Year-end Thanksgiving Celebration
Dec 31, 2023
On this very last day of 2023, brothers and sisters gathered to thank God for His leading throughout the year while looking forward to receiving 2024.
This is our first year-end prayer meeting at Hope Oasis. At 9:00pm, brothers Jack and Jun shared thanksgiving for 2023 and opened with a prayer. Brother Chi Ho then brought us into high spirit of praise and worship. Pastor Arlene was moved by the Holy Spirit to bring us into worshipping in the Spirit.
Pastor Gavin thanked God for all He has done on the Cross that we can have life in abundance, and he prayed over more than 100 of us covering different aspects of our lives.
Sister Penny and the team led us to play two games. One was a question-and-answer session with two choices for each question. The other game involved forming groups to express gratitude for 2023 through creative names of the group and actions based on assigned languages. Everyone played with great excitement and had so much fun. In between the games, brothers and sisters shared their thankful thoughts about Hope Oasis.
Brother Philip and sister Ivy introduced Easter and Christmas themes for the next 3 years, 2024-2026. The theme for Easter will be about how Jesus raised others to life, referencing verses from John 11:25-26:
2024: Mourning into dancing;
2025: Rejected to respected;
2026: Unbelief into relief.
The theme for Christmas will reference 1 Corinthians 13:13:
2024: Faith;
2025: Hope;
2026: Love.
They then led us to pray for these events, committing to God’s leading.
Sister Janelle shared with us on our mission work for 2024. There will be 5 mission trips, 3 to Philippines and 2 to Thailand. Pledge slips were distributed for us to indicate our convictions for the missions. Then we submitted into the pledge box and prayed to cover all.
We took our last communion and also gave our last thanksgiving offering for 2023. Pastor Gavin shared about our preparation for 2024. Drawing from Joshua 3:6, 14, he highlighted the phrase “crossing over” as God prepared His people to cross the Jordan River. This was compared with the Israelites’ journey of passing through the Red Sea when God told them to “go forward” in the wilderness. “Crossing over” represents breaking through old boundaries, reaching the promised place, and experiencing His new promises. In 2024, we will have a “crossing over” experience, receiving an extraordinary new revelation of Christ, and stepping out of our comfort zone. Pastor then prayed for humble hearts and readiness for the change, seeking greater breakthrough together as a family of God. Then we counted down from 10 seconds to welcome 2024.
At the strike of 2024, we blessed each other with different gestures, such as shaking hands and hugging. We continued to praise and worship God until 12:30am.
Thank you Jesus! May 2024 be an awesome year of abundance in every way!
