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| FCPO Newsletter and Bible Study |
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The
"thin blue line" covered by the
blood of Christ.
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The times necessitate a degree of brevity so I'll try to do just that. As I write this, another brother officer has ambushed and slain in Kansas City (KS). Another is fighting for his life in Baton Rouge as they prepare to memorialize three more of their own. It is gut wrenching that we're once again shrouding our badges, flying our "thin blue line" flags and preparing for more law enforcement funerals. Let's not quibble --
we're in a storm and yes,
we're at war. We are weary and we're angry. But how MUST we
who know Christ as Lord and Savior respond? Scroll down to this week's study for "THE" answer. I've also posted more resources for you as well.
If you missed a study or need a past one for reference (you're free to use/adapt them for your own Bible studies, sermons and devotionals), I always re-post them on our website under the tab entitled
Newsletters/Devotionals for Cops
. Past editions can also be found on our Centurion
Twitter
and
Facebook
feeds. Regardless, here again is the updated version of "We are NOT Defeated."
Let's stay extra frosty on the street while remaining radically
bold
in Christ as the Lord gives us opportunity!
MC
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RESOURCES
PRAYER REQUESTS
(1) Pray for the spouses, families and colleagues who have lost loved ones in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Kansas City and elsewhere around the country. Pray for the many wounded officers who are fighting for their lives or dealing facing potentially career-ending injuries. Unless you've been through it, you can't truly understand what it means to lose a LEO spouse, but this article, while painful, gives you an inkling: A Policeman's Wife - A Story Seldom Told.
(2) Pray for our team as we head to Kansas this weekend to speak and serve/minister to our own at Covering the Home Front Law Enforcement Marriage Conference (see the events/announcements section below). More importantly, pray for the law enforcement couples who will be attending.
(3) Pray for the officers serving at the RNC in Cleveland...it is likely to be rough.
(4) Pray for one another and be bold about sharing the Gospel with the lost.
(5) Pray for a Christian LEO and his wife -- they are expecting twin boys later this year (high risk pregnancy).
UPCOMING EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
(3) Jimmy Meeks is teaming with Lt. Col. Dave Grossman for a FREE, law enforcement-only Bulletproof Mind Seminar in Ft. Worth this November. We (FCPO and Centurion) will be taking part as well and we'll be having "Cop Church" in the evening following the seminar. More details to follow but for now see "Ft. Worth Bulletproof Mind Seminar." In addition, see the Sheepdog Seminar schedule to learn about upcoming seminars around the country.
Have a prayer request or announcement you would like included here?
Email me and I'll do what I can to post it!
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The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
The Centurion Law Enforcement Ministry
is a 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 on social media (
Facebook
and
Twitter
) pages. Feel free to adapt these messages for your own individual or group use and please share them with others.
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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 own FCPO chapter -- FCPO #217 - Denver-- generally meets every 2nd and 4th Thursday at Calvary Aurora (High School Room, 7 PM) for "cop church" Bible study, prayer and iron sharpens iron fellowship. Spouses are both welcome and encouraged to attend with their LEO!
Our NEXT fellowship MEETING is set for Thursday, July 28th.
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We're at War
(How will you respond?)
It seems of late that mourning bands are on our badges more than their off, and our flags at at half-mast more often than fully raised. As I've said quite often since the Ferguson riots (all based on a lie), "we're at war" and we're in a storm (with these being the toughest times I've seen in my three decades on "the job"). Yet God has a plan for us in the midst of this wickedness and a desire to see Christian officers respond biblically. Let's open our Bibles and dig in!
Yes, I know many of you are weary. I'm weary as well -- and angry to boot (my initial, gut response to the slayings of our own in Dallas and the general hate against us who serve was less than biblical)! But friends, our loving Father would have us understand that He too knows our weariness and our anger (the righteous kind). He also knows the heartache of losing a loved one -- to see His own Son tortured and murdered. He understands more than we can ever truly know. But praise God Almighty, He remains on the throne and our Savior is no longer on the cross or in the grave!
In exploring what God would have for us in these trials and tribulations (including the "War on Cops"), I was led to share three main points with you about about WHY God is allowing this conflict (this "storm") in our lives. In addition, I've shared five points on how He would have Christian officers -- His servant-warriors -- respond. Let's start with God's answers to the "
why" question:
(1)
Because of SIN (both societal and personal). Now there's a word no one seems to want pastors, teachers and believers in general to talk about today -- SIN. Yet we know that since the time sin entered into the world as recorded in
Genesis, we've been in a steady decline because of it. Moreover, the full context of Scripture is clear: God will only allow wickedness to continue for so long before He acts (and acts decisively). Frankly, I believe it is a miracle of His love and patience that the Lord has yet to take righteous action against nation's and the world's collective rebellion. Here is solid list of Scriptures on this subject:
God's response to our "national" sin.
How can we respond to this? Through repentance and prayer. While
II Chronicles 7:14 was written to the rebellious and scattered Jewish nation (and was a promise He took seventy years to fulfill), the principle is just as true today:
"
if my people who are called by my Name will
humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Are you on your knees in prayer for our wicked nation? Are you standing fast on His word in the midst of growing persecution?
