President of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Samuel Olusegun Oladele
By 'Gbenga Bankole
It was a day of celebrating the resurrection of Christ which the President of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and Overseas, Pastor Samuel O. Oladele, regarded as what grants all Christians power and total victory over sin. This was at a programme tagged 'A Special Easter Sunday School with President of CAC.'
At the glamorous celebration of victory over sin, held at CAC All Saints' Chapel, Ibadan on Easter Sunday, where he preached on the topic 'The Victory of the Cross (text: Phil. 3:10, 1 Cor. 2:22-24), Pastor Oladele declared that Christians across the globe can rejoice because the death and resurrection of Christ granted victory and power over sin, urging Christians to work in the victory.
He explained that; "we are here to celebrate His resurrection. When we talk about Good Friday, what is good about the day? It's a day when God refused to answer prayers. It's a day when sun refused to shine. A day when the father forsook His begotten son. It was a day of gloom of darkness, but on the third day, the resurrection put an end to all that. That tells you that nothing goes on forever. Through His resurrection He presented us with victory because He knows we can't win the battles of life by our own power. Christians today can say we are victorious. We are victorious over sin. Sin is falling below God's standard. God has a standard.
"The Bible says 'all have sinned.' Sin is universal. Sin is everything. You don't have to do anything to become a sinner. We were born as sinners. Sin is everywhere, even in many good places. No good environment can stop sin. There is nothing or anybody that can stop human disposition to sin. Satan has set over man taskmaster that will tell man to commit sin. When Christ rose from the dead, by the power of His resurrection, He gave us power over sin. We shall be tempted, but by the power of resurrection we will not fall into the temptation of Christ. When he died on the cross, he purchased the power and victory for us."
The Clergyman further said that believers of Christ have been crucified with Christ and a crucified man has desires, but he won't be able to fulfill those desires because he's crucified.
The CAC President reminded the congregation of their victory over sin, emphasizing that victory is theirs over sin, adding that; "we can say 'no' to all the pleasures of this world. Christ has won the victory for us, it's left for us to say 'no' to sin."
Speaking about the cross, Pastor Oladele noted that the cross from human point of view stands for failure, explaining that; "one of the things man hates is failure. We pray and make confessions against it, but with all our confessions, we still encounter failure as humans. Whether we like it or not, failure is integral part of human being. It's part of life. There is no man in history who didn't fail at one point in time, including our forefathers. The history says Abraham Lincoln failed 12 times, but eventually became the President of America. He encountered failure and had to contend with it."
He told the congregation that their failure is not an hindrance for God to use them.
While making his remarks earlier in the programme, the Chaplain of CAC All Saints' Chapel, Pastor T. D. Asokeji said the programme started in the year 2021.
In his exact words; "in the year 2021, the Authority of the church announced that services will start in this chapel by first Sunday in May. However, Easter came before May that year, then we approach the President that where do we celebrate Easter? As the Chaplain, he told me I should go and think about it. We began to think of where the President should celebrate Easter because services hasn't commenced officially at All Saints' Chapel. Graciously, the President approved that we should start Sunday service that very Easter with this programme and that birthed this programme because church has not started here, we didn't have a choir. We had to talk to some brethren in CAC Agbokojo where i grew and I was a choirmaster for 13 years. We spoke with CAC Oke Iyanu Bodija, CAC Oke-Ibukun Oke Ado and CAC Oke Ayo Mokola and since 2021, we have been doing this."
Pastor Asokeji also said that CAC All Saints' Chapel has enough choir to minister at the programme this year without asking anyone to join them but they don't want to be ungrateful, adding that choir from CAC Agbokojo, Oke-Ayo Mokola, Oke-Ibukun Oke Ado and All Saints Chapel formed the choir for this year's programme.
He concluded that over the years, the programme has been a service where people go back home blessed after being ministered to.
The choir in their beautiful robes performed songs such as 'This Joyful Eastertide'; 'Duru Wura lo Ndun'; 'King of Glory by Morris Ford & Arranged by Ayo Oluranti'; 'Mo dibo fun' by The Male Voices of Praise; 'Polongo' by Ayo Oluranti; 'I'll have a New Life' by Luther G. Presley; 'I know that my Redeemer' and 'Olufe Okan mi' by The Male Voices of Praise.
Apart from the President and his wife, Mrs. S. K. Oladele, the programme had in attendance notable faces such as the General Evangelist of the church, ably represented by his wife, Mrs. Esther Oladeji; wife of General Secretary, Mrs. Fidelia Mapur; Finance Director, Pastor J.F. Omitinde; Regional Superintendent of Babalola Region, Pastor G. S. Dada, Regional Secretary of Babalola Region, Pastor Abraham Akinpelu; Director of Youth Affairs, Pastor S. O. Gbuyiro, and many others.
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