Philippians 1 kids' story & colouring picture

Paul and Timothy wrote to the church in Philippi
Paul was in prison, but he could still tell people about Jesus - Philippians 1
[This illustration is an original drawing by my dear friend "Chrissie D", one of the ladies from our church fellowship. Isn't she talented? I have only uploaded a 200x267pixel image, because although I think her drawing is wonderful, she owns the copyright, not me. If you love it and would like to use it with your own children or in a church kids ministry, please leave a comment. I'll ask "Chrissie D" if she wants to allow a full image to be available for download to interested parties, and get back to you.]

Do you remember the Philippians who Paul, Timothy, Silas and Luke told about Jesus?

Paul met Lydia by the river, and when she heard the good news about Jesus, she told her whole household, and they became Christians as well!

Later, Paul and Silas were in jail, and the jailer asked them how he could be saved. When the jailer heard the way to be saved through faith in Jesus, he told his whole family. All of the jailer’s family became Christians too!

It was a long time later that Paul was in prison again. This time he was in Rome, and he was being kept in chains. The chains kept Paul from going where he wanted. The chains kept Paul from seeing or talking to whomever he liked. But Paul was still thinking about telling people about Jesus.

While he was in prison, Paul remembered how the Philippians had been his partners in telling people about Jesus. As soon as Paul had told the Philippians about Jesus, they had told other people, and the good news about Jesus had spread and spread.
So Paul wrote a letter to the Philippians, letting them know he was thinking of them. Paul told them how he prayed thanking God for them. Paul thanked God for them telling others about Jesus.

But Paul knew that the Philippians might be frightened if they heard he was in prison again. So he wrote to encourage them to have joy. Paul told the Philippians that even though he was in prison, he could still tell people about Jesus. Paul couldn’t talk to people outside the prison, but the guards had to stay near to him, so he was able to talk to them about Jesus all the time! And they knew that it was because of his work for Jesus that Paul was in prison.

Paul wrote to let the Philippians know that when other people found out that Paul was in prison, they became braver and told even more people about Jesus! They were not frightened that they might be put in prison. Instead, Paul said these people were courageous and fearless.

Paul was filled with joy at the thought that so many people were hearing about Jesus, even though he was in prison.

:: Even when a bad thing happens, God can make good come out of it.

> We can try to see the good that God is bringing, just like Paul did.
> We can always tell people about Jesus, no matter what!
> Then we can thank God and have real joy.