Night of Crossing Over into 2026: Walking with Christ in the Demonstration of First Love

Introduction

The Night of Crossing Over is an appointment the Impact Christian family holds every December 31. That night, at ICC Montreal, you don't just come to celebrate the passage into the new year. You come to give thanks for what God has done, to listen to what he has to say to you, and to plant a firm foot into the year ahead. Pastor Célestin Yao, joined by Apostle Ivan Castanou (spiritual father and visionary of the Impact Christian family), led the congregation through this crossing into 2026.

The message is direct. In 2025, God called you to return to your first love, to reattach yourself to Christ. In 2026, he is asking you to go further: demonstrate that love. Not just hear it, not just say it with your mouth, but make it visible in your actions, in your marriage, in your family, in your church, in your concrete choices. This is what the pastor called the year of the demonstration of our first love.

Outline of the message

1. Looking back at 2025 and giving thanks

2. Understanding the crossing: walking with Christ, not just changing the calendar

3. Receiving the 2026 theme: the demonstration of first love

4. Entering the five-year season of disciples

5. Leaving bitterness behind and forgiving in order to cross over

6. Renewing vows with Christ

1. Looking back at 2025 and giving thanks

The pastor opens the evening by inviting the congregation to stand and praise a God who was faithful from January 1st to December 31st. "We say thank you for the grace you grant us, not only preserving us, but carrying us through this whole year." The 2025 theme for the Impact Christian family in North America was attachment to Christ, the return to first love. It did not stay a slogan: through the services, the intercession groups, the retreats, the night visits in hospitals, this theme became flesh in the life of the church.

If you want to cross into 2026 on solid ground, you begin by looking 2025 in the face and naming what God did for you. Gratitude is a door. It closes the night behind you, it prepares the dawn.

2. Understanding the crossing

Crossing over is not just turning a calendar page. It is walking with God from one shore to the other. The pastor insists: God does not just show up for your December 31st service, he wants to be "the author and finisher of our faith, the alpha and omega of our life, of our year, and of the year to come."

The crossing therefore requires you to choose your traveling companion. Many cross over carrying their regrets, their bitterness, their discouragement. Others cross over carrying the voice of the world's influences. You are called to cross over with Christ. This is what practicing obedience means: wherever the heart is hardened, ask for the grace to love the Scriptures, because "it is the Scriptures that hold the instructions."

3. The 2026 theme: the demonstration of first love

The announcement comes in the heart of the night. After the return to first love in 2025, Apostle Ivan Castanou declares, under the anointing: "For the year 2026, the theme is: 2026, year of the demonstration of our first love." The pastor explains the foundational text: Jesus himself announces this commandment in Luke 10:27: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."

The demonstration begins with a movement of love toward God. It continues with a movement of love toward your neighbor. "Agape love is demonstrated," says the pastor. "We are going to demonstrate it. Demonstrate it to your wife, demonstrate it to your husband, demonstrate it to your brother, demonstrate it to whoever is your neighbor." This is not a love to feel, it is a love to do. And the measure of this love is found at the cross: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). The pastor drives home this formula: "The cross is the proof."

4. Entering the five-year season of disciples

The word received for the church family is not limited to 2026. The Lord has announced a five-year season of discipleship: five years during which "heaven's cameras will zoom in, accompany, monitor, and protect the people who follow Jesus." In other words, a special season of favor for those who genuinely decide to follow.

The condition is simple, yet demanding: step out of your comfort and obey the instructions. Jesus is not impressed by your social status. He tells you: come and follow me. The pastor emphasizes the mark of the disciple, the one Jesus himself gave: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Visible, measurable, embodied love.

5. Leaving bitterness behind and forgiving in order to cross over

It is impossible to demonstrate God's love if your heart stays locked in yesterday's wounds. The pastor looks at the congregation with great tenderness: "You can't go back to yesterday. Yesterday is dead and buried. But you can make sure that yesterday no longer poisons you." The passage into 2026 cannot happen while a castle called anger, offense, or resentment sits enthroned in the heart.

The remedy is not first a method. It is the forgiveness received from God, and the forgiveness offered to others, and to yourself. "Decide not to let your past be your future." Giving thanks, even when you don't yet understand, is a first concrete step. It is hard when the soul is loaded with bitterness, but it is possible.

6. Renewing vows with Christ

As midnight approaches, the pastor returns to the metaphor of renewing vows: "In 2026, decide to walk with me, decide to walk in my love." That is the meaning of the Night of Crossing Over. You are not signing an abstract spiritual contract. You are saying yes again, personally, to a Christ who loved you first.

The word of God the pastor returns to again and again is Jeremiah 31:3: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." This love did not begin with your parents, it did not begin the day you sought God. It is everlasting. It is on this declaration that 2026 opens for you.

Key takeaways

• 2025 was the year of attachment to first love. Look at what God has done and give thanks before turning the page.
• The 2026 theme: the demonstration of our first love. What you received, you are called to make visible toward God and toward your neighbor.
• The crossing happens with Christ, not merely beside him. Obedience to his word is the bridge.
• A five-year season of disciples is opening. Stepping out of your comfort and following Jesus draws a special favor.
• There is no demonstration of love without forgiveness. Tear down the castles of anger, let yesterday be buried.

Personal application

• Take 15 minutes to list what God has done in your life in 2025. Give him thanks, out loud, point by point.
• Where does God's love need to be demonstrated concretely starting in January 2026? In your marriage, your family, your church, your workplace, name one person and one action.
• What precise instruction from the word have you been neglecting for too long? Decide today to obey it this week.
• Who do you need to forgive so you don't cross into 2026 with a hardened heart? Who needs to forgive you?
• If Jesus told you "come and follow me" tonight, what would you have to let go of to say yes?

Verses cited

• Luke 10:27 · The great commandment.
• Jeremiah 31:3 · "I have loved you with an everlasting love."
• John 13:34-35 · The mark of the disciple.
• Romans 5:8 · "God shows his love for us."
• Galatians 5:22-23 · Love, the first fruit of the Spirit.
• 1 John 2:15-17 · Do not love the world.
• Exodus 23:24-25 · A call to sanctification.

FAQ

What is the Night of Crossing Over into 2026 at ICC Montreal?

It is the year-end service on December 31, 2025, celebrated by the Impact Christian family in Montreal. It is a time of thanksgiving for the past year and of consecration for the year beginning, led by Pastor Célestin Yao and Apostle Ivan Castanou.

What is the theme for the year 2026 announced during this night?

"2026, year of the demonstration of our first love." The theme is built on Luke 10:27 and carries forward the 2025 theme (attachment to Christ, the return to first love). It invites you to make visible, in concrete actions, God's love toward him and toward your neighbor.

How do I concretely demonstrate first love day to day?

The pastor gives three pointers. One: start at home, husband, wife, children, brother, sister, the neighbor closest to you. Two: obey a precise instruction from the word that you keep putting off. Three: agree to forgive and to give thanks, even when your soul resists. Agape love is proven, it is not first felt.