Posts in category: Moving With IMD

Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, International Missions Director (IMD) of The Church of Pentecost, has recommended that Christians train their souls to align with the spirit in order to become more spiritual and walk blamelessly in this perverse world.

Preaching on the theme: “The Helmet of Salvation” (Ephesians 6:17) on Sunday, February 13, 2022, at the Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC), Accra, located at Kokomlemle, Apostle Bekoe explained that man is a tripartite being made up of body, soul, and spirit,  emphasising that, the human spirit serves as a conduit for communication between man and God.

“A spiritual Christian has an advantage over a carnal believer because they possess Christ’s mind,” he stated.

Reading further from 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12 to explain the need for Christians to be regenerated (born-again), the IMD stated that if a man is not born-again, his spirit, which is the communication channel between him and God, is dead, saying, “You are operating at the soulish and the bodyish level.  Your spirit, which was once dead, comes back to life the day you accept Jesus as your savior into your life.”

When discussing the human soul, Apostle Bekoe stated that the soul is man’s mind, will, and emotions/feelings.

He did, however, reveal that it is the spirit of man that is born-again, not the soul or the body (2 Corinthians 5:17).

He believes that when a person is born again, it is the spirit that is saved, explaining that,  if the soul is to be added to the new creation, it must go through discipline and training (Romans 12:2; 1 Peter 1:13). He continued: “If you are a believer, your spirit is saved so that when God speaks, you can hear, and when you speak, God can also hear.  However, even if you are a born-again believer, if you allow your soul to be aligned with your body, you will become a carnal Christian, because the soul and your body have become friends against the spirit. As a result, you will walk in the flesh.

He, however, said once the soul has been disciplined, trained, and aligned with the spirit, the spirit and soul will fight against the body, stressing that, this will enable the person to walk as a spiritual person.

The International Missions Director stated that the helmet of salvation is one of the armours of God that the believer must put on at all times because it serves two functions, namely decorative and protective.

“Because salvation is a complete package, it is beautiful.  Salvation is the line that separates you from your past and your future. Salvation is the borderline and when you put on the helmet of salvation, the world can see your awesomeness in Christ.”

He also stated that the helmet of salvation shields the believer’s mind and thoughts from the enemy’s attack. It also prevents outside interferences, destructions, and disruptions from entering their minds and thoughts.

Touching on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5-10), he stated that, while Jesus shared the same nature as God, he never considered equality with God. 

“The language of the world is equality. When gender equality was introduced, the divorce rate increased because a man and a woman can never be equal, but as a spouse, they can be one. When equality becomes your language (2 Corinthians 10:12), it will destroy your life because equality breeds competition, and competition breeds chaos,” he explained.

“Christ’s intention is for couples to be one and not equal. As Christians, oneness, not equality, should be the language,” he advised.

He also stated that Christ emptied himself and urged believers to do the same in order to receive the fullness of God, saying, “The day you become full of yourself, you will become empty of the Holy Spirit but when you empty yourself, you become full of the Holy Spirit.”

The IMD asked Christians to serve in whatever capacity they are assigned in the church because Christ allowed Himself to be a servant.

He also urged Christians to make humility a deliberate and intentional virtue to cultivate, as Christ was himself humble.

Among those present at the service were the IMD’s wife, Mrs. Deborah Agyemang Bekoe, and Apostle Prof. Kwabena Agyapong-Kodua (Associate Pastor of PIWC Accra and Vice-Chancellor of Pentecost University).

PENTECOST NEWS.

“Every believer has been enlisted as a soldier in the army of God and has a role to play in the church. Therefore, as a church, we do not want any member to be idle; everyone must be trained and assigned responsibility.”

These were the words of the International Missions Director (IMD) of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, as he spoke on “Mobilising the Squads” at the climax of the La Area Officers Retreat (Apostolisation) on Friday, February 11, 2022, at the Dr. Thomas Wyatt Memorial Temple, Accra Newtown.

He indicated that Jesus Christ is the Commander of the army of God. Listing some of the components of a fighting force, the IMD said that the fighting army has its concept of operation which includes its doctrines, principles, and values. In the same manner, the church has its doctrines, tenets, values, principles, and practices which guide the members in their conduct and operations.
There are also physical factors that the army employs when going to war. These include manpower, equipment, performance, sustainability, and readiness. According to him, soldiers who lack this equipment cannot fight and win a battle.

