Fully Alive in Christ

What does it look like to measure spiritual health by the fruit Jesus is growing in us—not by performance, busyness, or our own instruments?

In Week 01 of the Service Practice, Andy Southmayd begins with Jesus’ words: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45). He invites us to examine how we measure our spiritual temperature, then points us toward the fruit of a life rooted in Jesus: joy, hope, peace, love, and practical care for others.

Service is not simply adding more activity. It is being with Jesus among the needs of others, becoming like Jesus through self-giving love, and joining His mission by meeting practical needs—especially the needs of people who need help.

Practice with us: notice one need around you this week and ask Jesus how you can respond with simple, tangible love.

In Week 04 of the Community Practice, we consider what it means to stay together to grow. Community is not built on identical preferences, but on shared apprenticeship to Jesus. Deep relationships take time, vulnerability, forgiveness, and a willingness to remain present through imperfection and conflict. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 3:1–4, this teaching invites us to choose faithful presence and to seek healthy endings and reconnection when a season changes.

What if telling the truth about our lives is part of how we experience deeper community?

As we continue the Community Practice, we’re learning to bring what’s hidden into safe, trusted relationships where we can receive grace and pray for one another. Confession doesn’t mean oversharing with strangers. It means learning to tell the truth with people we trust.

Drawing from James 5:16, we’re examining the story shame tells us, the habits and attachments beneath our behavior, and what’s happening in our hearts as we learn to follow Jesus together.

This week’s practice is to find a trusted person and confess your sin. Ask the Holy Spirit what He wants to bring into the light, then make time to talk and pray with someone you trust. Begin with what He brings to your attention; you do not need to disclose everything at once. As we receive someone else’s confession, we can listen with compassion rather than shame or a rush to fix.

The Community Practice - Week 03. Recorded October 18, 2026.

Resources: https://lwrv.org/practices/

What helps an ordinary meal become a place of deeper friendship? Ryan Rhoden continues the Community Practice with an invitation to share our joys and sorrows around the table.

Drawing from Jesus' shared meal with His disciples and His vulnerability in Gethsemane, Ryan explores the importance of celebrating together, telling the truth about our lives, and allowing trusted friends to help carry our burdens. He also shares the simple meal rhythm that has helped his family experience connection and care.

This week, gather for a meal, put your phones away, and share a high and a low. Consider bringing a deeper struggle to a trusted friend who can listen and pray with you.

Living Waters Rogue Valley • October 11, 2026

Practice resources: https://lwrv.org/practices/

Coming to church on Sunday matters, but we can attend and still not be known. In this teaching on the Community Practice, we explore Jesus’ invitation into a new kind of family, one where people share life, carry burdens, and help one another grow. We look at four circles of community, from close friendships and kin to our wider church family, and why following Jesus is not something we do alone.

The practice begins around a table. Share a meal with someone this month: invite them over or accept an invitation, put your phones down, and enjoy being together. No strings attached and no pressure to become best friends. Just a small step toward life with Jesus and one another. If you can, make room for a second meal this month too.

Ryan Rhoden leads a practical workshop in inductive Bible study using Paul’s letter to Philemon. Building on SCOPE and the interpretive journey, he models how to observe a passage closely, understand its original setting, trace its central truth, and consider how to live it today.

Bible study is not about accumulating knowledge or doing someone else’s thinking for them. It is an invitation to know and love Jesus more deeply. Ryan encourages us to bring our questions, study prayerfully, and share what we discover with one another.

This week, choose a passage that has been resonating with you. Study it thoughtfully and prayerfully, then share what you are learning with someone else. As a community practice, pray one Psalm each morning, reading slowly and responding line by line.

Learn more: https://lwrv.org/practices/

Knowing Jesus doesn’t mean we’ve finished discovering who He is. This week, Ryan Rhoden invites us to approach Scripture with love, curiosity, and a willingness to be changed.

Building on the SCOPE practice, Ryan introduces a practical journey from understanding a passage in its original context to living out its truth today. Along the way, he explores why context brings depth to familiar verses and how study can lead us toward connection rather than pride or performance.

Choose a passage, bring your questions, and share what you’re learning with someone else. The goal is to know Jesus more and let that relationship shape everyday life.

This week, Ryan introduces the SCOPE practice for reading Scripture with a heart aimed at surrender.

SCOPE stands for Scripture, Context, Observation, Prayer, and Experience. We begin by reading slowly and prayerfully, then consider the original context and author’s intent. From there, we observe what the passage and the Holy Spirit are highlighting, turn it into prayer, and ask how we can live it out in our everyday lives.

Scripture is not meant to remain information on a page. It leads us to Jesus, the living Word, and forms us into people who look more like Him.

What is your relationship with the Bible and what would it look like to meet Jesus there?As Living Waters begins the Scripture Practice, we invite you to read slowly, prayerfully, and with hearts open to surrender. Whether you bring curiosity, confidence, doubt, or painful experiences with Scripture, you can begin honestly with Jesus.Looking at Jesus in the temple, His temptation in the wilderness, and His conversation with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we explore Scripture as a place of encounter and formation not simply information or a religious checklist.This week, begin with a short passage each day. Choose a consistent time and place if you can, and ask Jesus to meet you there.

This week, John Eaton closes our Generosity Practice by exploring the truth that all we have belongs to God.Generosity is more than money. It includes our time, attention, abilities, relationships, forgiveness, possessions, and even ourselves. Looking at Acts 4, John shows us the early church living as stewards rather than owners—holding their resources with open hearts and open hands so that no one among them was in need.Having more than we need is not wrong. But abundance becomes good when it is entrusted to Jesus and stewarded according to His heart. Good stewardship means submitting what we have—and who we are—to the One who knows better than we do.This week, take inventory of one area of your life—money, time, your home, skills, influence, or even yourself. Ask, “Lord, how do You want me to steward what You’ve entrusted to me?” Then take one concrete step of generosity or sharing in that area.