Sunday, July 26, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings in the blessed name of Jesus!

First and foremost, I would like to warmly welcome all our family and friends to church this weekend. Thank you so much for taking the time to worship God with us today as we celebrate our 8th Anniversary – remembering God’s unceasing faithfulness and goodness to us over the years! All of us at City Harvest have so much to be thankful for. From just a small cell group 8 years ago where we could only meet our own needs to being able to support world missions today, is a testament of God’s power at work among us.

As the pastor of the church, I want to thank all of you for your faithfulness and commitment. Your sacrifice is not in vain. What we do now I believe will echo in all eternity. Our hard work will be a blessing not just in this generation but also many more generations to come. Our children and our children’s children will reap the harvest of our giving. I know most of us are still young but I really want to impart a sense of eternity into your hearts - to learn to think of not just things temporal but also eternal. The values of our lives increase the moment we focus on the hope of our salvation. It brings peace and hope to all those around us.

And as we journey along this path of loving and serving God and people, may I also take this opportunity to encourage you to enjoy every bit of the journey. This is going to be a long haul. So, let’s learn to enjoy each other’s company as we share our lives and our works together. Do not take your ministry as work but a privilege. Do not take your members as tasks but genuine friendships that will both shape and change our lives. With this renewed mindset, I believe we can run many more years together!

So, let’s celebrate and enjoy all that God has given to us.
Have a happy, blessed and memorable 8th Anniversary City Harvesters!

Love you all heaps and let’s keep on running,

KEV

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings in the blessed name of Jesus!

After spending a week in Taipei, I am back! I was with Ps. Wayne to speak for him over the weekend and also taught in their Vacation Bible School. I think I must have preached like 10 times over the span of 4 days! But it was all worthwhile as I see them so hungry for the Word of God. I believe as they continue to build up the lives of all these young people revival is going to break forth in Taiwan like never before. I want to encourage all of us to continue to pray for Ps. Wayne, Angel and also Eadin (their cute little baby boy) so that within the next year, they will break the 1000 people mark! I am excited!

As for us, the next couple of weeks are going to be SUPER POWER-PACKED! Firstly, we will be celebrating our 8th anniversary as a church next weekend. It is going to be a time of thanksgiving and celebration for all that God has done in our midst over the past 8 years. His faithfulness and goodness to us surpassed all that we ever asked or imagined. And in conjunction with that, we will also be having our Mission Weekend. Every year, we raise money for all the mission work that God has placed within our hearts to do. I want all of us to think beyond the 4 walls of our church building. I want all of us to learn to give and to learn to care. I believe as we remain faithful in doing what God has entrusted upon us, He will bless us many folds in return so that we will always have seeds to sow into His Kingdom. After that, on Sunday night, we will be having our Gala Dinner. We have not done this for 2 years now but I thought it would be nice to come together to just celebrate and have fun as a family. So, I would like to invite all of you to come and join us at Sunway Lagoon Resort. It is going to be a night of suit and tie, dresses and clutches! WOO HOO!

It is going to be one amazing weekend!

Love you guys!

KEV

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings in the blessed name of Jesus!

WOW! Another week has come and gone! Time really flies! But I trust that you have had a fruitful and blessed week with the LORD and your loved ones.

Building relationships is not a one-time event but a lifelong endeavor. As believers, we need to sharpen ourselves to do this well especially with those outside the 4 walls of the church. We need to learn to be the bridge so that we may influence them with the values of God. It is not always that we can lead them to the LORD but we do pray for them. We do not coerce them but we genuinely love them and care for them. For too long, the church has secluded itself from the people that it should influence. Friends, we cannot remain like this. It is not healthy and it is not how Jesus wants us to live. However, too often, we fail to do this because we are afraid that the world may contaminate us. The Word of God promises us that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. So, we should go out there with the strength and faith of God. We should always be mindful that the Spirit of God, which is not a spirit of timidity will always be there to lead us and encourage us. This is the promise of God. This is the faith that we can have!

Church, the more we engage the world, the sharper we are when dealing with leaders of the marketplace. We will begin to understand their language and gradually grow in our ability to communicate with them. This is so important because if we are not able to connect with them, how can we even influence them? As Christians, we have developed our own lingo over the years, and without realizing it, this has become a stumbling block for us. So, we need to know what ought to be changed and then proceed from there.
Remember, this is a lifelong endeavor! So, don’t try to learn and do everything tomorrow. Think long-term, think in the long-run.

Enjoy the ride guys!

In Him,

KEV

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings in the blessed name of Jesus!

WOW! What else can I say… Dr. A.R. Bernard was simply amazing, phenomenal and mind-blowing! His teaching was so clear and powerful that it didn’t only inspire us but challenge us to re-think our values and our belief system. Dr. Bernard is such a great teacher and last night we saw how the Word of God can transform our lives. So, I pray that all of us will maintain the hunger within us to continually want to have more of the Word of God taught and revealed in our lives. Friends, remember, maturity is a journey and not a destination. So, don’t stop growing.

This coming week, I will be finishing our series on The Christian Mind. I pray that this series will spark a lot of conversations and soul-searching within us so that we may grow in our faith and overcome those complaints leveled against us. As believers, one of the most important things that we must remember is that we can never arrive. We need to keep moving ahead in our faith. So, when we encounter difficulties and challenges, we need to learn to overcome it no matter how difficult it may be. Denial hinders growth and progress in life. Even though it is not very nice when being wrongly accused and criticized, we still need to do the right thing. Phew! I pray that as we learn to do this right, we will continue to bring Christ into culture and eventually redeeming it.

City Harvest, we have grown a lot over the past couple of years. I pray we will put what we learnt into good use. Do not just be a good listener but also a good doer of the Word of God. I know very soon, we will see a revival break forth like such that we have never seen before in this country.

Hence, let us continue to pray for the Spirit of God to continually work in our midst.
Yours for revival,

KEV