City Harvest Church Weekend Sermons

Most of us wear our busyness like a badge of honour—the busier we are, the more we feel like an achiever. But being too busy causes anxiety and burnout; we have no time for our family and worse, we have no time for God. In this sermon, Kong Hee teaches that if we are seeking balance in our life, the answer is to slow down. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus tells believers He will give us rest, which is to slow down; He invites us to learn from Him. Pastor Kong shares five things we must learn from Jesus: to adopt slow-down spirituality, to faithfully observe the Sabbath rest, to practice silence and solitude, to make devotional prayers (not just intercession and petition) and to develop detachment, which is to be content in any situation. If we can slow down and follow Jesus’ unhurried pace of life, we will be changed, we will find His yoke easy and His burden light.

Psalm 23 is a well known passage written by King David. Just as how David was both shepherd and king, God was to him his Shepherd and King, providing guidance and direction in life. Just by following the shepherd, sheep will be led to still waters and green pastures. Ps Zhuang shares 3 ways to follow God our Shepherd. Firstly, by hearing His voice. Instead of following the latest trends and culture, we need to follow the voice of God. Secondly, to follow the Shepherd, we need to give up control. God wants to lead us fully on His terms, yet always for our benefit. Finally, we need to trust God’s leading and know that God’s ways are always higher than ours. May we reflect as King David did, and be led by the Shepherd of our hearts and our lives.

As we exit 2022 and enter into 2023, Pastor Aries Zulkarnain gives us keys to laying the foundation for success in the new year. While God’s plans towards may not always be easy, they are always for our good. In order for us to be successful in Christ Jesus, God wants us to be established in His identity, giving Him the glory in good times and in bad times. God wants us to be in partnership with Him, and be willing to put our hands in to work alongside Him. Finally, God wants us to encounter Him daily in this new year, by seeking Him first in all we do. May 2023 be a year of encounters with God, partnering with Him and seeing success in every aspect of life!

The reason for the Christmas season isn’t feasting and gifting. Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ, the perfect gift from Father in heaven, and the only Way to salvation. Pastor Kong Hee shares in this sermon that the Good News of Jesus’ birth invites different responses, as illustrated in the Bible. First, there were the innkeepers who had no place for Jesus represents those who are so busy making money, they have no time for salvation and no space in their hearts for God; they reject Jesus out of ignorance. Next, there was King Herod who represents those who consciously reject Jesus over and over again out of arrogance and unbelief. Finally, there were the three wise men, who knew that the newborn was the Son of God, and made time and effort to seek Him and worship Him. Listen to this Christmas message, and be like the wise men and embrace Jesus!

At this Candlelight Services, Kong Hee preaches this encouraging message for those who are facing a dark time in their lives. Matt 4:16 declares that on those living in darkness, a Light has dawned. When we go through dark seasons, it is easy to get discouraged and to quit, but Christians can be assured that no matter how dark things look, God is always next to us. Sharing powerful testimonies of the Lord bringing victory to impossible situations, Pastor Kong reminds us that it is when we find ourselves in difficult situations that we grow in God. Isaiah 45:3 promises that we will find treasures in darkness: we pray more, we press in to God—our affliction is our spiritual gym. Let this message remind you that the treasures we find in dark places are His anointing and His presence, the things of eternal worth.

Thanksgiving is a time to prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus. In this sermon, Lin Junxian teaches what the benefits of giving thanks are. The whole Bible calls believers to continually express gratitude and stay in an atmosphere of thanksgiving, which is both an inward attitude of the heart and an outward expression. Thanksgiving is a theme that runs from the Old Testament to the Epistles. Pastor Junxian teaches that God wants us to remember what He has done for us in the past and what He promises to do for us in the future. Three things thanksgiving does to and for us: it redirects us to God’s grace, it realigns us with God’s will and it results in God’s provision. Let this encouraging message relight your fire for God through an attitude of thanksgiving.

Song of Songs 8:5 reads “Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved?” In his second sermon based on this verse, Pastor Bobby Chaw goes into detail about who the “Beloved” is: one, He is the giver of life—God spoke and created life. Two, He is the sustainer of life—He feeds His creation. Three, He is the resurrection and the life—He raises dead situations and brings life. Leaning on the Beloved makes all the difference to a believer’s life, and Pastor Bobby teaches how to imbibe in the overcoming life that Jesus came to give us, by capturing every thought and making it obey Christ, by professing with our mouth words that align with the Word of God, and by our actions to do the will of the Father. Listen to this message and be greatly encouraged by the teaching and the compelling real life examples of what it means to lean on the Beloved.

Man is spirit, soul and body; having a strong spiritual life has everything to do with one’s body. We must not stop at being saved by grace—our salvation must translate into a lifestyle, one that imitates Christ. In this fourth part of his series on spiritual disciplines, Pastor Kong Hee spells out how to train the body by taking on exercises unto godliness, which will form Christlikeness in us, which leads to the easy yoke that Jesus promises. To be spiritual, our body and spirit must be in sync. We fight cravings of the flesh daily, but the more we present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, the more our souls come alive. Let this sermon encourage you to sow to please the spirit, and from the spirit reap eternal life (Gal 6:8).

In this third part of his series on spiritual disciplines, Kong Hee goes deep into 1 Tim 4 and what it means to “exercise (gumnazo) yourself toward godliness”. In the Bible, every miracle Jesus performed came after a spiritual discipline He practised, eg He fed the 5000 after a time of silence and solitude; He walked on water after doing quiet time. Jesus “learned obedience from what He suffered” (Heb 5:8), therefore we must immerse ourselves in His lifestyle until the fruits of the spirit come forth. Pastor Kong reminds us that we are saved not only by Jesus’ death but also by the way he lives (Rom 5:10), and that the living soul came about when the divine came into contact with the human body. Every time our bodies have an encounter with God, we become more and more like Christ. Hence let us go to our spiritual gymnasium daily and become fit in the spirit, and in them we find rest for our souls.

Song of Songs 8:5 speaks of the Shulammite woman emerging from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved. In this message, Bobby Chaw teaches us how to do likewise and lean on our Beloved, Jesus when we are going through tough or dry seasons. There are three ways to lean on Him: one, surrender to God, that is, to give yourself up to the power of the Holy Spirit instead of struggling on your own. Two, be joined to Jesus and detaching yourself from carnal things. Three, delight in the Lord, which will take spiritual disciplines to develop. Be encouraged by this sermon by Pastor Bobby and start leaning on Jesus Christ every day.