Go a little deeper
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick opens Advent by defining it as preparation for an arrival: God kept his promise to send the Messiah, and the church now waits for Christ's promised return. The Christmas at the Movies series uses films as a doorway into the nativity, arguing that our love of stories reflects being made for the greatest story. Home Alone serves as the starting portrait of a dysfunctional family and a boy who wishes his family would disappear.
Pastor Keith turns from the film to Jesus’ teaching that speech reveals a person’s inner life. He discusses isolation and the importance of community, drawing on creation and his explanation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Lamentations 3 he finds an honest expression of distress alongside a renewed confidence in God’s enduring compassion and reliability.
The message describes Jesus’ mission of rescue and his defense of helping people on the Sabbath. Pastor Keith connects Matthew’s use of Isaiah with hope extending beyond Israel. His nativity teaching emphasizes the crowded guest room, the feeding trough, and Jesus’ status. He then draws on Matthew’s identification of Jesus as Emmanuel and Hebrews’ description of Jesus as a compassionate mediator to urge trust in God and mutual encouragement in community.
Take this with you
Words expose the heart
Drawing on Matthew 12:34, Pastor Keith explains that speech reveals a person’s inner life. He urges attention to the resentment, bitterness, anger, or hope behind words rather than merely adjusting vocabulary.
God’s purpose for community
Pastor Keith connects Genesis 2:18 with his explanation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in unity. He argues that relationships belong to God’s purpose for people and urges the church to build community.
Lament can turn toward hope
Pastor Keith reads Lamentations 3 as a movement from distress toward confidence in God’s enduring compassion and reliability. He urges listeners to base hope on God’s character rather than on changing circumstances such as finances, relationships, or health.
God came near to the overlooked
Luke 2 presents the nativity as a story of no room: a young peasant couple, a feeding trough, and a crowded guest room. Matthew 1:22-23 names the child Emmanuel, God with us—so Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick finds a Savior who entered the mess and understands being overlooked, offering hope to young, old, outcast, and intellectual alike.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
oh welcome to journey church it is officially advent now advent if you're new to church the word advent means arrival it's the preparation of the arrival of christmas a time when we celebrate the birth of jesus christ now the word christ is a title that means messiah it's the greek form of the word messiah god promised a messiah jesus is the promised messiah that god did what he promised to do he came to this earth so that he would save us from our sins and now we celebrate that so advent is the preparation of the arrival of the son of god now it's a reminder if god did what he said he would do the first time he'll do it again we are in an advent season of the second
coming of jesus he promised to come again so in the coming weeks we'll look at who we are in christ and who jesus is and how it changes everything jesus is our hope jesus is our peace jesus is our joy jesus is our love jesus is the christ and it should change everything now the theme for this advent series is christmas at the movies now come on who doesn't like a christmas movie only a grinch and don't worry we're going to cover that in just a few weeks there's something special about christmas movies they're emotional they're nostalgic they bring you back to your childhood they're full of stories of good and evil there's typically a redemption story in a good christmas movie and it reminds us of the ultimate christmas story
the story of a young woman and a young man it's a scandalous story will joseph divorce mary and this supposed virgin birth there's a story of evil when herod kills all the newborn boys because he's jealous of a supposed newborn king it's a story of adventure where these wise men travel a great distance as they follow the stars to find the savior the promise that's found in the scriptures see the christmas story is the most epic story of all times it's why we like christmas movies we're made to like stories because his story changes our story we start off today with a movie that almost wasn't made because it had such a small budget but thankfully it was because i believe it could be one of or
the greatest christmas movie of all time it's a story of a mom and a boy who was left home alone everyone in this family hates me then maybe you should ask santa for a new family i want a new family i don't want any family family suck just stay up there i don't want to see you again for the rest of the night i don't want to see you again for the rest of my whole life and i didn't want to see anybody else either i hope you don't mean that you'd feel pretty sad if you woke up tomorrow morning and you didn't have a family no i wouldn't then say it again maybe it'll happen i hope i never see any jerks again
i wish they would all just disappear thank you hello hello frank he's just a joke megan is this a joke i made my family disappear yeah [Music]
what else can we be forgetting kevin [Music] all right we can all relate to kevin can't we i'll tell you why we can relate to kevin because we all have a dysfunctional family every one of us everyone comes from a dysfunctional family now some are more dysfunctional than others we like to say a journey we're a family so that means we're dysfunctional too but we just put the fun in dysfunctional we like to have fun it's okay to have fun at church right see kevin he's a kid that's
misunderstood by his family he's often overlooked and he's full of emotions and kevin does what all of us will do at some point in our lives he says something he should not have said you know when you say that thing you should not have said it leaves your lips and you just want to take it back sometimes you say that thing you should not have said but it feels satisfying you stomp away saying i'm glad i got that off my chest and then later it hits you of the gravity of what you actually just said now jesus warns us when it comes to our words he says in matthew 12 34 for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so what jesus is saying is what comes out of your mouth actually originated in your heart
sometimes we say i didn't mean it that was an accident and jesus would say no actually that was in your heart when you get shaken up sometimes what's really in you comes out sometimes you don't even like what comes out but it comes out of you that's why jesus doesn't care what you say he cares about what's in your heart it doesn't matter if you try to speak good words and not cuss words jesus doesn't care about that he cares about your heart because if you have hope in your heart then hope will come out of your mouth but if you have resentfulness in your heart that grows into bitterness and you have anger that grows into rage eventually it's going to come out of your mouth and we see the dysfunction of this family and kevin ultimately is left home alone and he's in the place that all of
