The Real Jesus Will Surprise You Part 1 - A Gospel Overview

To view my video, please click here: The Real Jesus Will Surprise You - Get to know Him! (Pt.1)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Hello and welcome to Journey into Trust Day by Day. My name is Dawn Hill, and I am going to give you Biblical principles to build your life upon from the Word of God. This series is going to be on the real Jesus and how He will surprise you. It will probably be a three-part series, and today I just want to give you an overview of the Gospels, so you can get to know Jesus through the Gospels.  At the end, I plan to share some resources to help you grow in your faith. I’ll also share a piece that I wrote, which was inspired by one of the verses I will share towards the end of the video.

The first Biblical principle I want to start with is from Matthew 11:25-30. And again, think about how Jesus will surprise you.

At that time, Jesus answered and said, “I praise thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou did hide these things from the wise and intelligent, and did reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well pleasing in thy sight. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my load is light.”

So usually, we hear just that last part about, "Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden," and that is an amazing part of these verses. I love it that Jesus welcomes us and knows that we get weary and tired, and He invites us to come and take His yoke upon us and do His thing, not our own, and learn how to walk with Him. He is pulling the weight of the load.

In ancient times, and even today in places where they still use oxen, a wooden yoke would bind two animals together. Usually, a large ox would be yoked with a younger one. The older ox would take the majority of the load, while the younger one learned how to work. It's a beautiful picture: Jesus wants us to be yoked with Him. We go where He goes, we go in the direction He wants us to go in. It doesn't make any sense to try to pull and go somewhere else. He is the one doing the work—we are just going along with Him, and the work gets done.

The surprising part of this passage is that Jesus starts right off saying that the Father wants to reveal Jesus to babes—not necessarily young, but to those who are not so wise and intelligent, or prestigious, or those we might expect Him to come for. He comes to very ordinary people, loving us and inviting us to come to Him. I think that’s a beautiful principle.

I hope these videos will help people at all different places in their walk with the Lord, but I especially want those who may be newer in their walk with the Lord or are just seeking and wondering what He is like and who He is to be instructed and pointed in the right direction. These videos will help you find good resources and teach you how to study God's Word and get to know the Lord.

Today, we're starting out with the Gospels. There are four Gospels in the beginning of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These four Gospels show us four different perspectives of Jesus. They're all a little different—they group things in different ways, take different approaches, but they are all inspired by the Holy Spirit. God called these men to write down the story of His Son.

Two of the Gospel writers, Matthew and John, were disciples or apostles of the Lord. They spent His whole ministry years with Him. They saw Him perform all the miracles He did, saw Him treat people the way He treated them, love people the way He loved them. They saw Him die on the cross, rise again, and ascend into heaven.

Two other Gospel writers, Mark and Luke, weren’t apostles. Mark was a close companion of Peter. Even though Peter didn’t write the Gospel, it is believed that everything in the Gospel of Mark came from Peter's recollections. It sounds like Peter—impulsive, fast-paced, and action-packed, just like Peter himself. So we get Peter's perspective through Mark.

Luke was different. He wasn’t an eyewitness but was a doctor and historian. He carefully interviewed everyone he could find who was an eyewitness. In the Book of Luke, we get Jesus’s birth, and even Zechariah’s story before that in the temple, and how the angel spoke to him. Luke is meticulous in how he presents things. It’s a very orderly and thoughtful Gospel.

I want to read the very beginning of Luke because I think it’s important to understand where Luke was coming from. This is Luke 1:1-4:

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”(NIV)  Luke was addressing this Gospel to a friend of his, Theophilus, who was thought to be a highly ranked Roman citizen, who would help spread the Gospel.

Next, we look at the Book of John. The Gospel of John is written by John the Apostle, and he starts out by telling the story of John the Baptist. His Gospel is different from the other three. While it still follows the life of Jesus, it focuses on Jesus as the Son of God and shares the "I Am" statements that Jesus made: “I am the bread of life,” “I am the living water,” “I am the good shepherd,” “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John emphasizes Jesus's conversations and relationships with people, showing how He treated them, how God led Him to different people, and how He shared salvation with those in need.

One of the most famous verses in the Bible is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

I also wanted to read the beginning of John because it is important to see how he begins. John starts out by saying:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."

It goes on to reveal that the "Word" is Jesus. Later, John says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Each of the Gospels is written with a particular audience in mind. Matthew’s audience was primarily Jewish, so his Gospel frequently references Old Testament prophecies, showing that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Mark wrote his Gospel with the Romans in mind, focusing on action and presenting Jesus as the conquering servant and the suffering servant. Luke's Gospel is universal, showing Jesus's compassion for everyone—men and women alike.

