# The Widow’s Mite, and Q&A

An episode of [Bible Answer Man Podcast with Hank Hanegraaff](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/569236334), 22 Jun 2026, 28 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72634871/bam20260622.mp3

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (06/22/26), Hank shares his thoughts on the widow’s mite as well as the overwhelming generosity of the Macedonian Christians who gave beyond their means. In contrast to this, Americans today, despite the increase in income, are giving less and less. In light of this, Hank encourages listeners to support CRI’s life-changing outreaches during the month of June. Hank also answers the following questions: Is Jesus God, or the Son of God, or the Messiah? Leeroy - Garland, TX (5:35) Can a Christian be a practicing homosexual? Rose - Blaine, WA (15:12) Is the kingdom of God something different from heaven? If someone continues in sinful practices, will they not inherit the kingdom? John - St. Louis, MO (20:28)

## Transcript

[0:07] Speaker 1: From Charlotte, North Carolina. You're listening to the Bible answer
[0:11] Speaker 1: Man broadcast with Hank Hanagraph, president of the Christian Research Institute.
[0:16] Speaker 1: The reason the Bible answer Man is on the air
[0:18] Speaker 1: is to defend the Christian faith, proclaim the gospel of
[0:22] Speaker 1: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to teach discipleship
[0:26] Speaker 1: to his followers, because life and truth matter. For more
[0:30] Speaker 1: information or to order equipping resources, call eight eight eight
[0:34] Speaker 1: seven thousand CRII, which translates to eight eight eight seven
[0:39] Speaker 1: thousand two seven four, or go online to equip dot org.
[0:44] Speaker 1: That's equip dot org. The following program was pre recorded,
[0:50] Speaker 1: and now here's your host, Hank Canagraph Heath Trend.
[0:54] Speaker 2: You just a couple of words about giving before we
[0:57] Speaker 2: go to work. Callers, This is, of course the end
[1:01] Speaker 2: of our fiscal year. It's at least the second most
[1:06] Speaker 2: important month financially speaking of the ministry. Perhaps the first
[1:12] Speaker 2: year in December is always very important in the ministry,
[1:15] Speaker 2: as is the end of our fiscal year. And as
[1:18] Speaker 2: I was thinking about this, I was actually reading a
[1:22] Speaker 2: book by Donald Whitney, and in that book he makes
[1:26] Speaker 2: reference to Jesus who sits down opposite the treasury, and
[1:31] Speaker 2: there he watches the people putting money into the offering box.
[1:36] Speaker 2: And Jesus said that many rich people put in large sums,
[1:41] Speaker 2: and a poor widow came and put in two small
[1:44] Speaker 2: copper coins, which make about a penny. And then Jesus
[1:49] Speaker 2: calls his disciples and he says, truly, I say to you,
[1:54] Speaker 2: this poor widow has put in more than all those
[1:59] Speaker 2: who are contributing to the offering box. For they all
[2:04] Speaker 2: contributed out of abundance. But she, out of her poverty,
[2:09] Speaker 2: has put in everything she had, all she had to
[2:13] Speaker 2: live in. I mean, I think that's an extraordinary story.
[2:17] Speaker 2: And Paul follows that story up in Second Corinthians chapter eight,
[2:23] Speaker 2: where he talks about Macedonians, maybe at one time fairly
[2:28] Speaker 2: well to do, but then having given themselves to the Gospel,
[2:31] Speaker 2: lose their social standing, lose their financial resource base. And
[2:36] Speaker 2: yet Paul told about how these Christians, though poor, sacrificed
[2:43] Speaker 2: like the widow to give generously. His words, we want
[2:48] Speaker 2: you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that
[2:51] Speaker 2: has been given among the churches of Macedonian. Their abundance
[2:55] Speaker 2: of joy, their extreme poverty, have over in wealth of generosity.
[3:03] Speaker 2: For they gave according to their means, and I can
[3:05] Speaker 2: testify even beyond their means and of their own accord,
[3:12] Speaker 2: begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part, and
[3:17] Speaker 2: this not as expected. But they gave themselves first to
[3:21] Speaker 2: the Lord, and then, by the will of God to us.