us will be at some point in our lives will feel alone and isolated isolation is of the enemy i believe in a real god that's good and i believe in a real enemy that's evil and the enemy would love for us to be isolated and we've seen this no more than in this pandemic the last few years isolation at its fullest with quarantine and isolation in our homes it's been a season of separation even with masks masks that hold back the emotions of our faces where we're unable to smile to one another and although these have all been done with good purposes so that we would create good health there's more than just physical health there's emotional health and spiritual health and we've got to look at the whole person and when you're isolated it can actually hurt emotionally and it actually can hurt spiritually
because god did not create us to be alone he created us to be in community which is why one of our core values at journey church is to be community creators we recognize that it's not always natural to be in community in fact when you've been hurt or when you've been offended it's easy to isolate yourself from others one of our pillars that we build this church upon is is hope and community recognizing that we're truly better together we need each other no one person can do this alone that's because god made us for this my friend dr dave white who's a pastor in california he says we are made with sacred significance you have sacred significance here's what that means you are special god made you and he doesn't make
mistakes and when you understand that you have sacred significance you're a part of a greater plan that you would be a part of the church from the very beginning god made mankind and we see in genesis 2 18 then the lord god said it is not good that the man should be alone i will make him a helper fit for him god knew that it can't just be man we're going to create a helpmate and we see this story in genesis one and two that we have one god and three persons a triune god not three gods one god and three persons a perfect god in unity with with three persons the father son and holy spirit so when god makes man he does not make man alone but rather he makes man with a helpmate that they are better together god made us for community now now what
went wrong you just go to the next chapter in genesis chapter 3 it was sin that entered the story creates a chasm between us and god and with each other sin separates us sin causes us to be alone sin stepped into the story and when sin stepped into the story it changed everything was no longer unity with god and with one another but now there's a separation where we start to question who god is it was the original deception of satan this serpent that slipped into the story and asked eve did god really say so what temptation does is it causes us to question god's promises and if you question god's promises you won't hold fast to the hope that you have in him because then god is not completely good
and if he's not completely good is god actually for us and if he's not forced then who could be against it i i'm not even sure if god's for me and now we have this gap in our relationship with god and with each other and this is not new we will all go through this experiencing this isolation wondering where is god what do i do in this relationship with other people there's an old testament prophet named jeremiah he's known as the weeping prophet he wrote a book called lamentations i mean it's a whole book about lamenting and he gets real in this book about what he goes through we we might look at a guy like jeremiah and say he's clinically depressed he's certainly in a dark season of life he's lost everything and he writes in lamentations three about some of this experience he says i am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long this is a desperate heart day after day it's like the same thing you ever feel like it's groundhog day like oh it's just it's bad every day i wake up and it's bad every i don't want to go to bed because i know tomorrow is going to be the same it just goes from bad to worse if you keep reading lamentations 3 it gets even worse this guy seems to have lost hope because of where he is at the season of history now we've all lost hope at some point when we lose something significant years ago we went to a water park the
whole whole five of us and our family and this water park is an indoor water park where there's this upper level where many of the parents stay and they watch their kids from up above and you can see your kids down below and we were there most of the day and at the end of the day we went to collect our kids and we found the two older kids but we couldn't find the youngest so we split up the four of us looking for the youngest child we looked in the wave pool we looked on the slides we even looked in the hot tub we looked in the restrooms i mean we looked everywhere for our youngest child and we couldn't find her anywhere i was starting to freak out so i went to the counter and i asked the person across the counter hey i've lost my child i know parent of the year but could you help me i'm getting worried you guys have life guards all over the place i'm sure you have ear pieces or something she's wearing a bright orange swimsuit could you help me
out well this person across the counter i can only imagine is making minimum wage because he looks at me and says sir we're unable to help you i said i'm not sure you heard me correctly i lost my child this is like my youngest child he said sir we're unable to help we don't have enough staff to help with that right now and i said can i see your manager and he got me the manager and i looked at the man and said i've got a problem i can't find my youngest child and the manager looked at me and said sir i'm sorry we're unable to help you so what do you mean you're unable to help me this is my child and he said we're unable to help you because we already have several other children missing and we're looking for them i said hold on a second so other people's children are more important than my child and he gave me advice he said you go look for a few more minutes and then if you can't find her then come back and let us know and i'm thinking a
few more minutes i have seen way too many date lines a few minutes changes everything i'm at this point i visualize a guy tempting her with candy to get in her van a few minutes he's down the freeway already i picture her at the bottom of a pool a few minutes this changes everything so now i'm furious i'm running around this water park calling out her name eliana i'm fully dressed in jeans going up the water slide to see if she could be up there at the top i mean we're looking everywhere all four of us and eventually one of my children found her and brought her back to me and i get down on my knees and i look her in the eyes and i say where were you we've been looking for you with a raised voice and she looks at me with her big blue eyes and just starts weeping and then i grabbed her with my arms and i brought her close and i held her close with a hug and i said oh no sweetie i'm sorry i'm sorry daddy's not mad at you
