Restored 7th Birthday Celebration!

[00:00:15] Speaker A: Hi, my name is Paul and I'm a member with Restored Church. If you're new, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. We believe that the church is not an event, but a family that you belong to. So we'd love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please please Visit our website, RestoredTemecula Church and click on Contact. We also have a mobile app with resources including our Sunday messages, information about upcoming events, and other ways to connect. You can download our app on Apple or Android app stores. With all that said, we hope you enjoy the message. [00:00:48] Speaker B: So typically on a Sunday, this is when you would hear from me and I'd open up the Bible and we would preach, or Herrick or Mike or somebody else would preach. And as we've gotten the custom of doing since the church began seven years ago, our Sunday gatherings began seven years ago. We've gotten in the habit of spending our birthday Sunday just telling stories about what God has done. And I look forward to this every single year because, like I said, God has done things, and they're worth being talked about. If you brought your Bible this morning, will you just hold it up? Shout out to Trevor for making my Bible look really especially cool. If you need anything, leather, go to your boy Trevor. Oh, that Ron dude. That's your slogan. If you need anything, leather, go to your boy Trevor. Okay, that was a happy accident, bro. You don't have to. You don't have to take that. That's pretty whack. So, okay. The word of God's a treasure. Amen. [00:01:51] Speaker C: Wow. [00:01:52] Speaker B: It's like five of us. Genuinely, though, we have this gift that is God's word, the scriptures. And from the beginning of it to the end of it, it's story after story after story of the mighty works of God, of the ways that God has intervened in people's lives with grace and mercy and love and intentionality. And we have them recorded so that we can review, so that we can be reminded and we can remember who. Who God really is. His character, his goodness, his faithfulness, and what he's done. There's no shortage of spectacular examples in God's Word of what he's done. But how many of you know he didn't finish doing things at the ending of the canon of Scripture, the close of the canon? No, no, no. He's still doing spectacular things in the lives of very real people. He's still doing things in our church. And so I was praying for us this morning. And I'm gonna shut up in just a second. I'm gonna hand it off to Eric. He's gonna help us facilitate this morning. But I was praying and I got this sense that some of you, you're excited. Cause you know what to expect this morning. You know you're gonna hear stories of God's faithfulness and the ways that he's moved. It's awesome. Allow this to kind of fan the flame of faith in your heart and your devotion and your worship to God. But I also got the sense that there was some of you that you've been battling this belief of like, I think God might be done, maybe he's slowed down or he's not as active in your life or the lives of the people that you care deeply about. I just want to reject that this morning. And I want to tell you that there's going to be stories for you to hear that I think God wants to maybe reignite the fire of faith inside of you, that he's not done that no matter what. He's always working and he's working about his redemptive good in all of creation. That includes every single one of us. That's not to negate or downplay some of the things that you guys are facing, some of the hard things, some of the unanswered prayers, maybe. But maybe, just maybe, God's up to something that we don't fully see quite yet. And like I said, story after story of, I mean, the woman at the well and the demoniac. And I just was in the Word this morning and like, story after story of men and women encountering God and his intervening grace and love and holiness and then God's spirit empowering them and inspiring them to go and just share. And we are in this room thousands of years after the death, life, death and resurrection of Jesus because of faithful men and women. Imperfect for sure, but faithful men and women simply sharing their stories of what they experience God do in and through other people and in and through his spirit. That's the heartbeat of this morning. So that hopefully at the end of these stories, you will feel reinvigorated, your faith will feel a little bit stronger so that you can step into the life that God has saved you to live. And if you don't know Jesus in your room. We're so glad you're here. Hopefully you get a glimpse. Sorry. Hopefully you get just a small glimpse of how incredible Jesus is. Without further ado, I want to invite up the one and only Eric Berger he's going to help us facilitate this morning. Give him some love. [00:05:32] Speaker D: All right, batting leadoff, we have Brandon and Jill will be coming up to the front. If you don't know Brandon and Jill, you're about to get to know them a little bit better. Brandon and Jill have been with us for seven years. From the beginning. They have served this church community in so many ways over the years. You guys know, if you've been here for any period of time, you know this. And they have a story to tell about how God has met them from the beginning. But really, especially in the last, I think, few months, there's been an acceleration of some things that have been happening in their life that I think is going to reveal something of God's love for them and also for you. So without further ado, Brandon and Jill. [00:06:32] Speaker E: Hello, everyone. [00:06:36] Speaker C: Hello, group. [00:06:40] Speaker E: Okay, so this talk that I wrote is titled Accepting My Identity in Jesus, which Jill has been definitely a major part of and alongside with. So just to get into it. So I feel confident for the first time in my life that I have accepted my identity in Jesus as an adopted son of God, despite knowing that God loves me and accepts me because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. I didn't want God's grace because I believed that I did not deserve joy. There's a couple of stories that happened in the last few months that led me to accepting my identity in Jesus instead of rejecting it. I participated in deacon exploration with a number of people from this church and during that time was ministered to them in phenomenal ways. I shared these things with them openly and received encouragement and prayer of gospel truths to help me drown out those lies. In having a conversation with Jason, one of the biggest aha moments amongst many aha moments. But one of the biggest ones that clicked for me was that Jesus joins me in my afflictions as opposed to being adjacent to me in my afflictions. And that mainly comes from Romans 5, verses 3 and 4 that says we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials or boast in our afflictions. For we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. So, like in that time, I got this image of me and Jesus in the same room, and I'm supposed to go to him, but I'm trapped in a circle and can't get to him. But he ends up joining me in my circle, and I found comfort in that for the first time, that I may likely be afflicted with my afflictions forever. I don't have to be fixed, but Jesus meets me in my circle and stays with me in my circle forever, will live with me through my afflictions as opposed to my afflictions needing to be resolved or fixed before I can go to Him. Then I had surgery on my throat and ear and recovery the and the recovery was really rough and the pain caused me to not sleep for many weeks and then I also ended up super stressed out at work and wasn't sleeping because of anxiety. And then this went on for about four weeks which led to very severe depression and I learned firsthand that lack of sleep does insanely horrible things to the human mind. Not fun, but the first Sunday gathering after my surgery was super rough and I was supposed to serve in kids, but I ended up breaking down super ugly crying to Peyton, Tracy, Jules and Marla and I remember feeling the love of Jesus as they embraced me, affirmed me and prayed for me. I remember being so thankful that regardless of what I was going through, I had people in my life who loved me for who I was and not what I did since I was not able to serve that day. The next two Sunday gatherings were pretty intense as the depression got worse, but every conversation I had led to me breaking down, crying and getting prayer. It's pretty amazing, although the love and prayer was amazing. Sorry right ahead. I still felt hopeless because of how depressed I was. Based on recommendations from Mike and Chris, I started counseling with Ashley Stroman through the Restored Family of Churches Pastoral Role Care and Counseling, which helped a ton. My brokenness through this led me to be more desperate for God than I had been in a long time. Although I don't want to go through it again, I wouldn't trade it because it led me to the Father in amazing ways. So yeah, doing much better now. Thank you. The culminating event happened when Mark sent me a podcast on Galatians 4, which coupled with the story of the prodigal son, significantly helped lead me to accepting my identity in Jesus and accepting God's grace that I had previously rejected. And Galatians 4:537 says, God sent Jesus to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, prompting us to call out abba, Father, now you are no longer a slave, but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. And in the story of the Prodigal son. Even though the son is on his way back to the father, the father in the story does not wait until the son gets all the way home. But the father leaves the house and goes to meet the son regardless of any unresolved issues or brokenness or anything. And so, just like Jesus lives with me in my afflictions, the father meets me where I am exactly as I am, and God is with me always, regardless of what I'm doing or not doing. God loves me. He is my father. And now I delight