Here is our tenth memory verse, and of course it starts with the letter ”J”. Why not print it off, then learn it while you are colouring it in. Show your work to someone at home, and tell them the verse you have learnt. You could even send us a video of you saying it while holding your picture!
Click the picture below to get a full size version to send to your printer.
This is a good sunny day craft…with a bit of wind. Click on the picture below to print off the image, then follow the instructions. Then run!!!
Instructions:
Terms and Conditions
Please note that this is just a toy, and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the Windsock to show wind direction. Please do not depend solely on this Windsock when landing commercial or domestic aircraft. The designers of this Windsock cannot be held liable for any passing wind.
Here is a craft to help remind you that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Click on the picture to print off and colour in.
Fri 29th May – Read Philippians 3:15-18
V15: Paul says all mature believers should think like this – with the same awareness, desire and priorities he has just spoken of. Do we, I wonder? But he is confident that if any do not see things so clearly yet, God will reveal it to them, in His grace. He does this through His Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
V16: Above all, there must be no falling back. We must hold fast to the truth of God’s Word and to the Lord Himself – always by His own enabling grace.
V17: He calls the Philippians, and us, to follow his example, and that of other faithful believers ( like Timothy and Epaphroditus, in ch 2.) The “walk” is a frequent image of the Christian life for Paul – it speaks of our whole manner of life. May we look to and seek to follow good examples – and seek God’s enabling to BE good examples.
V18: By contrast, he warns them again against those whom he calls ” enemies of the cross”, meaning here not the openly hostile but those who profess to be Christians, even to teach others, yet actually depart from, and thus deny the truth, those he has spoken of back in verse 2. May we have true discernment, to know the truth and reject the influence of those who depart from it, whatever they profess.
Thurs 28th May – Read Philippians 3:12-14
V12: Even Paul was still a “work in progress” ( how much more are we!) This verse warns us all about being satisfied with our progress or “achievement” as Christians. We must always, like him, seek to “press on”, seeking always to know and to follow Christ better, the Saviour Who has “made us His own”, bought by His own precious blood. ( 1 Peter 1:18-19 )
V13: So Paul will not “rest on his laurels”, but strive by all that is in him to continue to grow, to move forward. The image is of an athlete, running a race, who must make every effort until the race is completed.
V14: Like that runner, then, eyes fixed on the finishing line which still lies ahead, he presses on for the day he receives ” the prize” – the full experience of the eternal salvation and joy which is his in and through Christ alone. But always remember, the prize in the Christian race is given, not “won”, and is for everyone who, by grace, is running that race. (2 Timothy 4:8 ) Yet the image he uses calls us to “strive” as if it depended on us, in our commitment to Christ, and to His “upward call”, away from the things of this world to the glory that waits for us.
Wed 27th May Read Philippians 3:9-11
V9: Now his whole life, his very identity, is ” in Christ”. He knows he can plead no righteousness of his own, he has none, a sinner before a holy God ( Romans 3:10-12 ) The law can only condemn him, not save him. Christ is the only source of righteousness for him or any human being, Whose righteousness is given to our account, as He bore our sins ( 2 Corinthians 5:21). We receive this through faith alone.
V10: Now all his desire is to “know Christ” – to know Him better, more and more each day ( for there is always more to learn of Him, from His Word and as we walk with Him by faith ), to know increasingly “the power of His resurrection”, the power of God which raised Christ from the dead, and is the source of our new life in Christ- and the only enabling for our own Christian lives and witness, and to know the privilege of ” sharing His sufferings” – surely, to suffer in His service, following him, even to the point of dying for Him. Paul already knows much of these things, but longs to know more! Do we, and do we count it a privilege to suffer for Christ? ( see Acts 5:41 )
V11: And he wants to have the living hope of the resurrection, in and through Christ’s redeeming death alone. None of this is or can be by his own efforts . Once he believed he could earn it, but that is the very position he has rejected, since knowing Christ, Rather when he speaks of ” attaining it by any means possible” he means that he would do anything to gain it if it depended on Him, and indeed he will strive as if it did, but thank God, its been done and achieved by Christ for him – and for us. All these verses continue to refute the false teaching he referred to in Philippians 3:2.
