Week 7 | Darrell unpacks the symbolism of the dragon, the sea beast, and the earth beast, a counterfeit trinity that seeks to inflict harm and calls us to put our trust in that which will never measure up. Darrell explains how the first readers of the text would have easily understood these “beasts” as the political and religious powers of their day that had moved out from under God’s authority. We hear how the early Church’s pressure to compromise loyalty to Jesus, the true Emperor and true God, still exists in our time. We were created to worship, but the question remains: who will we worship? Through the act of the Lord’s Table, which delivers us from religion and the false hope of politics, we see that Jesus is our only hope.

Week 6 | Darrell walks through what he calls the central discipleship text of the whole book of Revelation: Chapter 12. He highlights the two pastoral purposes of apocalyptic literature which are to see the unseen realities of the future and the present, which gives us great hope in the moment that is and the one that is to come. Darrell reminds us of how we overcome the powers of this world through the blood of the Lamb, our testimony, and being free of the love of this life even unto death.

Week 4 | Darrell walks through the opening scene of the second act in the Book of Revelation. While John was worshipping God on the island of Patmos, God showed John a series of dramatic images of a worship that is already in progress. These images are a door to heaven, a lamb sitting on the throne, and a scroll that is to be opened. From these images, what observations can we make regarding the unseen realities of the present and the future? What are the deeper implications of these images and how we should live our lives today? First, through Christ, it is safe to go through heaven’s door and approach the throne. Second, the secret of history is that God wins through sacrificial love through Jesus. Third, we reign with the ruler who is sitting on the throne when we participate and join in worshipping him.

Week 5 | Darrell unpacks a text full of imagery and symbolism that ultimately leads us to one truth: repentance is the way to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The lampstands, earthquake and violent imagery is showing us how the Church is called to stand as a prophetic witness against the idols of this world, but first we must repent in order to walk clothed in grace and truth. The new kingdom is breaking in, but only to those ready to accept turn from sinful ways and declare Jesus as Lord.

Darrell begins by reminding us of the overarching theme of this book - which is God’s deep love for the city of Nineveh, and Jonah’s struggle to accept that dimension of the God he is called to serve. Jonah flees in chapter one and is quickly reminded in chapter two, in the belly of a saving fish, that He cannot outrun God. For the bulk of this message, Darrell zooms in on the moments in the whale. He focuses on Jonah’s prayer - both what it reveals to us about the nature of God and what it shows us about how we can pray to Him.

We’re moving through all of chapter 3, which covers Jonah’s message to Nineveh and their repentant response. Darrell seeks to answer three questions in this message: First, "Why did the Ninevites repent?", second "What would have happened if they didn’t?" and third, "What is the message for our cities and us today?" All throughout, Darrell provides such an accurate window into God’s great love and grace for the city of Nineveh. And with the repentance of Nineveh on full display in this chapter, Darrell voices the question that we the listeners might be wondering as he’s sharing, which is “Could we ever see something like that in our cities today?” Finally, Darrell concludes this sermon in such a beautifully unique fashion - He simply shares what he would say if he had the attention of his city for just 10 minutes.

This is the final week in this sermon series moving through the book of Jonah with Darrell. At the top of this message, Darrell sharply summarizes the four chapters of Jonah. He describes chapter 1 as Jonah running from God. Chapter 2: Jonah running into God. Chapter 3: Jonah running with God, and Chapter 4: the chapter that Darrell covers in this message, is Jonah trying to run God. In this message, Darrell leans into the main thread of chapter 4 which is Jonah’s deep frustration with the merciful and compassionate dimension of God, and the reality that God isn’t acting how he would. Darrell does just a brilliant job unpacking and clarifying the odd events in this chapter, and applying the good news of Jesus to its abrupt ending.

Darrell unpacks one of the most quoted verses in the bible and explains how to properly understand it, especially in light of challenging circumstances. This recording was done for Alpha Canada early in the covid-19 pandemic (April 2020).

This week, Darrell discusses the parable of the sower, the seed and the soil found in Luke 8:1-15. The parable involves three main subjects: Jesus, represented by the sower, the word of God, represented by the seed, and the hearts of the people, represented by the soil. All three subjects are in dynamic interplay with one another. Jesus rightfully expects that fruit will be a result of the planted seed. There are, however, obstacles in the growth of fruit in human hearts. These obstacles according to Jesus, are the various heart conditions that choke out kingdom life. They are the hardened heart, the shallow heart, and the cluttered heart. However, Jesus, in His grace and by His power, can win in all of the soils. He has proven to win despite our obstructed heart conditions. Jesus calls us to stand under the Word of God with honest and good hearts, and it will bring forth the extravagant fruit of His very spirit.