How Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Peter Obeyed the Gospel of the Kingdom (Part 2)

Listen, that morning, the church was born, and they were saved from their sin. The next day, they dropped everything, and the next day, they began the highest adventure in the universe. They began the experience of gaining Christ the way that Christ gained God.

You may know Him, and to know Him is to know what He knows, to experience what He experienced. He had the privilege of living constantly with His Father, and you may gain the privilege of living constantly with Him. And quite frankly, the business of Jesus Christ having lived with His Father is passé. It’s past. It’s over.

The greatest adventure in the universe right now is a love story. It’s a girl who was once a harlot, now privileged to hold hands and walk with Jesus Christ. It’s the privilege of a peasant girl becoming the bride and wife of the Lord Jesus.

We lived in common around here during the month of June, but it’s not for physical exercise. It’s for the privilege of giving us more time. Now, some of us might not have made that part yet; we’re a little pressed on the point. It is giving us the privilege of having left that system. It gives us the privilege of laying down everything to gain the Lord. Now you listen, brother. I believe, I hope, that most of you have gained the first half of that privilege: the privilege of losing everything.

Brother, would you go after the second with a vengeance? With a vengeance. I beg of you. I am pressing you; you press me. I don’t want to know how Aunt Sarah is doing. I am not interested in how you feel. I couldn’t care less how your automobile is running. Press me into the knowledge of my Lord. Press me; I’ll press you. Press me.

I want to ask the brothers and sisters to go to the Lord and covet with Him for a keen awareness of what we are doing, to consider before the Lord if there is anything else we can drop. I’m not speaking out of material things so much as time things. And be my brother’s keeper. Would you be my keeper?

I want you to know that there are literally times I forget what I’m supposed to be doing. If I walk into a room and say, ” Hi, John, is anybody else here from Memphis yet? You just remember that Gene has forgotten what he’s doing. Frankly, I must confess, Susie, I’m not interested in whether or not anyone else has gotten here from Memphis, though I see some new faces here this morning. Praise the Lord. I am interested in gaining my Lord. You know how I want to gain Him? I want to gain him exactly like Simon Peter did. I want the privilege of walking with him constantly for three years. You give me Jesus Christ for three years, and you’ll never take him away from me.

I want the Lord, and the glorious thing is that He wants you. The Lord Jesus Christ is out there right now. He’s in this room. He’s out there. He’s anywhere you’re going to be today. He’s waiting right there. He’s on the other side of the door when you open it; He’s on this side of the door before you open it. He’s in the room when you get there. He’s already in the chair next to you. You get back in your car; He’s already in there. He’s already… at every one of those places, standing there waiting for you to get there right now.

He’s the greatest lover in history, and He’s waiting to love you. Jesus Christ is takeable. He is the entrance to the kingdom…and He is that kingdom, and we have dropped everything for one purpose: to gain the Lord. You pray that Gene Edwards will be more violent on himself, because the more violent Gene is on himself, the more he gains an experience, the more he can give an experience. The more I experience, the more I can demand, and brothers, be warned, I mean to press you. I mean to press you. If you say this is foolish, praise God, I’ll press you anyway.

I would like to ask you to go to the Lord this morning and say, Lord, release my imagination. Let me see how much of you I can have today. Show me how to be so conscious of you. If the burden gets too great, just lay it down, and then maybe you’ll have the experience of Brother Lawrence, and that’s having the precious privilege of Jesus Christ catching you completely off guard.

I don’t know if my point today has been clear. My point is this. Brothers and sisters, you have left everything. Now, claim what is rightfully yours. Claim what Simon Peter got.

Claim the Lord himself.