Church of Ascension Festac hosts special praise service

By Adeze Ojukwu

Church of Ascension, Anglican Communion, FESTAC Town, Lagos, recently held a special thanksgiving service tagged: ‘My turn to give thanks.’

The three-hour praise service featured musical renditions, testimonies, prophetic prayers and dances.

The exhilarating musical event at the church auditorium, was held on Sunday, March 7, 2021.

Delivering the sermon, the vicar of the church, Rev. Mike Fagbemi described praise as ‘a sign of faith in God.’

According to him, thanksgiving and praises open doors to greater victories and successes in life, noting that God was behind ‘the vision for this special service. God wants to use the programme to specially  bless members of the church.’

He preached extensively about the theme of the main text, which is Psalm 107:31 ‘Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of me!’

‘The exercise today is indeed spiritual – we are to praise God all through for His greatness, and for many other things He would do for us.’

‘Praising God, therefore,  is a sign of faith for all he would do. It’s a pity that people and some Christians prefer requesting for things instead of  praising God.’

‘It could be tempting, for instance, for one, who is divinely ordered to sing praises to God, all through the night in a vigil, without making any direct prayer requests.’

‘God gave the leading that we should do this to him for three hours in our worship,  coupled with the fact that our prophetic harvest theme for the month is ‘Go Forward’ based on  Exodus 14:15b.’

 He recalled that the people of Israel began to be apprehensive of what lied ahead of them, especially crossing the Red Sea and other challenges of their wilderness experience.’

This the vicar explained, ‘made Moses to turn to God for a solution. God said, ‘tell the children of  Israel to go forward,’ as enumerated in Psalm 107: 8, 15, 21 and 31.’

‘In hearkening to God’s voice on this, I am sure unlimited testimonies await us all. So, let your worship be linked with a holy life as you carry out this injunction,’ he added.

The vicar highlighted other scriptures that underscore the significance of expressing gratitude to God through singing and dancing.

He cited Philippians 4:6-7: ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

He also referred to Psalm 103:1 ‘Bless the Lord Oh my soul.’

Rev Fagbemi praised the worshippers for participating actively in the awesome musical worship.

Participants were seen dancing excitedly, as the church choir rendered beautiful songs to praise God’s faithfulness in their lives.

Many worshippers commended the inspirational worship as ‘a exciting way to serve God.’