He also touched on moral factors such as unity, loyalty, and morale of the army. Relating it to Christian warfare, the IMD said that believers need unity to win the battle against the devil. They also have to be loyal to the Commander-in-Chief (Jesus Christ), the structures, and the leadership of the church which give directions to the troops, saying, “As an officer, your loyalty to the church should be absolute.”

Stressing on the importance of morale at the camp of the army, he admonished believers to support one another in the work of God so that the Master’s business will not suffer loss.
Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe further mentioned three levels as strategies in organising the army for battle. These are strategic level, operational level, and tactical level.
Dwelling on the tactical level of mobilisation, he said that it is broken down into sections, then to squads and teams with leaders.

“The squads and the teams which are smaller groups help to make the soldiers active and responsible to one another,” he explained.
Likewise, in the church, squads and teams help to engage members in the church. He advised presiding elders and ministry leaders at the local level which is the equipping centre to endeavour to assign every member to a specific team and squad so that no one will remain reductant in the church. This, he said, will help make every member responsible to someone.

Quoting Nehemiah 3:1-32, he disclosed some areas in the church where members can be assigned to operate in. This includes Bible study facilitators, prayer warriors, mission partners, welcoming committees/ushers, house-to-house evangelism squads, schools evangelism teams, follow-up teams, hospital evangelism teams, Children’s Ministry workers, videographers, instrumentalists, dawn preachers, and community development teams.

He identified some five strategies in mobilising the squads. These are enlistments (going out for the souls); training them through the new converts/new members classes; registration (taking the biodata of members and knowing every detail information about them); integration (through interaction, discipleship and mentoring them to ground them in the faith), and deployment which emphasizes on equipping the members to go out and bring in souls.

The International Missions Director noted that if members are not properly trained, they cannot be deployed to make an impact in society, hence the need for intentional discipleship and mentoring to fully equip the members to be agents of transformation.

PENTECOST NEWS.

The International Missions Director of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Agyeman Bekoe, has indicated that salvation of the believer is critical in equipping the church for battles.

“One of the weapons in the Christian journey is the helmet of salvation,” he said during the opening session of the La Area Officers’ Retreat (Apostolisation), on Tuesday, February 8, 2022, at Dr. Thomas Wyatt Temple.

Delivering a sermon on the topic, “Significance of the Helmet of Salvation,” Apostle Agyeman Bekoe defined salvation as, “being saved or delivered from sin through Jesus Christ.”

Using scriptural references from Ephesians 6:17 and 2 Corinthians 5:17, he revealed that the new creation or new birth of a believer comes with the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and personal Saviour.

“Not until one accepts Christ as Lord and personal Saviour, they are dead and have no connection with God,” he stated.

Quoting from 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12, he noted that man, being tripartite, is made up of body, soul, and spirit. He also said that the spirit of man serves as the communication channel between God and man.

“If anyone is not in Christ, their spirit is dead, hence, there is no communication network between them and God,” he declared.

He further added: “The moment one comes to accept Christ as their Lord and personal Saviour, that communication channel is opened, and they can talk to God, hear from Him, and be able to wear the helmet of salvation.”

Describing the soul of man, Apostle Agyeman Bekoe said that the mind, will, and emotions, are trained and disciplined to align themselves with the spirit of man when one becomes born again. This, he said, makes the individual spiritual again.

“If the soul aligns itself with the body instead of the spirit, they fight against the spirit, and the individual behaves carnally even though they have accepted Christ,” he noted.

He urged ministers and officers of the church to strive to put on the helmet of salvation which will push them from the past into the future.

The IMD revealed that the helmet of salvation also has a decorative purpose which beautifies and announces the presence of a true born-again Christian after every battle.

He then encouraged the Church to always work at their salvation to help protect their minds from the disruptions and interferences of this world, especially with new converts who need to be focused, determined, and resolute in their faith.

“The battlefield is the mind of the believer. The devil or enemy will throw many negative thoughts in the mind of the Christian, but with the help of the helmet of salvation, they can withstand all the devices of the devil and the pressures of life,” he emphasised while entreating the members of the church to understand the worth of their salvation.

Concluding his sermon, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe asked members of The Church of Pentecost to be agents and ambassadors of Christ.

The four-day teaching and prayers retreat for ministers and their wives as well as officers of the church will end on February 11, 2022.

Report by Gina Akua Padi.