in accepting that fact instead of rejecting it. Special shout out to Jill for holding our household together while I was having nervous breakdowns moment after moment, and then in no particular order, over the last few months. Special thanks to Heather, Lisa, Andres, Antonio, Nina, Kevin, Sam, Jenna, Dorian, Rosie, Justin, Brittany, Bridget, Molly, Courtney, David, Karina, Gabe, Erica, Jamie, Jerry, Eric, Ricardo, Cindy, Paul, Papa, Mark, Mama, Cindy, Andrea, Jared, and Jonathan. And that's just in the last few months. So basically if you. Yeah, there might be more, but I talked and shared and broke down to so many people that it's just like a blur. Yeah, if we did the whole seven years, I think that we'd run out of time with just my list of people. Anyway, love you guys. Thank you, Jill. [00:13:14] Speaker C: I had things written down, but just all the glory to God. Like, what a triumph in this season we came to restored in one of the worst seasons of our life. And now in a new hard season, you guys, God shows up for us through you. So I want to thank you for every prayer, every word of encouragement, every shoulder that I cried on this year. Love you guys. His glory. Thank you. [00:14:03] Speaker D: That was one a beautiful story of the Father. I love that the Father doesn't wait until we've got it all together or resolved or all the issues are taken care of. As soon as we turn to him, he runs to us. And it's not always because of some huge moral issue. This like, one of the things about the story of the prodigal son that's fascinating is that our brothers and sisters from other parts of the world see a part of the story that we often miss, which is that there was a famine, there was a hopeless situation that caused the sun to turn. And the story may actually be more about the Father's faithfulness to deliver people in hopeless situations. So if you're here today, maybe somebody invited you, maybe you're a part of our community to. It doesn't matter. It kind of doesn't matter how you got here. If you're facing situations where you feel overwhelmed and overcome. I just want you to know one step is all the father needs and his direction. And what we have here is a group of men and women, young people and children who are ready to receive you. The hands and feet that display what the father is like imperfectly but faithfully. And so really proud of you guys and of the church for the ways that you guys have rallied around Brandon and Jill in this season. Okay, next up, Antonio and Nina hitting second. And Mason. Guys, welcome. We're just missing Maddie. I don't know where she is, but that's cool. Hi, Maddie. We see you had to do that. All right, so if you guys haven't met them before, this precious family's been with us for about a year, let's say give or take almost exactly a year. They're a part of my gospel community right now. So I've gotten to know them over the last. Yeah, over the last year. And from the first time that I had any sort of contact with them, I just felt so encouraged. Antonio, actually, let me not get into your story. He emailed me just to encourage us before we ever even met, which is a beautiful thing. So sometimes we get emails and like, oh, I don't know what's coming. But this was, like, encouragement and love, and I think it's just been building and building and building in beautiful ways. And I'm excited for them to share with you what that's looked like in their life over the last year. So without further ado, Antonio, Nina, Maddie and Mason. [00:16:29] Speaker F: Brandon and Jill, we love you guys. Your whole family. You guys are awesome. Good morning, restored family. We are very grateful to be up here. This is the Fantastic Four. That's what we call each other. This is Nina, and we're going to go back and forth, but this is Nina, my beautiful wife of almost 25 years, Mason in Madison. And my name is Antonio. And we've been with restored for about a year now. And God has been doing some amazing things in our life. Actually, Mason is a big part of why we are here. He had some friends from school that had invited him to the youth, and Dorian and Rosie and all the parents that help with youth. Thank you so much. It's made a big impact on Mason. It's made a big impact on Madison. But this goes back a little bit farther for Nina and I. We both grew up in Temecula about 30 to 40 years ago. In fact, when I moved to Temecula, I came to this school, Margarita Middle School. So it's incredible. Yes, Go Mustangs. But it's amazing. I mean, the older I get, it's amazing to see how God uses certain points in our life to make such a huge impact later on. Nina went to a Lutheran church here in town, and I went to a different church. And I had accepted Jesus into my life around middle school, so I understand how youth group is important. And I joined a youth group and continued on through high school. I went away to college, and unfortunately, I really lost my focus. My life took some major hits, and I was sinking. I had allowed years of hurt and bitterness to take root in my heart and soul. And I was holding it in for a long time, but I kept pushing through life. And later I met the love of my life, legit love at first sight. I'm convinced that she was heaven sent for me. And then the gift of our children. All blessings to my life. But I still had years of unresolved trauma that I kept carrying. And I needed more than just coping, more than just pushing through on my own. At a young age, I had developed the mentality that I was on my own, that the world was against me. And I continue on that way. And most experts would agree that's a very difficult way to go through life. I'm a big fan of superheroes. We're gonna go see a superhero movie tonight, and they have teams, so. There was so much behind my emotions, and I didn't fully trust people for help or compassion. I always felt so lost and alone. But looking back, I can see that Jesus was with me every step of the way, bringing me back to that path. But I was refusing to follow him into deeper waters. I was refusing to let go of the lies that I had believed about myself. And it was a negative cycle that I kept battling in my heart and soul. [00:19:42] Speaker G: So we got to a point where we decided we needed help. We needed to fully put our trust in God. We were faithful. We came to church, we read our Bible, but we were still having struggles. We were still struggling with this, and we weren't putting our faith in God. So we decided to reach out to Herrick. As he said, we've gotten to know him through our emerging GC and our intro before that. So we just knew we needed to reach out. We didn't know what to expect or even expect anything, but we knew that we needed to put our faith in God finally. So we met with him. We shared our struggles and just met with amazing compassion and no judgment. We were feeling the love of God through the words that Herrick was sharing. With us. But then he encouraged us to reach out to our gc and to be completely honest, we didn't know what to expect with that. We were a little hesitant because we've seen people and even been those people who have reached out in the past and shared struggles, shared vulnerabilities, and just been met with judgment, negativity, even just unkindness. So we were just not really knowing what to expect when we were encouraged to reach out to our gc. But one night at our Lord's Supper gathering, we did share with our GC and just knew we had to step out in faith and trust. God and the Spirit showed up powerfully. We had our GC just praying over us, speaking words of truth over us. We just felt the power of God move through that, through our little community that we've had for a year now. We've learned to, you know, see them as family just as a surprise, just not what we've been used to, not what we've been confronted with in the past. But it was. It was really amazing. So we're proud to be members of a body of believers that lives out their faith. We feel like we are at a church where people are valued and families are more important than appearances. We're not identified by pain and struggle, but by God's purpose and grace. We have experienced messages and prayers that brought breakthroughs and deepening of faith to help build godly change, to truly understand the meaning of healing and moving forward together as a community, to work on the heart in order to become the hands. And thanks to our gc, we've really felt the love of God. [00:22:10] Speaker F: And in conclusion, you guys, I just wanted to say thank you for the time today to share a little of our testimony. In the last five years, we've come out of some deep valleys individually and as a family. And we have faced some trials and challenges that I have really. That have really tested us. And I can see how God was leading us here for the right moment, for real healing and renewal. And this is to keep us on that journey of surrender and peace, for wholeness. People who came alongside us, like Nina was saying, for encouragement and reminding us that we were made for so much more. All of us, we were made for so much more. And really experiencing mercy and grace and letting it sink deep, deep into our heart and soul. And not just knowledge, but actually experiencing the love of Jesus through others. And we've experienced this powerfully at restored, and we will continue to move forward in faith and obedience. And youths keep inviting people not Only are you changing that could be changing that person's life. But as you can see, see their entire family as well. Thank you. [00:23:34] Speaker A: I just wanted to say one thing. So I wasn't supposed to be up here originally, but it was very last second. I was like, okay, I'll go up. I do want to say something though, to circle back around to the youth. I love you guys so much. