Dennis Peacocke - Only Disciples Change the World (Part 1)

God has used Dennis Peacocke for over 30 years in teaching, leadership development, and strategic thinking in this nation and many nations around the world.

And God has used him writing books, developing, as I was saying, leaders, giving conferences in different countries and being a catalyst in many parts of the earth in favor of the Christian vision.

So he's a very gifted person, very able to speak to us and he's a man filled with the holy spirit and a spiritual warrior, so I consider it a privilege to be able to know him and be friends with him. We've known each other for a while.

Give a big round of applause to welcome our brother, Dennis, this morning.

I speak Spanish a little bit so I'm not going to try to preach in Spanish. I tell Roberto that I feel like I woke up from a dream, because I just recently returned from Central America, about a week or so ago, and it's a joy for me to be here with you. And I have great esteem for your pastor, I believe that he is more than a pastor and you are privileged to have him as your leader. I hope he translates all my compliments.

I want to share with you this morning using some illustrations from the world of sports. When I was younger one of my goals was to play professional football, American football, but I got hurt and the Lord had other plans for my life. How many know that God has a plan for your life? And many times their plan is different from the plan you have.

I feel very encouraged, very full of expectation about this vision of transforming the city of Boston and I had the privilege of reading Roberto's privilege about the transformation, and I don't know if he knows this but I sent a copy of his writing to all the leaders of our ministry in all parts of the world, because he is full of faith and that transforming vision.

In a fallen world there is only one important question. How many know that we live in a fallen world? In a fallen world there is only one pertinent question: how can I experience permanent transformation? Everything else after that question is mere detail.

You see, we are in competition with the world system. There are many nations, perhaps there are 212 nations in the world, but there are only two kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. And we find ourselves in a major confrontation with that world system.

You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray, he did not teach us simply to go to heaven but he said that heaven and the kingdom would come to this world. Now, I know that this is a well-taught, well-educated church, and I've been around Roberto long enough to know that you are taught about the Kingdom of God, and I feel so encouraged at this time because I see that the The message of the Kingdom of God is being proclaimed in many parts of the world.

You see, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world are in direct competition for the alliance and the administration of the resources that are in this world. The educational system of this world believes that man can be transformed through public education, but the Kingdom of God says 'no, that is not possible'.

Man can only be transformed if he is born again. It doesn't matter what my degree of intelligence is, it doesn't matter how intelligent I am, because neither intelligence nor education can bring spiritual transformation to my life. Amen.

We must be born again. We must be spiritually reborn, born spiritually. My intelligence and my education become more of an enemy, an impediment until I am born again, because it can fill me with pride, false hope, arrogance. I would say that virtually all of us have been educated in Pharaoh's schools.

I had a very good education. I went to the University of California at Berkley and got a very good education there. But eventually I became disillusioned. In the 60s he was something of a revolutionary. He was a Marxist seeking social justice. I wasn't interested in Russia, but as part of the new left what interested me was Cuba, my eyes looked towards Cuba. That revolution that was taking place in the New World in the Western Hemisphere. But eventually I came to the conclusion that human nature cannot be changed through social engineering, as a man who loved justice I was looking for transformation, I had been very involved in the civil rights movement against the war in Vietnam and all those things. But I got disillusioned with the West so I started looking to the East. I dropped out of my graduate studies at university so I went to work as a research economist. I smoked a lot of marijuana and so I would go home and get very involved in martial arts and then I became a Zen Buddhist. As you can see I could be one of these guys on the posters as a representative of the sixties.

But by the grace of God I had a direct encounter with Jesus Christ and that made all the difference. But when I became a Christian my mind had already been formed by all those previous experiences and when I started reading the Bible I read it at that time, with different lenses. I was looking for justice, I was looking for transformation. At that time I was reading the Bible, for example, as an economist. I was reading it as a person who was very familiar with the aspect of social transformation and as I began to read the Bible and fellowship with other believers, I found once again that well, it was again like I was a little different, it didn't fit.

See, I wasn't so interested in going to heaven, I was much more interested in seeing heaven come to earth. Because the transformation occurs in my heart. I was a man looking for the Kingdom of God but I did not find it until I found Jesus Christ. So I'm very encouraged today, very excited to see that all over the world more and more people are talking about this concept of the Kingdom of God.

When I left the university I was very disillusioned with the academic community, and I said to myself, if one day I have children I am going to educate them myself. How many know that first you have to deprogram yourself from the world system?

