City Harvest Indonesian Church (CHIC) received a guest speaker on 19 July 2009—Jeffrey Rachmat—at their weekly service. Rachmat, who is the Senior Pastor of Jakarta Praise Community Church, was in town for other speaking engagements. The service began with a vibrant and joyful time of praise, with Indonesian Church member, Gideon Seragih performing a rap. Aries Zulkarnain, pastor in charge of CHIC, introduced Rachmat, who took to the stage and proclaimed the title of his sermon — Seasons. Drawing from the bible passage found in Ecclesiastes 1:1 to 10, he shared that there are seasons in life; that there will be seed time and harvest as long as the earth remains. There is always day and night, regardless of the season we’re in. The day is significant of the time we use to work according to the plan of God in our life; therefore, Christians should give their best to work while it is still day. However, night is when it is time to rest and trust God to work His miracle. Quoting from the book of Matthew, in chapter 11, verse 28, Rachmat read, “… you who labor and I will give you rest,” and reiterated that the condition to receiving rest is to have labored. The 150 people in the service responded periodically with ‘amen’ and clapped their hands in agreement.
  |
| PHOTOS: Richard Chong |
Rest is a time to trust that God is in charge and Christians are in His safe hands. Rachmat went on to share from Mark 4:35-39, of how Jesus slept through the raging storm, while the disciples who were worried for their lives, stayed awake. Rachmat put forth the challenge to the people that in the darkest hour of their lives, they did not need to despair, rather, to completely trust in God. While the Christian rests, God will bring visions and dreams to the Christian to do His plan and purpose. When Rachmat gave the altar call for the people to respond, many did so, moving forward to receive prayer. While fellowshipping over pizza, Stefan A.Y., 24, said, “I am reminded of what I knew long ago as a young boy, that if I do my best, God will do the rest. Sometimes we tend to forget this truth.” Elvira Usabenny, 30s, “It’s good for those of us who are workaholics. It’s when we rest, that God will give us visions to do the work more effectively.”
