No Prosperity Gospel

I recorded this on my phone. These are my confessions

A Christian Salesman’s thoughts on riches, God’s promises, wealth, and what makes life worth living. Short answer - in his desert temptations, Christ showed us how to overcome the desire for material things, and spiritual idols - he showed us how to overcome those passions which seek to rob the soul of God. I have set my sights to follow him, and look at sales as a means, primarily, to distribute goods in the world, and secondarily to earn my keep - not money first, never money fist…for as long as I am good at remembering. There are my confessions:

I give you no prosperity gospel. I give you no promise other than what Christ himself promised us. Which is that through Christ, through what he did in his body on the cross, and by the great power of God through which he was risen from the dead, according to his own will and the will of the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can tell you Christ made a way for us to embrace the Father and die in peace.

At the end of our days, we don’t say, “Oh man, I wasted my life. Oh man, I wish I had some more time.” At the end of our days, following our Master, we can say, “It is finished.” From heaven’s eyes, it is finished. We have this promise in Christ. That our lives can be lives full of meaning, even if it’s not a life of economic prosperity. Our lives are lives full of meaning because the Master has given us himself and opened up the door to all of eternity and the Father God who we get to see face to face in Christ.

I preach to you no prosperity gospel, but the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That you can actually, at the end of your days, rest in every peace knowing that the mission of your life is well accomplished, because you have lived each day in your Father’s love, following his voice wherever it leads. This is the freedom, the superpower that gives energy to life, full of power and the Holy Spirit that Christ revealed in his desert, fully embracing his Father. I give you no prosperity gospel, but that gospel.

And when a man is set free to die well, knowing that at the end of his days, the heavens will open and say, “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. You are my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased.” And the voice that raises you from the dead is the voice of your dear Jesus, who says to you, “Son,” says to you, “Daughter,” says to you, “Honey, it’s time to get up.”

You have this security in Christ that your life can be a great life in God, regardless of how much money you make, regardless of what happens, regardless of your physical health, regardless of any circumstance. Sickness or health, riches or poverty, angels or demons, life nor death, nothing can separate you from this promise in Christ. That you can indeed live a life where you are fully embraced by the Father and you fully embrace him back. And you can have your heart set on fire to love the world in every way. And then in one month, two months, three months, that life can be ended. But it’s okay. Because you are in your Father, and your Father is in you. You are in Christ, and Christ is in you.

Does this sound gloomy to you? Or is it your glory? This is what he revealed for us in his desert, my friends. You embrace a life in God regardless of what it brings, and it gives you every freedom and power in the Holy Spirit to finally be everything he’s called you to be. I can promise no prosperity for you, but I can echo the promise of God to you: He will be your God, you will be his people, his sons, his daughters.

And then when you live in this freedom, what is there that you cannot do? For you do not worry about money. You do not worry about material things. But your eyes are focused always on fellowship with your Father and the mission that this life brings. I give you no prosperity gospel, but I want to show you a vision of life that Christ himself cast for us in his desert wilderness, and the vision which, after he fully embraced and showed us how to embrace, he was filled with power in the Holy Spirit, began to preach, and he changed the world.

If I am asked who would I like to be, I will say again and again, “The Christ.” Versus any famous man, any rich man, any entrepreneur in history. “Make me like Jesus. Give me this liberty or give me death.” I would not love a life where I’m not made like him day after day. For the one thing that I pursue is likeness to my Maker. And what I have found out, my friends, and what I’m going to preach for the rest of my life, is that if we all do this, we’ll make the world a better place. Our economies will flourish. This is called seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness. The power through which all things are made new. Maranatha.