Easter 2026 | Keep Swinging!

Amen. Well, hey, we're so excited to have you here today. Church family, would you help me welcome all of our first time guests that may be here today, whether you're in the room, whether you're over in Commons or downstairs in the cafe experience, we do consider it an honor that you've chosen to worship with us. There's so many amazing churches in Tallahassee. And so the fact that you chose to be with us today is special. It's special. And so we want to welcome you. We want to welcome those that might be watching online. And then can we give a quick shout out to our Liberty Correctional Campus that's tuning in. So thankful, so thankful for you guys. Let's go to Lord in prayer as we step into a time of just positioning ourselves to hear from him today. Father, we, we know that you are here and we invite you into this moment. So father, as we open your word, as we look at the significance of the empty tomb today, Lord, I pray that you'd speak to us. Father, we come with open hearts, open ears and an open mind. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. If you've got your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew chapter 26. We'll be there in just a few moments. Thomas Edison, one of the most famous inventors of all time, invents the light bulb, right? And seems like not a big deal to us because light is everywhere that we go. But for them at that day and age, it would have been equivalent to artificial intelligence and what that is for you and I today. And it would be easy to look at somebody like Thomas Edison and assume that he was always a success in life. But early in childhood, he got kicked out of his elementary school because his teacher didn't see potential in him, thought that he was slow and couldn't learn. He ends up getting fired from his two first jobs that he ever had because they said he was unproductive. Everywhere that he went in his first, you know, several decades of his life, he was looked at as not good enough. And it wasn't until he's 32 years old that he invents something that literally lights up the entire world. And what many of us don't realize or we often overlook or we don't know is that it took him 10,000 failed attempts to make the light bulb. Over 10,000 failed attempts. And you and I would, you know, if you're anything like me, like, I mean, you could kind of get past a few failures, but once you got to like 500, right, 1,000, 2,000, like, I mean, let's be serious. Would we keep going? And he kept going because he didn't look at failure as something that was final. He looked at it as something that is progressive, as something that brings progress. I think of Frederick Douglass. Frederick Douglass is one of the

most influential and powerful voices in American history. His story didn't start with opportunity. In fact, it started with oppression. He was born into slavery. He was, he was pulled away from his mother. He, everything essentially had no identity in life. All of that was taken away to the point where he didn't even know what his birthday was. That was something that he had to make up later in life. I mean, from his birth, his life was defined by limits. Everybody around him told him what he could do, what he couldn't do, what he could say, what he couldn't say. And again, many of us having to endure something like that probably would have given up at some point along the way, but he didn't. He teaches himself how to read. Ultimately, he escapes slavery. He finds his voice and becomes so influential with the political leaders of his day that he paves the way for freedom and racial freedom in America. What about this individual, Theodore Giesel? Most of us wouldn't know his name, but we do. We would know him by Dr. Seuss, one of the most influential children's writers of all time, right? You know the Green Eggs and Ham, the Cat in the Hat. Many of us in this room read those as a kid, but his story didn't start out successful. Did you know he was rejected by 27 publishers? 27 publishers looked at his work and said that it wasn't good enough, that it was weird, too childish, nobody would buy it. And it was after the 27th failure, rejection, he's walking down Madison Avenue in New York City on the way home, preparing to burn his manuscript and to quit and to give up, and he ends up coming into contact with an old college friend who, guess what, had just been hired that day to be an editor. And that connection, that interaction that happened

within hours resulted in his manuscript being accepted, which launches his career, and now over 600 million copies of his books have been sold. Three totally different people with three completely different backgrounds and upbringings, three totally different situations, but all of them have something in common. All of them experienced moments in their life where they weren't sure they could keep going. They all experienced moments in their life where they could have easily just settled with what was or thrown in the towel. And if you think about it, all of us in this room experience moments like that throughout our life. Moments where we don't know if we can keep going. Moments where we don't know if we're good enough, if things will ever change. And those moments typically happen one of two ways. They're either something we've created or it's life that happens to us, right? We create them by some stupid decisions that we make, or maybe it's a line that we cross that we said we'd never cross, or we do something that we said we would never do, or maybe it's life. Maybe we get this unexpected health diagnosis. Maybe there's a disappointment that hits us so deeply that it's hard for us to shake, or maybe it's a loss of a close friend or loved one. Or maybe it's a situation in your life

