Philippians 1:1-11 · Thanksgiving and Prayer

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.

The Fellowship of Joy
Philippians 1:3-11
Sermon
by James Merritt
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Ten years: a decade, 520 weeks, 3,652 days, 87,600 hours. A lot can change in ten years: less hair, more weight, deeper wrinkles. As I stand here this day, ten years to the day when I became pastor of this church, my mind is literally boggled at where I am today, and where we are today, and the journey we have made together over the last ten years.

As I struggled to discern the message I should bring this Sunday, I had several different texts and thrusts dancing in my head, when sitting at the Executive Committee Meeting in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, a dear lady got up and read one verse, Philippians 1:3, and the Lord impressed me immediately to preach this message.

First Baptist Snellville and the church at Philippi have so much in common, even concerning the time period when Paul…

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