How To Keep Going When You Feel Like Giving Up Series

How To Keep Going When You Feel Like Giving Up

OKAY…

I want to start off with 2 passages of Scripture that have been some of my favorites for years.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

- Galatians 6:9

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:58

QUESTION…

Have you ever felt like giving up?

Have you ever felt like quitting?

Have you ever felt like throwing up your hands and tossing in the towel and saying;

“I can’t do this anymore, I’m done, I quit – it’s over –

no mas, no more…?

LIKE - you’re working on…

A project, a relationship, a ministry – you’re working on a life… AND – you’ve had just about all that you can take.

I MEAN - you’re making little if any progress, you’re spinning your wheels, you’re not getting anywhere… You’re tired, worn out, weary and frustrated…

NOW - I don’t know about you BUT – I’ve been there and done that.. and have a closet full of t-shirts.

THIS MORNING – as we continue our message series, ‘Such Things Were Written’ and the theme verse for this series is…

‘Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises. – Romans 15:4

NOW – so far in this series we have found hope, encouragement and were taught solid truths of God as we looked at…

• The story of Ruth and Naomi -who taught us that even when things are not looking so good at the 6 foot level, that God is still at work causing all things….

• Last week David showed us that when our confidence is anchored in the might and power of God, and our focus is on His honor and glory that we can defeat the against that are standing in the way of us living the life God created us to live.

THIS MORNING – we are going to be looking at yet another Old Testament guy, Jeremiah…

The prophet not the bullfrog…

A guy who keep going even when he felt like giving up.

NOW - Jeremiah has been one of my mentors, a person that I have both looked up to and have often felt a kindred spirit with for years. He’s one of my heroes.

I MEAN – many times during the last 20+ years (when life was kind of tough, and I felt like why bother, I might us well just tap out)…

I would grab; my pen, my bible, my journal…and crack open words written by this prophet of God over 2,500 years ago. AND – each time God has used Jeremiah to speak straight to my heart.

NOW - my goal this morning is two-fold…

FIRST & FOREMOST - to lift up our awesome and mighty God… AND SECOND – it is my hope that something I share today (a word, a thought, a phrase… whatever) will help someone out there who feels like quitting.

NOW – before I talk about Jeremiahs reasons for quitting.

I think it would be a good idea for me to kind of summarize a little OT history.

SO THAT – we will all understand the historical context that Jeremiah is writing from…

In Genesis 12, God calls on Abraham to leave his country and follow Him, and become the Father of a new nation…

Abraham does that…

AND - he has a son named Isaac, and Isaac has a son named Jacob…

AND THEY ALL - lived in tents for a couple hundred years waiting to get this new land..

NOW - during the times of Jacob there is a famine in the land which caused Jacob to take his family to live in Egypt.

Which worked out well, because God had providentially placed Joseph one of Jacob’s sons as second in charge of all of Egypt.

SO - God’s people live in Egypt – and they do pretty God for awhile… BUT - after a brief period of time (a Pharaoh comes onto the scene who does not know Joseph) and he makes the Hebrews slaves…

AND – they would be slaves for 400 years.

Until Moses comes along and through the power of God deliverers the people from slavery.

AFTER – Israel leaves Egypt, after they walk through the parted waters of the Red Sea.

THEY – camp on the east side of the Jordan River.

NOW - God wants the people to go into the promise and take possession of it…