 |
| FCPO Newsletter and Bible Study |
|
 |
|
|
The "thin blue line" covered by the blood of Christ. |
UPDATED!
This newsletter and Bible study turns our attention to Christmas (
CHRISTmas) and its proper meaning both for all in general and then specifically for us who serve in law enforcement. On this subject, the image I selected for this topic is most fitting (scroll down to the study to discover why).
Also with THE Season in mind, this is one of the very rare times that I respectfully seek your tax-deductible donations to help fund our mission to support those serving in our God-ordained profession (including police marriages, wounded officer outreach, suicide prevention, PTSd care, etc.) and be used of God to lead the lost to a genuine saving faith in Christ. Ours in indeed a mission field! First, our sincere thanks to all who have provided financial support in 2018. Secondly, you can donate in one of two ways: (1) send a check made out to The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry (or just FCPO-217) P.O. Box 630854, Littleton, CO 80163; or (2) you can designate your donation to us by going directly through the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers: click on the FCPO donation page, select "To a Local Chapter" under the FUND tab, and designate FCPO-Denver (or FCPO-217 -- same thing) in the comments section. Blessings.
As always, don't forget to check out the latest batch of
resources, prayer requests
and
announcements
that I've posted for you below!
MC
|
|
|
RESOURCES
(1)
Kristi Neace's books are outstanding resources for LEOs and their spouses (and make great Christmas gifts):
Author Kristi Neace.
(2)
Again, these two new books will be great additions to your own libraries or to give as gifts. I know the authors as trusted friends and colleagues -- you'll be blessed!
Break Every Chain
by Officer Jonathan Hickory and, available January 1,
Bulletproof Marriage
by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Adam Davis.
PRAYER REQUESTS/PRAISE REPORTS
(1) Rio Grande County (CO) S.O. Dep.
Michael Pino was severely injured in a line of duty incident. He is facing multiple surgeries and a lengthy rehab/recovery. Please lift Michael and his family in prayer.
(2) As I write this, prayer is requested for Henry County (GA)
Officer Michael Smith who was shot in the face earlier today. At last report Mike is in critical condition.
(3) A Sergeant submitted a request for one of his officers: "O
ne of my officers is in ICU with severe diabetic problems (keto acidosis, Bell's palsy). He is a young officer (28 years old) with a wife and child on the way." Let's pray!
(4) Retired Hawaii County Police Officer Jeff Sue is battling Stage 4 cancer and needs our prayers!
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
Cops Fighting Cancer "
Long Blue Line" event is coming up on
December 13th at Children's Hospital Colorado. Pray for us in this.
(3) While I teach/preach church and school safety and security seminars all over the country, I continue to recommend the excellent
Sheepdog Seminars put on by my friends Officer (Ret.)
Jimmy Meeks, Lt. Col.
Dave Grossman (USA, Ret.),
Carl Chinn and others. Click the
Seminar Schedule button for an upcoming event near you!
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers
|
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 currently 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.
With the holidays upon us, our lone December fellowship (and last of 2018) is set for Tuesday, December 18th.
|
|
|
|
|
The True Reason for the Season
The relationship between cops and the real meaning of Christmas
For unbelievers, Christmas (or, God help us, "X-Mas") is usually about anything but Christ. Meanwhile, the focus for Christians each year is typically on the "babe in the manger" as described in the Luke 2 and Matthew 1-2.
Yet Christmas, to have true meaning, cannot be separated from the cross
. The angel said at the birth of Jesus, "
He will save His people from their sins
" (
Matthew 1:21
). Jesus Himself -- speaking just before His death on the cross -- said, "
For this cause was I born
" (
John 18:37
). He was the only person in history who was born with the specific purpose of dying for others (a God-dispatched "call for service" in fulfillment of some 300 Old Testament prophesies that, taken as a whole, provide
indisputable, mathematical evidence that the Christ story is true beyond any shadow of a doubt
).
Folks, the context of Scripture (God's Word) reveals that the purpose of the manger was realized in the horrors of the cross, and "cops" had a generally disturbing hand in all of it. Disturbing? Consider this written by William Smith in World Magazine back in 1992:
Why aren't people disturbed by Christmas? One reason is our tendency to sanitize the birth narratives. We romanticize the story of Mary and Joseph rather than deal with the painful dilemma they faced when the Lord chose Mary to be the virgin who would conceive her child by the power of the Holy Spirit. We beautify the birth scene, not coming to terms with the stench of the stable, the poverty of the parents, the hostility of Herod. Don't miss my point. There is something truly comforting and warming about the Christmas story, but it comes from understanding the reality, not from denying it.
Most of us have not come to terms with the baby in the manger. We sing, "Glory to the newborn King." But do we truly recognize that the baby lying in the manger is appointed by God to be the King, to be either the Savior or Judge of all people? He is a most threatening person.
Malachi foresaw his coming and said, "But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap." As long as we can keep him in the manger, and feel the sentimental feelings we have for babies, Jesus doesn't disturb us. But once we understand that his coming means for every one of us either salvation or condemnation, he disturbs us deeply.
