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The "thin blue line" covered by the blood of Christ. |
UPDATED 10/10/2018
Greetings, Fellow
Sheepdogs/Officers and Supporters:
First off, thanks to all who prayed for me, Jim Bontrager and our team as we shared and served in Indiana at the Breaching the Barricade Law Enforcement Conference and National Officer Appreciation Day events. Pray that the seeds planted there will bear good fruit.
This week's Bible study/devotional comes out of these events in the form of a message shared by Jim -- scroll down to "Breaching the Barricade 2018."
Miss the last study? Here's "When Evil Comes." As always,
past editions are re-posted on our
website
,
Twitter
and
Facebook
pages. Also d
on't forget to check out the latest batch of
resources, prayer requests
and
announcements
posted for you below!
Here on the local front (the "front" being the Colorado Front Range), our next Centurion/FCPO-Denver "cop church" fellowship is set for NEXT Tuesday,
October 16th. Complete details are posted for you section below-right. Join us!
MC
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RESOURCES
Fellow officer/chaplain Jim Bontrager's Warrior on the Wall website is chock full of resources! Start making plans to join us next year in Indiana!
PRAYER REQUESTS
(1) Pray for those in the path of the latest hurricane bearing down on FL and the east coast, including but not limited to our fellow first responders are are doing what they can with what they have.
(2) Pray that the seeds we planted during Breaching the Barricade and Officer Appreciation Day in IN will fall on good soil.
(3) Please continue to pray for our wounded, our sick, those being investigated for just doing their jobs, and for the families (both blue and natural) of our slain. The
War on Cops
rages on (on multiple fronts, both within and without our own agencies).
(4) From the Castle Rock (CO) Police Officers Foundation:
Last night (10/8), 26 year old CRPD Officer
John Mullineaux suffered a massive heart attack while exercising off-duty. He is currently undergoing surgery, and is facing a long and challenging recovery ahead. Please help John and his family by making a charitable donation. All donations will help offset John's medical bills and cost of living over the next several months.
Although our website is by no mea
ns complete, we have set up a donation page so that we can start helping out immediately. Please visit the website at WWW.CRPOF.ORG. If you would prefer to make a donation by check, send it to CRPOF at 100 Perry Street, Castle Rock, CO 80104.
Have a prayer request or announcement you would like included here? Need prayer?
Email me
! I also post prayer requests on my Facebook page ("friend" me).
UPCOMING EVENTS
(1) The Sheepdog Seminars is led by my friends Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Officer/Minister Jimmy Meeks and fellow church safety expert Carl Chinn (among others). Outstanding, highly recommended training for every sheepdog (sworn and unsworn alike)! The seminar schedule is on their website, including this one coming up here in CO: Pueblo Sheepdog Seminar.
(2) The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is hosting two upcoming National Law Enforcement Retreats in late October and then in March of next year. Take your spouse!
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The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
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
(
Facebook
and
Twitter
) feeds. As always, feel free to adapt these messages for your own individual or group use and please share them with others.
The Centurion LE Ministry is lead by Police Officer and Chaplain/Evangelist Michael "MC" Williams, a 32-year (and counting) law enforcement veteran and sought-after instructor and speaker at churches [including the well-received Centurion Church Security Seminar], retreats and both law enforcement and civilian conferences and seminars around the country. Contact MC via email for more.
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Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers
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FCPO-USA exists to provide biblical support ("backup"), accountability and iron sharpens iron fellowship to Christian officers first in the U.S. and throughout the world as well. Our metro-Denver chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers -- (aka FCPO Chapter 217) -- is a Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry affiliate. We meet most 1st and 3rd Tuesday evenings starting at 7 PM in the Denver-Metro suburb of Highlands Ranch (email me for address and details) 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 and this is how you can get a FREE Centurion t-shirt or ball cap!
Our next meeting is now set for this coming Tuesday, October 16th. JOIN US!
