REFLECTION ON WHERE GOD HAS BROUGHT US AND FAITH FOR WHERE HE IS TAKING US – PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL 2023/2024 CROSS OVER SERVICE: 31ST DECEMBER 2023

SPECIAL 2023/2024 CROSS OVER SERVICE WITH PASTOR (DR) MENSA OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER, INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) CHRIST TEMPLE, ACCRA GHANA)

TOPIC: REFLECTION ON WHERE GOD HAS BROUGHT US AND FAITH FOR WHERE HE IS TAKING US

DATE: 31ST DECEMBER 2023

BIBLE TEXT: PSALMS 136: 1-9

Tonight is a very Special Night for each one of us because in few Minutes from now, we will be entering a Brand New Year 2024,

And tonight, we have the Honour and the Privilege to be Part of the People who saw the beginning of the Yeat and are also seeing the end of the Year.

Some People think that it is ordinary but it is extraordinary to see the beginning of a Year and also to see the end of the Year because that Privilege does not come easily to everybody,

But Thank God that we saw the beginning of this Year (2023) and we are seeing the beginning of Next Year (2024) as well.

And He who will cause you to see the beginning of 2024 will also cause you to see Next Year – By this time to see the end of 2024 (Amen).

God will give you Victory and God will watch over you and Protect you – Amen.

We are Confidence in the Goodness of the Lord that His Faithfulness never ends

So, as we close the Page on one Year and open the Page for a Brand New Year; we will take time to reflect on where God has brought us and to have Faith for where He is taking us.

God has brought us far and He will take us very far – Amen.

*And so today, as I begin my Exaltation before we entered into the New Year, I want you to turn to Psalms 136: – And appropriately, I should be reading the whole of the Psalms but that is a little bit long and we don’t have too much time. So, I’m going to read Verses 1 to 9.

And there is a Pattern of Praise and Worship I want you to observe there because we are also going to Praise God in similar manner as we read in the Psalms.

Psalms 136: 1-9 NKJV

1. Oh, give Thanks to the Lord, for He is Good! For His Mercy endures forever.
2. Oh, give Thanks to the God of gods! For His Mercy endures forever.
3. Oh, give Thanks to the Lord of lords! For His Mercy endures forever:
4. To Him who alone does Great Wonders, For His Mercy endures forever;
5. To Him who by Wisdom made the Heavens, For His Mercy endures forever;
6. To Him who laid out the Earth above the waters, For His Mercy endures forever;
7. To Him who made Great Lights, For His Mercy endures forever.
8. The Sun to rule by Day, For His Mercy endures forever;
9. The Moon and Stars to rule by Night, For His Mercy endures forever.

And you hear that Phrase – “Your Mercy endures Forever” after every Sentence.

When we read the Psalms, we just read them as a Message coming to us but the Psalms normally are Songs in Processions.

And they are sang most of the time when Israel or the People of God are going to the Temple and they will sing the Psalms and that will take them to the Temple.

And usually, the Psalms will be made up of two (2) Parts:

I. A Leader who will sing one Part.

II. And the People who will sing another Part.

So, the Leader will say something and the People will respond.

So, this is how the Psalms was Structured!

And so the Leader will say: Oh, give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good.

And then the People respond: For His Mercy endures Forever.

So, as we get ready to go into 2024; we want to give Thanks to God for 2023 because His Mercy endures Forever!

So I’m going to lead us to a similar Call and Response – And when I make the Call, you will respond: “For His Mercy endures Forever”.

Are you ready to Praise God? To Thank Him for Year 2023?

Oh give Thanks to the Lord for the Year 2023 – For His Mercy endures Forever

Give Thanks to the Lord who cause us to gather in 2023 – For His Mercy endures Forever

To the Lord our God who delivers us from Destruction – For His Mercy endures Forever.

