Sermons And Lectures

Speaking on a Saturday morning at Kairos Church in Hollywood, Dallas gave an extensive teaching on how to be a disciple in the city where one lives.

In this Sunday morning sermon following the Hearing God Retreat at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Birmingham, Alabama, Dallas helps us understand one of the hard sayings of Jesus Christ (John 6:52-58) and how, day-by-day, we eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood.
August 7, 2011

From the 2006 conference, “True Spirituality: The Life You Were Meant to Live,” held at Christ Community Church in Leawood, KS.

A convocation address given at Gordon College with a theme of Shalom.

Dallas spoke on the topics of being godly men and how to connect between generations at a Father-Son Banquet for Full Gospel Foursquare Church in Panorama City, California in June, 1990.

Dallas preached a Sunday morning sermon based on Matthew 6:32-33 at Christ Church London on May 22, 2010. But before getting to his main subject of the Kingdom of God, he has a few interesting things to say about the Trinity.

Dallas spoke at the 1993 Youth Specialties conference in Anaheim, California, focusing on how God communicates to each of us as individuals and how we can recognize His voice.

In a Westmont College chapel session on September 12, 2011, Dallas addressed the fulness of salvation and the importance of redeeming our time (Eph. 5:16) under the topic of "Spiritual Formation and Theology."

Incarnation means “in-flesh-ment.” How can someone be God and man? Understanding the nature of Christ. Reconciliation between God and man. Adoration and worship. Recorded in December 2007 at Dallas's home church, Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship, in Reseda, California.

Dallas speaks to a group of pastors and leaders in the San Fernando Valley on the topic of loving our neighbor as ourselves. Recorded on February 23, 2012, this was part of the beginnings of The Neighborhood Initiative.

Dr. Willard's lecture at the 2010 Psychiatry and Spirituality forum covered key material from his book, The Disappearance of Moral Knowledge, and what that disappearance means for us. Be sure to continue to Part 2, which includes some great Q&A, after Part 1 below.
Handout PDF

Dallas shared some thoughts about pastoral leadership at a Pastors' Luncheaon at Seattle Pacific University, January 5, 2000.

Presented January 24, 2012, at the Rolling Hills Bible Institute, which is the Tuesday evening discipleship training at Rolling Hills Covenant Church in Palos Verdes, CA. This is a great challenge from Dallas to train our congregations to actually do everything Jesus said through Biblical training that leads us to take on the character of Christ.

Presented at the Ministers and Church Leaders Banquet during annual "Summer Gathering" at Pacific Christian College in Fullerton, California, July 1996.

In a sermon at his home church, Dallas discussed the process of change that occurs as we grow in the blessedness of life in the Kingdom of God. Recorded at Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Reseda, California, in September 2009.

Presented at the InterVarsity conference in Chicago at the end of 1998.

Warning: This was recorded on a cassette tape, so the sound quality is a bit muddy, and Dallas spoke longer than the length of the tape which meant that the final minutes of the talk were not recorded.

This is Dallas's presentation at the 2009 Wheaton Theology Conference. His paper was then published in the conference book, Life in the Spirit: Spiritual Formation in Theological Perspective (IVP Academic, 2010),  and republished in Renewing the Christian Mind (HarperOne, 2015).

Dallas discusses the interaction of theology and the workplace at the 2011 Talbot Seminary Faculty Retreat. Recorded September 15, 2011, in La Quinta, California.

In conversation with John Ortberg, Dallas explains the purposes of the segments of a worship service using The Lord's Prayer as a guide. Recorded at Menlo Church in Menlo Park, California, November 13, 2005.

This lecture and Q&A is the first session of the "Feeding the Homeless Mind" series at UCLA, February 1992.

(The Q&A ends suddenly because the cassette tape ended while recording.)

Dallas partnered with Veritas Forum for many years in their effort to "place the historic Christian faith in dialogue with other beliefs and invite participants from all backgrounds to pursue Truth together."

• What Skepticism Is Good For: In the modern age, skepticism is equated with intelligence. What room is there for belief in the contemporary mind? Dallas discusses the usefulness and danger of doubt in our society. (Claremont College, 2/12/2013)
• Why Science and Religion Must Conflict: Science and faith both deal with human life, but they try to explain it in light of different considerations. Because of this, science and faith will experience some tension, though not insurmountable. (Stanford University, 10/7/2010)
• What Your U Won't Teach U, But U R Apt to Catch Anyway: Moral truth and moral knowledge. What your university won't teach you. How we teach morality. (Louisiana State University, 2/18/08)
• The Value of Truth: What truth is. Our world is uneasy about truth and says it's impossible to know. Truth is accuracy of representation. Believing doesn't make something true or false, reality does. (Louisiana State University, 2/17/2008)
• The Nature and Necessity of Worldviews: What is a worldview? What are the main worldview questions? And why is this concept so crucial to understanding what truth is? Dallas discusses the worldview that the university teaches, tied in with the genius of Jesus. The Forum theme was “The Relevancy of Christianity as a Non-Compartmentalized World View.”  (UCLA, 4/21/2003)
• What is Truth? How can we explore truth in the university? Dallas explains the religious and moral dimensions of truth. (UCLA, 4/21/2003)
• Is There A Human Nature? The purpose of human life is to love and serve others and to be loved and served by them. Through a brief but insightful tour through classical philosophy, Modernity, and current cultural shifts, Dr. Willard explores the arguments for a human nature and the reasons for its supposed demise in American society. A sufficient living out of one’s human nature comes only in relationship to God. [View Presentation Slides] (Ohio State University, 11/15/2002)
• The Genius of Jesus: Finding an adequate knowledge basis for life. What are truth, knowledge, morality and belief? Who is a good person? How Jesus addressed these issues. This talk includes Dallas's "Four Great Questions" and "Three Stories about our World." [View Presentation Slides] (Ohio State University, 11/14/2002)
• Nietzsche vs. Jesus Christ: What Jesus and Nietzche taught about fundamental matters in the contemporary world, particularly truth and freedom. (Stanford University, 3/2/2002)
• How to be a Morally Responsible Skeptic: Dallas discusses a problem having incredibly negative effects in our country today - Irresponsible Disbelief. (Indiana University, 1995)

In this 2003 sermon, Dallas helps us understand the difficult question of how the crucifixion of Jesus could possibly be a good thing. He explains some theories of atonement, and why we can view the cross as a symbol of the goodness of God.

Two meetings held at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Thousand Oaks, CA on January 28-29, 2007.

SESSION ONE:
World View and the Spiritual Life: Fantasy and Reality
Outline PDF
Question and Answer Session

SESSION TWO:
Is There A Body of Uniquely Christian Knowledge?
The Problem of Knowledge In the Contemporary World.
Handout PDF
Question and Answer Session