Tues 26th May – Read Philippians 3:5-8
V5: Paul emphasises his ” Jewish credentials “. All these false teachers sought to impose on Gentile believers, he once valued and claimed for himself, believing he would be right with God through his own works, and by his clear Jewish ancestry and identity, and his zeal as a Pharisee ( which elsewhere he calls “the strictest party of our religion” – Acts 26:5).
V6: In that zeal he persecuted the church ( Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1-2) and he believed his own righteousness, through strict Jewish observance and his own law keeping, would satisfy God.
V7: Yet everything he once set such store in, he rejects as useless and willingly puts away now he knows Christ as the Saviour who alone makes him right with God.
V8: For nothing compares with knowing Christ as Saviour and Lord – He is more worthy, more precious, than anything else could ever be. Can we say this? Paul now regards the things he once valued so as worthless rubbish. ( His word is actually much stronger!) When He speaks of his longing to “gain Christ”, he no longer means by his own efforts, but by God’s grace alone.
Mon 25th May – Read Philippians 3:1-4
V1: Paul says ” finally”, though only half way through the letter. ( This can be a bad habit for some preachers!) His exhortation to “rejoice in the Lord”, is actually taken up again in Philippians 4:4, and what follows here appears almost as an “interruption”. Some think news reached him at this point, causing him to add to his original plan to repeat things he had already told them.
V2-3: In what does seem an entirely new focus, he warns them against false teachers, described in the strongest terms because their influence is dangerous and insidious. May God give us discernment to know the truth – and what departs from it! The references to “mutilating the flesh”, and Christian believers as ” the (true) circumcision” show that he is concerned with a Jewish group who were telling Gentile Christians they had to become “like Jews” to be saved, seeking to bring them into bondage to the Law, to receive circumcision etc. Such Jewish pseudo-Christians, sometimes called Judaisers, sought to undermine Paul’s teaching about the liberty of the gospel, and salvation through Christ alone. Paul says that God’s true people are those – Gentile or Jew by birth – who worship God as He has provided the way, by the Holy Spirit (compare John ch4,v23-24), and trust only in Christ and His redeeming death, not anything in themselves.
V4: He adds that if ever anyone could have had confidence in pleasing God by their own keeping of the law, it would have been himself ( and indeed, he once thought this way.)
The children of junior church are doing great with the memory verses – this week we’ve got up to ‘I’. This video covers A-I. Keep going!!
Sat 23rd May – Read Philippians ch 2:25-30
V25: He speaks of another great example, Epaphroditus, who has come to him from the Philippian church, as their messenger and to convey a gift from them. (Clearly, at this stage of his captivity, others are allowed free access to him.) He now intends to send him back to them, expressing the warmest appreciation of him – my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier – a trusted and proven companion in gospel service.
V26: He knows Epaphroditus longs to see them again, and is concerned that they have heard he has been very ill. Do we have such love and longing for those with whom we are joined in local church fellowship?
V27: And Paul records how his illness was indeed severe – almost fatal, except that in mercy God restored him – mercy to Epaphroditus, and also to Paul himself, who would have been greatly distressed by his death. God answers prayer, but always, remember, according to His sovereign and perfect will.
V28: So Paul sends him back to them to relieve their anxiety – and his own. How clearly real love and concern for fellow believers run through all these verses.
V29: So, they are to rejoice to receive him, and honour him, and believers like him, for their faithful gospel service.
V30: For his near death experience was in the service he fulfilled on their behalf while in Rome with Paul – we know no details, but it seems he consciously risked his own life in bringing the church’s assurance of love to Paul. So, like Timothy, Epaphroditus is set forth as a great example of a faithful Christian. May it be true of us, whatever our circumstances, by the grace of God.
