A Gift From God | Crossroads Students

There's no place like home. Home is that place where everything is supposed to feel right, right? But sometimes it gets loud and it's messy and it's complicated. Sometimes it's the last place you want to be. And it can make us wish our lives felt a little more whole. The truth is, no house, no holiday, no perfect moment can fill that space. We're all looking for a place that actually feels like home. Where we're loved, accepted, and fully known. That kind of home isn't found in a house. It's found in Jesus. He is the one who welcomes us in and never lets us go. With him, there's no place like home. This is Hannah Clause coming to you live from Crossroads, Oakley. I've got the white gloves to prove it. No, but for real, I'm Hannah. And I tell you, there's just something about Christmas. You know, just a few things that make it feel like Christmas. Like Elf. Elf is amazing. You got the Grinch. Also amazing. If you're a crazy person and you like Polar Express, you're a crazy person. A few of us crazies in the house. But besides the red and the green and the cozy vibes and the hot beverages, even the snow, there's one thing about Christmas that truly makes Christmas, Christmas. And that is gifts. See gifts make the other 364 days, not as special as the day where people are just giving gifts. Gifts are so important that they're even mentioned right here in the Bible. Here we go.

James 1 17 says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights. That's God with whom there is no variation and no shadow due to turning. This scripture tells us a little secret that everybody just wants us to forget, boys and girls. And we cannot possibly forget this secret. And it is that even though everyone's trying to convince us otherwise, gifts might just be the most important part of Christmas because they let us in on a secret that not only does God care about gifts, but they were his idea. Now enough with the Hannah Claus. You know what's more important than us just talking about gifts and me sitting in a seat? It's actually receiving a gift. So I had a friend who I asked to pick some people who are just, if you got talked to by my friend Ethan, I want you to come up on stage now and you need to hustle. I mean, hurry up, hurry up, Hannah. I mean, guys, hustle. That means hurry up, get up here. Come on. I got a timer. Okay. So stand right here. These are my friends. You guys don't know what you signed up for, right? You have no clue, but the good news is it's your lucky day. You get to give a gift and when you get it, you can just open it because it's for you. Now I don't really know what's in each of these packages because someone else bought them, but this is what Target calls the must have gifts of the season. So open this up right now. Here you go. You open this up.

One, two, I think I got five gifts. So somebody is going to be sharing because it's six of you up here. Here we go. We got way too many people. Here we go. What's in this gift? What'd you get? He's got a blue ink. You can open it. What is this you got? Legos. A robot. Good for you. All right. Do me a favor. Take your gifts. Take your spots. And if you don't like it, you can just either give it away. That's the gift that keeps on giving. Or you can trade. Everybody, give it up for my gift receivers. Thank you so much. You guys can take a seat. Take that with you. Take that with you if you don't mind. Take your trash. Now, my friend who came up here, I got you later. I got you later. Gifts are so much fun. If you didn't receive a gift today, maybe you've received one in the past and you're

like, I know what that feels like. It feels really good. Now, these people that got up here, they had a unique experience because gifts are just a unique thing. Here's how they're described. A gift is a voluntary transfer of one's assets to another without the expectation of any sort of consideration or payment in return. See, there's nothing quite like giving a gift and nothing quite like receiving something that you wanted, something that you needed, or something that you were just not even expecting. And gifts are not a novel idea because we can trace them all the way back to maybe some human existence, there is a record of people exchanging gifts. And this just makes sense because gifts truly were God's idea. God describes himself as our father who gives gifts. Now there's all types of gifts you can give. There's group gifts, there are white elephant gifts, there's secret Santa gifts, there's even this kind of newish thing called self gifts. And this is when someone buys a gift for themselves with the intention of just giving it to themselves. Now there's nothing wrong with that. If you want to buy something for yourself, you should. If you want to buy something for yourself in the name of self-love or self-care, you should absolutely do that. But I'm gonna argue that that's not a gift. And the reason that it's not a gift is because there was no transfer of assets that took place. You didn't transfer asset from yourself to yourself. What makes a gift a gift is that somebody gave something. And that's really what differentiates God's version of what a gift is. And giving is just part of God's nature. It's who he is. So it makes sense that he gives us gifts according to that James verse. It makes sense that he would call us his children, which if you've never been church or never heard about God, that's something that he calls us. He calls us his children, which means he's our father. And one of the reasons he refers to himself like that is because he naturally is a giver. But just like God, he kind of takes everything and goes one step further. And he takes this a step further to the next level. He doesn't just give us gifts. He

