“Fantastic! Thank you! I have never heard this song, but I like it”, said the Chief Apostle after the choir had sang Kafui Mawu (Praise God). “I am afraid the Congolese may copy it, so please be aware”, joked a delighted and fulfilled Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider as he brought a special festive divine service to a close at Ho Central.

Eighteen years after the last visit of a Chief Apostle, the people of Volta could not hide their joy. The service was held on 26th of March, 2022, at the Mawuli School Auditorium in Ho Central.

This time, the International Church Leader carried a message inspired by the Bible text John 8:29: “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

“My beloved brothers and sisters, its indeed a great joy for all of us to experience this festive service today. I’ve been told that it’s a long time ago since a Chief Apostle visited this place and for sure it makes the divine service even more special. And it’s a great joy not only to meet you together in this nice place, our joy is that we are together in Christ. We are together because we have the same Saviour and Master. We are together because we have the same goal: We want to become like Christ and we want to be with Christ in His Kingdom and that’s why we want to be prepared for the return of Christ,” The Chief Apostle began his sermon

Jesus always pleased God, because He did God’s will. Doing the will of God can be hard. If you want to do the will of the Father, you must know what His will is. You cannot fulfill the will of God if you do not know His will, the Chief Apostle said.

He continued that the will of the Father is to deliver mankind from sin and to lead them into His kingdom, where there is no sin. To do this, He sent Jesus to ensure that salvation was possible for man to enter into His kingdom. Jesus was sent to contribute to mankind’s salvation.

The Chief Apostle explained: “Jesus knew the will of God because it was revealed to Him by the Holy Spirit. Not only did Jesus know the will of God, He did the will of God. He was also obedient, not out of fear as mankind usually is, but out of love. He did what God asked Him to do because He loved God.”

The Church Leader further enlightened that God sent help to Jesus many times throughout His life on earth. “He sent Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus carry the cross, He sent an angel to strengthen Jesus while He was on the Mount of Olives, and most importantly, He helped Jesus carry out His mission on the cross. Because Jesus was obedient to God, God never left Him alone.”

“Why are we obedient?” the Chief Apostle asked. “Is it because we want a reward, because we are afraid of being punished, or because we want God to do something for us?”

The Chief Apostle advised the congregants not to be obedient for these reasons. “We must be obedient out of love, not fear,” he emphasised.

God’s will is for us to have eternal fellowship with Him in His kingdom. He has elected us not just so we can be saved, but so we can serve Him.

“Are you willing to do the will of God? If yes, you will receive forgiveness and those who are willing will receive the help of God in a special way,” the Chief Apostle concluded.

Moments after the three-fold Amen, the Chief Apostle's elation was irrepressible. He wanted some more of the mass choir of the Volta people: “I don’t have any more on my program. And so I will be listening to you until the District Apostle tells me to go out. Is that OK for you?” “Yes”, resounded the congregation. “Ok. Let's do it, please!”