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Three Christian leaders and church founders have encouraged Christians and the nation at large to be inspired by the reason for Easter and strive to overcome their challenges in life.

They said just as the story of Jesus Christ’s betrayal, crucifixion, death and resurrection brought pain, discomfort but ultimately ended with hope and victory over death to mankind, Christians must be inspired and encouraged by the resurrection of Jesus Christ as it provided a pillar for them to also overcome their challenges in life.

The church founders, Apostle General of the Royalhouse Chapel International, Rev. Sam Korankye Ankrah, Rev. Dr Mensah Otabil of the International Central Gospel Church, and Bishop Charles Agyinasare, of Perez Chapel, gave their messages of hope during their Easter Sunday sermons.

“The pain and suffering, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus must inspire us all not to give up, but have hope that there is always victory for those whose hope is in Christ,” the leaders shared similar sentiments in their Easter Sunday sermons.
 
Easter Sunday

Most churches in the country climaxed the Easter festivities with services on the resurrection Sunday to commemorate Christ’ resurrection from death, three days after His crucifixion on Good Friday.

At many churches, worshippers were predominantly dressed in all-white attire to signify Jesus' triumph over death and the congregation sang and danced to glorify God for paying the ultimate price for humanity.

Royalhouse

At the Royalhouse Chapel in Accra, Timothy  Ngnenbe reports that Rev. Korankye Ankrah urged Ghanaians to reflect on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and change from negative attitudes that serve as impediments to national development.

Delivering the sermon to climax the church’s Easter celebrations by the Royalhouse held on the theme: "The Blood Will Speak (Hebrew 12:24),"  the Apostle General said the resurrection of Jesus Christ offered the hope that with sacrifice and attitudinal change, all that had been lost at the individual and national levels would be restored.

He, however, stressed that the observation of Easter as a festival to mark the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus would be meaningless, if it did not translate into transformation of lives.

"The resurrection of Jesus is meaningless, if it has no bearing on your life. If you are in political office and you pack public money meant to develop the country into your account, then you have not been impacted by the resurrection; if you were a drunkard or a wife beater and you still remain in this after the resurrection, then it is meaningless," he stressed.

The church marked Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified on the cross, with healing service in the morning and water and salt feet-washing all night.

Led by the Apostle General Ankrah, they said intercessory prayers for the peace of the country, inspiring hope that the saviour's blood would speak for Ghana.

The Easter festivities were climaxed on the Resurrection Sunday with morning worship and communion service in the evening.
 
Transformation

Apostle General Ankrah underscored the need for Ghanaians to crucify all negative attitudes on the cross and adopt positive behaviours that would enhance national development.

He observed that the crown of thorns that was twisted and put on Jesus' head, the mockery of him, the beatings, crucifixion and the eventual resurrection should inspire hope in all individuals to remain resolute in difficult times and seek the face of God to overcome every circumstance.

"Your life's transformation and the testimony of your life is the proof of the resurrection of Christ," he said.

ICGC

Dr Mensa Otabil, in his sermon, said the power in the resurrection of Christ enabled Christians to overcome their challenges which included sickness, disease, and poverty, among others, Mary Anane-Amponsah reports.

"The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee of our Christian hope," he said.

Preaching on seven reasons why Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he said one of the reasons was that the resurrection was a proof that Christ was the only saviour of the world.

Jesus, he said, was unique because of his death, resurrection and continuous living after over 2023 years.

Giving spiritual backings to the message, Dr Otabil quoted bible verses including; Romans 4 vrs 23 -25,  stating that the resurrection was the justification that gave Christians the confidence to believe in the salvation of Jesus Christ.

" When he says we are forgiven, we are truly forgiven because He went and returned".

"When you are a Christian, you are the most privileged human being on earth because your faith is anchored in this unique personality of history and eternity, Jesus Christ, ruler of death and ruler of life".

Perez Chapel

Most Rev. Agyinasare, in his sermon, said if the devil knew that crucifying Jesus would have got mankind saved, he would have prevented that from happening.

Again, he said if the devil knew that taking Jesus to the cross would make the whole world hear about Him, he wouldn't have done it.

However, the devil had no control and that Jesus, in becoming the ultimate sacrifice, released the power to reach out to the rest of the world and brought salvation and hope to mankind.

Most Rev. Agyinasare said just as Jesus’ sacrifice was costly, any sacrifice one made for his or salvation or for others, must, also, cost something valuable to be qualified as a sacrifice.

“Sacrifices are costly and Jesus showed us just how much it has to cost.

His life.

So must the sacrifices we make. We must be willing to sacrifice something valuable so that the beneficiaries will truly appreciate that ransom and not take it for granted,” he told the Perez Chapel congregation.

Be patriotic

In a related development, two Christian leaders have called on the citizenry, including political leaders, to be patriotic and put Ghana first in all their endeavours as well as running the affairs of the country, Vincent Amenuveve reports.

This, according to the leaders, was crucial in bringing peace, unity and sacrifice which were key to national development.

The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, Most Rev. Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, and the President of the Worldwide Miracle Outreach, Rev. Dr Lawrence Tetteh, made the call on the sidelines of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) seminar series. 

IEA Seminar

This latest edition of the IEA seminar series on a review of the 1992 Constitution,  was on the topic: “Reviewing Ghana's 1992 Constitution: views and reflections of religious leaders."

Rev. Dr Tetteh, in his submission, suggested the need for government to urgently formulate home grown policies to ensure economic sustainability.
“What is suitable for England and Germany may not necessarily be suitable for Ghana.

So we should look for the Ghanaian agenda," he advised.

He said it was equally important for the economic policies to be harmonised, while making sure that every Ghanaian lived peacefully and respected one another stressing that “we must think about Ghana first then the economy will be sound.”

Most Rev. Dr Boafo entreated the government to prioritise development projects to avoid waste, adding that “let us examine our spending culture again".

He said the measure would help ensure that the country did not go to the International Monetary Fund(IMF) for the 18th time.

On the recent three major bills passed by Parliament, Most Rev. Dr Boafo said Parliament should have come out with a road map on their implementation to ensure broader consultation.

The three bills are the Income Tax (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2022, the Excise Duty and Excise Tax Stamp (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the Growth and Sustainability Levy Bill, 2022.