Why do People give up | Sep. 09, 2026 | Ps. Raph

Why People Give Up.

Recently, as we’ve been preparing for the mountaintop on October 1st, I have been in meetings every single morning at 5:30 AM.

The Christian life was always intended to be intense, intentional, and passionate.

Why do some give up? Why do some let discouragement take over?

First, know there is a difference between giving up and surrender.

It is ok to surrender.

"Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." (Psalm 55:22)

"but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

We are not called to just go through the motions, punch a spiritual timecard, and coast. 

If it is not to live a passionate, purposeful, meaningful life—it’s honestly not worth it. 

Christ did not give His life so we could live lukewarm lives.

How to overcome discouragement? How can we keep a burning heart?

I know that life happens. Disappointments come. Our expectations get shattered, and the passion we once had can quickly cool off into apathy or discouragement.

How does that happen? How to overcome hopelessness?

Read Luke 24:13-35

The right place

The two disciples were actually a husband and wife: Cleopas and Mary.

They are walking away from Jerusalem. Later, Jesus would make it clear that Jerusalem was the specific place they needed to stay to wait for the Holy Spirit—the place they would be filled with power. 

"And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:49)

There is a specific place you need to be to stay encouraged. Many believe it's about finding a new place or leaving God's designated place, but in reality, doing so often leads to discouragement instead of encouragement.

The right place brings Multiplication.

A hundredfold multiplication is ahead. Just stay in the right place. Genesis 26:1 1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines.

Genesis 26:2-3 2 And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

Because Isaac chose to settle in Gerar, Genesis 26:12 tells us that he planted crops in that land and "the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him." He experienced supernatural multiplication of favor, precisely because he decided to stay where God planted him.

Genesis 26:12-13 12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.

For Isaac it was Gerar. For the disciples it was Jerusalem. Do not walk away from your Jerusalem.

There is a specific place where you must be in order to stay encouraged.

This is beyond a geographical location. This speaks of the people you are connected with. You may even move to another place, but your heart remains connected to the correct, godly, purposeful group of people who are part of the purpose of God for you now.

However, if you don’t set your heart correctly with the people God has placed in your life, and you don't make a deliberate decision to honor that, you can be taken prematurely from where God wanted to bless you abundantly.

May the lord open our eyes today. May our ears be discerning today.

Many, when they feel spiritually dry, look for a new place, a new job, a new church, or isolate themselves entirely. But moving out opens you up to discouragement instead of encouragement. 

When the pressure at work gets too heavy, or when family dynamics break your heart, the temptation is to pull away from the Church, to stop going to your LifeGroups, and to walk that seven-mile lonely road to Emmaus.

How is your hope?

The couple listened to the good news of resurrection. But it had no effect in their hearts.

Luke 24:21-23 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive

You are here today listening to the good news of Jesus’s complete work.

Let your hope be in the right person. In the case of these two disciples, they were hoping for a “different Jesus.” A political leader. A revolutionary. A prophet. Have you ever been there? 

I had hoped this marriage would go more smoothly. 

I had hoped my finances would be stable by now. 

I had hoped having children would be simpler. 

I had hoped my kids would be walking with the Lord. 

I also imagined other results by pursuing ministry.

Unmet expectations are the breeding ground for a cooled-off heart. These two disciples had a very specific framework for how God was supposed to act. When the cross shattered that framework, they couldn't even see the Jesus walking right beside them. 

It seems all the disciples had the same attitude with the gospel message.

Luke 24:10-11 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them 

Fear and doubt dominate. Their hopes have been crushed. Their leader was crucified. Their hearts were cold and heavy. 

The news of an empty tomb didn't matter to them. The tomb was empty, but Rome was still in charge, so as far as they were concerned, God had failed them.

You think, “If I can just fix this. If I can just get my finances to this specific number, if I can just control my family, then I will have peace…”

You sit in the service, and the pastor preaches the gospel. It is the greatest news in the universe! But you walk out to your car feeling just as heavy, just as anxious, and just as discouraged as when you walked in. You wanted Jesus to fix, balance the budget, and change your boss.

A customer relationship that will always frustrate you and an unsatisfiable heart attached to things, time and worries.

May the Lord open our eyes today. 

The risen Christ, the resurrection and life, the joy of heaven, the peace that exceeds knowledge, is here speaking and rekindling our hearts again.

Exhort one another every day

Hebrews 3:12-13 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

I asked my son to take care of the lawn, which he was supposed to do weekly. Grass grows quickly, so it needs to be mowed regularly. However, he decided to mow a week early, thinking, “Let me cut the grass as short as possible because it will grow back anyway, and I’ll have less work next week.” When I saw the lawn, I was very frustrated. The grass was sparse and bare in places. I knew what was coming—improper pruning weakens the grass. Weeds tend to grow faster than grass, choking it and stealing nutrients from the soil. 

So he had another brilliant idea. He used a heavy dose of fertilizer and applied it at the wrong time of day. It burned the weeds and any other grass buds. 

