EASTER 2026/9AM// Elder John Swain Jr.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Love Quest International

Church Podcast, where we seek to love all nations, equip the

church, mobilize the equipped, and serve all.

We're super glad you're joining us from whenever and wherever

you're at in the world. Welcome to the family to get

your Bibles ready, get some water, get some coffee, maybe

some tea, and get ready to receive.

Let's get into it. The Bible says this, that the

Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy, right?

Joy is a signal of the Kingdom alive in you.

And the great thing about joy is joy translates righteousness.

A lot of Christian folk don't understand what that is.

So how the world going to understand it?

Peace. God says I give you a peace that

goes beyond your understanding. So you don't even know why you

had a peace you have. So to communicate that with

people, sometimes it's like, I don't know, I should have lost

my mind, but I have. I don't know, I got peace.

But joy translates. I mentioned like Hallelujah, you

see someone laugh when you get it right.

It just translates. So sometimes you have to be

intentional about releasing joy, especially in times like this.

Amen. Well, on this Easter, I have an

opportunity to do something. I want to give a shout out to my

wife too, Elder Roseanne, today's special day for me.

I've never shared a message on Easter before, so it's my first

time doing this. So I do it with fear and

trembling, but also too from my wife.

My wife grew up in LA and she would see Eastern people going

to church and she didn't know what all that meant.

Why did they do that? And she would go out to brunch.

Brunch is a God ordained thing. Long don't get in the way of

you. Jesus.

The devil didn't create brunch. It's too fabulous.

That had to come from God. But she'll go out to brunch and

do a thing right? And but she didn't wonder why

all of those years, why living a life empty, trying to fill it

with stuff. And then she came as an adult to

know the Lord and accept the Lord Jesus into her life.

And finally she understood what Easter really meant and she was

transformed. You know my I, I say this and I

shout out to my wife. I say this, I know a lot of

people myself. I said, Lord, I'm coming to you

because there's a burden in my life.

There's a pain that's so heavy. I need it to be lifted and only

you can lift it. Pain took me to the Lord my

life. My wife was the only person that

I know that's talked to me that has said, why did you come to

Jesus? I wanted to know love.

That's our testimony and for her to go to a place where she

didn't know anything about Jesus, didn't know anything

about Easter, what people were doing to not only knowing the

love of God. By now having a husband who on

Easter morning has an opportunity to share that same

love with other people, not just here, but because we're

streaming worldwide. It's a gift of God and an honor

for me. And I thank God for my wife.

Amen. So this Easter, I won't have a

message. I got to charge.

And you'll see it in the message and we're going to go right in

and enjoy ourselves. The title is this Full faithful

final forever. Full faithful, final, forever,

what a friend we have in Jesus. Full faithful, final, forever

friend. What a friend we have in Jesus.

We want to. Talk today about what that

really means and unpack that a little bit because I think

sometimes, you know, you can be real familiar with your friends

and then all of a sudden they're not there and all of a sudden

you go. I really appreciate who they

really were in my life. I didn't know.

I didn't understand what they contributed or I had taken it

for granted. A friend goes on a vacation,

goes on a trip or something, and then they come back into your

life and you say, wow, you know, I really recognize how much I

depend on you, how I call you and how we connect.

So we want to take some time to really dive into that and and

really talk about that a little bit.

OK, The one thing to know is this.

I'm going to go John first. John 4, KJV, Everyone say KJV.

Yeah, that's the OGOG scriptures, KJV King James.

So I want, I want to, I want to start here first.

1 John 4:19

John 4 verse 19 says this. We loved him or we love him

because he first loved us. That's why we love Jesus because

he first loved us. We wouldn't know what love is

had he not loved us. We would have no idea of what

it's like had he not loved us. OK.

And that's really important to understand.

He is the initiator. He is the activator.

He is the leader. He's the one that sets the

example. He's the one that shares with us

the the Adam sin did a lot man. You know, you know why?

You know why? The Lord, the reason the Lord

wants to get everybody in Jesus and walking in love before they

get to heaven and see Adam because God don't want Adam to

have to deal with all of our questions like dude, bro, what

was you thinking man? Right?

Imagine, imagine you walk around heaven.