daddy just upset i thought i lost you but now you're found everything's okay daddy was just afraid see when you've lost something you're afraid you're filled with these emotions and we've all lost something maybe you've lost a child maybe you've lost a marriage maybe you've lost a relationship in your life a parent or a close friend maybe you've lost your finances maybe you've lost your health maybe you've lost your dreams what you thought you were made to do and you just never did it maybe you lost your faith i can't assume because you hear me today just because you're listening to a preacher that maybe you have a right relationship with god maybe you lost your faith years ago because god didn't
show up for you when you thought he would show up for you god didn't do what you thought he would do so you're done with this whole faith thing and if you've ever lost that before you're not alone the enemy wants to isolate you and think that somehow you're the only one going through what you're going through but god wants you to know you are not alone so this prophet jeremiah is going through this dark season but he doesn't stop there you get to lamentation three and by the time you come to verse 22 something is shifting in his heart he says this the steadfast love of the lord let me just pause there for a moment that phrase steadfast love two words in our english language you should always underline that in the old testament it's used over and over again sometimes
it's translated loving-kindness it's the hebrew word said could be translated steadfast love or loving-kindness everyone say said you got to say it like you're hacking a loogie it's hebrew it is very important it is the most used attribute of god in the old testament you see it throughout the psalms over and over again and here's the point here the lord is loving and kind it is a steadfast love and jeremiah makes this point he says the steadfast love the hasset of the lord never ceases everyone shout never never ever no matter what you're going through god doesn't stop loving because god is love that's who he is he can't
stop nothing can stop god from loving you in fact the lord loves you more right now than he can and the right of hebrews that my circumstances do not change god and so he describes this his mercies never come to an end everyone shall never never god will never run out of mercy he'll never say i've had enough i mean i'm sure you wouldn't do that either but the lord says i have mercies that will never cease and he says this his mercies verse 23 they are new every morning great is your faithfulness the lord he says is my portion says my soul therefore i will hope in him
i will not hope in the things that i can see in the government or in the systems of this world i will not hope in my family or a relationship i will not hope in my health which is fleeting i will not hope in my finances i will hope in him because everything else in this world will change but god and so we learn this lesson from jeremiah who's going through a dark season of his life i'm not alone when i have the lord and when it comes to the christmas story it's the story of a god that goes after the lost he's willing to do whatever it takes to rescue us he's willing to leave his throne the maker of heaven and earth the creator became the created jesus says with his own words in luke 10 verse 19 for the son of man came to seek
and to save the lost this is his mission that you would know him he would do everything that needs to be done as i was just talking to my daughter this morning i didn't tell her i was going to be talking to her and of course my youngest comes up and says dad you owe me a dollar because i have a deal with my kids if i ever talk about them at church i owe them a dollar and she says dad you owe me a dollar and i said oh i'm not sure i said your name she said yes you did you shouted it eliana so i'm like i took out a dollar for my wallet and i gave her the dollar and i said you're right and she said dad i was never lost i knew where i was i was like i know sweetie you weren't lost but in my eyes you were lost and some of us some of us in god's eye some of us don't even know how lost we actually are we we might be going around just thinking i'm just doing life and
everything's cool in my life but jesus says no no i actually came so that you would understand i have a greater life for you than you could ever plan on your own that's why jesus said i'm the resurrection and the life he's the light of life he wants us to understand that the fullness of who we are is to be made in him that you're made in his image you have the imprint of god on your life it was sin that marred that image so in jesus he restores that which is wrong the the term for this theologically is sanctified he he brings you back to your original purpose he's making you who you were made to be but we've got to take this serious to understand that sin is real god is real and how am i allowing god to work in my story am i allowing god to work in me that he's got a great plan for my life do i understand i have a sacred
significance and i'm a part of a bigger plan to be with other people or will i live life alone and try things my way and then all of a sudden all hope is lost and you'll end up in the wrong places doing the wrong things and you'll discover everything else can let you down jesus came to flip upside down our understanding of who god is and his kingdom his ways in the biography of jesus told by matthew in the 12th chapter jesus is at a synagogue on the sabbath now synagogue is like a jewish church it's the place where they worshipped and they would gather to worship on the sabbath which is the seventh day of the week and god instructed us to to take a sabbath to take a day of rest do not work
it was not meant to just be a rule it was meant for us to understand that if you keep working without rest you'll never be refreshed you'll never understand who god foley is so you're meant to take a day of rest on this day of rest the sabbath the jews gathered together in the synagogue and on this day jesus was in the synagogue you'd think he would be a special guest in the synagogue but instead the religious leaders of the day in matthew 12 they're called pharisees wanted to trap jesus so they asked him a question they said is it lawful to perform a miracle on the sabbath because a miracle would be doing work so are you allowed to do works like miracles on the sabbath and jesus understanding the intent of their heart flip the script and ask them a question you always got to be careful asking god questions some of us be like i'm gonna get to heaven ask god all these questions oh be careful he's gonna ask you some
questions and and he asked them a question he says which of you if you have a sheep that falls in a hole on the sabbath will leave the sheep there and this is a an illustration that many of us wouldn't identify with today but he's saying if you have something of value and it falls in the hole somebody else could steal that sheep if you don't take it out of the hole that sheep could die so of course you would take that sheep out because it has value to you you wouldn't just leave it there i know that doesn't make sense for many of us but imagine you go to church and you drop a hundred dollar bill do you leave the hundred dollar bill saying well i fell at church i think i should leave it here or do you say i didn't mean to drop the hundred dollar bill i think i'm going to get it so jesus tells this story and then he says in matthew 12
