Cross over to your milk and honey- Osu ICGC pastor declares

On a night of praise, worship and prayers to mark the last day of 2016, head pastor of the Restoration Temple of the International Central Gospel Church, Osu has charged Christians to cross over into 2017 in anticipation of God's manifold blessings.

Reverend Ashford Tawiah Smith said the blessings which many desire, sometimes lie on the other side of the divide waiting for the faithful Christian to take advantage of.

It will only take the fearless Christian, intoxicated by the love for Christ and the willingness to be led by the spirit to cross over for the milk and honey flowing on the other side.

He was speaking to dozens of Christians who trooped to the Restoration Temple, and the many others who watched on facebook live on the occasion of the 31st December watch night service dubbed the cross over service by all ICGC denominations.

It was an awesome service packed with everything to serve the Lord, including a Jericho shout for breakthrough and a dance of contentment by many of the congregants who had gathered.

Clad in an all white attire, which gave the Temple a heavenly spectacle on earth, worshippers sang, danced and waved their handkerchiefs to the plethora of soul inspiring songs, sung by the Restoration Praise Choir.

Bernard Faiba, a budding poet with an amazing talent, gave the spoken word he titled Relax! Why the rush?

He took the congregation along a relatable life of aggression by Christians desperate to achieve worldly materials. And when they fail, they are left in a lurch hoping for a hail mary.

"Take a moment and recap the blessings; with setbacks gone on rehab," Faiba rattled.

And when it was time for testimonies, a young woman who was told by doctors that she had a condition which would make it impossible for her to give birth, had given birth and was nursing her baby to the glory of God.

With forty minutes left to draw the curtain on 2016, Rev Smith gave a short word-"cross over to the other side of your life."

Taking his scriptures from Mark 4:35-41, the towering head pastor, told the story of how Jesus crossed over with his disciples to the other side.

He said the journey to the other side may not be all rosy. There will be storms, great tribulations and difficulties. There will be challenges on all sides which will shake the faith of the Christian but when it happens, the Christian must know that like the disciples Jesus is right there in their boat and the only thing they need is to do is to turn to him for answers.

Rev Smith said the storm stopper, the one who walked on the sea and spoke to the wind to be still will calm the stormy waters in the lives of the Christians.

The Church stormed into prayers with 10 minutes left of the 365 days and shouted with glory when the clock ticked to the midnight hour to usher in a new year.

It was all dance, praise and gratitude to God for leading the church into a new year.

With 2017 declared as the year of Leadership by the General Overseer of the ICGC Pastor Mensa Otabil, the Church was led into a powerful declaration of leadership for the faithful in 2017 after which an anointing service was conducted by Rev Ashford Tawiah Smith.

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah