Techiman Apostle Area held its annual Thanksgiving service in the second week of November 2021. Lead Apostle Samuel Oppong-Brenya led two Thanksgiving services in the Area, Traa and Techiman Central congregations.
The text word for the service at Traa was taken from Psalm 96:2, “Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.”
The text word for the service at Techiman central congregation was taken from Psalm 145:2-3 “Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name forever and ever, Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and His greatness is unsearchable”
Lead Apostle Oppong-Brenya began his service recounting a pledge he made to the Traa congregation: “It is exactly a year I joined you in Thanksgiving, where I promised to return this year too. By His Grace, it has come to pass. Over the last year, there have been a lot of changes; we have lost loved ones, encountered many challenges and so on, but in all God is the Greatest. God has been good.”
The Northern Ghana Leader recounted his first visit to Traa as an eleven (11) year old. Forty-nine years on, the Lead Apostle is now ever thankful to God for the journey He has taken him to visit Traa as an Apostle. “The service was conducted under a wooden structure and I saw a lot of elders and church members. It was on that occasion I drank a full bottle of Fanta for the first time. We were given a lot of food. As a child, I thought we were only partying at that time.”
But that a seed had been sowed in the 11 year old boy. One that will be watered by God and blossom in His vineyard and be blessed. “The hymn sang by the choir says sow a good seed so that you may harvest a good fruit. No one sells at the market and receives payment at the bank, nor do doctors receive their payment for their services at the market. You receive the rewards for your efforts and sacrifices wherever you are. It is the same with Christians, this is where we will also receive our blessings.” Our attitude, sacrifice and efforts we sow into Thanksgiving will also surely be rewarded by God. Where we labour and sacrifice, there we shall be rewarded.
He counted: “Today, we are going to have a covenant with God through our offering. Let us not hesitate in order to receive the full blessings from our Lord because the one who feels appreciated for the things done always wishes to do more. If you want to get in abundance, then give more wholeheartedly”.
“Thanksgiving is and should never be forced. However, there are two rewards for offering and thanksgiving. You are either blessed for offering wholeheartedly, or cursed for giving dispassionately. When you give thanks it means you are appreciative of what someone has already done for you. If you give from your heart and the receiver is pleased with it, you get more blessings but the opposite happens if you do it reservedly”, concluded the Lead Apostle.
Apostle Paul Yaw Kyeremeh assisted the divine service.