To our Lord who cause us to rejoice and fill our mouths with Laughter – For His Mercy endures Forever

To our Lord who Comforted us in our Times of Pains and Sorrows – For His Mercy endures Forever

To the Lord who is with us in the Mountain and in the Valley – For His Mercy endures Forever

To the Lord who is taking us into a Brand New Year – For His Mercy endures Forever

Give Thanks to the Lord who is the King of the Universe, the Alpha and the Omega; whose Faithfulness from Generation to Generation – For His Mercy endures Forever

Give the Lord a Mighty Hand!

And it is through the Lord’s Mercy that we are not Consumed.

It is through the Mercy of the Lord that we have lived and to see this Day.

And it is by His Mercy that we Cross Over into the New Year – We Cross Over into 366 “Unknown Days”.

Days that we have no idea of how they will look like.

But those “Unknown Days” are Known to God because Known unto the Lord are the ends of the matter.

He knows everything before it begins:

I. There is Nothing coming to you in 2024 that will be a Surprise to God.

II. There is Nothing the Enemies had Planned for you that God has not already outsmarted him concerning.

Because the Mercy of the Lord will take you from this Year into Next Year and the Faithful God who is Eternal will keep you into a Brand New Year.

To guide our Journey as Church, we will focus our attention, and our Resources on a Theme – And it has been something we have been doing over a very long.

I have had the Privilege of leading People to a Brand New Year – I have been conducting these Services for over 40 years. Probably about 45 years now; I have done it over and over and over.

And one of the important tasks that I cherished is being able to lead People into a Brand New Year.

It is almost like a Midwife delivering a baby into the world.

It is almost like God using me to help us to bring something New into our lives.

And we believed that God is going to guide us.

Each Year, we set out a Theme that I believed Captures the ideas of what I hear God saying in my Spirit for His People.

In 2022, our Theme was “Increase”.

In 2023, our Theme has been “Gathering”.

And in 2024, our Theme is “GOD”.

• He is the Alpha and Omega.
• He is the One who begins with us from the 1st of January 2024 to the 31st of December 2024.

We believe that God will make out a way for each of us and God will Prepare a Table before us in the Presence of our Enemies.

Our Key Bible Text as a Church throughout International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) for 2024 is the first Verse of the Bible – Very simple enough Verse but it Captures who God is!

And it reads – In the Beginning, God created the Heavens and Earth (Genesis 1:1).

And you can be sure that I’m going to do a lot of work with that Verse!

• God is the Source of all things.
• God is the Creator of all things.

And He has made Himself known to us – And He wants us to know Him.

And when you read the Bible, you see many People that God made Himself Known to.

But one remarkable Person that God made Himself known to was a Gentleman called Moses.

Moses was a Child of Peculiar Circumstances:

• He was born in a very severe time when Life was threatened by the Pharaoh of Egypt against every Male born Child. And he was a Male Child.
• And his Parents thought of giving him a Future and so they gave him the Opportunity.
• And God worked it out so that Moses will be Delivered.

And guess where God took him? He took him to the very
Camp of the Person who wants to destroy him.

God has a Good sense of humour.

When People had Planned your Destruction and thinks you are hiding from them; He sneaks you into their Presence and they don’t even know that you are there, until you come to Subject and overrun the Kingdom of the enemy.

God will bring you into Places where People had Planned Wickedness for you but He will use you to overturn every Plans of Wickedness.

Don’t be surprised where God will put you Next Year (2024) – You will stand before those People that wanted to stab you but God will seat you at their Table because He was about to Prepare a Table before you in the Presence of your Enemies.

So, Moses was in the Camp of his Destroyer supposedly and God eventually took Moses out!

But he really encountered God on Mount Horeb when he was an Old Man in Exodus 3: 13-15.

God appeared to Moses and gave Moses a Change. But Moses was not really ready for the Change because the Peoole he was about to give the Change to are a very Stiff-Necked People,

So, this is what Moses said in Verse 13-15 of Exodus Chapter 3:

13. Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14. And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
15. Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My Memorial to all Generations.’

I want you to know the Progression – Moses drew near to God and God drew near to him!

And that is what we want to focus on – That our Hearts will be drawn to the Lord and the Lord will draw Close to us!

