City Harvest Church Weekend Sermons

In the first of a new series, Kong Hee teaches on the Kingdom of God, a future reality Jesus spoke of that Christians can experience in part now. The Kingdom of God is the sovereign rule of His Kingship; it is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. In this sermon, Pastor Kong elaborates on righteousness, which believers must seek first (Matt 6:33). Righteousness can be practically exercised through four laws: one, the law of anger: do not let the sun go down while you are angry so the devil cannot get a foothold on your life. Two, the law of purity: don’t play with sin or temptation, keep your marriage covenant. Three, the law of honesty: keep your word. And four, the law of love, which includes loving our enemies. When we are living in Kingdom righteousness, we have zero anger, perfect purity, perfect honesty and perfect love. This is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In this Easter message, Kong Hee takes us through three important reasons why Jesus stayed on the cross even though He had the power to come down. First, He stayed on the cross to forgive all our sins. Man is unable to save himself—it took Jesus dying on the cross to put to death the sins that man commits. Second, He stayed on the cross to heal all our sicknesses—we experience healing when we hear, understand and believe the Word of God that our illnesses have been borne on the cross. Finally, Jesus stayed on the cross to free us from every curse—the moment we give our lives to Jesus, whatever curses afflict us are broken. Jesus could not come down from the cross because He had each of us and our salvation in mind. Let this message, filled with encouraging real-life examples, remind you that Jesus wants to make all things in your life new.

In this Palm Sunday message, Aries Zulkarnain explores the significance of the first—when Jesus turned water into wine (John 2)—and last of Jesus’ miracles before He was crucified, when He raised Lazarus from the dead. These two instances showed how Jesus is there for us in times of joy and of sorrow. Although it was not time for Him to reveal Himself, Jesus went behind the scenes at the wedding in Cana to solve the crisis, revealing that even if it’s not God’s timing, He is working in the background for our good. When Lazarus died, the Bible records that Jesus wept (John 11:35). Pastor Aries explains that Jesus was moved to tears and subsequently anger (v38) because He identified with the hopelessness and pain Martha and Mary felt being separated forever from their brother—Death had to be conquered and it took Jesus dying on the Cross to reconcile us back to God. Let this moving message prepare you for Easter, a time to celebrate the work of the Cross and to share the Good News.

As Easter approaches, Wu Yuzhuang shares a timely message about Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem on a donkey. He had sent His disciples to bring the donkey, telling its owner that “the Lord has need of them” (Matt 21:1-3). In the same way, the Lord has need of each of us—it is our privilege to be needed, desired and wanted by Jesus. The people He uses are those who are accessible, who are at the right place at the right time; those who are imperfect—if God can use fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, a little boy and his lunch, He can use you; those who are available—He uses the least likely to do the most mighty; and those who are willing to work hard. Be encouraged to be used by the Lord to reach out to the broken and needy—be a donkey who carries Jesus’s hope and peace to those who need it most.

After a time of spiritual retreat with the senior leadership of City Harvest, Pastor Kong recapped selected topics discussed during the retreat.Featuring pastors Sun Ho, Aries Zulkarnain, Bobby Chaw and Wu Yuzhuang, the conversation centred around the focus of the church and the responsibility of every Christian. Why do we need to define our doctrine? What is systematic theology? What kind of a church is City Harvest? How do we handle “hot seat” subjects involving society, ethics, morality and today’s culture?  As we delve into understanding who we are as a church, clarity will be the foundation of our purpose. May we learn how to navigate differences and maintain the unity that holds us together as a church family.

We are all born with a fallen sinful nature which the Bible calls the flesh. As believers of Jesus, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. Until we get to heaven, every Christian possess two opposing natures—the spirit and the flesh; and there is always the temptation to sin. But Paul gives us the key to victory over sin—the Holy Spirit—who reminds us of how we can walk in the likeness of Christ. We do this by daily crucifying the flesh (mortification), making a firm decision to repent from sin; and by daily making a conscience effort to walk intentionally in the way of the Spirit (vivification). As we do so, the fruit of the Spirit will grow and develop in our lives, making us more like Jesus!

Something always happens when we pray, because prayer is aligning our thoughts, intentions and desires with God. In this powerful sermon, Bobby Chaw explores three of Jesus's prayers that demonstrate how we, as Christians, also should pray. First, Jesus prayed "Father not my will but yours be done": when we wrestle with God and bring our will into submission under Him, things begin to happen. Second, "Father, forgive them": we are to pray for our enemies, not curse them. Finally, "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit": when we give ourselves wholly unto God, nothing can snatch us out of His hands. Listen and let Pastor Bobby's message do a work in your heart today.

A key element of CHC's Vision 2021 is to love unconditionally. In this message, Aries Zulkarnain shows how Jesus' disciple John was transformed from being a person of absolutes to the Apostle of Love through learning how Jesus dealt with sinners such as the adulterous woman (John 8:1-11), Simon Peter who denied Him (John 18:17-18) and the ones who put Jesus to death on the Cross despite His innocence (John 19). From Jesus, John learned that love is a balance of grace and truth, and a balance of forgiveness and restoration. Listen and enjoy more of Pastor Aries' revelations from the Book of John, a book that captures what love truly is.

The world has gone through a dark time this past year and it’s not over yet. But God wants teach us how to create a new world out of the broken pieces of our lives. In this powerful message, Pastor Erwin McManus of Mosaic Church, Los Angeles preaches out of Isaiah 61: in a terrible season, we are to proclaim the good news of the Lord by seeing what God sees about our future that no-one can imagine right now. The world has fallen into a state of hopelessness and woundedness, and the church is positioned to bring hope and healing. God will use all our failures, brokenness and scars to create a new future for the world. Be strengthened and inspired by this message of hope.

If we want to draw near to God and enjoy Him forever, we must be sanctified—set apart and purified. In this second part of his teaching on growing  in holiness, Kong Hee unpacks “mortification”, to kill every evil and self-indulgent habit in our lives daily (Rom 8:13 KJV) and to live a righteous life. This is internal spiritual warfare, and it can only be fought in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pastor Kong lists four steps to this daily war against sin: know your enemy (sin); know your objective (to drain life out of sin); know your superiority (sin has been defeated) and know your resources (grow, watch, pray). Listen to this sermon and go deeper with God today.