In the Book of Luke, Jesus shows compassion to the needy, the sinners, and those who were down and out, while He contended with and rebuked the powerful, especially the religious leaders and political figures. He wasn’t politically correct. Jesus was on a mission, and He wasn’t trying to be popular; He was doing the will of the Father.

So I encourage you to dig into the Gospels and get to know Jesus as He really is—not just how you think He is, or how culture tries to portray Him. Get to know Him through the Bible. A great place to start is in the Gospel of John. I love how we see Jesus interacting with people. And in John, we see these great “I am” statements that connect Jesus to God's special name that he had revealed himself to the the Jewish people as the “I Am”,  “The Great I Am”.  Jesus over and over says He's the “I am”, like when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”.  He declared, “I am the resurrection and the life, I am the door, the Good Shepherd that sort of thing, but he was always connecting himself with being God, and letting people know, “Hey I am God,” but he would often do it in a in a subtle way. Sometimes, of course, He did make it known in a more open way.

A few years ago, there was a popular trend to wear bracelets that said “WWJD” (What Would Jesus Do?), and while I think it had a good purpose, because it encouraged people, and reminded them when they were just making their everyday decisions of how they were going to act, to remember Jesus, and to think, “What would Jesus do in this situation?"  So, I don't have a problem with that. I just think that sometimes, if we are asking ourselves that question but we're basing it on our own idea of Jesus and not who He really is, or we're not really praying and asking Jesus and the Holy Spirit, "What do You want me to do?"—and we're just relying on our understanding—then it can potentially be a problem.

So, we need to really get to know who Jesus is and not just use our own imagination. We can always pray, and it says in James 1 that when we ask for wisdom from God, and we believe and we don't waver in that, He will give us wisdom. So, in different situations, if we're not sure what to do, we can ask God for help and ask Jesus, "What should I do?" I think that's a great way to live.

Jesus will surprise you in the Gospels. He shows us how to put our faith in Him. He wants us to put our lives into His hands, and when we do, He will change our lives forever. He’s still calling us to follow Him, and He will make us fishers of men. He wants us to share His good news with others, as it says in Luke 19:10, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Jesus is a gracious and great savior. When I was writing the pieces from my book Journey into Trust: a poetic devotional connecting God's word to Everyday life, I wrote the piece I’m going to read to you.  It is based on a friend who was really struggling with some addictions, and with past things that had happened in his life. I was praying for him with all my heart and this poem came about. 

It’s called, “Hope for the Hollow Life”.

The hollow life

sits by the window

in the darkness, staring out,

its soul like the

starless sky—

empty.

It wanders aimlessly

on hard-packed roads, far from home

where seeds litter

the surface—

crushed.

It is haunted by past

horrors that it can’t help but

slip its fingers

out to touch—

troubled.

It seeks solace every time,

in a place that wounds more,

alluring, but

quicksand—

trapped.

It is a dying,

dry and brittle oak crying

out in the wind

its insides—

rotten.

Dug out long ago

when you believed hurt’s lie and walled

off your heart

from God—

fooled.

Jesus’ voice beckons still

in the darkness the Light calls,

“Child, unlatch the door,

touch My scars,

instead.

Pour out your sins to

Me, believe that I am the

Resurrection and

the Life, I

forgive.

Seek your solace in

Me every time weakness knocks;

find My river

of Living

Water

is enough.

Send your roots into

the rich soil of my Holy Word.

Reach your branches

high in praise of

the LORD!

My arms will embrace

you; My road will lead you home.

My Spirit will

protect your

mind.

The honey from My

Rock will revive you inside,

making you whole,

vibrant and

stable.

Hollow no more,

My renewal will

fill your core with new rings of

life eternal

to begin

now!”

©Dawn R Hill

So I really believe this poem to be true. I've seen Jesus do miracles in my life and transform me.  He continues to transform me as I get into his word, and I know that he wants to set the captives free, including my friend, including you.

Now, before I go, I want to share a couple of resources with you. One is The Study of John by Max Lucado, and the other is Journey into Jesus by John Coblenz, and a few others. I’ll put those  in my video description at the bottom of this video.  I encourage you to check them out if you're interested in getting to know the real Jesus better.

To view my video, please click here: The Real Jesus Will Surprise You - Get to know Him! (Pt.1)