Secondly, Jesus Himself told those closest to Him in His human ministry that they (we) would have "tribulation" but would be available to help His faithful through it:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (
John 16:33)
On this, one of my favorite Bible teachers, A.W. Tozer, famously said, "We need preachers who preach that hell is still hot, that heaven is still real, that sin is still wrong, that the Bible is God's word and that
Jesus is the only way to salvation." Amen!
(2)
Because we need CORRECTION
. Jonah 1 clearly reveals that God will allow storms in our lives as a means to bring about correction and accomplish His purpose. God commanded Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevites, who were known to be a cruel and wicked people. Jonah railed against it (he wanted God to wipe them out and he most certainly didn't want to forgive). In today's context, it could be akin to God asking us to preach the Gospel to ISIS or sending us to Dallas or Baton Rouge (Denver, Minneapolis, Ferguson...) to preach Christ to the BLM folks who hate us and are set on our destruction. In Jonah's case, he disobeyed God by getting into a boat and going in the opposite direction from where the Lord had ordered him to go. The result? "God sent a storm of correction" followed by having a fish swallow him and then spit him out where God wanted him in the first place (and yes, our Lord has a profound sense of humor).
(3) Because we need PERFECTION (Psalm 107:23-32). God sends us storms, trials and tribulation to "perfect" us. It has been rightly said that "perfect storms make perfect saints" (a "saint" being a genuine, born again believer). Dr. Samuel Chadwick, principal of Cliff College where famed British evangelist Leonard Ravenhill received part of his education, wrote, "To make perfect means to make fit; to put in order, adjust, adapt, arrange, and equip, so as to secure effectiveness and efficiency for the result achieved. The meaning is the same when applied to the Christian life and experience. It is the adjustment, cleansing, and equipment of man's nature for all the purposes of the life in Christ. It is nothing more than making men fit in every part to do the will of God." The apostle Paul adds to this in 2 Corinthians 13:9 -- "And this also we pray, that you may be made complete." The Greek word for "complete" can be translated to mean "perfect." Both the whole context of Scripture in general and this passage from Psalm 107 in particular make it clear that, for the true believer, it is not IF the storm will come, but WHEN (and for many of us, that time is NOW).
Need a warrior's example? What makes a Japanese katana (sword) so special? Part of the answer is repeated heating and pounding (folding) -- a "storm" indeed (and a painful one). Likewise, God's Word provides us with powerful application for in the "the refiner's fire."
So this brings us back to the question I asked when I opened this study: How would God have us respond to this current "war" we're in as cops (or whatever war/storm you're in)? He is clear in the following five points:
(a) We are called to be stand in the gap (Ezekiel 22:30) for one another, our families and those we serve and protect as LEOs (an oath, mind you, that has no expiration).
(b) We MUST share a "Code 3" sense of urgency to fulfill our Great Commission "call for service" to share the Gospel and make disciples both within our God-ordained profession and beyond.
(c) We are to be the honorable, compassionate and valiant "sheepdogs" (servant-warriors) of Romans 13:1-14 (a "minister for good and a terror against evil"), Isaiah 1:17 and Psalm 82:3-4.
(d) We are to be a Spirit-filled/Spirit-led "eye" of calm, peace and refuge for our brethren, families and public in the middle of the "storm" that is raging around us in these last days.
(e) Finally, God gives us an "impossible" command: to LOVE (including those who hate us and want to destroy us). Does this mean we stop making arrests, surrender our officer safety or not employ force -- including deadly force -- in the wake of the war we ARE engaged in? Negative! However, it does mean seeking to serve as a refuge and fortress of biblical love in a storm (war/battle) of hate. Remember that the "ultimate Warrior" of Exodus 15:3 is the same LORD who loved us so much that He sent His only Son to be tortured and take our place (pay our sin debt) on the cross so that we might live (John 3:16).
Many of us are hurting and yes, many of us are rightfully angry at the hate and slaughter of our own. How then can we, in our humanness, lovingly respond as God commands us to? Folks, it is IMPOSSIBLE -- unless we are have first strapped on our spiritual body armor and are serving under the direction and power of the Holy Spirit that indwells every true believer. When are are born again in Christ and following hard after Him, our Lord becomes refuge
and, ultimately, this war and the battles you and I are fighting are His.
So is that YOU? Do you have God's peace? The assurance that if you were to die today you would spend eternity in heaven versus the equally sure alternative? Are you sure?
Friend, you can be! I plead with you to
repent
of your sin and receive God's forgiveness and protection
today along with the power to be His true "peacemakers" standing firm in the storms and battlefields of this life. How? Start by taking the following steps:
(a) Think you're already "good enough"? That
you can "badge" your way into heaven or out of hell? Take the "
Good Person Test
" and see how you do.
Never before have we been more needed or more "called." Let's get in the fight behind Christ our Captain!
More questions? Need prayer? Please
reach out
!
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