Darrell Johnson and Jason Ballard sit down and have a conversation on finding joy during this Christmas season, and navigating burnout and the emotional lows of ministry.

Darrell leans into Genesis 2:16-17 where God prohibits man from eating from the tree of knowledge of good & evil. Darrell shares a number of clarifications on this passage that I found so helpful. He sets out to say in this sermon that there really is only one command in Scripture and that all other commands are a variation on the theme. The theme being this: "God will be God, you and I are the creature. Live in dependence on Him – and we will have life."

In this sermon, Darrell explores the greatest question we have to ask as humans: Will we trust God? Darrell highlights how this temptation was first faced by Eve in Genesis 3 when the serpent came to her and questioned what God had said. His goal was to make her question the goodness of God, and it worked. Instead of trusting God, Eve and Adam chose to trust in themselves. Darrell warns us that we can too easily fall prey to the same temptations, to think we can live independently from God, but that this ultimately leads to hurt, brokenness, sin, and death. God, however, sent Jesus as the ultimate display of His goodness and through His life, death, and resurrection, our trust in God brings us back into right relationship with Him.

In this sermon, Darrell continues an exploration of Genesis 3. If you’re familiar with this chapter of Scripture, you know how devastating and heartbreaking it is. Adam and Eve have chosen independence from God, and it’s created profound consequences. In today’s message, you’ll hear Darrell talk about those consequences but also the incredible hope and promise embedded in the story; the serpent’s head will be crushed, death will not have the final say - Jesus will come and restore the four-fold relationship broken in the garden.

This sermon walks out of Genesis 3, into the exodus out of the garden and the heartbreaking story of Cain & Abel. In this sermon, Darrell continues to show how the sometimes dark and sad story of Genesis is also full of light and hope. If the last message showcased God’s grace in the garden, this one certainly shows the unexplainable grace outside of the garden. Darrell does brilliant work to help us understand the heart of Cain, and just how kind the Lord was to Him and His people in the fallout.