Towards the end of their visit to Nigeria as part of guests to the NYC 2022, the Ghanaian delegation joined Apostle Kabanga of the West Apostle working Area (Nigeria) and Apostle Chi from (Cameroon) to celebrate a divine service at the Ibeshe congregation in the Island District. This occurred on the 6th of November 2022.

The Island district is among the 16 districts which falls under the West Apostle area and is led by District Elder Richard.

The congregation is dominated by Ghanaians, particularly Ewes, who have lived all their lives in Nigeria. It was a very happy occasion for these members to meet their brethren from Ghana. Although the service was held in English it was translated into the Ewe language for the local members.

The text for the service was 2 Peter 1:8, “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

 “We are all alive because of the grace of the Lord and no one should think we are alive because of our righteousness because the bible says we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” said the officiant Apostle Chi.

What qualities are in you?
Explaining the text, the Apostle said we do not need to pray for grace but that the more we learn about Christ, the grace will increase due to the knowledge we have gained. Again, he said that certain qualities are required by us Christians in order to multiply our grace: 

• Virtue - we need to strive for excellence in our everyday lives.
• Knowledge - we need to gain knowledge but not any kind of knowledge but the knowledge about God and His Son, Jesus Christ
• Self-control - we need to control ourselves in every circumstance, especially when angry. We must show that character as Christians.
• Perseverance - people leave the church due to what he or she thinks another person has said or done to them due to the absence of perseverance. We should remain focused and strive onwards.
• Godliness - many people think serving the Lord is done only for the heart but godliness means the outer life of our character must be as Christ-like as the early Christians did.
• Kindness - we should reach out to each other and finally develop agape love for our fellow brothers and sisters for the bible says if we are able to hold onto these qualities, we will increase and multiply our knowledge in Jesus Christ.

Ending the sermon, the Apostle said we have a responsibility to invite other brothers and sisters into the Church. We should never look down on ourselves but instead dedicate ourselves to the work of the Lord.

The Apostle was assisted by Apostle Kabanga and District Elder Richard.