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you. Those who were previously in youth and, you know, have moved out into the adult life. I want to say thank you to two of them, Trenton and Liam. Big influences in my life. And thank you to Dorian and Rosie so much for organizing everything. Thank you to the families that host their house every night and provide food. So I love you guys. Love you, Dorian and Rosie, and thank you so much for everything you've done. Yeah. [00:24:39] Speaker D: That was two. I think there could be, you could be in this room. And as Antonio mentioned in his own life, maybe you carry things, heavy things, hard things, and maybe you felt like at times you've had to hold it all together. And one of the things that I love about the church is that it's a safe place to kind of fall apart. It's okay to not be okay and it's okay to say it. And so as a community, it's one of the great privileges that we have is to see someone have a moment where they come in real, they come. I had a mentor that talked about real time and they essentially share like, here's where I'm at today, here's what I'm carrying today. And, and to be met with love is one of the great privileges that we have as a community. And so I just want to thank you guys for that, for the privilege of being able to walk alongside you. And I just want you to know if that's you, if you're in a similar spot, like it's okay to not be okay. And as a church community, I just want to thank you guys for the ways in which you make it okay to not be okay. Your gracious responses, the ways that you respond to men and women with inviting love, with truth, with grace, it makes this a really special place. And so I want to call up our third speaker. Batting third, he's already gotten a call out. Trenton, come on up to the front. Yee haw. He's a two time speaker and I have the privilege of being in the gospel community with Trenton and it's been a real joy to just witness. This is our first Youth graduate that's carried on into a gospel community. I think there's gonna be many more as time goes on. But this is a pioneer, guys. And sometimes in the church it could just be really easy to be like, I gotta find my thing, you know, like my singles minute, whatever. It is like we have a multi generational GC and it is so fun. It's not everybody. People are in different stages of life. We're not like peers in the traditional sense, but we are brothers and sisters. And I benefit greatly from having him in our community, his perspective, the lens that he has, and it's just so encouraging. And so I'm really excited to have Trenton share with you guys what God has been doing in his life. Take it away. [00:27:30] Speaker A: I've been up here like six times and this never gets easier. [00:27:34] Speaker H: It's. [00:27:37] Speaker A: Jesus, take the wheel. Okay. Hello everyone. My name is Trenton Thomason. I am a member here at Restored. I've attended this church since it opened back in Covid. So now I guess that's been a while. Today I want to share how Jesus has used this church family to help me grow closer when I was at a distance. But I'm honored to be able to speak today on the church's birthday and I'd love to share more of my story. As some of you may know or saw, last year I spoke on the church's birthday talking about my story and journey with God. And I mentioned the importance of community and how impactful it was with the growth with my relationship with Jesus. A lot has happened since then and there's been plenty of great things and just as sucky things take place. But I figured the best way to tie everything in my journey together into one simple thing would be to call my distance with God. This season of my life has been amazing in the way of how close I've been with Jesus and seeing the work he's doing consistently, constantly. The season has also been a major wake up call and slap in the face, for lack of better words. It's been a time of moving towards Jesus with me and him becoming closer, but also taking on the spiritual responsibility of keeping this bond with him and not relying on others to keep me in check for how and when I communicate in worship. I'm a pretty busy guy and tend to keep a lot on my plate because I just love staying busy. But with that in mind, it wasn't always high priority to keep Jesus in my schedule, admittedly, and I want to preface that this isn't me talking about God's Distance from me, but my distance from God. I would regularly choose to skip church, not read the Bible because it sounded boring or wasn't my thing, and even go weeks without a prayer. And that leaves a whole hole in your heart. It was like taking a vacation from God, but the vacation was horrible. During these times I felt the distance but didn't know what I was feeling. I would be depressed, feel hopeless, have a lack of faith to another level, and truly only live off of my own understanding and desires. And not only did I feel that way with myself, but led me to act wrong with others and treat them without love and respect. I had lost sight of what it meant to be like Jesus. But what jabbed me the most and made life miserable at times was the battle with lust. It felt like attacks when I was at my weakest temptations, when I was at my weakest temptations would creep up on me and I would effortlessly fall into them. It dawned on me one day that I had this struggle along with all the others, that I had no control or ability to save myself from them. And I quickly realized I needed Jesus now. From this point forward, this was a time of distance from God. I had prioritized what I wanted to do, what I felt like I needed for myself. This led me down the path of self destruction. From there I decided I didn't want to live that same life and be distant from him any longer. I started to get in the Word, move past that giant mental and spiritual barrier that I felt. And I only began to understand him more and literally get to know know who he was. Prayer became a regular occurrence in my daily life. And at first I didn't understand completely what prayer was supposed to be. I would tend to just ask and talk, never listen. But I had a few wise people around me really helped me understand what prayer really was and how it's conversation, not just a Christmas list. And I heard from him. I noticed the Holy Spirit providing wisdom that I couldn't have conjured up on my own. Answers to some of my questions and even spiritual convictions. When I was acting wrong towards the people that I love. This was my distance from God shortening. I was getting closer with my Heavenly Father. After some time I had made the decision to join a gc which I was very nervous about considering I knew I was going to be the youngest in my group by a long shot. But this decision quickly became the best decision I had made moving forward in faith. I found people in all different places of life and different places in their faith which opened My eyes to new perspectives and ideas. But what was truly beautiful was that it was a family. A family that was hungry, searching for Jesus together. A quick little story One night within the intro phase of my gc, we had done a prayer exercise. And I don't know, some of you know it's called Spanish. I do not remember what the acronym is. But essentially it's taking someone, you know in the gc, sitting with them in prayer, but talking, taking a few minutes to just sit in prayer and listen to what God has to say, you know, maybe reveal to you and then praying over them. So I grabbed an awesome guy in my gc, you know who you are, and I prayed with him. But when I sat there in silence, I had received something as if it was a baseball to the face. It wasn't a faint idea, it was like nailed into my brain in that instant. Sorry, lost where I was. So I prayed with him, I sat there and I told him, hey dude, I don't totally know if this is my own brain or if this is something from the Holy Spirit, but I went for it. And by the time I had finished, to my surprise, he claimed that I was spot on. We had no prior talk of the specific thing I got insight on, but the Holy Spirit had worked and revealed that to me so I could pray for that. I was pretty stoked after gc and that was a fun drive home. The more time I spent in prayer and keeping him in our relationship engraved in my brain, the more I saw his work and great things he had provided. Listening became something I was waiting for and would dedicate time into every prayer. I was always in a place of joy and gratitude towards all that he had provided, but also all that he continued to provide. Remaining in a posture of gratitude towards all he did showed me hope in how much I was truly loved by God, but also helped me recognize more and more what he did. From this point forward, I was full of faith, full of love, full of from him and for others. I want others to feel the way I felt when I recognized ways the Lord loved me. I mean in all of Jesus work, His love and work in my life. He's made movements in my life and absolutely been present in it. I now pray daily thanking him for all that I have and still currently receive. That struggle with lust doesn't grip me the way it used to. Jesus has reshaped my desires. By his grace, I'm walking in greater freedom than I ever thought possible and I will forever worship him and be grateful. Even at the different distances I can unintentionally put myself at. And he will always be there with open arms. Thank you, everyone. [00:35:06] Speaker D: It's three. Oh, man. There's so much there. But one of the things that I want to highlight real quick is what Trenton mentioned, which is that he didn't use this word, but I'm going to use it. There are barriers to overcome to join a community. Some of you are here, and those barriers have been. You haven't been able to overcome them. Maybe you're here and you just. You don't have a church that you call home, or maybe you aren't known in that community. There's transformation on the other side of courage. And so I just want to say it is such a joy to have you in our community fighting through, being honest. Did you see how vulnerable that was, young man? Getting in front of a community of people to share that, to testify to the goodness of God. Barriers, Barriers don't have to define you. They can become a part of your story. Batting cleanup, Justin and Brittany, the Shives. I don't know where they went. There they are. At this point, Justin