The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry Newsletter
&
Bible Study
|
Greetings to all our fellow officers,
sheepdogs and supporters!
Let me start by saying that God has been pressing me to do a study on
love -- it just an accident that falls on the week of Valentines Day (righhhttt -- lol). This new image here -- including a quote from the film Kingdom of Heaven (a Knight Hospitaller -- a protector) -- is right in line with the study below.
Thanks for all the positive feedback on our new format -- still a work in progress but always trying to improve.
Miss last week's edition? Here again is "
Attributes of a Godly Warrior" (a study on the life, legacy and example of Caleb "the Cop"). As always, I re-post past editions on our social media feeds (buttons below) and on our
website as well.
Finally, please take the time to review the resources, prayer requests and upcoming events I've posted for you below.
Love you guys!!
MC
_____________________
RESOURCES
(1) Diana and I are ourselves going through
Bulletproof Marriage -- the outstanding new devotional book written by cop-turned-author
Adam Davis and my friend and fellow trainer,
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. This is an OUTSTANDING resource for law enforcement and military marriages that carries my strongest recommendation (so much so that we purchased a case to give away during
Police Week this May in DC).
(2) Friend and fellow police trainer,
Travis Yates, has developed an outstanding new training resource for law enforcement. Check out
Law Officer Training.
PRAYER REQUESTS
(1) Again, please begin praying for our
FCPO Police Week team
as we begin planning and gearing up for our annual
Police Week 2019
outreach to our own in DC (the need has never been greater).
(2) We (law enforcement) are killing ourselves at an ever-increasing rate. Praise God, I know "the Cure." Ask God to place you where you need to be to intervene in a police suicide, and pray for us in general.
Have a prayer request or announcement you would like included here? Need help/prayer?
Email me
! I also post prayer requests on
my personal Facebook page
("friend" and message me).
UPCOMING EVENTS
(2) Time to start getting the word out about the
2019 Breaching the Barricade/Officer Appreciation Day
events (October 18-19 in northern Indiana). Incredible training for cops and a "bucket list" event for officers and their families. Mark your calendars and plan on joining us in Indiana in October, and pray for
Jim Bontrager
and his team...the effort is massive and the challenges overwhelming ("but God").
(4) The
Sheepdog Training Seminars led by my friends
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, retired Officer
Jimmy Meeks and
Carl Chinn carry my highest recommendation.
|
|
Serving Out of Love
The true sheepdog loves both the sheep we serve and the Great Shepherd we serve under.
|
Given the tenor of most of my messages, the subject of this one might come as a surprise (if you're following closely, it shouldn't). But, as even my friend
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
shares at his seminars, the driving force behind our service as sheepdogs (servant-warriors) MUST come down to a single word:
LOVE!
On this, our "Commander in Chief" is perfectly clear:
“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘
You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments
.”
(
Matthew 22:36-40 NLT
and see also
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
)
Both Dave and I often speak about our warrior (sheepdog) ethos, and I open every one of these newsletters with Dave's famous except from his award-winning book,
On Combat
(
On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
). The defining paragraph? "
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath--a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a
deep love
for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed." (added emphasis mine)
Folks, what makes us different from the wolf and even from those we serve and protect comes down to this one word:
LOVE
. In our passage today, the single Greek word our Lord used for love is
agape
. What does that mean?
Agape
love
in the New Testament is used to describe the love that is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself. Take a moment to review the wholly biblical response from Got Questions Ministries to the question,
What is Agape Love?
The last paragraph in their study is key: "Agape love does not come naturally to us. Because of our fallen nature, we are incapable of producing such a love. If we are to love as God loves, that love—that
agape
—can only come from its Source. This is the love that “has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” when we became His children.
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters
” (
1 John 3:16
). Because of God’s love toward us, we are able to love one another." AMEN!
The point for us? It is
utterly impossible
for us to serve in law enforcement the way God would have us serve (and to truly make a difference) outside of a genuine, life-saving/life-CHANGING personal relationship with God in Christ (God's definition of what a Christian truly is).
In fact, everything about what it means to be a Christian can be boiled down to
how we love God and how everything we do -- relationships, work (including our service in law enforcement), entertainment, education, etc. displays our love for God and others. No success, skill, status, service or possession will matter at the end of our days. How we loved God and loved others will be our victory. While we are by no means saved by works (
Ephesians 2:8-9
), we
are
in fact
saved FOR works
-- to love and serve others as God loves us.
The other key here that has a direct impact on us in law enforcement is the second part of this
commandment
(not a "suggestion"):
“
The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself
'
” (
Matthew 22:39
). In First John the connection is explicit: “
We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother
” (
1 John 4:19-21
).
Friends, loving God through a right relationship with Him empowers us to love and sacrificially protect and serve others! The Commandments not to murder (
Exodus 20:13
) and not to steal (
Exodus 20:15
) are not just about refraining from evil. When seen in the light of the fundamental principle of loving others, they imply that we should look for positive ways to enhance the life and welfare of those we serve -- our "neighbors." Is this not what we do as cops? This biblical (God's) focus on love helps us not settle for a minimum concern for neighbors, but to reach out to them. Love helps us to understand the real thrust of the commandments, and to give us concern for actual obeying, not merely listening (
James 1:22
).
