One Covenant Church Sermons: Recent Episodes
One Covenant Church
Sermon series: Reflections on the Psalms
The psalmist Asaph shows us how we can handle doubts in our lives. Doubts often arise through experiences that seem incoherent with the faith. This means that we should be willing to doubt our doubts in order to engage them fairly. For Asaph, he was redirected to God through participation in sanctuary worship, which provided an eternal perspective as he reconsidered the prosperity of the wicked.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 16 June 2024
In Psalm 42, the psalmist expresses his longing to commune with God. As he finds himself away from the sanctuary of God, the psalmist shows us the importance of lament in the face of pain and anguish. The purpose of lament is not to drive us away from God but to drive us towards Him and His good purposes. When we do so, we're enabled to live with hope, leading to praise of the living God.
Sermon series: Reflections on the Psalms
In this opening, defining psalm, the psalmist draws our attention to the importance of walking in the way of wisdom. This comes through meditating, day and night, on the Word of God. By internalising it, we become a fruit-bearing tree that can resist sin, as well as prosper according to God's economy. This is possible because of our union with the true vine, Jesus Christ.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 2 June 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe -- The Apostles' Creed
The Creed ends with a reminder that Jesus gives us hope in the present life, in life after death, and in life after life after death. Our final hope as Christians is not to live as disembodied beings in eternity, but to be with God in resurrected physical bodies in a restored creation.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 26 May 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe -- the Apostles' Creed
In Jesus, God can mercifully forgive our sins without compromising His justice, and so be perfectly merciful and perfectly just at the same time (Exodus 34:6-7). He is just, because sin has been punished in Jesus. And he is merciful, because He can now freely forgive. This forgiveness cannot be earned, but can only be received humbly as a free gift. Knowing a forgiveness that doesn’t compromise justice enables us to truly rejoice that we are forgiven (Psalm 32:1-2), and helps us to create a safe space for sinners in our church (Matthew 18:21-22, Colossians 3:13).
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 19 May 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe -- The Apostles' Creed
After its description of the persons of the Trinity, the Apostles' Creed transitions to a description of the church as God's people. The church is the gathering of saints who have been set apart by God for the sacred mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. As believers, we have communion with one another through our common union in Christ. This provides a foretaste of the fellowship that we'll have in eternity with every believer in Christ from every nation, tribe, people, and language.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 12 May 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe -- The Apostles' Creed
After confessing about God the Father and the Son, the Apostles’ Creed turns to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, in the third paragraph (“I believe in the Holy Spirit”). Theologian J. I. Packer says that this paragraph “turns to the re-creating work of the Spirit, whereby we are actually made new in and through Christ.” In order to appreciate better what it means to be a believer, we need to understand the person, presence, and power of the Holy Spirit as He applies the work that Christ accomplished to us.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 5 May 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe -- The Apostles' Creed
The Creed teaches us that Jesus rose on the third day, ascended to heaven, is seated at the right hand of God and will return to judge the living and the dead. Through this Jesus obtains for us a secure and sure salvation, and gives us eternal hope.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 28 April 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe -- The Apostles' Creed
The creed helps us confess that we believe Jesus died unjustly, innocently, but historically at the hands of Pontius Pilate. He died a cruel and shameful death by crucifixion to forgive our sins and cover our shame. His death, burial and descent to the place of the dead show us that Jesus died as a human being, in our place, and for our salvation. Jesus deals not just with our fear of death, but with death itself.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 21 April 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe -- The Apostles' Creed
Christians throughout the ages have believed that Jesus is fully God and fully human at the same time. This means that God has broken into history, showing us that He is real, and that He has come to save us, conquer evil, and restore what is broken by sin.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 14 April 2024
Sermon series: This I Believe, The Apostles' Creed
The Apostles' Creed, which gives us a summarised picture of the Gospel, begins by telling us who is this very God that Christians believe in. He is our Father Almighty and the Creator of all things. Those who trust in Jesus are adopted into God's family, and God becomes their ever-present help.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 7 April 2024
Sermon series: Easter Sunday
In Psalm 118, King David is in distress because of his enemies, internal strife and a personal indiscretion. God rescues him and he leads his people to worship and praise God for all God had done for them. Jesus is the true and better King David who died and rose again so that we who have faith in Him might also delight in God’s rescue.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 31 March 2024
Sermon series: Good Friday
Psalm 22 is a passionate portrayal of a righteous, believing man. It provides us with a model for how we can deal with grief and sorrow as believers. Above all, the psalm points to Jesus Christ and provides us with a vivid description of His suffering and agony on the cross. Through His death, Jesus, the light of the world, descended into the darkness so that we may be delivered from eternal darkness.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 29 March 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
The power to live Jesus’ Upside-Down Kingdom values is in knowing that it is also an Inside-Out Kingdom. The Kingdom has a generous and gracious culture that flows genuinely from the heart and is evidenced by hearing and obeying God’s Word. When our hearts are changed by God’s grace and generosity toward us in the Cross, we will live for Him from the heart.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 March 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
In Jesus’s Upside-Down Kingdom, he calls us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. This is impossible to do in our own strength. Only seeing that God has loved us in Christ even when we were his enemies will fill us with the love that enables us to love our enemies.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 17 March 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
In the beginning of his sermon, Jesus explains tells us the ‘upside-down’ values of his kingdom. He says that with him, even if you lose wealth, comfort, success and recognition you can still rejoice. But without him, even if you have all of those things, you will end up weeping because they are fleeting.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 10 March 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
After recovering the true meaning of Sabbath rest (Luke 6:1-11), he now helps us recover the true meaning of work and mission (Luke 6:12-19). We learn the need for prayer, how Jesus assigns us to different vocations graciously and how in small and big ways we can take part in what God is doing to redeem souls and restore the world today.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 3 March 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
In his conflict with the religious elite, Jesus reveals to us God’s original intention for Sabbath rest. It is for nourishment and restoration. A nourishment and restoration that can only be ours through the Gospel.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 25 February 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
Jesus responds to the religious leaders who are questioning what His disciples were doing. In this passage, Jesus' teachings are emphatic: our old ways of self-righteousness are incompatible with the new ways of Jesus. As such, we need to lay aside our self-worked religion before we can receive the new wine of divine grace.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 18 February 2024
Jesus called Levi to follow him. This is controversial because Levi is a despised “tax collector”, a traitor to his people, and one who is unscrupulous and dishonest. But as grace touches Levi’s heart, he leaves his former ways behind and now uses all his resources to celebrate Jesus and propagate the good news. On the other hand, the religious Pharisees who depend on their own righteousness grumble against Jesus’ disciples. This gives Jesus the opportunity to spell out clearly that his mission is to come for the sick, unrighteous and sinful.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 12 February 2024
Deacons are appointed to preserve the unity and ensure the flourishing of the church. However, if we are not careful, we can distort their role and end up causing strife and disunity. God’s Word exhorts us to perceive the dignity of the role of Deacons, promote the peace and unity of the church, and pursue the honour of Christ so that we can truly flourish together in Christ as members, Deacons and Elders of Jesus’ church.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 4 February 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
Through this story that involves the healing of a paralytic, Jesus helps us to see our most important need: the forgiveness of our sins. It clarifies who needs forgiveness, why forgiveness is needed, and what forgiveness does to us. With this forgiveness, we have the strength and freedom to walk in the ways of Jesus.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 4 February 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
Jesus heals a man with leprosy. Leprosy meant that the man would have been socially, emotionally and personally isolated from others because he was unclean. To heal him meant that Jesus was also restoring him into a relationship with God and God’s people. This is what we all need.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 28 January 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
When Jesus calls his first followers, Simon, James and John, he demonstrates his power and purity through the things he knows. He shows them their sinfulness and they are terrified. But he shows great grace is allaying their fears and calling them to become ‘fishers of people’.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 21 January 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
As Jesus begins His ministry in Capernaum, Luke's emphasis turns from the content of the Messiah's message to what He did. As He preached the good news of the kingdom, Jesus healed the afflicted and exorcised demons as a demonstration of His power. All of these served to authenticate the kingdom message that Jesus came to proclaim.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 14 January 2024
Sermon series: Hearing the Saviour
After overcoming the Devil's temptations, Jesus Christ began His earthly ministry in Galilee, where the focus is on portraying Him as a preacher, healer, and prophet. As Jesus ministered in the synagogue in Nazareth, He announced that He was the Spirit-anointed Messiah who came to proclaim the forgiveness of sins and liberate the poor and oppressed. Those who recognise their poverty and trust solely in the Messiah will find a place for them in God's glorious kingdom.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 7 January 2024
The author of the letter to the Hebrews exhorts and encourages the church to persevere in the spiritual race set before us. In order to run this race well, we need to fix our gaze on Christ, build fortitude through our life experiences, and encourage one another to be faithful in the church. This enables us to face new challenges ahead, even if they remain uncertain to us.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 31 December 2023
Oftentimes, when things look bleak we gain comfort and strength from reminding ourselves of some basic and unchangeable facts. Christmas reminds us that God is real, salvation is by grace, and love can last forever. This is the comfort and strength that God offers all who embrace Christ.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 December 2023
Psalm 121 is a song of trust, similar to Psalms 23, 46, and 91, distinguished by their theme of confidence in God. As one commentator puts it, ‘This psalm affirms that those who are in relationship with the Lord are safe in his care. Their mountains may be great, but their Maker is greater. Their problems may be overwhelming, but his protection is ever available. Their hurts are inevitable, but his help is inexhaustible.’
