Exhibit virtues of Jesus — Apostle Dr Jackson

The Chairman of Christian Praise International Centre, Apostle Dr Stephen Owusu Jackson, has admonished Christians to exhibit the virtues of Jesus Christ in all areas of their lives in their effort to accomplish their plans for the year.

In an interview on his New Year message on the theme: “My year of stature and fullness of Jesus Christ,” he said: “Even as we celebrate the new year and begin to put our plans for the year into action, we should give room for Christ’s presence in our lives daily. This can be achieved by emulating the life and character of Jesus Christ in whatever we do. The main work of a pastor is to prepare and help lead people to Christ, for Christians to strive and imitate Christ. It is important for Christians to be mindful of who they are wherever they find themselves as Christ is the standard for all and not man.”

He advised Ghanaians to be selfless in their deeds to attract the blessings of God in their lives. “Let’s be selfless and seek the welfare of the nation first, to live a legacy that may be forever remembered.

“Seek the welfare and interest of the citizens first, once you do that you live behind a legacy which will always be remembered. A leader should always live a life that others can emulate, a holy life, all forms of vices that destroy a man’s life should be avoided. Let’s do everything possible as Christians to desist from engaging in practices that do not honour Christ,” he noted.

He also urged Ghanaians to respect authority in every area of their lives to attract the blessings of God saying, ‘’Anyone who fights authority will be fighting God. Respect and honour them. Obey rules and regulations wherever you find yourself particularly the laws of the land. Obedience is key if we want to succeed in life.”

Dr Jackson observed that one of the virtues of a Christian is to exhibit humility in dealing with one another which helps in peaceful coexistence.

“People feel they have certificates, they have acquired wealth etc. and so do not respect anybody in society. Once we begin to understand the true meaning of material possession, the abundance of these things would not in any way affect our relationship with our fellow man. We will understand ourselves and live happily. Let’s also not forget to give honour to whom honour is due,’’ he advised.

The Chairman asked Christians to work hard for God’s blessings and not become wealth seekers citing 1 Timothy chapter 1 : 6 which, according to him, espoused on evil desire for wealth which had the consequences of bringing sorrow to lovers of money.

“We brought nothing into this world and we would not take anything back. Religion with good contentment is a great game, whatever God entrusts in our hands we should be appreciative of, the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and adds no sorrow to it. The Lord will bless anybody who follows Christ diligently,” he added.

When asked some of the things Ghanaians should do to help build the nation, the chairman indicated that “One of the important things that a developing nation such as Ghana needs is unity of purpose to enable us to progress.”

There is no country in the world today that has developed without being united? Ethnicity, tribalism is sometimes dangerous to the development of a country. We should see ourselves as one people with a common goal of helping the nation succeed in everything and desist from engaging in acts that have the potential of hampering the growth of the country.

According to the chairman, the vision of the church since it was established over 14 years ago by the late Bishop Annor Yeboah was to win souls for the Kingdom of God and to also prepare people for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

He mentioned soul wining as the heartbeat of God which required all Christians to get involved to help expand the kingdom of God.

“Soul winning is the heartbeat of God, which is the great commission by God. The heavens rejoice when a person is saved and so it is important we equip people to work for the ministry,’’ he noted.

Christian Praise International Centre has over 20,000 members across the world and can be located in almost all the regions of the country with plans of establishing some additional branches in the Northern Region of the country.

He said that CPIC can be found in countries such as Italy, USA, France, and Cote d’Ivoire.

The chairman said even though the ultimate aim of the church was to save the lost in society by leading them to Jesus Christ, the welfare of people should be one of the major priorities of the church.

He, therefore, mentioned some support provided by the church in society as part of its social responsibility drive of supporting the needy in society.

He said the church donated an incubator to the Dormaa Ahenkro Presbyterian hospital in the Brong Ahafo Region and it had also adopted the female ward of the hospital in honour of the founder of the church, the late Bishop Annor Yeboah.

Others, he said, included the establishment of a school in Ningo aimed at supporting the people in the area and the provision of scholarship to students from the SHS to the university level.

According to Apostle Dr Jackson, the church had plans to establish a bible school which would be rolled out later into a full-fledged university to train would-be pastors, retrain practising pastors and workers in the ministry. He also spoke of plans by the church to increase the number of branches in Ghana and abroad, and to establish branches in the Northern Region this year .