So you can understand then, that all of the movement that's currently taking place with the homosexual agenda, and the transgender agenda - all of it is an agenda to attack and destroy the design of God; so people are so confused, and they're actually in total rebellion against the order that God has set up to establish blessing. As soon as you remove 'father', you've lost your source of identity, then identity becomes confused. You'll find this warfare that we're seeing today is an old warfare. It actually goes right back in history, and it's always been there; it comes out of a demonic spirit with a particular agenda.
So John 17:3-6, Jesus' last words in prayer, before He gives up His life on the cross - "this is eternal life: that they may know You, the one true God; and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified You on earth. I finish the work You gave me to do. Now Father, honour me, glorify me, put honour back on me with Yourself, with the honour I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men you've given me out of this world. I have declared to them, or made known to them, Your name, and I will declare it, so that the love with which You love me may be in them, and I in them". Amazing revelation there!
So we see then that one man (Adam), the son that God put into the earth, betrayed his Father over to his enemies. When Jesus had His encounter with the devil, the devil showed Him the kingdoms of this world, and said: they have been delivered to me. The word 'delivered' is 'betrayed', and Jesus never denied it. Adam's action was a betrayal of his Father, to sell his own Father out to his Father's enemy was a massive betrayal. It requires now a son who'll be loyal and obedient, even to the point of death, to restore the Father's honour. So now you get a new glimpse on that scripture, John 3:16 - for God so loved the world, He gave His only Son. So to restore His plan, God introduces His Son into the earth. It's always about the Son; and the Father and Jesus revelation there is that the relationship He had with His Father is the one He purchased for us to have.
Most believers, as far as I can see, do not experience the love of the Father for them, the way Jesus experienced it in His own life; but He purchased it for us! I want to show you three things which are part of the sonship design...
#1) It says - "He said: this is eternal life that they may know you, the one true God; and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent". The word 'sent is the word 'apostello', meaning: to commission someone to go into a hostile territory, subdue an enemy, and then establish the culture of heaven - the ways of heaven on the earth, hence Jesus' message. What was His message? The kingdom of God is here, now. There is another realm available now for you. But to access it, you have to admit: I was wrong, I've been doing life wrong. I need to change the way I think, to come into agreement so I can enter an experience - and of course, that's a lifelong transformation process.
So there are three things that stood out to me very strongly about Jesus' sonship, which is also our sonship. Number 1 is intimacy. Intimacy is that sense of deep closeness; of knowing, and becoming known. Intimacy is a lifelong journey of growing in the knowledge of God. The source of that is the Holy Spirit Himself. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, it tells us that no man knows the things of God, save the Spirit of God. We have been given the Spirit of God, that we may know the things freely given. So we need the Holy Spirit, to help us to deepen in intimacy with God as our Father. We need to have revelation of His Fatherhood, and learn how to step into and engage Him as our Father, with all that that means.