verse 12 of how much more value is a man than a sheep so it is lawful to do good on the sabbath here's what jesus is saying you have value to god in fact you are priceless that god came here and gave himself to pay the penalty that you deserve so that you could have a relationship with him that's how much he loves you he died so that you don't have to that's jesus is telling this story he's reminding us it's not about rules it's not about the law it's not about the commandments it's about knowing the one that gave us the law that he gave us the law so that we'd have a right relationship with him and with each other it was never about legalism or rules or religion it was
about you know what we can't actually do this on our own we need a father that tells us what to do that's why he gave us these rules i know they some of them seem foreign to us and we read this and say man the bible's complex yeah it's complex because we're complex remember we're dysfunctional so so we need a god that understands it all to help us out and and as jesus says that there happens to be a man with a withered hand that's in the synagogue that day he's disabled now this culture if you're disabled it was actually imagine that you could be cursed by god you did something wrong or your parents did something wrong so here he is trying to worship at a synagogue and jesus heals the man with a withered hand that's our god what a great god the pharisees are even more mad at him so matthew tells us they actually sought to destroy jesus they were angry hymns so many times jesus is just misunderstood
and then he continues in verse 15. jesus aware of this that the pharisees wanted to destroy him he withdrew from there and many followed him could we just pause for this moment i love this about jesus people who are unlike jesus meaning not the religious people really like jesus the religious people who are supposed to look like god actually didn't like jesus what a cool god but what's even better is the people who are unlike jesus they didn't stay the same they were changed look what he says and many followed him and he healed them all everyone shout all oh i mean you just look around that's you he wants to heal you and he ordered them not to make him known this verse 17 was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet isaiah matthew now is going to quote out of the
book of isaiah which was written 700 years before the birth of jesus he was talking about the christ the messiah the one that would come who would god send but jesus is a fulfillment of of these prophecies then he quotes this behold my servant whom i have chosen my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased i will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the gentiles he will not quarrel or cry aloud nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets a bruise read he will not break in a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory and i want you to see this in verse 21 and in his name now what's his name that's right i mean don't be afraid to say that it's jesus it's always safe to heal jesus at church all right what's the answer jesus and in his name what's his name jesus the gentiles which means non-jew
even the non-religious people will hope there's hope for everyone this is incredible it doesn't matter who you are it doesn't matter where you've been doesn't matter how old or young you are there's hope for everyone now he brings healing let's just clarify here it's not just to the sick he can heal the sick he is the great physician he does do miracles even today he's the healer but more importantly he heals other places in our hearts as well he heals the hurting he heals the brokenness he heals us from our past he heals the hurt that was done to us he heals the hurt that we've done he is the great healer that's what brings us hope that we're not defined by our past we're defined by the present reality of who god is
that my hope is in him not my circumstances not my situation not what others have done to me not what i've done but jesus story changes everything because it changes my story because his story is history he literally splits history with his birth and some of us are more like kevin we're we're isolated we're independent we're americans i could do this on my own i don't need anybody and so we we go through all these emotions at first we're kind of scared can i do this and then we realize i can do this on my own then we're excited and then we're full with all these emotions i don't need anybody i don't need my family i don't need anybody in my life and we celebrate and then all of a sudden we have to fight off others in our lives and so now we're full of fear we're just we're on this roller coaster of emotions and god never made us that
way as we see in the christmas story almighty god comes to this earth so that we would see him for who he really is the name jesus in hebrew is yeshua means lord savior that he would be the lord of your life he would save you of all your sins you'd literally be set free from your sins you're rescued from your story you're part of his story he's now the author he redeems you he resurrects what was dead in your life and he gives you a whole new purpose and a plan and it changes everything as you read this story it's absolutely incredible god became one of us the king of all kings was not born in a castle he did not come in a hospital he was not surrounded by the greatest dignitaries but instead luke tells us luke who happened to be a physician
that writes the biography of jesus life in chapter two he tells the christian story he says in those days a decree went out from caesar augustus that all the world should be registered the roman empire was the the largest empire at the time caesar augustus was the king he liked to be called lord and luke says at this time jesus decided to come to earth this was the first registration when quirinius was governor of syria so there's a census to see how many young people there are to be a part of the military is to discover how many people there are in different regions so that they could collect the tax i mean typical government right so so there's this census happening and because of this verse three and all went to be registered each to his own town and joseph also went up from galilee
from the town of nazareth to judea to the city of david which is called bethlehem because he was of the house and the lineage of david joseph who's just a young peasant boy from really a blue-collared region called galilee we know that nazareth was not known for much because in the book of john when some hear that jesus is from nazareth it's quoted does anything good come from nazareth i mean it's that ho-dunk town you know those towns i grew up in one of those towns and if you all grow up in one of those towns i mean it's one of those towns that like if you stick around you're not doing anything so joseph from nazareth has to travel to bethlehem because that's where his family's from this is all to fulfill all the prophecies of jesus but in verse
five he's not alone he was to be registered with mary his betrothed who was with child here's the drama they're not even married yet but she's pregnant this is a pretty big deal back then and while they were there the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn now have you all heard that christmas story of course you have we tell it every single year this is like the the never-ending story we hear the same story over and over but we got to understand the story because not just kids up on a stage doing a christmas pageant some of us think of an inn like it's a hotel or a motel right there's there's
