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The "thin blue line" covered by the blood of Christ. |
This week's newsletter and Bible study finds us hopefully getting closer to cooler temps (while still at least six weeks from the start of Fall here in Colorado, it was 55 at the Williams casa this morning, praise God).
This week's Bible study is my recap of our new monthly, verse-by-verse study through
2 Corinthians being taught by Aurora PD Officer
Matt Springer. It also comes with some excellent tools to help you in your own Bible studies and daily devotions -- scroll down.
In addition, please take the time to review the new
resources (excellent),
prayer requests and
event announcements I've included for you below. As always, please reach out if you need prayer or other assistance -- we're here to serve you.
Finally,
if you missed last week's edition, here again is God is With Us in the Battle. Don't forget that these newsletters and Bible studies are also re-posted on our
website
and social media (Facebook and Twitter) feeds -- share and otherwise play it forward.
As always, let's remain vigilant while keeping a front sight focus on Christ our Captain (
Joshua 5:14).
MC
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RESOURCES
(1) Dealing with PTSD? Thoughts of suicide? Officer
Michael McSellers is a friend, fellow servant-warrior and fellow Christian who has dealt with both. Take 3 minutes to check out
The Michael McSellers Story. Also many suicide prevention and PTSD resources on our
website.
(2) The
Christian Research and Apologetics Ministry -- or
CARM -- is another outstanding and wholly biblical resource for believers and skeptics alike. Accordingly, CARM Founder and President Matt Slick has written an excellent article on the topic of hell that I'm pressed to share: "
A loving God would never send anyone to hell" (Jesus talked about hell more than any other NT teacher).
PRAYER REQUESTS
(1)
A Colorado State Patrol trooper has lost his wife to Leukemia and is left to raise their three young children alone. Please pray.
(2) Some 50,000 officers are injured in the line of duty each year. Of those who are injured seriously (the life-changing kind), a good number are sent here to Colorado for treatment at Craig Rehabilitation Hospital and it is my honor to do what I can to come alongside them. As you know, I've requested prayer a number of times for wounded Wichita (KS) Officer Brian Arterburn. This is the latest update from his wife (also a WPD officer): "Brian's white blood cells are still critically low. He is unfortunately not able to leave his room. His weight has dropped down to 137..." You get the message. Please pray!
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) Here's the updated Sheepdog Seminars schedule (outstanding training for cops and sheepdog civilians alike): Sheepdog Seminars. I know the speakers (including Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, Officer Jimmy Meeks and Carl Chinn) -- rock solid and you'll come away blessed!
(2) As you know, writing, speaking and teaching on leadership (and SERVANT-leadership in particular) in law enforcement is a big part of what I do both in ministry and "on the job." Accordingly, I give strong support to Law Officer editor, friend, and fellow cop/law enforcement instructor, Travis Yates' latest seminar offering,
Courageous Leadership
.
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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 churches, retreats and 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 metro Denver chapter -- FCPO #217((FCPO-Aurora), typically meets every 2nd and 4th Thursday at Calvary Aurora (High School Room, 7 PM) for "cop church" Bible study, prayer and servant-warrior fellowship
. Spouses are both welcome and encouraged to attend with their LEO! Our next meeting is set for Thursday, August 10th.
Information on the other
FCPO chapters
meeting around the country (including the new chapter here in Arvada, CO) can be found on the
Chapter Locator
pages on the
FCPO-USA
website.
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A Character Witness for Christ
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
As law enforcement officers, the concept of being a good witness and the importance of good character references (character witnesses) can't be overstated: being the former will make our cases in court while the latter are crucial to getting into our God-ordained profession and how we will be perceived in our agencies. This week's Bible study recap takes that concept a step further.
This is also a good time to remind my readers about one of the central tenets of this ministry: "simply teaching God's Word simply" through
inductive,
expository (verse-by-versel) Bible study. As a reminder, inductive Bible study involves three basic components:
(1)
Observation (what the text says)
(2)
Interpretation (what the text means -- it's exegesis)
(3)
Application (how God would have us apply the text to our lives)
With this in mind, let's dig in! By way of background,
Corinth was filled with self-made people. Among its citizens were many freed slaves who had worked hard to make a name and fortune for themselves and their families. Such an environment nurtured an independent, self-reliant mindset. For those who live here in the United States, this is a familiar way of thinking. Sadly, many people believe that "God helps those who help themselves" is found in the Bible (it is NOT)! Instead, God uses this passage to teach us that He often uses severe hardship (the troubles and "trials" of life) to show us that we must depend fully upon Him both to finish strong and to make us a better WITNESS (and improve our character) in our service and ministries (again, the word "minister" in the Greek simply means "servant"). Here's the breakdown:
V. 8: "...the affliction [trouble, trial] we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself."
We don't know the exact nature of this trial but it was likely some type of persecution or a physical affliction made worse by Paul's missionary work. Bible scholars generally agree on at least five possible reasons for this "trouble" or affliction in Paul:
(5) A recurring physical malady (disease, sickness)
V. 9: Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. Whatever the problem was, it was exceedingly rough. As such, Paul lived with the awareness that he might die at any time (a "
sentence of death"). However, t
he expression, "in ourselves" reveals that
Paul's death
sentence
was something he felt within and not just something that a court of law had imposed on him from without. Yet Paul's hope and security was in Christ: "...make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." Do YOU have that sure hope? Friends, that "hope" is where we find the strength and courage to stay the course and finish well -- NOTHING can ultimately "hurt" the born again believer when we know our eternal destiny! Moreover, Paul again stresses that there is NOTHING we can do to save ourselves (we can't "badge" or otherwise be "good" enough to "earn" our way into heaven or out of hell).