could probably hit cleanup for the Angels and nobody would know the difference. Why did I go there? [00:36:36] Speaker A: We won last night. [00:36:37] Speaker D: This is supposed to be encouraging. I'm sorry. I'm a longtime Angels fan, if you don't know. And Justin's a great athlete. Just as a side note, let's not a slam on Justin. Okay? Well, where do we go from here? Justin and Brittany have been with our community for many years. I have seen. Seen them. I've been in a GC with them for a season. I've seen them in actually a lot of different times in life, going through many things. And one of the things that I love about them is that they are overcomers. They have overcome many, many things on their journey. And I am so excited for them to share some of the things that they. Some of the challenges that they've overcome just in the last little while that I think are going to be really encouraging for you guys to hear. Guys, take it away. Justin and Brittany. [00:37:31] Speaker H: Thanks, Eric. Yeah, I know you're first. [00:37:41] Speaker I: Okay. Happy birthday. Restored. Today is actually our youngest son's birthday. And literally, like, I'm not joking. Restored. Basically, like, prayed him into existence. So it's just a special, extra special day for us. Okay. So when we were asked to share something at this birthday celebration, my first reaction was Eric sent this to the wrong person. And then my second reaction was embarrassment. I'm just always so encouraged at These birthday celebrations by all of you just, like, hearing the way, sorry if you don't know me. I cry all the time. So I'm gonna really try. But I just. I'm always so encouraged. Like, already you guys have heard. Like, it's just. It's so beautiful to see the ways that God is working in and through our church. And I just felt, like, completely ill equipped to do that and. And inadequate and, like, just things that I've been through. That night, I actually had some, like, time and space with our GC to kind of process all of it, which was really helpful. And then I kind of spent just, like, the next few days in prayer asking God, like, for clarity, like, should we share? What should we share? Like, I don't know. You're gonna have to take the lead on this, because I got nothing. And I actually. I felt like God gave me a picture, which was really cool when he does that. Yeah, the Spanish. Yes. And so right now is, like, our birthday season in our family, and every year we measure our kids on, like, a measuring stick. I think I actually sent you guys a picture. [00:39:25] Speaker J: Yep. [00:39:26] Speaker I: So there's Ben. So we have this stick. And so I felt like God gave me this picture of this stick of measuring our kids on their birthday every year. Some years, our kids, you know, have this huge growth spurt, and you're like, wow, look at, like, three inches. Not really, but. And then sometimes, like, it's, like, not that much at all, but every birthday, like, our kids are just so excited to be measured, and they're just, like, staying there so confidently and so proudly. They aren't concerned with, like, how many. They don't ask ever, like, oh, how much did I grow? You know, they're just, like, smiling. They're, like, just so excited to be measured. Like, it's my birthday, you know? And they're just so secure in the fact and confident that, like, our love for them as their parents is not dependent on how much they've grown. And so I felt like God was just, like, gently reminding me that his love is not dependent on my growth either. And then, as many of you know, our son Ben, he actually had a couple years of minimal to no growth at all. And it became really concerning as his parents. So we spent hours and hours just, like, researching and taking him to all different doctors. Like, so many tears, so much frustration of just, like, not being heard or listened to. And I remember one doctor actually asked him. He was like, I think four at the time, how do you feel about your growth? And I remember thinking, like, wow, that's like, a really silly question to ask a child. Like, how do you feel about your growth? But then I started thinking about it, like, that's what I'm doing, like, over and over, like, asking myself, like, well, how do I feel about how much I've grown? It's like, instead I'm looking to myself and my growth markers and then basing my feelings and conclusions on that when I should be looking to God for that. And during that time, Ben needed us as his parents to advocate for him. And I feel like God gave me the picture of, like, that's what you guys are for us. You are our advocates. Like, when we aren't growing the way that we want or we aren't able to see maybe how we've grown or changed, you are taking us straight to the great physician and asking him for help. You guys pray for us over us, encourage us, cheer us on. And so, just over the last seven years of being a part of this church family, I can see that I've had some growth spurts, and I've had lots of moments of stunted growth. But one of the beautiful things that God revealed to me is that he isn't upset that when I don't grow or learn or mature as fast as maybe I think I should, he is constant, and he loves me the same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And so I just wanted to remind all of you that on our birthday, whether you feel like you've had a growth spurt this year or maybe not, that God is smiling on you and that as your church family, we're cheering you on no matter what. [00:42:30] Speaker H: I don't know if, like, biblically, that, like, God humbles us. I think it's mostly like we're supposed to humble ourselves before God, right As I look to the elders to, like, for affirmation on that. But it's like, this woman is clearly, clearly like, God humbling me as a man, as a human, because she's awesome. So I get to follow what she talked about. And I think she is a good parent, and I think we're both good parents, even though we make our kids be angel fans with us. Anyways, okay, so Bernie talked about a little bit about spiritual growth, and this idea of spiritual growth is something that's been on my heart as well, specifically in the area of discipleship. I want to share a few things that have been going on in my life the past few years, but I want to preface it all by saying that, like, these are some things that are happening in my life that I'm trying to like, partner with God in. But they're really just God doing these things through us and through me. It's only by his grace, his smile, and you guys, this church family cheering it on like Brittany described, that these things have actually happened and are happening not by my own strength or power or abilities, because I can't back cleanup, not even for the swingers. Many of you know that I teach math at a traditional public high school in Menifee. And since coming back to school after Covid, the Lord has brought four Christian clubs to our campus, Two of which I'm sponsoring and hosting in my classroom. Coming back from COVID we had none. Zero. Through these two clubs, I've noticed the desperate need in my school and teenagers everywhere, not just for the gospel, but for something that has been highlighted for me personally and again, that's discipleship. With the encouragement from my bride and help from several of you in identifying my spiritual gifts, I started writing a weekly devotional for teenagers that could be used by small school clubs, larger church, church youth groups, or even individual quiet time with the Lord. I realized that these teenagers need something to help them understand God's love for them and understand the gospel of Jesus. Many students will tell you that God's love feels like something foreign, something distant, really far away, or maybe abroad. When in reality I got this picture which when I think about you, her, Brittany, it's always a beach because she loves a beach. But I got this picture of we are like a shoreline on a beach and God's love is the water that like breaks and washes over us constantly, rhythmically, like without fail, like, oh, here comes one wave of God's love. And then you don't even need to hold your breath because like another one's coming right after that. It's just constant, without fail. And my prayer, one of my prayers is that students who leave my classroom and those clubs experience and feel that shore break love of God. Because when you truly feel God's love, you can't help but just praise him. The concept of discipleship has never been a real thought for me until I became a part of this church family. I'm no longer going to a church gathering out of obligation or to get filled up. I come here because I enjoy it. We were just on a seven day cruise and it was awesome. And catching people coming in. I was like, I'm not excited to be back, but I'm like genuinely excited to be here today. And not just because I'm Talking actually makes it a little bit tougher. I don't open my Bible in the morning out of duty, but to obey him by abiding in him as much as possible. I don't pray just to ask for stuff, but I do have a Christmas list, too. Trenton. I'll get that to you later. But to bless the Lord and offer myself to him, to help him fulfill his mission on Earth. As Tom would say, I'm learning to see if I got it right. Enjoy Jesus, obey Jesus, and operate like Jesus in every facet of my life. Many days. It's not pretty, but through the community and family of you all restored and his constant love for me, I've never felt closer to the reality of God's love for me and my family. So thank you, everybody. [00:47:44] Speaker D: You looked over and you said, the swingers. I'm assuming that's a softball team. Okay. If anybody's new, they're like, what kind of church is this? [00:47:53] Speaker B: It's just softball. [00:47:54] Speaker D: Guys. Want to clarify that. You know what's fascinating about this? I just had a moment when I was sitting there listening to you guys. I think you guys texted me a few years ago. I was like, where do you guys see my spiritual gifts? Like, I'm like, man, look at how far you've come. Sometimes growth, you