The churches Jesus builds are not built by programs, platforms, or personalities. They are built by people who worship upward, disciple inward, and reach outward. This past Sunday, Pastor Chip brought a message from the book of Nehemiah that answered the question every church needs to ask.
The Question That Changes Everything
Pastor Chip opened with a statement that landed quietly but deeply. Jesus promised he will build his church. He just did not promise he would do it here, or with any specific church. In America alone, 85% of churches are plateaued or declining. Thousands close every year. So the question is not whether Jesus is building his church somewhere. The question is whether your church is the kind of church he loves to build.
He also flipped the common order people put things in. Most people say, Jesus, once you build my life to a certain point, then I will build your church. But Jesus said the opposite in Matthew 6:33. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added. When you prioritize building his church, Jesus builds your life. That is the promise.
The church is not just another organization. It is a spiritual hospital for the sick, a family for the saved, and an army for the sent. There is nothing more important happening on the planet.
Three Legs of a Church Jesus Loves to Build
Pastor Chip brought out a tripod to illustrate. Engineers will tell you that an object needs at least three legs to stand without a base. One is not enough. Two is not enough. It takes three. The church of Jesus Christ stands on three pillars.
The three words are upward, inward, and outward.
He showed what happens when a church only has two of the three. A church that is only upward and inward becomes member-focused. A church that is only inward and outward loses the gospel. It becomes people-focused without the truth. A church that is only upward and outward produces passionate people who never go deep. They are lost-focused without roots.
A church that is upward, inward, and outward, one that worships, disciples, and reaches, is the kind of church Jesus loves to build.
Upward: A Church That Worships
The book of Nehemiah opens with a broken man receiving devastating news. Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to the king of Persia when his brother came back from Jerusalem with a report. The wall was broken down. The gates were destroyed by fire. The city was still in ruins a hundred years after the exile began.
Nehemiah’s response was immediate. He sat down. He wept. He mourned for days. He fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Pastor Chip connected that grief to the present moment. Looking at our own country, 250 years after its founding on biblical principles, he described what he sees. Division, loneliness, anxiety, addiction, violence, and a culture deeply confused about truth, identity, and family. He said plainly, I feel like Nehemiah.
But here is the call. Do not let the sin of our country push your head down. Let it lift your head up in prayer. The number one thing you can do to make a difference in your country is to build the church of Jesus Christ. Because the church is where people find real unity, real peace, real love, and real truth.
Worship is the foundation of it all. When we lift our eyes upward toward God, we become the kind of church he loves to build. Pastor Chip shared the story of running his neighborhood 5K and accidentally walking up his neighbor’s driveway because he was looking down at his phone the whole time. That, he said, is exactly where Satan wants our heads. Down. In the news, in the culture, in the world. Because when your eyes are fixed on God, there is nothing he cannot do through you.
Inward: A Church That Disciples
Nehemiah did not just pray and wait for someone else to act. He went. He saw the devastation for himself. He got his hands dirty. In Nehemiah 2:17 he gathered the people and said, come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem. Not you. Us.
Pastor Chip made the application personal. Nehemiah wanted to leverage his life for something bigger than himself. He believed everyone carries three desires. To be someone. To be building something. To be part of something bigger than themselves. Nehemiah found all three in rebuilding the city of God. So can you.
He pointed to the remarkable chapter 3 of Nehemiah, a full chapter of names of ordinary people who built the wall. Nehemiah’s own name does not appear because he did not want it to be about him. He wanted it to be about God working through his people.
The janitor at NASA during the Apollo program said it well. When President Kennedy asked what he did, the janitor said, I am doing my part of putting a man on the moon. That is the posture every person in the church can have. You are not just holding babies in the nursery. You are not just reading the Bible with teenagers. You are not just opening a door for someone. You are building the church of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus was on earth he never started a church, never planted a church, never preached in a church building. When he ascended to heaven he poured out his spirit on everyday ordinary people. He uses us. That is the plan.
Outward: A Church on Mission
The wall was going up fast. Then opposition came.
Sanballat and Tobiah showed up to jeer and threaten. Pastor Chip identified four weapons the enemy uses to stop a church on mission. Discouragement. Distraction. Deception. Division. He uses them all to pull the church’s hands off the work.
But Nehemiah’s people kept building. In Nehemiah 4:17, each person working on the wall labored with one hand and held a weapon in the other. Building and fighting at the same time. That is the posture of a church on mission.
The wall was completed in fifty-two days. Two and a half miles. Eight feet wide. Twelve feet tall. When the surrounding nations heard it was done, they were terrified. Because they knew it could only have happened with the help of God.
Pastor Chip made the distinction clearly. God does not want our community to be terrified of us. He wants them to be amazed. Amazed by a church that does not just gather on Sundays and go home unchanged. Amazed by people who love one another across every background, race, and story. Amazed by a community that keeps inviting, keeps sharing, keeps praying, and keeps going.
He closed with an email he received from a woman in the church. She keeps invite cards in her desk at work in Douglasville. A customer came in who had recently lost her husband, moved from Africa to start a business, had not been to church in a while. This woman grabbed a card, told her about the church, noticed her grief, and asked if she could pray with her. The customer said yes. They held hands. God moved.
That is the church Jesus loves to build. Not a program. Not a platform. A person, with a card, and a prayer, in an ordinary moment on an ordinary day.
There’s a Seat for You
Whether you are someone who has never felt like the church was for you or you have been here for years and need to remember why it matters, you belong here. We are a church that believes Jesus is still building. He builds upward, inward, and outward through ordinary people who are willing to show up.
Plan Your Visit and come see what God is doing here. Or take your next step and Get Connected with our church family. We would love to build alongside you.