Everyone's like, oh, you're the one dude.

What was you thinking? Before Adam fell, love only had

one meaning. When Adam failed, sin entered

and because of sin things got fractured.

So now what something meant got twisted.

So now we had to differentiate between no, I don't mean like

this, I mean like this. You got it because now people

could do parts of what things meant.

Before Adam failed, love had one word and meant one thing.

It encompass every aspect of it passing to get a real good book

Love Gone Wild talks about different kinds of love you

ought to get if you haven't. And so there's all different

kinds of love. And now what?

We can have a friend love, but not a sacrificial love.

We can do that. Or we can have an Eros love,

erotic Eros. What that means is feelings, a

sensual based love, not a sexual base, but sense based love.

I feel like treating you nice. I don't feel like treating you

sense based love without being a friend, but in the beginning

love was all love included, all of that.

OK. And sometimes the problem is

this because we do live in a fallen world, when we give God

definitions, we think the God definition is the special versus

the fallen world definition is the special.

The God's definitions are the standards.

OK, So what do I mean? Take take an Eros kind of love,

sensual love. The definition of love is agape,

sacrificial love. Eros is different from agape.

Eros is a lesser or impartial from agape.

That's how we ought to talk about it.

But often times we talk about it like this.

Eros is a kind of love and agape is different from Eros.

As if this one is the standard and that is the exceptional 1.

So we as we go through this today, we're going to talk about

some things, but we're going to use God's standards.

So we love Him because He first loved us.

He had to tell us what love was. Sin had fractured and splintered

the idea of what love was in our lives.

We had to understand what agape was, what sacrificial love was,

what unconditional love was. We love Him because He first

loved us. He taught us, He shared with us,

He transformed us to be able to do it.

So I will say there's a corollary.

We know what a friend is because he was a friend to us first.

The only way we understand what a friend is, is that Jesus was

an example of what that meant first.

Now I know in Scripture the word friend is used prior to Jesus

coming, and I would suggest to you that it was trying to

capture what Jesus really came to do and be, but never fully

captured it. We didn't fully know what a

friend was until Jesus came. That's why what a friend we have

in Jesus, it's when he came there we really began to

understand what a friend really is.

We saw how a friend lives. We saw how a friend talks.

We saw how a friend deals with pain and hurt and pressure.

We know what a friend is because he was a friend to us first.

In the Bible, friend, the word friend is used 170 times in the

NIV New International Version, 170 times friend.

OK, here's a few of them. In Matthew 2013.

He says he'd be the answer to one of them.

I'm not being unfair to you, friend.

Didn't you agree to work for denarius?

That's the context of a parable. Matthew 22.

He asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes,

friend? Matthew 2650, Jesus replied, do

what you came for, friend. That's the Judas.

Luke 244 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on

for a day. They began looking for him among

their relatives and friends. Luke 522 When Jesus saw their

faith, he said, Friend, your sins are forgiven.

Luke 5. Jesus answered, Can you make the

friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

Luke 7. Luke 76.

So when Jesus went with them, he was not far from the house, when

the centurion sent friends to say to him, Lord, don't trouble

yourself. The Son of Man came eating and

drinking, and you say. He is a.

Glutton and a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and

sinners. Luke 12.

Four. I tell you my friends, do not be

afraid of those who kill the body and after that can't do no

more. And when she finds it, she calls

her friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with

me. I have found my lost coin

friends. Jesus said to the host in Luke

14. When you give a luncheon or

dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or your

sisters or your rich neighbors. If they if you do, they may

invite you back and you will also be repaid.

The day Luke 2312, the day Herod and Pilot became friends when

they were talking about crucifying Jesus.

It's amazing what can make you friends sometimes, isn't it?

They became friends through treachery.

The day here in Impala became friends before they were

enemies. Many, many references to

friends. The goal is not to read all of

them. Just to give you an idea of how

many times the word friend and friend shows up in the

Scriptures, right? Friend, friend.

He calls this friend that friend.

Friends do this. And so it's very important to

understand that there is a context and a reference for

friends in the Scriptures. And I want to take us to a

couple of those, one of which is Proverbs 27.

Why is it important to understand what a friend is?