no room at the end well in the olden days in the ancient middle east there was a great hospitality particularly with jews with one another if you're on a journey you would have a guest room reserved for people that need a place to stay it was called the inn it's not because you know them it's not your second cousin removed it's not somebody that said hey they've got a great airbnb stay there but rather someone's on a journey they need help they knock on your door and say we need a place to stay and you say great we've got an inn it's on the second floor help yourself and we'll feed you we'll take care of you they would give you water they would they would wash your feet it was just a part of the middle eastern ancient hospitalities completely lost today but because of this census when mary when joseph and mary get to
bethlehem all the ends have been filled this is why we have the song silent night you know that mary was upset at joseph for this well you couldn't call ahead you couldn't just reserve something online so she gives him the silent treatment just kidding that's not why i was assigned we don't know if it was a silent night or not it probably wasn't silent babies aren't silent but still a good song isn't it so they find themselves in a in an animal stable we know this because mary placed jesus in a manger that's a feeding trough and most often animal stables would be in caves in the side of the hill they were they were already there they would leave the animals in there so they find
themselves with the animals the creators born with all of the animals he created they're in this animal stall he's born and luke knows that he's the firstborn we don't think much about this in our culture as well but the firstborn male in a family is the patriarch he would get the the legacy the lineage of the family he would get the larger portion of the inheritance the firstborn was a significant role in the family and so it's a title that we see woven throughout the scriptures we see it in the psalms in 89 verse 27 and i will make him the firstborn the highest of the kings of the earth this is a prophecy about jesus john when he comes to the last book of the bible it's the revelation of jesus christ and he describes jesus this way
jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead of the ruler of kings on earth now why did john say he's the firstborn of the dead not of the living that's because jesus was the first one ever to defeat death no one before him ever did so he's the firstborn he gets the title because he did what no one else could do no one else has ever done before he was not resuscitated he was not brought back to life he was resurrected from life he literally is glorified it changed everything and it was this savior the messiah the christ yeshua who's born with animals and placed in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths wrapped like we do today we snuggle the babies because
luke tells us there was no room for them in the end now that's a phrase i want you to think about because from the beginning of his story he understands what it's like all of us have been in this place where it feels like there's no room for me here at some point there'll be something in your soul that says there's no there's no room for me i'm not like everyone else and it's a live enemy you just go to instagram and think everyone else has a life but me i want someone else's family i want someone else's spouse i want someone else's good looks i want someone else's and you start to fill in the blank but instagram is not real all of those christmas pictures you'll see this year are totally fake i'm telling you there was a fight before the picture there was a fight after the picture
they will not post that on instagram instead they'll say blessed and you will like it even though you don't like it because it's fake at some point something in your soul will say there's no room for me i should be married by now but i'm not i should have had kids by now but i but i don't i should be wealthy by now but i'm not i mean how many of you when you were a child by the time you're the age that you are now you said you'd be rich just me i mean i always thought by time i was this age i would have accomplished so much more than i did right and there's this point where it's like did i miss it did i miss it was there no room for me here and this comes in all sorts of forms this is why the bullying is real in school this is why they're cyber bowling on social media everyone has a voice and it's
your voice really doesn't matter but you think it does and there's a lack of community that's this isolation that i'm going to tell you what's right and wrong and there's no listening there's no hospitality and there is no room at the end and then we this is what we start to do we question god and his promises does god really love me does god really care about me i'm not sure i have a sacred significance i was born in an animal stable a mom placed me in a manger i'm not sure i'm part of that story when matthew tells us the christmas story in chapter 1 verse 22 he says all this took place to fulfill what the lord had spoken by the prophet behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name emmanuel isaiah says here's how you know it's the messiah call him emmanuel and then
matthew tells us which means god with us god stepped into the mess he wasn't born in a castle someone we can't relate to he totally understands our mess he stepped into our story and it was jesus that made this promise i will never leave you i will never forsake you he did everything possible so that we would know who he is that we would be known by and he knows our pain he knows our struggles he knows everything in your past nothing is overlooked by jesus the writer of hebrews puts it this way since then we have a great high priest who's passed through heavens jesus the son of god let us hold fast our confession jesus is the great high priest a priest is a mediator between man and god and the writer of hebrews says you don't need to go to a temple you don't need to go to a catholic church to meet with a
priest and meet with god jesus is even greater look what he says in verse 15 for we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses you ever see a priest and think like this guy doesn't know what it's like to be me he doesn't even know how to dress well he's got all black and a collar like i i can't relate to this guy jesus can relate to you here's why he can sympathize with our weaknesses but one who is in every respect has been tempted as we are he's been tempted by satan just like we have been yet without sin he's the only human that's ever been tempted yet did not sin ever that's why we can trust him that's why his sacrifice is the great sacrifice he he did not sin he did not deserve death but he he took the penalty
of death for us and so the writer goes on to say then let us then here's what here's what our response should be because of who jesus is you have access to god through jesus let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need so when you go before god he loves you so much he gives you mercy he gives you grace upon grace yes some of us like my little daughter are crying because we misunderstand god we think that god's angry at us he's not angry at you run to god he's not the angry big guy in the sky with a big gray beard and white hair he's not this distant deity you can approach him and he wants to help you once to give you strength when
