Out of the Ashes: 12 Redemption Stories from the Gospels

Redemption is rescue, not just a transaction. Through twelve desperate people who met Jesus in the Gospels, this workbook traces what it means to be bought back, restored, and set free.

Out of the Ashes: Twelve Stories of Redemption is a 13-lesson Bible study workbook by Matthew Allen built around the men and women who came to Jesus at the lowest point of their lives. An opening lesson lays the foundation — what redemption actually meant in the ancient world, where a captive was powerless to free himself and someone else had to pay the ransom. From there, each lesson steps into one Gospel encounter: a leper, a paralytic, a woman who had bled for twelve years, a demoniac living in a graveyard, a thief dying on a cross — people held by circumstances they couldn't escape, and the One who refused to leave them there.

The premise is simple and personal. Every person in these stories was taken captive, sunk in misery, and in need of a deliverer — and so were we. Allen draws the line straight from their rescue to ours. These aren't distant miracle accounts to admire from a safe distance; they're mirrors. When God says, "I'll buy you back. I'll remake you for the glory I created you for," He's speaking over the leper, the outcast, the guilty — and over the reader.

What's Inside

Thirteen lessons — an opening study on redemption, followed by twelve encounters with Jesus drawn from the Gospels:

• What It Means to Be Redeemed — The biblical picture of ransom, rescue, and being bought back
• The Cleansed Leper — Jesus touches the untouchable
• A Paralytic Healed — Faith that tears open a roof
• The Woman with an Issue of Blood — Reaching out from the edge of the crowd
• Healing Two Blind Men — Crying out until He stops
• Healing a Man Unable to Speak — A voice restored
• The Gerasene Demoniac — From the graveyard to his right mind
• The Woman Taken in Adultery — Mercy in the face of accusers
• Helping the Samaritan Woman — Living water for an outsider
• A Sinful Woman Forgiven — Much forgiven, much love
• The Boy with an Unclean Spirit — "I believe; help my unbelief"
• A Woman with a Disabling Spirit — Set free and standing straight
• The Thief on the Cross — Redemption at the last hour

Format & Features

Each lesson opens with the Gospel passage and an introduction that sets the historical and cultural scene — what leprosy meant in first-century Palestine, why four friends would dig through a roof, what made the Samaritan woman an outcast. From there Allen works carefully through the text, supported by footnotes and references to respected commentators and primary sources, and closes with a "For Thought and Reflection" set of ten questions that move from the passage to personal application. Scripture quotations come from the Christian Standard Bible. The structure stays consistent throughout, so it teaches easily in a class or small-group setting and rewards quiet personal study.

Who It's For

Bible class teachers, small-group leaders, pulpit ministers, and any believer — new Christian or seasoned — who wants to see their own redemption in the faces of the people Jesus rescued.

About the Author

Matthew Allen is the pulpit minister at Cornerstone Church of Christ in Centerville, Ohio, and co-owner of Spiritbuilding Publishers. With more than three decades of preaching across the country and abroad, he writes for Christians who want substance, clarity, and the steady encouragement of grace.

Beyond the paperback, Out of the Ashes is available as an eBook (PDF) for individual reading, and teachers can equip their class with companion resources sold separately: a set of lesson PowerPoints for presentation, and a collection of charts offered both as individual PNG files and bundled together in a single Powerpoint.

CHART LISTING:

Lesson 1 — What It Means to Be Redeemed

• Five Pictures of Salvation
• Them and Us

Lesson 2 — The Cleansed Leper

• Jesus' Three Responses

Lesson 3 — A Paralytic Healed

• Jesus Proves He Is God's Son

Lesson 4 — The Woman with an Issue of Blood

• Jesus' Escalating Power

Lesson 5 — Healing Two Blind Men

• Stages of Discipleship

Lesson 6 — Healing a Man Unable to Speak

• Crowd vs. Pharisees

Lesson 7 — The Gerasene Demoniac Is Healed

• Before Christ We Were
• Before and After

Lesson 8 — The Woman Taken in Adultery

• Justice and Mercy
• Three Background Passages

Lesson 9 — Helping the Samaritan Woman

• Barriers Jesus Crossed

Lesson 10 — A Sinful Woman Forgiven

• Simon vs. the Woman

Lesson 11 — The Boy with an Unclean Spirit

• Before and After

Lesson 12 — A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

• Jesus' Three Questions

Lesson 13 — The Thief on the Cross

• Marks of Repentance
• Two Thieves