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Breaching the Barricade
As stated above, this week's message comes to us in love from fellow cop and chaplain, Jim Bontrager, who wrote the following in a letter he shared with every officer/officer's family who attended the 2018 Officer Appreciation Day event this past Saturday. Jim writes:
If you'll allow me, I have something that's on my heart that I would like to share. As you're well aware, we're a nation in crisis and your job as a front line warrior is filled with ever increasingly difficulty as you're tasked to keep the peace. I WANT you to be victorious over ANYTHING that comes your way and thus I feel compelled to write this!! Please know this is from me personally, is of a spiritual nature and not necessarily the position of anyone else associated with today's activities [MC here...Jim represents me here 100%]. I want to warn you though...It may even make you mad. If that offends you then please stop reading and disregard.
God has a heart for this profession as He is the one that ordained it (Romans 13:1-4). We don't talk about it much in our politically correct age, but this job reflects part of His nature. The Bible states that He's a warrior (Exodus 15:3), who is mighty in battle (Psalm 24:8), a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows (Psalm 68:5), that He hates haughty (arrogant and full of pride) eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush to evil, a false witness that pours out lies and a man that stirs up conflict in the community (Proverbs 6:16-19). He loves justice and hates robbery and iniquity (immoral or grossly unfair behavior - Isaiah 61:8). Why? Because He loves. As G.K. Chesterton stated,
"The true warrior fights not because he hates what's in front of him but because he loves what's behind him."
As much as He hates what's listed above, there's something He hates even worse: hypocrisy (pretending we're something we're not). And THIS is the greatest danger facing law enforcement today: loosing God's favor by lacking the character needed to back the badge. It's easy to identify others as "dirtbags" but what makes us any better if we chase after each others wives/ husbands, drive while drunk, abuse our authority, or turn a blind eye toward other officers who do wrong?
Integrity however, is a totally different story. It's on our logos, challenge coins, websites. Webster defines integrity as, "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness." Integrity is a big deal in God's economy. It was the warrior David himself who proclaimed in Psalm 41:11-12, "I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. Because of my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever." Did you catch that? God gave him victory and upheld him because of his integrity!! He'll do the same for you!! My friend, it's a dangerous hour in America but having integrity can make all the difference not only in your life but in the life of your community! It was John Gardner who said,"Men (women) of integrity, by their existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community." You as a cop living an upright life restores hope to the community because there are still good guys in power to look up to!
I get the opportunity to travel around the country on a regular basis, and when I do, I like to ask law enforcement officers what their biggest frustration is outside of the department. Survey says that the number one answer is, "I get sick of people who never own up to their junk...excuse after excuse...it's always somebody else's fault." God feels the same way about you and I. He wants us to be man or woman enough to own up to our stuff before Him. To realize that He's a morally perfect being and we are not; to admit that we've lied, slandered others, stolen, manipulated, cheated, lusted after other's bodies and possessions. The Bible calls it sin (self-centeredness). There's a penalty for it: eternal separation from a morally perfect God and all that is good, a God who always does what's right, is just and whose nature requires Him to exact justice.
There was once a young lady doing 70 mph in a school zone during school hours. She was stopped, issued a ticket and had her car impounded. She later appeared before a judge who fined her $750 for her reckless decision. The judge then did something strange: he stepped down from the bench and paid her fine. That judge was her father. As a just judge, he had to see that justice was served. As a loving father, he paid the price that justice demanded. That is what God did for you and I. His justice demands that He deal with our sin and self-centeredness, that we're punished for the pain we've brought upon others. God doesn't grade on the curve. He'd be unjust if he punished others but overlooked our self-centeredness and sin. Being a loving father, He sent his Son who did no wrong to pay the penalty for our sins by His death on a cross 2000 years ago.
