L I V I N G A T T H E T O P O F T H E B A R R E L
3 John 1:2 (KJV)
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
1. This prayer is a top of the barrel prayer.
2. It covers:
a. material prosperity
b. physical health and healing
c. peace in mind and heart
3. But many people are living at the bottom of the barrel!
a. and have mastered the art of scraping the barrel
4. So I want to give you some Kingdom Keys to changing your life around.
Job 22:21 (NLT)
“Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you.
5. In this case submission is not only to what God spoke to you personally, but also to what is written in the Bible.
6. Submission brings peace.
a. where ever you are lacking peace in your life can be pin pointed to a whoever you are not submitted to
b. this is very evident in jobs, marriages, and families
7. When you become submitted, then things will go well for you.
Job 22:22 (NLT)
Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart.
8. Most people don’t listen, they only hear.
a. when you listen, you walk away with something
b. when you hear, you forget what was said before you hit the parking lot
Job 22:23 (NLT)
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored— so clean up your life.
9. Notice this is addressed to those in a relationship with God.
a. returning brings restoration
10. He tells us that the way to start is by cleaning up your life.
a. that act of faith gets God’s attention
Job 22:24 (NLT)
If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,
11. A lust for money is evident by an inability to give and bless others.
Job 22:25 (NLT)
the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver!
12. By putting my trust and confidence in God instead of my bank account, salary or what comes in on a monthly basis...
a. then God will become my Supplier
13. Most people still worry over finances because they see a due date printed more boldly than what God had written years ago.
Job 22:26 (NLT)
“Then you will take delight in the Almighty and look up to God.
14. Questioning God in the area of finances causes us not to ‘take delight’ in God.
a. notice that this is Bible, not Pastor John
Job 22:27 (NLT)
You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him.
15. Another benefit of living at the top of the barrel is answered prayer.
a. but the covenant with God works both ways
16. Your part is to do the same thing He has promised you...fulfill your promises and obligations.
17. Most Christians don’t practice Biblical Christianity...
a. they practice the parts that they agree with
18. This is why they straggle and get pulverized by the enemy.
a. their partial obedience was the same religion Lucifer practiced
Job 22:28 (NLT)
You will succeed in whatever you choose to do, and light will shine on the road ahead of you.
19. When these conditions are met, we become successful!
a. then we become a real witness to others because they will see what God is doing in our lives
20. This is living at the top of the barrel!
Job 22:29 (NLT)
If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them.
21. This manner of lifestyle develops a partnership with God where he promises to help those you ask Him to!
Job 22:30 (NLT)
Even sinners will be rescued; they will be rescued because your hands are pure.”
22. Your unsaved loved ones will be rescued as well.
a. because of YOU
LET’S RECAPTURE THE QUALITIES OF A TOP OF THE BARREL BELIEVER
#1, THEY ARE SUBMITTED
a. submission brings peace
b. submission brings favor, things will go well for them
Romans 10:3 (KJV)
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
#2. THEY LISTEN TO GOD AND KEEP THE WORD
Romans 10:3 (KJV)
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
23. It’s not something that you try, it’s the way you choose to live.
#3. PUT GOD FIRST IN ALL THEY DO
24. Return...do what you did when you first got saved
Revelation 2:4 (NLT)
“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!
25. Clean up your life.
a. get your priorities straight
b. remove the barriers and distractions that keep you from Him
#4. REPENT OF FINANCIAL LUST AND DOUBTS.
Malachi 3:8 (MSG)
"Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day after day. "You ask, 'How have we robbed you?' "The tithe and the offering—that's how!
26. