Podcast Summary: "I Can't Do This Anymore"

Podcast: Change Church Podcast
Host: Pastor Dharius Daniels
Episode Date: January 1, 2026

Episode Overview

In this message, Pastor Dharius Daniels launches a new seven-week sermon series aimed at helping listeners rediscover their pursuit of God and their understanding of the Heavenly Father. The episode's central theme is the importance of "necessary endings"—the act of letting go of past seasons, activities, ambitions, or associations in order to step fully into what God has next. Drawing from Matthew 4:18–22, Pastor Daniels encourages listeners to embrace spiritual maturity by not only focusing on what God can do for them, but on how they can respond faithfully to God's call, even when it means saying, "I can't do this anymore."

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Rediscovering Your Pursuit of God

• The Danger of Familiarity:
  • Long-term faith can breed familiarity, which dampens spiritual pursuit.
  • "[Your] familiarity has stopped your pursuit. But there's something called progressive revelation where God progressively reveals Himself because there's too much of him for him to show you all of him at the same time." (00:40)
• Progressive Revelation:
  • God reveals Himself incrementally; Christians must remain open to knowing Him in new ways.

Necessary Endings: Stepping into the New by Releasing the Old

• Concept of Necessary Endings (drawn from Henry Cloud's work):
  • Not all endings represent failure; some are required for growth and fruitfulness.
  • "Entrances into new seasons must be preceded by exits from old ones." (05:00)
  • Pastor prays for listeners to have the "discernment...to know when it's time to wave." (06:20)
• Endings Require Commitment and Discernment:
  • True change comes with definitive decisions and not simply the passage of time:
    • "Things do not change when the ball drops in Times Square. Things change when you draw a line in the sand..." (08:00)
  • Endings make room for what God has in store, surpassing our current plans or possessions:
    • "He won't show you the ram until you offer Isaac. He won't show you what he got in his hands unless you're willing to offer what you got in your hands." (09:30)

Discipleship: Moving from Conversion to Commitment

• Disciple Means Apprentice, Not Just Student:
  • Authentic discipleship is about learning to be like Jesus, not just knowing about Him.
  • "An apprentice is a word that describes the purpose of the learning...they want to be like the plumber." (13:20)
• Jesus' Call Goes Deeper:
  • Jesus’ conversations mature with His followers:
    • "The stage of our spiritual maturity determines the types of conversations the Father will have with us." (20:16)
  • As faith matures, God transitions the focus from “what can God do for me?” to “what can God do through me?”

The Principle of Decommitment

• Decommitment is NOT Quitting, But Maturing:
  • Spiritual maturity involves learning not only what to start, but what to stop—even if it’s something good.
  • "Decommitment is the willingness to release a commitment you want to keep in order to make a commitment God wants you to have." (29:30)
  • True disciples handle hard conversations about subtraction, not just addition.

The Three Calls to Release:

Drawing from Matthew 4:18–22, Pastor Daniels outlines three dimensions God may require us to leave behind:

1. Activity

   • Peter and Andrew were actively fishing when Jesus called them to shift their activity to a new purpose.
   • "I know you're in the middle of it, but you're done with it." (38:00)
   • God repurposes our skills for new assignments.

2. Ambition

   • James and John were preparing their nets—symbolizing future plans or dreams.
   • "Will you give me a dream?" (44:20)
   • Sometimes God asks for the very dream or ambition He initially gave, to prepare us for something greater.

3. Association

   • James and John left not only their boat but also their father (a good association, not a dysfunctional one).
   • "This isn't a separation for dysfunction...this is distance because destiny has now pulled us in two different directions." (48:40)
   • Destiny sometimes creates necessary distance even from positive relationships; not everyone is meant to go with us into the next season.

Allowing Space for God’s New Provision

• Making room for what’s next means trusting God’s silence and being willing to obey before knowing what’s coming.
  • "I don’t tell you to give me Isaac, and then I tell you about the ram...if you can obey me in the silence, I'll give you the next set of instructions." (46:40)
• Clinging to the old keeps us from experiencing the new people and opportunities God is sending.
  • "Don’t miss people that God's sending into your life...trying to convince people that refuse to be convinced." (52:20)

The Promise of Manasseh: A Word of Encouragement

• Pastor Daniels prophesies “Manasseh is coming,” referencing Joseph’s son whose birth made him “forget all the pain of [his] father’s house.”
• "God's about to send you some Manassehs...somebody that's going to bless you so greatly it's going to make up for the bitterness." (58:50)
• The pain of previous seasons will be replaced by blessings so deep that, “I remember that it hurt, but I don’t remember what it felt like.” (1:00:30)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On necessary endings:
  • "Some endings are not failures. They are requirements for fruitfulness." (04:25)
• On familiar faith:
  • "Your familiarity has stopped your pursuit." (00:25)
• On spiritual maturity:
  • "As you grow, the conversations are gonna stop. They're gonna shift from what I'm gonna do for you. We need to start talking about what I'm gonna do through you." (24:10)
• On decommitment:
  • "Decommitment is the willingness to release a commitment you want to keep in order to make a commitment God wants you to have." (29:30)
• On giving dreams to God:
  • "What if I told you you're not gonna do some of the stuff in your heart next year? Because you're gonna need the margin...to do what's on His heart that He hasn't let you in on yet." (45:20)
• On outgrowing relationships:
  • "Everybody that you feel is assigned to you isn't assigned to all your rooms." (50:00)
• On blessing replacing pain:
  • "I remember that it hurt, but I'm so blessed now. I'm so focused now. I'm so healed now I remember that it hurt, but I don't remember what it felt like." (1:00:30)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:00] – Series introduction, overcoming familiarity, and reclaiming pursuit
• [05:00] – Explanation of "necessary endings"
• [13:20] – Discipleship as apprenticeship, not mere learning
• [20:16] – Conversation maturity: From conversion to commitment
• [29:30] – Explanation of decommitment versus quitting
• [38:00] – God calling Peter and Andrew away from activity
• [44:20] – God asking for ambitions and unfulfilled dreams
• [48:40] – Letting go of associations for destiny’s sake
• [52:20] – Making space for new godly relationships; not convincing the unconvinced
• [58:50] – “Manasseh is coming”—hope for future healing and blessing
• [1:00:30] – Final prayer and prophetic declaration of “unprecedented favor and fruitfulness”

Conclusion

Pastor Dharius Daniels challenges listeners at the threshold of 2026 to let go of whatever—activities, ambitions, or even associations—God is calling them to release. The path to divine fruitfulness, he teaches, is not just about starting new things, but also about courageously ending the old, making space for God's new and better plans. Anchored in biblical narrative and practical wisdom, this message both encourages and stretches believers to embrace the sometimes difficult journey of necessary endings, with faith that God’s blessings to come will more than make up for any pain left behind.