During Christmas, we celebrate gifts that God has given us. As we saw from last week, every one of you has a gift that can be used for the Kingdom. The goal now is to allow that gift to be used.

All the time, we see people who use their gifts for themselves. We see athletes who try to get as much money as they can, so they can afford luxuriant lifestyles. Many of us have seen our favorite players leave because they wanted more money. We also see people who have great communication skills. Unfortunately, many of these people use their gifts in order to get more popularity.

In God’s economy, He gives gifts abundantly, with the hope that the receiver will continue to use the gift. Have you ever been in a situation when someone caught you off guard with a gift, and you did not have something to give them in return? Consider this: God has given us so much that we cannot even repay. He gave us His Son as a vulnerable baby in a manger. We can never hope to give back to God what He gave for us. Here’s the good news: He does not expect us to. He asks, however, that we share that gift with the world, and not just keep it to ourselves.

Have you ever received something that was just so good, you had to tell somebody? That’s what this is about. We have been given gifts that are extraordinary, gifts that have the power to change our lives, and that have the power to change the entire world. We have to go out and use them.

There’s a story of someone who did just this. It is the story of a man named Nicholas. You may have heard of St. Nicholas, and certainly the legend about him as Santa Claus has become something entirely different from what he truly was. However, if you read about his life, you will find that he had a gift. His gift was the blessing of wealth. Now, he could have used his wealth for himself, to enjoy life. However, he dedicated his wealth to God, and ended up using it to rescue people from poverty, as well as any negative choices made out of desperation.

As we said last week, every one of us has been given a gift we can use. Some of us are good athletes, while others are proficient at music. Some are good at communicating, while others can make things with their hands. Every single one of us has been given something. And we each have a choice of whether we will use it for ourselves or for the Kingdom of God.

So let’s brainstorm a bit…how can we take what we have been given, and multiply it to the world?