Fully Alive in Christ

True identity forms as we bring our full, unfiltered selves before God: the good, the bad, and the parts we’d rather hide. Not because He doesn’t already see them, but because we don’t always trust that He loves all of it. Scripture reminds us that our core identity is this: beloved sons and daughters, adopted into family through Christ and that isn’t a side message, it is the Good News.

Yet many of us live chasing identity instead of living from it. We look for worth in what we do, what we have, or what others think, managing our image while hiding our mess—even from God. When love has felt conditional or earned, shame quietly takes root, and questions like Am I enough? Am I lovable? begin to shape our inner world.

To survive, we form a false self—a version of us designed to protect, impress, or fit in. It’s understandable, but it fragments us, pulling us into different versions of ourselves depending on the moment. Healing doesn’t come from fighting or destroying this self, but from understanding it and bringing all of us into the presence of a Father who says, “You’re safe now. You don’t have to hide.”

Intimacy is the inception and culmination of Scripture, woven throughout its entirety—from creation, to covenant, to the cross (the veil torn), to the Upper Room, and the Gospel of the early church. It reflects God’s unchanging desire to love us and make Himself known to us. He is the God who walks with us in the Garden, longing for communion with His creation.As we reflect on this marker in our year, let us be reminded of God’s passionate pursuit of us and His constant invitation to our hearts to be safe, set free, and fully satisfied in Him.In His pursuit, God—through Jesus—removed every obstacle, broke every chain, defeated every enemy, and forgave every sin so that, at the end of His victory, nothing would remain that could separate us from Him.

As we step into 2026, we look to Joshua 3 and the moment God’s people stood at the edge of the Jordan River—facing an unknown future and learning to move forward by following His presence together. This message invites us to shift from individual faith journeys to a shared one, rooted in trust, unity, and obedience.

God forms His people not in isolation, but in community. Like a grove of trees sharing one root system, our strength comes from being deeply connected beneath the surface. This teaching calls us to deepen our roots with God and with one another, trusting Him to lead us where we have never been before.

On the final Sunday of 2025, we gathered a little differently. Instead of rushing ahead, we paused to reflect, remember, and give thanks for what God has done this past year.

Drawing from Joshua 3–4, we revisited the moment when the Israelites stood at the edge of the Jordan River, called to follow God’s presence into unfamiliar territory. After experiencing a miracle, God instructed them to build a memorial stone so they would never forget His faithfulness and so future generations could hear the story.

In this message, we’re invited to do the same:

• To look back and remember where God showed up in 2025

• To treasure those moments, just as Mary pondered God’s work in her heart

• To carry testimonies of God’s faithfulness as we step into a new year

• To follow God’s presence into places we’ve never been before

As we prepare for 2026, this is a moment to pause, give thanks, and realign our hearts with the Lord—trusting that the same God who led us this far will continue to guide us forward.

Merry Christmas. On this fourth and final Sunday of Advent, we turn our attention to God’s unending love—a love that did not remain distant, abstract, or untouchable, but took on flesh and bone and came near.

Advent invites us to slow down and remember the story of Jesus’ coming: Hope. Peace. Joy. Love.

Not as ideas, but as a Person.

This message explores the deepest truth of Christmas: Immanuel — God with us.
A God who was once experienced as “above” and unapproachable draws near in Jesus, enters family life, touches the fearful, restores the broken, and ultimately comes to dwell within us by His Spirit.

We reflect on:

• Why humanity’s deepest longing is not for answers, success, or control—but for God Himself

• How Jesus reveals the Father fully and completely

• What the incarnation tells us about love, family, and belonging

• How the Christmas story moves from God above us → God with us → God within us

• Why the birth of Jesus is not just a celebration, but an invitation

We also look closely at the nativity story through the lens of Scripture and first-century culture, discovering that Jesus was born not in isolation, but into family—pointing to God’s heart to place the lonely into families and reconcile us into His own.

This message reminds us that Christmas is not about behavior modification or religious striving. It is about receiving love—a love wide and long and high and deep, a love that heals, restores, and sends us back into the world as carriers of that same love.

As we close Advent and step into Christmas, the invitation remains: Open your heart. Say yes. Receive the God who came for you—and now lives in you.

