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Key Bible Verse: So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could Acts 11:29.Bonus Reading:Isaiah 58:6-12

In the summer of 2001, Houston, Texas, was deluged by rains that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses. They began on Friday, and by early Sunday morning it was clear that Houston faced a major emergency. The leadership of Second Baptist Church appealed for members to help those struck by the disaster. Major donations filled the offering plates. By early afternoon they had assembled hundreds of volunteers and a fleet of trucks, pickups, and vans. They literally emptied the inventories of several major home improvement and hardware stores of sheetrock, drying fans, and other essential items to rush aid to the needy. They took food to the hardest-hit neighborhoods. All in the name of Jesus.

As a friend remarked to me, "The neat thing was that people didn't just write checks but rolled up their sleeves and got to work."

I asked, "Did many of the flood victims end up coming to your church as a result of the effort?" The reply made me feel like a dunce. "We really don't know. We did it because it is what Jesus has called us to do. We leave the results to him."

—Joseph Stowell in The Trouble with Jesus

My Response: Will I reach out and serve my neighbors when the chips are down? … for the right reasons?

Thought to Apply: In God's family there is to be one great body of people: servants.—Charles Swindoll (author)

Adapted from The Trouble with Jesus (Moody, 2003) by permission.

Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Help me, Lord, to model the gospel so caringly that people will demand an explanation.

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