V. 10: "He (God)
delivered us..." Here Paul reminds the born again believer that
God's work in our lives happens in three different verb tenses: past, present, and future. Praise the Lord for that! In addition, it is God who makes us a "good" witness versus making ourselves one.
V. 11: "You also must help us by prayer." Here
Paul stresses the importance and value of intercessory prayer. He was not shy about asking the Corinthians to pray for him (in spite of their many spiritual problems), and neither should we! This is why I continually include prayer requests in these newsletters and social media posts. Paul wants us to understand that
blessing in both life and ministry (and EVERY Christian is called to ministry in one form or another) is often granted in response to the p
rayers of
other believers (the "many"). That is also why I seek your prayers as I serve and why we are constantly praying for our own pastor (just as you should). Clearly, Paul rightly credited the prayers of the faithful for his effectiveness in ministry (and as a good witness with a powerful testimony)!
Paul rightly added to this in his letter to the Colossian believers: "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak" (Col. 4:2-4). In other words, emphasizing the importance of seeking the Lord in corporate and individual prayer so as to enable Paul to be a powerful witness (with an equally powerful testimony) in the midst of his suffering.
John, writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit in Revelation 12:11, adds to this concept of being a good witness in the midst of suffering: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" ("him" being Satan, of course). This reinforces the concept that a servant-warrior (both physical and spiritual -- as in "prayer warriors") who has no on fear of death (the grave) is a fearsome warrior indeed!
During WWII, there were many who lifted German pastor
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in prayer as he suffered and witnessed for Christ in a Nazi prison. Of this he wrote, "I believe that God can and will bring good out of evil, even out of the greatest evil... I believe that God will give us all the strength we need to help us resist in all time of distress. But he never gives it in advance, lest we should rely on ourselves and not on him alone." Is it not therefore likely that Bonhoeffer had this passage of Scripture in mind?
Also on this concept, I posted yesterday about the 50th anniversary of the accident that left Joni Eareckson Tada a quadriplegic. While God has chosen to not heal Joni in this lifetime (at least not yet), He has instead used her affliction and suffering for His glory and to lead the lost and hurting to Him through her witness. Moreover, God has used (and is using) the constant prayers of the faithful (other believers) over the last five decades to strengthen and support Joni's witness and testimony through which she has impacted the lives of so many for the Kingdom. Again, powerful application of 2 Cor. 1:8-11 for us today!
In his teaching on this passage, Officer Matt Springer shared God's admonition that we must be "
salt and light" in an otherwise dark world (
Matthew 5:13-16) -- that we must be a "
first-person witness to what we have seen, heard and know about the majesty of our Lord, Jesus Christ." Matt also added that we "
cannot be ashamed of the gospel and must testify to others of the Lord." As cops, we understand the importance of being a good witness in court so that our testimony will be effective and acceptable.
So what about you? Are you a good
witness for Christ? How effective is your testimony? Understand that neither are possible unless you first know Him as Lord and Savior and are then growing in the Word and in prayer. Moreover, our growth as believers must involve the 3-pronged "tactical training" I keep stressing: (1) daily time with the Lord in
prayer; (2) personal
Bible study; and (3) regular
iron sharpens iron
fellowship with other believers that should should also involve Bible study and corporate prayer (aka, "church").
So do you truly know Christ as Lord and Savior? If not, here's how you can:
(1) Jesus' first words in His earthly ministry were: "
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
as God intends it to
completely and radically surrender to Him in
faith
("believe" and "faith" have the same Greek root meaning) in the same way you have faith that your body armor will stop the rounds it is designed to stop or that a skydiver's parachute will open (we stake our lives on it)! The "Good News" of course is the Gospel of Christ. Moreover, the words repent and believe are literally two sides of the same coin in meaning and intent (see the "Are you really a Christian" link below for more).
(2) In
John 3:1-21, Jesus says, "...
you must be born again." Note our Lord's emphasis on
must (not "may" or "should"): this is the
life-saving/life-changing personal relationship (not "religion") with/dependence on Christ that I stress so often. See "
What does it mean to be a born again Christian?" and then go to:
(a) Think you can "earn" heaven (or escape hell) by simply being a "good person?" Then take the
Good Person Test
and see how you do. Then go to...
Need prayer or more info? Feel free to
contact me
! Don't forget to pass these newsletters on to others in keeping with our Great Commission mandate.
MC
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