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The River ChurchSermons

Joe Wilson · 21 Jul 2026

Joe Wilson · Tuesday, 21 July 2026 · 37:53 · 4,669 words

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

The sermon examines Philippians 1:1‑11, extracting three points. First, it calls believers to find joy in partnership by putting others before themselves and celebrating each other’s victories. Second, it affirms God’s promise to complete the good work He began, urging trust in His faithfulness and a readiness to receive and give encouragement. Third, it challenges listeners to surround themselves with people who spur them toward righteousness, to be doers of the Word, and to prepare for spiritual battle. The closing invitation asks anyone without Christ to trust Him now.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

prepare 16 encourage 26 ambush 7 philippi 7 sister 12 brother 16 philippian 10 spiritual 14 tonight 8 partnership 3 located 3 brotherhood 3

Topics

Prayer 3 Salvation 1 The Gospel 1 Sin 1 Righteousness 1 Faith 1

Scripture referenced 24

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Philippians 1 1:19 Philippians 1:1-11 5:59 Philippians 2:3 10:23 Romans 12:15 10:57 Psalms 138 17:42 Psalms 138:8 17:42 1 Thessalonians 5 18:19 1 Thessalonians 5:24 18:19 Hebrews 10:23 18:45 Proverbs 13:20 20:32 1 Corinthians 15:33 21:30 Proverbs 27:17 22:06 Ephesians 6:10-13 29:07 Ephesians 6:10-13 29:13 Proverbs 4 30:37 Proverbs 23 30:37 Romans 3 32:32 Romans 3:23 32:32 Romans 6:23 33:00 Romans 5:8 33:24 Romans 10:9 33:59 Romans 5:1 34:29 James 4:14 35:28 James 1:22 36:06

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 7 lines, 0:35. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey, everyone. My name is Mitchell, and thanks for checking out one of our sermons today.

We are so glad that you're here, and we want to connect with you and your family.

The easiest way for you to do that is to text RIVERCHURCH to 97000.

There you can ask questions, submit prayer requests, and even support the River Church financially.

At the end of the day, we just want to connect with you and be a blessing any way that we can.

You can also visit our website at theriverchurch.cc to learn more about us and what we have going on as a church.

Thanks again for joining us, and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

What is going on, everybody?

Oh, wow. Okay. I need a little more than that.

All right. All right. Who says we shouldn't be excited about hearing God's Word? Amen?

All right. Well, like Pastor Roy said, my name is Joe Wilson.

I have the privilege of serving as one of the deacons here at Waterford.

And, man, it's just amazing to be here with you all tonight.

What an opportunity to be able to share God's Word together.

What an opportunity to sit down and just be around people. Amen?

So, tonight, we get to look at the Church of Philippi.

Specifically, we're going to be looking in the book of Philippians 1-11.

And this thing is going to fall off all night because my ears don't work right.

So, but first, we go on. Can you all join me in prayer, please?

Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord, we just, we thank you.

We thank you for being our God.

We thank you for giving us the opportunity to come here tonight to share in your Word,

to get excited about your Word, to see what it is that you have for each one of us.

Personally, I pray that you give us eyes to see and ears to hear, Lord,

and give our hearts the ability to absorb what it is that you have for us.

It is in Christ's precious name that we pray. Amen.

All right. Good stuff.

So, if you'd like to open your Bibles or your phones, we're going to be in the book of Philippians.

Now, it's the 11th book in the New Testament.

And you're going to find it right between Ephesians and Colossians.

But, if you'd like, the verses are going to be right back there.

So, before we get started,

what I always like to do is I like to take a second and look at what surrounds the Scripture that we're going to look at.

So, we're going to ask ourselves, what is the book of Philippians?

Where was the Church of Philippi located?

Told you.

Who wrote it?

What's going on there?

Who were the recipients?

And why was it even written?

All right.

This is going to be my challenge for tonight.

All right.

This is my spiritual warfare.

So, let's take them one by one real quick.

The Church of Philippians.

The Book of Philippi was located, you guessed it, Philippi.

It was a Roman colony that was located in northeastern Greece, specifically the region of Macedonia.

All right.