[3:25] Speaker 2: So Paul here is describing Macedonians who are living in
[3:28] Speaker 2: poverty but overflowed in a wealth of generosity. They gave
[3:35] Speaker 2: not only according to their means, but beyond their means.
[3:40] Speaker 2: One of the things that polls consistently show is that
[3:44] Speaker 2: the more money Americans make, the less sacrificially they give.
[3:50] Speaker 2: With each transition to a higher income bracket, the smaller
[3:54] Speaker 2: the percentage of our income we give. Donald Whitley says,
[4:00] Speaker 2: I've never known anyone who gave sacrificially, whether through a
[4:03] Speaker 2: one time sacrificial gift or consistent sacrificial offerings, who regretted it. Sure,
[4:11] Speaker 2: they missed having some of the things they could have
[4:13] Speaker 2: enjoyed if they spent the money on themselves, but the
[4:16] Speaker 2: joy of fulfillment they gained by giving away something they
[4:19] Speaker 2: could not ultimately keep was more than worth the sacrifice.
[4:24] Speaker 2: Such people tend to say, I never made a sacrifice.
[4:29] Speaker 2: I always got something greater in return than I gave.
[4:34] Speaker 2: Maybe some thoughts to keep in mind as you prepare
[4:38] Speaker 2: to give to this one of a kind ministry outreach.
[4:41] Speaker 2: Not only the Bible answer Man broadcast the Christian Research
[4:44] Speaker 2: Institute in our work, but our outreach is quite literally
[4:48] Speaker 2: around the world. This is the time to give. It
[4:52] Speaker 2: is the month that, as mentioned at the outset, is
[4:55] Speaker 2: the most important, if not the second most important. I
[4:58] Speaker 2: don't know which ranks first, quite frankly, so I'm hedging
[5:01] Speaker 2: my statement here a bit. It's either December or the
[5:04] Speaker 2: end of our fiscal year, but in either case it's
[5:06] Speaker 2: a very important month. And so we would ask you
[5:10] Speaker 2: to consider as you're led by the Holy Spirit to
[5:14] Speaker 2: give and make a difference in the lives of people.
[5:17] Speaker 2: You can give them a safe, secure fashion on the
[5:19] Speaker 2: web at equipped dot org, or you can write me
[5:22] Speaker 2: at box eighty five hundred, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code
[5:25] Speaker 2: two eight two seven one. And do remember, as always
[5:28] Speaker 2: resource consultants, they're standing by triple eight seven thousand, and
[5:32] Speaker 2: the letters CRI A lot of you already hanging on
[5:35] Speaker 2: will go right to the phone callers First up is
[5:37] Speaker 2: Lee Roy in Garland, Texas.
[5:40] Speaker 3: Hiley Roy, Hi, how are you doing.
[5:43] Speaker 2: I'm well, thank you.
[5:44] Speaker 3: I've always been told that Jesus Christ is the son
[5:50] Speaker 3: of God, annie is God himself also, and I always
[5:57] Speaker 3: you know, the way I read the Bible is that
[6:00] Speaker 3: he's a Messiah and so God. I don't know really
[6:04] Speaker 3: how or where to go find the truth for myself
[6:09] Speaker 3: in the scriptures. Can you help me out?
[6:12] Speaker 2: Yeah? I was just thinking as you're talking about the
[6:14] Speaker 2: acronym doctrine, the DA of which stands for the deity
[6:18] Speaker 2: of Jesus Christ. And this is not just appropriate as
[6:23] Speaker 2: an acronym, but it is special in that I think
[6:27] Speaker 2: the deity of Jesus Christ, the first letter of the acronym,
[6:31] Speaker 2: is the essential of essentials. In fact, when Jesus came
[6:34] Speaker 2: to Cesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples the mother of
[6:39] Speaker 2: all questions, who do you say that I am? Now
[6:46] Speaker 2: a lot of people answer that question in a lot
[6:48] Speaker 2: of different ways, but Jesus answered himself by saying that
[6:55] Speaker 2: he is God, and the Jewish leaders knew precisely what
[7:00] Speaker 2: he was saying. Others might have missed his point, but
[7:03] Speaker 2: not those who were steeped in Jewish tradition and the
[7:08] Speaker 2: Jewish scriptures. They knew that in calling God his own father,
[7:15] Speaker 2: that Jesus was making himself equal with God. And this
[7:21] Speaker 2: is what Jesus did over and over and over again.
