The Breath of His Spirit in Colorado
By Mark Edlund
"Jesus said to them again, 'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' After saying this, He breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" John 20:21-22
The disciples are hiding behind locked doors in fear of the temple police. Their Lord had been arrested, tried and crucified. Now what about them? What's their future? How do they get out of town without being arrested themselves? And then suddenly there is the Lord standing among them. He says, "Shalom -- peace to you."
He proves He is Jesus by showing the spike holes in His hands and the stab wound in His side, the resurrected body not bound by earthly physics but yet maintaining His identity.
Can't you imagine the disciples' reaction to His appearing -- amazement, joy, fear, wonder. He says to them, "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." He then breathes the Holy Spirit into the disciples and connects the work of the Spirit to salvation and the forgiveness of sin. The Holy Spirit is not an add-on. Rather, He is an empowerment. He is a life changer.
It appears that if we, His church, truly are the body of Christ, then we also would be the physical breath of Christ in our community and in our state. In these two verses, we see the Trinity -- the Father has sent us as the body of Christ empowered with His Spirit to be the conduit of His life-changing breath on the state of Colorado.
At the annual meeting, I used this illustration of the lostness in our state. If one drives west from Denver on I-70, he comes to Clear Creek County. The Southern Baptist North American Mission Board's Evangelism Index places the lostness of Clear Creek County at 96.2 percent. We have one small mission in that county, along with one other small evangelical church.
If you turn off and go north to Central City and Blakhawk, you come to Gilpin County, with a 97 percent lostness index -- there is no evangelical work in Gilpin County. If you head west on I-70 to Summit County you encounter 95.1 percent lostness.
In a population of more than 24,000 people, we have four Southern Baptist churches, and there are two other evangelical churches -- a ratio of 4,400 people per New Testament church -- not to mention the tourists who come to that county each year! This snapshot can be repeated all over our state.
In light of this daunting challenge, how are we ever going to see the total gospel saturation of our state? Programs will not do it. Throwing money at lostness won't do it. It will be a Holy Spirit happening. It will only be done when the breath of His Spirit blows on each person.
As we enter a new year, let us commit daily to pray for a great movement of His Spirit across Colorado. Just as His disciples were empowered by the breath of the Spirit blown upon them, let's commit to claim the empowerment and commit to being the conduit of that breath on all of the state.
I truly believe that we are going to see Colorado saturated by the gospel. Let's expectantly pray together to that end.