And in that environment, God revealed Himself to Moses in the Most Simplest of names – “I AM”.

What is your Name? “I AM”.

In the Hebrew Language, it is called “Ehyeh”.

“I AM” or “Ehyeh” is from a root word that means: “To Be” – And it is God’s Proper Name.

It doesn’t just described Him but that is how He calls Himself – “I AM” .

God is who He is – He is the One who is.

God doesn’t become, He doesn’t Improve, He doesn’t Learn, He doesn’t become Better, He doesn’t become “More Holy”; He doesn’t become “More Righteous”.

Because for Human Beings, we have three (3) Times Zones – The Past, The Present and The Future.

And because of this Line of Progression, we become better, we improve, we Age, we become Old but God has no Past and God has no Future.

In the Hebrew, it is a Perfect Tense – God is.

He is “Is” – Not “Was”, not “Will Be”.

So, He says to Moses – “I Am”.

Who are You?

I am your Life, I am your Health, I am your Strength, I am your Wisdom, I am your Ability, I am Past, I am your Present, I am your Future, I am 2024, I am 2025, I am 2026.

You are not there but I am; you are not getting there but I am – Because whatever we will want to be, God is already there.

There is Nothing about your Future that is secret to God that God has to go and learn about – He knows the End from the Beginning.

And in 2024, we want to encounter “I Am” – That is our Mission as a Church!

• To know God.
• To know “The Great I Am”.
• To know the One who is Present at all times.
• Who has always been at all times.
• Who calls all things to be as not being called by anything.
• Who moves all things but He is not moved.
• Who is at all times.

There will never be a time God is not – God is always!

And we want to know Him, we want to know His Person, we want to know His Presence and we want to know His Power!

• When you know Him, you will know His Glory.
• When you know Him, you will experience His works.

Don’t go for His works, go for Him because His works comes from Him!

• When we know Him, we know His works, Power, Glory and Beauty.

Many times we are chasing for the things that He does but He said to Moses – He didn’t say “I will do”; He didn’t say “I will be”; He said, Moses simply tell them “I Am”.

So they asked Moses:

• Who is going to deliver us? – “I Am”.
• Who is going to destroy Pharaoh? – “I Am”.
• Who is going to take us through the Wilderness? – “I Am”.
• Who will feed us through the Wilderness? – “I Am”.
• When we come through the Red Sea and we didn’t know how to Cross; who will help us? – “I Am”.
• When Enemies confront us in the Wilderness and we have no Army or Weapons; how do we defeat them? – “I Am”.
• All that you Expected – “I Am”.

And today, I want to announce to you that this is the God you serve:

• The God you know.
• The God you Pray to.
• The God you read about in the Bible.

This is the God that we have known from Generation to Generation – “The Great I Am”.

In the Year 2024, live in His Presence and let God be God!

When I announced the Theme to the Pastors – I said: Pastors, stop Playing God! Let God be God!

And when we allow God to be God, even what we cannot do, He will do it.

Once we understand that this is God’s work, we don’t have to put in efforts to try to impress People about how much Power we have because the Power, Glory, Beauty and Anointing is His.

Because I get the impression that many times, Pastors want to be God:

• We feel that if we don’t lay hands on People, they won’t be Healed.
• We feel that if we don’t bless People, they will not be Blessed.

There is a Place to lay our hands on People – It is in the Bible; there is a Place for us to bless People – It is in the Bible.

But God will bless People whether we bless them or not.

There was a time Moses was talking to God and say: God I’m tired.

God says, okay I am going to help you – I want you to gather the People that you think are “Potential Leaders” and I’m going to take Part of what I put in you and put it on them too.

God was saying that: Whatever I did with you Moses, I can do with seventy (70) other People.

And so, People gathered and the Spirit of God came down upon them.

And there were other People who didn’t come for the Meeting but the fact that they didn’t come for the Meeting does not mean that God cannot touch them – God still touch them.

DMC NOTES: The Account of this Story of God putting some of the Spirit on Moses on the 70 Chosen Elders can be found I Numbers 11: 11-26.