you need it most he wants to give you forgiveness when you need it most he wants you to know who you are and that he loves you that he went through all this so that you could have a right relationship with him so that you would not be alone i know the season of christmas is supposed to be nostalgic for so many but what i see in so many is hurt brokenness it's a lonely season maybe you've lost a loved one a spouse a parent a child they've passed away and so the season of christmas just reminds you that you can't be with them or in this pandemic for many people we can't be close to family because of traveling or because of health issues or vulnerability for one reason or another there's so many reasons people are alone some people financially can't do what other people are doing and in this world that we live in christmas means stuff
and so you're alone because you can't afford the stuff there's all sorts of reasons that we start to feel all alone but the season of advent is to remind us it's actually not about any of those things it's all about jesus a high priest that did what needed to be done so that we have direct access to god he went through this so that you would not be alone in john 14 it was moments before his crucifixion he knew what was going to happen and jesus leaves us with the greatest teaching he says in john 14 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments this is not a burden he's saying i've left you with the truth if you do what i say then then i know that you love me and he says and i will ask the father and he will give you another helper this is great theology here a triune god jesus says i'll talk to the father and he'll give you the helper who's the holy
spirit to be with you for ever so whatever you're going through you don't feel god right now don't worry he hasn't left you you have jesus he's for you and he goes on to say in verse 27 but the helper the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring your remembrance all that i have said to you the holy spirit helps us when we're tempted by the devil to doubt god's promises the holy spirit's there in our deepest darkest hour when you're ready to run when you're ready to give up that's when the holy spirit speaks life you are made by god he loves you don't run from this pain our god is great enough to heal you from whatever that hurt is in your heart whatever you're going through right now go to the promises of god they never fail in fact the word of god will last forever everything else going to fade
away i'll tell you the the covid corona omnicon whatever we want to call this new things the delta all those things will fade away or jesus is coming that's just the truth we're gonna have a thousand more things that will stop us from from experiencing the fall because this isn't heaven yet we're just on a journey so here's what we really gotta do we gotta cling to the promises of god or else we get confused and we think this is the destination then we get mad at other people when they let us down other people aren't god god is god and you are not so here's what we do we go to god's promises well what are god's promises it's right here in this book this is god's story the bible it's not your story but this changes your story and when you
read this over and over again it gets in your heart and the psalmist says so you don't sin against him you keep coming back to his promises and if you fail get yourself up stand firm in your faith and keep coming back to his promises let me share some of those promises isaiah 40 verse 30 31 even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted isaiah's talking about this pandemic we've been in we will get exhausted we'll get hurt but they who wait for the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint so you're hurting right now don't you wait on someone else don't you wait on the government don't you wait on any other person wait on the lord and he's gonna do it in you look at psalm 33 22 let your steadfast love o lord be upon
us even as we hope in you we got to hope in the right things i love psalm 42. if if you need some help psalm 42 is great because it's the solution it's like this is the secret sauce right here you've got to learn to preach to yourself you are the best preacher in your life not a preacher at church not a preacher on tv not on some podcast or youtube you're the best preacher in your life so sometimes gotta look in the mirror and you gotta say this to yourself why are you cast down on my soul why are you in turmoil within me you could be honest you're going through hell just you are it's hard it's as hard as you think it is but then preach back to yourself hope in god for i shall again praise him my salvation and my god
get off social media for a month you know the ancient tradition of fat of advent they they would fast the church would fast that's why we have advent calendars now you know those advent calendars you open it up and there's a piece of chocolate we can't do those in our house it's gone by like day two or three it's too small of a chocolate right it's just all gone now kids they want to get toys because they know dad won't eat the toys you know they just a little toy it's for fasting is to have patience because when you fast from something food you're actually saying god is greater than what i'm longing for and it points your longing towards the heart of god let me share another psalm 119 147 i rise before dawn i cry for help but here's what the psalmist says i hope in your words god's promises and in this season so many people feel alone
i know there's much division right now there's division and families there's division and politics there's division in the churches maybe you feel like that psalmist that why are you so down cast what maybe you feel depleted a lot of us have felt depleted this year the christmas season reminds us where we turn is to jesus for hope so if something's been wrong in our life maybe we've been turning to the wrong things so i'm here to tell you we're not home alone if you're new to church or maybe you're new to journey today you're listening to me for the first time welcome home you're with a bunch of broken people that are being healed by jesus and we have the hope of salvation that's found in jesus the christ and it changes everything
but you got to put your faith in him the writer of hebrews puts it this way faith is the assurance of things hoped for it's the conviction of things not seen i know you don't see jesus right now but you can still put your faith in him and when you do you now have hope you have hope because god loves you the story of christmas reminds us no matter where you are you can have hope i love this story remember how the shepherds were visited by angels see it doesn't mean much just today but shepherds in the days of jesus they were outcasts they could not even be a witness in the court of law yet where did god announce that the newborn king had been born to outcast i love it mary and joseph they were not a young couple that had it all together i love the honesty of scripture that joseph thought he might have to divorce her just like let's take care of this