[7:24] Speaker 2: You can look at John chapter eight, John chapter ten,
[7:28] Speaker 2: and many other places in which Jesus is explicit I
[7:32] Speaker 2: and the Father are one. If you've seen me, you've
[7:37] Speaker 2: seen God. But not only does Jesus claim explicitly that
[7:42] Speaker 2: he is God, but the Bible is very emphatic about
[7:48] Speaker 2: the fact that Jesus is God. John declares in the
[7:51] Speaker 2: beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
[7:55] Speaker 2: and the Word was God. So I had to do
[7:58] Speaker 2: is look at the first chapter of John, or look
[8:01] Speaker 2: at the first chapter of Colossians. There Paul says all
[8:06] Speaker 2: things were created by him. He is before all things,
[8:11] Speaker 2: and in him all things hold together. God was pleased
[8:17] Speaker 2: to have all his fullness dwell in him. Hebrews one.
[8:23] Speaker 2: According to God, the Father himself, Jesus is God. For
[8:29] Speaker 2: this is what the Father says about the Son. The
[8:32] Speaker 2: Father says, your throne O, God will last forever and ever.
[8:38] Speaker 2: And many other passages could be noted. But I think
[8:42] Speaker 2: there's another point that's very substantial, with the fact that
[8:45] Speaker 2: Jesus is indeed Messiah. It's not only that he claims
[8:50] Speaker 2: to be Messiah, that the Bible is emphatic about his
[8:54] Speaker 2: messiah ship, but that his credentials back up his claim
[8:59] Speaker 2: to deity. He demonstrated supernatural authority over sickness, over nature,
[9:06] Speaker 2: over satan, and even over death. So the three part argument,
[9:12] Speaker 2: and there are many verses of course that flesh this out,
[9:15] Speaker 2: is that Jesus claimed he was God. The Bible claims
[9:18] Speaker 2: Jesus is God, and the credentials of Christ back up
[9:22] Speaker 2: his claim to deity.
[9:24] Speaker 3: Okay, so the essence of this which I believe that
[9:31] Speaker 3: he is God, but there is no place in the
[9:35] Speaker 3: Bible that he does declare that I am God, or
[9:39] Speaker 3: that he doesn't really say that. In a place he
[9:44] Speaker 3: says that what you see in me, you see the Father.
[9:49] Speaker 3: So he's talking about himself, as I understand. But with me,
[9:57] Speaker 3: I believe that when he was here he had Jehovah
[10:02] Speaker 3: God spirit. He was that the body of Jesus has
[10:07] Speaker 3: Jehovah spirit inside of him.
[10:10] Speaker 2: Well, what you're saying is a nice theory, but what
[10:12] Speaker 2: I'm communicating here is that what the Bible is emphatic
[10:17] Speaker 2: about is that Jesus Christ is God, and that Jesus
[10:20] Speaker 2: left no room whatsoever for any other interpretation. If you
[10:25] Speaker 2: go to John eight, Jesus says, I tell you the
[10:27] Speaker 2: truth before Abraham was born, I am. And at this
[10:32] Speaker 2: the Jews picked up stones to stone him. But Jesus
[10:36] Speaker 2: hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. In other words,
[10:41] Speaker 2: to the Jews, this was the epitome of blasphemy, for
[10:45] Speaker 2: they knew that in what Jesus said, he was clearly
[10:50] Speaker 2: claiming to be God. I've written about this in various places.
[10:54] Speaker 2: We'll be right back in just a few moments with
[10:56] Speaker 2: more answers.
[10:57] Speaker 1: In our post truth age of confused usion, the need
[11:00] Speaker 1: for Christians to be equipped with answers has never been greater.
[11:04] Speaker 1: The Christian Research Institute exists to provide those answers, and
[11:08] Speaker 1: this provision is made possible only by people like you,
[11:12] Speaker 1: people unafraid to stand up for truth while it's under assault.