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 17 December 2023
Sermon series: God's Good News
Romans 1-11 culminates in this hymn of praise to God for his infinite wisdom and generosity. God is wiser and more generous than we can imagine. Resting in God, and taking his invitation to find ourselves in His story, we find our highest joy as we seek his greatest glory.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 10 December 2023
Sermon series: God's Good Plan
This passage presents the climax of the apostle Paul's argument which he has been building for 3 chapters. The doors of salvation are still open to Israel, and it shows in God's pursuit of them. This reality is rooted in God's Word, which shows forth His character as a faithful God. In light of His undeserved mercy to both Jews and Gentiles, we are called to respond with gratitude to this very God.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 3 December 2023
Sermon series: God's Good Plan
The stumbling of Israel was never intended to be total nor final. Rather, it was meant to facilitate the proclamation of the Gospel to the Gentiles. In turn, this would invoke jealousy within Israel so that they may desire the same salvation extended to the Gentiles. Salvation is by grace alone, whether for Jew or Gentile. Apart from reconciliation with God, salvation breaks down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 27 November 2023
Sermon series: God's Good Plan
God's remarkable grace is seen in His salvation of a chosen remnant within Israel. The apostle Paul himself, as a Jewish believer, is living proof that God is still working in Israel. The flip-side of God's grace is seen in His judgment towards those who reject the Gospel with hardened hearts. Those who have tasted and seen God's grace are called to depend on Christ and to not harden their hearts against it.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 19 November 2023
Sermon series: God's Good Plan
The gospel is the extraordinary message of God’s Son who came to live, die and rise again to save sinners. This news is spread through the ordinary means of ordinary people like us. The responses to this message can be surprising, with those we expect to respond not receiving it, and those we don’t expect to respond receiving it.
Preacher: Paul Lee
Date: 12 November 2023
Sermon series: God's Good Plan
Paul tells us another reason why most of God’s Old Testament people did not believe the gospel was because they sought to get right with God through obeying the law, doing good works and being zealous for God. None of these things can really get them (and us) right with God. Only faith in the person and work of Jesus will do that.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 6 November 2023
Sermon series: God's Good Plan
In this detour from his main argument, the apostle Paul seeks to address objections to the doctrine of God's unconditional election. Through this text, Paul demonstrates the mercy of God that is magnified through divine election. God's sovereign choice is also indicative of His authority as the Creator God, just as a potter relates to the clay at His disposal. In the demonstration of God's justice and mercy, the riches of His glory are revealed primarily to vessels of mercy so that they may be led to repentance, faith and worship of the almighty, sovereign God.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 22 October 2023
Sermon series: God's Good Plan
In concluding his discussion of the issue of unbelieving Jews, Paul provides evidence from the Old Testament Prophets, Hosea and Isaiah, that the Word of God has not failed. Despite Israel deserving complete destruction, God preserved a remnant. Because mankind was undeserving of salvation to begin with, God's mercy to the elect only reveals the riches of His glory.
Preacher: Chua Si Yang
Date: 29 October 2023
Sermon series: Romans 9-11: God's Good Plan
Paul shows that God is faithful to his promises to the Israel within Israel, the true Israel, the true children of God. We learn that the true children of God are spiritual, miraculous and chosen by God. Salvation is God's work from beginning to end, and this magnifies the graciousness of God's grace in Jesus Christ.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 15 October 2023
Sermon series: Romans 9-11: God's Good Plan
Paul begins explaining what happened to the Jewish people by showing us how deeply he feels for them. He is sincerely and deeply grieved that they do not have Christ, and yet is hopeful that they will have Christ because the gifts of God to them as a people are etched in their culture and history.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 8 October 2023
Spiritual friends are friends who are friends with each other because of their common friendship with Christ. They are committed to helping each other follow Christ. Indeed, we cannot normally follow Christ without the company of friends.
Preacher: Tan Soo-Inn
Date: 1 October 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Leviticus is all about how a holy God makes sinful people holy, so that they can dwell in relationship with him. It ends with a call to live out practically the implications of all that’s taught in this book. God’s people are to live in covenant relation with him, in humble contrition before him, and in heartfelt commitment to him.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 September 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Leviticus 25 is the continuation of the observance of sacred or holy time in Israel’s national calendar which started in Leviticus 23. We see the challenge of observing the Sabbath year for the life of Israel but also the bountiful grace from God shown in the year of Jubilee. Ultimately, the observance of the year of Jubilee is to point to a greater reality that will be fulfilled in the coming of Christ.
Preacher: Chua Si Yang
Date: 17 September 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
From addressing the priests (Leviticus 21-22), God now addresses the people with regard to worship. We see the grace of God shine through in his call for his people to rest and to worship on the Sabbaths and Feast Days of Israel. Resting in Jesus, we today gather to worship in his name.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 10 September 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Spiritual leaders in God’s family are called to be dedicated, able, and careful in the handling of ‘holy things’. Ultimately, it is God himself who qualifies and enables his leaders.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 3 September 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
In these chapters, God gives laws to Israel concerning how they are to live in the Promised Land. Negatively, there were pagan practices that the Israelites had to avoid. Positively, they were called to love one another in action. These statutes are rooted in the fact that they were redeemed by the LORD God from slavery to live for Him.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 27 August 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Leviticus 1-16 focuses on the sacrifices necessary to atone for sin, while Leviticus 18-27 focuses on holy living. Leviticus 17 shows us how atonement for sin is connected to holy living. In the regulation for the shedding and consumption of blood, we see the Lordship of God, the sacredness of life, and the life of love.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 20 August 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
The Day of Atonement was the holiest day of the Israelite calendar. Its purpose was to atone for the remaining sins of Israel that were unaccounted for. This included sanctifying the sanctuary, which was where the holy God met His sinful people. However, all of the rites performed would mean little to nothing when they are not accompanied by true repentance.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 13 August 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Sex is one of God’s good and beautiful gifts to humanity. It is so wonderful that left unchecked, the gift can take the place of the giver, God, which is disastrous. Therefore, God places checkpoints to remind us of him, and also makes a way for cleansing and forgiveness for those who misuse sex.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 6 August 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
The passage outlines what God's people are to do when they encounter a kind of infectious disease. Reading the passage more closely reveals that this disease is symbolic for sin. And so, God's people are to be intentional in determining whether they have sinned or not according to God's Word, and turn to God for the provision to atone for their sin. This is accomplished through the offering of Christ as a sacrifice for sin.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 30 July 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
In the stipulations God gives Israel for purification after giving birth, we see the pervasive nature of sin. Sin affects everything, even the most meaningful and joyful human experiences like childbirth. At the same time, we see God's provision of grace shining through in the sign of circumcision and the provisions for atonement for rich and poor.
God gave His people specific food laws as directives so that the nations would know who they belonged to by what they ate. To become unclean through eating or contact was to risk becoming undone before a holy God. Yet, the people were not called to obey the food laws in a legalistic way. The laws were given to remind God's people of their redemption from Egypt.