can't necessarily see it if you zoom in too much, but when you zoom out, it's there. And you guys have grown, and you are using your gifts to bless and love not just your household, but other people, even those people that don't know Jesus. So I just want to. Just want to thank you guys and for all your gc, the church community, for the ways in which you guys have been a part of their story. It's beautiful. And maybe you're here and you're like, you're longing to see more growth. Maybe there's change in your life that you long to see. Maybe there's clarity that you don't yet have in your discipleship to Jesus. Or maybe you're not yet a disciple and you're considering what that looks like. Maybe you're just longing to see more movement in areas that feel stuck, but it just hasn't come yet. His love is not measured by our growth chart. It's just not. But his love is. Helps us to grow. That's the part I mentioned earlier. Like, it's okay to not be okay, which I think is absolutely true. It's also, if Jesus is real and the Gospel, it's real, it's safe to not Stay that way. And I just want to encourage you guys. Like, you guys are changing, you're growing, and it's beautiful to see. Okay, I'm going to mix my metaphors. Closing for us. The young Quists come on up to the front. Awesome. As they make their way down. We've got quite a story to share. They have quite a story to share with you guys. If you haven't met Jen and Eric, they've been a part of our community for years now, from the early days of our church. And God's been at work in their family in remarkable ways. And just in the last couple weeks, few weeks, I guess, three weeks, they have experienced Jesus in some remarkable ways. And so I'm really excited for them to share with you guys what God has been up to and for him to open you up, open up new vistas of what he's up to in the midst of really hard circumstances. So take it away, guys. [00:50:20] Speaker C: Thank you. Wow. I think we have a picture for the first one. I'm Jen Youngquist. This is my husband, Eric Youngquist. And this is actually our family's seventh year here at Restored. And this picture is From July of 2018 at Restored's meetup at the 4th of July at the sports park. So that's what our family looked like. When we first started coming to Restored, we were asked to share our story that happened two weeks ago, Easter weekend. Wow. Didn't make it far. Okay. It was one of the hardest things our family has ever gone through. But God showed up in amazing ways, like only he can many times. We're left kind of wondering why something happened, but this event, God made the why very clear. And we're so thankful for his protection over our family and his faithfulness. Our oldest, Ethan, went on a mission trip to Mexico with his school, Linfield, over spring break. They built a house for a family in need there, and they were headed home on Good Friday, which I think all of this kind of taking place on Easter weekend was definitely symbolic and part of God's plan. There were two school vans with chaperones and kids. And then Ethan's friend's dad was actually driving his own truck with Ethan, one other boy, and then Ethan's friend, the driver's son in it. Ethan was texting me once he got to the Tijuana border to cross back over into the US what we didn't know at the time was that that week Mexico set up their own border before the permanent one. We were told that since relations between Mexico's president and President Trump were bad, that this was Mexico's retaliation and that Mexico was targeting Americans. They aligned this new border with a bunch of Mexican military armed with machine guns. A couple of hours passed and I hadn't heard from Ethan, so I started to get worried that he wasn't responding. I reached out to my family and through text asked for prayer. I let them know that Ethan's location was at the border for three hours and that we were texting and then no response for the last few hours. We thought that maybe since there were a bunch of exchange students with them that maybe it was taking longer to get them through the border. I called the wife of the driver and asked if she had heard anything and she hadn't. She did say that last year her husband was stopped at the border for the tent on his windows and they made him pay a fee and he was able to go. So maybe something like that happened again. I called Ethan and texted him a bunch with no response. Then suddenly his location was heading back into Mexico. I let my family know that I couldn't get a hold of anyone on the trip. But I was also thinking it's probably nothing to worry about. The group was supposed to be back in Temecula at 11am and I had it from him, from him. And it was now 1pm all of a sudden Eric calls me because he was up visiting his dad up near Yosemite and he says, did you check Ethan's location? They're at the Tijuana jail, I think. There's no, no, there's not a picture yet. Sorry. So God showed up throughout this entire story. But one of the things about us following Ethan's location was that we had just freshly started following his location. I wanted to be a 90s mom and not follow my kids location. I thought I was so cool. And then the first night of letting Ethan go out on his own, he wasn't getting home on time. We weren't real clear on the time, but it was later than he should have been home and we started calling and calling and couldn't get a hold of him. Turns out he was in the. It turns out he was in the hot tub at a friend's house. He didn't have his phone on him, but I was terrified and I was driving around Temecula looking for his truck in a ditch. And so after we finally got ahold of him, I decided I'm not going to be a 90s mom, I'm going to follow his location. So there again is an event that God had That happen so that someone was following location on this trip because nobody else was sharing their location. And the only reason we knew where they were was because we saw his location change to the jail. So instantly all the terrible things that could be happening to Ethan started going through my mind. I reached out to my family again, looking for advice on what to do. Both Eric and I started calling the Mexico consulate but couldn't get through because they were closed for the Easter holiday already. My sister Jamie started reaching out to her girlfriends, asking for prayer, and I started reaching out to my Linfield girlfriends, our gospel community and the pods asking for prayer and advice. As soon as everyone started praying, I felt this peace fall over me. I was still terrified, but I truly felt like God was in control. There are so many people that stepped up to help and this showed what an amazing community we have. Everyone was just so willing to pray and stop in and help. Tom called us to check in on us. Everyone in our GC called later in the evening. They even gathered together in person at Liz and Robbie's house to pray for us. A bunch of Linfield families were praying for us. Everyone just really showed up. I can't thank everyone individually, but just know how thankful we are for each one of you. So many people praying, so many people offering connections, willing to call, willing to do anything needed. There were two people who really led the charge in what we now know as a rescue mission. Jamie's friend Susie reached out to a bunch of different people she knew and she put us in. She put us in contact with a guy named Ty who worked with Homeland Security. We connected with Ty, who happened to be camping with his family, but he dropped everything to help us. Ty started reaching out to all its connections, giving us advice on what to do. Eventually, Jamie had enough and decided she was going to Mexico alone, with or without us. She was going to rescue her nephew. She gathered a cash, a passport, and she said I could join her if I wanted. But she was out of here. By the time Jamie got to my house to pick me up, she realized she didn't have any gas and I needed a drive. We get in my car and I realize I don't have any gas. So now Robby needs to drive. So now Jamie, Robby and I are all together. And by the time we're ready to go, Susie had called us to let us know that one of her connections was able to find out that our boys were detained at the border and that the driver was being charged with multiple felonies. One of them was for having a gun and one for having a weapon and miners in the car together and one for the weapon being loaded. They were all taken to the Tijuana jail. At this point, realizing the severity of it all, Paul and Robbie decided they were definitely not letting us go alone and joined in the rescue mission. This part's kind of surreal and a blur. We are finally picking up Paul and trying to think clearly. Paul, the least likely to plan anything out of all of us, starts asking the important questions. Did we bring clothes, food, protection, passports? Jamie let us know she had a big wad of cash, her passport, a really nice pen and enough chapstick to get us to the four of us through the weekend. Robbie added that he had a car wash rewards card and almost five full stamps, his passport and whatever toys his kids had left in his truck. I had my passport and whatever was in the purse that I grabbed. I knew better than to bring a gun, but to remediate our need for supplies, Paul grabbed a bat, a partially drank water bottle and a backpack that he never really told us what was inside. My sister Lindsay laid hands on us and prayed a beautiful prayer over us in the car before we headed south to somewhere in Tijuana. Between the silence of all of us in our own heads, we peppered each other with questions. How much do you bring to buy or bribe your kids? Freedom? Do you have enough money? Do you stop at ATMs? What about the daily limit for taking money out? So many worries. All of the horrible things I've heard about Mexico, prisons running through my head and just thinking that my 16 year old kid was there. Would I ever see him again? As we're driving to Mexico, one of the contacts let us know that if minors were released, they were taken to a place that's called Whiskey 3. It's a terrible