[11:16] Speaker 1: People like you, whose contributions to our many outreaches are
[11:20] Speaker 1: making a difference for time and eternity. Stand with Hank
[11:24] Speaker 1: Hanagraph and the Christian Research Institute during the key month
[11:28] Speaker 1: of June to ensure that we end the financial year
[11:31] Speaker 1: in a position of strength. To make a gift to
[11:33] Speaker 1: support CRI's life changing outreaches, simply call eight eight eight
[11:38] Speaker 1: seven thousand CROI. That's eight eight eight seven thousand CROI
[11:44] Speaker 1: or visit us at equip dot org. Thank you, don't
[11:49] Speaker 1: go anywhere. We're coming right back with more answers from
[11:52] Speaker 1: The Bible answer Man. The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's
[12:03] Speaker 1: Edition is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked
[12:06] Speaker 1: questions Hank Hannigraph has received throughout his four decades as
[12:10] Speaker 1: host of The Bible answer Man broadcast. With more than
[12:13] Speaker 1: half a million copies already in print, this newly revised
[12:17] Speaker 1: and expanded Collector's Edition helped seekers and skeptics alike sort
[12:22] Speaker 1: through the truth on topics such as reliability of the Bible,
[12:26] Speaker 1: religions and cults, the resurrection and afterlife, and many more
[12:30] Speaker 1: issues vital to a better understanding of God in Christ
[12:34] Speaker 1: and our relationship to Him. To receive your copy of
[12:38] Speaker 1: The Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition, Revised and expanded,
[12:42] Speaker 1: call eight eight eight seven thousand CRII and make a
[12:46] Speaker 1: gift to support the Christian Research Institute's life changing outreaches
[12:51] Speaker 1: eight eight eight seven thousand CRII or visit us at
[12:55] Speaker 1: equip dot org. Winston Churchill once declared, you may have
[13:03] Speaker 1: to fight when there is no hope of victory, because
[13:06] Speaker 1: it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
[13:09] Speaker 1: Churchill sought to awaken those who were reluctant to fight
[13:12] Speaker 1: against the advancing Nazi war machine. Today, a spiritual battle
[13:17] Speaker 1: is taking place. Atheism advances in the West, and slavery
[13:21] Speaker 1: to secularity is imprisoning more and more hearts and minds
[13:25] Speaker 1: in the United States. For this reason, CRI's ministry is critical,
[13:29] Speaker 1: but we need people willing to stand for truth along
[13:33] Speaker 1: with the financial provisions to accomplish its mission. Stand with
[13:37] Speaker 1: Hank Hanigraph and the Christian Research Institute during the month
[13:40] Speaker 1: of June to end the fiscal year in a position
[13:43] Speaker 1: of strength. Call eight eight eight seven thousand CreI and
[13:47] Speaker 1: make a gift to support CRI's life changing outreaches eight
[13:51] Speaker 1: eight eight seven thousand CreI or visit equip dot org
[13:56] Speaker 1: equip dot org.
[14:01] Speaker 4: Hank Hannograph has dedicated his life to defending truth because
[14:05] Speaker 4: truth matters. However, his life and ministry were radically transformed
[14:09] Speaker 4: by another three word phrase, Life matters more. Truth matters
[14:13] Speaker 4: because Christianity is rooted in history and evidence. Life matters
[14:17] Speaker 4: more because it.
[14:18] Speaker 5: Is the experience of union with God. The goal of
[14:21] Speaker 5: Christian life is union with God. All attempts to understand
[14:25] Speaker 5: Christianity from a solely rational perspective put us in danger
[14:29] Speaker 5: of devolving into a transactional rather than transformational relationship with God.
[14:34] Speaker 5: Truth Matters, Life Matters More will equip you to move
[14:37] Speaker 5: beyond intellectually knowing about God to experientially knowing Him in
[14:41] Speaker 5: christ To receive your copy of Truth Matters, Life Matters
[14:45] Speaker 5: More called eight eight eight seven thousand CRI and make
[14:48] Speaker 5: a gift to support the Christian Research Institute's Life changing
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[15:07] Speaker 1: And now here's Hank Canagraph.
[15:09] Speaker 2: If very much for Andy, Let's go right back to
[15:11] Speaker 2: our phone callers. Next up as Rose. She's listening in Blaine, Washington.