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Worship is a dangerous thing because sinful people are coming into the presence of a holy God. And so, for worship to be safe, it must be according to God’s Word, honouring of God, and must arise from sincerity of heart. All these are possible only through Jesus Christ who makes our worship acceptable to God.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 9 July 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Leviticus 9 shows us clearly that the purpose of the 5 offerings in Leviticus 1-7 was to make it possible for God to appear before his people in glory. And so, to see God in his glory they had to hear his promise, acknowledge the problem, embrace the provision and enjoy God’s presence.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 July 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
The Old Testament priests of Israel were mediators between God and His people. In the consecration service of Leviticus 8, we see how important it is for the priests to dedicate their whole selves to God. Yet, they were not sinless mediators. Their imperfections, along with the constant need to offer sacrifices, point to the need for a great high priest, who became the perfect sacrifice for His people.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 25 June 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
After instructing the congregation about the respective sacrifices, Leviticus 6:8-7:38 turns to instruct the priests on the conduct of these sacrifices. These duties reinforce the holiness of God. At the same time, they point forward to the coming of the great high priest who will fulfil all of these sacrifices as the once-for-all sacrifice to God for His people.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 18 June 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
The guilt offering, which is often known as the reparation or compensation offering, involves making amends for the harm that was caused by sin. The fact that restitution was required, even for unintentional sins, shows how seriously God takes sin. At the same time, when restitution is given to an offended neighbour, it served as a deterrent against crimes within the community, as well as soothed the strained relationship between the offender and the offended. In order to confess our sins willingly to the offended party, God needs to change us so that we'll be truly repentant before Him and our neighbour.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 11 June 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
The sin offering shows the importance of needing to be cleansed in the presence of the Lord. Whether the sins committed were intentional or unintentional, sacrifices were required, which highlights the seriousness of sin before a holy God. However, the provisions provided for all shows that forgiveness and cleansing are available to all people. This abundance of provision finds it fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the final sin offering who cleansed us once for all so that we may be in God's presence.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 4 June 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
The "peace offering" shows us that the goal of atonement is not merely forgiveness or acceptance with God, but a deep and abiding communion with him. As a result of this communion, we also have deep and abiding communion with God's people. Because we are often forgetful, God institutes rituals and symbols to remind us of the great cost of communion with him. In the case of New Testament believers, this is the Holy Communion.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 28 May 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
The burnt offering (Leviticus 1) brings atonement, while the grain offering expresses gratitude to God for atonement. It is the giving of our time, talent and treasure for the work of the gospel because we have tasted of the goodness of the gospel.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 21 May 2023
Sermon series: Leviticus: A Holy God, A Holy People
Leviticus begins with God’s instructions to his people for the burnt offering. This offering atones for sins, but also expresses devotion. Through the offering of Jesus as the one to whom the burnt offerings point, we have atonement with God and can also now offer our lives as a pleasing sacrifice to the God who is already pleased with us
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 14 May 2023
Sermon series: Deacons: Caring through Serving
In this passage, the apostle Paul highlights what deacons are called to be. They are called to be faithful, exemplary men in their service so that the church may see the love of Jesus Christ concretely. Though being a deacon is hard, yet he can persist in his service because of the encouragement of the church, as well as the strengthening power that comes from Jesus.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 7 May 2023
Sermon series: Deacons: Caring through Serving
The church needs Deacons to meet practical needs so that the Gospel can continue to be spread and enjoyed. God uses the leaders and the whole congregation to select the right Deacons. With Deacons, the church becomes all that God wants it to be.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 30 April 2023
Sermon series: Deacons: Caring through Serving
The call to serve is not merely for a select few; it is for all believers who profess Jesus Christ. Service is based on Gospel truths, which we are called to speak lovingly to one another, and it involves building one another up with our spiritual gifts. We serve one another in order to reach spiritual maturity in the form of Christ-likeness.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 23 April 2023
Sermon series: Deacons: Caring through Serving
The office of Deacon is an ‘office of compassion and service modelled after Christ’. And so, our series begins by uncovering God’s heart for the poor and needy, and our calling as His people to love and serve the poor and needy.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 16 April 2023
Easter Sunday 2023
Having promised to seek out and save the lost during his earthly ministry, on the day of his resurrection, Jesus sets out to do just that. He gives the women, who were marginalised in their day the great privilege of being the first witnesses of his resurrection and of proclaiming his resurrection to his male disciples. He also seeks out the male disciples who had deserted him.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 9 April 2023
Good Friday 2023
Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the silent, messianic sheep in Isaiah 53:7. He was silent before his accusers. He was silent even as he suffered in pain and humiliation. Eventually, he faced the ultimate silence in death so that he may conquer it once and for all on our behalf.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 7 April 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
Jesus overcame the temptation of the devil to obtain legitimate things in illegitimate ways. As the one who overcame temptation on behalf of those who haven’t, Jesus reveals God’s love for sinners in a way that moves us to overcome temptation.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 April 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
The genealogy of Jesus establishes for us the identity of Jesus as the Son of God. He is a unique person like no other and yet familiar with the mess of human relationships, a unusual king who is regal and acquainted with poverty, and he is on a universal mission to draw all types of people everywhere to God.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 26 March 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
John the Baptist came into the scene in this passage as the last of the Old Testament prophets. His message of repentance challenged the presumption of the religious people in his day. Ultimately, this prepared the way of Jesus Christ, the Messiah who identified with His people in His baptism.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 19 March 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
The only childhood account of Jesus in the Bible shows us that Jesus knew clearly who he was and what he had come to do. He, being like us in his humanity, and yet completely unlike us in his divinity came to give us life to bring lost sinners back to the Father’s house.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 12 March 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
In this episode which features the infant Jesus, we see how everything revolves around this baby through the lenses of three groups of people. Through Joseph and Mary, we find hope expressed in a faithful God through obedience. Through Simeon, we discover how Jesus gives us hope in the face of death. Through Anna, we observe how it's possible to have hope amidst despair. Together, they help us to see how we may have hope in life and death.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 5 March 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
Luke shows us that the birth of Jesus is not myth or legend, but anchored in history. Jesus really did come with the authority and power of God to save. We make this personal by believing in Jesus and acting on our faith.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 26 February 2023
To be a follower of Jesus is to change for the better. And one of the ways we are called to change, is to become more childlike. To be childlike is to be dependent on God, and to trust him.
Preacher: Tim Mountfort
Date: 19 February 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
In the story of redemption of Zechariah, we learn that God's path to redemption often goes against social and cultural convention. It is his prerogative to redeem, and those he is redeeming are to respond in faith and obedience. God's redemption is sure because it is firmly anchored in the ancient covenant promises he has made to his people. And finally, God's purpose for redeeming a people for himself is that he might forgive them of their sins, free them from their oppression and enable them to serve him without fear.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 12 February 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
In the ‘Visitation’ of Mary to Elizabeth, we are shown God’s amazing grace in bringing together people of different backgrounds. His Spirit fills all who believe in Christ. His promise to Abraham is for all the families of the earth to be blessed. And all of these produce endearing praises in the hearts of all his people.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 5 February 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
The angel Gabriel made the announcement to Mary that she will bear a child, who will become the Saviour of the world. She was chosen by grace for this purpose, and she will conceive this child through the miraculous work of the Spirit. Her act of faith, even as a teenager, gives us much to learn from trusting the God of the impossible.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 29 January 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
One reason why we might lose "certainty" (Luke 1:4) or confidence in our lives is because we have lost hope through disillusionment or disappointment. God can renew our hope through the unlikely story of the conception of John the Baptist. In this story, we see God's plans prevail over pain, unbelief and impossible circumstances. The path to renewing our hope is to press into what God has done for us, not what we do for God.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 22 January 2023
Sermon series: Like No Other Saviour
In the opening prologue to his Gospel account, Luke the physician helps us to see why the story of Jesus Christ matters. It is a story that is reliable, redemptive and reassuring. At the end of the day, it shows us a Saviour that we can love and trust in.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 15 January 2023
In church membership, we are bringing together personal conversion and the communal embrace of the church. This gives us a full and rich experience of the grace of the Gospel. Through membership in the local church, we are able to obey God together. We have assurance of truly being his, and we grow together in maturity as individuals and as a community. Membership is for those who recognise that they are weak, and need other weak people to find the strength that God gives.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 8 January 2023