place, essentially a hole in a fence in the middle of nowhere where they just let them go free. And there are bad people there like the cartel. This terrified me. They told us we needed to get down there as soon as possible just in case they were released there. At this point, I called the driver's wife and broke the bad news to her. It was looking grim overall, but especially for her husband. Linfield didn't know this information either. Yet they didn't know that one. They did know though that one of the boys was able to send a text to his parents right before they were detained, letting them know that they were being detained. When Linfield found that out, they reached out to different people in the government and let Them know and they opened up a case on the boys. They also sent an email to the entire school asking for prayer for the group that was detained. At one point, we had ice, Border patrol, Congress members, retired FBI, Homeland Security, a connection to Trump's personal caddy, and connections with people high up in the Tijuana Police Department, all helping to try to find the boys and find out what was going on. As Eric was driving home from his dad, he was looking up every number he could find to get a hold of the consulate. He was finally able to get a hold of one in Mexico City that put us in contact with one that worked in Tijuana. Matias happened to already be playing at the Hodgkins and Emma was at a friend from the pods. So God had the other two kids taken care of for us. All of a sudden, Ethan's location was changing. They were moving from the jail to the federal building. The head of schools at Linfield was in contact with me and let me know they hired a Mexico attorney and that they had a contact through a mission group that was at the federal building and had actual eyes on the boys. I was sent a proof of life picture that had the boys and the dad handcuff in the back of a police truck with military officers holding machine guns surrounding them. I think there's a picture there. The picture caused a mixture of emotions. The boys had smiles on their faces, which was a huge relief. But seeing them in handcuffs surrounded by guns killed my mama hard. In the middle of talking to Ty, I checked a text from Tracy that referred me to a person that went to restore church. Our church. I looked at the text and could not believe my eyes. The contact was Ty, the same guy that had been helping us all day. He went to our church and we didn't even know. Only God could orchestrate something like this. Halfway to Mexico, we got another update that they were thinking about keeping the boys detained until Monday since it was a holiday weekend. And now after 5pm, such a roller coaster of emotions. But I'm telling you, through a ton of prayer, I felt very calm, very sad and scared, but very calm. I had complete faith God would protect the boys. And that was my prayer over and over. God, please keep them all safe and cover them in your peace. We were also told that the mission group down there was able to buy the boys, Carl's junior So they both have something to eat. We finally arrived at the Starbucks next to the border. We were supposed to meet the parents of the other two boys. In the meantime, Eric Got in contact with a friend that we used to teach with in Stockton who now lived in Tijuana. He commutes to San Diego each day to teach. He's also a famous lucha libre down there in Tijuana. More than that later, he happened to still be on the US Side of the border. Part of God's plan for sure. Heard what was happening and agreed to meet us in the Starbucks parking lot. We explained what was happening and where the boys were, and he agreed to help us out. He gave us great advice and said that I should definitely go to the building where Ethan was. He said they are very corrupt, but they do show compassion for mothers. He told us about bribing. He made sure we knew to definitely not call it that. We had to be discreet. We had to ask, is there a fine we can pay? He also warned us that they would probably talk down to us and we need to humble ourselves and just allow this to happen. All the advice he gave us was so good and such a blessing. We agreed that he would walk us across the border and then take us to the building where the boys were. In the meantime, the lawyer with the boys said that only I should go and that no one should go with me. I was terrified to go alone. We were getting so much different advice. Linfield was saying not to go yet, that the lawyer is trying to get the boys released to someone in the mission agency. I was so rattled at the time, I couldn't even figure out how to electronically sign this letter. So Paul was helping me through all of that. The consulate was telling me that I should go to the building and Albert, the lucha libre, was telling me I should go. It's about 7:30pm at this point, and we're all standing in the parking lot when I looked down on my phone and I could not believe it. It was Ethan calling me. Praise Jesus. Was it really Ethan or was someone calling me for ransom? I answered the phone and it was actually Ethan. I asked him how he was and he said, well, I've been better. I didn't know how long they would let him talk to me, but I wanted him to know how many people he had praying for him, fighting for him and trying to get him released. I wanted him to know that we were coming for him and they were right there at the border. We talked for a tiny bit and then decided it was go time. We needed to get the boys. The wife of the driver and the mother of the other boy in custody met us in the parking lot and we got ready to Cross the border. We stuffed our pockets full of bribe money, not knowing how much to bring, and grabbed our passports. We were told not to bring anything else, no purses or anything. Albert then told us we should leave Jamie behind. He said, no reason to bring a pretty girl. It's a liability. And then I said, should I be offended that you said I should go? As we're walking to go over the border, I received an email from the consulate stating she believes the boys will be released to the parents tonight. Such great news after hearing it might not be until Monday. The plan was to cross the border and then the lawyer and the mission group would send a driver to pick me and the other mom up. It was my first time ever in Tiana. It was dark. I was getting in a car with some random guy that I had no idea who he was or if he was a good person. And I a bunch of cash on me. Rob and Paul said that they're definitely not sending me a loan. And then they would get in Albert's car and follow us to the building. It's about 8:45pm at this point, the car pulled up and that we were supposed to get in. Lauren, the other mom, gets in the front and I get in the back. Just as I close the door, Robbie comes up to the car and starts banging on the window. I know he must know something I don't know. And then, this is bad. I need to get out of the car. The driver locks the door and asks if we know the guy is knocking on the window. I don't really know what to do because we're supposed to be alone, but I decided to say, yeah, those are my brothers. The driver rolls down the window a little and Robbie says, hey, Rob, it's Rob McDaniel. Do you remember me? From Haiti? Then Paul says, hey, Rob, it's Paul. Do you remember me? I could not believe it. The driver was another Christian that went on mission trips with my brothers about 10 years ago, and they were friends. Once again. This was so God. I can't even begin to explain the relief I felt. I was safe, at least in this car. The driver, Rob, drove us to the Federal Building where the boys were. We parked across the street from the building, which is a picture. This is the building Ethan and the boys were in. All I could think was, ethan's in there. I'm so close to him. We stood outside the building in raw sewage. Literally. The streets were flooded with a massive sewage leak. I stood in sewage and cried out to God to bring and protect My son. Bring my son back to me. Outside of the building, Mission. Mission. Rob introduced us to a girl from the mission group that had been working with the lawyers the whole time there. She told us we needed to wait outside until we got called in. At 9:30 we received a text from Ty's contact saying, saying that they are for sure releasing the boys to us. At 9:47 we get told that we get to go and see the boys. But we couldn't take our phones. We had to give them our passports and get checked in. My heart was beating in my chest. I was in the same building as Ethan. I was about to see him. What would I see when I saw him? Would he be bruised, beat up? They led us up some stairs to the third floor to an office. I walked around the corner and saw Ethan. I grabbed him in the tightest hug ever and sobbed, just saying thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Over and over again. I'll never forget that moment. It was so good to see him. He was fine physically and seemed to be doing fine mentally too. They let the boys have their phones because they had confiscated them all day until Ethan called me. Then they let them keep their phones. Ethan was texting with the family and letting them know that I was with him and that we were just going to be a few more hours to process some paperwork. In the meantime, Rob and Paul were standing outside the building with Albert, the lucha libre. And they decided that they had some time to kill. So they took Albert to Tijuana's finest Brazilian steakhouse for a late dinner. There they got to watch videos in wrestling and learn all about the Persona as rabida. Paul and Rob were sending pictures to Ethan from the Brazilian steakhouse, joking about it and trying to lighten the mood. Apparently Rob and Paul didn't think this through, but they decided it was a good idea to eat Tijuana sushi. Ethan getting these texts, just asked his uncles if they could get him some water. I was able to talk to Ethan the entire time. They said they were in handcuffs in the back of the truck for seven hours, sitting outside in the sewage leak. They handled it like 16 year old