Because this is the kind of friend.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies

kisses. A true friend will tell you the

truth. A true friend will be willing to

even hurt your feelings if indeed it means you become a

better person. You want to have the kind of

friends that you're willing to even let them seemingly wound

you. Now where does the wound come

from? Sometimes the wound doesn't come

from what they do, it comes from what you try to hold on to as

they were trying to get hurt and harm out of your life.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted.

It suggests to us that we won't. When we have friends, we won't

have perfect lives. It suggests to us that having

wounds is a part of relationship, part of

friendship. It also suggests that there will

be wounds from other folks who's not friends.

That's it. That's kind of implied there.

Wounds from a true friend can be trusted.

Wounds from wounds. From someone who's not a friend,

they cause pain and hurt. Wounds from a friend can be

trusted. The way you understand these

kinds of wounds is about establishing friendship before

the wound comes. But an enemy multiplies kisses.

Be watchful of people who only multiply kisses in your life,

who only won't tell you what you need to know.

Won't tell you that the hard truths, won't tell you that you

are being selfish, Won't tell you you need to forgive, Won't

tell you it's not their fault, it's your fault.

You need to examine your own self.

The enemy multiplies kisses. Now if you understand anything

about Bible, the kisses is really familiar in the Bible.

Is highlighted in one aspect. Does anyone know the most famous

reference of kiss in the Bible? Right.

An enemy multiplies kisses, which suggests an enemy will set

you up for betrayal. Be watchful of the people who

you never find getting close enough to you, to challenge you,

to prick you, to make you feel a wound of some sort.

Ask. Yourself.

Are they really being your friends?

Are they being enemies, multiplying kisses for your

future? John 15 says this.

My command is this. Love each other as I have loved

you. Greater love has no one than

this to lay down one's life. For one's friends, that's the

kind of friend you need. That's like the wound from that

kind of friend. You are my friends if you do

what I command. I want to speak to one other

kind of wound of a friend that comes to me right now.

There's a wound of a friend that comes from your friend giving

God space to be God in your life rather than them.

That kind of wound makes you think you've been abandoned by

that friend. That kind of wound makes you

think that friend has turned his back on you.

That can be the most hurtful. Why?

Because you see them and you see they're not doing anything.

That kind of wound from a friend can be particularly hurtful, but

that's why you need to know they're a friend because they're

giving space for God to come in. And then that instance that

friend is laying down their life.

Because though these sees struggle, it takes everything

within them to trust God as well as you're trusting God.

God, I trust that you're going to be the one to comfort them,

because you're not leading me to do it right now.

God, I trust that you're going to be the one to make sure they

don't fall apart because you're asking me to create some space

for them to come to depend on you rather than depend on just

my touch. Laying down life for one's

friends. You are my friends if you do

what I command. I no longer call you servants.

This is Jesus talking because a servant does not know his

master's business. Instead, I have called you

friends for everything that I learned from my father I have

made known unto you. There is the definition of a

friend who in your life is trying to show you that God is

your Father, who is causing you to turn towards the love of the

God has for you as a father. If they're not revealing the

Father to you, then question is, are they really your friends?

What I remember I said, by the definition, you can say, well

now they're my friends. They don't turn me to talk to me

about God, but they're my friends.

What's the definition of friend? This is the definition.

A friend is someone who's going to point you back to your

father, back to that relationship where you know God

as a father, back to what your Father has told you, your

heavenly Father. That is what a friend is.

No matter what the Flack or the consequence, they'll do that.

I've called you friends for everything that I learned from

my father, I have made known unto you, and that's conveying

information. Just breakdown these words a

little bit real quick. That word love, that's agape.

That's that sacrificial love, that covenant love that I'll

stretch my hands on a cross and die for your sins, kind of love

that I'll live a life so I can get up for you kind of love.

That's that agape love life life.

That word life lays down his life for a friend.

That word life means psyche, breath or soul.

It means I lay down the essence of who I am.

I lay down my very identity, my very way of how I see myself.

I lay down my words, my life. I lay all of it down the essence

of who I am. And as the world knows me to be,

a greater love has no one than this than the one lays down your

life for your friends. And this word friends, it's the

word filos. Everyone say filos, it means

friend that has the third definition of this is to

facilitate a bridegroom. This is the kind of friend

that's going to help you get ready for your covenant, that's

going to help you be who you need to be.

