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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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We hope you all had a safe and blessed Thanksgiving. Sadly, we lost one of our own here in Colorado over the weekend (a senseless and completely preventable tragedy). We are also remembering the death of another colleague through which God is pressing me to re-share as part of this week's Bible study. Please scroll down to "
An Officer's Life and Death" and then be sure to re-share with others.
Again, I can't emphasize enough that we're in a war both here at home and abroad. Accordingly, be sure of your standing with Christ while you take care of business both at home and on the "the street."
MC
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RESOURCES
PRAYER REQUESTS
(1) This past weekend we lost one of our own here in Colorado. I knew and worked with CSP Trooper Cody Donahue so this is hitting me hard. See this week's study for more but please be in prayer for Cody's family and colleagues (some are active members of our FCPO-Denver chapter).
(2) Fellow officer/pastor Jonathan Parker is leading the ministry outreach efforts in Chattanooga in the wake of horrific bus crash that occurred there. Please be praying for Jonathan and those impacted.
(3) CA police Cpl. Chuck Scott, a strong Christian, was recently involved in a RIGHTEOUS use of deadly force to take out an attacker. While his agency is backing him (praise God), I see your prayers for Chuck, his bride and their family. Chuck's son Noah is also in a fight for his life with Leukemia. Please pray and give if you can: Team Noah GoFundMe page.
(4) Again, please pray for the families and colleagues of our brethren who have recently been slain in the LOD. Our losses continue at a horrific rate (subscribing to the ODMP email announcements is a good way to keep track and pray). What I do know is we're up at least 70% over last year in terms of felonious deaths! With that, remember that our prayers MUST come with a "Code 3" sense of urgency to obey God's command for us to share the hope we have in Christ with both our own and others in general (see this week's message below for more on this).
Have a prayer request or announcement you would like included here?
Email me
and I'll do what I can to post it! I also post prayer requests on my Facebook page ("friend" me).
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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.
In addition, I regularly speak at both law enforcement and civilian conferences and events around the country -- please shoot me an email if I can be of service to your church, agency or organization.
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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. My 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 meeting is set for Thursday, December 8th.
Information on the other FCPO chapters meeting around the country can be found on the Chapter Locator pages on the FCPO-USA website.
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An Officer's Life and Death:
Living a Life Worthy of our Calling
One year ago yesterday, Pastor and UCCS Officer
Garrett Swasey was killed in the line of duty at the Planned Parenthood offices in Colorado Springs, Colorado. As I shared then, Garrett died with a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Moreover (and not by accident), the last message he shared at his church before his death was a clarion call to all of us. Garret lived a life worthy of our God-ordained calling. Are we? Here again is
Garrett's last sermon.
While remembering Garrett's life and death, we here in Colorado are also reeling from the death of Colorado State Trooper
Cody Donahue over the Thanksgiving weekend. On this, one of my FCPO-Denver chapter members (Officer
Matt Springer), wrote the following that I am pressed to share with you followed by some comments of my own:
It says in
James 4:13
,
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit."
It is easy for us to make plans in advance believing that life will continue just as it is.
But have you read the next verse? Verse 14 says,
Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Today, a Colorado State Trooper reported for duty. No doubt he had his plan for the day, and for the holiday season as well. He probably had been thinking about the next year on the job and what he wanted to do this weekend. He no doubt still had thoughts of Thanksgiving and where he was going to go for Thanksgiving dinner next year.
Tragically today, the day after Thanksgiving, his life was taken when he was struck by a vehicle while doing his job, investigating an unrelated crash on the highway.
How quickly his plans mean nothing now. Let that sink in. The plans he had placed so much promise in now mean nothing.
A number of years ago, I was training with a detective named
Mike Thomas. He had been working as a detective for a long time and I was relatively new on the job. Between arrest control reps, we got to talking about our future plans. I told him I wanted to be in SWAT and maybe move up the ladder. He told me that he was thinking about working a few more years and then maybe moving out of police work for something new. It was a great morning. Mike was someone I trusted and looked up to. I told him I would see him at the afternoon session of training and he went to lunch.
Mike never made it to the afternoon session. During his lunch break, a random guy shot and killed him while he was in his car at a stop light. The plans he had made...both his and for his kids, now meant nothing.
It says in the Bible,
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment -- Hebrews 9:27.
This verse means that, short of rapture, everyone on earth is going to die. This is probably not a surprise to any of you but since God made the universe and Christ holds all of creation together, even He made it clear in His Word that (apart from the generation that is taken up in the rapture) it is an absolute certainty that every man will die...once. And THEN, all will stand before Christ to be judged.
Have you ever thought about being judged after you die? Have you ever thought about standing before Jesus when you finally leave this broken world? What are you going to say to Him? Where are you going to go after the Judgement? I must tell you that whether you believe that Jesus came to save the world, or you believe in other religions, or you don't believe in any god at all, the Truth is, you will stand before Jesus when you die.
The Bible makes it clear that there are two destinations after you die. The first is Heaven. The alternative is Hell.
Jesus talks about this in Matthew 25:31-33 where He says,
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left."
Further down in this section, Jesus adds in verse 41,
"Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
This is a pretty hefty penalty...being thrown into Hell for eternity. This is not a penalty I would want to incur.
No one knows the date and time of their death except for God.
Psalm 139:16 says,
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Due to God's omnipresence, He knows the time and manner of your death. If this is the case, why would you not trust the Creator of the Universe with your life, death and eternal destiny?
I have carried Detective Thomas' business card with me on every shift since that day. It reminds me that I cannot bank on the future I plan. James 4 finishes with,
Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. (verses 15-16)
I don't know if Trooper Donahue knew the Lord. I don't know if he had accepted in faith that Jesus was the
The Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world
(
John 1:29
). However, I can tell you with a tremendous amount of certainty that he didn't think today was the last day to get right with God before standing before Jesus in judgement.
Brothers and sisters, I am a watchman (
Ezekiel 33
). I am a messenger (
Numbers 16:28
). I have been commanded by Jesus to go make disciples of all nations (
Matthew 28:19
). It is my duty to push you towards a relationship with the Living God. I cannot bare to think that I could have helped you encounter Jesus, which would send you into eternity in heaven, when your time on this earth has ended.
Time is short, our
life is only a vapor and God could call you to stand before Him this very night. Please do not delay. Your eternal life depends on it!
So, how can I help you find the Lord?
Well said! I echo Matt in asking the same question: Where are you at with Christ today?
With our brethren being slaughtered all over the country as I write this, it is with an ongoing
Code 3
(lights and siren) sense of urgency that I beg you to repent and believe in Christ for your salvation. Now! Today! Tomorrow may be too late!
Sadly and tragically, many reading this may hold to a fatally false belief that you can somehow "badge" your way into heaven or out of hell by your service as a cop? That "blessed are the peacemakers" is about us as cops (hint -- it's NOT)? By your so-called "good" deeds? Because you are what the world might call a "good person?" Folks, God is clear in His Word (
overwhelming evidence that has NEVER been and never can be disproved
) that it is ONLY by
repenting
of our sin and being
born again
into a genuine, life-saving/life-changing personal relationship with God in Christ that we can be saved! Is that you? Consider the following:
More questions? Need prayer? Please
reach out
!
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