undercover quietly then an angel had to visit him and say no you're going to get through this joseph this young peasant couple just kids i like as you read this story about wise men these intellectuals magi that studied the scriptures and obeyed the scriptures and did whatever needed to be done to find out where the christ was i love the story in luke of simeon and anna they were the elderly of the day where were they they were at the temple worshiping it was the elderly that were passionate about pursuing the christ and god reveals himself to the elderly which tells me this there's hope for everyone for the young the old the outcast the intellectual we all need hope we all need this
that's why we build this church upon hope and community so what that means is you don't wait for someone else to invite you over for dinner you invite them over for dinner this you don't need a church to create a program so that you could be in a small group some of you are wondering i don't know how to meet people around here there are so many new people at journey how many of you have been coming to journey less than a year a year or less by show of hands just raise your hand look around all those people they're new too you'd be coming here and be thinking i'm the only new person here that's alive the enemy you just saw someone's hands right you say i'm new too do you think this place is weird as i think it is yeah me too let's have coffee and talk about it you're welcome here you are both welcome here
this is this is what church is about that we do this together we like to say it journey to create a small group it's not two people two people is a date three people is a small group that's all you gotta do three people three people you get together encourage each other e get in the scriptures go to god's promises pray for each other we all need prayer and then have a next step don't don't stay the same way come as you are but what does god want you to do espn encourage scripture prayer next step you can do that we're made for this not just at christmas time i hope you'll take this serious and that's why we're doing this series christmas at the movies that we would take a lighthearted look at the ultimate story of all time the story of jesus let me share one last scripture before we leave today hebrews 10 23-25 let us hold fast the confession of our
hope without wavering for he who promises faithful and let us consider how to stir one another one another to love and good works not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near i love this here's why you don't need a program to go do good things for god if you see something needs to be done do it that's what it means jesus said this when people see your good works they're going to glorify your father in heaven it won't even be about you when people ask you why you do that i don't know that's what jesus did for me i just want to give back this is what i want to do not just because it's christmas time but christmas reminds you i'm going to do good things because of who our god is he's good and don't stop going to church that that's what the enemy would love
it's one thing i've learned over this pandemic like over this past year of meeting back together people come in and they start weeping like i haven't been to church in two years i didn't know how much i missed this we are made to do this now if you can't do this because you're sick or because you're vulnerable or because you're unable to do this totally understand that's that's why we have online services that's why we do what we do last week journey church we go on tv we were at red robin on tv we were at uh we were at the brew and hops and sisters i'll tell you where we're going on tv all over central oregon how cool is that we're actually getting into restaurants and and people are seeing what god's doing but but i'll tell you we can meet in places like red robin or hop and brews we can meet but there's something about church when we gather together
there's like this synergy that the spirit of god meets us and we're we're blessed because we're better together the people around you are so much more broken than you understand and i don't even necessarily mean that in a funny way i just mean they're they're really genuinely going through more than you understand we have people here going through cancer a fifth time who've been through chemo over and over and over again we have people who are recently divorced we have people who recently lost parents we had just across the board there's a lot of hurt in this room but something happens when we together it's not about the hurts about our hope so we often don't know that because it's not about you it's about jesus so you come here i'll tell you you should be like worshiping the greatest if you need that hope in jesus i want to pray with you and then we'll be finished i'll uh just close your eyes right where you are
close your eyes you don't need to close your eyes to pray we just do that at church to get rid of distractions let me ask you today in this moment if you're broken if you're hurting if you have something so serious in your life you know you can't get through it alone you need the hope of jesus i'm going to ask you just raise your hand right now it's just a symbol of receiving the hope that's found in jesus i see those hands praise god these are more people praise god praise god maybe it's a family thing maybe it's a relationship your finances health i see hands all over the place it's a desperate need for help praise god praise god maybe it's an addiction you you're consumed by alcohol and you don't know how to surrender that to jesus maybe it's gambling anyone else here praise god praise god all ages all seasons of life lord you see those hands
it's a symbol of surrender so today i pray in the mighty name of jesus that you would bring them hope the god you would do it only you could do you're the living god the stone was rolled away you are alive so bring that living hope in our hearts today god i pray for change you would bring that transformation healing that you did in the days of old you're still doing it today so i pray freedom in jesus name god i thank you that you set us free from strongholds you set us free from sin that god will not define by where we came from we're defined by you so lord i pray over the hurts that are in this room the places that need hope lord would you bring that change i pray protection by the blood of jesus christ against what the enemy wants to do he's a liar he's a deceiver he steal kills and destroy but jesus you came to give us life and life abundantly so we declare that today in jesus mighty name lord and now i want to pray if you're here today and you've never given your
life to jesus today's your day prayer is just talking to god you need to talk to the lord right now in your heart tell the lord i need you i want you the bible teaches us if you confess your sins he is faithful and just to forgive you of all your sins tell them right now forgive me of my sins i need you jesus i need you lord today i follow you if you prayed that in your heart you're born again you're saved god gives you his holy spirit so that you would talk to him he'll be your helper he'll be the power in your life lord we thank you so much for those that believe in you today we love you jesus we love you lord we love you jesus amen and amen
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Keep growing.