I just want you to know that God is who He is wherever you are at everytime.

That also means that:

• When you are also doing bad, He is.
• When you are lying, He is.
• When you are Stealing, He is.
• When you are deceiving People, He is.
• Couples, when you are unfaithful, He is.

Where Nobody can be, God is – He is “The Great I Am” and He is there all the time.

And it is this God that we trust to take us through the Year 2024.

Can I Predict what Year 2024 will be? Can I Prophesy?

And if this Prophesy does not come to Past, take this Church and burn it – Laughters!

God will still be God – That is a Prophesy that can never Change!

Can I Prophesy further?

He will be God in 2025, in 2026, in 2100, in 3000 and for a thousand Generation, a Billion Generation, a Trillion Generation.

Heaven and Earth will Past away but He will still be God!

And because God is God and He will be God every Year and God at all times, I can rest in Him!

So, the best way to enter a New Year is just be in God – Rest in Him, and Trust Him.

• Will Prices of foodstuffs Increase? I don’t know but God will still be God.
• Will there be Money? I don’t know but God is God.
• When the Oceans move, when the Mountains move, when the Heavens move, when Economy stumbles; God is God.

The Psalmist in Psalms 46: 1-3 tells us: God is our refuge and Strength, a very Present Help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the Earth be removed, and though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the Mountains shake with its swelling – God is still God.

• If we hear that Russia has Launched a Nuclear Weapon; God is still God.
• If we hear that something else has happened; God is still God.

We didn’t know the Future but one thing that we know without any Shadow of doubt – God is and He is always God!

And when your Trust is in Him, then through all the Changing Things of Life, your rest is in who He is.

So, I encourage you as we enter into the New Year:

• Trust in Him.
• He is our Refuge from the Storms of Life.
• He is your Refuge from Arrms and Attacks.
• In Him we are, in Him we have Life.

I cannot Promise you that there won’t be Problems in 2024.

I cannot Promise you that you won’t go through Valleys.

I cannot Promise you that there won’t be difficulties ahead of you.

All that I can Promise you is – “I Am”; “God is”.

• He is there with you.
• He will Guide you.
• He will Lead you.
• He will give you Victory.
• He will fight your Battles for you.
• He will destroy the Weapons that has been formed against you.

And no Weapon formed against you shall Prosper.

People can conspire behind you but “God is” and He is there at all times.

You don’t need to know your Enemies – You just need to know your Defender!

And when God is your Defender, you may not know who is against you – You just know who is for you.

Because the Scriptures says: If God be for us, who can be against us? (DMC NOTES: Romans 8:31).

You don’t need to know who is against you – All you need to know is that God is for me!

• Will there be Witches? I don’t know, maybe but God is.
• Will People try to gang up against you? Yes they will, but God is.
• Will there be times you are broke? Yes, God is. He is not broke, He is your Supplier, Provider, Healer and Deliverer.

Whatever you desires, He is.

So, as we enter into the Brand New Year 2024 – It is a Year of God!

It simply means:

• Just rest in Him.
• Be Secured in Him
• Settle yourself in God.
• Have your Presence in Him.

And Nothing that the Enemies does will be able to overthrow you.

I believed that you are about to experience the Most Fulfilling the Most Significant, the Most Consequential and the Most Expressive Year that you have ever been in.

If you think that Year 2023 was Good, then wait for the next Year that is coming (2024).

If you look back in your Life and say: Oh, 2010 is my Best Year, look forward for what is coming in 2024.

There is no Year in your Life in your Past that will be Greater than the one you are about to enter in 2024 because God is with you.

And if we trust Him and if you look up to Him, and if you follow Him, and if you follow His Guide, and if you follow His Wisdom and just Honour, Love, Worship Him and be in Church/House of God and put ourselves in His Hands – He will, do for you what no Man can ever Dream of doing for you!

ALTAR CALL

And before we start Praying for the New Year, it is important for us to have a Relationship with this God.

God is our Creator but the fact that He created us doesn’t mean that we won’t have a Relationship with Him.

