Apostle Daniel Nii Tetteh Tackie, the Wa Area Head of The Church of Pentecost, has challenged Ministers and their wives as well as Officers of the church to go beyond the slogans of Vision 2023 and be committed to its effective implementation.
He said this during the Wa Area’s End-of-Year Presbytery Meeting held on Saturday, February 8, 2020.
Reading from 1 Chronicles 22:14-19 as the key text to the sermon titled, “Take Your Eyes Off the Gold,” he cautioned church leaders to ensure that their motives for working for God are right.
Presenting the background to the text, Apostle D. N. T. Tackie explained that David intended to build a temple for God. However, God chose his son Solomon to fulfil that mandate after David had passed on to eternity.
Beyond the resources such as gold, silver and bronze that David gathered to aid in the building of the temple of God, he cautioned the leaders of Israel to also devote their heart and soul to the service of the Lord God in order to achieve desired result.
Apostle Tackie indicated that ‘gold’ refers to anything that attracts one’s heart and whole being other than God.
He stated that as a good leader, David revealed the secret of the wealth so that the people of Israel may not be tempted to put their trust in materials things. “David lifted their hearts and souls from the physical gold or glory unto God,” he explained.
The Wa Area Head, therefore, advised church leaders to focus on seeking and devoting their entire heart and soul to the service of God rather than pursuing the “golds” of life.
He bemoaned the practice where after God has given a vision to leadership, some individuals tend to deviate from the Vision and pursue goals different from the desired Vision of the church.
He cautioned the ministers and their wives as well as officers not to reduce Vision 2023 to mere slogans, but work to ensure that the new interventions contained in the Vision are actualized. “Don’t reduce vision 2023 to slogans alone, work selflessly to make it a reality and ensure that the church members flow with the vision,” he added.
Apostle Nii Tackie noted that some leaders lose focus and do things abhorred by the Master who called them. He advised church leaders in the Area not to be in such fold.
He emphasized the essence of prayer and holy living and encouraged the Wa Area Presbytery to delve deep into such practices.
He also challenged them to dispel the “We are in Missions mentality” and work hard to achieve results for God.
He reiterated that, “if you want to know the secret behind the gold, seek the Lord your God with all your heart and soul for He is the source of the gold.”
Apostle Daniel Tackie concluded that after Solomon built the temple according to the pattern and vision of God, God descended in His glory to fill it. He then intimated that when leaders work according to God’s vision in His church and live holy lives, the radiant glory of God will dwell in the church.
Vision 2023 is a five-year strategic vision of The Church of Pentecost for the period 2018 to 2023. Its overarching theme is “Possessing the Nations: Equipping the Church to Transform Every Sphere of Society with Values and Principles of the Kingdom of God”. The implementation strategies are to equip the church members to be agents of transformation, transform society and strengthen and re-align Church Institutions and Structures to Possess the Nations for Christ. The slogan for this five-year Vision is “Possessing the Nations: I am an Agent of Transformation.”
Report By: Pastor Gordon Ansah (PENSA Travelling Secretary, Upper West Sector)