Philippians 1:1-11
On November 2, 2025, I started serving as the Interim Pastor at Odum Baptist Church in Odum, GA. I started that week preaching through the book of Philippians. This post is a blog-level summary of the first message. Each week I plan to post a couple of these that align with the messages I have already preached until I get caught up with the current message at which point I will post weekly after the full message is preached. Join me in praying for this amazing little church to find the perfect permanent pastor and until then pray that God will use me to bless and encourage them.
One of the great encouragements of the Christian life is this promise: God never abandons what He begins. What is true for individual believers is also true for churches.
When Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, he was imprisoned, uncertain about his future, yet remarkably joyful. His confidence wasn’t rooted in circumstances or church strength, but in God’s faithfulness. “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6).
That verse captures the heart of gospel fellowship.
From the very beginning, the Philippian church was formed by grace. God opened Lydia’s heart. He freed a slave girl from bondage. He transformed a hardened Roman jailer. Three vastly different lives were drawn together into one fellowship—not by similarity, but by the gospel. Grace united what society divided.
Years later, Paul could still thank God for them because their fellowship had not remained shallow. They partnered with him in gospel work. They stood with him in suffering. They shared in grace, not just in good times but in hard ones. True fellowship, Paul shows us, is not sentimental—it is sacrificial.
But gospel fellowship does more than connect believers; it changes them.
Paul prays that their love would keep growing—guided by knowledge and discernment—so that their lives would bear visible fruit. This is spiritual maturity: not perfection, but progress; not self-effort, but Christ at work within His people. The fruit that grows in believers’ lives ultimately points away from them and toward God’s glory.
That’s the simple but powerful truth of Philippians 1: gospel fellowship is God’s means of growing His people together. He begins the work by grace, deepens it through shared faith and love, and brings it to maturity for His glory.
The same God who began that work in Philippi is still at work today. And we can trust Him to finish what He starts—one heart, one church, one act of faithfulness at a time.