As a Christian community, we are the people of God, the body of Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. In community we witness to the reality of God and the gospel, mature in our faith, and experience God in a way we cannot on our own. To experience community, we need to belong to the community practically by being an active member of a Community Group, and believing deeply in the gospel that binds our hearts together.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 1 January 2023
Sermon series: Rediscovering Christmas
In this prophecy, Isaiah speaks of good news that will bring joy to God's people in Zion. The proclamation of this good news was fulfilled in the angels' announcement of king Jesus' birth in Luke 2:8-14. It is through faith in Jesus that we are saved and able to experience true joy and peace.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 25 December 2022
Sermon series: Rediscovering Christmas
In the uncertain times we live in, Christmas shows us that we can have a sure and certain hope. God has promised light, joy and peace in place of our darkness, anguish and gloom. He has the power to fulfil his promises, and does so by sending Jesus.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 December 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
In our irreducible weakness, the apostle Paul assures us that we are more than conquerors through Christ. We have the assurance of the Spirit's intercession, salvation in Christ, and security in the loving hands of our heavenly Father. Indeed, nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 18 December 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
The Holy Spirit gives assurance to believers by reminding us of who we are as adopted children in Christ. Though we are still living in a creation subjected to futility, yet there is the hope of glory that awaits us when Jesus Christ comes again. Believers, along with the rest of creation, shall become free from sin and corruption when we see Christ face to face in His glorious return.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 11 December 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
The apostle Paul turns in chapter 8 to look at what serving in the new way of the Spirit looks like in the believer. As Christians, we are no longer condemned on account of what Christ has done for us. Instead, the Spirit frees us from the flesh so that we may obey God. He also empowers us so that we may bear spiritual fruit in the lifelong process of sanctification.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 4 December 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
Even though God’s law is not a system by which we can obtain acceptance with God, God’s law is still good and relevant to followers of Jesus. It makes us know our sin, makes us reckon with the state of our souls, and drives us to Jesus our Saviour.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 27 November 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
In this passage, the apostle Paul answers the objection that being under grace means obtaining a free license to sin. When we are united to Christ, we are not only slaves to righteousness, but we are also freed from the law in our marriage to Christ. True freedom is not the absence of constraints. Rather, true freedom lies in having the power to do what pleases God, which is only possible when the Spirit changes our hearts and makes us willing to live for Him.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 20 November 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
Why shouldn't Christians continue in sin if grace is so free? We cannot because our lives have been so intertwined with Christ that his death to sin becomes our death to sin. Sin is no longer our master. We do not need to obey sin. Because of this great truth, we can grow in holiness by God's grace.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 13 November 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
In this remarkable text, the apostle Paul gives us a panoramic view of God's history of redemption. He helps us to see that all people are either united to Adam or Jesus Christ. Depending on the representatives that we belong to, we will either have death (in Adam) or life (in Christ), which is far better.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 6 November 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
Those who have been justified by faith in Christ, have the blessing of being reconciled to God, free access to his grace, and have an unshakeable hope of restoration to beauty and splendour. We also need not fear the coming judgement of God. The way we can be sure that we have this life is because the Holy Spirit pours God's love into our hearts, and because God has shown us his love through the death of his Son for us.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 30 October 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
In this passage, Paul further clarifies that to receive the righteousness of God by faith in Christ means that God counts those who have faith in Jesus, as righteous in his eyes. It is a change of status. Using the example of the Jewish patriarch Abraham, Paul shows us that this new status cannot be earned through good works, rituals or obeying God's law. It is received as a free gift by trusting in the promise and power of God as shown to us most clearly in Jesus.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 23 October 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
God's answer to our damnable unrighteousness and self-righteousness is to give us his own righteousness. This righteousness is received by a faith that is not a work, and that is in the Cross-work of Christ. We know we have received this righteousness if we are humble, united with other Christians, and obedient to God.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 16 October 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
As the apostle Paul concludes his indictment against sin, he speaks about the benefits that the Jew has with respect to the law despite his faithlessness. The law functions as a mirror of our sins, which shows us our fundamental need for the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 9 October 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
Even the Christian religion can be an idol that keeps us from God. Idolatrous religion is marked by pride, hypocrisy and superficiality. So, even religious people need the gospel.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 October 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
In Romans 2, Paul shifts his gaze to address the religious Jew, who is guilty of the very wrongdoings that he judges others for. This leaves him condemned before the impartial judgment of God, which leaves no room for presumption and pretension. Yet, without God's judgment, there is no Gospel for the salvation of sinners through Jesus Christ.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 25 September 2022
Sermon series: God's Good News
Paul begins to explain the darkness of human sin, which tells us why we all need the Gospel. God is angry at human sin. We are idolatrous, immoral and unjust. And yet, God makes a way to save us through Christ.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 18 September 2022
In the introduction to his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul helps us to see that everyone needs the Gospel. The message of the Gospel is centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Gospel, which is the power of God for salvation, transforms the lives of people from the inside out. The way we receive this divine power is through faith. When we trust in Jesus, we are no longer condemned, but we stand righteous before God.
Prayer is God’s way of taking the facts we know about him, and making it a fire that burns in our hearts. It is pouring out our hearts to God, according to his will, in the name of Christ, by the help of the Spirit with confession and thanksgiving.
Jesus is an utterly unique figure in history. He is God’s promised King, who is both fully human and fully God. He lived, died, rose again and ascended to heaven, and is coming again to judge. In him, we have forgiveness of our sins, reconciliation with God, covering of our shame, and the defeat of evil. Jesus wants us to hear him, turn away from sin, turn to him in faith, and follow Him.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 28 August 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
As the Book of Exodus concludes, we find that God has accomplished everything needed for him to be with his people. He forgives them of their egregious sins, enables them to be fully faithful to him, and gives them a future hope in all his promises.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 21 August 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
In the construction of the tabernacle, all of God's people were called to participate in this work, which they did so willingly. Regardless of the types of contribution, God was the one who ultimately provided all of these. The profusion of His provision anticipates the abundant grace and glorious riches that are found only in Jesus Christ.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 14 August 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
In spite of all that God had done for them, God’s people sinned egregiously while Moses was on the mountain receiving instructions from God. They made and worshipped the golden calf. Though their sins have dire consequences, God forgives them and restores them because of the intercession of Moses.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 7 August 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
For a holy God to dwell with sinful people, this passage shows us that a holy place, holy priests and the contribution of the people are required. It is not easy for a holy God to dwell with sinful people, but Jesus has made a way.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 31 July 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
Christians are called to obey God not to become one of God’s people, but because they are already God’s people. God provides everything we need in order to be able to obey him. He elaborates his will for us in his Word, is present with us by the Holy Spirit, and has already made atonement for all our sins and failures.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 July 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
Upon arriving at Mount Sinai, Israel had to prepare themselves as they gathered to meet the LORD their King. He is a holy God who desires to commune with His people. As His holy nation, Israel was given God's law so that they may know the way to live. However, as sinners, the only way that the Israelites could commune with a holy God was through the altar sacrifices that were offered regularly, which find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 17 July 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
Soon after crossing the Red Sea, Israel began grumbling against God because of a lack of water and food. They had lost their way. By striking the rock, God shows his costly grace. It's a grace that requires payment for sin. Through that, God restores them to their original purpose of making Him known to the nations.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 10 July 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
In the crossing of the Red Sea, we see a picture of the spiritual life. God's people are in a place of despair. God led them so that he can be made known, and so that they can experience his power first hand. In his deliverance of them, God does what is needed for them to be saved. They merely trust him, and obey him. In response, God's people stand in awe of God, trust him, and delight in him.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 3 July 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
The Passover is a call for God's people to remember Him and His work among them. We are a forgetful and self-sufficient people. God, in his grace, gives us ways to remember Him, and to remember that we are creatures who need the creator. More than that, we are sinners who need a Saviour.
Preacher: Tim Mountfort
Date: 26 June 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
God rescues his people so that they can worship and serve him. Unlike the gods of Egypt, he alone is truly deserving of worship. The plagues demonstrate his superior power over them, and the manner in which he rescues shows his great love for his people.
Preacher: Daniel Ahn
Date: 19 June 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
In Exodus 5, Pharaoh says that he does not know God. Exodus 6-7, God tells Moses that after he has performed great acts to redeem Israel from captivity, both the Egyptians and Israelites will know God. What does it mean to know God? Why is that important? And what does knowing God mean for us today?
