardly, but it starts by changing you in your heart the way you think, and of course, Romans, chapter 10, verse 17 says, «So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God».

So, one of the ways that this change happens when you begin to think differently, is you start believing God instead of doubting God. Or you could say this, negativity is a insulator to the flow of God’s power. It stops the flow of God’s power through you, and so what I want to begin to share with you today, and we’ll continue this on our programs next week, is how to overcome this doubt or this negative thinking. So, I’ve made the point already that the change starts with your heart the way you think. How do you get out of this negative thinking? How do you overcome the negative stuff that, you know, is a result of doubt in your life? And I want to use this example from Matthew, chapter 11. I’m using this life for today study Bible that I produced many, many years ago, and the reason for this is because I’m going to be taking things from Matthew’s account and Luke’s account of this same instance.

You know, when I put together this gospel’s edition of the study Bible here, I organized all of the gospels into their chronological order, and what that means is, that instead of studying through Matthew and then Mark, Luke and John, I took everything and I put it in the actual order and I put whatever the gospels had to say about it right here on this one page so that you could compare it, and you gain some things from Matthew’s account of this and some things from Luke’s account of this, and you have to put the two together in order to get the full impact of that. In Matthew, chapter 11, verse 2 it says, «Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto him, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another»?

Now, this needs some explanation. I’m going to come back and explain this more in just a moment, but John had, he was the forerunner of Jesus and he came and preached for about six months that there was coming the Messiah, that the people needed to prepare their heart to be able to receive from him and he prepared the people, and over in the book of Malachi it said that if this messenger that was sent before his face didn’t come and prepare the people, then the Lord might have smitten them with a curse and have destroyed them. I don’t know exactly what that means, but it implies to me that John the Baptist’s role was absolutely essential and if he hadn’t have gotten the people to where they were ready to receive the Messiah and if there had been total rejection by them, that the Lord might have cursed the earth instead of saved it the way that he did.

You know, I’ve never heard anybody else say that, I’m not absolutely sure about that, but I’m telling you that John the Baptist had an important role, to prepare the way of the Lord, and yet he only ministered for around six months and then he was thrown in prison because he criticized Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, his sister-in-law, and that was against the law, and because John the Baptist criticized Herod, he locked him up, and Herodias, which was Herod’s wife, she hated John for criticizing him over this marriage and so she had been plotting to kill him and she actually used her own daughter to seduce Herod and to get Herod to say, I’ll give you anything, even up to half of my kingdom, and she asked for John the Baptist to be beheaded, and so Herod did it, but this is right before he was beheaded and he had been in prison an undisclosed amount of time at this writing.

I’ve tried to figure this out and I’m not sure exactly how long it was, but I’m sure it was at least six months to a year, or it could have been even longer. John had been in prison and in prison he was hearing about all of the things that Jesus was doing and so he sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask, are you really the Christ or should we look for another? So, that’s the background of this, and here’s how Jesus responded. In verse 4 it says, «Jesus answered and said unto them, go, shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.»

Now again, if you just read Matthew’s account right here, you might miss this. But let me turn over here to Luke, chapter 7, and read this same account. It’s the exact same instance: it’s just got some different details in it. They don’t contradict each other, they complement each other, and let me read it to you out of Luke, chapter 7, verse 18, and the disciples of John shewed him of all of these things. And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, art thou he that should come? Or look we for another? When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist has sent us unto thee, saying, art thou he that should come? Or look we for another? And in the same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits: and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, go your way, tell John what things you have seen and heard: how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

Now see, this changes, it doesn’t, it’s not contradictory, but it adds some things that Matthew didn’t record, and one of them is that before he answered John’s disciples and gave them an answer, he went about healing people, and it specifically says that, he cured many of their plagues, of evil spirits: and many that were blind he gave sight, and this happened over a period of about an hour, and so it was like an hour later that he actually answered John’s disciples and told them about, go back and tell John all of these miracles that you’ve just seen performed and blessed is he if he will believe and not doubt. Now, that’s an important piece of information. Keep that stored because that is going to become a major answer of why God responded to John’s disciples the way that he did.

So, going back to Matthew, chapter 11, verse 7, it says, and as they departed, talking about John’s disciples, Jesus began to say unto the multitude concerning John, what went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. Now, let me just say here that what he’s basically saying is what drove you out into the wilderness by the thousands to see John? Was it because he was wearing soft raiment? Certainly not.

The scripture says that John was clothed with camel’s hair. He was wearing a skin of a camel and he ate locusts and wild honey. I imagine his beard had honey in it and the locust’s you know, leg sticking out here. He was not a flashy dresser. It certainly wasn’t the way he dressed that drove people out into the wilderness, and it also wasn’t the reed shaking in the wind. In other words, you know, the reeds had been out there in the desert for thousands and thousands of years, and yet multitudes hadn’t gone out there to see the reeds. These were ironic, sarcastic statements. What was it that drew you out there? Was it somebody who was dressed fancy? Was it the beautiful scenery? No, it wasn’t any of those things. He says it was because, did you go out to see a prophet?