that blindsides you in such a way that you become disoriented in life. You see, no matter how we step into those moments, which we all experience them, no matter how we step into them, we all wrestle with the same types of questions in the middle of them. Questions like, is this just my new normal, my new reality? Is this how things are gonna be now? Am I ever gonna get out of this moment? Or did I mess up so badly that there's no way for me to come back from this? We all wrestle with those questions in those moments, and today what I wanna do is I want us to look at a man in the Bible who felt the same way. A man in the Bible who felt like his story was over, but not because of life happening to him, but because of failure that he did. And what we're gonna see today is what Jesus does after this moment, what Jesus does after this man's moment of failure, that it shows us something. It shows us that because of Jesus, our worst moments don't get the final word in our life. Amen, amen, amen. Well, if you're taking notes today, I've entitled today's message, Keep Swinging. Keep swinging, turn to two or three people around, give them a fist bump, say, keep swinging. Keep swinging.

person next to you, you could accidentally miss the fist and go to the chin, but I don't mind. So about fifteen hours, give or take, before Jesus goes to the cross, He has all of His disciples come together for a meal, it's called the Last Supper. And it's at the Last Supper that Judas, it is exposed that Judas is going to betray Jesus. And so after that meal, Jesus then heads with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. And as they're beginning to walk towards the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus makes this statement to all the disciples, minus Judas, obviously, he's not there, and says, listen, tonight all of you are going to desert me. I mean, can you think about that moment as you're walking with Jesus, you're like all in with this Jesus thing, and then Jesus is like, hey, tonight all of you guys are going to desert me. And all the disciples, they're like, no, we got you, Jesus, we're there. But there was one in particular that gets highlighted in Scripture, and his name's Peter. Peter was a former fisherman, and having lived in Washington State with some professional fishermen, you know, they have a certain way about them and the way that they talk, and this is Peter. Peter is, he's impulsive, he's outspoken. And here's Peter's response in Matthew 26, verse 33, to that statement Jesus says. He says, listen, even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you. And Jesus replies in verse 34, I tell you the truth, Peter, like this very night, before the rooster even crows, you're going to deny me three times. And Peter starts arguing with Jesus. And we would kind of look at that and look down at Peter, but I don't know about you, but I argue with Jesus all the time. I'm like, seriously, Jesus, you want me to do that? Seriously? Yes. And, and here's, here's what Peter says in verse 35, he's like, he's like, no, that's not going to happen.

Like, even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you. Now, I want to point out this before we start throwing shade at Peter and his response, is that Peter genuinely meant what he said. Like he, he wasn't lying. He was telling the truth that he, he wanted to stay beside Jesus, to not deny Jesus. But here's the problem. Peter had an issue and, and friend, it's the same issue that you and I wrestle with our entire lives. And his issue was that he overestimated his strength, what he could do, and he underestimated his weakness, what he can't do. And so as they go to the garden and, and Jesus prays, you may remember, he gets frustrated with the disciples because they're over there sleeping, taking naps and Jesus praying. And then all of a sudden Judas comes and Jesus gets taken away and guess what happens? All the disciples take off. They flee. Think about that. Like, they just do what they said they wouldn't do. They take off. But I want you to notice something because as they all leave, one person begins to draw back near again, and that's Peter. And watch this, in Matthew 26, 58, it says that Peter followed him at a distance, right? So he flees and then he comes back and he begins to follow Jesus from a distance. And I want to, I want to stop right there because just that line right there matters more than we realize. The reason why it matters is because think of this, Peter is close enough to see what's happening, but he's far enough to not be associated with it. Close enough to be able to see what's happening with Jesus, but far enough away to not be associated with it. And if we're honest with ourselves this morning, that's where a lot of us live our life. We live our life close enough to Jesus to believe in Him, but not close enough.

to be identified with him. And so, after this moment, a few verses later, what Jesus says comes to pass, right? It's the denial moment. People start coming to Peter. Aren't you with this guy? And he's like, no. And it begins to escalate. He gets super frustrated that they're asking him and he denies Jesus three times in that moment. And then what happens? The rooster crows. The rooster crows. And I wanna show you from Luke's perspective what happens next. In Luke 22, verse 61, that at that moment, at the moment that Jesus had, or Peter had denied Jesus and the rooster crowed, Jesus turned and looked at Peter. Could you imagine connecting eyes with Jesus after your biggest failure? After promising him that you would be beside him, that saying that you're gonna do one thing and doing a completely different thing, and then all of a sudden you connect eyes with Jesus. It's like in that moment for Peter, he knew. He knew that he had failed and feel that for a moment, like that moment that you know that you messed up and it moves from the head to the heart, like it's just a weight that sits on you. And Peter is having this moment where not only