The Book of Philippians, also known as the Letter or the Epistle of the Philippians,

was authored by the Apostle Paul somewhere A.D. 60, A.D. 62.

No quiz.

Just trying to create a picture for you.

And when you hear the word epistle, it's just meaning, it's just, it's nothing more than

an ancient letter.

Okay.

So, you'll hear us call it the book, the epistle, the letter.

Same thing.

And this may also be a good time to mention, when Paul wrote this, he was sitting in a

He was sitting in a prison facing a possible death sentence.

So, there's no pressure when he wrote this.

Now, as far as what was going on in Philippi, well, due to the fact they were a Roman colony,

so they were facing persecution.

All right.

They had their beliefs, and they were facing persecution for it.

All right.

And there's also some mention later on in the book of some internal conflict.

Not that any of us had any kind of experience with internal conflict.

Right?

Okay.

It's okay to fire back at me.

I like feedback.

All right.

I like feedback.

So, who was this letter addressed to?

When he wrote it, who was he sending it to?

All right.

So, it tells us in chapter 1, verse 1,

to all the saints, or the Christians, in Christ Jesus who were at Philippi,

with the overseers, also known as church leaders,

and deacons, which just means servants or ministers.

All right.

Why was it written?

All right.

So, Paul had a lot of gratitude for the Philippians' support in his ministry as he traveled around.

Encouragement to the Philippians for their faith.

Promoting unity within the church.

And a basic update on his own circumstances.

What's going on?

So, we said he was in prison.

He was facing a death sentence.

It's not like they could get on FaceTime or Skype or anything like that.

All this stuff had to travel by letter.

So, hopefully, that didn't overwhelm you.

I just kind of wanted to give you an overall thing.

I like to move around.

So, if we can go into the book of Philippians, we're going to read tonight's scripture.

And then, from there, we're going to go and we're going to unpack it.

So, Philippians 1, verses 1 through 11.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who were at Philippi,

with the overseers and deacons, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a greeting.

What a greeting.

Thank my God in all my remembrance of you.

Always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

And I'm sure of this, that he who began a good work in you

will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

It is right for me to feel this way about you all because I hold you in my heart.

For you are all partakers of me of grace, both in my imprisonment

and in the day of my death.

In the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment

so that you may approve of what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

So, what can we do?

What can we take away from all these verses?

What can we take away from this section of scripture?

And I'm going to be honest with you right now.

Not that I wasn't being honest with you before.

But sermon prep, preparing a message is always a struggle for me.

It's always a source of anxiety.

I'm concerned about doing it right.

I'm concerned about time.

I'm concerned about all these things.

All this pressure.

And it's basically a spiritual attack for me.

So, this time though, this time was the first time I didn't have to worry about

content, but about making it fit into the time frame.

So, all right.

So, I was able to take this.

God was able to show it to me that we're going to narrow it down to three main points.

And that doesn't mean that when you're reading the scripture that you might not pull out different points.

I'm just saying this is what was shown to me as this message was coming together.

Point number one.

Joy and partnership in the gospel.

We'll repeat verse four and five.

Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Now, when I looked at these verses, what immediately came to mind was brotherhood, sisterhood.

All right.

When I left the military, I truly, truly struggled with this.

I missed this.

I missed the void.

God drew me into the church and guess what?

I found it.

All right.

True brotherhood or sisterhood puts that brother or that sister before yourself.

Now, that's something that the world will go against, but you put that brother or sister before yourself.

Do we have a tendency to let our own personal circumstances rob us of the joy, rob us of that pure joy that we get to experience by seeing others grow, others prosper?

Or do we get stuck in that poor, poor, pitiful me zone and then we just lose it?

We don't get the joy that God has given us to see that brother and sister truly grow, to have victory over addiction, to have victory over sin.

Are we happy with that brother?

Are we happy for that brother or sister?

Or are we still stuck in our own doldrums?

The following verses just kind of really, really spoke to me with regards to this topic.

In Philippians chapter 2, verse 3, it says,

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself.

Do we grasp this?

Do we receive this knowledge that he's given us?

I think it's pretty important because if we don't, if we don't share in that joy,

we're truly robbing ourselves.