The International Missions Director of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, and his wife Debora on Christmas Day [Saturday, December 25, 2021] fellowshipped with members in Awakyekwaa District of Downtown-Ofaakor Area. 

He was received by the Downtown-Ofaakor Area Head, Apostle Dr. Benjamin Ali, together with the Awakyekwaa District Minister, Overseer George Arthur. 

The elated church members who could not hide their joy happily sang and danced to the glory of God. 

Delivering the sermon on the topic, “The Wise Gifts” taken from Matthew 2:11, Apostle Agyemang Bekoe explained that the Wisemen [their number was not specified by the Bible] presented three important gifts, namely gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus and also bowed to Him. 

According to the IMD, the gold represents royalty which depicts Jesus’ kingship. It also represents worth and stability. He stated that as the king of the world, Jesus is the originator of all the treasures in the world, and that His children have access to them. 

He also said that the frankincense presented to Jesus exudes fragrance which is also used for medicinal purposes. He mentioned that anyone that comes to Christ must radiate the beauty and aroma of Him which makes believers attractive and so special. He further stated that Christ is the epitome of healing and heals those who come to Him and give them clarity of mind. 

Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe concluded his sermon by saying that myrrh is a preservative used to preserve dead bodies from seeing corruption. This, he said, was about the death of Christ which was foretold ahead of His birth and God making the appropriate provisions for it so that His body would not see corruption. 

The whole atmosphere was charged when the International Missions Director led the congregation through a prayer session after the word ministration. 

PENTECOST NEWS. 

The International Missions Director (IMD) of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, has called on heads of the church to make every effort to take the gospel of salvation to every part of the world.

He said although The Church of Pentecost has done creditably well in taking the gospel to the nations as it currently has its presence in 109 nations across the globe, there are still about 159 unreached nations yet to be possessed by the church for Christ.

“There are still more lands to be possessed. We should not rest on our laurels; we need to move as fast as possible to possess every land of the world for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” he stated.

Apostle Agyemang Bekoe revealed this when addressing National/Area Heads at the 2021 Heads’ Meeting of the church on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh, near Kasoa.

Speaking to the topic, “Possessing the Nations Agenda – The Missions Perspective,” the IMD said that out of the 159 unpossessed nations, eight are in Africa, 30 in Asia, 56 in Europe, 23 in North and South America, 20 in the Caribbean, 21 in Australia/Oceania and disputed Antarctica.

Per the church’s five-year strategic vision of Possessing the Nations, it intends to capture at least 40 of these unpossessed nations for Christ by the end of the year 2023. The ambitious agenda, he stated, requires a more concerted effort by all stakeholders so that the overarching vision of the church would be realised at the end of the period.

Touching on some of the implementation strategies needed to drive the missions aspect of the Possessing the Nations agenda of the church, Apostle Agyemang Bekoe mentioned 22 thematic areas that his office has developed to help achieve the agenda.

These include planting churches in prime areas in the nations, increasing soul winning and creation of more districts, training ministers in the diaspora to be missions-minded aside providing ministry to people largely of Ghanaian descent, aggressive ministry to the homeless, drug/drunk/sex addicts, encouraging the establishment of more Pentecost International Worship Centres (PIWCs) in the nations and training of leaders at all levels.

Other strategies include establishing more French-speaking churches in the English-speaking West African countries and vice-versa, introducing French programmes on the church’s television station – Pent TV to reach out to the Francophones, establishing Pentecost Students and Associates (PENSA) in the nations, and strengthening the affiliation with PENSA International to recruit students and alumni as volunteers for social work and evangelism..

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The International Missions Director (IMD) of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Emmanuel Agyemang Bekoe, has donated 30 thermometer guns to three bodies at the Head Office of the church to help them observe the COVID-19 protocols in their operations.

The beneficiary institutions are Media Ministry which had five, Pent TV which received 20, and PENSA International which also had five.

Presenting the items, Apostle Agyemang Bekoe noted that the package was just the beginning of more good things to come since the Missions Office considers the beneficiary institutions as strategic partners in the missions’ drive of the church.

“As part of Vision 2023, the Youth Ministry and for that matter, PENSA International has become a strategic partner to Missions, not only them but Pent TV and the Media Ministry. So, we decided to give them these items so that they can observe the covid protocols in line of duty,” he said.

In response, the Youth Director, Pastor Ebenezer Hagan, on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the IMD for the kind gesture, saying, “We really cherish the gesture, and we are going to equip ourselves with it as we move out to possess the nations.”

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