The Koforidua Effiduase Area Head of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Daniel Yeboah Nsaful, has admonished Christians to let the power in the message of the cross bring transformation into their lives to make them better citizens, saying, “The message of the cross brings transformation.”

Apostle Nsaful said this in a sermon on Sunday, April 1, 2018, to climax a five-day Easter Convention of the Effiduase Zone held at the Oyoko Methodist School Park. His topic was: “The Message of the Cross; The Basic Message for Salvation” based on 2 Corinthians 1:18 and Luke 23:32-33.

According to him, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who would perish because of lack of knowledge. He said some knowledgeable people find it repulsive to accept the message of the cross and wish another way could be found to preach salvation apart from the cross.

He stated that because of the cosmopolitan nature of Corinth, even though the Christians there abound in all the spiritual gifts, they begun abusing the gifts, so Paul had to write a letter to call them to order. “The Lord has blessed this church with the basic message of salvation and we need to jealously guard it,” he said.

Apostle Nsaful explained that to die on a cross was the worst form of punishment at the time and no family wanted to be tagged with such a punishment. He said the Jews were used to miracles because of the wilderness experience and expected a Messiah who would miraculously deliver them from the Roman rule. “So for it to be said that a son of a carpenter, who had died on a cross, is the Messiah sounds foolish to them but to us, it is the power of God” he stated.

He indicated that the Jews missed out because they were expecting a miracle. “Any Christian whose faith is based solely on miracles is not a good Christian,” he added.

He mentioned three things that the power in the message of the cross brings. These are: salvation, peace of mind and transformation.

On salvation, he said the message of the cross is what prepares one’s mind to accept Jesus Christ after conviction of the heart.

He pointed out that the message of the cross brings transformation and that should be seen in the lives of Christians. He said until that is done, Christians can shout, jump, dance, fast and pray but to no avail, saying, “Christianity is not about slogans, but the demonstration of good works.”

He bemoaned the situation where majority of the citizenry profess to be Christians but the nation continues to wallow in corruption. He expressed concern that instead of the lifestyles of Christians transforming the nation, some rather fight against the laws meant to protect the citizenry. “The power in the message of the cross must transform Christians to bring about change in our country,” he added.

The Koforidua Effiduase Area Head advised politicians, public and civil servants to examine their ways and turn a new leave, saying, “It is in the prosperity of the nation that the citizenry would prosper.”

He admonished the youth to avoid ‘cutting corners’ since God does not lower His standards.

Apostle Nsaful could not help but to lead the congregation to sing the Twi version of the National Anthem to ignite their communal spirit and patriotism.

Report by Ezekiel Korletey Duamor