actually blesses us. And there's several definitions of the word blessing in the Bible. In fact, it's all over the place. And it can even be a little bit confusing which one you might want to follow. Even the Bible has different verses and different ways it describes what it means to be hashtag blessed. But for the purposes of today, I want us to think about blessing in this way. Anything that God uses to draw us closer to him. Let me say it again. Anything that God uses to draw us closer to him, we can consider ourselves blessed. And this definition is a little bit more in line with how we see blessing really functioning in the Bible. It's the words, when we use the word gifts and blessing interchangeably, that really makes sense because they kind of both come from the same Hebrew root word, which is a word called qal. And that same word just kind of makes sense that we will use blessing and gift interchangeably. But the Bible describes blessing way different than it describes gift. We're going to use the book of First Kings, an ancient story in the Bible, to help us understand the true difference between what it means to not just have gifts, but to live blessed. In First Kings, this recounts a story of a guy by the name of Solomon. And Solomon was a king in the Bible. And this is important because he was right at the beginning of when the kingdom started. And Solomon is known for asking for one of the most iconic gifts that are ever given, not just throughout the Bible, but truly throughout history. I mean, non-believers, atheists talk about this guy and what he asked for. And so God is giving him an opportunity. God literally comes to him and says, hey, you're about to run the kingdom. Is there anything that I can give you? Because he's a giver. So it makes sense that he asked this question. And Solomon does something really cool. And it's so cool that it actually even impresses God. That's how cool it is. And when God asked him for something, he actually just asked for wisdom. Let me read it to you. First Kings 3.9 says, therefore, give to your servant, that's Solomon talking, an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? And so it pleased the Lord, I'm going to keep going here, that Solomon had asked this. And God said

to him, because you've asked for this and you haven't asked for yourself long life or riches or even the life of your enemies, but instead you've asked for yourself understanding so that you can discern what's right, or in other words, wisdom. Check it out, he says. I'm going to do according to what you said. Behold, I will give you a wise and discerning heart so that nobody like you has been before you and nobody will ever be like you after you. I'm going to give you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king can even compare to you for all of your days. And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. Now God's response to him is proof that God wants to give us amazing gifts. He's not up there trying to hold back. He is interested in being a giver. And just like God says, Solomon actually does go on to be one of the most renowned kings in all of the land. You have people coming to visit him from all over the world just to see how cool he is. Just to see how much wonder he has caused people to have. He's literally a wonder of the world at this point. And just like he asked God for, he does get wisdom. And that wisdom makes him incredibly successful. I'm talking money, I'm talking women, I'm talking everything that you would describe as success. He becomes so rich that he can buy plenty of land. And with land, people at the time, it also meant you got wives when you acquired that land. And so here he is with all this land, all of his partners in the world, anything he wants at his fingertips. And God kind of sees that this is happening and so he does something. He checks back in. He checks back in with him. Because if you're paying attention to the story, it might not seem like the wisdom's working out. The Bible says that Solomon clung to these things in love. Because it eventually got to his head. And so God's checking back in. He's checking back in and he's like, hey what's going on? And he says to him the exact same thing he said the first time, which was I'm interested in you following me, getting to know me, keeping my statures, keeping my ways. And for all the wisdom that Solomon had, it kind of didn't keep him

from becoming a fool. See the Bible describes a fool as somebody who doesn't know God, who doesn't want to know God, who says he doesn't need God. And that's where Solomon gets to. He's like, I'm good. The gifts I got are enough. He got so many gifts that he forgot to give her. And so Jesus, God appears back to Solomon. He talks to him again. And after pleading with him to follow him and to keep his way, Solomon kind of does his own thing. And he even starts to worship other gods. And at this point God's like, okay I've had enough. So 1 Kings 11 9 is how God responds. He says the Lord became angry. He didn't start off angry. He gave him plenty of chances. He became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. I think that anecdote of God appearing to him twice is in there because he wants to make it known that he was offering Solomon truly an invitation, not just to have stuff, but to actually get to know him. And this same invitation is for us. Sometimes when we think about blessing, we think about stuff. But God's invitation is for us to actually get to know him. I'm going to go out on a crazy limb and say that I think Solomon asked for the wrong thing. I think when God asked Solomon, hey what do you want? He asked for a really good thing. He asked for even a noble thing. He asked for something that impressed God. And yet I think it was wrong. And I think it was wrong because he got confused about the difference between a gift and a blessing. See, the real blessing is not just the gift, but the giver of the gift. See, Solomon ended his whole life with turmoil all around him. No matter how much wealth he had got for his country, it didn't matter because he ended in a worse place than when he started. The whole place was divided and awful. And this happened because he got hung up on the wrong thing. And see, it makes sense that we typically define blessing as stuff. Have you ever thought about that? We assume that the gifts actually means that we have the giver. Like if God's given me everything I'm asking for, then we must be good with me, right? Like if he gave me that job that I prayed for, or the grade that I needed, or even that girl or guy that I liked, then we good. It means that if I have his gifts, I have the giver, right? See, the problem with that definition of blessed is that when we don't have all

