“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”. [John‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬]

There is a beautiful balance born in living out our Faith (doing) and becoming children of God.  These concepts of becoming and doing are interconnected and dependent upon one another like so many other biblical paradoxes; life and death, success and failure, winning and losing.  You can’t have one without the other and in fact, they work together to build us in Christ.  So the question is, as you have grown in Christ what might it look like to live out your faith this summer?  Because if you’re not intentional, you will waste the summer death scrolling on your phone and end up taking a summer break from God.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?…“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” ‭‭[James‬ ‭2‬:‭14, 26]

I want to suggest that becoming a child of God is the most important step to being a “Doers of the Word” and being a “Doer” reflects who we are becoming.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But the one who looks into the perfect law…being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
[‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬, ‭25‬]

”Who you are is more important than what you do”. [Mike Young]   But what you do, reflects who you are.  So as we discuss the idea of living out our faith, we have to determine to what extent our faith has been worked into us.  For we cannot and should not share something we do not honestly possess.  For as often as a generation of Christ followers merely put on the external facade of Christ’s righteousness which has not been worked into their internal being, we model fraudulent and false faith.  Let’s us not become imposters or possers, but authentically children of God, so we can live out our faith with power and authority in Christs name.

““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
‭‭[Matthew‬ ‭23‬:‭27‬-‭28‬]

So, what does it look like for us to live out our faith?  As our discipleship group ends for the year, our process doesn’t have to end.  Let us run our own race with the endurance and look to Jesus for direction on the particular approach of living it out his summer.  Here are some ideas that I pulled out of Deuteronomy 6:1-10 to prime the pumps as you consider what your summer of living it out might look like:

1. Gather a small group and study Gods word together
2. Take someone out for lunch, coffee or ice cream and talk about what God has been doing in your lives.
3. Journal. Continue to write down your reflections on Gods word.
4. Be creative. Let your faith be reflected in your imagination and what you create with your hands.
5. Be blessed. Celebrate together. Host a meal at your house. Make music together and help others share in the blessing of unity through community.
6. Do the deep work of self reflection:

•  What do I see God doing?
• What is God calling me to?
• What of my character do I need to work on?

So pray and consider what the Lord might be doing in you and leading you to so that you might live out your faith in a real and tangible expression.  Next week we will pray and commission all of you to that work.