boys though, and turned it into a game. They played rock, paper, scissors in their cuffs and if you lost, you had to tighten your cuffs. Then they would have to ask the guard to loosen them, please. But honestly, so thankful that God was with them and they weren't terrified the entire time. Another God thing was that the third boy that was with them was fluent in Spanish. He was able to translate for Them the entire day. They said they had no idea what would have happened if Alex, the third boy, wasn't with them. We sat in the office for a few hours and then had Dan the driver. They had Dan the driver stand up. They had told him that he was being charged with three felonies. One for the gun, one for the magazine to hold the bullets, and one for the bullets. They told him that the minimum time he would be served in prison there was eight years. Then they told him to say goodbye to his family. Watching him hug and kiss his wife goodbye, hug his son goodbye, and then put him in cuffs and take him away was gut wrenching. It was so hard to watch. After that, I was able to talk to Ethan a little more. He said that the federales had told them that they were able to see inside this lifted truck in the cup holder and saw bullets. None of this was true. That was their reason for searching the vehicle. The problem was when they did search the vehicle, they found the safe in the back of the truck. There was a gun in it. The driver didn't plan on taking the gun, but totally forgot it was there when he was loading up his truck to take it to Mexico. It was about midnight at this point and we were still in the room of the office building with the DA and the lawyer, all the boys and the three moms and some other guys processing paperwork. Yeah, we stayed there for a pretty long time. And about 1am after we had signed a bunch of papers that nobody told us what they even said, they realized that they had the date. The date had changed because it was now the next day. And so they had to do the paperwork all over again. At about 1:45 in the morning, they asked us moms to leave and they were going to keep the boys for a while. This made me really nervous. I don't want to leave the building without Ethan, but I didn't have a choice. It was supposed to be 30 minutes, but it turned into over an hour, which felt like forever without ethan. Finally, at 2:13am the boys came walking out and we were free. I text our family and GC that I had my son back. I think there's a picture right there. That was when I first got to see him outside. We just had to get back across the border. We hopped into Cards and drove towards the border. When we got, we got out of the car at 2:30 in the morning to walk back across. I was so nervous and I couldn't wait to be across the border. As we were walking through homeless People and kids out at 2:30 in the morning playing and some were begging. We almost made it to the border when we heard this loud scuffle and turned to see a guy getting pinned up against the wall, getting arrested and then some yelling. We all started walking as fast as we could just to get to the border. It was so scary. Finally we got through customs and into the US side of the border. Jamie was waiting for us in a truck, but we still had to walk through a very sketchy scene on the US side of the border. A ton of homeless people and people doing drugs, et cetera. When we finally got to the truck, we started driving away. I can't even begin to explain the relief that I felt. We texted Ty and Suzy that we were back and that we couldn't thank them enough for all they had done. We told Ty that we were so excited to see him at church on Sunday and to thank him in person. Robbie blasted I'm Proud to be an American and then continued to play every patriotic song he could think of for the drive home. We got home around 4 in the morning. Eric was home by this time and he was there waiting for us to get home. He wrapped Ethan in a giant bear hug. It was so great to have us all under the same roof. I wanted to sleep, but my adrenaline was so high. It was so hard to sleep. I was so relieved, but I was also so worried for Dan. That was still there. That's the dad. And so sad for his family. Saturday was a blur. I was so exhausted physically and emotionally. Ethan shared more about the day from his perspective. He told us how they took him to the jail and they were in this big yard with all the other prisoners, but they were in handcuffs and the other prisoners weren't. He said that in Mexico, it's the family's responsibility to give food and water to the prisoners. So they all looked like they were starving. One person brought in food and all the other prisoners attacked them for the food. He also said that they all went to the bathroom outside just in the corner of the prison yard. It was just in a big pile. He said that the federales didn't believe that they were only 16 years old, even though they showed them their passports and licenses. He also said that since the minors, they were minors, they weren't supposed to keep them handcuffed for seven hours and they weren't supposed to take their phones from them like they did. It made me so happy to hear that in this time of need. Ethan reached out to God and prayed so much. He also said that he felt a sense of peace throughout the day and that there was no point in stressing or freaking out. God definitely answered our prayers for protection physically and emotionally over the boys. Ethan also said that he would rather be re arrested in Tijuana than be up here talking in front of this group of people. So we let him sit this one out. Easter Sunday was a big day for our family. Matias and Jerry were both getting baptized. When I first walked into church on Sunday, I saw Courtney, Ty's wife. I'd never met her before, but I grabbed her in a big hug and just cried tears of thanks to her. I instantly felt close to her, like we had a special connection. I went outside and finally got to meet Ty. I hugged him and cried and cried. I couldn't even get the words out. How thankful I was for him and his connections and for being there for us the entire time. He dropped everything and spent the day helping our family. He also said that once that he he found out that we went to Restored and we were Christians, he decided to reach out to an old partner who was also a strong Christian. That connection ended up being the person that got us inside the inside scoop on the release of the boys. God put so many Christians into this story and so many people helped to perform the miracle of releasing these boys and getting them back home. At the end of the service, our GCN family gathered outside to pray over us. Eric's dad was in town for the baptism and him being able to see all these miracles happen was such a blessing. We invited Ty and Courtney to join us in prayer. As people were praying over over us, I could just feel Jesus there. The connection was so close. As we were praying, Portia brought up the fact that when I texted the GC that I had my son back, she got a picture. That is how God felt on Easter Sunday and the connection of happening on that weekend. Then our GC remembered that just last Tuesday we met. Portia had asked about miracles in the Bible and how come we don't really see them in modern times. As we're praying, we all got to rejoice in all of the miracles God had just performed. It was one of the coolest moments for me as a Christian. Later that afternoon on Easter Sunday, we got a text about the next miracle that God would perform. At 2:45 on Easter Sunday, we got a text that dad the Dan the dad had been released. He was back on US soil. It was truly a miracle that only God could do. Later that day we invited Susie and her family to my parents for Easter. We were able to thank her in person and just kind of debrief about the whole crazy situation and how God just provided and performed miracles the entire time. It was so nice to have all this time carved out for these people that had helped our family so much. On Monday, the following day from Easter, Eric and I got a text from Ty asking if we're going to be around because he wanted to talk to us and had something for Ethan. I'd like to invite Ty up to share this part, please. [01:20:19] Speaker J: So everybody today has been so good at public speaking. I'm probably not as good as everybody that's already been up here, but when I was contacted by Susie, who I've known since I think I was probably 11 years old, and her and Jeremy have always done everything they can for me, just whatever it's been since I've been friends with her, she originally tried to contact me and she had my old phone number and had to contact my brother who ended up calling me. And he said that he kind of gave me a little bit of the story. And so I was like, okay, I'll call Susie right now and kind of find out what. What the. What the issue is. And so it's just another one of those things where she didn't stop there. She kept persisting and until she got a hold of me. And I feel like that's how Jesus works. And like Jen was saying before I knew that we were family under Christ. Like, I was trying to help out, but some of the connections that I had at work, it was a Friday. They were. It was Easter weekend. And some of these guys were trying to do their job, but it was, you know, I'm sure it was late on Friday or whatever, and they were. They didn't feel how much we. We were trying to get. Trying to work to get Ethan out. But like, she's. Like Jen said, when we figured out that we went to church together, for some reason, Jesus just told me, like, okay, you need to reach out to a guy named Phil who was a partner of mine. We were on horse patrol probably 11 years ago, and he's a really good friend of mine. But we don't stay in contact as much as I'd like to. But I called him and he's a guy who, years ago, like I said, 11 years ago or so, we'd have church in our vehicle or on horseback. We were on a horse unit to. Together, and we'd be chasing smugglers and traffickers around in East County, San Diego, in the mountains. And we became really close, and we were probably the only two guys