I entered into a personal crisis because I realized at the moment that Pharaoh was the one who had instructed me in the study of human history. Pharaoh who educated Moses, in fact, had taught me economics. Pharaoh, representing the world, had taught me psychology. He was very well educated in the pharaonic social way of thinking.

But how many can hear me say the following? Every man and every woman who has brought transformation to the world through God, in the name of God, first needs time in the desert. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Before Moses could free the Jewish people, he needed 40 years of deprogramming himself from the Pharaoh's mentality. The Bible tells us that Moses was an expert in the wisdom of the Egyptians. But one cannot liberate the world system with the wisdom of the world system. God has to first bring that man transformation..... He has to change him from the inside out.

Now listen to me. The world tells us that change comes from the top down and from the outside in. But the Kingdom of God is very, very different. The Kingdom of God tells us that change comes from the inside out and from the bottom up. You see, brothers, we cannot proclaim the Kingdom of God and continue to think as the world system thinks.

So my wife and I teach and educate our children in our own home and then in our churches over the years we start new Christian schools and 35 years after the start of that process, I'm still pursuing that concept of transformation. My heart longs to see something different on earth.

Come, when we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth. How many know that there is no problem in heaven? Where is the problem? The problem is on the ground, right? Heaven does not need transformation but the need for transformation is here on earth.

One has to ask the following question: if God loves you as much as he says, why doesn't he take you right now and transport you to heaven? Because he loves the land and needs his children still on the land, because the land is where the problem is. It is the land where God wants his name to be magnified, but he needs to find people who are willing to pay the price.

Now, let me share a secret with you, using the analogy of athletics. God uses in his team every person who is in good shape and he uses you in his team at the level in which you are prepared, at the level of your preparation. I know this man already, he is a man who keeps doing his spiritual exercises.

You see, throughout the world, everywhere I travel I find people saying to me, 'Use me, God, oh, Lord, use me.' training. How many of you are training in the presence of God?

I'll tell you something else: Christians have never changed the world and they won't change it either. I guess that will make you take a deep breath, right? And you will say, well, what an atrocity to say that! Let me say it again in case you think Roberto made a mistake when he was translating for me. Christians have never changed the world nor will they ever change it, and that is why Christ did not tell us to go and become Christians. He told us, only disciples can change the world.

I wonder if you guys heard what I just said? Jesus did not tell us to go and become Christians. Christians go to heaven, but Christians do not change the world, they do not transform it. The disciples of Freud, the famous psychiatrist, changed the earth. Marx's disciples changed the world.

You see, ultimately it is a battle, a war between disciples, and the problem is that the disciples of the world system have understood this concept of discipleship much better than the Christians. But glory to God that things are changing.

I wonder if you guys realize that things are changing. Only the disciples of Christ who throughout history have managed to change the earth. I want to ask you this morning, are you just a Christian or are you a disciple, a disciple of Christ Jesus?

What is a disciple? A disciple is a fully committed follower, a follower... A disciple is a disciplined learner. I don't want them to feel bad. Feeling bad never led to changing anyone. Religion wants us to feel bad. My friends, I want to tell you that religion is more dangerous than all the heroin you can put in a dump truck.

Satan loves religion. The carnal soul of man likes religion and Jesus said that traditional religion nullifies, neutralizes the word of God. Matthew 15:6. I've actually read the bible a couple of times just so you know. Are you a disciple, a disciple?

Now, let me give you one more characteristic of what a disciple is. For a disciple every day is a day of personal training. Let's look up a couple of verses in the Bible. The Lord said in John 8:31 "if you live in my word, then you will truly be my disciples."

And I want to ask now, how many of you are living in the word of God? I am not talking about merely reading the word of God but I am prepared to live in the word, in the Bible. I wonder if anyone knows what I'm talking about this morning.

You see, when I was in the world I was hungry, I felt hungry. I studied all the philosophers in the world, I studied Plato, I studied the Greeks, the Romans, I studied the fathers of the church, I studied Acquina, and I studied all the western philosophies ever and ever, and all I felt was more hungry. You see, until I found the word of God and began to eat that word. If you have ever been hungry like I was, when I took the word I started to eat it up. And then I finally started to feed, found something that was solid, that didn't move.

I wonder if anyone knows what I'm talking about. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Every day is a training day for a person truly a disciple. Now, we all know that verse. John 8:32 "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free."

