On Friday, 2nd April, 2021, Lead Apostle Samuel Oppong-Brenya visited the Wiawso congregation at the Wiawso Central church in the Wiawso Apostle Area of the New Apostolic Church, Ghana. This was the special Good Friday divine service to mark the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“My beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us appreciate the life we are enjoying today as Christians. For about two thousand years ago, one man, who never sinned; was beaten, mocked, tortured and crucified so that we can be saved. For this reason, we are all gathered here to acknowledge the great sacrifice our Saviour did for us on the Mount of Calvary”. These were the introductory words Lead Apostle Said as he began his service.
The text word for the service was taken from Hebrews 13:12-13, “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach”.
Explaining the text word, he said, “Mankind sinned against God during the time of our forefathers. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden refused to follow instructions from God, therefore God put a curse of suffering onto mankind. Beloved, our Lord is so merciful that, He had pity for mankind. So He sent His Only Begotten Son to die for our sins.”
He continued: “The Son of God came to this earth in the form of flesh. He never sinned, but for mankind to be saved, He died a painful death. For this reason, we are saved. We are following our Saviour, who did not own anything on this earth, from birth to death. Christ did not follow earthly things, therefore, as followers of Christ, we should not allow earthly things to hinder us from worshiping our Lord”.
The Leader Apostle further explained that the Pharisees hated Christ for three reasons:
* Christ was merciful and had pity on mankind
* They thought Christ was not from family esteemed to bring forth the Messiah
* They thought Christ came purposely to deliver them from the earthly politics of the world.
“For these reasons, He was wrongfully judged, mocked and crucified so that we can be saved. If we want salvation, then let us carry our own cross, our own sins out of the city of sin, as Christ carried His cross out of the of the city for us to be sanctified”.
Bringing his service to an end, the Lead Apostle said, “We have a great task ahead of us as Christians. If we want to gain salvation, then we need to depart from the city of sin, so that we can be saved. We do not have a city that will last forever on this earth except the kingdom of God. Therefore, we must strive hard to be a part of this kingdom through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
The service was supported by Apostle Hayford Nzimah (Wiawso Apostle Area), District Elder Yaw Ennin (Wiawso District), District Elder Addae (Boako District) and District Evangelist Adika-Lavoe (Wiawso District).