Pascua 2026 | Demasiado tarde para perder | Pastor Jeremy DeWeerdt

Hello, happy Easter day. Welcome to the City First Church. The tomb is empty. It's Resurrection Day. It is resurrected. And this weekend is a historical day, a true event that happened. And well, it can be said that it is the center of our faith. And for those who may not know the story, I'm going to give you practically, right? What is this about? Jesus, who said he was the Son of God, lived a life without sin, right? I'm telling you in short. And well, it's what is the Holy Friday, where he died for our sin. And I know that sin is heavy. And well, what happens when you have sin, right? If we are honest, we would say that we are not perfect. And it can be said that we do not give to the white, right? When we throw the darts of life, we do not give to the white, right? We do not give to the point. And well, because sometimes we have done wrong things. There is a barrier between God and God does not leave us disconnected. And he sent his son Jesus to die. And well, on Easter Sunday, when we all think that we have lost him, Jesus rose again.

And this proved that he is the Son of God. And that's why we can have a new life. So more than 500 people witnessed how Jesus died and rose again. Imagine in ancient times, a long time ago, there were many people and that's a lot of people. That's a lot of people. There were many people who saw that he died, that he was buried, so to speak, in the grave. He rose again. And well, the old life, the ancient life is forgiven for this. And the new life is given to us by the work of resurrection. Easter day changes everything. So today we are not in the name of a festive day. We are celebrating that there is a victory in God. And this weekend did not start victorious, right? It was a tragedy. That's how it all started. Holy Friday, that God, that Jesus died, there was a lot of loss. And when you're in the middle of this story, it feels like you're losing and you feel like there's no victory. It feels like you're losing and you feel like there's a victory. If you were one of Christ's followers and you believed in Christ on Holy Friday,

which was awful, on that weekend you wouldn't call it around and believed in him. That weekend you wouldn't call it a victory. You would say, it's over. We lost it all. It was confusing. We felt like we lost it all. You would say, oh, I lost. It was a failure. And Jesus' followers lived in that moment, but they didn't know the end of the story, that the Resurrection Sunday would come. It reminds me of a personal story. Because, well, in 2026, you know, I was a little boy and I've been a fan of the Cubs. Those who know that I'm close to the Cubs, sometimes I get a little mad when they play that sport. And as a little boy, I would put the Channel 9 on WGN and I would watch the game almost every day. And you know, for 108 years, they couldn't win a World Series. There were years when they were close to winning, and no. Then in 2016, in Cleveland, Ohio, number seven, game seven, the Cubs against Cleveland. And they remember, if you're a fan of the Cubs,

you understand the anxiety we felt. And, well, the Cleveland team comes out, roaring like lions. And, well, Jen and I were watching in our room, in our house, and we were super stressed. We were losing our minds. Even Jen is more fanatic than I am in this sport. Jumping and screaming on television, things we can't say because we're in church. It's not true. But you know what? We're sweating. And there's a moment where it's like, My wife is leaving, she's leaving for 15 minutes and she comes back and I said, where were you? And she said, you know, I was going to chase you but the game is here. And she goes, I can't, I can't, I can't watch this anymore. I had to go out for a walk. I can't with this stress. And then when the rain started, they were 17 minutes late. Thank God for this rain. The cops came back to their blocker and they came out like new. And who would have thought that 17 minutes of rain would take away 108 years of drought because there was a victory and the cops won. And Jen and I were screaming and we were running

and we looked like high school kids because, man, in a moment, all the stress, all the anxiety, all the fear of losing all that, all the stress, all the anxiety. And I had a friend who had to work late and he said, you know what? I'm not going to be able to watch the game. I'm going to have to record it. Do you remember in the DVR? Do you remember? Well, and he says, I'm going to record it and I'm going to be late for an hour. I'm going to turn off my phone. Don't text me. I'm going to take my computer off. I just want to watch it. I don't want you to tell me what's going on. Don't text me. He's like in the seventh. I'm not going to text him. He's going crazy, he's crying, he's anxious. I'm driving Dick's and I'm going to buy a T-shirt from the Cubs with hundreds of us. I'm in the Dick's store where they sell their entire championship team. And I know, I said, I don't know them, but I don't know everyone who was there, but we're super excited. And my husband is, I mean, sorry, my friend is in his living room

