Arise and Go: Serving with gladness - Developing a Heart For Outreach

By Ronald E Bell

In Acts 9:6, after Saul’s conversion to Paul, God told him to arise and go into the city. God continues to speak those same words to all of us. Once we know Him, we are to “arise and go” for Him and to serve Him with Gladness (Psalm 100:2), in His Power and for His Glory. This book will encourage, ignite, and help you develop a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ronald Bell
• Release date: Jan 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781892664150

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Copyright © 2020 Dr. Ronald E. Bell II

ISBN 978-1-892664-14-3

EBOOK ISBN 978-1-892664-15-0

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Scripture passages from The Holy Bible, Amplified Version (AMP) are accessible through Biblegateway.com and are used by permission.

Photos provided by Pip Start, Inc. are used with permission.

Published by Bell Missions Publishing, Austin, Texas.

REL012020 | REL012070 | REL030000

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020905869

Printed on acid-free paper.

Bell Missions, Inc. 2020

Third Edition

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to all of those who have led me, whom I have led, and whom I have been able to serve alongside. I also dedicate this work to my wife and children who have had to share me over the years. In addition, I want to thank those who were a part of editing and giving feedback on this work.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

Psalm 100 The Message (MSG)

A Thanksgiving Psalm 100

1-2 On your feet now—applaud God!

    Bring a gift of laughter,

    sing yourselves into his presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.

    He made us; we didn’t make him.

    We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: Thank you!

    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.

    Thank him. Worship him.

5 For God is sheer beauty,

    all-generous in love,

    loyal always and ever.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

In Psalm 100, the psalmist calls us to give thanks to God through our worship, our service, our knowledge, and our faith. First worship: we and the whole earth are called to shout joyfully to the Lord and come into his presence with singing, for he is the creator of the ends of the earth and the one who will sustain us by his love through all eternity. Second service: we are called to serve the Lord with gladness, this certainly includes our worship but also our work and mission: the two being inseparable as we are his people called to glorify him in all that we do. Third knowledge, we have a firm foundation for our worship and work as we know certainly that the Lord is God, he is our God who has called us by name and loves us as his own. And finally, faith: we can be assured of our faith because he is faithful and his covenant faithfulness to us and to generations is without end.

Dr. Bell demonstrates how these themes of worship, outreach (service/missions), knowledge and faith work together in Arise and Go. Dr. John Piper famously proclaims, missions exist because worship does not; the converse is also true, missions and outreach exist where worship is present. This devotional based on Psalm 100 will focus your heart on the worship of God, which must overflow to others. The nature of worship is corporate and congregational: it involves community and spills over from individual hearts to neighbors, from family homes to neighborhoods, and from local churches to communities. My prayer is that through this book your heart may be moved to worship God, and then go with thankfulness to call others join in worshipping Him as well.

Reverend Chris Fisher, Austin, TX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge all the leaders and volunteers of Praise in the Park, PIP Impact, Master Builder, Young Life, Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), and all the other outreach teams that I have been able to grow and learn with as God has led and continues to lead all of us in sharing His love with others. Also thanks to Dr. Tifani Blakes, Elyse Kelly, Bishop L.A. Wilkerson, Chris Fisher, Mark Westerfield, Camille Minor and Josiah Bell for reading, contributing and editing.

PSALMS 100

1 On your feet now - applaud God!

2 Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into His presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn't make Him. We're His people, His well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: Thank you! Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank Him. Worship Him.

5 For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In Acts 9:6, after Saul’s conversion to Paul, God told him to arise and go into the city. I believe that God is speaking those same words to all of us. Once we know Him, we are to arise and go for Him, to serve Him with Gladness (Psalm 100:2). In His Power and for His Glory. I pray this book encourages, ignites and helps you to develop a heart for outreach, and that you seek God for direction to take action. Each chapter title of this book is comprised from the words in Psalm 100.

CHAPTER 1

On Your Feet

Introduction

There may be many times in our lives when we are down and have problems getting back up. It might be from a situation we have caused or something that just happened to us. We may not be able to control the incident, but we do have control over our reaction. Time to get on our feet. There are times when we must decide to get up, pick up our bed and walk, and choose to give praise and thanks to the Lord. For He is good and His mercy lasts forever. We elect to pray with thanksgiving.

God

No matter what your level of faith, commitment or submission to the Lord Jesus, choosing to praise God will bring us to our feet, and having the ability to get on our feet will give us more reason to praise God.