Christianity is not limited to a particular group of people. Jesus Christ offers salvation to all without regard to nationality.
No matter the race, color, nationality or language, God speaks to all. The question is this: Are we listening and willing to act on what He says to us, to accept Jesus Christ as our savior?
That was the premise of Amos Disasa’s message to close the national gathering of the NEXT Church March 5 at First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte.
Using Acts 2: 1-13 as his Scriptural basis, Disasa spoke of how people need to be quiet and listen to what God is telling us.
In his featured passage, Disasa pointed out that many people of different languages gathered together for Pentecost. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as enabled by the Spirit. Despite the many languages being spoken, they each heard their own language.
Amazed and perplexed, they wanted to know what it meant. Some scoffed at them, saying they merely had too much wine.
Disasa’s explanation was to the point.
The organizing pastor of Downtown Church in Columbia, S.C., who immigrated to the United States in 1983 after being born in Ethiopia, simply stated that being filled with the Holy Spirit and being born again best explained what happened at Pentecost.
Disasa opened his sermon by talking about his love for music, particularly the sweet funk and soul African melodies of El Rego, and how it has been miniaturized through the years as technological advances have been made. Those modifications have allowed for the replication of musical sounds of the past. But he made known his desire for a musical version of Pentecost, an opportunity to hear the real thing
“Sixteen-bit mini is no longer good enough for me; I want to hear El Rego live,” he said. “I love music, and I love the church.”
Disasa likened the setting at Pentecost described in Acts to a concert.
“The house lights are on before the concert, and the audience is waiting,” he said. “Shifting in their seats, the lights go down. The boundaries between people dissolve in the darkness. They don’t speak the same language on any day and yet they understand each other just fine. Their voices are understood without the help of interpreters. Then the band plays. Some of them dance, while others stand against the wall and sneer.”
Disasa said those “wallflowers”could only stand in amazement, simply stating that those filled with the Holy Spirit must be drunk.
“They were dancing to a live show of the Holy Spirit that would make 16-bit music device sound like a scratched record,” Disasa said.
And while the Spirit moves in monumental ways, there are other times when it may come in a gentle whisper. In those moments we must be still and listen for that call.
“Sometimes you need to listen for the sound of a rushing wind that fills the concert hall,” Disasa said. “If you are silent long enough, you will hear it. If we turn off the blogs, Twitter feeds and Facebook friends debating why the Presbyterian Church is losing members, we will hear it. If we listen for the sound of a rushing wind, that authentic expression of gospel that no church, no denomination, no pastor, no theological difference, no worship style can produce, mess up, destroy or stifle, will takes shape.
“As the gospel writer said, ‘All were amazed and perplexed, and asked, What does this mean?’ It means you’ve got to be born again!”