Also in Romans chapter 12, verse 15, it says,

Now, with the news Pastor Roy shared, this takes on a deeper meaning now.

It takes on a deeper meaning than it did a couple of days ago.

Rejoice with those who rejoice.

It doesn't say rejoice with others when you're happy.

It says rejoice with others when you rejoice.

Rejoice with those who rejoice.

Weep with those who weep.

Called to be there.

For our brothers and sisters.

So let's get direct.

And it's kind of who I am, so forgive me.

We'll talk later.

Are you trying to beat this thing called addiction?

The messiness of sin.

The struggles with anxiety.

Are you trying to beat it by yourself?

Are we trying to beat it by ourselves?

I know I've tried.

I mean, I don't even know how that works because I've failed every single time.

What's the definition of insanity?

Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

Do you have help in your life?

Do you?

Ask yourself that.

Be honest with yourself.

Do you have help in your life?

Has God put a brother or sister in your life to help you?

Have you accepted that help?

If you're serious, and only you can answer this,

have you asked God?

Have you asked God for help?

Have you prayed about it?

Ask him.

Ask him.

Tell him your feelings.

Get real.

Ask him.

Ask him to put that brother or sister in your life that will walk with you through the fire.

Do we surround ourselves?

With those who are just like-minded or those willing to walk beside us in recovery?

This is a big one because I've seen this over and over again.

I've looked in the mirror and seen this over and over again.

Man, it was easy for me to hang around other veterans that struggled with anger.

It was real easy for me because you know what?

They were angry too.

We could get angry together.

All right.

They didn't help me.

They fueled my anger.

Can't guess that was my struggle.

I struggled with it for years.

Can you relate in your own walk?

Whatever that might be.

Think about it.

Who are we hanging with?

Who are we letting speak into our lives?

Told you it was going to be the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I don't know any other way.

We got to accept those people in our lives that will encourage us to do better and to be better.

Not just those who want us to stay the same because it's easy.

Because man, I'm telling you right now, misery loves company.

I heard somebody.

Okay.

All right.

Brings us to point two.

God will bring to completeness.

Verse six says,

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Do we have confidence in God to do what he says he will do?

Do we have that confidence?

Well, we're here tonight, right?

So, I don't know why.

They always, everybody always says, well, what's the title of the sermon?

It's one of the things I struggle with.

So anyways, I came up with a title or it was given.

It was given to me, better off.

What you going to do?

I wondered if, okay, am I going to be able to fit this into the sermon?

Am I going to fit this into the message?

Well, this is a good spot.

What you going to do?

Are we going to accept his help, his being God?

Are we going to accept God's help, his encouragement?

And I'm not talking about just in a word or a head nod or a fist bump, but in action.

Are we just going to talk about it or are we going to do it?

Because guess what?

At some point, someone will pray to have you put into their lives and you will need to be the

encourager and not just the encouraged.

Believe that we're allowed to walk through some of the stuff we're walking through so we can help

others.

Now we talked about it.

It's a dual edged sword.

We need encouragement.

Anybody else need encouragement out there?

Because I do.

But you know what?

The other people need encouragement too.

So are we willing to not just be the encourage E, but the encourage R?

When you see somebody struggling, are we just going to get stuck in the point where it's like,

okay, well, it's about me at this point.

We talked about a little while ago.

We put our brothers and sisters before ourselves and then they in turn do the same thing.

All right.

What are you going to do?

Psalm 138 verse eight says the Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.

Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.

Do not forsake the works of your hand.

O Lord, your steadfast love endures forever.

Do we receive it?

We just read it.

Time to get real.

What are we going to do?

First Thessalonians chapter five, verse 24 says,

He who calls you faithful, he will surely do it.

I'm talking, he who calls you faithful, he will surely do it.

Talking about God.

God didn't say that.

Paul said that.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23 says,

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.

There it is again.

We need to accept it.

Point number three, encouragement.

And again, this one takes on a little bit deeper of a meaning tonight.

Verses nine through 11.

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment

so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of

Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory

and praise of God.

Do you hold closest to your, do you hold those who hold, do those who hold, all right, do

you, do you hang around with those who encourage you or do you hang around those that don't

discourage you or that do discourage you?

I got all messed up there.