Together.
When the heart speaks
Pastor Keith explains Matthew 12:34 as a teaching about the connection between speech and a person’s inner life. He urges attention to what produces words, including hope, resentment, bitterness, and anger, rather than merely adjusting vocabulary.
Matthew 12:34
- When have you said something you immediately wanted back, and what did that moment reveal about what you were carrying?
- How does Jesus' teaching that words originate in the heart change the way you would address a recurring conflict?
- Why does Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick insist that changing vocabulary without addressing the heart misses Jesus' point?
Isolation and the God who made us for community
Pastor Keith connects Genesis 2:18 with his explanation of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in unity. He argues that relationships belong to God’s purpose for people and urges listeners to initiate community rather than waiting for an invitation.
Genesis 2:18
- Why does Pastor Keith treat community as part of God’s purpose for people?
- How does the triune God's own unity shape the way you think about being made for community?
- Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick later urges hearers to initiate rather than wait to be invited; where do you find that hardest?
Learning to preach to yourself in a dark season
Pastor Keith reads Lamentations 3 as an honest expression of distress followed by renewed confidence in God’s enduring compassion and reliability. He urges listeners to base hope on God’s character rather than changing circumstances. His discussion of Psalm 42 encourages addressing one’s own discouragement with trust in God.
Lamentations 3:22-24 · Psalm 42
- What circumstances have you been treating as the foundation of your hope without realizing it?
- How might honest lament make room for hope rather than cancel it out?
- What would you say to yourself in a hard season if you followed the psalmist's pattern of self-address?
No room, and the God who came anyway
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick's retelling of Luke's nativity emphasizes the crowded guest room rather than a hotel, the feeding trough, and the title 'firstborn.' He connects the phrase 'no room' to the private sense of not belonging that many carry, then answers it with Matthew's Emmanuel—God with us—who enters the mess rather than staying above it.
Luke 2:1-7 · Matthew 1:22-23
- Where in your life have you felt like there was no room for you?
- How does the picture of God entering a messy, crowded arrival change how you imagine God relating to your circumstances?
- What comparison or platform most often convinces you that you are on the outside looking in?
Seeking God’s help together
Pastor Keith draws on Hebrews 4 to explain Jesus’ understanding of human weakness and the access to God’s help that Jesus provides. He connects this with the promised Holy Spirit in John 14. Hebrews 10 supports his appeal for believers to gather, encourage each other, and persist in hope.
Hebrews 4:14-16 · John 14:15-16, 26 · Hebrews 10:23-25
- What makes it hard for you to believe God is approachable rather than disappointed in you?
- How does the promise of the Holy Spirit change the way you face doubt or temptation?
- What would encouraging one another look like for you in a concrete, ordinary way this month?
Answers from this recording
Start a conversation.
How does this message describe hope?+
Pastor Keith draws on Lamentations 3:22-24 to describe hope rooted in God’s enduring compassion and reliability during distress. He urges listeners to trust God rather than changing circumstances, including government, family, health, and finances. He also describes Jesus as coming to rescue people who are estranged from God.
Which of the things named—health, finances, family, government—have you been leaning on most?
What does the sermon say about feeling like there is no room for you?+
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick makes the lack of space for Mary and Joseph in Luke 2 personal rather than merely historical, arguing that most people at some point sense there is no place for them. He names social media comparison as a constant instigator—curated family photos, other people's milestones, the feeling of being behind. The answer offered is Matthew's Emmanuel, God with us: God did not stay distant but entered the mess, so being overlooked does not mean being unknown to God. Hebrews 4 then invites hearers to approach him rather than withdraw.
How does the name Emmanuel, God with us, speak to your own sense of being overlooked?
Why does the message stress community so heavily?+
Pastor Keith connects Genesis 2:18 and his explanation of God’s triune unity with God’s purpose for human relationships. He uses Hebrews 10:23-25 to encourage gathering, mutual support, and action for others’ good. He urges listeners to initiate relationships rather than waiting to be included.
What is one relationship where you have been waiting to be pursued rather than pursuing?
What does the sermon claim about Jesus and the Sabbath?+
Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick recounts the confrontation in Matthew 12, where religious leaders test Jesus about doing good on the Sabbath and he answers with the sheep-in-a-pit comparison and the claim that a person is worth far more. The point drawn is that the law was never an end in itself; it was given for a right relationship with God and others. Jesus then heals a man with a withered hand, and the leaders respond with hostility—which Pastor Keith presents as evidence that he is misunderstood by the religious and welcomed by the unlikely.