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 12 June 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
In Moses’ first encounter with God in Exodus 3-4, he was called to be God’s instrument of deliverance for His people. However, Moses had to wrestle with his own inadequacies and the uncertainties that accompany the task. He had to confront them and discover how much he needed the LORD to do what he was called to do. At the end of the day, it turns out that all Moses needed to do was to trust and obey.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 5 June 2022
Sermon series: Rescued for Worship
God’s people are oppressed as slaves. In these hard times, they receive unexpected help from who those who would normally not favour them. In all their hardships, they can have hope because God will rescue not on the basis of their goodness, but his.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 29 May 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
In the concluding section of the Gospel according to John, we are given a description of what we need to serve the resurrected Christ. We need to adore, focus on and behold Christ. Even though John did not record everything which Jesus said and did in his Gospel account, yet he has given us enough to know the way of salvation and whom we should follow.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 22 May 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
In his third meeting with his disciples after his resurrection, Jesus shows his disciples what being on mission in the world will be like. It will be challenging, but he will provide them all that they need. Their greatest need is a deep and abiding communion with God through Jesus Christ.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 15 May 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
Jesus shows great compassion to Thomas in his doubt: he is both truthful and kind at the same time. In so doing, Thomas is led to faith and the great confession that Jesus is, ‘My Lord, and my God.’ Jesus can do the same for us.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 8 May 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
The resurrection of Jesus Christ transformed the lives of Jesus’ followers against all odds. It gave them the assurance of salvation, the authority to carry out Jesus’ mission to the world, and calls them to action. The resurrection can do the same for us.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 1 May 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
In John 20:11-18, Mary Magdalene shows her devotion to Jesus, but also her lack of faith in his resurrection. Jesus appears to Mary, and seeing her risen Saviour changes Mary’s life.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 24 April 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
In John 20:1-10, we are given the good news of the resurrection. The fact of the empty tomb points to the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. However, the resurrection was not a mere, historical fact. The fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is life-changing, and it transforms those who would believe and embrace this truth personally.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 17 April 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
In the events leading up to his death and burial, Jesus reveals that God is love. He fulfills God’s plan to rescue and cleanse his people from sin. And, he redeems a people for himself.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 15 April 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
The final moments of Jesus' trial were filled with irony. Pilate thought that he was in control of the situation, but he was not. The Jews thought that they were truly God's people, but their profession said otherwise. Above all, Christ's silence proclaimed everything about His role as the Passover Lamb, whose blood will save those who trust in Him.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 10 April 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
On his way to the cross, Jesus suffered great physical and emotional pain. He suffered for us, and with us, showing that God doesn’t just care about our pain; he shares our pain.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 3 April 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
Jesus clarified the nature of his kingdom and his kingship before Pilate, the Roman governor. In so doing, he invites Pilate to embrace reality, an invitation that Pilate rejected. This invitation is open to all of us. How will we respond?
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 27 March 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
Jesus’s death by crucifixion fulfils His saying how He would die. Contrary to what Pilate and Jewish leaders might think, God is the One in ultimate control.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 20 March 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
This is one of the saddest accounts in the Gospels: Jesus is interrogated, condemned and denied by one of his closest friends. Yet, through this denial, he is faithful and accomplishes God’s will to save a people for himself.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 13 March 2022
Sermon series: The King's Passion
The arrest of Jesus describes the painful steps that He began to take en route to the cross. His supremacy was put on display as He revealed Himself as the great "I AM", yet true safety is only possible for those who trust in Him. This safety was secured when Jesus submitted and drank the cup that was given to Him by the Father.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 6 March 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
Acts 17 gives us a model for bringing Jesus into our world. British theologian Daniel Strange points out that there are 4 steps: entering, exploring, exposing and evangelising.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 27 February 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
The Gospel reaches the business woman, it brings fulfillment to the deepest longings of the heart. When it reaches the slave girl, it brings freedom from oppressive forces. When it reaches the prison warden, it brings a joy unhinged from life’s circumstances. And to all of them, the gospel makes all of them children of God and gives the gift of family.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 20 February 2022
The apostle Paul exhorted the Philippian Christians to be united in Christ, which is likewise applicable for today's church. The basis of our unity lies in our union with Christ and with one another in the Spirit. This leads to the unity of mind and love towards the same Christ. In light of these, believers are called to serve others in humility, which is rooted in the self-giving of Christ Himself.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 13 February 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
When Paul the apostle brings the gospel to simple, earthy folks who worship many gods, he brings with him compassion, clarification, connection and commitment. For those to whom fear outweighs love in their relationship to divinity, the gospel shows that God makes love outweigh fear in the suffering of Christ for us.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 6 February 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
In this passage, we see the gospel crossing over decisively beyond the Jews and Samaritans to the Gentiles. Cornelius is a military leader and also a devout man. He is a "God-fearer". As he encounters the gospel, the true authority of God, the acceptance his heart has been longing for, and the only true path to forgiveness of sins and a clean heart. Neither ethics or devotion can do this, only faith in Jesus brings forgiveness and cleansing.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 30 January 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
In Saul's conversion, we see how helpless we are to save ourselves, but also just how powerfully Jesus can work to save us, including through faithful Christians showing love.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 23 January 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
As the gospel lands on the Ethiopian eunuch, he discovers that the one seeking is being sought by God, and that the path to true inclusion among God's people is through the exclusion of Jesus Christ when he died on the Cross for our sins.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 16 January 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
The gospel reaches Samaria through the preaching of Philip. In Samaria, Philip encounters the powerful magician Simon who seems to believe in the gospel, but actually doesn't. Through that encounter, we learn what true greatness, true power and true belief is.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 9 January 2022
Sermon series: Stories of Change
In this series, we will see how the one gospel reaches and changes different groups and individuals. In this passage, we see how it reaches the devout Jews. For this group to truly experience the power of the gospel, they had to see that the true purpose of all Scripture is to reveal Christ. And, they had to have Christ at the centre of their lives.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 January 2022
Sermon series: A Preserved People
With the defeat of their enemies, God's people could finally celebrate. The festival of Purim serves to remind the Jews of the relief which they had from their enemies, and they are to celebrate it in every generation so that they may recall what God has done for them. However, the fact that much remained unchanged leads us to reconsider the situation for the Jews. In the end, this points forward to their need of a greater Mordecai who will reign as the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Occasion: Christmas Eve
Christmas is a time for light, love, joy and peace. And yet, many of us feel the exact opposite in our hearts. God invites us into the reality of the Christmas story. He shows us that it is reasonable, believable and beautiful because Jesus is at the heart of Christmas.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 December 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
Passages like Esther 9 remind us that God is a God of justice. His justice is fair and full. Ultimately, there will be no miscarriage of justice in the universe. However, because we have all rebelled against God in our sin, our only hope of escaping the judgment of God is to trust in Jesus who endured the fair and full justice of God on our behalf. Only then can we be truly free from sin and judgement.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 19 December 2021
Occasion: Ordination of Ruling Elders
God cares for his people by giving them Elders who speak God's Word to them, live as examples for them to follow, and watch over their souls. To receive all the benefits that God has for us through the ministry of his Elders, God calls his people to obey and submit to the Elders in so far as they faithful to his Word. He also calls them to remember his hand in giving these Elders to the church, to consider their lives, and to imitate their faith.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 12 December 2021
This passage shows us that there are two ways to be lost, one by being very, very bad (unrighteous, irreligious) and the other by thinking that you are very, very good (self-righteous, religious). Both types of people need the grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ to come home to God. This understanding is crucial in shaping the church's witness to the world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 12 December 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
Despite the fact that Haman has met his doom, danger was still lurking for the Jews. Haman's edict of death was still hanging over their heads. In order for God's people to attain safety, a complete reversal was still required. This involved the Jews resisting their enemies, as given in a new edict, before they're able to rejoice and celebrate.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 5 December 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
In our study of Esther 7, we shall have a glimpse of the amazing mystery of how Man’s free will can be reconciled with God’s sovereignty. Although God may not be seen or heard in this chapter or for that matter, the entire book of Esther, all things work together towards achieving God’s ultimate purpose for the world. That is, salvation and preservation of His people through Jesus Christ; and death and destruction of evil and sinners as the full force of God’s wrath and justice is meted out.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 28 November 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
In Esther 6, God's providence is shown in dramatic fashion as Haman, who wants Mordecai to be killed, instead is commanded to honour Mordecai with the very honours he sought for himself.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 21 November 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
In Esther chapter 5, the plans and behaviour of Queen Esther is contrasted to the plans and behaviour of Haman. What does this comparison tell us about ourselves and Jesus Christ?
