Twenty two seniors, whose ages ranged between 70 and 90, were last Sunday honoured at a colourful ceremony as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Ghanaian Presbyterian Church, Toronto.
The seniors, TWELVE and TEN women and men respectively, dressed in a very rich traditional KENTE CLOTHES to mark the occasion.
To make the day grand, the Resident Minister, the Rev. Raymond Baah Abekah, invited past elders to deliver the awards to the seniors IN THEIR SEATS at the church. The Rev. Abekah showered the blessings of God upon the Seniors and hoped they would live to see good things of life.
In a sermon taken from 1 Kings 17: 8 – 24 and themed “Giving to Support God’s Work, Rev. Abekah gave a picture of an encounter Prophet Elijah, who had declared a period of “no rain” for the next few years, had with a widow in Zarephat.
The declaration of “No Rain” by Prophet Elijah resulted in a drought and famine on the land. God asked Elijah to go and live beside a Brook near the Jordan River to be fed by Ravens. When the Brook dried up, God requested Elijah to go and live in a village called Zarephat with a widow and her child.
Elijah obeyed and left. When he got to the gate of Zarephat, Elijah saw the widow gathering sticks and he asked the widow to fetch him water to drink. On the way to bring Elijah the water, the Prophet called her back and said please bring me some bread in addition..
The widow told Elijah that “as the Lord lives I have no bread but a handful of flour in a barrel and a little oil in a container and I was gathering the sticks to prepare the food for my son and I to eat and die.” Prophet Elijah told the widow that “Fear not, go and do what you were going to do. But first go and make me the meal and secondly make for you and your son.”
Elijah prophesied that “the Lord says the barrel containing the flour and the container for the oil shall not be exhausted until the day the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” She also obeyed and prepared the meal for the Prophet.
Finally God raised the widow’s son to life when he died while the Prophet was with her. They were both obedient to the word of God and so God blessed them both.
In conclusion, Rev. Abekah told the congregation to be obedient to the word of God; adding that it was more blessed to give than to receive.
