What You Build On and What You Build With: Harris Creek's Family Reunion Message

Meta Description: Pastor JP unpacked 1 Peter 2 at Harris Creek's Family Reunion, showing us that God is building something eternal — and he's building it out of us. URL Slug: what-you-build-on-and-build-with-harris-creek Featured Image: A wide-angle outdoor photo of the congregation gathered at Family Reunion 2026, with the building site or property visible in the background — capturing the community and the vision together.

There's something powerful about gathering as one body under the open sky, surrounded by people you do life with. That was the atmosphere at Harris Creek's Family Reunion 2026 — and it set the perfect stage for a message that will stay with many of us long after the food trucks closed and the music faded.

Pastor JP took the stage and delivered a sermon that was equal parts grounding and galvanizing. His message was simple on the surface but rich underneath: what you build on matters, what you build with matters, and how you live as what God is building with really matters.

The Building Isn't the Point — But the Building Helped Make the Point

Harris Creek is in the middle of a significant construction initiative, and Pastor JP used that real-world context as a compelling entry point into Scripture. He shared that the church has been doing soil sampling on their property — drilling into the ground to understand what they're building on before determining what they'll build with.

Then he said something worth pausing on: "You have to know what you're building on to determine what you're going to build with."

He quickly pivoted, though, to make clear that the physical building was never really the point. "The building that will soon exist where you're sitting one day will not exist," he said plainly. "It will fall. It will be ruins." But what's built inside that building — the lives transformed, the people changed — those things last forever.

That reframe set the entire sermon in motion.

The Cornerstone That Changes Everything

Pastor JP anchored his message in 1 Peter 2:4–5, where the Apostle Peter writes:

"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."

He walked us through the ancient significance of a cornerstone — the first stone laid in any foundation, the stone that every subsequent brick is aligned to. Everything built after it is measured against it. Everything depends on it.

"We're not building on cultural coolness here," Pastor JP said. "We're not building on the latest, greatest worship. We're building on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ. Everything we do starts with looking at him closely and carefully and making sure that what comes out of this place looks like him, smells like him, talks like him, leads like him, parents like he would, loves their spouse like he would."

That's the standard. That's the cornerstone.

Living Stones — Not Isolated Ones

One of the most memorable moments of the morning came when Pastor JP invited a group of kids up front to build two structures — one on a cinder block foundation, one on a more unstable base — using whatever supplies were available. As the kids built, he named what each foundation represented: cultural relevance, comfort, personal preference, tradition.

The contrast was vivid and immediate. And the lesson landed: a church built on anything other than Jesus Christ simply won't last.

But Pastor JP didn't stop at the foundation. He pressed into the material God is building with — and that material is us. He reminded us that Peter calls believers "living stones," not isolated ones. "An isolated stone is worthless," he said. "It's not doing anything." We were created to be built up together — in life groups, in service, in community.

How You Live as His Bricks Matters

This is where the message became deeply personal. Pastor JP turned to Romans 12:1–2, where Paul writes:

"In view of God's mercy, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."

He made it practical and pointed: "What are you thinking about when you're driving down the road? That will tell me what you believe about God."

He used a memorable illustration — one only he could pull off — comparing the transformation God works in us to the difference between a cucumber and a pickle. "I hate cucumbers," he admitted. "I love pickles." His point? A pickle is a transformed cucumber. And that's how the world should see our lives: not just changed in label, but changed in substance. Different in how we argue, how we parent, how we pursue purity, how we show up in a locker room conversation, how we love our spouses.

"You don't need to be cool. You don't need to be accepted. You don't need to be popular — because you're loved by God and you're his children, and you're the brick that he's building something out of."

A Celebration of Life Change

The sermon flowed beautifully into one of the most moving parts of the morning: baptisms. Pastor JP framed baptism through the Greek word baptiso — the same word used to describe what happens when a cucumber becomes a pickle. Full immersion. Total transformation. An outward declaration of an inward change.

Dozens of people were baptized at Family Reunion 2026, each one a living stone being added to what God is building at Harris Creek. Watching that unfold in the context of the morning's teaching made the theology tangible in the best possible way.

What We're Taking Home

Pastor JP closed with a prayer over the church and over the very ground where the congregation sat — asking God to fill future seats with neighbors, unbelieving family members, and people far from him who would one day be transformed just like those baptized that morning.

Three truths from Sunday that are worth carrying into the week:

• The church is built on Jesus Christ — the cornerstone rejected by the world but chosen by God.
• God is building his church out of us — living stones, built up together, not in isolation.
• How we live as his bricks matters — at work, at home, in marriage, in community.

If you weren't able to join us at Family Reunion, we'd love for you to watch the full message and share it with someone who needs to hear it this week. And if you're not yet connected to a life group — a place where living stones are built up together — now is a great time to take that step. Reach out to us and we'll help you find your people.

Social Media Excerpt (Facebook/Instagram): What are you building on? This Sunday at Harris Creek's Family Reunion, Pastor JP unpacked 1 Peter 2 and reminded us that God is building something eternal — and he's building it out of us. Don't miss this one. Link in bio. 🙌

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