New Year's Eve Watch Night 2024: Entering the Year of Revelation and Christlikeness

Sermon by Apostle Yvan Castanou, New Year's Eve watch night, December 31, 2023, at Impact Centre Chrétien (ICC).

Introduction

On the night of the crossing into 2024, Apostle Yvan Castanou proclaimed the coming year as the "year of revelation and Christlikeness." This is not a slogan he is offering you. It is a plan (God's plan for your life), rooted in a text Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome: Romans 8:29.

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

You may have gone through a hard year. You may have lost something or someone. Or, on the other hand, you may be coming out of 2023 with victories. Either way, the apostle invites you not just to turn the calendar page, but to step into what God decided for you long ago.

Teaching outline

1. A predestination that precedes your birth

The apostle emphasizes one word: predestined. In Greek, he uses the term proginosko (to know beforehand). Before your father and mother even announced the news that you were coming, before your family knew you would exist, God already knew you. He "foreknew" you.

This knowledge is not neutral. It is directional. God did not know you in order to leave you to yourself, he knew you in order to destine you to become like Christ. That is God's plan for your life. Everything else (health, work, family, plans and projects) fits into that plan, not the other way around.

2. A plan confirmed before the foundation of the world

The apostle then opens Ephesians 1:4-5: "In him God chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ."

The same word comes back: predestined. Paul is not talking about a decision God made the day you were converted. He is talking about a decision made "before the foundation of the world." That means your shared calling, as theologians call it, is to be like Christ. Each at your own stage, each at your own level, each in your own season, but all called to the same goal.

3. Everything you need is already in Christ

The apostle continues by quoting Colossians 1:16-17: "All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

Then Colossians 2:3: Christ is this "mystery" in whom "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

And finally Colossians 2:9-10: "For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him."

The apostle's conclusion is simple. If the whole fullness of deity dwells in Christ, and if that Christ comes to live in you, then everything you need this year is already available to you in him. "Whatever you are sighing for, you already have it fully in Christ."

4. Becoming like Christ: events fall into place

The apostle says it in his own words: "Once you have Christ, once you are aware that he is there in your life, and there is this communion with the Holy Spirit, and you are becoming like Christ, events fall into place."

Becoming like Christ, then, is not a moral effort you produce on your own. It is the fruit of a revelation received and a communion maintained. The more you gaze on Christ, the more you resemble him, and the more your life falls into the order God intended for it.

5. A year to walk step by step

The apostle makes it clear: "We will move step by step this year." Revelation and Christlikeness are not decreed all at once during a New Year's Eve watch night. They unfold over twelve months. What was planted on the night of the crossing needs to be watered day after day.

He added a personal testimony: to prepare this message, he withdrew with his wife, seeking God, praying in tongues for two hours. That is not a minor detail. The revelation he is talking about comes at that cost.

Key takeaways

• Your predestination came before your birth. God did not discover you the day you were converted, he foreknew you and destined you to become like his Son.
• God's plan for 2024 is Christ formed in you. Everything else fits into that plan.
• You already have everything fully in Christ. What you are missing is not something God still has to add, it is what you have not yet received of what is already in Christ.
• Becoming like Christ means gazing on him. Communion with the Holy Spirit comes before conformity to the Son.
• Revelation must be sought. The apostle himself withdrew to pray before receiving this message.

Personal application

1. Am I looking at 2024 first as a year of plans and projects, or as a year where Christ wants to take shape in me?
2. Is there an area where I am looking "elsewhere" for something I could receive "in Christ"?
3. What place does gazing on Christ (Scripture, prayer, worship) hold in my weekly schedule?
4. Am I willing, like the apostle, to set aside time to seek God, not only to bring him my requests?
5. Concretely, what would my life look like in twelve months if I were a little more "conformed to the image of the Son"?

Verses cited

• Romans 8:29 · foundational text: predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son.
• Ephesians 1:4-5 · chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
• Colossians 1:16-17 · all things were created through him and for him; in him all things hold together.
• Colossians 2:3 · in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
• Colossians 2:9-10 · in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells; you have been filled in him.

FAQ

What does "year of revelation and Christlikeness" mean?

It is the prophetic declaration made by Apostle Yvan Castanou for 2024 at ICC. It connects two biblical realities: revelation (Christ making himself known, especially through Colossians 1 and 2) and Christlikeness (we are predestined, according to Romans 8:29, to become conformed to the image of the Son).

What does "predestined" mean in Romans 8:29?

The apostle draws on the Greek word proginosko, "to know beforehand." God knew you and destined you for a specific purpose (to be like Christ), even before your biological life began. This is not fatalism; it is a calling.

Practically speaking, where do I start in 2024?

The apostle invites you to move forward "step by step." That means a nourished life of communion (Scripture, prayer, praying in tongues, personal retreat) and a gaze fixed on Christ, rather than a race toward goals. What you gaze on transforms you.