Questions Kids Ask

Trillia Newbell is the author of Enjoy, Fear and Faith, United, and God’s Very Good Idea. She's been published in Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, and more. Trillia is married to Thern and they reside with their two children near Nashville, TN. You can find her at trillianewbell.com and follow her on twitter at @trillianewbell.  Sometimes, we might feel guilt for receiving good gifts from God because others might not get the same gift. Trillia joins me to discuss how we can best help our kids cultivate gratitude without being boastful and how to help kids understand that the talents they are gifted with our for the purpose of bringing glory to God. Trillia talks about a time that her son asked her to draw Kung Fu Panda, reminds us to celebrate God's goodness to us and also to be generous with what we do have, and to be in God's Word daily because it is truly the bread of life.  Read more at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/goodthings.

Lisa is the author of 6 books, speaker, founder of Ministry Strong and the 5 Word Prayers Daily Podcast. She has also been a wife for 22 years and is the mother of 3. Today, we talk about if God cares when we feel lonely, afraid, and unhappy. Does God want these things for His children? Absolutely not, but because of the world's brokenness through the effects of sin, everyone experiences them from time to time. In God's graciousness, though, even when we experience hard times God can use them for His glory. Read more of the show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/doesgodcare.

Brandon Smith discusses heaven, hell, and the new heaven and earth that will be ushered in when Jesus returns in today's episode. He talks with us about how to discuss eternity and these concepts with young kids, we talk about judgment houses and their versions of heaven and hell, (Anyone go to one of these in the early 2000s? Do churches still do these?) and how to raise kids who don't just seek Jesus for "fire insurance," but live obedient and faithful lives. Read more show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/heaven-and-hell.

Rachel C Swanson is the author of the Big and Little Coloring Devotional and is a mom of three. She joins us today to help us understand what sin is and how to raise kids who confess sin and ask forgiveness quickly. I love how this conversation so simply leads into a conversation about the Gospel and our need for rescue from sin that can only be done through a relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross and rose again, paying the penalty for sin. Read more show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/what-is-sin.

Why are there children who go to bed at night hungry? Why do earthquakes or tornados destroy entire towns? Micah Fries is here to answer our tough question today of "Why do bad things happen?"  Listen in as we talk about how sin has invaded every piece of life on earth, how we shouldn't sanitize Bible stories, and how we can parent kids who love God's Word. Read more of the show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/why-bad-things-happen.

Dan Darling is the Vice President for Communications for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention (ERLC), and is the author of multiple books including, The Original Jesus. He writes regularly for Christianity Today’s CT Pastors, Relevant Magazine, The Gospel Coalition, For the Church, and others. He holds a bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry and is a graduate of  Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dan and his wife Angela have four children and live in the Nashville area, where Dan serves at Green Hill Church as Pastor of Teaching and Discipleship. In this episode, we discuss human dignity, God's image and how it is present after sin's entry into the world, and how this truth should affect the way we treat others and think about others. Read more show notes at http://www.marycwiley.com/podcast/in-gods-image

Aaron is the Brand Manager of The Gospel Project and writes at Blogging Theologically. In this episode, we talk about the need to discuss Bible stories without avoiding hard things with age appropriateness, God calling Aaron's family to move to the US from Canada, and how we just never know what is going to come out of our kids' mouths. We talk about how weird it must have been for Noah or others in the Bible to obey God, and how we must do the same, even when it seems weird. Read more show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/strange-things

Brittany Salmon (Masters in Intercultural Studies and pursing a PhD at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) joins me to talk about the Holy Spirit and shares a ton of encouragement for those moments when you totally botch a conversation with your kids and when you are busy and struggle with balancing all the plates that you have spinning.  Read more show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/who-is-the-holy-spirit

Brian Dembowcyzk (Managing Editor of The Gospel Project and dad of three) answers this question often with his kids. His daughter, Hannah has a limb difference and a prosthetic, so she deals with feeling different or being told she is different often.  Brian wisely leads us to remember that God does have a perfect version of the human body, as seen before sin entered the world in Adam and Eve and that will be restored when Jesus returns. Reminding kids that sin has effected every element of our lives, including our bodies is important. Listen in as Brian answers the question, "Why Did God Make Me Different?" Read more show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/made-different

Don’t think, “Oh it would never be my child that struggles with this.” If they come home from college or from some class with new questions and new ideas, don’t panic. Helping kids understand the need to own their own faith and remind them of God's love for them seen in Him sending Jesus to pay for our sin. Read more show notes at http://www.marycwiley.com/podcast/why-follow-jesus

Brandon shares with us about the internal and external evidence that supports the reliability of the Bible. We also talked about how miraculous it is that the Bible has be preserved through rulers requiring that all manuscripts be burned within their empire, through generations of people, and through all sorts of other challenges pre-printing press. As Brandon says, If God gave us a book so that we might know Him, of course He is going to preserve it. Isn't it so good of God to do that for us? Read more show notes at www.marycwiley.com/podcast/is-the-bible-true

Ultimately, God is in control, and He dearly loves Jesus and also dearly loves us. Sin separated us from God, and only Jesus' sacrifice could fix this separation. Jesus was completely sinless, so He was the only suitable sacrifice to pay for sin before a holy, perfect, sinless God. Jesus died so that we could have a relationship with God forever, but also so that we could have that relationship now with abundant life in His presence.   Read more show notes at http://www.marycwiley.com/podcast/why-did-jesus-have-to-die

With Genesis 1 as our foundation, we see that not only are our children created in the image of God, but everyone is – everyone from different ethnicities are created by our Creator God, so if we can start there, then everyone is equal. From there – Jesus died on the cross for every tribe, tongue, and nation and has tasked us to go and make disciples of all nations. And one day we’ll be worshipping together. Read more show notes at http://www.marycwiley.com/podcast/diversity

Is God happy? Is He happy with us? The word "happy" is in the Bible 85 times. Over and over again, He says that He is happy and this He is happy with us. Of course, we are sinners and of course we need the justification of Jesus, but if we trust Jesus, God see His child when He looks at us. Ultimately, He sees Jesus' work on the cross. He is a smiling, happy God, and He sings over us. Read more show notes at http://www.questionskidsaskpodcast.com/is-god-happy?