and he's there at the same time. I'm already celebrating, but he hasn't seen it yet. What's the difference? I already knew, I knew the end, but he hasn't seen it yet. It sounds so simple. But the point I'm making is that I'm already in the Dick's Sporting Goods store. I know we already won. I saw the game. I knew we couldn't lose. We already had the trophy. However, my friend, I didn't know we already had the championship and he's stressed out, he's anxious. He's watching the game an hour late. He's there, fucking with the pillow. You know, it reminds me of the Resurrection. I mean, this Sunday of the Resurrection, Holy Friday felt like a loss, but we already know the end of the story. But you know what? The followers of Jesus at that time, they didn't know it. They were crying, they were stressed. All the hope had gone. The anxiety, the headache, the heartache, they were devastated. And that's why, that's why, because they didn't know that the Sunday of the Resurrection would come again. They didn't know the end. And if you've followed Christ,

you know, we're not living an Easter Sunday. And if you're a Christ follower here with me today, I want you to know, we're not living a life of anxiety. We already know the end. We already know Jesus has won. And because of the Sunday of the Resurrection, the Easter Sunday, no matter what you go through, you feel like you're losing. And because of the Easter, you feel like you're in a challenge. Maybe you're going through a challenge in your life. But I'm here to tell you that when you understand the power of the Easter Sunday, you realize that Jesus has won. And you know what? You know the end of the story. You know how the game ends. That Jesus has won. The enemy is not going to win. He's not going to win in your life. And at one point, the enemy, well, what does it say? In Luke chapter 23, it says, well, he's not going to win in your life. Luke chapter 23, 44, 46, it says, well, in the night, in the early morning, in the middle of the day, the earth was filled with darkness until three o'clock in the afternoon. The light of the sun was gone, and suddenly the curtain of the sanctuary of the temple

was torn in half. Then Jesus cried out, Father, I entrust my spirit in your hands. And with those words, he took his last breath. In Luke chapter 23, at that moment, hell celebrated. The enemy thought he had won. And the father was there doing his victorious dance and the followers were weeping. Jesus was desolate, he was in pain, he was in tears. Jesus was, it was totally human perspective. He was totally traumatized. But from a human perspective, it was over, the game was over. It was a game over. It was all over. And now in 2026, what? Just because your situation looks like you're done and he's going to make things great, it doesn't mean your situation is over. Maybe you're having a good time on Friday, which wasn't a good time, right? But the resurrection day in your life is coming up. And well, this Sunday, the Bible says that the body of Jesus had been brought by the women to prepare the body of Jesus to be buried. And when they got there,

the tomb was not empty. In Matthew chapter 28, the angels said to the women, don't be afraid because I know you're looking for Jesus who was crucified. He's not here. He has, what does it say? He looked at his followers and he's been resurrected. And he said, listen, the difference is that before he died, before he was crucified, he looked at his followers and the women said to those of them, they said, I'm going to die, but I'm going to be resurrected. And they forgot. And in 2026, some of us who have followed Jesus no matter what you're going through, Jesus is going to give you the strength to get through whatever it is you're going through. On Good Friday, Jesus said, it is going to give you the strength to get through. It is done. And Jesus said, the payment has been made. On Sunday, on Sunday of resurrection, he said, it's over. The victory has been made. The payment has been made for the sins. And the death has been overcome. The resurrection was the final word. The death and the sin lost power forever. The resurrection was the final word of the message paraphrased put in by the enemy towards God.