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 14 November 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
One of the primary ways we become a faithful and prophetic presence in society is through our vocation, that is God's calling on our lives. Esther had "come to the kingdom for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14). But, to discover that, she had to first identify with the distress of her people, wrestle with the dilemma of what to do, but finally decide to obey God. We have a true and better Esther who identified with our distress, wrestled through the dilemma of "let this cup pass from me", but ultimately decided to say "not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39). Only through him can we answer the King's call on our lives.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 7 November 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
Mordecai's service in the courts of King Ahasuerus gives us a case study for what it might look like for God's people to engage the culture they are in. He shows us that we need a posture of service, the courage to stand, the willingness to suffer and the knowledge that we are secure to engage well. Ultimately, only the Jesus who served us, stood for us and suffered for us can give us the security we need to engage faithfully and prophetically in the world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 31 October 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
The introduction of the protagonists, Mordecai and Esther, helps us to see that the Jews were in a place of exile. They were people that were characterised by weakness under the regime of king Ahasuerus. Yet, there is hope that comes in the form of Esther's ascendancy to the queen's seat. Her position of glory is the means through which God delivers and preserves His people.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 24 October 2021
Sermon series: A Preserved People
The Jewish people were a small minority at the hands of the powerful and cruel King Ahasuerus. Though he is formidable, we see that his power is contestable and subsumable into the power of a greater, better or more noble power: God is orchestrating history to preserve his people and bring his true king, Jesus Christ into the world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 17 October 2021
Sermon series: Gospel Renewal
Gospel renewal is a sovereign work of God’s Spirit on the heart. However, God works through the means of our praying, applying and rejoicing in the Gospel.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 10 October 2021
Sermon series: Gospel Renewal
In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, Jesus helps us to see the essence of Gospel renewal by contrasting the prayers of both individuals. In the Pharisee's prayer, we see the way of religion that is ultimately self-centered. In the tax collector's prayer, we see the way of the Gospel that reveals our need for Gospel grace from the beginning to the end of the Christian life.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 3 October 2021
Sermon series: Gospel Renewal
Gospel Renewal is a life-changing recovery of the gospel where the gospel is not only known, but experienced and lived out. We need it so that we can see clearly the uniqueness of the Gospel, feel deeply the love of God in Christ and live beautifully in step with the Gospel.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 26 September 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
Peter closes off his letter by focusing afresh on the family of God, the church. He urges us to stand together firmly in the grace of God. This involves leading and following humbly and resisting the devil firmly.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 19 September 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
The apostle Peter tells us that the trials which we face as Christians are meant to test us. Even though they are difficult and often painful, yet we are reminded that the Spirit dwells in us as God's household and He is with us in our suffering. Therefore, we can rejoice, trust in God and do good in our suffering, knowing that God is using trials to shape us into the image of Christ.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 12 September 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
We are called to be faithful to God while being fully engaged in the world: this is called holiness. When we suffer for holiness, we give evidence that we belong to Jesus. We are motivated to holiness because Jesus is coming again to judge. And, God has left us with some practical resources to pursue holiness: prayer, love and service.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 5 September 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
God wants his people to be eager to do good even if they suffer for it. Peter shows us that genuinely good works and words flow from hearts and consciences transformed by the Gospel.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 29 August 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
As a part of God's family, we are called to abstain from division in the church, along with striving towards communal unity. This brotherly love seeps into our relationships with others, even those who have reviled against us, through blessing them. Despite the suffering that we will face now, there is the promise of a blessing that awaits us which God has already given to us.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 22 August 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
If the Gospel is what shapes and drives marriage, then wives will seek to support their husbands, focus on growing in the inner being, and find their ultimate hope in God. Husbands will then seek to know their wives, seek to know God’s will for their lives, and honour their wives.
Preacher: Guna Raman
Date: 15 August 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
As God’s people, we are called to honour our employers in the fear of God. This is a call to courageous, responsible, humble and productive work. It’s work that displays Jesus to a watching world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 8 August 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
As beloved exiles in the world, Christians are called to fight the evil inside us and live good and beautiful lives in the world to commend the gospel to an unbelieving world. This applies to our relations with government: we submit purposefully to the legitimate power of government while giving ultimate allegiance to Christ.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 1 August 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
The family of God, the church should be characterized by love, growth and a sense of belonging. As God’s dwelling place on earth, and proclaimers of the gospel, we bring healing to each other and to a hurting world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 25 July 2021
God has ordained that the church will be made up of different kinds of people - different gifts, different backgrounds. Though these differences can divide us, the gospel overcomes our prejudices and unites all believers, making diversity beautiful.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 18 July 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
Because of who we are and what we have in Christ, we are called to live by setting our hope on Christ, being holy and doing all things in the reverent fear of God.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 11 July 2021
Sermon series: A Prevailing People
The Apostle Peter helps us make sense of the difficult things that happen in our lives by reminding us that we are God’s people, and that we have a identity and inheritance in Jesus. Because of that God is at work in us reordering our loves and reshaping our lives for our good.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 4 July 2021
Sermon series: A Praying People
In the last petition in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us that we face a formidable foe. He is the evil one, Satan. We cannot defeat him alone. We need to cry out to God for help to resist temptation. God then leads us into his ways.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 27 June 2021
The early Christian Church of Acts 2 shows how a gospel-fuelled, spirit-empowered community loves the word, loves one another and loves the lost. When we find ourselves struggling to love like they do, what resources do we have?
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 20 June 2021
Sermon series: A Praying People
In praying "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors", Jesus teaches us that the forgiven will forgive, while the unforgiven do not forgive. By coming clean before God in repentance, we are forgiven and enabled to forgive those who have hurt us. In so doing, our hearts become truly free.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 13 June 2021
Sermon series: A Praying People
Jesus teaches us to ask God for not just for our own needs, but the needs of others. In so doing, we grow in a responsible dependence on God, benevolence of heart and action, and confidence in God's provision for all our needs.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 6 June 2021
Sermon series: A Praying People
In two, interrelated petitions, Jesus reminds us of God's sovereignty over all things. He shall establish His eternal kingdom and accomplish His sovereign will. In light of His sovereignty, believers are called to submit to His lordship, which is only possible because we have been redeemed in Christ. God is pleased, then, to include and send His people out as they take part in His kingdom advancing work.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 30 May 2021
Sermon series: A Praying People
In the second phrase of the Lord's prayer, "Hallowed be your name", Jesus teaches us to adore God for ourselves and pray that others might adore him too. To do this, we need to know God for who he is, praise God from our hearts, and ask that others might come to acknowledge and highly esteem him too.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 23 May 2021
Sermon series: A Praying People
In the first phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Our Father in heaven’, Jesus teaches us to come to God with the broad agenda of his Kingdom, as sons and daughters of God by adoption, and with great boldness because of his power.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 16 May 2021
Believers in Christ need to understand what does it mean to walk worthy of their calling in Christ and how to maintain the unity of the Spirit in order to attain the fullness of Christ as a church.
Preacher: Joseph Tern
Date: 9 May 2021
Sermon series: A Prodigal People
At the end of the book, we discover that Jonah is angry at God because he had shown mercy to Nineveh. God graciously works in Jonah’s heart to bring him from frustration to formation and to freedom. He can do the same in you.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 May 2021
Sermon series: A Prodigal People
Jonah is restored in his call to go to Nineveh. This time, touched by the grace of God, he obeys the call. Miraculously the Ninevites repent at the preaching of Jonah, and God relents from the disaster he threatened.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 25 April 2021
Sermon series: A Prodigal People
In the belly of the fish, Jonah wrestled in prayer with God, giving us a model to do the same: He recognizes that it is God who put him there, he agonises over his situation, he revises the goodness and grace of God, and it all culminates in praise and deliverance.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 18 April 2021
Sermon series: A Prodigal People
God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh to call them out for their sin. However, Jonah refuses and flees God's command because he did not fully grasp grace. God pursues Jonah through the storm and the actions of the pagan sailors. In response, Jonah does one noble thing. He sacrifices himself so that the sailors can be saved. This points forward to Jesus, the true and better Jonah who sacrificed himself that we may all be saved.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 11 April 2021
Sermon series: Easter Sunday 2021
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical fact attested to by eyewitnesses and confirmed by the empty tomb. It brings healing to this broken world, and hope to our hearts. He is risen, risen indeed, Hallelujah!
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 4 April 2021
Sermon series: Good Friday 2021
Staying close by Jesus' side as he takes his last breath, we draw comfort from a Saviour in full control of all things, and who has great compassion for sinners and sufferers like us.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 April 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
In His final farewell prayer, king Jesus prayed that He will be glorified and for His people to be kept from the influences of the world. For those who continue to remain on earth, Jesus prayed for their unity, and commissioned them to proclaim and be witnesses of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 28 March 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
As the disciples prepare for life without Jesus, he promises them a joy that takes their sorrow into account and yet can never be taken from them. It's a joy they will know only when they come to realise that his resurrection puts in motion a reversal of all that is sad, and confirms their reconciliation with God the Father.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 21 March 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
God’s people will face a hostile world as they go out with a message of the Gospel. But God has not left them without help. He sends the Holy Spirit to continue the work of Jesus, convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement, and complete God’s Word to them.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 14 March 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
Being hated by the world is a mark of the follower of Jesus, it shows that we are on mission for Jesus, and it’s how we mature in Jesus. We endure this hatred when our hearts gaze at the one who was hated and killed for us, so that we would always be loved and live forever.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 7 March 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
Jesus tells us that He is the true vine, and in our union with Him, we become intimately related to our Saviour. We derive our means of life and nourishment from Jesus. This changes our relationship with Him, such that we are no longer His enemies, but we are now His friends.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 28 February 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
Another mark of Jesus’ people is obedience. But this is not any kind of obedience: it’s an obedience that is enabled by love, empowered by the Spirit, and established by the Cross.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 21 February 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
God’s people are to be defined by trust in God, and in Jesus his Son. This faith brings us home to where our hearts belong, connect us with God as our Father and gives us a great work to do.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 14 February 2021
Sermon series: The King's People
In the introduction of Jesus' parting words to His disciples, He demonstrated His great and enduring love to His disciples by washing their feet. In doing so, Jesus is identifying Himself as the Servant King who came to redeem His people. He sets an example for His disciples to follow, and as believers, we are exhorted to do likewise and to serve one another in love.