And that’s the answer that yes, it was somebody who was anointed with the power of God and the Lord began to say unto them, he said, «I say unto you, he’s more than a prophet». In verse 10, «For this is he, of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee». That’s a quotation from Malachi, chapter 3, and verse 1. It says, «Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord», and so this was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

So, Jesus here is saying that John the Baptist is the one that was prophesied about hundreds of years ago. Whoa, wouldn’t that be a compliment? You know, if somehow or another, I could find a place in scripture that somehow or another prophesied that I would live and do what I’m doing, I tell you what, that would be encouraging to me, and here is Jesus saying that John the Baptist is the literal fulfillment about this person coming in the power and the anointing of Elijah, and in verse 11, look at this, this is Matthew 11:11, «Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he».

Boy, what a powerful thing that is. What an awesome statement that is. You know, if I was in John’s position and if I was doubting, it seems to me that it would have been more comforting to me to have Jesus, who was the central figure of all the religious people, I mean, even the people that were opposed to Jesus were focused on him. Jesus was commanding everybody’s attention. He was the most important person in the nation of Israel, and to have this man say these things about me, that I was more than a prophet, that I was a fulfillment of scripture, that Malachi prophesied about this, and then to say, that among them that have been born of women, there has never been a greater than John the Baptist. You know, that means that John the Baptist, he was greater than Moses.

Think about how powerful Moses was, who did all of these plagues, drew the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt, parted the Red Sea and did all of these miraculous things. John the Baptist was greater than Moses. John the Baptist was greater than David, greater than Elijah, who called fire down out of heaven, who did all of these things, greater than Elisha, who saw people raised from the dead. John the Baptist was the greatest person that had ever lived on the planet up until that point, and to say those kind of things, to have Jesus magnify John and say those things, boy, it seems to me like that would have been an encouragement.

Now, you remember that John the Baptist had sent his disciples and here’s what they said in Matthew, chapter 11, verse 3 says, «Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another»? John was doubting. John was beginning to waiver and wonder whether Jesus was even the Christ or not. Now, that’s huge. You know, it’s one thing, you know, for just any person to doubt, but John the Baptist had been separated unto God from his mother’s womb. He had been out in the deserts. He didn’t have a normal life like anybody else did. He didn’t grow up in school. He didn’t have friends. He didn’t have a girlfriend. He wasn’t married. He didn’t have a family. His whole life he had been separated to God. His whole life was focused on one thing and that was being the messenger that would prepare the hearts for the Messiah, and John went out and just began to preach in the deserts.

He didn’t go to where the people were in the cities. He went out into the deserts and he just began to preach, and it wasn’t long until multitudes were coming unto him. I don’t know how that happened, but it’s possible that maybe just one person walking by in the desert heard him and got touched and he went and told somebody else and brought some other people back and within just a very short period of time, not only the nation of Israel, but surrounding nations had been prepared and people were coming by the tens of thousands to John and they were repenting and being baptized and they were looking for the Messiah. He was proclaiming that the time for the Messiah had come. I mean, John had changed the entire landscape. He had been so effective, and then Jesus comes to his baptism and supernaturally by the Spirit of God, John proclaimed Jesus as the lamb that would take away the sins of the world, and he baptized, he even told Jesus, I’m not worthy.

You should be baptizing me, and Jesus said, no, you need to submit and yield so that we can obey God and fulfill all righteousness, and so John baptized Jesus and the heavens opened up and the Spirit of God descended from heaven in the shape of a dove and lit upon him and there was an audible voice out of heaven that said, this is my beloved son.

Now, this is pretty powerful. John had an inner witness and he proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world, and then he had an audible voice from heaven say, this is my beloved son, and he had a visible form. The Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove, and so he had three things, an inner witness, an audible voice from God, a physical manifestation, all of these things to prove that Jesus was the Christ, and yet after being shut up in prison for a while and not seeing things go his way, he began to doubt. So, this says a number of things to me. One of them is that you know what? Any of us are capable of doubt. John the Baptist was powerful and mightily used of God and he was so sure at one time that the pharisees came out and tried to drive a wedge between him and Jesus and they told John, they said, «Don’t you realize that Jesus is baptizing and making more disciples than you ever have»?

And they were trying to play on his egotism, his selfishness, and John said confidently, he said, «He must increase, but I must decrease». I’m not even worthy to latch his sandals for him. At one time, John was absolutely certain that Jesus was the Messiah, and he proclaimed him as such and he told them, he said, «He must increase, but I must decrease». But you know what? After being in prison for a period of time, it affected what he was believing, and he was doubting. He actually said, are you really the Christ?