But one cannot know the truth unless one is not first a disciple because disciples put the word into practice. They work with the holy spirit to learn how to make the word work in their lives. You see, I didn't want to just transfer from being a worldly philosopher to being a Christian philosopher, that was not my idea.

What I want to know is how I make this word work. Because you see, being a disciple is not just believing the Bible, being a disciple is gaining the ability for the holy spirit to show you how to make the word work in your life.

Let's look at another Bible verse. Hebrews Chapter 5. The writer of the Hebrews marvels at Christians, he is speaking to a group of Christians. And in verse 11 he says “... regarding Christ we have a lot to say and it is difficult to explain it since his ears have grown coarse and clumsy. They are believers but they are no longer able to listen.”

Do you know how hearing is lost? One begins to read the word but does not train with it, his hearing then becomes clumsy and covered. Come you, for this time.

Everyone say with me “for this time”. Says the writer, by this time you should be masters of the word. I wonder how many of you have been in the Bible long enough that by now you should be masters of the word.

I'm not here to make you feel bad, I'm here to provoke you, to exhort you, to encourage you to get into the word so that you can become a master of it. We are talking about revival in the city of Boston. We are not able right now to deal with a revival if it were to come. We do not have enough Christians right now capable of preaching and teaching the word. And I'm going to tell you why: because we don't have enough disciples yet.

Thailand needs disciples, it doesn't need more Christians. Christians go to heaven, but only the disciples change, they transform the world. It says here in the word 'everyone who drinks milk is not used to the word of justice, he is merely a spiritual baby'. And so we come here to this critical verse, verse 14 of Hebrews. “Solid food is only for those who are mature, who but through practice, says the word, who have been through practice trained to discern between good and evil.

I wonder how many of you this morning are in the process of personal training? I know at least one person for sure, this guy here. This brother. So be it. Amen. Now, it is wonderful that he is in a training process but it is not enough, each of you needs to get into your own training as well.

How many of you believe this man has a vision from God? But there is a problem. His personal vision cannot be realized by mere Christians. Amen. It's not possible. His vision can only be realized by disciples.

Now let me make this very, very practical. The holy spirit is given to us as our coach. Now, God also gives us human trainers, but the holy spirit is the main trainer. Now, here is my question: how many know what the word 'neurosis' means? Raise your hand. How many know what the word neurosis means?

Let me define the word neurosis. Perhaps a little different from how her professors or teachers define her. Neurosis is doing the same thing over and over again, the same stupid thing over and over again, expecting different results.

How many of you in life find yourself doing the same dumb thing over and over again, expecting different results each time? You see, when I get into my training with the Lord, every day is a training day. How does that change my prayer life for example? By the way, I am not giving you theory, by the grace of God I am giving you what I practice daily and what other disciples experience. You see, God takes root, he puts down his roots, his life of prayer makes it something real, something true. And here is for you the way in which one should begin to pray.

“Lord, what are we going to do today, what are we going to work on today? Holy Spirit help us right now. Lord, have mercy."

No, I'm just saying that to sound spiritual. If you can listen to what I'm saying right now, it can change, transform your life. You see, if I talked to each one of you I would probably be able to find out how many are living a true disciple life. And please don't feel bad. I don't want them to feel bad. I want you to listen.

Here is a question that identifies who is a true disciple. What is God working on right now in your life, in what area? When my children sat down to dinner the conversation usually went this way between us. I asked them, well, what things did God do in your life today, what did he work on in your life today? Did he work, for example, on the aspect of anger, anger problems? Did you work on the problem of lust, or on personal frustration? Lord help me right now. God, as a master and experienced teacher, generally God is not going to work on more than two or three things simultaneously in your life, he is a very wise teacher to exceed that.

When you already have ears to hear and eyes to see, your days are radically changed. For example, if God is working on the aspect of anger in my life and the Bible then comes and speaks to me and focuses specifically on anger, you see, the holy spirit will generally work in unity with the Scriptures, they will speak. When God is working in an area of your life, the Scriptures momentarily stand out, they rise up regarding that area in which God is working in your life and then I go about my day. And for example, at 10 in the morning something happens, then I get frustrated, something comes and frustrates me and causes me anger and then I get into the process of anger, and it's not until 12, two hours later that I reconsider. and I say 'wow, I erred again'.

