Jesus Is: Find a New Way to Be Human

What does God's grace mean? Grace is a word used easily with many different meanings yet it's a very difficult word to truly understand. Judah Smith did a wonderful job throughout this whole book at explaining that Grace is the core of Christianity. I'm a new Christian and I always believed that I needed to do good to be loved by God, guilt-ridden when I sinned which lead me to run far away from God, and being seen and loved by God was due to my good merits.This is an easy read and I had to stop myself many times to reread what I read because I found myself skimming the pages. In order to absorb everything in this book I reread chapters and pages and now that I finished I plan to go back and read more because there is so much good news that it's difficult for my newborn head to wrap around it all.This book removed my self-inflicted burdens that I have been drowning in due to my beginning years of life as a confused Catholic. I never understood who God really was back then so once I had my Confirmation and Communion I disowned the whole mantra of rules and regulations and ran away from the God of love. It seemed too hard to be a child of God. A year ago I turned to Christ to save my wretched soul but still suffered profoundly because I didn't understand Jesus. I purchased this book about a month ago and read a couple chapters before taking a break. After a month I was watching sermons from Passion 2013 and came upon Judah Smith. I didn't know that Jesus Is was written by Judah Smith, my brain didn't make the connection. But I fell in love with his way of preaching and after about 5 hours of watching his sermons the Holy Spirit pressed on my heart to read Jesus Is. After a couple pages I found myself reading the book as if Judah was the narrator and then a spark went off, I glanced at the cover more closely and saw that it was in fact Judah Smith who wrote this book. This was an incredible moment for me and I had to share.All in all this book is for all Christians whether they are new or old believers and even for non-believers. Judah showed me that being a Christian doesn't mean I need to get away with my fun side and live a serious straight-laced life, he is real and shows his transparency which helps connect the readers to his understanding. I'm so grateful to have had stumbled upon this book. Thank you Judah Smith.

First of all, this book is NOT a religious self-help book that gives you the do's and don'ts of life. It's NOT about religion. It does NOT tell you how bad or how good you are. It only tells you about how good GOD is, and that wherever you are in your spiritual journey, YOU BELONG!!! Most people, even Christians, have the perspective that you have to behave first, and then believe, then you will belong. But the truth is, you already belong, and when you believe that you belong, then your good behavior is only a natural response that is yielded from your consciousness of God's love for you! So it's not behave, believe, belong, but rather BELONG (grace) -> BELIEVE (faith) -> BEHAVE (genuine good works that you do, NOT to earn God's grace, but they're simply inevitable good works that you do because you've tasted and seen God's amazing grace). It will set you free from continuous effort to be self-righteous to earn God's acceptance, because guess what? God's love for you does NOT depend on who you are, but on who He is. He made you, and He loves you, to the point of brutal death so you may live an abundant life! Your righteousness does NOT depend on your performance to please God, because He's already pleased with Jesus' finished performance on the cross. This book reveals the very nature of Jesus' heart by examining how he interacted 2 thousand years ago with various characters in the Bible that were deemed to be "sinners." You will see that God is NOT mad at sinners, but mad about sinners. He's head-over-heels in love with you, wherever you are in your journey with God! Whoever you are, whatever profession you have, whatever background you may have, this book is a must-read! It is filled with extravagant humor, heartwarming good news, honest and humble confessions-of-a-Jesusaholic. I read this with a mixture of laughter and tears, and I can tell you that knowing who I am in Christ and where I stand, I am NOT the same person anymore. It has shifted my paradigm and broken my chains. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Judah. Thank you City Church. I have been beyond blessed.

I came across this title while reading a random blog about something totally unrelated, and decided to give it a go. As a practising Christian married to a confirmed sceptic, I found this book to be a fabulously eloquent articulation of my own feelings on my faith, and a readily accessible tome for those who wonder what it's all about (and think all Christians are holier-than-thou loonies). Super read!

I don’t read books let alone buy them. I heard Judah Smith speak recently at Hillsong Conference in London and found him amazing; he is a young pastor and is really funny with a POWERFUL message. This book is awesome, filled it powerful messages as well as humour which makes it an easy read. I recommend it to all, whether you are a believer or not and it has made me fall in love with Jesus even more and has taken my relationship to another level.God bless.

Judah Smith is a great communicator of spiritual truth. He shows his funny side and also his personal vulnerability in reminding us that fulness of life does not come from wealth, material possessions, a great job etc., but from knowing Jesus. Jesus is....grace. Grace is a person. Everyone should read this book and come back to basics.

If you are unsure of Jesus's love for you then this is a good book to read. It's a reminder for us that we don't have to work for his Love he gives it unconditionally. It's quite humorous at times and I'd say is more for the layman, but a simple and important message nonetheless.

I really enjoyed reading this. Written very well and funny too