Integrity demands that we be honest and take ownership of our wrongs and own up to where we have lied, stolen, lusted, assaulted others character, gossiped; that we confess and turn from it asking him daily for the strength to live a life of integrity; that we ask Him to forgive and cleanse us from our sin and pride and invite Him to take His rightful place as the leader of our lives and future. Each one of us NEEDS to do that or we will one day stand before Him in judgment having rejected the payment for our sins in that of His Son, we will pay for our own sins and spend eternity separated from God and all that is good. It's as simple as praying and asking Him to forgive and cleanse you. Invite him to lead and guide you into all he has for you. Get into His word, the Bible, to learn and grow. To fellowship with others on the same journey. To be FTO'd by Him that He may prepare you for the coming days and the demands of your family and profession. The founders of this nation all did that and God gave them the favor to build the greatest nation in history... It's something we need to do to preserve it!
(see
Wallbuilders
).
Remember when you first received your call sign? Remember being paranoid, "Was that radio traffic for me?" You were freaking out, "Did I miss something?"! Over time that all changed. Eventually you heard your radio over all the noise and clamor. God directs us much in the same way. He's always desiring to lead and guide us but we miss His leading because it's drowned out by the busyness of our lives and the distractions of our times. If we allow Him to work in our lives that all changes and eventually He becomes the priority focus providing us guidance, clearly directing us as we learn to listen for Him above life's distractions.
My friend, you need not be concerned about the coming days. God put you here to act on his behalf! He wants to be victorious over the battles you face daily on your job and at home! Invite the Lord to lead and guide you...He will!!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of any help in that journey. As a thick headed U.S. Marine out of control sexually and otherwise, I can relate to the struggle. God IS real and I've discovered that and it has made all the difference! Email me for more details.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him that you may overflow with hope and that by power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:3
Amen Jim. Fellow officer and reader, can you even begin to fathom the difference God can make through us in our homes, agencies, communities and country if we begin to police, serve and lead from a biblical worldview? As genuine, Holy Spirit-powered Christian husbands, fathers, mothers, servant-leaders and yes, Christian officers (servant-warriors/sheepdogs and shepherds)?
With that, I
echo what my "brother-from-a-different-mother" (but same Father and Lord) shared here when I ask, "Do you truly know Christ as your Lord and Savior or are you playing games?" If you're answer is "no" or "I'm not sure" (or even if you think you're sure but can't say why), Jim and I both ask you to consider the following and then join us behind Christ our Captain to
breach barricades
and
tear down strongholds
:
(1) Do you cling to the false hope that you can "earn" or otherwise "badge" your way into heaven and escape hell because you are a so-called "good" cop or "good" person? That "blessed are the peacekeepers" is in the Bible (NOT)? Or that you're saved because of "blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:9 is not about cops unless it is a Christian officer who happens to be sharing the hope he or she has in Christ with others)? Take
the
Good Person Test
and see how you do.
(2) J
esus' 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. To
believe
(pisteuo in the original Greek) as Jesus intends it here is to cry out to God for your salvation and wholeheartedly
surrender in faith to Christ
in the same way we have "faith" that our body armor will do its job against the rounds it is intended to stop, that our weapons will function properly in when facing criminals intent on destroying us, or that a warrior's parachute will open when it is supposed to (we stake our very lives on it)! And the "Good News"? That is simply the Gospel of Christ!
(3) This same concept of "
believe
" (the saving/changing kind) is further revealed in
John 3:1-21
where Jesus says, "...
you must be born 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
?) through which we are in fact made "righteous" before a just and Holy God.
(6) More? Take a few minutes to watch police officer (Major) Travis Yates'
Cops and Salvation.
Have you said "yes" to Jesus as your Lord and Savior but are wondering what to do next? Then
click on,
Now what?
Understand that the "Now what?" MUST include regular "iron sharpens iron" (Prov. 27:17) fellowship with other believers -- including (for us cops) other mature Christians and Christian officers who can help support you, encourage you, disciple (help you grow) you in the faith while holding you lovingly accountable. Message me for help in doing that!
Other questions? Need prayer? Here to serve -- contact me!
MC
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