When Quitting Makes Sense | PJ Summers

A new teaching launches a six-week series focused on what it looks like to walk with Jesus beyond an hour on Sunday. It confronts a familiar gap: many people worship with passion in corporate gatherings but then treat faith as a weekend event, returning to exhaustion, unresolved conflicts, and decisions no one sees. Using candid personal testimony — including a season of nearly quitting — and careful readings from Luke and Hebrews, the talk reframes spiritual failure not as loss of belief but as loss of heart. The central argument is that quitting often feels logical precisely when change is imminent; the real issue is stamina, not qualification.

The instruction moves from diagnosis to practical movements. First, perseverance matters: researchers label grit — the capacity to persist when progress stalls — the chief predictor of success across vocations and callings. Second, God is active even when life feels quiet; apparent delays are more often locations for formation than signposts of neglect. Third, ordinary, seemingly unspiritual disciplines — daily prayer, steady Bible reading, small acts of service — are the hidden architecture of growth. These slow, repetitive practices compound into unseen strength long before breakthroughs appear. Fourth, trusting God’s timing is a spiritual discipline: pain may not be removed immediately, but it gains purpose when held within a faithful trajectory.

Scripture scenes illustrate cost and clarity: Jesus’ stark replies in Luke underscore that following him demands uncompromised attention, not merely enthusiasm. Hebrews reframes the Christian life as a race requiring endurance so believers will “not grow weary and lose heart,” and Zechariah warns against despising small starts. Practical illustrations — the pastor’s gym routine, campus renovations, and a mission trip’s behind-the-scenes preparation — make the point tangible: most transformative work happens through patient repetition and unseen preparation. The conclusion is pastoral and urgent: when quitting makes sense emotionally, grit, attentiveness to God’s present work, disciplined small steps, and trust in God’s timing are the practices that keep a life in motion toward the kingdom. The congregation is invited to keep showing up, give faithfully, and recognize that steady faithfulness often precedes visible change.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Grit sustains when progress slows Persistence is the indicator that separates short-lived enthusiasm from lasting fruit. Grit is not raw talent or inspiration but the disciplined refusal to abandon the path when excitement fades and outcomes are unclear. It reframes spiritual life as long obedience and trains resilience for inevitable trials. [36:47]
• 2. God works even in silence Apparent quiet is not God’s absence but often the setting for maturation. Faith must learn to recognize divine preparation that occurs without fanfare, especially when visible change stalls. Holding to God amid silence preserves hope and prevents premature departures that precede breakthroughs. [42:18]
• 3. Faith forms in boring routines Spiritual formation is built in the mundane: daily prayer, ordinary Scripture reading, and repeated small acts of obedience. These practices compound over time and produce character that dramatic moments simply reveal rather than create. Valuing the unglamorous rhythms prevents counterfeit spirituality and cultivates durable holiness. [46:12]
• 4. Trust God's timing before clarity Waiting exposes a desire for control but also trains dependence on God’s unseen purposes. Pain does not always end quickly; it often acquires meaning within a longer divine timeline that isn’t immediately explained. Choosing faithfulness before understanding transforms suffering into a season of shaping, not mere delay. [51:52]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [27:10] - Surprise announcements & applause
• [27:39] - Introductions & Super Bowl mention
• [28:23] - New series: Walking With Jesus
• [29:18] - The gap between Sunday and life
• [33:00] - Follow me: movement over ritual
• [35:58] - Grit as the success factor
• [42:18] - God is working in the quiet
• [46:12] - Small steps and training
• [51:52] - Trust God's timing & purpose
• [55:21] - Giving and closing call

Bible reading
Hebrews 12:1–3 (ESV)
*Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.*

Luke 9:57–62 (ESV)
*As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”*

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Observation questions

1. According to Hebrews 12:1–3, what are believers instructed to do in order to avoid growing weary or fainthearted?
2. In Luke 9:57–62, what reasons did the individuals give for delaying their decision to follow Jesus, and how did He respond to each?
3. What does Jesus’ statement in Luke 9:62—“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God”—reveal about the nature of following Him?
4. What examples from the sermon illustrated how God works in quiet or seemingly uneventful seasons? [42:18]

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Interpretation questions

1. Why do you think the author of Hebrews emphasizes “not growing weary or fainthearted” as a central challenge in the Christian life, rather than simply urging more effort or activity?
2. How might Jesus’ responses in Luke 9:57–62 have been perceived as harsh or uncompromising? What might He have been trying to teach about priorities in following Him?
3. The sermon mentioned that “most people don’t walk away from Jesus because they stop believing… They just walk away because they’ve been continuing this lifetime of this walk with Jesus and it’s gotten exhausting.” [38:20] Why might exhaustion and loss of heart be more common reasons for quitting than loss of belief?
4. How can the idea that “this season isn’t a delay—this is the location” [45:47] change the way someone views a difficult or stagnant period in their life?

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Application questions

1. When have you experienced a loss of heart rather than a loss of belief in your walk with Jesus? What did that feel like, and what tempted you to quit?
2. What is one “small step” in your spiritual life—like daily prayer, Scripture reading, or a simple act of obedience—that feels unglamorous but that you sense God is using to shape you? [46:12]
3. Where in your life right now are you being called to trust God’s timing before you understand what He is doing? [51:52] What makes that difficult?
4. How can you recognize when you are starting to “look back” like the person in Luke 9:62—whether to past hurts, comforts, or distractions—instead of fixing your eyes on Jesus?
5. What would it look like this week to embrace your current situation as the “location” where God is at work, rather than waiting for things to calm down or improve? [45:47]
6. Who in your life needs encouragement not to grow weary or lose heart? How can you come alongside them this week?