Out of the Ashes: 12 Redemption Stories from the Gospels

Redemption is a rescue. Twelve people in the Gospels met Jesus at the lowest point of their lives, and every one of them shows what it means to be bought back and set free.

Out of the Ashes: 12 Redemption Stories from the Gospels is a 13-lesson Bible study workbook by Matthew Allen. An opening lesson explains what redemption meant in the ancient world, and each lesson after that steps into one encounter with Jesus.

How This Study Helps

"Redemption" can become a church word we nod at without feeling its weight. In the ancient world it meant a captive powerless to free himself, and someone else paying the ransom. Christians who lose that picture can start to think of salvation as a transaction instead of a rescue.

This study restores the picture through real people: a leper, a paralytic, a woman who had bled for twelve years, a man living among the tombs, a thief dying on a cross. Each was held by something they couldn't escape, and Jesus refused to leave them there. Allen draws the line from their rescue to ours, so these accounts read less like distant miracles and more like mirrors.

What's Inside

• What It Means to Be Redeemed
• The Cleansed Leper
• A Paralytic Healed
• The Woman with an Issue of Blood
• Healing Two Blind Men
• Healing a Man Unable to Speak
• The Gerasene Demoniac
• The Woman Taken in Adultery
• Helping the Samaritan Woman
• A Sinful Woman Forgiven
• The Boy with an Unclean Spirit
• A Woman with a Disabling Spirit
• The Thief on the Cross

Format & Features

Each lesson opens with the Gospel passage and its historical and cultural background, works carefully through the text with footnotes and references, and closes with ten "For Thought and Reflection" questions. Scripture is quoted from the CSB. It's available as a paperback workbook or a PDF eBook for individual or class use. Teachers can add class PowerPoints and a set of charts, sold as separate options.

Who It's For

Bible class teachers, small-group leaders, preachers, and any believer, new or seasoned, who wants to see their own redemption in the people Jesus rescued.

Common Questions

Which translation does it use?
The Christian Standard Bible (CSB).

Can I use it to teach a class?
Yes. Order print copies for each student, or choose the PDF class-use license.

What charts are included in the chart set?
Sixteen teaching charts across the 13 lessons, such as "Five Pictures of Salvation," "Barriers Jesus Crossed," and "Two Thieves," provided as PNG files and in a single PowerPoint.

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.

Product Details

• Author: Matthew Allen
• Publisher: Spiritbuilding Publishers
• Lessons: 13
• Translation: CSB
• Format: Paperback workbook; PDF eBook (individual or class use); class PowerPoints and charts