Now in the Bible, bridegroom suggests Jesus and his church.

So this is the kind of friend that's going to help you walk

towards that down the aisle with you and Jesus and your church,

your relationship with the Lord. This is the kind of friend that

you lay down your life for your friends, the people who are

trying to help you get ready to make the biggest covenant

decisions of your of your life. But there is something more than

friends. Friends is not the end all and

the be all. There's something more than

friends. And it's important to understand

that because the kind of friend we have in Jesus, it's the kind

of friend that's trying to not only make you a friend, but to

get you to what's more than a friend.

Everyone say more than a friend. John 15 says this in verse 14

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children

of God, the. Spirit you receive.

Does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again.

Doesn't that sound like that verse we just read about?

I no longer call you servants, but friends.

You're no longer slaves. There's a parallel there.

So that you live in fear again. Rather, the Spirit you receive

brought you about, brought about your adoption to sonship.

And by him we cry. ABBA, Father, the Spirit himself

testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.

There's something beyond the friend, and that's being a son.

We have the great friend we have in Jesus is that he doesn't just

leave us as friends. He meets us as friends and then

he makes us sons. He makes us who we call to be as

children of God. Romans 8 says it continues on

and says this now if we are children, we are heirs.

He takes it beyond friends to make us heirs, heirs of God.

And Co heirs with Christ, if indeed we share his sufferings

in order that we may also share in his glory.

What is his sufferings? It's the laying down of his

life. Greater love has no one than

this doesn't mean physically dying.

Not necessarily. I already gave you a picture.

I'm a parent and one of the biggest sufferings I have is

raising kids. Not because they're a problem,

but because I got to trust God at some point.

Will it be OK? Will people be there to love

them? If you've ever been to parent

and seen your kids go out into the world, whether it's to get

their first haircut or their first day of school, or to go

off to college or go off to some university, to go off to a job

across the world or go off into a relationship, as a parent you

feel that suffering. You feel that having to lay down

your life and your desire so that they can grow and become

who God needs them to be. Laying down your life was the

sufferings. Sometimes I wish it was just a

pain. I wish it was a smack on the

wrist because that'll come and that'll go.

This other kind of suffering don't, doesn't, doesn't release

that easily all the time. The kind of suffering I'm

talking, I'm just using myself as a parent.

See, this kind of suffering is 2:00 AM and a thought comes

about your child. Now you got to battle the

thought at 2:00 AM. That's sufferings, too.

If we're sharing the suffering with Sharon, it's glory.

So there's something beyond friends.

Hey, ma'am, I'll do a picture. Troy, can you come up here,

please? Troy's going to be the father.

He's a good father. He's a caring father.

He's a loving father. Troy's a father.

He's going to be the father. For us, right here.

Now, now I'm going to have Pastor Dylan come up.

Pastor Dylan, he's going to be Jesus.

You, you ain't never had a friend.

You had a friend like Pastor Dylan.

OK. He going to be Jesus.

Come here, You good. Come on, Jesus.

Right. OK, spray around the moon.

I know Joyce is the beer straight from central casting we

have. All of the Coucher man to play

the Lord. Did you just have a?

Beard. I don't know, but I Jesus got

one. They look good too, don't they?

Jesus, OK, I'm going to have Mark come up here and some of

y'all said man, y'all call them all.

I'm embarrassed if I know it means I'm good.

They all up here with me. Y'all behave.

OK, Mark going to come here. And this is who Jesus is talking

to in that scripture. OK, you got it.

And, and Andrew, I'm going to Andrew, come up here now.

Andrew plays the role of the guy on the farthest outside.

I am not typecasting Andrew. But Andrew is secure enough and

he knows we love each other enough that if I ask him to do

this, he's not going to go home tomorrow and be like, what's the

matter? I'm like, well, you don't love

me yet. He's not going to get into all

of that, right? Andrew's safe casting.

This is my brother, OK, Right here.

He's dressed up real nice, but he knows what's to be on the

outside. So we got to, I want to give you

this real picture. So when Jesus says I call you

friends, right? What he's saying is I'm getting

information from my father and I'm telling it to you.