As a result, I now have neither healthy turf nor grass, as it is all dead.

Weeds appear. No matter what. Naturally, you will be drawn to an unbelieving heart. That is why you must be surrounded by other believers. Weekly pruning. Weekly mowing. That is how we grow.

If you don’t do the daily work of "exhort one another every day” eventually the good news will not sound like good news to you.

Hebrews 4:2 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

Have you met brothers who, when we try to speak the good news to them, seem almost offended? They think, “Pastor, what are you talking about? Jesus takes care of me. What do you mean? Don’t you see the immigration situation? Don’t you know the cost of gas? Have you made groceries recently? And about the “snowbirds…” they are already here, getting on our nerves…”

I have a problem with believers who, instead of being inspired by the invitation to lead a group, serve on the encounter or the mountain track with us, reply that we have crossed a line of disrespect by challenging them. I will tell you, if you don’t like to be challenged, you will have to choose another God to follow.

Let the Scripture reveal Jesus

In the coming days, we want you to see Jesus Christ every single day. If your eyes and ears are open, you are certain to see Jesus Christ through Scripture; your heart will burn again.

(Luke 24:27) “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

For years, historians and scholars had stared at ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on tombs and monuments. They had all the facts in front of them, but the language was dead. It was a mystery to the world. 

In 1799, French soldiers in Egypt discovered a heavy slab of black basalt that we now know as the Rosetta Stone. The Rosetta Stone contained the same decree written in three scripts: hieroglyphs, Demotic, and ancient Greek. Because scholars could read Greek, they finally possessed the key to unlock the entire Egyptian language. Suddenly, everything that was confusing made perfect sense.

Jesus Christ is our Rosetta Stone.

When we look at Scripture to see Christ, everything changes. The entire Old Testament points directly to Him.

"In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." (Proverbs 3:6)

Not only Scripture, but your conversations, your life events, your delays, your new opportunities. Consider the Lord in all your ways.

From Separation to Fellowship

As they continue down the road, we see that they were treating Jesus like a transactional, political Savior. They wanted to crush Rome, fix the economy and find some way to change their social status.

When He died on the cross, they thought the transaction had failed. 

Luke 24:30-31 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.

Jesus invites us into communion. He offers us His presence. When He breaks the bread, He reminds us that His broken body is the ultimate, final provision for humanity.

The parallel story happened in Genesis chapter 3. There, another couple ate, and their “eyes were opened.” But in this case, they ate the wrong tree. 

They wanted to understand naturally. They wanted to seize control. 

Genesis 3:6-7 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

They were drawn by the appearance of what was attractive, famous, enticing.

Eating the wrong fruit opened their eyes to their shame and drove them apart. Took them away from the fellowship. No access to the garden anymore.

They hid. They covered themselves with fig leaves of human effort. 

But here, in Luke 24, the couple eats from the right tree, the tree of life. They eat of Jesus himself. Breaking the bread made them participants in Jesus’ life. And that also opened their eyes. 

The cross is the Tree of Life.

Lately, I’ve had to admit defeat and reach for my reading glasses. It’s not that I am completely blind without them.

When your vision is blurred like that, you don't just struggle to read—you actually start reading the "wrong" things. You skip a crucial word. You misinterpret a sentence.

Is this also happening in your homes and in our marriages? You can be in the same room, looking at the same situation, but without the right lenses, you completely misread your spouse. 

The husband looks at his wife and says, "I love you." But because her vision is blurred by a past betrayal or rejection, she misreads the message entirely. She understands, "You don’t really care about me." Or the wife says, "I really need you to help me with this." The husband, looking through the blur, hears, "You are a failure, and I have to pay for yet another expense.”

The text is right in front of us, but we are misreading each other. We read criticism instead of connection. We read rejection instead of an invitation.

They are looking at the exact same reality, but their natural vision is completely distorting the message. 

You need better vision. You need Christ. When you look at your spouse through the lens of Christ's broken body and shed blood, you stop reading judgment where there is mercy. You no longer have to constantly defend yourself.

When did their eyes finally open? When did the blurriness fade? It wasn't just during the walk. It was at the table. It was when Jesus took the bread, blessed it, and broke it. You need to get back to the table. You need the bread and the wine.

When Christ sits at the center of your table, He becomes the lens through which you finally read each other with grace, with clarity, and with a burning heart.

In Genesis, taking from the wrong tree made them participants in sin and death. But here, eating of the broken bread made them participants in Jesus’ life.

In the garden, eyes were opened to shame, and the couple ran to hide. In Emmaus, eyes were opened to grace, and the couple ran to share the good news.

Burning to be on Fire

Jesus gave this couple a sample a teaser a prelude of what was about to come. They were the first to expereince before hand the burning of the Spirit that would later come in power and authority, enabling the church for the mission.

Acts 2:1-4 1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

In the next 21 days, the Lord is preparing us for an empowerment. An increase of anointing that would enable us for the ministry. 

After this time, I can see a great explosive growth in our lifegroups. People getting saved in our services. All that out of our prayer, scripture and communion.