On Sunday the 13th April 2008 I was asked to preach the sermon by the pastor. It was the first and only time I did. What led to this event, what took place and what followed are all important.

   For several months I visited my pastor. We prayed sang and talked together. She was an elderly widow who lost her husband. He had been the pastor of the church until his death and she was leading it until someone was officially appointed to replace her.

   The church was called the Gospel Temple and was one of several churches under a leader called an Apostle. The service was held during the afternoon in a building owned by another church. Church membership was small, about 30 to 40 worshippers of mainly Caribbean descent. After spending some time with the pastor, she asked me to preach the word. She knew of my passion for the Lord and I told her it was probably not a good idea. The members of the church were mainly of a Pentecostal background, which meant that they believed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were in operation today. However, the services had become like a routine and there was little evidence that the gifts were in operation. I, on the other hand expected something supernatural to happen every time I attended a service. Whether it was in this church service or another church service, my expectations were always high. I agreed to preach and since it was my first time, I was nervous to do so.

   My sermon was on the power of God. I believed that if God wanted anyone to preach on His behalf or lead his people, he would give them the power to do so. I believed that if any one stood and faced the people and spoke on behalf of God that they would show that God sent them by demonstrating the power of God. I was no exception.

   During the sermon I quoted Moses from the Old Testament and Steven from the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God chose Moses to speak to his people and to Pharoah. Moses said to God why should they believe him (Exodus 4:1). It was a reasonable question, and if I was in the position of one of the Israelites, I too would be sceptical of him. God gave him three signs to show the people that God had sent him. He turned a rod into a serpent, his hand became leprous and then healed, and water became blood (Exodus 4:2-10).

In Acts 6:3-8, Steven, an honest and wise man filled with the Holy Spirit, did great wonders and miracles amongst the people.

  I said to the congregation that I will only give the message that I had prepared for them if God had sent me. If there is no demonstration of the power of God then I will say no more and sit down. I believe God had prepared me for this moment, because recently I had a dream in which I placed my hand on a person’s chest and the person fell to the floor filled with the power of God. So, I decided to copy this during the service. I said to the audience if anyone would like to come forward. A woman called Sharon was in the service with her three children. She came forward. I explained to her that I would place one hand on her chest and one hand on her back to support her if she should fall backwards. She agreed to this. As soon as I touched her chest, she slammed to the floor. My supporting hand was brushed aside. She struck the floor so hard I thought that she had injured her back. She started thrusting her arms and legs outwards in a rapid motion and her children started laughing because it looked funny to them. I looked on in amazement myself and wondered what to do next. I asked if there was anyone else and another female, called Claudette, came forward. She was about 40 years old and I told her that I would support her this time. I placed my hand on her chest, and she too slammed to the floor and began flapping her arms and legs. Again, the force was so great that I couldn’t support her with my left hand. I asked if there was anyone else, but the audience was silent and looked amazed. No one else came forward.

    I said to the members that God had shown that He wanted me to speak by demonstrating His power. The message I gave was short and basically said that you cannot put new wine into old wineskin (Luke 5:37-38). On the 3rd April 2008 I woke from a dream with these words in my mind, ‘Can you put new wine into old wineskin?’

   The events that followed this service was extraordinary. I approached the two women afterwards to ask them about their experience. The first said, ‘I saw a light hit me and I fell backwards. When I got up I felt so powerful, I felt I could lift a house.’ The second woman said that she had been questioning for a long time whether she should go into church ministry, and now she felt empowered to do so. This unfortunately was the only good news. There was a woman in the audience who had several highly intelligent and talented children. She herself was highly intelligent and they participated not only in the local church but in conferences. She was very influential in the local church and knew the Apostle and his wife very well. She was not happy with what she saw and complained to the pastor. She believed that it was witchcraft and gave the pastor an ultimatum. She said that either I go or she will take her family with her and leave the church. She also complained to the Apostle and his wife. He asked the pastor what had happened and he trusted her judgement. She explained that, even though my method was unorthodox, it was the power of God in operation. The pastor explained this to me and said that she wanted me to stay.

    Other members of the church were confused and there was a rumour that I had conspired with the other two women to act the way they did. On the next service, the pastor spoke harshly to the congregation. She said to them that they had been asking for God to demonstrate His power and when He did they became confused. As other members left I was asked to say something about what was going on. I said nothing because I did not know what to say. The pastor did not allow me to give the sermon again because I believe she feared losing more member.

   Within a year, I too left this church. I came to the conclusion that the church was not ready for the power of God. What God did was only a small demonstration of his power, in a church I believed was prepared for such a thing. If this church reacted in such a way, then how will the larger church behave.  Many don’t believe that God provides spiritual gifts for today.

   I went into spiritual retirement after this experience. When I attended a church service I no longer expected anything to happen and I did not get involved in any services. It was only in 2020 I felt a change, an awakening of my passion.