OK, Turn towards him. Pastor Dylan.

Information. My now all he's getting is

information about the father. Y'all got it?

That's what a friend is. He's giving you information

about the father. So what does it imply?

It implies that there is distance between this gentleman

and the father. Why would he need information if

there was no separation? Jesus is saying I call you

friends because you can't see the Father, but I'm giving you

information about the Father. Jesus is saying this before he

goes to the cross. I'm giving you information about

the Father. OK, you got it.

This gentleman here is connected to this one.

Now, for as much as he tries to convey that information to this

gentleman, something will get lost in translation because he's

Speaking of what he heard, not what he knows.

It's like telephone game, OK? And this gentleman, being

farthest away, is in the most desperate need of seeing the

Father and knowing the Father. Got it.

So it becomes very important that this guy knows the father,

because this guy is this guy's hope of ever knowing the father.

He don't even know that father exists.

He don't know that there is such a thing as a father.

You ready? He don't even know that he need

a father. Their folk walking around don't

even know that they're in need of salvation.

The Titanic movie reference. Y'all know my brand in a Titanic

movie? They hit the iceberg.

The boat was sinking long before people knew it.

They didn't even know they needed saving.

That's this guy here. So you see the importance of his

role. You got it.

What Jesus says is this, I'm calling you friend because I'm

giving you and sharing with you what the what the Father's

showing me. I'm sharing you everything.

So you could know what I know about the Father.

And then if he wants to be a friend to him, he's going to

begin to take him and talk about the Father.

Right. OK.

But you see the focus, it's a world focus.

It's a earthly context focus. And if he's a good.

Friend, this is what he's going to do.

He's going to say bro. Bro, come on.

Over here, come on over here and then if he's a good friend, this

brother going to do what say say what I'm.

Coming. Come on, now they have a now

he's able to share with him about the father.

OK. But then the greatest thing

about closing that gap that you share is that what now he's able

to say, put your arm around his neck?

Not yet. All right, man, I can't explain

it to you as well as I explain to me.

So let me just take you to the bra who's told me myself.

Y'all see the relationship here OK?

Right, so now he can better understand the father directly

and the whole time he listening to Jesus talk to him about the

father, he going like I get a chance to watch it, which means

I learned more in the watching sometimes than in the I get

different perspective. OK, what a friend we have in

Jesus that even when he brings someone, he's going to show them

the father. Now he'll be a friend to the

friendless. Jesus don't know this joker

here. He don't know him.

But because someone who I call a friend ready brings him, that's

enough. A friend of a friend is a friend

of mine, He said that's enough, right?

But notice Jesus doesn't say you call me friend because he don't

know the Father. How can he be a friend of Jesus

when he don't know who the Father is?

How can he help Jesus grow in the knowledge of the Father?

He don't know. Jesus can be his friend, but he

don't have what it takes to be a friend Jesus.

But what this week is about? It's about Jesus not only dying.

It was just about Jesus dying. Step around here.

That's like The Cave. It was just about Jesus dying.

They're left where they are with information about the Father

first hand, some second hand and only partial first hand.

But because we celebrate today. Jesus right rising.

Now what he's able to say is this.

I used to tell you about the Father.

Dog, come on with me now and let me not just tell you, but let me

show you the Father. Ready not as friends.

You can know the you can be a friend of God because of what

Jesus did. But to know God as a father

means what you you more than friends.

You're sons now. Your sons to understand what a

friend we have in. Jesus spread out.

Again, what a friend we have in Jesus, that one.

Wherever we are, He's telling us, the Father, what a friend we

have in Jesus and drawing us close.

And whoever we know, he's given us life to share with them so

they can know what a friend we have in Jesus.

He tells us who the Father is simply and plainly.

So that way when it goes through him, to him it can be

communicated clearly what a friend we have in Jesus.

That when this brother brings his friend, Jesus says yes, no

problem, I'll tell him of the Father too.

And what a friend we have in Jesus that's thinking even more

than about being friends. He would go die for your sin,

rise up again to do more than just be your friend and say

friends now become sons. And let me just take you to the

Father. What a friend we have in Jesus

that's not satisfied with your just being a friend.

