The Dialog

If your household makes the median American income, you're richer than the vast majority of people on earth. Do you feel rich? If not, where does your lack of sufficiency come from?

A stranger walked up to me at the gym and asked if I was a pastor or something. I told him I was more of an “or something.” Then he found out where our church was.

“Oh, you’re one of those prosperity gospel churches.”

So I asked him what the prosperity gospel was. He couldn’t tell me. So I asked him a few questions instead. Do you believe in God? Do you want to make more money? Do you want to win in life? Do you think God wants that for you?

“It sounds like you believe in the prosperity gospel.”

Everybody uses words they can’t define. Before we can answer whether God wants you to be rich, we have to agree on what rich means. Not the culture’s definition. God’s.

This is Season 2 of The Dialog: God and money, what the Bible actually says about wealth, generosity and winning in life God’s way. In this episode, I go through the Hebrew and Greek words the Bible actually uses for prosperity, with the receipts so you can look them up for yourself. We look at Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. I also talk about my two grandfathers, and why the real inheritance was never the money.

We land on two simple definitions.

Old Testament: The blessing of God to have and grow my assigned dominion for generations.

New Testament: I have everything I need, and I have enough to meet other people’s needs.

Scriptures
Proverbs 10:22 · Proverbs 13:22 · Deuteronomy 8:18 · 2 Corinthians 8:2 · 2 Corinthians 9:8-11 · Acts 17:11 · Romans 12:2 · Genesis 26:13 · Job 42:10 · Hosea 4:6 (quotes above: ESV)

Thinkers and sources
Socrates (define your terms first) · G.K. Chesterton · Plutarch, To an Uneducated Ruler · a line often attributed to Mark Twain
Word studies: Brown-Driver-Briggs, HALOT, TWOT, Strong’s, BDAG, Mounce, TDNT
Numbers: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 median household income

Chapters
0:00 Cold open and show intro
0:51 Does God want us to be rich? (G.K. Chesterton)
4:32 “Are you a pastor or something?”
8:12 “You’re one of those prosperity gospel churches”
10:16 Everybody uses words they can’t define (Socrates)
13:20 Bad teaching doesn’t make the truth untrue
15:39 Be a Berean (Acts 17:11)
17:09 How many Christians have a biblical worldview?
20:59 The odds are I’m wrong too (Romans 12:2)
22:57 Less than enough, just enough or more than enough?
24:05 How often does the Bible talk about money?
27:34 Hebrew words for prosperity: tov, chayil, berakah, tsalach
32:51 Greek words for prosperity: makarios, ploutos, eulogia
36:19 Bigger than wealth, not less than provision
39:33 Proverbs 10:22: the blessing of the Lord makes rich
40:31 Proverbs 13:22, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David
42:34 Deuteronomy 8:18: the power to get wealth
43:51 Sufficiency, not comparison
45:54 My two grandfathers and the money that ran out
48:49 Winning in life God’s way (Plutarch)
50:34 What my dad passed down
53:25 The problem with generational wealth
55:02 2 Corinthians 8 and 9: all sufficiency
1:00:26 God wants to make us rich in two ways
1:01:24 What counts as a need?
1:03:26 The median American income vs. the world
1:06:25 Where does your lack of sufficiency come from?
1:08:22 Two definitions of biblical prosperity

Previous: 2.1 / Are God and money incompatible?
Next: 2.3 / If God wants you rich, why aren't you?

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What is The Dialog?

Ancient philosophers used the dialog to find answers to life’s greatest questions. The Dialog is a search for truth in modern life through the lens of ancient philosophy, history, and theology. This podcast will challenge your assumptions, change your thinking and show you how to master modern living.