Hughes Tom - Down to earth: how Jesus stories can change your everyday life

The gospel is Gods flesh-and-blood embodiment of life-giving love. Jesus Christ is that life, the living center of that gospel. Tom Hughes is utterly convinced this Jesus alone provides the good news we all need. In Down to Earth, Hughes takes us into some of Jesus most powerful stories that to this very day still invite and provoke us to find our truest and fullest life in Christ. Relish these stories and respond to Jesus call to life life abundant.

MARK LABBERTON, president of Fuller Theological Seminary

In Down to Earth, Tom highlights Jesus use of parables throughout his ministry on earth. Tom proffers that Jesus used a parable as both a riddle and a mirror. Certainly, some parables seem straightforward, but others have always felt like a riddle to me. Through reading this book, even the ones I assumed to be straightforward have been unlocked in new ways, like riddles in sheeps clothing. What I learned through the pages of Down to Earth is how Jesus used parables to mirror back to us how valuable we are to him. These mirrors are meant to show us not how we see ourselves but how he sees us, as image bearers of God. Jesus not only sees us as precious but invites us to see this ourselves, as a way to step out of hiding and into deeper communion with him. Tom articulates how Jesus came not only to prove the existence of God but also to demonstrate the character and compassion of God and he did this most powerfully through parables.

BLYTHE HILL, CEO of Dressember Foundation

Tom Hughess book Down to Earth declares with great joy who God is, whose we are, and the invitation to become changed people. Tom writes and teaches with years of ministry and leadership experience, pastoring us into the stories and heart of Jesus. You wont regret reading this book that exclaims the power of the greatest story ever told!

ALBERT TATE, speaker and senior pastor of Fellowship Monrovia

The beauty of this book is that it fully lives up to its title! Tom brings heavens stories down to earth for the here and now with real-life application, and you find yourself captivated by the Master Storyteller, Jesus, along the way.

TAMMY DUNAHOO, general supervisor of The Foursquare Church

Every one of us loves to hear a good story. We weave our own lives into its fabric as we discover that we can identify with the reality it unfolds. There is such joy in finding that in the grand stories of Jesus, there is a place for us. Let Tom Hughes guide your heart in finding yourself on the pathways of Jesus stories that bring meaning to your life and godly perspective to living.

KEVIN MANNOIA, chaplain at Azusa Pacific University, president of International Council for Higher Education

Its one thing to tell someone that God is love; its quite another to tell them the story of how Jesus suffered and died for them to prove that love through a beautiful song or captivating story. Jesus did the same thing when he taught two thousand years ago. He told stories. Tom Hughes has done a beautiful job of pulling out the sometimes-hard-to-understand truths of these stories in an instructive and inspiring way.

TOMMY WALKER, worship leader at Christian Assembly Church

Jesus stories have the power to unlock the deepest realities of our lives: our regrets, disappointments, failures, and fears. Hughes helps us wrestle with these life-changing stories... with helpful discussion questions at the end of the book. This book contains hope and good news for all. Dig in!

DOUG SCHAUPP, national director of evangelism at InterVarsity

NavPress is the publishing ministry of The Navigators, an international Christian organization and leader in personal spiritual development. NavPress is committed to helping people grow spiritually and enjoy lives of meaning and hope through personal and group resources that are biblically rooted, culturally relevant, and highly practical.

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Down to Earth: How Jesus Stories Can Change Your Everyday Life

Copyright 2019 by Tom Hughes. All rights reserved.

A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NAVPRESS is a registered trademark of NavPress, The Navigators, Colorado Springs, CO. The NAVPRESS logo is a trademark of NavPress, The Navigators. TYNDALE is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Absence of in connection with marks of NavPress or other parties does not indicate an absence of registration of those marks.

The Team: Don Pape, Publisher; David Zimmerman, Acquisitions Editor; Cara Iverson, Copy Editor; Daniel Farrell, Designer

Cover image of The Sower by John Everett Millais. Photography copyright 2014 by Hyla Skopitz, the Photograph Studio, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1921.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Tyndale House Publishers at , or call 1-800-323-9400.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-63146-374-7

ISBN 978-1-63146-376-1 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-63146-377-8 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-63146-375-4 (Apple)

Build: 2019-05-28 09:05:40 EPUB 3.0

TO MY RADIANT BRIDE, ALLISON:

I love you. You inspire me by the way you fiercely and compassionately follow Jesus.

TO MY JOYOUS CHILDREN, CALEB, SOPHIA, AND MICAH:

May you always know that I love you, am proud of you, and believe in you. And may you each keep following Jesus all the days of your life.

WE LIVE IN THE MOST COMPLEX and volatile mixture of generations and cultures that I can ever remember. The social and political clashes being ignited by collisions of age, ethnicity, and gender are happening daily. It feels as if the world is splitting at the seams. We are witnessing meltdowns of global proportions nations railing against each other, politicians hunkering down, families and relationships fracturing. Even our prisons are overflowing, and yet we have not stemmed the tide of pain and brokenness. There seems to be little relief in sight, and no clear leader with a solution or clarion call.