It's not satisfied until you know your son.

That is the purpose. So much so that your son y'all

come in this Jesus. So much so that Jesus says this

y'all got it. Y'all son's on your own right

through me. Go ahead, be with the Father

you. You be with the Father like I

was with the Father. Ain't no interruption.

You go ahead, he says. Listen, from this point on, I

don't have to go to the Father for you.

You can go in my name. You can spend time with the

Father on your own and get to know the Father yourself in the

unique way he made you. He's always there to join the

fun because there's nothing like when all the sons are gathered.

But you can develop this relationship on your own.

And if he gets tough, he can lead you while he's the elder

brother. He can show you the ropes of the

household. He can show you Pops put Pops

hide to like the last bit of snacks in the cabinet to the

left behind the vegetables. It's a little game we play.

He hides and he knows we know they're there and we go get them

and we it's a little thing we do.

It's just how we do it, right? That's what we know we got to

call Instacart 'cause when the it's gone behind the vegetables,

that's what we call Instacart. They can bring some more, right?

You know, you show you the ropes of the house.

Listen, Dad, love you. Dad's encouraging you that that

little part where you thought you was left alone.

No, that's just Dad giving you space to grow and identity.

Hunkerman. He, he believe me, Dad know what

he doing. That's the elder brother there

for you through the work of the Holy Spirit.

OK, you all can have a seat. That's the purpose of what this

day is about. And the thing that's very

interesting about the word friend is that before Jesus dies

and rises, the word friend is used.

But when you get to the part after Jesus rises, you get

something different that's used from the same root words.

Know what you get, beloved? Translated dear friend.

There's friend and there's dear friend.

Dear friend is like covenant family, not just covenant

friend, beloved. See, Paul calls the church

beloved. John says beloved.

Peter says beloved. It goes beyond just being a

friend. It's go beyond even just being a

member of the family. It goes to being a dear loved

member of the family. Though you are adopted in you

still dearly beloved as the one that was born.

Dearly loved. Beloved, what a friend we have

in Jesus that He wants us to come and enter into this kind of

relationship with Him. The challenge is this is that as

joyful as that is, it cost us everything, and that is why some

though hearing of the Father. Still remain here.

Dude, I know I get what you're saying, but you don't get the

kind of fun I'm having right here because I know if I do that

I'm going to have to change some things.

Got it. What was the keyword?

I'm I'm going to have to change some things.

So now, at least in the, at least when there's no light in

the dark. I can pretend like it's light

rather than really see what's going on.

And that's why this one stays here sometimes.

Because I know if I get closer, God gonna want to change some

things in me. You see the difference?

I recognize I don't have to change.

But I don't know if I want. God to change them things.

You know what I'm saying? I don't want to live a life.

I hurt, I hurt this couple. We know that's married and is

having some problems. And I said, you know, there's

disbelievers. I said, you know, God can.

He says, yeah, I know. I don't know if I want them to

though. So they still this, this

distance here, but Jesus still comes and calls you to himself.

He still comes and calls and bids you just because you don't

want to know the Father because you think you're going to have

to change yourself. Just because you don't really

want to know the Father. Because you don't want to let

him come in and really change your life and change your heart

and change who you are in fullness because you think you

know something better than the one who made you.

Jesus still keeps calling, keeps telling you about the Father.

I'm going to keep telling you about the Father so that one

day, one day you finally say, I'll come in on your terms.

Here's Jesus terms ready. Give up everything.

Get everything, Give up all of your little thing and get every

big thing. That's the deal of Jesus.

Give up your small peace and get peace that surpasses

understanding. Give up your broken and pain and

get wholeness in every air, in every way There will be.

There will. It will require effort because

sometimes, like when you get an injury healed, that's physical

therapy. You got to go through, the

injury's finished, but now I got to get better.

It's going to require effort and.

Application. So it's not just like woo easy

pass to Disneyland and if you can do easy pass to Disneyland,

I highly encourage it. Side note, OK.

It's not like easy pass to Disneyland, OK, it's going to be

work, but that's but that's what the bargain is.

Jesus says this, let go of that low kind of life and I'm

offering you a God kind of life. And I'm offering you the

opportunity to be a son. Now.