What is excellent, pure and righteous?

Are we surrounding ourselves with those that are going to encourage us to be pure, to be

excellent and to be righteous?

You can answer that.

I know I haven't always been successful at that.

Proverbs 13, verse 20 says,

Who are we associating with?

Who do we call a brother and sister?

Are they benefiting or encouraging us?

Are we encouraging them?

Or are we taking the easy road because it's what we're comfortable with?

It's what we know.

I used that excuse for years.

You can ask my wife.

Well, it's who I am.

I was an angry person when you married me.

I don't want to change now.

That's easy.

That's easy.

So what are you going to do?

First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 33 states,

Do not be deceived.

Ruins good morals.

Starting to see a pattern here.

If you haven't picked up on it, who are we allowing to speak into our lives?

Who are we allowing to walk next to us?

Who are we walking next to?

How are we speaking into other people's lives?

This one's always been a favorite of mine.

Proverbs 27, 17 says,

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

What are we going to do?

Are we going to encourage?

Are we going to be encouraged?

Are we going to allow that to happen?

Are we going to allow God to work in our lives for others

and are we going to allow others to speak into our lives?

What are we going to do?

I always kind of look, put this in here and says,

well, as we sort of kind of maybe start to work our way to the end of this

because I kind of never know when it's going to end.

I feel like we're kind of on a roll here.

So I want to ask you these questions.

Do you take joy in others when they experience growth?

Take joy in others when they experience growth.

Or do you give your joy away due to your own circumstances?

Well, I can't be happy for them because look at what's going on in my life.

It doesn't mean you stop,

but it doesn't mean you shouldn't be happy for them as well.

Do you have trust that God will do what he says he will do?

If not, why?

Not why.

Do you nourish your relationships that consist of mutual encouragement?

Build on those.

Or do you just kind of let them happen on Sundays or Tuesdays?

But the rest of the week's mine, God, because I got control.

What are we doing?

What are you going to do?

Those relationships on the daily are important.

We can't ignore them.

We can't ignore.

And it's hard.

Sometimes you've got to walk away.

And that's hard.

I'm not saying it's easy, but I am saying it's necessary.

Well, God's saying it's necessary.

Here this year, I had the fortunate opportunity to attend a men's retreat.

I think there was 118.

I know Jamie was there.

I know some other guys might have been there.

And it was impactful.

I tried to get out of it.

Not going to lie.

I tried to get out of it.

So I thought I was.

Well, I walked in.

And to be honest, I was challenged then.

And I continue to be reminded.

So guess what?

I'm going to turn around and pay it forward and challenge you.

We talked about preparing for the inevitable spiritual ambush.

I'm telling you, this really got to me.

It challenged my way of thinking.

Because I thought, okay, once that battle starts, I'm pretty good working inside a battle.

Pretty good once the fight starts.

That's not the idea.

I mean, let's be honest.

Nobody likes to think they aren't prepared for an attack, spiritual or otherwise.

But I ask you, just as I ask myself,

are we ready for that spiritual ambush that not if, but when it will happen?

Are you spiritually prepared for battle?

Basically, that battle is whatever or whoever is drawing you away from God.

The idea that had to sink into my head was to prepare before the ambush actually happens.

That way you don't have to defend once it occurs.

You're prepared.

You're ready to go.

You've got your team around you.

You've got your brothers and your sisters that will encourage you in God's word.

One writer sums it up this way.

Preparing for a spiritual ambush means guarding your mind and fortifying your faith before unexpected trials hit.

You can prepare by grounding yourself daily in scripture, putting on your spiritual armor,

and surrounding yourself with a strong community of fellow believers.

Well, I was talking to a brother of mine who the Lord put in my life.

And we were talking about tonight and the message and the stresses and the anxiety.

And he said, "Joe, put your money where your mouth is."

I was like, "Okay, sounds like a battle to me."

But I was like, and then I started thinking about it because I know he loves me.

And I'm like, "Okay, I think, I think, I think I understand."

Because how many times have we heard or said, "I got this.

Oh, get ready for a failure.

I got this.

God's got me.

My brother's got me.

My sister's got me.

No, I got this."

All right, so I went through a time where there was anger and there was stress in my family who God put in my life.

