The View From the Back of the Donkey
When Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey, rather than on a stallion -- as victorious military leaders often did -- Bill Self said He was delivering a significant message to all of us. “Life is messy and brutal and uncaring and Jesus goes through all of that with us. He doesn’t just fax it in. He sees us and is in there with us. By his entrance on a donkey’s back, He is saying to us, ‘I see you. I hear you, I love you and I am with you.’”
The Jacob Syndrome
Bill Self: “We all desperately need it. We all desperately want it. It is like oxygen to the lungs. It is like protein to the body. It is the nurture and blood of the spiritual life. We all want it, but sometimes we don’t know how to get it. It’s called the blessing... A way of touching human beings in such a way that they felt approved by God, loved by God.”
There Are Three Things I Want You to Do
For many years Bill Self would tell those people who had just made public decisions to join the church, his classic three-point instruction. “I want you to be here when we’re here. I want you to get involved in a small group, and I want you to help us carry the load.” He used that outline as the basis for this sermon, which continues explaining the early origins of the church, and how God intends it to carry out His purposes today.
The Church is Worth the Effort
Throughout his entire ministry, Bill Self was a staunch defender of the church. In this sermon, Bill explains God’s plan for the church as the body of Christ and why it is essential for every Christian. “God uses the church as a way to bring strength to us and give us roots... God uses the church to help us be what He wants us to be. And we can’t do it alone.”
We Do Not Well ...
During a time of national financial difficulty, Bill Self challenged the Johns Creek Baptist Church to step up and do more. “I want this to be the finest hour in the life of our church, and it can be. We do not well if we know and do not tell. We do not well if we have and do not give. Jesus said, ‘Give and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over they will pour into your lap, for by your stand of measure it will be measured to you.’ It’s up to us.”
Hosea: Love in a New Dimension
When the storms of life come, Bill Self says don't give up hope. Those are the times God is closest. Drawing from the Book of Hosea, Bill says, "God loves you. He loves you more than just sentimentally. He loves you enough to give you strength to make your valley of trouble a day of hope. And as He said to us through Hosea, He will take us back to the time when we were closest to God. He will feed us and care for us."
Fatal Family Compromises
Bill Self said there are four compromises each of us face when we try to live as Kingdom people — the same compromises Pharaoh offered Moses. “These are the compromises you are offered every time you try to come out of bondage. Every time you try to get free to come into the arms of Jesus Christ.”
Ten Commandments for the Christian Home
Throughout his ministry, Bill Self devoted the month of February to sermons on marriage and the family. “The family is fighting for it’s life, and I want to say something up front ... marriage was created by God and is a sacramental thing. Jesus began His ministry at a wedding. That was no accident... So I want to go through the Ten Commandments for the Christian Home and I hope this will give us some parameter, some way of understanding about Christian marriage and married life.”
Forgiveness: Now More Than Ever
Bill Self said forgiveness is scarce in our culture. “We bury the hatchet, but we keep a road map telling us exactly where we put it. We put resentments in cold storage but we are ready to let them thaw out any day. We take grudges to the lake and drown them but we give them swimming lessons on the way. We tear up cancel notes, but we hang on to the wastepaper basket... We’re not in the condemnation business. We’re not in the measuring and judgment business. We’re in the forgiving business. That’s why God has created us. That’s what God has done to us and He said incidentally, ‘As you forgive, you are forgiven.’ It’s a ricochet effect.”
Success: What Is It Really?
What is true success? God’s definition is quite different from what the culture teaches. Here are three steps to true, biblical success.
Depression: Its Cause and Cure
Sometimes we feel like the prophet Elijah, so depressed we want to run away and quit. But God provides for us, even when we feel alone and abandoned.
Taking Control of Your Life
You can act your way into a new way of feeling easier than you can feel your way into a new way of acting. Know what you want. Dream. Believe. And then get ready for what God is doing with you and you know what’ll happen? You’ll be in charge of your life and you’ll give it to God.
I'm In A Hurry, But God Isn't
Bill Self said sometimes when he’s preparing a sermon, “I just walk and pray and and sometimes I preach it out loud. And sometimes my study can become quite noisy. One day it was especially noisy and my wife stuck her head in and said, ‘Bill, is everything all right?’ And I said, ‘Well, the problem is that I’m in a hurry and God isn’t and I’m trying to convince God that if He had all the facts that I have that He would act and do what I’m telling Him to do. But God just won’t move.’ ... I was like many American Christians who sit back and say, ‘I’m going to judge God by how quickly He jumps to my bidding, how quickly He does things for me.’”
Roadblocks to Renewal
Bill Self says many Christians are like the people in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, who did not believe in him, so he could do few miracles. “The power of God, the immediate power of God in our lives, is much more available than the average Christian knows, or is willing to dare tap ... This is the central tragedy of any church, that God in Jesus Christ is willing to do much more in and through us than we are willing to do or to let him do.”
Don't Sell That Cow
Bill Self said many Christians are trying to do God’s work under their own power and failing time after time. “I see so many of us now trying to shrug through life, you’re doing church work under your own power. You’re doing that Sunday school class or that committee or that witnessing or whatever you’re doing, you’re trudging along in your own power and you wonder why it doesn’t work... This is a call to know the complete and total resource that God has given to us in the power of His Holy Spirit... It’s a call for us to know that God in His Holy Spirit dwells in His church.”
The Call to Courage
When we are trying to come to grips with life, or our situation makes us want to give up, Bill Self says our only hope is in Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. “You cannot find hope or answers anywhere else that will stand in the stormy winds of life... Are you beginning to feel like you’re by yourself? Look up. Are you in deep and profound need and wonder how you’re going to make it? Look up. Do you feel like you’ve just been worn down by life? Look up.”
No Cross, No Crown
Bill Self said in this sermon, “If you think you have a Christian faith without a cross, you don’t have a faith. We want a faith that makes us feel good. We want a faith that gives us four ways to get along with everybody, three ways to save our marriage, two ways to make sure that we don’t get in trouble. And all of that little, shallow “Reader ’s Digest” kind of religion will not do a thing for you. That kind of religion is not going to get to the heart of the human problem...”
Is Our Gospel Too Small?
Bill Self said, “Politicians can come and go, philosophies can come and go, elections can come and go, but the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of God is forever. We need to unhook ourselves from these petty causes ... Changing this world is the only vision big enough for the cross of Jesus Christ and it’s the only vision big enough for a church that takes its calling seriously.”
The Power of Neglect
Bill Self said we can have difficulty in life because of two thieves: the thief of drifting and the thief of neglect. Some people start out as strong Christians, solid in their church, but then life becomes complicated and they gradually drift away. Others, Bill said, neglect their spiritual life altogether and never accept Jesus as savior. “Drift makes you a spiritual cripple. Neglect gives you a seat in hell.”
Back to Basics
Bill Self says many Christians are like the people in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, who did not believe in him, so he could do few miracles. “The power of God, the immediate power of God in our lives, is much more available than the average Christian knows, or is willing to dare tap ... This is the central tragedy of any church, that God in Jesus Christ is willing to do much more in and through us than we are willing to do or to let him do.”