I want to get in some sticky wickets.

Everyone say sticky wickets, Al Jarreau, shout out to Al

Jarreau. Anyway, sticky wickets.

And that's this. God is calling everybody to be a

son, men and women. God is not, does not have gender

confusion or anything like that at all.

And I'm saying that respectfully.

I'm not trying to be flippant with a joke.

I'm saying he's intentional about saying sons because sons

means a certain thing. First, it means that you only

get it through Jesus because Jesus is his son, right?

It's saying that we're all sons. What we're saying is not that

women are called to be something different or men are called to

be something different. What he's saying is we all get

it through a son. That's how I that's the brand.

If I have to wear a sweatshirt for the brand of my salvation,

he's going to say sunship on it, right?

Because I get it through a sun. But this is the other thing he's

saying to the women in Genesis. He was deceived, but the man was

not. He rebelled.

You got it. You got you got twisted on you,

but because of that you fell below the man and you've been

bearing some stuff because of that.

Even though you was deceiving, that man was not.

And all throughout this life you catch a lot of hardship and

pain. You're told what you can't do.

You're told how you put under. You're told how you're not good

enough. You're treated like chattel.

Men collect you like pieces of jewelry, call you concubines,

call you wives. You see your children born and

raised and off the dying war. Even though he rebelled, you get

left out of the inheritance. And even when you marry, from a

traditional standpoint, even when you marry.

Your name comes to an end and there'll never be a reference to

you in the future. Jesus says, But in me I'll call

you son. What does that mean?

It means in me you get all the rights that you fell off of back

here. In me you get every right of a

first born son. Not secondary not not not a not

a type of you get it full like everybody else in me you get a

chance to continue to pass on the seed the legacy of the

family. Why because the spirit I can

preach and get them. She can preach get him born

again. She can preach get him born

again and her born again. You can carry on the family name

like everybody, every other man can.

What Jesus is saying that in him not only is he elevating the

elevating on guys to him as sons, he said, daughters, I'm

elevating you to your rightful place, a full airship, full

authority, full power, full ability and full might because

though you was deceived, I was not.

I always knew who you were the whole time.

So insane. This idea of sonship.

What he's saying to all of us is men and women alike, you are

getting it all. Everything that I have, you are

Co heirs sharing equally, not in a diminished capacity.

So I'm not saying when we got to go around saying I'm a son, now

you can say daughter, that's fine.

I'm just trying to make you understand what God was trying

to communicate so you don't forfeit what he was saying in

the midst of what he was doing. Amen.

So. The question becomes, what do we

do? No parent ever talks to his

children without the hope of having a response, without the

hope of having their life changed.

And So what we've heard here today, what I've tried to share

with you, is why we celebrate this resurrection so hard.

Because it's about more than just Jesus.

Being a friend, and what a friend we do have in Jesus, such

a friend that He doesn't leave us just as friends.

He makes us become sons and daughters, makes us walk in the

same space. He has introduced us to the

Father in a way that we can have relationship with God as our

Father. That's relying on him.

But specific to who we are. In just a moment, I'm going to

ask everyone to pray and we're going to pray a prayer to

activate. Now I'm going to say this.

Some people say, well, prayer never saved nobody.

I ain't never seen people get saved without 1 though.

It may not be enough, but you need to have it somewhere in the

mix. Chocolate cake with no chocolate

is just what, right? It don't make the cake, but it

makes the flavour. So I'm going to ask you prayer,

prayer. The Bible says this.

You believe with your heart and then confess with your mouth.

The key part of you need both for all of our woodworkers and

all of our artisans and all of our craftspeople here, I'm going

to show off a little bit of knowledge about how to do how

you know the DIY stuff. It's like it's like a glue that

you need 2 parts to activate it. I think it's called an epoxy,

right? You need 2 pieces, two parts to

make it work. I want to ask you to take a

moment right now and search your heart to see whether you have

made that all out abandoned commitment to the Lord.

The reason all out why Jesus gave his full life.

He gave his full love. He gave his full grace.

He gave his full identity. He deserves a full commitment.

He deserves a full hearted commitment.

And his father deserves a full hearted commitment as well.