the stuff that we ask for, when we don't get every single thing in our time, it might lead us to believe that we're no longer blessed. But see, that cannot be further from the truth because to be truly blessed, it means that we simply have him. I think Solomon asked for the wrong thing. I think when God gave him the opportunity, he should have simply just said, God, I just want you. I'm actually just interested in getting to know you because if I get to know you, then I will have everything I need. Maybe not everything I want, maybe not all the things I'm supposed to have on paper, maybe not everything that's happening on TikTok, but I have every single thing I need because I have you. See the Bible backs this up because when it talks about being blessed in the Bible, it does not mention stuff earlier, I mentioned that Solomon had a dad and his name was David and David did a whole lot of writing and Part of his writings was all about being blessed. He says blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven Blessed is the man who is against who the man who against the Lord does not count his sin Blessed is the one who trusts in him blessed is the man who takes refuge in him blessed are those who seek him with their Whole heart see what it actually means to be blessed is to have God and to have the fullness of God and The good news for me and you friends is that he offers it to us the same way He offered it to Solomon not once but twice See this this meaning of the word blessing The root primitive word of that the Hebrew word Actually means to cause to kneel See when you're actually blessed you get so overwhelmed that you are caused to kneel Now there's only one thing that can really cause us to kneel and that is the true presence and the power of God because it's the only appropriate response of respect and Adoration to him when we see our favorite football players kneeling on the field or maybe bowing their head It's out of a sign of respect for what's happening around them Whether it's the national anthem or whether somebody got hurt they take a knee See to be blessed means to actually be caused to kneel to God in adoration

To realize that he's more than just his stuff To realize that yeah He absolutely wants to give you good gifts because that's just who he is and he loves you and he will give you those gifts Even if you're not good, that's how good he is But more than the gifts he wants us to just know him This is definitely part of my story It's the end of the year. And so the end of the year brings a time of natural reflection, right? It's 2025 We're going in 2026 and so naturally I'm reflecting on the end of the year and I gotta tell you It's not the most exciting time for me because I'm reflecting on a crap ton of loss like so much loss and that loss has come in the form of mostly friendships and That's heartbreaking to me. Not just because oh shoot. I lost a friend whoop-dee-doo. No, no It's heartbreaking because I feel like a few years earlier. I specifically prayed to God for friends and Here we are a few years later and I'm losing those friends some of that's just life Some of that's just the nature and the course and being in a different life pace, but it doesn't matter The reason what matters is that it sucks it sucks a lot and That's the reality. Am I blessed when I have friends? Am I blessed when I don't have friends and that's a question worth answering because not only am I dealing with that loss But that time has also come at a time when I feel like have felt in 2025 And I'm at the most driest spiritual season of all time And if you don't know what a dry spiritual season is It's just kind of like days when you're like, man, I'm doing the Bible reading but I'm kind of getting nothing I'm doing the prayer thing, but it's at this point out of habit I'm asking God to show up and I feel like he's legit just not showing up You see even though I had this loss as I'm reflecting I still see that throughout 2025 It's also the things that brought me right back to my knees It brought me right back to him because I didn't have anywhere else to go So I had to go to him to say hey God, I need you to be a friend to me right now Now I'm not saying that all the horrible things in our lives all the hard things in our lives are just blessing and we just Look at that and pull up our bootstraps and be good Christians. That's not what I'm saying. In fact, I'm saying the opposite

I'm saying it didn't quite look like a blessing in the beginning But often the thing that we need that brings us to our knees that brings us closer to him The way that we've got to get there that might suck but on the other side of that is what it truly means to be blessed Because I have more of him and that same invitation is for us In the Christmas story we talk about the Magi these wise men these people who came to bring gifts to God And this is a super unique moment in the story Because it kind of feels a little bit out of place if you come familiar with the Christmas story Everybody's worshiping but here are these dudes that we know nothing about in fact history tells us nothing about them And if they're the wisest men at the time, why are there no other books written by them? Why does nobody mention them? But you know what their height of their life was the most important thing that they did Was worship it was being brought to to their knees realizing that the blessing was in the person Jesus. It was in realizing that God actually gave us his greatest gift that he could give us when he gave us his full son. He transferred all of his assets to us so that we could have full access, not just now, but literally forever with God. That's incredible. So we have not only the greatest gift, but we also can live a life that's blessed simply because we know him. In Matthew 2, 11, it says the wise men going into the house, they saw the child with Mary and his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. In opening their treasure, they offered him gold and frankincense and myrrh. We ain't got no gold, I ain't got no frankincense, and maybe you ain't got no myrrh.

But the wise men really had something locked in that the beauty about truly being blessed and kneeling and realizing that the blessing is the presence of God, it means that we can actually bless God back with our own life. See, Solomon chose not to do that, but just like the writer of the Psalms, just like the Magi, you and I have an opportunity that Solomon wasted away, and we get to do it over and over again because of Jesus. We get to come to him and say, God, I just want you. Because if I have you, I know you know my needs. I know that you anticipate even my wants. And more than that, you love me. So the good news tonight is that we can all, in 2026 and for the rest of 2025, wherever you are watching this, whatever site you're at, if you watch this way later, the gift of where you are that God has given us is that you and I get to say to him, God, I just want you. And how would our year be different? How would the rest of our year be different if we changed our perspective from gifts to the true blessing? So God, thank you so much for revealing yourself through the person of Jesus. Thank you that we have an opportunity to get to know you. And maybe we just need to know you for the first time to try you out and see if you are as good

as everyone is saying you are. God, would you open our hearts, open our minds, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.