does he recognize that he failed, but he recognizes that Jesus was right. And in the next verse, it says Peter leaves the courtyard and he weeps bitterly. In the original language, that word is violent. So maybe there's been a time in your life that so much pain and trauma has happened that you have broken down and cried to the point where you were gasping just to try to find air because you were crying so hard. And that's Peter in this moment after realizing that he had completely failed Jesus. I mean, it just, this moment hits him so deep because he was so confident at first in this moment, but he didn't realize that he wasn't prepared for it. And you and I experience moments like that all the time. Moments that we thought that we were ready until we realized we weren't. Moments that we said, I will never, and then we did. Moments when life hits us in such a way that it doesn't just surprise us or take our breath away, but it exposes us, it exposes things on the inside of us that we didn't, either we didn't know was there or we never wanted to come to grips with in a situation and life will just bring it all to the surface. And it's in those moments and seasons in our life that we experience some of the deepest pain that we will ever experience in life. It's in those moments that we start asking

those deep questions of, can I keep doing this? Will things ever change? Do I even wanna keep going on? And I just want you to feel this moment for Peter and maybe identify, maybe some of you are there now or maybe you can identify because you're coming out of a season like that. And I want you to hold on to that feeling for a second because a few hours later, Jesus is brutally beaten. He's mocked, he's nailed to a cross. He breathes his last breath and when he breathes his last breath, all of hope seemed to have breathed its last breath. That everything that the people have been following Jesus, hoping that was gonna happen, they thought it was done and it was over. And then three days later, the stone is rolled, right? The tomb is empty, Jesus is alive. Death doesn't hold the keys anymore to death, hell, and the grave. Jesus does now, and that's what we come to celebrate today, but here's the part that we often miss. Here's the part that we often miss in the resurrection story is that that moment when those women began to head to the tomb, and they get to the tomb, and there's nobody there, they encounter an angel, and I want you to see something in this that maybe just like me, for years, you've read past it and not realized the significance of it. In verse six, the angel says, don't be alarmed,

you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn't here, right? Exciting, he is risen from the dead. Look, this is where the body was laid, but then watch what he says next in verse seven. He says, now go tell his disciples, including Peter. Including Peter, don't miss that. Like the angel could have stopped right there, he could have just said, go tell the disciples, but he didn't, he added, including Peter. Why did he do that? Because Jesus knew that Peter wouldn't think the message applied to him. That after everything that he had done, after his failure, after that moment in the courtyard, Peter would have thought that I'm not included in this group of disciples anymore, that I had my shot, and I blew it, that Jesus is done with me. And friend, maybe some of you find yourself in that kind of moment in your life today, where for you, the question isn't, is God real? You've kind of somewhat settled that in your heart. The question is, does God still want me? Does God still want me? Does he still care about what I'm navigating in my life? And friend, I wanna tell you today that the empty tomb answers that question. Because the message wasn't just, he is risen, the message was also, go and tell the disciples and Peter.

Go tell Peter that he's still invited. Go tell Peter that he's not disqualified. Make sure that Peter knows that his worst moment doesn't get the final word in his life. And why are we talking about that today? Because you're Peter, and I'm Peter. That on the other side of our worst moment, it doesn't disqualify us from what God wants to do in our life and through our life. In many ways, it prepares us for what he wants to do in our life. And friend, today, I wanna share a story. I wanna share an empty tomb story, a story that because of Jesus, our worst moments don't have to have the final word type of story, because Jesus not only did it for Peter, but he did it for Robert too. And that means you and I, he did it for us. Take a look. When I started in the gang life, it was at an early age, you know, fifth, sixth, but when I was deep into it, you know, it was like where the gunshots and the stabbing and stuff was probably like in seventh grade. You know, I get kicked out of the school, you know, it was like, cause I had just got into this fight and stabbed once here, once right here, slashed here. And so about a month later, you know, it was like everything, you know, calms down and stuff. And me and my friend, my best friend at the time,

