The Finger of God: ICC's 10th Anniversary

Introduction

The thanksgiving service marking ICC North America's 10th anniversary was not just a birthday celebration. It was a moment when an entire spiritual family lifted its eyes to recognize one thing: what happened over ten years was not the fruit of a human plan. Apostle Yvan Castanou said it plainly, almost like a refrain: "That is the finger of God."

In this article you will find the substance of what he preached that day: the power of thanksgiving, the parable of the mustard seed, the call not to despise small beginnings, and this truth running through the whole message: your glory is the visible manifestation of what God had designed for you before you even existed.

Article outline

1. A thanksgiving that releases an additional word

Even before preaching, Apostle Yvan Castanou recalled the deep meaning of the service. This was not a convenient anniversary, it was a memorial. He returned to the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19. Ten men were healed. Only one came back to give thanks, and it is to that one that Jesus speaks an additional word: "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well."

The other nine left with their healing. The Samaritan left with healing plus salvation. Yvan Castanou draws a simple principle from this for your life: when you come back to give thanks, God adds a word. He does not just keep you at the level of the miracle you received, he moves you up to a higher level. Thanksgiving is not a polite extra, it is a trigger.

2. The mustard seed: do not despise your small beginning

Pastor Maude Castanou introduced the message with Matthew 13:31-32, the parable of the mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds, and yet when it grows, it becomes a tree where the birds of the sky come to nest.

Pastor Célestin, overseer of ICC North America, told the story of the beginnings: ten to fifteen people in a living room. Then a room at Collège Le Tendre. Then a rented space on Papineau, in Montreal, where three hundred chairs were set up for forty people present, based on a prophetic word about "fultitude," a multitude filled to overflowing. In 2015, a fire destroyed the building. Everyone experienced it as a disaster. Looking back, Apostle Yvan Castanou said it: it was God's plan to send them out and move them further.

Ten years later, ICC North America counts church plants in Montreal, Gatineau, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Moncton in New Brunswick, as well as in New York, Washington DC, Houston, Atlanta, and Florida. The mustard seed did not lie.

3. "Tell my father about all my glory in Egypt"

The heart of the sermon rests in one verse: Genesis 45:13. Joseph, now governor of Egypt, tells his brothers: "Tell my father about all my glory in Egypt, and about all you have seen."

Yvan Castanou defines this word with a precision worth remembering. Glory is not what you feel inside. Glory is the visible, public manifestation of what God had designed and prophesied over your life before you were even born. Joseph did not manufacture his glory. It was already in the dreams he received at seventeen. The years in the pit, in prison, under false accusation, did not cancel it. At the appointed time, it burst into the open.

And the Apostle insists: this glory is not your diploma. It is not your race. It is not your skills. It is not your network. It is the finger of God. When you look at what God has done in ten years at ICC, you cannot credit it to human strategy. There is a finger pointing, tracing, building.

4. Authority comes through submission to the mantle

Yvan Castanou used a military image to talk about spiritual authority. A corporal sent by a general carries an authority that is not his own: it belongs to the rank above him. He can go out into the field, give orders, be obeyed, because he is covered.

A lone operator, on the other hand, has none of that. He believes he is free, but he is exposed. Territorial spirits, immorality, spiritual prostitution, the powers of the siren, all of it crushes him because he has no covering.

The principle is simple: if you want to walk in an authority that moves things, you must accept to place yourself under a mantle. That is what ICC did from the start: connect to a spiritual father, submit to apostolic covering, refuse to go it alone.

5. A prophetic announcement and a call to become a missionary

Toward the end of the message, Apostle Yvan Castanou announced a season of exponential growth. "If today there are ten, before the end of 2024 there will be a hundred." He also projected a second temple in Montreal, a 1,500-seat auditorium, in the same vein as what God had already done at Boissy-Saint-Léger with the cash purchase of the Cité Royale in 2016.

But the announcement was not there to impress. It was tied to a call. Every Christian is called to be a missionary in their own sphere: politics, sports, film, technology, education, entrepreneurship. You do not need a pastoral title to be sent. You need to accept the cost, step out of comfort, and let yourself be commissioned.

Key takeaways

• Thanksgiving releases an additional word. The Samaritan in Luke 17 left with more than his healing because he came back to say thank you.
• Do not despise small beginnings. A living room with fifteen people can become a spiritual family across three continents in ten years.
• Your glory is the finger of God, not your merit. Neither your diploma, nor your skills, nor your network can produce what only God had designed for you.
• Spiritual authority comes through submission to the mantle. A lone operator has no covering; someone sent does.
• You are commissioned for your generation. Your professional sphere is your mission field.

Personal application

• Looking at the last ten years of your life, what are the things you credited to your own strategy that were actually the finger of God? Take a moment this week to name them one by one.
• Are you a "leper who comes back" or a "leper who leaves with the healing without saying thank you"? What can you bring back before God today?
• What spiritual covering are you walking under? If you are a lone operator, who can you ask to cover you?
• What did God design for you before you were born that you still do not dare to claim? Write it down and pray over it.
• In what sphere (work, school, neighborhood, family) are you being commissioned, and have you refused to take your place?

Verses cited

• John 19:34 · "One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water."
• Luke 17:11-19 · The healing of the ten lepers and the Samaritan's return.
• Matthew 13:31-32 · The parable of the mustard seed.
• Genesis 45:13 · "Tell my father about all my glory in Egypt."
• Acts 12:21-23 · Herod struck down by the angel of the Lord.

FAQ

What is thanksgiving, according to this sermon?

It is not a religious courtesy. It is an act of faith that recognizes what happened to you came from God, and which, in return, releases an additional word. The healed Samaritan left with salvation on top, because he came back to say thank you.

What does "the finger of God" mean in Apostle Yvan Castanou's message?

It is his way of naming what neither strategy, nor merit, nor human skill can explain. When you look at the road traveled and cannot credit it to a plan, you are seeing the finger of God at work.

What does it mean for a Christian to be "under a mantle"?

It means accepting to be covered by a spiritual authority rather than acting as a lone operator. The image of the corporal sent by the general sums it up: the authority you carry is not your own, it belongs to the rank above you. Without covering, you are exposed.