Preacher: 31 January 2021
Date: Joel Sim
Sermon series: Shepherding God's People
The Elders must be men who have a sense of calling to the role, have a track record of proven character, and be competent in teaching God’s Word. Most of all, they must be those whom Christ himself has called, and Christ himself has qualified through his grace.
Preacher: 24 January 2021
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: Shepherding God's People
Elders who are called to be shepherds, overseers and examples, are called to know God’s people, feed God’s people God’s Word, lead God’s people and protect God’s people. They can do so because the God who calls them to this role is also the God who has known them to their core, and yet feeds them the Gospel, leads them to himself, and protects them to the very end.
Preacher: 17 January 2021
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: Shepherding God's People
God calls Elders to be shepherds, overseers and examples for his people. Done well, this leadership leads to the good ordering of the church and the spiritual flourishing of her people. Elders can only serve in this way as they look to the chief shepherd, overseer and example, Jesus Christ.
Preacher: 10 January 2021
Date: Tan Huai Tze
In Romans 1:1-7, the apostle Paul provides a summary of the good news of Jesus: it comes from God, it is centered on his son Jesus, it transforms the entire world, and it makes all Christians into ministers.
Preacher: 3 January 2021
Date: Aaron Akins
Sermon series: Joseph -- Meant for Good
In the final chapters of Genesis and the final moments of Jacob and Joseph's lives, we see that they trusted in God's promises and firmly believed that He will lead His people into the Promised Land. Though the book of Genesis ends with death, yet death will not have the last word. Death will be conquered by the promised Messiah from the line of Judah, and his reign shall have no end.
Preacher: 27 December 2020
Date: Joel Sim
Christmas is a time we celebrate God’s gift to the world, his Son Jesus Christ. Through this gift, he shows us that he is a God of love, that we are people who are perishing, but that he has given us a life-giving gift. When we embrace Christ by faith, we enter into a eternal relationship of love with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Preacher: 24 December 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: Joseph -- Meant for Good
In the last year's of Jacob's life, God shows us that he is not done with him yet. Though he is old and frail, he still has a significant contribution to the work God is doing. Jacob hears God, and obeys in going to Egypt. There, he is reunited with Joseph, and helps his sons establish themselves in Egypt. In all this, he anchors his hope in God's covenant promises.
Preacher: 20 December 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: Joseph -- Meant for Good
Joseph is now in power in Egypt, but he is estranged from his family. How will God bring about reconciling them? Through the famine crisis, God works on the hearts of Joseph's brothers, Joseph and even Jacob his father to bring them to a place where they are changed, and where they can forgive one another from the heart. At the heart of the story is the self-sacrifice of Judah. At the heart of our story is the self-sacrifice of Jesus, who reconciles us to God. In so doing, he enables us to reconcile with others.
Preacher: 13 December 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: Joseph -- Meant for Good
Joseph moves from the prison to the palace, from being a prisoner to being the Prime Minister of Egypt. God’s undeserved favour was on him. And because of that Joseph could be faithful to God, and fruitful in his service of others.
Preacher: 6 December 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: Joseph -- Meant for Good
In Genesis 39, we see the beginning of Joseph's life in Egypt. Though it is important for us to flee from temptation, but the main point of this story is to emphasize how the LORD God was with Joseph in every high and stormy gale. God's presence is seen climactically in Jesus Christ, who is Immanuel ('God with us'), and He promises to be with us till the end of the age.
Preacher: 29 November 2020
Date: Joel Sim
Sermon series: Joseph -- Meant for Good
Through the sordid tale of Judah and Tamar, God shows us how he redeems and changes sinful people who cannot and will not save themselves.
Preacher: 22 November 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: Joseph -- Meant for Good
Joseph was called by God to eventually assume a key role in the nation of Egypt. There, he would help preserve his family, prosper his nation and move forward God’s plan to save the world. But his path to greatness would involve despair, a despair through which God would form his character.
Preacher: 15 November 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
James concludes his letter with a call to prayer. Prayer is God's vital means of bringing his healing and forgiveness to his people. We pray personally, we ask the leaders of the church to pray for us, and we pray for one another, trusting in God and his promises. In so doing, we are restored to God, and we restore others to God.
Preacher: 8 November 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
James exhorts those going through dark times to be patient, to stand firm and to endure. They can because Jesus is coming again to punish the wicked and reward the righteous. Because of that, we can live in peace with one another, speak God’s word to the world, and see God’s purpose at work even in dark times.
Preacher: 1 November 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
We give our money to what we love and what’s important to us. Therefore, how we spend our money is an indicator of our love for God. James teaches us to use our wealth in light of the reality of our frailty, our responsibility to love and serve others, and our accountability before God to use our wealth well.
Preacher: 25 October 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
James shows us that the root causes of fights and quarrels in the church are the selfish desires in our hearts. This results in a broken relationship with people and with God. The only way to fix this is through humbling ourselves to receive God’s grace.
Preacher: 18 October 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
James tells us that there are two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom of the world and the wisdom from above. When we recognise that wisdom from above comes only by grace and we acknowledge our own lack of wisdom, we see that the sole way to get this wisdom is through faith in Jesus Christ, our true wisdom.
Preacher: 11 October 2020
Date: Joel Sim
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
A mark of genuine and worthwhile religion is the ability to control our speech. But speech is a reflection of what’s in our hearts. Therefore for our speech to be changed, our hearts must be changed by God through the Gospel.
Preacher: 4 October 2020
Date: Tan Huai Tze
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
James demonstrates that faith that does not impact our lives isn’t faith at all. Using examples from the Old Testament, he demonstrates that genuine, living faith reveals itself through deeds.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 27 September 2020
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
James says that one of the reasons we don't love the poor is because we favour the rich. But God chooses the poor. Discriminating is incompatible with the Christian faith. It is only when God's mercy becomes real to us, that our discriminating ends, and God's mercy becomes real through us.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 20 September 2020
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
To mature, James says we need to be quick to hear God's word and receive it with humility. We also need to obey God's word, being a hearer and a doer. In so doing, God graciously moves us toward self-control, social action and separation from worldly values.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 13 September 2020
Sermon series: James -- Grace in Action
On the path to wholeness, we face trials that test our faith and temptations that reveal our true desires. To press through to maturity, we need to see God's plan to mature us, seek his wisdom and help to get through, and sense that he is not just good, but good to us.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 6 September 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet draws Ecclesiastes to a conclusion by showing us how to make sense of life and why we need to make sense of life. To make sense, we need both the truth and beauty of God's Word. The goal of making sense is to stand in awe of God and obey him. That is what it means to be truly human.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 30 August 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet teaches the youth to rejoice all the days of their life and to remember God the creator before the days of suffering, ageing, and death. For those among us who are older, the gospel frees us from our past sins to rejoice in God. For all of us, we rejoice in the hope of the resurrection, a hope that transcends our age in the present world.
Preacher: Julian Wu
Date: 23 August 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Although there are many things we are uncertain of in life, this does not mean we cannot live a full and generous life. In fact, Qohelet shows us that it is precisely because life is uncertain that we should give our all today, to reap eternal rewards.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 16 August 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet tells us how to live wisely by showing us what folly, the opposite of wisdom, looks like. It is ultimately a matter of one's heart and relationship to God. Because of this, Jesus calls us to be wise by standing on the solid rock of Christ and trusting Him so that we may move away from the path of folly to the path of wisdom.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 9 August 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet teaches us that death is a certainty because of human sin, and the circumstances of life are uncertain. Yet, God graciously gives us food, drink, clothes, relationships and work to enjoy. Through Christ, all these things are a foretaste of the great feast God has for his people at the end of history.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 August 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
In Ecclesiastes Chapter 8, the preacher Qohelet prescribes the wise way to behave around a king, but at the same time warns us about the limitations of wisdom, and how wisdom is insufficient to answer all the questions we have.