[15:16] Speaker 6: By Rose, I have friends that have loved ones and
[15:20] Speaker 6: children caught up in the homosexual lifestyle, and some of
[15:24] Speaker 6: them while they were born again spirit filled, and some
[15:28] Speaker 6: of them even started legitimate ministry Christian outreaches to the
[15:32] Speaker 6: homosexual commenity, and which are still going and reaching out
[15:39] Speaker 6: to draw people out of that lifestyle. But themselves have
[15:43] Speaker 6: fallen back into sin, and they are attending the homosexual church.
[15:50] Speaker 7: They still go.
[15:51] Speaker 6: To Bible study, they pray in tongues continually, and and
[15:55] Speaker 6: I just how do I their parents are friends? They
[15:59] Speaker 6: think there once you'd always say that they're you know
[16:04] Speaker 6: that they are God's merciful and in and they can
[16:08] Speaker 6: continue and when they die, they're going to Heaven to
[16:12] Speaker 6: be with him because they really love him and believe
[16:15] Speaker 6: in him. And yet I'm really troubled with the scripture
[16:17] Speaker 6: that says, if you really love me, you'll keep my commandments.
[16:21] Speaker 6: And I'm just.
[16:23] Speaker 2: Really a country Sure, well, Rose, I think you said
[16:26] Speaker 2: it all. Let's take this out of the realm of homosexuality.
[16:29] Speaker 2: Let's put it in the realm of fornication. Let's imagine
[16:33] Speaker 2: that you're fornicating, that you're having sexual relationships with one person,
[16:39] Speaker 2: then another person, than another person. But you go to church,
[16:44] Speaker 2: you speak in tongues, you pray, you say that you
[16:47] Speaker 2: love God, but you're not keeping his commandments. The question
[16:52] Speaker 2: is are you really a participant in the kingdom? Now
[16:57] Speaker 2: I can't judge anybody's heart, but what I can say is,
[17:00] Speaker 2: if you are a participant in the kingdom of Jesus Christ,
[17:03] Speaker 2: then what you seek to do is govern your life
[17:07] Speaker 2: within the parameters that He sets for us to live
[17:10] Speaker 2: our life within. And that means if we have to
[17:14] Speaker 2: change behaviors or propensities to a particular kind of sin,
[17:20] Speaker 2: that we will do that. And Paul makes that plane
[17:23] Speaker 2: in First Corinthians, chapter six. He says, do you not
[17:27] Speaker 2: know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
[17:31] Speaker 2: Don't be deceived either the sexually immoral, the idolators, adulterers,
[17:39] Speaker 2: male prostitutes, homosexual offenders, thieves, greedy drunkards, swindlers, slenders will
[17:51] Speaker 2: inherit the Kingdom of God. But that is what some
[17:55] Speaker 2: of you were. But then you are washed, you were sanctified,
[18:00] Speaker 2: you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus
[18:03] Speaker 2: Christ and by the Spirit of God. In other words,
[18:05] Speaker 2: change takes place. Now. I would never if someone asked
[18:09] Speaker 2: me the question, as so often happens in TV interviews,
[18:14] Speaker 2: do you think homosexuals are going to heaven? I wouldn't
[18:16] Speaker 2: answer that question the way the question is posed. I
[18:19] Speaker 2: think it's the wrong question. The real question is does
[18:22] Speaker 2: an individual want to be a participant in the kingdom?
[18:27] Speaker 2: And if they do, then the King is not going
[18:30] Speaker 2: to put roadblocks in front of them. Rather, because of
[18:34] Speaker 2: their willingness, he is going to transform them.
[18:38] Speaker 6: Okay, And there's a lot of hostility towards the church
[18:43] Speaker 6: because they heal are arrogant that the church doesn't want
[18:48] Speaker 6: to it become that the homosexual couples should be able
[18:55] Speaker 6: to come and attend holding hands.
[18:57] Speaker 2: And but I mean think about this.
[19:01] Speaker 1: I mean.
[19:03] Speaker 2: Sure, but think about this in the same way that
[19:05] Speaker 2: I was talking about earlier with respect to fornication. So
[19:09] Speaker 2: let's say the fornicators walk into church, and you know,
[19:13] Speaker 2: one man is having sexual relationship with another man's wife
[19:17] Speaker 2: and vice versa, and they walk into church holding hands.