And you know what? The enemy was silenced. The enemy has been silenced because Jesus won. I love how he says this message. He says, in 1 Corinthians, he says in 1 Corinthians, who was the last word? Death. And this verse, I like this verse. Who is afraid of you? It's destructive. Well, he says, oh, death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sin? Well, the sin of the sin that ends in death and the law of sin, and the law gives the sin its power. He says, but thanks to God, he gives us the victory over sin and death through our Lord. The death, he says, the death, the sin and shame go away. It's the gift of our father because in Christ, through Jesus Christ, we already have this. It's a new life. You know, we see the blessing of the Easter story. We know the end, we know the blessing of this Easter Sunday that didn't end in Easter. Resurrection. Listen, we wrote our future. Well, he should inform our present. He wrote our future again. So he informed the good moments. And we're not here saying that because Jesus is good,

we're going to have bad moments too. And you know what, it's going to be easy. Jesus doesn't want to say that. He was not saying that because we're going to accept that Jesus Christ came, it doesn't mean that our life is going to be easy. He says that in this life, we're going to have tribulations and problems and things. And we're going to go through problems, we're going to go through challenges, we're going to have problems. But what if I tell you that I already know the end? And I already know how much he won, right? Because on Easter Sunday, we can't lose. We already know the score, we don't lose. We don't fight for the victory. We fight from a place of victory. And God is stronger and more powerful than any challenge. And this helps us to see the world differently, changes the reality of how we live, even if we don't know what's going to happen next. Today, for the day of the resurrection, for what the son, for what he did, informs us, how do we have to live now? The question is, did Jesus win? No, we are living as he won, because he did win, but we are living really as if he had already won. He already won, that's not a question. He already won, he already challenged and decided

that he won against the enemy. The question now is, do we live as if he had lived? And the enemy can't do what Jesus did. Your life is going to go in the direction you believe in, and the enemy can't undo what Jesus did, but he's going to try to do it, and he's going to try to convince you that it's not true for you. Like he's going to try to inspire you, the enemy will say, uh-huh, you can't go through there, you can't, your life doesn't have a resurrection. You're going to say, he does, but you don't. She does, but you don't. And you know what, now you're going to live with that letter. Now, God's not going to forgive you for what you did. He's going to forgive you for everything else, but not for those big things you've done, but not for that sin you did yesterday, no, not for that. That's what the enemy is going to tell you. He's going to tell you that you're never going to have freedom from that addiction, from that vice, from that mental problem. And you know, and he's going to lie to you and he's going to say, you know what, you don't have hope. This life is going to be very difficult for you. It's just what the enemy wants you to believe. You're not going to have it. And he says, oh, you're going to have to duck in life.

You're not going to have hope. Stop having hope, or the enemy is going to tell you too, you're never going to have peace, or you're never going to have meaning or purpose in life. You know, the enemy is going to realize that all these lies because he doesn't want you to have victory, the victory that Jesus gave you. So, if we believe these lies, we're going to believe this as well. If Jesus really rose from the dead, if this is true, if those witnesses, 500 witnesses, are not lying statistically, Jesus really rose from the dead. Then that means if Jesus really has come to glory and the day after that, that means that I can live not with arrogance, but I can live with confidence. I know what I've done. I can say that I'm worthy of forgiveness, regardless of what I've done, regardless of what I've said. I was set free. I don't have to live restricted by my incorrect decisions, or my circumstances, or things that are not in my control. And you know what? I can have true inner freedom. I can have peace. I can have all understanding. Have you ever heard that saying? Peace that goes beyond any understanding. I don't know if you've ever heard this or heard that in a circumstance,

but if it's easy to understand why you have peace, it's because you're in a circumstance, maybe desperate, but, because it's not desperate. But if you're in a desperate circumstance and you have peace that goes beyond understanding, then you can, because God gives it to you. And it could be that it's beyond what culture or society says is important. In fact, it has an eternal purpose, and internal, and eternal is the most important thing. And the resurrection is the declaration that your sin is already forgiven, that you can have a new life and your future, you're really safe. You know, when we go through challenges. This is not a message of, hey, listen, Jesus can give you a life of unicorns and rainbows. No. This is a message of, as we go, as we go through hell sometimes, the power of heaven is going to be more than conquerors. We're going to be victorious. We're going to be defeated, but Jesus is already going to give us victory. He already gave us victory. We can have a divine hope in the middle of sadness. You know, here's the tension. He says, I follow Jesus, and you understand. You understand the resurrection. Unfortunately, on the one hand,

