2. Whether it’s behavior, looks, clothes, choice of friends, lifestyle decisions, or whatever, the church has a solid reputation for acting as judge and jury over our individual differences.

3. Fair or unfair, most people view the church as critical, disapproving, and condemning. Tom and Joanie Schulz Why Nobody Wants To Go To Church Anymore

4. 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people— robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ Luke 18:9-12

5. 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Matthew 7:28-29

6. DR. RICH BROWN – TRINITY ALLIANCE CHURCH What he said that can transform anyone’s relationship to God

7. 37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal. Luke 11:37-38

8. 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” Mark 7:5-8

9. While it is sad enough to turn the will of God into a set of rules, it is worse to expect everybody else to follow them…

10. One of the marks of a certain type of bad man is that he cannot give up a thing himself without wanting every one else to give it up also. C.S. Lewis

11. While it is sad enough to turn the will of God into a set of rules, it is worse to expect everybody else to follow them …in order to gain God’s acceptance.

12. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Luke 15:20b

13. He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms Mark 9:36 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:16

15. SURPRISE ! GOD WANTS TO HOLD US Take Home Thought

16. What Jesus said is so surprising because… (Part One) 1.We are afraid to let God hold us

17. What Jesus said is so surprising because… (Part One) 1.We are afraid to let God hold us 2.We expect others to have to try harder, too

18. What Jesus said is so surprising because… (Part Two) 1.We can’t imagine God holding us

19. What Jesus said is so surprising because… (Part Two) 1.We can’t imagine God holding us 2.We think we need to try harder so God will want to hold us

20. We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:16

21. 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:13-14

23. What Jesus said is so surprising because… (Part Three) 1.We take God holding us for granted

24. We please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves with all our imperfections into His arms. A. W. Tozer

25. What Jesus said is so surprising because… (Part Three) 1.We take God holding us for granted 2.We forget that God wants other people to know that he wants to hold them, too

26. SURPRISE ! GOD WANTS TO HOLD US Take Home Thought