Thankfully, they're like, "You need to talk to somebody."

I'm like, "No, I got this.

It's who I am."

So I talked to that brother and he encouraged me.

He encouraged me like you wouldn't believe.

And the thing is, it's not just me and that brother.

It's you and your brother, you and your sister.

Man, we got to receive it.

Get ready for a failure when we got, well, we got this.

I'll take that.

I'll take we got this.

Ephesians 6:10-13.

You might have heard this, but just in case, you have to listen.

It says in Ephesians 6:10-13, there's a verse that says, "Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm."

Prepare for that spiritual battle, prepare for that next avenue that we shouldn't be walking down.

Prepare for it, because in that moment, are we weak or are we strong?

I've always said when talking to people, talking to young couples, you know what, when you've got two people that are high and doing well, you're okay.

You've got one up, one down, good, one up, one down, good.

You get that time where the both people are down at the bottom, guess what, trouble comes, and we're all that close if we don't prepare for that spiritual battle.

That spiritual battle that's going to happen.

Proverbs 4, chapter 23 states,

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

So where are you at today?

Let's just tie it all together.

Where is everybody at today?

Where am I at today?

If you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, are you walking with Him daily?

Are you in His Word daily?

Are you putting on the armor of God daily?

Are you prepared for that spiritual ambush?

If yes, awesome, great.

Help someone who isn't.

Encourage them.

If no, it's okay.

Don't wait.

By the way, in case you're wondering, the definition of an ambush is a sudden surprise attack launched from a concealed or hidden position.

Guess what?

It won't announce itself with a date, time, and place.

You have to prepare now.

Maybe you're thinking, well, I don't have that relationship with Christ.

I know I should, but I just don't.

Let me reassure you.

Let me encourage you.

That can be resolved right here, right now.

There's some scripture that I want to share with you.

And if you've already, and you already have a relationship with Him, then it's a great time to check your foundation and be encouraged.

Better yet, encourage someone else.

Romans 3, Romans chapter 3, verse 23 states,

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

All of us.

That person that looks like they got it all together over there, guess what?

That means them too.

That pastor that's sitting in that office.

That pastor that's up there.

Yeah, guess what?

Him too.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans chapter 6, verse 23 states,

For the wages of sin is death.

For the wages of sin is death.

But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans chapter 5, verse 8 says,

But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Man, those aren't just words.

That's the truth.

I'm not just trying to convince you.

I'm trying to encourage you.

I'm trying to encourage myself.

But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, He died for us.

He loved us that much.

He loves us that much.

Romans chapter 10, verse 9 says,

Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart

that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Not maybe.

Not, well, if I do this.

No, you will be saved if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe

in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.

Romans chapter 5, verse 1 says,

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ.

Right here, right now, you can ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be the Lord of

your life.

Don't wait.

Don't wait.

We can all make excuses.

Don't wait.

We can resolve this right here, right now.

There are plenty of people in this room right here that would love to introduce you to Jesus.

I did this one for myself.

I'm going to share it because I think, actually, it's not this one.

It's the next one.

They're just kind of close.

James chapter 4, verse 14 says,

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

What is your life?

For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

And we don't know what's going to happen when we walk out those doors.

So if you don't know Christ, it's time.

It's time.

This is what I want.

I wanted to encourage you with because this verse speaks to me.

All verses speak, but this one hits the nail on the head for me.

James chapter 1, verse 22 states,

But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves.

Yeah, we talked about brotherhood.

We talked about sisterhood.

We talked about preparing for spiritual attack.

What are we going to do?

What are you going to do?

You're just going to hear it and say, cool.

Yeah, I got it.

I heard it.

What are we going to do with it?

Brothers and sisters.

I encourage you to prepare for spiritual ambush.

I encourage you to receive the encouragement from the people that God has placed in your life.

I encourage you to receive it.

Then I encourage you to encourage others.

Let's pray.

Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord, again, we just thank you.

We thank you for this awesome opportunity you've given us to come together and to hear from your word.

Lord, I pray that we truly receive.

The message you had for us tonight.

Lord, I thank you for each one that's here.

Protect them, guide them, save them, Lord.

It is in Christ's name we pray.