September series Week 1 "Jesus Is Still Building His House"
"Building His Church"
week 1: "Jesus Is Still Building The House"
Jesus said He would build His church — and He has not changed His mind about this house. This week we look at Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 2:19–22, 1 Corinthians 15:58, and Isaiah 54:2–3: Jesus is still the Builder, steadfast people do not live in the rearview mirror, and a house He builds becomes a house that makes room.
Memory Verse: Matthew 16:18 — And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Use these Table Talk guides with your small group this week.
Memory Verse: Matthew 16:18 — And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Use these Table Talk guides with your small group this week.
"... and the gates of hell will not prevail"
How do you hold onto faith when you can't see it yet?
Jesus Is Still Building His House · Champions for Yuma · Matthew 16:18 · September 6, 2026
Here is the thing worth knowing before anything else: God is answering. Not someday, not once you've earned it — right now, in the middle of the prayer you've been praying and the answer you haven't held yet.
Faith is not waiting around to find out whether God will move. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) The thing you can't see is already real. You're not hoping it might be true. You're standing on it.
Jesus said it plainly. Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church" (NIV) — and then the promise: "the gates of hell will not prevail against it." That's not a defensive statement. Gates don't attack anybody; gates are what hell hides behind.
The house Jesus builds is on the move. Paul carries the same confidence into Ephesians 2:19–22, where we are being built together, present tense, still rising.
Three things come out of it.
1) Jesus is the Builder and He has not changed His mind. The Builder's name is on the sign and the plans are on file — what He starts, He finishes.
2) Steadfast people keep their eyes forward. Paul tells the Corinthians their labor in the Lord is not in vain, and he means it as fact: heaven does not lose the file, and nothing given to God is ever lost.
3) A house Jesus builds is a house that makes room. Isaiah's picture — "strengthen the stakes, stretch the curtains" — is depth and welcome at the same time. It's a house being built wider on purpose, with space already framed in for people who haven't walked through the door yet.
That's the confidence. You are unfinished because God is still building, and that is mercy. Jesus is not disappointed in the work in progress. He's the One doing it!
Next step — Join us this Sunday at Champion Church in Yuma at 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM, or 11:30 AM. Or start at I'm New if you'd like to know what to expect before you come.
Champion Tables (small groups) meet at the church throughout the week, and the Table-Talk guides above download free (printed in English and Spanish.)
Don't forget: Our Pumpkin Patch outreach runs October 9–29 — bring somebody with you.
Jesus Is Still Building His House · Champions for Yuma · Matthew 16:18 · September 6, 2026
Here is the thing worth knowing before anything else: God is answering. Not someday, not once you've earned it — right now, in the middle of the prayer you've been praying and the answer you haven't held yet.
Faith is not waiting around to find out whether God will move. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) The thing you can't see is already real. You're not hoping it might be true. You're standing on it.
Jesus said it plainly. Matthew 16:18: "I will build my church" (NIV) — and then the promise: "the gates of hell will not prevail against it." That's not a defensive statement. Gates don't attack anybody; gates are what hell hides behind.
The house Jesus builds is on the move. Paul carries the same confidence into Ephesians 2:19–22, where we are being built together, present tense, still rising.
Three things come out of it.
1) Jesus is the Builder and He has not changed His mind. The Builder's name is on the sign and the plans are on file — what He starts, He finishes.
2) Steadfast people keep their eyes forward. Paul tells the Corinthians their labor in the Lord is not in vain, and he means it as fact: heaven does not lose the file, and nothing given to God is ever lost.
3) A house Jesus builds is a house that makes room. Isaiah's picture — "strengthen the stakes, stretch the curtains" — is depth and welcome at the same time. It's a house being built wider on purpose, with space already framed in for people who haven't walked through the door yet.
That's the confidence. You are unfinished because God is still building, and that is mercy. Jesus is not disappointed in the work in progress. He's the One doing it!
Next step — Join us this Sunday at Champion Church in Yuma at 8:30 AM, 10:00 AM, or 11:30 AM. Or start at I'm New if you'd like to know what to expect before you come.
Champion Tables (small groups) meet at the church throughout the week, and the Table-Talk guides above download free (printed in English and Spanish.)
Don't forget: Our Pumpkin Patch outreach runs October 9–29 — bring somebody with you.
Recent
September series Week 1 "Jesus Is Still Building His House"
September 7th, 2026
August series week 5 "In The Meantime"
August 31st, 2026
August series week 4 "Come Near"
August 25th, 2026
August series Week 3 "Two Fires"
August 17th, 2026
August series Week 2 "Real Faith Has Fruit"
August 10th, 2026
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