[19:21] Speaker 2: Would anyone think that that is a good thing? I
[19:23] Speaker 2: think not. I mean, you don't prayed in church in
[19:29] Speaker 2: a proud and haughty manner. What God has spoken about
[19:35] Speaker 2: very directly, going so far as to say that this
[19:39] Speaker 2: kind of misbehavior is not something we should wonder about,
[19:45] Speaker 2: but rather something that should be self evident to us
[19:49] Speaker 2: because of general revelation itself, which is to say, you
[19:54] Speaker 2: don't need a Bible to know that this goes against
[19:58] Speaker 2: your biology.
[20:00] Speaker 7: Yes, thank you so much. It's just, yeah, it's hard
[20:05] Speaker 7: to say that when oh, to parents are reading and
[20:09] Speaker 7: that we've been we we just have to be responsible
[20:13] Speaker 7: for our own walk and our own salvation and to God.
[20:17] Speaker 7: It's one and one.
[20:20] Speaker 2: Yeah, right and right. At this point it's a matter
[20:22] Speaker 2: of we're going to compromise or not.
[20:24] Speaker 7: Yeah, thank you so much, Thank you so much.
[20:27] Speaker 2: Back to the phone lines, we'll talk next to John.
[20:32] Speaker 2: John is listening in Saint Louis, Missouri.
[20:35] Speaker 8: Hi. John, Hey, Hey, thank you so much for taking
[20:38] Speaker 8: my call. But just first off, I just want you
[20:41] Speaker 8: to know how much I appreciate you, I ability to
[20:43] Speaker 8: you for years, if you've been a huge blessing in
[20:45] Speaker 8: my life. I just want you to know that up front,
[20:48] Speaker 8: you know, just kind of tying into what the lady
[20:51] Speaker 8: said before. You know, this is the second time I've
[20:55] Speaker 8: heard this for my my service, for my pastor that
[21:00] Speaker 8: I go to. I go to a Lutheran Missouri Shanaid
[21:02] Speaker 8: church and they were talking about the Kingdom of God.
[21:06] Speaker 3: And I know in.
[21:07] Speaker 8: Galatians, and I believe also in Ephesians it talks about
[21:10] Speaker 8: if you participate in you know, orgies, you know, drunkenness.
[21:14] Speaker 8: It kind of lists several differences, you know, envy, that
[21:17] Speaker 8: you will not inherit the Kingdom of God, and the
[21:20] Speaker 8: way I understood my pastor to indicate, the Kingdom of
[21:24] Speaker 8: God is something different than heaven. You know, Kingdom of
[21:28] Speaker 8: God is experiencing the joys of Christ. You know, here
[21:31] Speaker 8: on earth, it's not really you won't still get to
[21:34] Speaker 8: go to heaven. And you know, this is kind of
[21:36] Speaker 8: going back because I know we're justified by faith in
[21:38] Speaker 8: Christ alone. There's nothing I can do to earn my
[21:42] Speaker 8: way and to heaven. But whenever I was, you know,
[21:46] Speaker 8: the way he said it, he made it sound like
[21:48] Speaker 8: the Kingdom of Heaven is different than actual you know,
[21:53] Speaker 8: gaining heaven, And I just wanted to understand it because
[21:56] Speaker 8: I've always read that whether I believe also in the
[21:58] Speaker 8: Ephesians where it talks about it if you could live
[22:01] Speaker 8: this type of life that if you don't inherit, that
[22:04] Speaker 8: means you do not inherit eternity with Christ forever. That's
[22:08] Speaker 8: the way I've always understood it. And I just thought,
[22:10] Speaker 8: could you maybe clarify.
[22:12] Speaker 1: That for me?
[22:13] Speaker 2: Sure? Well, I think the scripture does that the Kingdom
[22:16] Speaker 2: of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are used interchangeably
[22:19] Speaker 2: in the Scripture. For example, Jesus says, I tell you
[22:23] Speaker 2: the truth, it is hard for a rich man to
[22:26] Speaker 2: enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And then he says it
[22:29] Speaker 2: is easier for a campbel to go through the eye
[22:32] Speaker 2: of a needle than for a rich man to enter
[22:35] Speaker 2: the Kingdom of God. So here, in the space of
[22:40] Speaker 2: two verses, he's using Kingdom of Heaven and Kingdom of
[22:44] Speaker 2: God interchangeably. So I think the idea that these are
[22:49] Speaker 2: somehow rather different ideas is not warranted. In reality, the
[22:54] Speaker 2: phrases are synonymous in their meaning, and of course the
[22:59] Speaker 2: Jews of War did the use of the name of God,
[23:01] Speaker 2: and therefore Matthew was writing primarily to a Jewish audience,
[23:06] Speaker 2: and thus his preference was the Kingdom of Heaven, although
[23:10] Speaker 2: Matthew does use the Kingdom of God four times, such
[23:14] Speaker 2: as in Matthew nineteen, which I just quoted. So I
[23:19] Speaker 2: think the people that are trying to make a dichotomy
[23:21] Speaker 2: between the two ideas simply do so.
