• 60% of my monthly support!
• 79% of my one-time support!

To reach full support, I only need $1,470 in new monthly pledges, and  $5,360 in one-time gifts.

Thanks for your prayers!  Thanks for your generosity if you’re giving – including my newest monthly supporter, Anonymous.  I don’t know who you are, but God does, and I’m grateful for your gracious generosity.

I’ve gotta scoot, but you’ll be hearing more from me soon: God is working in me, in Chattanooga, and in Ukraine.  Thanks!

Ambrose of Milan

“In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” – John 1:4.  Earlier this morning I was playing a few hymns at my piano, and stumbled across this ancient hymn by Ambrose of Milan, 340-397.

O Splendor of God’s glory bright,
From light eternal bringing light,
Thou light of light, light’s living Spring,
True Day, all days illumining:

Come, very Sun of heaven’s love,
In lasting radiance from above,
And pour the Holy Spirit’s ray
On all we think or do today.

And now to thee our prayers ascend,
O Father, glorious without end;
We plead with sovereign grace for pow’r
To conquer in temptation’s hour.

Confirm our will to do the right,
And keep our hearts from envy’s blight;
Let faith her eager fires renew,
And hate the false, and love the true.

O joyful be the passing day
With thoughts as pure as morning’s ray,
With faith like noontide shining bright,
Our souls unshadowed by the night.

Dawn’s glory gilds the earth and skies,
Let him, our perfect Morn, arise,
The Work in God the Father one,
The Father imaged in the Son.

His hymn was set to WINCHESTER NEW, which I assume was a new version of WINCHESTER in Hamburg back in 1690 when it was included in the Musikalisches Handbuch.

Tunes may come and go, lyrics may be translated from 4th century Latin to 20th century English, but the light of Christ shines through the ages.  Pray that I will increasingly reflect Jesus’ glory while I’m raising support here in Chattanooga, and when I reach Kiev.

In the Old Testament the phrase “being filled with the Holy Spirit” is used to describe special callings and equipping for specific tasks, such as the artist Bezalel who was filled with the Spirit of God for the building of the tabernacle, or John the Baptist, the final Old Testament prophet described as “being filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:15) for the task of announcing the Messiah. However, the Spirit is not given to all believers in the Old Testament, and is not given permanently, otherwise David would not have said, “take not your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11). In the case of Sampson we are told, “the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him” (Judges 13:25), “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him (Judges 14:6,19; 15:14).

In the New Testament, when Jesus receives the water baptism from John, the Spirit descended from heaven and remained on Jesus. John said to the crowds, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (Jn. 1:33). The Spirit remained on Jesus, and he lived is life in the power of the Spirit, died on the cross, “and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). As the second and last Adam, Jesus became life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), and has given the gift of the Spirit to every believer, as a seal of salvation and down payment on the promised inheritance.

When Paul uses the phrase, “be filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18, it is in contrast to being controlled by drunkenness. All believers have the indwelling Spirit (Eph. 1:13, John 14-16), but since Christ is the one on whom the Spirit remained, to be filled with the Spirit is to be filled with, ruled by, obedient to, and conformed to Christ. Being filled with the Spirit isn’t a second blessing, or a second class of Christians that only some believers attain. It is the gracious provision of the Spirit of Christ to every believer, for Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (Jn. 14:18). The point of 1 Corinthians 15:45 is that Christ, by virtue of his exaltation as the last Adam and second man, has come into such permanent and complete possession of the Spirit that the two are equated in their activity.

Colossians 3:16,17 is a parallel passage to Eph. 5:18-20; in Ephesians we are to be filled with the Spirit and in Colossians we are to let the word of Christ dwell richly in us. Christ is the word of God who created all things, and whose word creates the new creation in our hearts, and just as the Spirit hovered over the face of the waters at the beginning of creation and controlled the unfolding work of creation, so we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us and the Spirit to fill us, controlling and creating the new creation in our hearts and lives. In John 16 we see that the Holy Spirit’s role is to glorify Jesus, and in 2 Cor. 4:6 Paul draws a parallel between the Spirit’s work at creation and his work in our hearts: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Being filled with the Spirit means to be filled with Christ.

We sang during Advent, “He comes to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found.”  Christ’s light shines on every square inch of creation.  If you’d like some music to reflect on Christ in the midst of ordinary time, check out the band Ordinary Time (you can stream their albums on their site).

Happy Epiphany, and may the light of Christ shine through your life, even in seemingly ordinary time.

You’d have that much more to deduct on your 2011 taxes, my one-time need would be met, and I’d only have 30% left to raise on my monthly support.

Thanks for your crazy-generous giving, friends. I’m excited and humbled to see how God is working in and through you!

Another area in which I’m seeking to unmask any idols and grow in faithfulness is how I use social networks.  I want to use them well as tools, from a position of faithful thanksgiving for God’s good gifts, for real communication with people, and for faithful action in the world.

To that end, Nokia was running a contest for people to nominate their favorite charity in Facebook and say in 250 words how it lined up with Nokia’s corporate values.  I entered International Justice Mission (IJM), because IJM does great work fighting human trafficking and slavery.  Here’s my entry essay:

“We worked all the time. We would only stop to eat. If we tried to rest, they’d abuse us and force us to work again,” said Dambru Jani, a 20-year-old laborer who’d been enslaved in a Chennai, India brick kiln. The CNN Freedom Project reported 6/29/11 that officials from the Tamil Nadu state government, working with International Justice Mission (IJM), raided the kiln, freeing 500 slaves from brutal conditions and constant work.

