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.

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 with cultural dynamics, western readers can often understand the text to be about the persistence of the man asking his neighbour and therefore believe Jesus is teaching us to pray with such persistence. Instead, the parable is actually about the shamelessness of the neighbour and how he will help the man asking because we won’t let his name be shamed for not being hospitable. Therefore, Jesus is saying that when we go to God and ask, we can have assurance that He will not shame His name and will respond. As we pray, we are expanding our capacity to receive. And what does the Father give? The Holy Spirit. We are the friend in need in this parable and Jesus’ promise is that God will give us His Spirit if we ask.

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 18:1-8, Darrell shows us how this widow is the hero of living faith, a faith that stands before the face of God and keeps on asking.

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 squander the wealth of his family was an embarrassment to him, his family, and the community. But the greater shame was for the Father to run out and embrace the son upon him returning home and confessing. In doing so, the father brought the shame of the community onto himself. He then clothes the son, gives him his signet ring, and kills the fattened calf for a feast that defies all cultural norms. As Jesus tells this story, he is painting a picture of the father’s heart for those the Pharisees deemed unworthy and his willingness to love them shamelessly. Darrell encourages us that we can never earn back God’s love, but we can come home.

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 that only he had rightly earned his father’s love. The father responds again in scandalous love, by going against what culture demands, taking the humiliation the son deserves, upon himself instead, inviting the older son closer to his heart. The father’s response to his two sons is the same response to us all, no matter what we have done. Come home, and come on in!” Whether we are law-breaking, or law-keeping, we all are in deep need of His grace, and all of us are welcomed into the scandalous and radical embrace of our loving Father.

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 land, significantly reducing the cost of rent. Jesus is telling us to do the same. Since we have received immense mercy from God, we must respond to this reality by extending mercy to others. A way we extend this mercy is how we use our money. The parable is not saying that we can buy our way into heaven, but it is saying that what we do with money reveals whether or not the Kingdom of God has broken into our lives. One of the clearest signs that mercy has gotten hold of us is that we use money to extend mercy to others.

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’s side after death. With great regret, the wealthy man in Hades calls out for help from Abraham and Lazarus, but they are unable to do anything. In desperation, he pleads for them to at least warn his family, but is met with the haunting reply “If they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, they won’t even listen if a man raises from the dead.” Darrell shows us that God’s word should illuminate the needs of others around us and that by listening to Jesus’ instructions, we will begin to truly see.

In this message from First Baptist Church in Vancouver BC, Darrell unpacks the prayer of Paul to the Church of Ephesus. In this passage, we learn about what living in the fullness of God looks like.