He deserved, he sacrificed. He deserves the best sacrifice

you can give. You can come grab these things

at this point. And so I'm.

Going to give you a moment. Have you made that sacrifice?

Have you said, Jesus, you've been a friend of me.

Now I want to be a son with you. I want to be a daughter with you

to know my father. Jesus, I thank you for being a

friend of me. But God, today I want to really

just sell it all to the walls. Today I'm talking about full

sacrifice. God, I don't even know what that

means. I don't even know how much it's

going to cost me. I know it's going to be

everything and I'm going to tell you right now, I may be kicking

and screaming in parts of it. There may be times I'm like, I'm

too scared. There may be times like God, I

don't want to give that up. But I am saying right now

though, if you can be patient with me through those times and

He can. If you can, love.

Me. Through those times and he can,

if you can just not quit on me and not give up on me and not

abandon me and forsake me during those times of where it becomes

hard to live out the sacrifice that I said I'd give today.

And. He.

Can. And he will.

If you can do that, I'm all in. I'm just going to bring it all

and give it all to your trust. If you've never done that

before, I'll even say this. And even if you've done.

Partial parts of that. At 25 years old my all was

different. Now at 60 I got 3 kids.

God, you mean I got to give them up too?

You was there when we went to the hospital.

You were there through the hardships.

God damn my life now I know. That's why I'm willing and ask

you to lay those down too as well.

But you'll get them back. So even if you've never made the

full sacrifice. Take a moment, examine and

search your own heart. Holy Spirit, we thank you that

you're moving amongst everyone here or it's been released.

We thank you for activating and standing on the word.

Just have an honest conversation with the Lord, honest

conversation with God. Yeah, even if your conversation

as well, if I don't even know what he's saying, true.

But if there's some way you can help me under convince me or

somehow get me to open my eyes to, I'm willing.

If even if that's your conversation, a friend will talk

with you even when you're not sure.

We're going to ask everyone to pray now, all everyone in the

room to pray. And are you going to give voice

to that wholehearted sacrifice and commitment to Jesus so you

can know God at the Father, So you can pray with me.

I'll, I'll begin to lead and you can begin to echo as I'm leading

and as it reflects the commitment in your heart.

Jesus, I understand who I was, the sinfulness and the

separation, but you've always been a friend to me, trying to

show the Father to me. I'm ready to be transformed.

I'm ready to lay it all down and receive your sacrifice for me.

You paid the price for my sin that separates me from God, and

I'm making a full sacrifice to pick up the life that we

celebrate and you're getting out of that grave.

Jesus, I love you. And more than anything, I want

to know God is my Father too. I want to be a child of God.

I want to be able to cry out ABBA Father, and to know that He

loves me as much as He loves you.

So my whole life is open. My whole heart is open.

My past is open. My present is open and my future

is open. I'm inviting you in to transform

my life, to not just be a friend, but to be a son or be a

daughter. Thank you for being with me

through the difficult times and the challenging times ahead.

Thank you for your love washing over me.

And I'm just receive that now. Amen.

And I'm going to ask very quickly if that was the first

time you've ever prayed that kind of prayer, if that was the

first time you've made ever made that kind of commitment to the

love of God and to knowing God as a Father through Jesus.

If that was your first time, you meant it with your whole heart.

I'm going to ask you to in a moment, just to raise your hand.

And what's the reason? To encourage you, to let you

know that people that celebrate you, that got your back, that

will run with you, pray with you, cry with you, grow with you

in every air in every way. You're not alone in the journey.

And it's your other relatives that are celebrating the family

reunion of another son or daughter that's been back home.

It's it's kind of like this when you having a family reunion and

you heard that there was a cousin from another place that

was coming you never met. And I used like, I can't wait to

see them. That's really what it's all

about. So if that was you and you

prayed that for the very first time, I'm going to ask you to

raise your hands. Amen.

Amen. Thank you so much for tuning

into this week's sermon. We pray you were challenged,

equipped and encouraged. Make sure to follow us on all

platforms. That's love quest Intl church.

We out here for real. We're really doing it.

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You can find us anywhere you need to find us.

But until next time, you know the drill.

You know the motto, get your love fixed man and we'll see

y'all real soon.