on, like, a unit of eight agents that were out there that are believers. And we would just have, like, little church sessions in our vehicle. He had me download the Bible app and so I could learn more about Jesus. And as soon as I found out, we went to Restore together. He immediately. He popped into my head, and I said, you know what I need? Jesus was telling me, try harder. Right? Use me. So I reached out to Phil, and he said, actually, my supervisor used to work in Mexico on an HSI unit, that he has a lot of contacts down there. So I was like, yeah, man. Can I have his phone number? So I contacted this guy, and I told him that I was really good friends with Phil and that. And I told him the issue that we were having, and he called the commander of the national police down there, basically. So he called one of the highest guys down there and ended up getting us a bunch of good information. So the whole story they just told was so amazing. And I was met with just love from everybody from the church and a bunch of people. People were always coming up to me, giving me hugs, telling me thank you, that what I did was so amazing and all of these things. And I just. Honestly, I felt guilty. I just felt guilt because I knew it wasn't me. I knew that it was Jesus. And I get emotional because probably a week before this all happened, I was struggling with coming to church. I. My whole life, I've been competitive, and I've tried to do everything on my own. And it seems like the closer I get to people and. And they care for me, the more I want to push them away. And that's how I felt being here at church. We're fairly new at restored, and everybody's just met our family with love. And the closer we get to you guys and talking about joining a GC and opening up, and every time, you know, you guys asked if anybody needs prayer to come up, and I know God's calling me to do that, but I was just pushing them away. And about a week before this happened, I said, I'm done. I don't know if I need a community. I can do this on my own. And I wasn't even supposed to come to church on Easter. And this was one of those things where Jesus just said, no. [01:24:59] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:25:00] Speaker J: I felt like he just smacked me in the face. And he's like, what are you doing, man? Like, this is where you belong. And just their situation that they were in he put me right in the middle of it. And honestly, with all the stuff that they talked about, just. It was not a coincidence. There's no way it could be a coincidence. There's so many ways that Jesus was working to put everybody together, from Susie to Brian. I think Brian also had a contact and yeah, praise Jesus. And just everything. How it came together is just. It's unreal. So I kind of spent a couple days after we showed up on Easter, my family and I, and we. We had a great time. And like Jen was saying, I was a part of their. With their GC when they were praying outside and still people giving me hugs and all the love. And we left church that day. And a couple days later, I just. It was on my mind. I was on. Went for a run and sometimes I'll listen to scripture. And I was listening to some scripture in Romans 7, I think it was 14 through 25. It's just talking about struggling with sin. And it was like God punched me in my mouth. Like it was just exactly what I was going through and being stubborn and not wanting to let people help me or let Jesus help me through issues that I'm having. Obviously, this isn't the first border issue that I've dealt with, but. And then I was really feeling strong. I had a lot of strong feelings about that. And then it went into Romans 8. I was listening to this in my headphones and it went into Romans 8 and talked about the future glory. And oh, my gosh, it literally dropped me to my knees and just talking about how God will never leave us, no matter what. There's nothing on earth or in heaven or any demon or anything that can keep Jesus from us or Jesus's love from us. And it just literally dropped me to my knees. And Jesus was just telling me that I need to go and tell this to the family that I helped because I think they needed to hear how Ethan basically wasn't me helping Ethan. Ethan actually helped me and saved me in a way through serving Christ. So because Ethan was serving Jesus and went down to Mexico, somehow Jesus let me be a part of that and taught me a really good lesson. So they brought these spurs in. So I just wanted to kind of. These were some spurs that I had on the unit. The guy Phil, that helped me out and we rode together for a few years. We got into a lot of stuff together out there. And if you guys don't know anything about or if you guys don't know about horses, spurs are used to encourage a horse to Go somewhere that they don't want to go or that they're unsure of or that they're uncomfortable going. And I kind of was letting them know that, like, the way that Jesus put it on my mind, because I know he works in parables and uses symbolisms and stuff. It was just. Ethan was my spur to encourage me to keep going and to come back to church and to just know that Jesus loves me and I have a place here at Restored. I am Restored. Not to make it like a gimmick or whatever, but like, he's. I'm. Restored my. My faith. I've always loved Jesus, but I was definitely. I didn't know where I belonged. And so there's so many symbolisms. I don't want to get into it too much, but my horse is a mustang. He actually looks just like that. He's a bae. He's dark bae. But just. Even Easter Sunday, I saw that and I never noticed it before, and I was like, man, he's a mustang. [01:28:47] Speaker A: He's. [01:28:48] Speaker J: He's very stubborn, just like I am. And sometimes I had to spur him to get him to go somewhere that I knew was okay, and I knew he was going to be safe, and it was a direction that we needed to go in. And honestly, that's what Ethan was for me is he was my spur to get me going in an area or direction that I wasn't comfortable in. And so I'm just grateful to be here at Restored. And I love you guys. And honestly, it wasn't me that did anything. It was Jesus, placed us all together for a purpose. And so I thank you guys. [01:29:40] Speaker D: You never know what might happen when you're standing in a mess, crying out to God in sewage in Mexico. Whatever situation you're in, your life right now, that's messy, as you lift your hands and cry out to God. He wants to meet you in it, and you don't know who he's going to touch or how he's going to work through those scenarios and situations that he puts us in. I'm going to call Tom up so he can take it away. [01:30:06] Speaker C: Well done. [01:30:07] Speaker B: Hey, Ben, would you come up for a bit? How we doing, everybody? I never do this, but I'm gonna fix this rug. You ladies always bring me so much joy. You, front row ladies. Okay, we're a little over, but it's okay. Sometimes you need to go into extra innings because there's still work to be done. There's still things that need to be heard. So if you're holding your bladder I'm so sorry, but I'm going to talk for 30 seconds, maybe a minute. Yeah, let me find my place here. I'm going to let God's word do the talking. The tacos are going to be good, I promise. Psalm 92 says, it is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to your name most high. [01:31:27] Speaker C: To. [01:31:28] Speaker B: Declare your faithful love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. [01:31:38] Speaker C: With a. [01:31:39] Speaker B: 10 stringed harp and the music of a lyre. That's an ancient guitar. Okay, verse four. For you have made me rejoice, Lord, by what you have done. I will shout for joy because of the works of your hands. I'm going to ask you to stand with me if you're able. Listen, I know we're long and I know that there's incredible people that are watching the kids right now, and you might be getting antsy, and that's okay. Like, sitting down for a while is tough, no matter how amazing the stories are. But we would be so remiss if we did not give thanks to our Maker. All of these stories that you've heard, they all have one thing in common. As different as they are, they all have one thing in common. Yeah. The kindness and the grace and the goodness of Jesus. The reason this church exists. Yes, there's amazing men and women, there's amazing leaders and. Yes, but the reason this church exists is because God loves you and he's doing things to promote you becoming more like his son, Jesus. He has an agenda for your life, friend. Normally we would call the prayer team forward and we'd open up time for ministry and prayer. Herrick did a fantastic job kind of summarizing everyone's stories and some of the things that stood out. And maybe that provoked you this morning. If it did. Good. Because I think God wants to do something in your life. We'd love to help you with that if that's at all possible, but no strings attached. But for the next. I don't know how long, honestly, for the next little while, I want to fill this room with praise. I want to fill this room with gratitude. Why? Psalm 92 says, it's good to give thanks to the Lord. You need it. You need to give thanks. It's good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praise to your name most high, to declare your faithful love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. For you've made me rejoice, Lord, by what you have done. And I will shout for joy because of the works of your hands. I'm here to tell you he's not doing done. But we have an opportunity this morning as a church family. Visitors, glad you're here. Join us. We have an opportunity as a church family to unite around praising the one for whom we have experienced his grace. And he's not done. The stories aren't over. There's going to be more. There's going to be more. And so can we fill this room with gratitude? Can we fill this room with praise? Can you sing as though you're always offering your voice as something to God that is pleasing to him? Can you do that? Let's do that together. And I'll come up and pray for us, and we'll be done. Okay, Lead us, guys.