In this Lenten message from John 18:28–19:22, Darrell walks us into the charged and complicated encounter between Jesus and Pontius Pilate. Rather than painting Pilate as merely cynical, Darrell helps us feel the political pressure, fear, and confusion he faced, and shows how simply standing in the presence of Jesus began to move him toward truth. As Pilate declares, “I find no guilt in him,” “Behold the man,” and “Behold your king,” we’re invited to consider our own lives: in the tense and compromising spaces we inhabit, what will we say about the One who stands before us?

In this Lenten message from John 18:12–27, Darrell invites us to look closely at how Jesus stands faithful under interrogation while his disciple Peter collapses under pressure. As Jesus refuses to deny the truth, Peter denies even knowing Him—revealing the stark contrast between human weakness and divine faithfulness. Yet Peter’s fall is not the end of the story; it becomes the doorway to grace, as he discovers that true discipleship begins with the death of self-reliance. In the end, our salvation rests not on the strength of our faith, but on the unwavering faithfulness of Jesus—the only One who stands when all others fall.

Drawing on this phrase from John Calvin, Darrell invites us to see the final hours of Jesus’ life not merely as suffering, but as the decisive revelation of God’s glory, the weighty essence of who God truly is. Throughout the series, Darrell will explore John 18-19, lingering in the arrest, trial, and crucifixion to help us behold what John wants us to see: that the cross is not tragedy spiraling out of control, but glory fully and freely revealed. In this first message, centred on John 18:1–12, we enter the garden where Jesus steps forward and declares, “I AM.” The soldiers fall back, and we glimpse the stunning mystery at the heart of the gospel: it is the great I AM who is being arrested.

In this sermon on Matthew 6:9–10, Darrell reveals that the Lord's Prayer is about inviting God to bring His heavenly reality down to earth through our prayers. He explains that when we pray "on earth as it is in heaven," we're participating in God's work to transform the world—and that prayer in secret can change history more profoundly than public ministry. Darrell shows how Jesus Himself perfectly answered the prayer He taught us, and he challenges us to pray with the understanding that our intercession actually matters in God's cosmic plan.

In this powerful message on Matthew 6:1-18, Darrell unpacks Jesus' teaching on authentic spirituality, exposing how our deepest motivations—not our actions—determine the true value of our spiritual disciplines. Through several penetrating insights about human nature and God's all-seeing presence, he challenges us to stop performing for human approval and instead redirect our desire to be noticed toward God alone, discovering that the greatest reward is intimate relationship with the Father.

In this message on Matthew 5:43–48, Darrell explores one of Jesus’ most radical and unsettling commands: "love your enemies." Drawing on the rich meaning of agape love, Darrell shows that Jesus is not calling us to feel differently, but to will the good of those who oppose us. This teaching confronts our instinct to hate and reveals how loving our enemies breaks cycles of violence and forms us into mature children of our Father. Ultimately, this is a call to live out the very love God has shown to us in Christ.

In this message, Darrell courageously engages Jesus’ hard words on divorce, holding together truth and grace in the midst of deep relational pain. He shows how Jesus’ teaching defends the dignity of women, calls us back to God’s original “one flesh” vision for marriage, and honestly acknowledges the devastating reality of sin. By placing divorce within the wider context of Jesus’ teaching on anger, lust, integrity, retaliation, and love of enemies, Darrell invites us toward relational wholeness made possible by the transforming power of the kingdom of God.

This sermon represents Week 15 of a series Darrell taught on the Sermon on the Mount in 1995 at Glendale Presbyterian Church in California. In this message, Darrell explores Jesus’ challenging words in Matthew 5:33–37, where simple honesty replaces oath-making. He shows how Jesus exposes the power of the lie, revealing that oaths exist because of evil and distrust, and how “yes, yes, no, no” breaks evil’s hold. This sermon invites us into a gospel-shaped way of life marked by integrity, faithfulness, and trust in the God who always keeps His promises.