I nominate International Justice Mission for the #NokiaCareUSContest because modern-day slavery is today’s urgent human rights issue. CNN Freedom Project reports: 30 million people are slaves today, international human trafficking (70% women, 50% children) generates $32 billion annually, and some 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States annually. This problem is massive.

IJM pursues a collaborative casework model to help local communities and governments stand against modern-day slavery. IJM works with local communities and governments; follows individual slavery cases through rescue, victim aftercare, perpetrator accountability in local courts, identifying and confronting corruption along the way; trains local law enforcement, advocates stronger laws to bring perpetrators to justice, and strengthens local communities against slavery.

IJM’s work aligns with Nokia’s core values: Passion for Innovation by working with and improving local criminal justice systems; Very Human rescue and care for victims, Achieving Together by building trust with national partners to reduce slavery, and Engaging You by raising global awareness of the massive scale of slavery and by providing quantifiable results freeing slaves and taking perpetrators to court.

Support IJM!

After the initial entry, people would vote on Twitter to narrow the list of charities to a top-ten list.  Then Nokia’s judges would pick the one they felt best fit Nokia‘s core values and give that charity a $2,500 check.  I tweeted.  You tweeted.  Perhaps you prayed that IJM would win, as I did.  Then in early December NokiaCareUS tweeted:

Winner of the #NokiaCareUSContest is…..International Justice Mission!! cc @IJMHQ @jkepler

International Justice Mission won their contest, and even while I’m raising support for Ukraine I was able to use some of God’s good technology gifts to give $2,500 and some publicity to IJM!  You can see the photo directly here: http://t.co/0ryMMhcz:

The really cool part of this story is that God took something I’d made an idol of, unmasked it for me, opened my eyes to see his gift-goodness in new ways, and let me see Nokia’s contest advertizement.  Thank God with me for his grace, for his power changing my heart, and for his good gifts to me and to everyone who uses technology or social networks to do good in the world.

Perhaps Caesar Augustus idolized his power and glory when he issued the order for all the world to be registered.  Yet God used the census to send a young expectant Jewish couple to Bethlehem, setting the stage for the central act in all history.  Praise God with me this Advent that he hasn’t abandoned his world, but worked in it, and graciously still works in it to push back the effects of the Fall and redeem all things–even my idolatries.

If you haven’t seen my team’s video over on the video tab, or if its been a while since you last watched it, here’s the big picture of what my team’s up to in Kiev:

Exciting things continue to happen there: students have graduated from the seminary, a pastor has been ordained, and ordinary Ukrainian believers are growing in grace and becoming more like Jesus.

If your holiday schedule is anything like mine and my friends, you’d understand that I haven’t been trying to schedule Ukraine meetings this close to Christmas. Pray that I’ll work steadily on behind-the-scenes support raising stuff like praying, thank-you notes, Christmas cards, scheduling for January, and developing a few tools to use in the new year.

Pray with vigilance for me as I work, that God would establish the work of my hands and provide my support. The two major times my monthly pledged support moved forward were 17% to 34% in March/April and 36% to 56% in October/November, and the only thing I did differently in those months was specifically and consistently asking and reminding you to pray. So THANKS for your vigilance in prayer!

Last week I didn’t get a lot of Ukraine support raising done.  In fact, with riding the bus, and the extra time involved in that and walking a lot, I did very little.  However, my dependence on your prayers and God’s gracious moving in peoples’ hearts to give did not change.

My monthly pledged support inched up one percent, to 56%.  In other words, I still need $1,632.69 in new monthly pledges to be fully supported.  One time gifts have reached the two-thirds mark; I need about $8,000 more in one-time gifts for full support.

So please keep praying.  Keep giving, monthly if you can.  Watch your inboxes for more information soon… I’ve got my next update in the works.

Thanks, friends: I can’t do this without God’s grace working in me and working through you.

Pray with me for my next 25%, which will take me to 80% monthly support. Watch your email for an update tomorrow morning. Enjoy your Friday evening (if its Friday evening in your timezone). Thanks, friends!

- God’s provided 51% of monthly pledged support, or $1,900 per month.

- A number of you have pledged or given already.

- I’ve received almost two-thirds of my one-time support.

- God continues graciously shaping me to make me more like Jesus.

Of course, if you saw my last update, that’s all old news.  Did you see my last update?  You can get it here, or over on the newsletter tab.  Actually, you can find all my past updates there, so if you missed one, you can look it up.

But why might you want to read my updates?  Well, perhaps you’re excited as I am to see how God is working.  He is the King of kings, the ruler of all peoples, and his reign is becoming more visible in Ukraine, in my life, and all around the world.

God promised in Daniel 2:44 that his kingdom would crush our earthly kingdoms and grow to fill the entire earth.  This promise came in response to Daniel and his friends’ fervent prayers–their lives were on the line, and they appealed to the God of heaven for mercy.  This promise is certain because it depends not on what we do, but on what God does–the stone wasn’t cut by human hands.  In other words, the growth of God’s kingdom is God’s work of grace.

I’m asking you to stand with me in prayer and ask God to provide my needed support so I can go to Pre-Field training in January.  Malachi 3 tells us that the Lord is able to open the windows of heaven and pour down  a blessing until there is no more need.  Will you ask him to do that?

To register for that January training, I need $1,075 in additional monthly pledges before November 15.

Will you pray with me?