The Darrell Johnson Podcast

The Space In Which He Calls Us To Follow | Week 1 | In this sermon, Darrell walks us through Jesus’ great claim and great commission found in Matthew 28:16-20. Here, Jesus tells the disciples that all power and authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, by the Father. The implications of this claim are far greater than the church could ever try to grasp. Following this great claim, co...

Grace That Grows | Week 3 | How can we give thanks in all things like Paul instructs? Is it even realistic? In this message, Darrell assures us that it is possible to have gratitude in all things, but only if we have a fully realistic view of reality, centred on an awareness of who God is. Darrell shares three affirmations we can hold on to from the text, which ultimately reveal how our gratitude...

Grace That Grows | Week 2 | In this message, Darrell looks at eight verses from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans and explores what it means to present one’s body as a living sacrifice, both in spiritual and practical ways. He explores seven dynamics of body life, challenging believers with the truth of our God-ordained interconnectedness, and exhorting the Church to greater unity with the S...

Grace That Grows | Week 1 | How do we steward what God has given us? In the first message of this series, Darrell unpacks three principles for generosity that we see Paul express in the letter to the Corinthians. The reality of life with God is that He prospers his people, not so they can have more, but so they can be and give more to the world Christ died for. The only way we experience this prom...

Revelation | Week 12 | Darrell outlines the power that songs play in the story of the Revelation of Jesus. The sixteen songs in the letter provide both a summary of what we are learning and a reminder of the key question; whom do we worship? One song in particular, the doubly named Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb (Rev. 15:3-4) tell the story of God’s redemption of His people. This song is a...

Revelation | Week 11 | In this chapter, the Apostle John once again sees heaven open and a great revelation of who Jesus is. This time, Jesus is a warrior, coming down on a white horse. Eyes of blazing fire, a sword in his mouth, an unknown name on his body, a robe covered in blood, and multitudes of crowns. What does this all mean? Darrell walks us through the text to reveal what Jesus is reveali...

Revelation | Week 10 | In this sermon Darrell points our attention to a single verse in the last book of the Bible: "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." This verse highlights a profound theme in the Bible, that followers of God are collectively the Bride of Jesus Christ! Living into this marriage reality means we have great dignity - no lowly humanity here, we ar...

Revelation | Week 9 | In this message, Darrell shares his heart on how crucial it is to make sure you read the whole entirety of the Bible. We can be tempted to only read the comfortable texts, but instead we should seek to dive into the challenging ones as well as all scripture is divinely inspired. Revelation 17-19 is a terrifying text in many ways, but also inspiring because we’re getting a fir...

Revelation | Week 8 | Darrell outlines the power that songs play in the story of the Revelation of Jesus. The sixteen songs in the letter provide both a summary of what we are learning and a reminder of the key question; whom do we worship? One song in particular, the doubly named Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb (Rev. 15:3-4) tell the story of God’s redemption of His people. This song is a...

Revelation | 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...

Revelation | 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 thi...

Revelation | 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 kin...

Revelation | 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 re...

Revelation | Week 3 | In Revelations 2 & 3 Jesus blows the circuit on who we think he is and what the church is. In the form with which these chapters or ‘messages’ were written, there are prophetic and imperial statements being made about who Jesus Christ is and about what he understands His church to be in and for the world.  For the first time the church gathering is described as eccle...

Revelation | Week 2 | This week, Darrell pulls back the curtain on the pastoral letter written by Apostle John to the seven churches scattered throughout Asia Minor. The book of Revelation unveils the dramatic description of what John witnessed in a vision given by God while exiled on the island of Patmos. John exhorts the Church to see and hear the Voice at the centre of everything, the Voice tha...

Revelation | Week 1 | In this message, Darrell begins his series on Revelation. He opens by describing the book of Revelation as the greatest guide, able to explain why the world is how it is. Throughout this sermon, we are given key steps on how to read the book of Revelation, which Darrell calls "the apocalypse of Jesus Christ".  "If we read this book rightly, we will unfold the greatest co...

Parables of Jesus | Week 11 | Darrell shares Jesus’ teaching from Luke 14:23-35 on the cost of discipleship. These weighty, but liberating words are an invitation for us to step into life with Christ. The intense language that Jesus uses in the scripture is to bring conviction, remind us to check our hearts, and to help us understand the cost of following Him. In today's world, many things claim l...

Parables of Jesus | Week 10 | In this sermon, Darrell unpacks the parable of the great banquet. Like many parables, it’s about more than meets the eye. Unlike other parables, it is one of the most autobiographical parables Jesus ever spoke. Here in Luke 14, we learn the depth and breadth of Jesus’ invitation to “come”. We walk through Jesus’ joy, disappointment, and passion in His role as Host. Th...

Parables of Jesus | Week 9 | Darrell unpacks two complimentary parables in the gospel of Luke through which Jesus shares His mission in the world. The kingdom of God is first likened to “a mustard seed which a man took and planted” and also “leaven, which a woman took and mixed”. The context of these parables is Jesus announcing the in-breaking of heaven as he begins healing people and freeing the...

Parables of Jesus | Week 8 | In this sermon, Darrell visits the first parable that Jesus taught about new wine, and new wineskins. Similar to the first miracle Jesus performed, this parable sets the stage for the ministry and mission of Jesus’ life. With the wineskins representing the religious forms and patterns, and the wine representing the gospel, Darrell rhetorically challenges the listener t...

Parables of Jesus | Week 7 | Darrell paints the parable of the rich man and Lazarus with illustrative detail as he describes each cultural aspect of the story. Wealth can blind us from seeing the needs of those around us, and in this passage, Darrell shows us the subversive values of the kingdom of heaven at work. Instead of the wealthy man, it was the sick, the outcast, Lazarus, who is at Abraham...

Parables of Jesus | Week 6 | Darrell explains the parable of the unrighteous steward. This parable is followed by some of Jesus’ many teachings on the practical issue of money. It tells the story of a land manager who squanders his landowner’s possessions, but receives unexpected mercy from the landowner. As a response to experiencing this mercy, the manager extends mercy to the renters of the lan...

Parables of Jesus | Week 5 | Darrell paints us a powerful picture of who God is and what He is like through the story of the “Prodigal Son”, or “Prodigal Father” as Darrell argues should be the rightful title. In Luke 15, we see a father, who represents God, respond to his two different rebellious sons. The older son shames the father by refusing to celebrate when his brother returns, thinking tha...

Parables of Jesus | Week 4 | Jesus was criticized for eating with sinners and tax collectors so he told a parable to the Pharisees and Scribes: the parable of the prodigal son. Darrell unpacks the scandal of what Jesus shared because it revealed the heart of the Father in a way that challenged the religiosity of the Jewish leaders. The story of the son is one of shame and disgrace, for him to squa...

Parables of Jesus | Week 3 | How do we stand faithfully before God in the midst of injustice? The parable of the persistent widow has brought Darrell under a deep conviction about the quality of his own faith. In light of God being the perfectly just judge, will He find the faith of the widow--who would not go away or lose heart as she waited for justice to be done--in me? In this message on Luke...