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I GIVE UP, I QUIT!!! - 2026 Lenten Sermon Series




Have you ever reached a point when the only words you could say were, “I give up”? Most of us know that feeling. Life becomes complicated, relationships become strained, faith becomes confusing, and we feel worn out trying to manage everything. Lent invites us to a different kind of surrender. This season is not about quitting life or giving up hope. It is about releasing the habits, fears, and assumptions that quietly stand between us and the grace of God.

 Our Lenten series this year is called “I Give Up, I Quit”. Each week we will name something we cling to and learn how faith invites us to let it go. We begin with our need to be in control as Jesus refuses shortcuts in the wilderness while Adam and Eve grasp for certainty. We move to our need to understand everything as Abram walks without a map and Nicodemus learns faith is entered, not mastered. We confront comparison through the Samaritan woman who receives dignity instead of judgment. We release grudges as Jesus weeps over a city rather than condemning it. We let go of living only for ourselves as dry bones live and Lazarus walks out of the tomb. On Palm Sunday we surrender the need for approval, and at Easter we finally surrender despair itself as resurrection declares that hope has the last word.

Lent gradually strips away what we rely on so that trust can grow. I hope you will join us each Sunday as we discover that giving up, in faith, is not loss but freedom.

 Pastor Paul

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