The Darrell Johnson Podcast

Parables of Jesus | Week 2 | In response to the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray, he first shares the Lord’s Prayer, but then moves into an often misunderstood parable that further highlights how we should pray. In the parable, a man in need goes to a neighbour to ask for bread to help feed a visitor. Jesus asks his disciples, would not the man get up and help his neighbour? Filled...

Parables of Jesus | Week 1 | 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 wi...

Jonah Series | Week 4 | 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 t...

Jonah Series | Week 3 | 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 wi...

Jonah Series | Week 2 | 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...

Jonah Series | Week 1 | Darrell begins the series by covering all of Jonah chapter 1. He starts this episode message by casting vision for the church to be a community that’s following Jesus with God’s heart for the city. That is the framing Darrell provides for the book of Jonah as a whole - "the book is all about Jonah (and therefore us) being confronted with God’s feeling towards the city - His...

Pastor Chris Price of The Way Church - Vancouver sits down with Darrell for a conversation on Lord’s Prayer and what implications it has for us in our lives. Darrell shares about his book, 57 Words that Change the World , and what he might expand on what he originally wrote. Chris asks Darrell about his own journey of prayer and what seasons of unanswered prayers have felt like. They end with some...

Revelation Series | In this two-part seminar, Darrell unpacks how to approach the book. He talks us through its context and origin, and also its literary characteristics like: genre, imagery, and symbols. And through all of this, Darrell shows us how the book of Revelation invites us into a greater story of what Jesus has done and will do. We encourage you to grab a Bible and follow along. CCLN Te...

Revelation Series | Darrell preaches from Revelation 1:9-20, where John sees the seven lampstands, and this figure who John says was amongst them “like a son of man.” After spending some time providing insight on this category of literature and context for why John was writing from an island, Darrell sets out to share three key features of Revelation 1. He then closes by sharing the hopeful implic...

Genesis Series | In this last message of our Genesis series, Darrell unpacks Genesis 11:1-9 where we read about the people of Babel who set out to build a city and a tower that they hope will reach to the heavens.  Darrell argues that the narrative describes a people who are ultimately on a quest for transcendence; a creative culture which seeks to live independently and without a true centre...

Genesis Series | In this sermon Darrell dives into the story of Noah & the Great Flood. Now this story is one of profound obedience and tragedy, but a tale about a great flood isn’t unique to the Bible. Darrell begins by pitting the Genesis story of the flood against other versions of it, explaining the uniqueness of Yahweh’s heart and ultimately how these stories signify that this isn’t a myt...

Genesis Series | In this sermon, Darrell leans into the genealogy from Adam to Noah written in Genesis 5. Now genealogies aren’t always the most entertaining read in the Biblical text, but Darrell in this sermon shows the profound meaning embedded in them. In this teaching, Darrell highlights two important things genealogies teach us and highlights 4 keywords in the text that show us how the Lord...

Genesis Series | 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 b...

Genesis Series | 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 stor...

Genesis Series | 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...

Genesis Series | 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,...

This special episode is from The Way Church’s Christmas Eve Service that was shared on Christmas Eve. It’s five clips of Darrell preaching from Luke 2:1-20 broken up by Christmas songs and worship performed by the Way Church worship team. The exhortation of this message is “Do Not Be Afraid” - as Darrell shares, it’s the one command that exists in the Christmas Story. In these sermon clips, litter...

BONUS EPISODE | This episode is a special, bonus conversation that we recorded recently between Darrell and Jason Ballard, pastor at The Way Church. At the beginning of December, Darrell was moved by the number of pastors he heard of who were considering moving on from pastoral ministry because of the unique pressure of this pandemic season. So in response, he wrote a letter to those wanting to qu...

Darrell preaches out of Isaiah Chapter 9, leaning into the theme of Jesus being the gift given to us in this season. He is the Wonderful Counsellor, Almighty God, Prince of Peace, and Everlasting Father. Darrell goes on to share about the different gifts that come with the gift of Jesus - those being light, joy, freedom, peace, and relief. Give to the ministry of Darrell Johnson: www.darrelljohnso...

This message is from the Christmas Eve of 2016, and here Darrell preaches from Luke 2:10-12. The big idea Darrell drives home is the Christmas story is about more than a baby being born, but a new leader being born. Jesus Christ, the one who would form a new government that will truly administer justice, make peace and heal the hearts of people. And the big question we all have to answer in respon...

Darrell recently sat down with Jason Ballard, Pastor of the Way Church Vancouver, to move through a series of questions related to discipleship and ministry at this moment. We want to thank Regent College and the Canadian Church Leaders Network for partnering with us to make this conversation possible. Vancouver, BC, 2020 This episode was brought to you by Regent College & the Canadian Church...

Genesis Series | Darrell takes the time to explain how Genesis chapter 2 gives us a vision for being human in the created world. He shares how the Genesis story shows us that truly being human is to live in a harmonious relationship with the earth, others, ourselves, and God. Darrell shows that Scripture makes the case that pursuing harmony in these four relationships is what brings God’s Kingdom,...

Genesis Series | Darrell begins by recapping a bit of the message from Week 1, resharing 7 observations of the Creation story. In this sermon, he parks on Genesis 1:26 for a moment to draw out what it means to be made in the image of God. And then Darrell closes by sharing an eighth observation of Genesis 1, answering the question, “what is the true apex of the creation story?” Genesis Series | Fi...

Week 1 | Genesis Series | First Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC, 2010 | Genesis 1:1-2:3 This episode was brought to you by the Canadian Church Leaders Network.

Bridgetown Church, Portland, Oregon, 2020 | Daniel 2:24-45 This episode was brought to you by the Canadian Church Leaders Network.