[23:24] Speaker 7: In error.
[23:25] Speaker 8: Okay, So you know, it really concerned me because I
[23:28] Speaker 8: love the church that I go to, and it's the
[23:30] Speaker 8: second time I've heard that, and I didn't know if
[23:32] Speaker 8: that was a Lutheran teaching, like, because I know, I'm
[23:35] Speaker 8: pretty sure you're familiar with the Missouri Synods.
[23:37] Speaker 2: Yeah I am, And I wouldn't say it's a Lutheran teaching.
[23:40] Speaker 2: I mean a lot of times you'll find dispensationists who
[23:43] Speaker 2: say that there ought to be a distinction between the
[23:47] Speaker 2: Kingdom of Heaven, which was offered to the Jews and
[23:52] Speaker 2: then rejected and thus postponed until the Millennial Kingdom, during
[23:56] Speaker 2: which Christ will rule from Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of
[24:00] Speaker 2: God is seen as being inclusive of jew and gentile. Again,
[24:05] Speaker 2: I think that's a false dichotomy. It's misreading the Biblical text.
[24:09] Speaker 2: But that certainly is part and parcel of what you'll
[24:12] Speaker 2: hear within dispensationless circles. But it's not a common teaching
[24:16] Speaker 2: within Lutheranism.
[24:18] Speaker 8: Okay. And is there're any books maybe that you could
[24:21] Speaker 8: maybe it would be a good rea, you know, like
[24:24] Speaker 8: I said, because I love my church I go to,
[24:26] Speaker 8: but I just thought it just didn't sound right in
[24:29] Speaker 8: my heart when he was saying it, because you know,
[24:31] Speaker 8: I thought this was talking. Paul was challenging these people, saying,
[24:34] Speaker 8: if you continue to live this type of life, to me,
[24:37] Speaker 8: it's like you're living a life of rebellion, not a
[24:39] Speaker 8: life of offended. Then you know you will not inherit.
[24:43] Speaker 8: The Kingdom of Heaven tells me, I will when I
[24:45] Speaker 8: face my Lord and Savior one day, he may say
[24:48] Speaker 8: the part of me I never knew you. I mean,
[24:50] Speaker 8: that's the way I see it, you know.
[24:53] Speaker 2: Of course, I mean that just makes common sense. Look,
[24:57] Speaker 2: it's something I said earlier in the broadcast. If you
[24:59] Speaker 2: want to be a participant of the kingdom, the King
[25:02] Speaker 2: is not looking for obstacles to keep you out. However,
[25:07] Speaker 2: if you continue in willful disobedience, what you are saying
[25:12] Speaker 2: by your activities and your actions is I really don't
[25:17] Speaker 2: want to be a participant in the Kingdom of God.
[25:20] Speaker 2: I want to do it my own way. And that's
[25:22] Speaker 2: ultimately the demarcation point between two kinds of people, the
[25:31] Speaker 2: one who say I did it my way and the
[25:35] Speaker 2: ones who ultimately say I want to do it your way.
[25:39] Speaker 2: And the operative word there is want or willing. I'm
[25:43] Speaker 2: willing doesn't mean that we have reached a state of perfection.
[25:46] Speaker 2: God knows I haven't. I'm more aware with each passing
[25:51] Speaker 2: day of my lack of perfection and thought word. Indeed,
[25:57] Speaker 2: sometimes it's quite embarrassing to me, but that's just the reality.
[26:01] Speaker 2: But my desire is to be conformed to the image
[26:06] Speaker 2: and likeness of God. I think that's the operative issue.
[26:09] Speaker 2: We'll see y'all hear tomorrow with more of the show.
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