What should be just as disturbing is the awful work Christ had to do to accomplish the salvation of his people. Yet his very name, Jesus, testifies to us of that work.
The baby's destiny from the moment of his conception was the cross in the place of sinners. When I look into the manger, I come away shaken as I realize again that he was born to pay the unbearable penalty for my sins...
Christmas is disturbing.
The disturbing truth is this: from the moment of Jesus' conception, the cross loomed before Him, and "cops" -- the law enforcement of His day -- had a mostly negative (as in abusive) hand in all of it. Let's quickly break this down
biblically through the following five main points:
(1) Jesus is ultimately the greatest "cop" (a servant-warrior/servant-leader) in all of history. Where's that in the Bible? One of the
titles given to describe Jesus long before his birth was "Mighty God" (Isaiah 9:6). It looks beautiful on a Christmas card alongside "Wonderful Counselor" and "Prince of Peace" (the ultimate peacemaker and peacekeeper) but it's more than a nice title.
This is a term heretofore only used for God the Father but is now applied to the coming King (God the Son). This phrase also points us to the war between good and evil. The word "mighty" in the Hebrew can be translated into "warrior" (meaning the One who is fighting against the forces of darkness on behalf of His people). Is this not what we do as modern day police officers and combat military personnel fighting against terror and evil? In fact, Exodus 15:3 drives this home: "The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His name." Jesus, the ultimate peace officer, was born to us in a manger (a feeding trough for animals) on a police-esque "call for service" that ends not only on the cross (Jesus paying the price for our sin) but also in Satan's ultimate defeat (Revelation 20:7-10)!
(2) While we who serve in law enforcement have this incredible role model in Christ Jesus, there is also another disturbing side. Sometime after Jesus' birth (between 50 days and a year or more), Herod sent his secret police out to murder every male child up to two years of age in the hope of taking out King Jesus in the process (the "Massacre of the Innocents" as described in Matthew 2:16-18). Can you imagine coming home after your shift with the knowledge that you were responsible for the death of many innocent children (on pain of your own torture and death should you fail)?
(3) At Jesus' trials before His death, it was the "cops" of His day who falsely arrested and abused/tortured (excessive force) Him. [see "The Trials of Jesus"]
(4) It was the Roman "Feds" who nailed Jesus to the cross, witnessed His death (with the Centurion [and the LEOs with him] seeing the overwhelming EVIDENCE before them, gave expert testimony in exclaiming, "Surely this is the Son of God!"). Then, three days later, it was a crack 1st Century "SWAT" team who were first hand witnesses to Jesus'
miraculous resurrection!
(5) Finally, let's not forget that our loving Father chose members of what was then a despised profession -- simple shepherds -- to be the first recorded witnesses to Jesus birth (outside of Mary and Joseph). The analogy? The shepherds and sheepdogs of Jesus day both served and protected the flock against the wolves of would otherwise prey on them with impunity (a whole sermon in just that) just as modern-day sheepdogs -- the police -- protect the public today under the ultimate direction of the Great Shepherd Himself (see again Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's "On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs")! Hopefully, the image I shared with this week's newsletter will give you a modern day picture of this (cops standing watch)!
So what is the most important application for us in this message? Despite the fact that ours is a
God-ordained profession (Romans 13:1-4)
, unless we are first born again (saved and transformed) in Christ, our so-called "good" service and "good" deeds amount to nothing more than "filthy rags" in the eyes of a righteous, just and Holy God!
Folks, here's the truth of Christmas summed up wonderfully in
John 3:16: out of love for us, God the Father sent His only Son into the world to pay the price for OUR sin (yours, mine and yes, the officers of Jesus' day)!
In the end, CHRISTmas is about the GIFT God gave us in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ, who came on a God-dispatched "call for service" to offer a path of salvation for all who would surrender to Him in faith.
Now, despite the plethora of evidence before you, will you still argue that those 1st Century officers were just following orders? Or that their actions are not representative of us today -- that you're a "good person" or a "good cop" who "deserves" to go to heaven because of your "good deeds" and sacrifices stemming from your "righteous" service in law enforcement or the military (or life in general)? If so, let me lovingly encourage you to scroll down to the
God's Good Person Test
and see how you do.
Well? If you took the test honestly, you'll understand that unless you are first born again in Christ you can NEVER be "good" enough to be admitted into heaven or escape a just eternal sentence in hell (no way to "badge" your way out of it).
Hopefully, this discussion of the true meaning of Christmas and the role we played in it has impacted you to make a decision or recommitment to Christ today.
Accordingly, consider the following as part of God's CHRISTmas gift to all of us:
(1) As I mentioned above, 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? Again, 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 when facing criminals intent on destroying us or others, or that a sky diver'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 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
?). Folks, it is through this miraculuous event that we are made "righteous" before a just and Holy God (and 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 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!
Praying you all have a safe and blessed
CHRISTmas season!
MC
|
| * Sp |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
