City Harvest Church Weekend Sermons

There are seven wrong reasons to serve, and love is not one of them. Jesus Himself did not come to be served but to serve, and He calls us to take up His easy yoke and light burden. In the fourth part of this series, Kong Hee elaborates on the secret of serving, which is the love that comes from the Holy Spirit Who is promised to us by God. The Holy Spirit creates in us a new heart, and pours out God’s love into our hearts like a waterfall. This love creates in us a desire to serve, and as we serve Him, we enjoy His love more and more. Listen to this sermon and be encouraged: if you are tired of serving, don’t serve more, but love more.

Is it good enough to continue watching weekend services from the comfort of your couch at home? In this sermon, Aries Zulkarnain encourages Christians to gather in person for church services now that the worst of Covid is over. The main reason to do come back to the house of God is to ensure that believers do not replace community with self-directed religion, which makes one prone to self-deception. No man can grow spiritually in isolation. Pastor Aries cites how Jesus went to the temple and cleansed it (John 2:13, Matt 21:12). From that, he teaches two things: one, believers must make sure convenience does not replace their commitment. Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God—instead of animal sacrifices of old, all we need now is to bring ourselves to church. Two, we must make sure convenience does not diminish the value of worship. Jesus was angry with the traders in the temple because they had turned a place of worship into a place to profit from the poor and the pilgrims. The people had gone from pleasing God to pleasing themselves. Let this message encourage you not to neglect the gathering of the saints, but come back to church and give God your true and proper worship.

In his third installment on The Easy Yoke, Kong Hee teaches from 1 Cor 12:4 that believers are given different gifts, and these gifts are meant for serving others. Pastor Kong presents three important aspects of God-given gifts. One, the gifts bring unity among believers. We can only serve out of our gifts with the support and gifts of other believers. Two, the gifts develop Christlikeness. Some callings are difficult to handle, but every gift is designed to draw you closer to Him. Three, the gifts have eternal significance. God sees whatever good we do with the gifts we are given, and they have eternal value. Listen to this message and be reminded that, just as Jesus came as a servant king, our desire to serve must come out of our love for Him and others.

In life there will be times we find ourselves in the wilderness. In this empowering message, Pastor Bobby Chaw reminds listeners that Jesus returned from the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4) and even though the children of Israel traversed the desert for 40 years, that was the time they experienced the presence of God daily (Numbers 1). A wilderness experience evokes two things: an awareness of self, that makes change possible, and an awareness of God. Three things to hold on to during a wilderness experience are one: faith in Jesus, don’t stop believing and acting on the promises of God. Two: hope, because the Spirit of hope will come and fill you again with joy and peace. And three: love, and especially do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you. Let this message encourage you that your trial is neither fatal nor final, but if you open your heart like the desert is open, the Holy Spirit will come and fill you again.

To anoint is to rub with oil—oil is the symbol of the power of the Holy Spirit. When a believer is anointed, he is marked, authorised, appointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit of fulfil a purpose—he can operate beyond natural gifts and talents. One can be righteous and holy, and yet not be anointed. In this powerful message, Pastor Wu Yuzhuang delves into two key aspects of the anointing: first, there is one anointing, but many functions. The same anointing empowers believers to lead the unsaved to Christ, to heal, to perform miracles, and also to live daily lives, to work and to manage families. Rely on God’s anointing for every aspect of your life, not just ministry. Second, in every new season, there will be a new supply of the anointing. But the season of anointing may not be the season of appointing: sometimes you must be faithful to do the simple things before the big dream comes to pass, so use this season of waiting to develop the skills you will need for the next level. Listen to this message and be encouraged to ask God for a fresh anointing for today.

In this second part of his teaching on serving, Pastor Kong Hee unpacks what it means to be the Bride of Christ that Ephesians 5:21-23 speaks of, and the significance of that when it comes to serving God. Christians have not been saved and transformed by Jesus’ work on the cross so that they can serve God, but so that they can enjoy deep intimacy and union with Him. When Jesus returns, that is when the marriage feast of the Lamb takes place (Rev 19:8) and the Bride will wear fine linen, which symbolises the righteous acts of believers. We serve God with joy because it is out of our love for Him that we do so. He does not need us to serve Him, but He enjoys doing things with His children. If you are weary and overwhelmed by serving, let this message restore to you the joy of serving.

In Matthew 11:28, Jesus promises the weary and burdened that He will give them rest. Serving the Lord should be a joyful experience, because His burden is easy and His yoke is light. In this message, Pastor Kong Hee explains what the easy yoke really is: it is having the right reason and attitude to serving. It is when we have wrong motives for serving that serving becomes hard. Don’t serve to prove you are good enough, don’t serve to get something out of God. Don’t serve God out of debt, not love. Don’t serve to impress other people, or to belong to a group. Don’t serve because you think Jesus needs you to do this or everything will fall apart, and don’t serve without a need for Jesus. If any of these reasons apply, it is likely serving will be a burden. Instead, serve because you have a relationship with Jesus, and because you love him, you want to serve Him. That is when the yoke feels easy and the joy returns. Listen to this message and be encouraged.

In this powerful message, special speaker Prof Doug Petersen teaches that God intervenes in the routine of daily life and uses the ordinary to do the impossible. A believer can experience the intervention of God in three ways: through divine guidance, often a little thing that is the leading of the Lord; through divine coincidence, when two things happen that don’t seem related, but are; and finally, through divine silence, when the believer encounters challenges and tragedies that cannot be understood, yet holds fast to the  sovereignty of God which extends over every circumstance. Using engaging examples from his life in ministry, Prof Petersen brings the listener back to the place of giving our all to the God who gives us His all. Prof Douglas Peterson is the Margaret S Smith Distinguished Professor of World Missions and Intercultural Studies at Vanguard University. He is also the founder of ChildHope (previously Latin America ChildCare) which has over 300 schools in 20 cities, and supports 100,000 children daily. 

Are you facing a giant—financial troubles? Health issues? Relationship problems?—in your life right now? Listen to this message and be encouraged. Teaching from the familiar story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, special speaker Prof Doug Petersen dissects the story to highlight details spelled out in the Bible that reveal exactly how a shepherd boy with a slingshot successfully destroyed the giant warrior of the Philistines, and why Goliath really didn’t stand a chance. Transposing this teaching to his own experience when his first school in Latin America was about to be shut down, Prof Petersen powerfully demonstrates the truth that is “the battle belongs to the Lord” (1 Sam 17:47). Prof Douglas Peterson is the Margaret S Smith Distinguished Professor of World Missions and Intercultural Studies at Vanguard University. He is also the founder of ChildHope (previously Latin America ChildCare) which has over 300 schools in 20 cities, and supports 100,000 children daily.

“What is the appropriate level of intimacy before marriage?” “What does Matthew 5:31 mean where it says, ‘Whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery?’” “Should there only be one disciplinarian in the family?” In this first Q&A session for CHC’s inaugural CityFamilies (CFAM) Conference with Pastors Kong Hee and Sun Ho, these and other questions are answered truthfully in love.