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Thursday’s Passion: Following a Servant with Dirty Feet (Jn. 13:1-38)

Take a look at the man in this photo.  Can you tell me who this is?  His name is Steve Jobs.  Can you tell me who he works for?  He works for Apple.  Jobs is the CEO of Apple, Inc.  Apple is one those companies that has a widely recognized figurehead.  In a book called Branding Faith author Phil Cooke writes about these kinds of organizations.  Cooke calls them “personality driven.” That’s not a criticism.  It is merely a description of groups whose existence and health are directly tied to a person, to a personality.  Cooke writes that being a personality driven group is good and bad.  For example, the direct link between Apple, Inc. and Steve Jobs is good.  Jobs gives the company a personal face.  He gives the company an appealing image.  But, when Jobs’ health recently started failing, so did stock in Apple.  The fate of Apple Inc. is wrapped up in this one man.

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The Offering: Leave it at the Altar (Rom. 12:1-2)

I recently saw a t-shirt which made for Christians.  On the front of the t-shirt is something that looks like a fire-fighter’s logo or crest.  Inside the crest are these words: “God doesn’t sell fire insurance.”  Beneath the crest are these words: “But he gives it away to his friends.”  On the back of the t-shirt is one more line: “Are you a friend of God?”  There, in three lines, is a t-shirt designer’s summary of the Christian faith: God doesn’t sell fire insurance.  But he gives it away to his friends.  Are you a friend of God?  Here, the Christian faith is all about “fire insurance.”  And what is “fire insurance”?  It refers to the fires of Hell.  Based on this t-shirt synopsis, the Christian faith is primarily “fire insurance” to save you from Hell.

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Revolution: The Scandal of Love (Jn. 7:53-8:11)

Time magazine and CNN collaborated recently to create a list of the “Top Ten Scandals” from 2008.[1]  Here are five of them:

1.      New York Governor Eliot Spitzer resigns after his infidelity is discovered.

2.      AIG leaders receive an $85 billion bailout then take a lavish $400,000 retreat.

3.      Former senator Bob Edwards cheats on his wife of 31 years. 

4.      Seventeen Gloucester High School students get pregnant as the result of a pact.

5.      Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigns after his affair with a former aide is discovered.

Every year notable people make scandalous moral and spiritual choices.

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