Come, my prayer time is 7 in the morning, and I say to the Lord, “Father, today I want to walk with you. Holy Spirit, I say to the Lord, train me today. I know you are working on the anger aspect of my life, Lord help me to see it when it happens. Let me hear your voice when you're speaking to me Lord,” I pray.

And then at 10 I hit the problem, but I didn't realize at the time that the game was running. So I arrive at lunch time and then I go back and say “Father, forgive me because I lost sight of you at 10 in the morning. Instead of getting angry again I go back and fall into the same thing. And the holy spirit comes and says 'don't worry, just keep your eyes open'.

So, guess what? My day goes on and suddenly at 4pm when I'm going home someone comes and cuts me off in traffic and I honk and that person starts giving me finger signals, which aren't necessarily friendly. He starts yelling at me and then the game starts again. And then I say to the holy spirit, thank you. We are in the game, we are in the battle. And then instead of getting angry, what do I do? I begin to speak in tongues and worship the Lord. And then why do I start speaking in tongues at that time? Because when the game is running, anger comes, annoyance comes.

Christians generally spend their day sleeping, snoring. Thank you Lord Jesus. Thank you Jesus. The disciples, they spend their day sliding like they have a karate thing, shall we say. The Lord Jesus was the perfect disciple of the Father.

Do you know what you and I are called to be? Disciples of the Father exactly like Jesus. Give the Lord a round of applause, that definitely deserves recognition.

Do you fall asleep at work? You see, I saw you when you arrived at the church this morning, most of you came awake. They were looking for God but I wonder what they will look like tomorrow at 9 o'clock in the morning. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for Roberto's sermon yesterday. I have no intention of practicing it today though, but it was a great sermon, Lord. Oh, how good the worship was yesterday. Terrific service yesterday. What a wonderful yesterday, but asleep. The eyes are closed, the ears stopped because you are caught up in religion.

Religion pays attention only on Sunday morning, but sleepwalks on Monday morning. You have to wake up. God has given you a leader who is going to lead you in revival, yet one can lead to revival only to the extent that he has disciples who can harvest the fruit and keep and care for it.

With that I finish. How many of you want to become disciples of Jesus Christ? How many of you want to start your day in prayer to prepare for the day instead of just having an occasion of vain prayer and a soft religious time with the Lord? You see, I don't want a quiet time. Do you say amen? I don't want to simply say a prayer there in vain and then say amen and then cut off the phone, cut off communication with Jesus.

Amen does not mean in the kingdom, goodbye. So, it just means rather so be it. And let the game begin.

Let's pray. Let's stand up, brothers. We are going to receive these words in our hearts, not only as he says, let's say amen now, but we make a resolution that this is our life every day out there. Thank you Lord, thank you.

You have called us, Lord, to make disciples to disciple the nations but we know that we cannot make others something that we are not yet. We know that to make disciples we must be disciples, we must be living as disciples. Lord, we give you grace for the vision that you have given to this apostolic minister, this apostolic ministry. Thanks for your vision. Now, Lord, grant that we may have an army of disciples who can make that vision of Yours possible, Lord, because for them every day is a training day and they can see Your Holy Spirit moving repeatedly throughout their day to save and transform us. so that we can be instruments of liberation and transformation for others.

Now, holy spirit, may these things be made clear, may these men and women who love you have a lifestyle of discipleship. And we give you the glory. We want to serve you Lord. We want to see nations change. We mean your kingdom come and see it come and your will be done on earth, in Boston, as it is done in heaven. Thank you Lord, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Glory to God. Glory to God.

Brothers, if you continue to be a religious and vain and superficial person, after this exhortation it is because of your bad head. There's not much hope for you, honestly. God help us. And you know what? I believe that next Sunday, which is resurrection Sunday, I believe that I will continue with this theme of what is a disciple.

So be prepared. Bring people. This coming Sunday is a wonderful and auspicious time for you to invite someone. I encourage you in the name of the Lord this week, pray that the Lord indicates someone you can invite to receive the word and see the people of God adoring that victorious Christ who rose from the grave. Amen. And we're going to pray that we'll have a glorious service this coming Sunday. Amen. Get to work, get to invest in the Kingdom of God. Get to live the life of a true disciple. May the Lord bless you and the grace of Jesus be with you.

Get on your classes. They are not going to have worship. One last word of adoration, those who have to go to their classes can come up. Go to Spanish Version