Now, that would be bad for anybody, but for John the Baptist, who had no other purpose in life but to announce the Messiah, and if he had taken this anointing that was on his life, that had caused, I mean, a huge revival, and if he had sent all of these people after the wrong person, can you imagine how serious this was? I’m saying all of these things just to try and get you to recognize that this wasn’t a minor thing, this was a big thing. This was a huge thing, and Jesus honored John the Baptist. You can tell by the things that he said. He said, he is the greatest person that’s ever been born, greater than Moses, greater than Elijah, Elisha. He’s greater than anybody.

Jesus respected John the Baptist. He honored him. He said he was the greatest prophet that had ever come, and yet the way he answered his disciples didn’t act like, to me, he was honoring John. He said, just go tell him again what you’ve seen and heard. The blind see. The dead are raised. The deaf hear, and he’ll be blessed if he doesn’t hear, if he’s not offended in me, and then after John’s disciples left… Now see, you can see this over in verse 24, it says, and when the messengers of John were departed, he began to say unto the people concerning John, what went ye out into the wilderness for to see? And he started saying all of these complimentary things.

In Matthew’s account it doesn’t say that they had departed, but in Luke’s account it says, after they were departed is when he said this. So, in other words, John’s messengers never heard all of these complimentary things. You know, if this was me, it seems like that I would have been more benefited by hearing Jesus compliment me and say all of these nice things about me than to just sit there and say, go tell them what you’ve seen and heard and blessed will he be, if he’s not offended in me, and for a long period of time I looked at this and I could not understand the way that Jesus responded to John. It seemed to me like the best things were said after John’s messengers were departed.

You know, I can give you a specific comparison here that there was a time in my early ministry when I was really discouraged. I mean, people were staying away from my church by the thousands and it’s just like we had the plague or something and we were struggling financially. We were just struggling and I was tempted with just quitting and giving up and I had met this man, Bob Nichols one time. He was very influential in the Dallas/Fort Worth areas. He was a person that was, you know, having a big impact and I had met him one time and it was under what I considered to be a bad circumstance.

His neighbor invited him over for a meal and invited me over and in a sense, just thrust me into this situation and I had told this neighbor not to do that, and anyway, he did it and I was embarrassed, and I thought, man, this guy’s going to be offended, but Bob and joy were just super gracious to me, and so he was kind, but I had met him one time in a, what I considered to be a negative circumstance years before, and I went to a meeting of the ICFM convention at Bob Nichol’s church in Fort Worth, Texas, and there was 2,000 people there and man, I was feeling like, God, do you even know I exist?

And I was really discouraged, and when they said, go hug somebody, Bob Nichols got up off the platform in front of these 2,000 people, he singled me out and there was like 30 people in this row, this center row. He pushed his way all the way through. I was right in the center of that row, and he just started hugging me and he says, don’t quit, don’t quit, and he just kept saying it over and over and over again. He says, God is telling you, don’t quit, and when everybody else sat down, here was the pastor of the church still hugging me. We were standing up in front of all of these people and he was saying, don’t quit, don’t quit, and you know what? Just the fact, he didn’t tell me anything specific, but I just knew that God honored me, that God was concerned about me.

God knew where my heart was and what I was tempted with and it really blessed me to just get a hug and have somebody tell me, don’t quit. I thought, Jesus, why didn’t do this for John the Baptist? Why didn’t you say these positive things about he’s the greatest person that’s ever lived, greater than Moses, greater than Elijah? Why didn’t you say all of these complimentary things while John’s messengers were still here?

And you know, this bothered me for many, many, many years until finally one day I was reading over in Isaiah, it was giving a prophecy about the Messiah and it says, when he is come that you know, streams will break out in the desert and all of these things will happen, and part of it, it says that lame will walk, the tongue of the dumb will sing, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and it prophesied all of these things that the Messiah would do, and I was reading that one day over in Isaiah and all of a sudden it just dawned on me that this is exactly what Jesus did right here.

Instead of Jesus answering their question directly and saying all of these complimentary things, what he did, he fulfilled those verses in Isaiah. He performed every miracle that was prophesied that he would perform, plus he raised a person from the dead that wasn’t even prophesied over there. So, it left no chance that this was just, you know, coincidental. I mean, he miraculously fulfilled every detail that was prophesied and then told the disciples to go back and tell John what they had seen and heard, that the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead are raised and blessed is he if he’s not offended. Basically, what Jesus did was refer John back to the Word of God instead of giving him an emotional hug, instead of just saying something complimentary. He referred him back to the Word of God as the way to overcome his doubts.

And man, I’m just about out of time today. I’m going to start, I’ll continue this on our next program, but this is huge, that instead of just wanting some kind of an emotional hug, some kind of an encouragement that might last for ten or fifteen minutes, the Word of God is how you overcome doubt. This is how God responded to John, not because he didn’t honor him, but because he honored him so much, he refused to come down to just an emotional level and he met him through the Word of God. Man, that’s powerful.
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