So (you can rightly ask) how can we measure up? When we read the
Sermon on the Mount
(
Matthew 5-7
), we begin to see some of the deep implications of God’s commandments, and we need to ask ourselves, “Who can do all this?” “How can I measure up to a standard that asks for perfect motivations as well as full outward obedience? (NOTE: Again, "
blessed are the peacemakers
"
is NOT about us as cops
unless it just happens to be an officer who is lovingly sharing the hope and peace of Christ with others).
The answer, of course, is that
we can't!
But there is One (and ONLY One) who is willing to forgive our sins and give us the supernatural power to love as He loved us! Do you know Him? On this, John wrote (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit), “
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins
” (
1 John 4:10
NASB
).
Jesus loved us perfectly and gave Himself for us (
Galatians 2:20
). He saved us when none of us could save ourselves (
Romans 5:6-10
). And now, when we put our trust in Him, we are united to Him and transformed so that we can imitate the pattern of His love: “
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another
” (
John 13:34-35
). Through Jesus Christ we receive not only the understanding of God’s will, but also the power and motivation to love and serve Him
and
others (including those we are sworn to serve and protect). In receiving His love, we can, in turn, truly love (
agape
) others.
In closing, let me emphasize that God's command to
agape
(love) others -- including even those who are trying to hurt or kill us and others -- in no way diminishes our warrior/sheepdog ethos. On the contrary, it reinforces it! But what if we have to use force (including deadly force)? Understand that this command to love is
not
a directive to allow others to perpetrate evil (see
Romans 13:1-4
,
Psalm 144:1-2
, etc. -- and again get yourself a copy of
Jesus Christ on Killing
by friend, Sgt. Charlie Eipper)!
With that in mind, can you even begin to imagine the difference we can make (or more correctly, God can make through us) in our marriages, families, departments, communities, our country and even the world when we are serving and protecting as Spirit-filled, born again believers? Is that you? If not, or if you're not sure, please read on:
(1) Still think you can "earn" or otherwise "badge" your way into heaven and escape hell (a just and unending "death sentence" for your wickedness -- aka "sin") because you are a so-called "good" cop or person? Take the
Good Person Test
and see how you do!
(2) Jesus' first recorded words in His earthly ministry were and remain, "
Repent and believe in the Good News
" (
Mark 1:15
). To
repent
is a "180" -- a complete, radical change of mind and heart as it relates our sin (wickedness as God defines it). To believe (
pisteuo
in the original Greek) as Jesus intends it here is to cry out to Him for your salvation and wholeheartedly surrender to Him in faith in the same way we have "faith" that our body armor will do its job against the rounds it is intended to stop, that a well-maintained weapon will function properly when used against criminals intent on destroying us or others, or that a parachute will open when it is supposed to (we stake our very lives on it)! And the "Good News"? It is simply
the gospel of Jesus Christ
!
(3)
This same concept of "believe" (the saving kind) is further revealed in
John 3:1-21
where Jesus says, "
... you must be born again
." Again, note our Lord's emphasis on the word " must " (not "may" or "should"): this is ultimately the life-saving/life-changing personal relationship (and NOT "religion") with Jesus Christ that I stress here every week (see
What does it mean to be a born again Christian
? [hint -- there is no other kind]). Folks, it is only through this miraculous event that we can be made "righteous" before a just and Holy God and thus become part of His family.
(5)
Need more? Then check out this powerful, short video message by my friend, fellow officer and noted trainer,
Travis Yates
:
Cops and Salvation
.
(6)
Have you now said "yes" to Jesus but are wondering what to do next? Then click on,
Now what?
Understand that the "Now what?" MUST include regular "iron sharpens iron" fellowship with other believers, including (for us cops) other mature Christian officers who can help support you, encourage you, disciple (help you grow) you in the faith and yes, hold you lovingly accountable. Message me for how you can do that!
MC
|
|
ABOUT US
The
Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
is
a national, FCPO-affiliated, evangelical Christian outreach to our own in law enforcement. These newsletters and Bible studies are part of this effort and past editions can be found on our website and our social media feeds. Our focus is (1) to be used of God to lead the lost in our profession to a saving faith in Christ; and (2) to disciple the Christian officer, support police marriages amd impact (reduce) police suicides and PTSD with the Cure found in Jesus. As always, feel free to adapt these messages for your own individual or group use and please share them with others. We covet both your prayers and your
financial support
at the Lord leads.
The
Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers
(FCPO-USA)
exists to provide biblical support ("backup"), accountability and iron sharpens iron fellowship for Christian officers first in the U.S. and throughout the world as well. Our metro-Denver FCPO chapter -- aka
FCPO Chapter 217
-- is a
Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
affiliate. Locally, we meet approximately twice a month in the south Denver-Metro suburb of Highlands Ranch for profession-focused and life-focused Bible study, prayer and servant-warrior/sheepdog fellowship (the
iron sharpens iron
kind). Spouses are both welcome and encouraged to attend with their LEO.
Contact me for details! You can also give to our ministry by designating "
FCPO Chapter 217" on the
FCPO donation page.
The Centurion Ministry and FCPO-Denver (Chapter 217) is led by Police Officer, Chaplain and Evangelist
Michael "MC" Williams
, an active (32-years and counting) sworn police officer/detective and sought-after instructor and speaker at churches (including the popular
Centurion Church Security Seminar
) retreats and both police and civilian training conferences and seminars around the country. Contact MC via
email
for details on how to book him for your event.
|
|
See what's happening on our social sites:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