decided to go take a walk. And you just know something was gonna happen. We look up a bit further and we see a car coming and we already knew it was gonna happen. You know, we hear a few shots and all I remember is just running and feeling something that hit me. And we get behind this building and look down and, you know, covered in blood. And, you know, I got the shot in the arm. It was in 2019 when I said, you know, I was like, that was it. I just moved, sold everything. And so I'm coming to Charitender. That was a big part, you know, because when you decide to take this new path, this new life, you know, it's like, you leave everything behind. So next thing you know, I was like, I started coming to the services and started going to the men's group. And next thing you know, I was like, Dennis Comer starts calling, you know, I was like, you know, I was like, you look for that, for that friend, for that mother figure, that father figure, you know, even though they're there, you know, it's like, it's just not the same when it's coming from the love that, you know, when they come from the heart and they come from God himself, you know, it's like, you just know it, you know, you feel them. So a good example on how God has transformed my life is the past, the robber that had the anger issues and that knew how to settle issues physically and my family saw a big difference where it was a big family feud and to the point where as the person that I'm transforming, God had me reach out and show nothing but compassion and love and to the point where my family and the people around me were, they knew that there was a difference. They knew that there was a new person.

The story sounds ugly, but, you know, I was like, here's God all this time, you know, I was like putting people like Dennis Comer, you know, AJ, people like that, you know, I was like, and, you know, I was like, I just want to know that one day I was like I'll be able to help you that you're looking at this, you know, I was like going through whatever it is, you know, I was like knowing that, you know, one day I was like, you'll be able to sit here and know that it's going to be okay and you're going to be happy. My name is Robert Jurado. The cross means that my failure is not final. The resurrection means that my future isn't finished. Church, that's what it looks like. That's what it looks like when we realize that our worst moments don't get the final word. And, friend, that's what God wants to do for you today. Jesus doesn't avoid our failure. He doesn't throw us aside because of it. He restores us through it, through the failure, through the difficulty in life. That is the message of Psalm 23, that it's not around bypassing the valley of the shadow of death. It's He is with us through the valley of the shadow of death. And, friend, that is so important for us to wrap our mind around. And I want you to see something about Peter's story as it continues, that a few months later in Acts chapter 2, we find the same Peter who didn't have the courage to be able to stand up for Jesus in front of a few people. We see that Peter standing up in front of thousands of people preaching and declaring the name of Jesus, and 3,000 people getting saved in one day.

And God ultimately uses Peter and his life to become a foundation or a launching pad to birth His church. Friend, here's what this tells us today, that the message of the empty tomb, that He takes what looks like is the end of our life, and He turns it into a new beginning. You see, Jesus doesn't just forgive us of what we have done, but He also redeems it and restores His purpose for our life. This morning when you walked in, you may have received one of these little baseball bats. If you did, I want you to locate that if you can. Ladies, hopefully you didn't put it in your purse, or there's no fine in it. This thing's, like, small. But we shared this with you today because I wanted to represent something. One of the greatest baseball players of all time, Babe Ruth, led the league in home runs, still is in the top five of all time, 714 career home runs. But what many people don't realize is that he had twice as many strikeouts. He had 1,330 strikeouts. The same guy who had all those home runs is the same guy that led in strikeouts. And Ryan, why are you sharing that today? It's because of this, Babe Ruth didn't allow a strikeout to keep him from stepping back up to the plate. And 91 years later today, if somebody asks you about Babe Ruth, if you know anything about him, the first thing you're going to think about is home runs, not strikeouts. Because he was willing to get back up to the plate. And I just, I want to say this morning that some of you may have walked into this place and you've been navigating these moments in your life, moments that you feel like you've missed it, moments that you feel like you've failed, moments that you wish that you could take back or moments where, where life happened and, and it began to reveal some things on the inside of you that you don't really like.

And instead of stepping back up to the plate again, you stepped away. And this bat represents a decision that I'm challenging you with, but it's the challenge of the empty grave, a decision that says that I'm not defined by my last strikeout. I'm not defined by my last failure that because of Jesus, it doesn't get the final word in my life. So this morning, I want to ask you, where was it that you stepped away from the plate? What was it that you came head to head with? What, what collision in life? Was it something that you created or was it, was it life that created it, that, that caused you to, to, to step away and listen, my friend, whatever it is, my challenge to you is don't let the strikeout keep you from stepping back up to the plate. Whatever happened, whatever you've done, whatever has been done to you because of Jesus, your worst moment doesn't get the final word. So friend, take this bat, put it in a place, maybe your car, maybe by your toothbrush, put it somewhere where you can see it often. And may it, may it be a reminder of what Jesus has done. May it be a reminder that no matter where you find yourself and no matter what you've done, that it doesn't have to get the final word in your life. And may it be a holy moment where the Holy Spirit affirms that in your heart and on the inside, you make the decision that I'm going to keep swinging, I'm going to keep swinging.