you have the breakdown of life. And no one gets out of this life alive, right? But we can even agree to learn to forgive. We can hold on to understanding that God is in control. And God is going to win in that. Why? Because Jesus walked out of the grave. He's already gone through the Resurrection. If he walked out of the grave, he can walk towards your situation, resurrect your situation, your problem. He can be there in the middle of that marriage that's going to be in the middle, in the middle of the finances that are in the middle, that's going to be in the middle of the disease, that has got to be in the middle of the family situation, whatever it is, whatever it is. And he conquered this out of the grave. Don't you think he can give life to you wherever he wants you to be? If he came back, don't you think he's going to give you life? Don't you think he's going to forgive you? Don't you think he's going to bring you joy and peace? That maybe you're in a moment right now that you're trembling, that you're having a really big stress. You're having a lot of sadness, I don't know. Maybe you're going through there but God is in control. And he's got the control of the end.

It's not over. Even when things don't go the way you want them to go, when life has given you some cards that you didn't want, you can say, right? He gave you a card that you don't know how to get out of. You say, no, I can't win. I can't win this problem. You know, God has not answered in the way that you want him to. Even though your prayers are not answering in the way that you want them to. You have to remember that we all have a hope. And this on Easter is for an empty grave. When you meet Jesus, you can't lose. You can't lose. There's no loss. Why? Because one day we're going to have victory. One day we have heaven. The Bible says that in heaven there will be no more crying, there will be no more tears, there will be no more pain, there will be no more sickness. We can't lose. Even though in this life it's hard for us to battle. At the end, Jesus has given us victory. In Romans, chapter one, if you declare with your mouth that God is your savior and you believe in your heart, that he raised him from the dead, you're going to be saved. That's why it's personal.

Easter isn't just something that you believe in. It's something that you feel. The Resurrection isn't something that happened 2000 years ago. But the power of the Resurrection lives in our life and it can help us. And it gives you ability beyond your ability. It gives us confidence, more confidence. It gives us strength, more strength. And most importantly, it gives you a sin record that has helped us. Jesus didn't rise just to give us a teaching. He did it to make a path, a path, for you to be forgiven and for you and I to be forgiven. And for all of us to be new. If you've been around church for a long time, maybe you've heard this story. You say, yeah, maybe it's my Easter 100. You know, you know the story that's coming. The angel is there. You know, but maybe you've never personalized the Easter story in you. It's a difference between knowing about Easter and embracing the King of Easter. Jesus, it's not about being perfect. If it's about being perfect, let's all give up. It's not about giving ourselves up. It's not about cleaning ourselves up before coming to see him or talking to God. No, it's not like saying, I'm really sick. I'm going to feel better before I go to the hospital.

No, it's about saying, Jesus, I believe that you are who you say you are and that you died for my sins and you already paid the penalty for this. You already paid for what I did, for what I did wrong. You rose again and I'm going to give you my life. You know, Easter is about receiving forgiveness and a new life that you and I don't deserve, no matter what happens in this life, the forgiveness of God, his presence and heaven as our final destination. It can be a reality. Jesus, the victory of Jesus becomes your victory because of Easter, because of the cross, because of the blood, because of the sacrifice. Jesus is alive, it's too late to lose because we already know the rest of the story. Let's give God a round of applause. This is not the way the story ends. No matter what it looks like, your love will always win. I have seen your faithfulness before. Even when my world is shaking, one thing is for sure. That the cross still stands, and the blood still spews, and the grave still empty. Jesus, I believe. You've already overcome. You've already won it all. Victory belongs to you. It's too late to lose. You've already made a way. There is power in your name.