#Advent #Christmas #GodWithUs #Immanuel #Love #Incarnation #LivingWatersRogueValley #AdventSeries #Jesus #ChristmasMessage

The Advent season meets us honestly. Some of us feel the sparkle of Christmas; others feel the ache. Many of us feel both at the same time. In this message, we pause to name that reality while leaning into the deep truth of Advent: Jesus is our Joy.

In Luke 2, angels step into a dark field and announce “good news of great joy for all people.” But what kind of joy is this—and how do we experience it when life feels overwhelming, painful, or uncertain?

This teaching explores:

• What the angels meant by “good news” (euangelion) in the first-century world
• Why the joy announced at Jesus’ birth is described as mega joy—intense, deep, and transformative
• Why joy feels so hard in our modern lives shaped by fear, grief, negativity, and information overload- What the gospel is (and what it is not)
• How eschatological joy—joy anchored in God’s future—changes how we live in the present
• Why joy is not the absence of suffering, but a discipline practiced in the middle of it

If joy has leaked out over the years, if this season feels heavy, or if you’ve never said yes to this King of Great Joy, this message is for you.

Scriptures referenced:

• Luke 2:8–11
• Philippians 4:4–8
• Luke 1:46–55

#Advent #Joy #GoodNewsOfGreatJoy #JesusOurJoy #ChristmasSeries #LivingWatersRogueValley #Philippians4 #Luke2 #AdventSeason

This week we stepped into the Advent theme of Peace, but not the thin version of peace we often imagine. In Isaiah 9, Jesus is called the Prince of Peace, and the angels in Luke 2 proclaim “peace on earth.” Yet when we look at our world, our culture, or even our own homes, it often feels like the opposite.In this message, we explore the deeper biblical meaning of shalom—a word that goes far beyond the absence of conflict. Shalom means wholeness, harmony, restoration, and everything broken being made whole again. It is personal, relational, social, and cosmic. And it’s the kind of peace Jesus came to bring.

We talk about:

• Why “peace” can feel impossible in a fractured world
• The difference between calm circumstances and true shalom
• How Jesus’ kingdom is increasing even in places of grief and struggle
• What it means that of His peace there will be no end
• How we live as ambassadors of peace in a world desperate to experience it

The first week of Advent leads us straight into the tension we all feel: we’re people living between promise and fulfillment. Scripture shows generation after generation waiting in the dark for God to move and when the Light finally breaks in through Jesus, we see the shaping power of hope.

In this message we explore:

• Why Advent begins with waiting
• How the 400 “silent years” form the backdrop of Jesus’ arrival
• The messy human experience of hoping for what hasn’t yet come
• The stories of Zachariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna
• How hope shapes us, not after the waiting, but in it
• Why Jesus’ coming reframes our deepest questions and disappointments
• How we open our tables, time, and generosity to embody Hope this season

If your story right now carries longing, silence, unmet hopes, or deep questions, we invite you to watch this teaching. Advent gives language to the in-between places we often don’t know how to name.

“We live in unshakable hope of the coming dawn.”

This week at Living Waters, we closed our Foundations series by exploring a Kingdom perspective on the end times — one rooted in Jesus’ words, historical context, and the unstoppable hope of His Kingdom.

So many of us grew up with fear-based teaching about the end: tribulation, escape plans, rapture anxiety, the Antichrist, and a world destined to fall apart. But what if Jesus meant exactly what He said in Matthew 24? What if the “great tribulation” He described was fulfilled in A.D. 70, just as He promised it would happen within that generation? And what if that changes everything about how we see our future?

In this message, Ryan walks through:

🌿 A fresh look at Matthew 24 through the eyes of the disciples

🌿 Historical events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem

🌿 Why Jesus’ warnings mattered for the first century—and what they mean for us today

🌿 How fear-based futurism has shaped modern Christianity

🌿 Why a Kingdom worldview leads to hope, mission, and courage

🌿 How the Gospel frees us to believe that things can get better, not worse

If the Kingdom really is increasing…

If Jesus really is reigning…

If His government has no end…

Then our future is filled with purpose.

This week in our Foundations series, we explored what it means to be Kingdom People—a Spirit-filled community called and empowered to represent God to the world.

From Babel to Pentecost, Scripture tells the story of a God who restores what was divided. At Pentecost, His Spirit was poured out on all people—sons and daughters, men and women—empowering each one to carry His presence and proclaim His Kingdom.

At Living Waters, we believe that men and women are equally created in God’s image, equally redeemed by Jesus, and equally empowered by the Spirit. Together, we reflect the fullness of His heart and mission.