For us to have a Relationship with Him, we have to choose to know this God, to have an Encounter with Him and the way to do that is through Jesus Christ and receive Him to be your Lord and Saviour.

In the Bible, you find many People who do not know God before but later come to know Him:

I. Peter was a Fisherman.

But he didn’t know God until he encountered Jesus at the Lake of Galilee.

II. The woman at the Well had married five (5) Men – She thought that her case was the worst case in the world.

But she met Jesus and she met God.

III. Saul of Tarsus melted Punishments on Christians but had an Encounter with Jesus.

Because meeting Jesus made all the difference.

So, tonight before you enter the New Year, I want you to enter knowing this God – Not as a God that People talk about but the God you know for yourself.

The God who lives in you, the God who talks to you, the God whose Voice you can hear and the God whose Hands you can see.

So, before we start Praying – If you are here this Night and you say: Pastor, I want to know God.

And People say that everybody knows about God but not everybody knows Him.

And tonight, God can be close to you.

So, whilst we are sitting down with every heads bowed and every eyes closed – If you are here this Evening; just before we enter the New Year, you say Pastor, I want to know God closely, to have a Relationship with Him and be Born Again.

If that is your Prayer and desire, just lift up your hands wherever you are.

Now, put your hands on your Heart as we Pray

PERSONAL PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Let’s Say: Heavenly Father, I come to You today just as I am – I am a Sinner and I cannot save myself.

I Thank You Father that You become a Man to die for my sins and that through Your Sacrifice, I will have a New Life.

Today, I open my Heart to You – Come into my Heart, Change my Life, make me a Brand New Person.

From today, I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Personal Saviour.

I Thank You for the Free Gift of Salvation which I now received in Jesus Name – Amen!

SPECIAL PRAYER POINTS BEFORE ENTERING INTO THE NEW YEAR.

We are going to Stand Up as we Pray and seek the face of the Lord – We will Pray three (3) Main Prayers:

1. This is the Prayer of Thanksgiving.

I want you to Thank God for Year 2023 – For what you have been through this Year and count your Blessings and Difficulties and name them one by one. And Thank God for them.

2. Dedicate your Life to God.

Pray for your family, yourself, Career and Future and commit them into God’s Hands.

3. Pray for everything coming in Year 2024.

Commit every Months – Mention their names; Commit every Events.

Ask God to Magnify His Name in your Life – Declare your Victory!

In Jesus Name we Pray – Amen.

I will read to you the words of the Shepherd David as he encountered God in the Difficulties of Life – He knew that God could take care of him!

Psalms 23: 1-6 NKJV

1. The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

2.He makes me to lie down in Green Pastures; He leads me beside the Still waters.

3. He restores my Soul; He leads me in the Paths of Righteousness for His Name’s sake.
4. Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

5 You Prepare a Table before me in the Presence of my Enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

6. Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life; and I will dwell in the House of the Lord Forever.

PASTORAL DECLARATIONS

In the Year 2024, surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my Life and I will dwell in the House of the Lord Forever.

The God who is “The Great I Am” is walking with you; He is holding your hands into the Brand New Year.

You have Nothing to fear, you have Nothing to worry about and you have Nothing to be despaired about.

FINAL CLOSING PRAYERS AS WE ENTER INTO THE NEW YEAR

In the Name of Jesus, we are “Pushing In” into our “God’s Year”.

We are leaving back every fears, every uncertainties in the Name of Jesus.

Affliction shall not Strike us twice in Jesus Name.

We go into the Purpose, we go into Assignment, we go into Favour, we go into Open Doors and we go into Open Heavens.

God will make a Way for you and I in the Name of Jesus.

The Lord will turn your Captivity around.

He will cause you to smile, He will give you Victory in your family and among your Loved ones in the Name of Jesus,

We are “Pushing In” in the Name of Jesus.

God is with us.

We Honour You Lord, our Hearts are full of Joy and we are full of Gratitude.

We give You Praise Lord!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thank you so much for staying all through to read.

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