Victory belongs to you. It's too late to lose. This is not the time to be afraid. The odds may be against me, but you have the final say. That the cross still stands, and the blood still spews, and the grave still empty. Jesus, I believe. You've already overcome. You've already won it all. Victory belongs to you. It's too late to lose. You've already made a way. There is power in your name. Victory belongs to you. It's too late to lose. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. Nothing's impossible. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. It's too late. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. Nothing's impossible. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. Because the cross still stands, and the blood still spews, and the grave still empty. Jesus, I believe. Because the cross still stands, and the blood still spews,

and the grave still empty. Jesus, I believe. You've already overcome. You've already won it all. Victory belongs to you. It's too late to lose. You've already made a way. There is power in your name. Victory belongs to you. It's too late. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. Nothing's impossible. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. It's too late. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. Nothing's impossible. It's too late to stop this miracle. It's too late. It's too late to lose. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the blood of Jesus. Oh, the blood of Jesus. Oh, the blood of Jesus. Oh, the blood of Jesus. ♪ Jesus, it washes white as snow. ♪ Come on all over the building,

lift your voices and sing with me. ♪ All the blood of Jesus, all the blood of Jesus. ♪ ♪ All the blood of Jesus, all the blood of Jesus. ♪ ♪ It washes white as snow. ♪ ♪ All the blood of Jesus, all the blood of Jesus. ♪ You may go to sit down for a while, but before we do that, an important moment here, an important moment on Easter Sunday. I want to tell you that you can go off to a different thing. It doesn't mean that all your problems are going to go away, it's just that the main problem is going to go away. It's not a physical problem or a circumstance, but really like our main problem is that we're separated and disconnected from a perfect God because of our imperfections. And you know, by the time you leave here today, you can have a new life, that all the bad has been forgiven. And you can have a relationship with God and have a new journey of life. You know, maybe you're listening to this today and you say, okay, we're talking about the victory and that the victory of Jesus is ours, but no, you feel like everything is lost right now. And you know what, you made too many mistakes. And you know what, you feel like you've gone too far. You feel like life is a mess right now. Or maybe something is going on where you feel like,

wow, I'm just losing. And I'm just here to tell you that Jesus walked out of a grave and he succeeded in walking out of death. And the good news is he can bring life into your situation. He's more than capable of giving you a new life. It's not a perfect life, but a life that overcomes it and relationship with him. A life that begins to be filled, filled with purpose. The purpose for which he created you. So really, if you've made that decision, if you've made that decision today, have you made him your savior, the one who forgives you? Not him, you went to church. Not him, do you believe in God? Not do you believe in God, but know that Jesus is your Lord. The Bible says this, he is the king, your king, your leader. Is Jesus your leader of your life? Is he the leader of your life? If you say, no, well, I have an opportunity today for all of those who said no to this, we can say a prayer. A prayer that invites Jesus to come into our life. It's an incredible exchange. You give him all your sin and he forgives us and a new life. And you begin a journey with him in this life, little by little.

He begins to guide you, he gives you strength, he helps you to be more like him. It's not about going to church. This prayer that I'm going to pray is not about becoming a member of the church. No, it's about saying, Jesus, I believe you sent your son, Jesus, to die for me. I would like you to give me a new life. And if that's you, it doesn't matter how old you are, how you find yourself, if you grew up in church or not, if you came for the first time, God is listening to you. God gave you this love for the empty tomb, he wants to give you this same love, this same new beginning. And he wants to have a relationship with you. So let's close our eyes, bow our heads and say, if you just want to make Jesus your Lord, ask for me personally to be your Lord. I want the kingdom of God to be my home someday. I want you to raise your hand wherever you are. And say, Pastor Jeremy, I want to make this prayer. Yes, there are hands up in all places. Put them wherever you are. If you just put them up and you put them on your hand, or maybe you didn't do it, but in your heart you're feeling it, and you say, I want that, I want that.

Well, let's pray all together to this. God is listening to you. You're not praying to me as a pastor. No, you're praying directly to God, to the God who loves you, who cares about you, who sent his son to die for you. So let's go ahead and pray this. Dear God, I admit that I have sinned, and I ask you for forgiveness. I believe that Jesus died for me on a cross for my sins. He rose again to give me new life. So I turn from my sins, and I make Jesus my Savior and my King. God, for loving me, I want to live for you. In the name of Jesus, we all say, amen, amen, amen. A very big round of applause for everyone who prayed this.