Philippians 1

This is our Sunday teaching from Pastor, Zac Carpenter. Recorded live at our service in Harris Academy Purley, Croydon on Sunday 29th June, 2025. Below you can find the full talk audio, and a summary article.

Want to lead a Connect Group session on this teaching? The notes are here!

Talk Summary - Filled with the Fruit

The letter to the Philippians opens not with complaint or despair—but with joy, gratitude, and deep affection. Paul writes from prison, enduring harsh conditions, yet his heart is overflowing with hope. How? Because he knows the fruit that comes through Jesus Christ.

This fruit isn’t manufactured by willpower or performance. It grows from a life rooted in the grace of God. Paul doesn’t speak of the “work” of righteousness, but of its fruit. That distinction matters. Fruit is cultivated. It takes time. It depends on connection to the source of life.

Philippians 1 paints a vivid picture of what this fruit looks like: thankfulness, joy, partnership, faith, perseverance, compassion, love, discernment. It’s beautiful—and it’s available. This is the life Jesus invites us into. It doesn’t mean hardship disappears. The Philippians faced illness, division, false teaching and disappointment. But through it all, Paul reminds them: God has started something in you, and he will bring it to completion.

The invitation to be “filled with the fruit of righteousness” is for every believer—whether you feel close to God or weary in your faith. It’s easy to slip into survival mode, trying to wring out the last drops of spiritual energy. But there is a greater supply. Joy is not a limited resource. It’s found in Jesus.

This fruit-filled life is not about adding more to our to-do list. It’s about surrendering to the One who transforms us. The story of the gospel is not about inviting Jesus into our plans—it’s about realising we’ve been invited into his. He leads. We follow. We belong not just to him, but to one another.

And the result? A life that points to something bigger. A life of quiet strength, deep joy, resilient love—and worship that overflows even in the storm.

“Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:11)