The Jesus Who Surprises

FINALIST FOR THE CHRISTIAN BOOK AWARD® • Join beloved Bible teacher and best-selling author Dee Brestin in discovering the surprising places Jesus shows up in the Old Testament and the unexpected ways He speaks into our lives today. Offering a fascinating perspective on the historic, poetic, and prophetic books of the Old Testament, Brestin draws on her deep understanding of the full scope of the Bible to explore the timeless story of God's quest to rescue each of us. She combines rich teaching, memorable storytelling, and an in-depth Bible study component to create a resource that shows readers how the story began (the books of Moses), how to live in the story (the poetic books), and how the story will end (the prophets).

Bible storybook that teaches young children about Jesus' return and why it's so surprising.

FINALIST FOR THE CHRISTIAN BOOK AWARD® • Join beloved Bible teacher and best-selling author Dee Brestin in discovering the surprising places Jesus shows up in the Old Testament and the unexpected ways He speaks into our lives today. Offering a fascinating perspective on the historic, poetic, and prophetic books of the Old Testament, Brestin draws on her deep understanding of the full scope of the Bible to explore the timeless story of God's quest to rescue each of us. She combines rich teaching, memorable storytelling, and an in-depth Bible study component to create a resource that shows readers how the story began (the books of Moses), how to live in the story (the poetic books), and how the story will end (the prophets).

Why was Jesus, Son of God, from an obscure village in Galilee? What does it mean to our spirituality that he chose not to seek favor from the powerful, but identified with the marginalized, the powerless and those in need of healing? In this remarkable rereading of the life of Jesus, theologian Virgilio Elizondo, cited by TIME Magazine as one of the spiritual innovators of our time, focuses on the humanity of Jesus and the healing his life offers to ourselves and our world today. Readers of this book will see Jesus in a new and powerful way. This is a thought-changing and life-changing book.

Zaker introduces foundational elements of theological reflection including definitions and guidance through various methods. Offering a lens for reflection based on the unique way Jesus' parables surprise and invite listeners to collaborate in the kingdom of God, the book foregrounds the importance of honest spiritual reflection.

This ebook edition contains artwork adapted from the print edition to fit the digital format. "My hope is that this volume will help you to see the Savior more clearly, to understand his grace more deeply, to confess your struggle more honestly, to worship him more fully, and to find in these meditations the motivation to continue to follow the Savior even when he’s leading you into unexpected and hard places.” —Paul David Tripp Best-selling author Paul David Tripp invites you into his personal reflections on his experience of God’s ever-present grace through the ups and downs of his life. He shares his celebrations, disappointments, cries for help, confessions, and confusions in the form of 120 meditations that were written over many years through various joys and struggles. Vulnerable yet pastoral and wise, these meditations in the form of verse showcase how God’s amazing grace intersects with the mundane, unexpected, messy, and beautiful moments of everyday life.

A bold, historical, robust approach to reading Scripture and encountering Jesus anew No one expects to be surprised. Yet biblical interpretation can do exactly that. Christians expect to see Jesus as they read the Bible, but when and how Jesus actually speaks through Scripture can still surprise us! Drawing on the early church’s theological giants—Origen, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and more from the historical cloud of witnesses—author Jason Byassee models how we can recover ancient Christians’ multiple ways of reading the Bible to our benefit. As Byassee says, God himself is Jewish, Catholic, and Pentecostal—so much larger than our own little corner on the truth—and this book offers readers a refreshingly enhanced vision of the Bible and of Jesus himself.