What Are You Building On? The Foundation That Changes Everything

Meta Description: What you build on matters. What you build with matters. Discover why the cornerstone of Jesus Christ is the only foundation worth building your life on. URL Slug: what-are-you-building-on-foundation-jesus-christ Featured Image: A wide-angle photo of a construction site foundation or a cornerstone being laid, with warm golden light — symbolizing something new and significant being built on solid ground.

We're building something here at Harris Creek. And I don't mean a building.

Yes, there's a physical structure coming — right where many of you were sitting during Family Reunion. The structural engineers are sampling the soil. The floor plans have faced north, south, east, and west until we found the right fit. There are a lot of meetings and a lot of back-and-forth happening right now behind desks. That's what building looks like in this season.

But here's the most important thing I want you to hear: one day, that building will not exist. It will fall. It will become ruins. Someone with a metal detector will find evidence that a structure used to stand there. Buildings are tools. They matter. But they are not what I'm giving my life for.

What God is building inside that building — inside all of us — will last forever. That's what I want to talk about.

What You Build On Matters: The Cornerstone

In 1 Peter 2:4-5, Peter writes this:

"As you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him, you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

Jesus is the living stone. He's not dead — he's alive. And he is the cornerstone on which everything is built.

A cornerstone is the first stone laid in a foundation. Everything after that — every brick, every wall, every beam — is aligned to it. You can't build without constantly looking back to the cornerstone to make sure what you're adding is straight, true, and supported.

We are not building Harris Creek on cultural coolness. We're not building it on the latest worship trends, on relevant preaching, on comfortable seats, or on preference and tradition. If we build on anything other than the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, it will not last. Some of you need to hear that in a fresh way — because somewhere along the way, it's easy to start wanting Jesus plus something else at the top of the list.

The church is built on Jesus Christ alone. Everything we do starts by looking at him carefully and making sure that what comes out of this place looks like him, leads like him, loves like he would.

What You Build With Matters: Living Stones

Here's the part that gets personal. Peter says we are the living stones being built into this spiritual house. And an isolated stone is worthless. It just sits there. It doesn't do anything.

We are not meant to be isolated. We are meant to be built up together — in life groups, in living rooms, in service alongside one another. That's not a program. That's the architecture of what God is building.

And how we live as his bricks? That matters deeply. Romans 12:1-2 puts it this way:

"In view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

I love the Greek word for baptism — baptiso. It's the same word used to describe what happens when a cucumber becomes a pickle. It's submerged, and it becomes something altogether different. I'll be honest with you: I hate cucumbers. I love pickles. And yes, I know they're technically the same thing — but a pickle is a transformed cucumber.

That's what the world should see in us. You're not like your other coworkers. Your marriage is not like the marriages around you. Your life group is not like other life groups. You've been changed. You talk differently. You argue differently. You parent differently. You stand apart in the locker room not because you're trying to be cool, but because you're loved by God and you don't need the world's approval anymore.

How We Live as His Bricks Matters

This is where it lands in everyday life. How you live as his brick at work, at school, in your marriage, in your singleness — it matters. What you think about when you're driving down the road by yourself will tell you a lot about what you actually believe about God.

Do you want to know the real measure of your faith? It's not what you say on Sunday. It's where your mind goes when no one is watching.

God is calling us to be transformed — not just to attend a service, but to become something different. To be a fragrant offering. To be the kind of people whose lives make others stop and ask what's different about them.

As I've continued thinking about this throughout the week, I keep coming back to this: the building is a tool. You are the point. The people who will sit in those seats one day — your neighbors, your unbelieving family members, your skeptical friends — they're coming because of what God is building in you right now.

Let's Keep Building Together

If you're not yet in a life group, I want to invite you into one. Isolated stones don't build anything. We need each other — not just on Sunday mornings, but in living rooms, around tables, in the hard conversations and the ordinary moments of life.

And if you've been on the fence about publicly declaring your faith through baptism, I want you to know: that step matters. It's an outward declaration of an inward transformation. It's you saying to the world — I've been changed.

Watch the full message from Family Reunion 2026 and share it with someone who needs to hear that what they're building on matters. And if you have questions about baptism or want to get connected to a life group, reach out to us. We'd love to walk with you.

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): One day the building we're constructing will be ruins. But what God is building inside it — inside all of us — will last forever. This past Sunday I preached from 1 Peter 2 about what it means to be living stones built on the only cornerstone that holds: Jesus Christ. What are you building your life on?

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