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 26 July 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet tells us that wisdom is needed to live in a paradoxical world under the effects of sin. However, just because we pursue wisdom, this does not imply that we will receive its associated benefits, nor does it mean that we will never sin. Instead, this points to our need for the sinless Christ to redeem us from folly and to live wisely as He did.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 19 July 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Instead of wealth, Qohelet points us to seeking wisdom that will be able to guide us through life. To get wisdom, we need to acknowledge our humanity and our mortality: the prospect of death teaches us many important lessons. We must also consider the limits of wisdom. Wisdom cannot save us from our sins. Only Christ, who is the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24) can save.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 12 July 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet continues his quest to show us meaning by discussing wealth and our love for it. He shows that wealth cannot satisfy, and cannot promise joy, but that it isn't evil, but good. He helps us see that all that we are, and all that we have is a gift from God. God is our source of true joy.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 5 July 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet reaches the pinnacle of his argument: if nothing on earth really matters, what does? Our relationship to God. He therefore warns us against approaching God foolishly, and shows us how we can worship in a way that reflects God's holiness and glory.
Preacher: Aaron Akins
Date: 28 June 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet shows us that how and why we work can contribute to addressing injustice and oppression in this world. Instead of envy, he urges us to cooperate and to consider others' needs over our own. Only in Christ, the king who humbled himself for us, can we find the power to live for others, and so contribute to a more just and free world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 21 June 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet confronts us with the hard realities of life through the twin problems of injustice and oppression. It is a reminder that we continue to live in a fallen world where justice is not administered perfectly, and a reminder that life apart from God only ends in death and a return to the dust. However, God has sent His Son Jesus Christ, who suffered injustice and oppression Himself, so that those who trust Him may be righteous and freed to care for others.
Preacher: Joel Sim
Date: 14 June 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet shows us that we do not have control over the times and seasons in our lives, but God does. And the God who does is sovereign, wise and kind. When we see that he is writing a better story of our lives than we would ever write, we take pleasure in every moment he gives, and we stand in awe of him.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 7 June 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qohelet now addresses the universal search for happiness. Through his own experience, he takes us through the path of seeking wisdom and knowledge to find it futile, and then to pleasure and possessions to find them fleeting. None of these things can truly give joy. To truly have joy, he discovers, is to recognise wisdom, knowledge and pleasure as the gifts of a good God who ultimately gives us Christ as the greatest gift.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 31 May 2020
Sermon series: Ecclesiastes -- Making Sense of Life
Qoholet, the scholar-king shows us that all that we toil for apart from God will ultimately be fleeting and futile. Why? Because life itself is fleeting, mundane and insatiable. In so doing, he points us forward to the eternal, new and full life that only Jesus can give.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 May 2020
Sermon series: Anchors for the Soul
Paul exhorts Timothy to remember Jesus in his effort to endure in Christian ministry in 2 Timothy 2. What lessons can we learn from this for our own witness, evangelism and discipleship efforts?
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 17 May 2020
Sermon series: Anchors for the Soul
To get through troubled times, we need to learn the language of lament. This teaches us to come before God with our raw and honest emotions. We can despair in his presence, cry out and find hope in him.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 10 May 2020
Sermon series: Anchors for the Soul
God's everlasting, unstoppable, committed, and costly love not only sustains his people through adversity, it makes them 'more than conquerors'.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 3 May 2020
Sermon series: Anchors for the Soul
The hope that God gives is a certain assurance that God will keep those who are his and perfect them. There is an objective basis for this hope: the love of God demonstrated in the death of Christ for sinners. But then, there is also the subjective experience of this hope when God's Spirit pours his love into our hearts.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 26 April 2020
Sermon series: Anchors for the Soul
We need faith, a trusting surrender to God and his promises to help us through this season. Through the prophet Habakkuk, we find a path to this faith through rehearsing the mighty acts of God, reminding ourselves of the character of God, and having a resolve to trust in God no matter the circumstances. And we do so joyfully when we see God's greatest act in history in sending Jesus to die and rise again for our sins.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 19 April 2020
Sermon series: Lifted Up to Life
The resurrection of Christ is a historical fact with an existential reality. The same power God used to raise Jesus, is the same power working for and in those who belong to Christ.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 12 April 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
In the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, he shows us that life after death I.e. the resurrection from the dead can only come through believing in him, the one who dies for sinners and rises again.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 5 April 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
Jesus makes 3 grand declarations about himself: he is the door to safety, freedom and flourishing; he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep; and he is God.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 22 March 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
Animosity against Jesus is growing. Even his own brothers and the religious leaders do not believe in him. Jesus' indictment against the religious is that they don't believe because they don't really want to obey God, and that they don't really obey the law. But those who come to him and believe in him, Jesus promises God's own Spirit to dwell within them.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 1 March 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
Jesus gives two hard teachings in John 6:41-71 -- (1) that he is from heaven and (2) that we must eat his flesh. What do these teachings mean and will you also find these teachings hard to accept?
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 23 February 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
In the feeding of the multitude and the miraculous crossing of the sea, John shows us that Jesus is the true and better Moses who has come to bring about a greater exodus: Jesus recuses us from sin and gives us eternal life.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 16 February 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
Jesus' promise to give eternal life to all who believe in him (John 3:16) is intricately bound up in who he is. In this passage, Jesus demonstrates with his miracles and calls witnesses to authenticate his claim that he is 'equal with God' (John 5:18).
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 9 February 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
Jesus goes after those you would not naturally associate with God's Kingdom: a Samaritan woman of questionable morals, and a Gentile official with a dying son. He is on mission to bring the outsiders in. As his followers, we should be on this mission too.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 2 February 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
Through his encounter with the highly religious and moral leader Nicodemus, Jesus shows us that to enter God's Kingdom, religion and morality are not enough. God needs to give you new life, and you need to respond to God by trusting in his Son. Evidence of having entered God's Kingdom is found in the willingness to obey God.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 26 January 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
John brings together Jesus' first miracle and the clearing of the temple in this chapter. By doing that, he shows us that true religion is joyful, zealous and genuine. More than that, the only way to get there is through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 19 January 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
The Kingdom of God is built by witnesses who testify to Jesus. John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is the Lamb of God, and the church is gradually built as disciples are added. The Kingdom grows through history and we are called to play our part in the transmission and preservation of the faith.
Preacher: Julian Wu
Date: 12 January 2020
Sermon series: Show Us God
Jesus reveals God to all humanity through his incarnation. Yet, both irreligious and religious people reject his grace. But to those who receive him by faith, he gives the right to be God's children.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 5 January 2020
Sermon series: Jacob -- Discord and Destiny
Jacob has failed God and his family grievously, and yet God, in his grace still gives him a new start: he renews him by speaking to Jacob and showing himself to him, and Jacob resolves to follow God, even though the reality of sin and sorrow remain. We do the same, through Christ who is the word of God become flesh.
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 29 December 2019
Sermon series: Scandalous Christmas
Sometimes we forget just how shocking and scandalous the first Christmas was: a pregnant virgin giving birth to a Saviour child? It's a scandal to the sceptic revealing the supernatural, a scandal to the saint revealing that we cannot save ourselves by our own good works, and a scandal to the seeker revealing that it is God who must seek us out. But this is the scandal that saves the world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 22 December 2019
Sermon series: Scandalous Christmas
Hannah is barren and longs to have a son. Her sadness and plight is a picture of a dark period of Israel's history. More than just a child, Hannah and all Israel were longing for a King who could deliver them and lead them. The fulfillment of Hannah's longings, was not ultimately the son that God gave her, Samuel. It would be the son that God gives to all of us at Christmas, Jesus the true King who saves his people from their sins.
Preacher: Tim Lim
Date: 15 December 2019
Sermon series: Jacob -- Discord and Destiny
This passage chronicles the tragic account of the rape of Jacob's daughter Dinah, and the massacre of the Hivites. This dark passage teaches us that neither fearful apathy nor furious anger are the right response to the injustice. The Gospel soothes our fury and arouses us out of apathy so that we can take faithful action in the world.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 8 December 2019
Sermon series: Jacob -- Discord and Destiny
After leaving Laban, Jacob returns to his hometown to face the brother he fled from 20 years prior. Jacob makes elaborate plans in an attempt to appease Esau, but something unexpected and mysterious happens to him instead.
Preacher: Wong Yann
Date: 1 December 2019
Sermon series: Jacob -- Discord and Destiny
Jacob and family take the perilous journey back to Jacob's homeland. Laban pursues them and confronts them, but fails to cause them harm because God was protecting them. Ultimately, God protects us through the person and work of Jesus Christ: if we are in him, we have eternal life, we will never perish, and nothing can snatch us out of God's hand (John 10:27-28).
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 24 November 2019
Sermon series: Jacob -- Discord and Destiny
Through Leah and Rachel's stories, this passage shows us that human affection and recognition will ultimately fail us. Our true hope for love and significance is to be found in God, through Christ.
Preacher: Tan Huai Tze
Date: 10 November 2019