Everyday Theology + Questions Kids Ask

Jamie Ivey and her husband, Aaron, worship pastor at The Austin Stone Community Church, live in Austin, Texas with their four kids and two dogs. 

Through her podcast, The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, she uses a raw a nd intimate approach to connect with her audience. Jamie’s prayer and hope is for God to use her words to encourage and show others that they are not alone, while constantly pointing them to Jesus. 

Today we talk about discipline and how it's so difficult with our kids, why we continue to sin even after we become a Christian, and why confession is so important and not talked about enough in our churches and our families. 

Jamie tells a story about finding out one of her kids was using an app in a way that she didn't approve, and how she didn't handle the situation like she wished she had. Make sure to listen in, as there's so much wisdom there.

Today's featured resource is If You Only Knew by Jamie Ivey. If you've ever felt like a fraud in your Christian life or wondered how people would respond if they really knew everything about you, then this s book is for you. It's available anywhere books are sold!

Today's guest is Jana Magruder. Jana is the Director of LifeWay Kids and brings a wealth of experience and passion for kids ministry, education, and curriculum writing. She and her husband, Michael, along with their three children reside in Nashville, TN.

Why do we pray? If God really is in control and is all-knowing, shouldn't He know what we need and what we would ask for if we were praying anyway? God is in control and God does know. In fact, He knows BETTER than we do about what we need, but prayer is still SO valuable. There's so mystery about it - but we know two things for sure: Prayer changes our hearts and prayer has the power to really change things. We see God answer prayer over and over again in Scripture and He does the same for us.

Today's guest is Jana Magruder. Jana is the Director of LifeWay Kids and brings a wealth of experience and passion for kids ministry, education, and curriculum writing. She and her husband, Michael, along with their three children reside in Nashville, TN.

Why do we pray? If God really is in control and is all-knowing, shouldn't He know what we need and what we would ask for if we were praying anyway? God is in control and God does know. In fact, He knows BETTER than we do about what we need, but prayer is still SO valuable. There's so mystery about it - but we know two things for sure: Prayer changes our hearts and prayer has the power to really change things. We see God answer prayer over and over again in Scripture and He does the same for us.

Dorena Williamson is a bridge buider, speaker, writer, and worship leader who knows the power and beauty of racial awareness. She and her husband, Dr. Chris Williamson, planted Strong Tower Bible Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and have spent more than twenty years ministering to its richly diverse faith community. Dorena and Chris have four children.

Dorena joins us today to talk about race, how to talk with kids about the difficult past of American slave trade and oppression, relearning history, and celebrating diversity in all the world because God has created it and it is good! 

Prayer is the most important weapon we have against the enemy, and the Bible even says that Jesus intercedes for us while He sits at the right hand of the Father. Yet, there are often questions about the nature of prayer. Because it's a conversation with a God who we cannot see who knows all things and is entirely in control it seems like it may be pointless to voice our needs, our gratitude, and our worship because God already knows what we are going to pray before we pray it. Still, we see prayer as unbelievably powerful throughout Scripture. Prayer changes things - and we can be a part of what God is doing in the world by having a vibrant prayer life.

Why would God, if He knew Adam and Eve would sin, put a tree in the garden that would sentence them to death if they ate from it? 

We know God is sovereign, and there also is need for humanity to obey. A love without choice is not love at all, so God gave us the opportunity to obey out of love. And yet, Jesus was not God's plan B. Even as consequences were being discussed of Adam and Eve's sin, God tells them that there will come a time when a Messiah will come to redeem what had been done and make all things right again.

It can be easier to help kids understand how Jesus is the same us - how He was born, was a child, and had all the experiences we have, but it's much more difficult to help kids understand how He is different - that He is God and He is sitting at the right hand of the Father today interceding for us.

In this episode, we talk about how we should speak truth in as bite-sized portion for our kids as possible, but not watering it down so that it has a different meaning. We want our kids to know what is true, even if it's hard to comprehend.

It can be easier to help kids understand how Jesus is the same us - how He was born, was a child, and had all the experiences we have, but it's much more difficult to help kids understand how He is different - that He is God and He is sitting at the right hand of the Father today interceding for us.

In this episode, we talk about how we should speak truth in as bite-sized portion for our kids as possible, but not watering it down so that it has a different meaning. We want our kids to know what is true, even if it's hard to comprehend.

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. 

Today, she joins us to talk about what kids can do when they are sad.

There are so many great passages in Scripture that we can run to when we feel sad - and it should be a great encouragement that even Jesus felt sad! Jesus is God, who came as a baby and grew and experienced life just as we do. He was sad, hungry, tempted, happy, and tired. He understands, and today He sits at the right hand of the Father interceding for us before God. 

Listen in to hear more.

The work of translation cannot be emphasized enough. We want God's Word to be carried to every tribe and tongue so that they may read His Word for themselves in the language that they speak and even think in so that the Word of the Lord may dwell richly within them and also so that they might understand the gospel.

We are so blessed to have so many translations of the Bible in English, and as we discover more manuscripts and have more archaeological evidence, we get closer, not farther away from what we know the original Greek/Hebrew text said.

So which translations should we use with kids? Why do translations choose different words but are using the same original text? Listen in to hear.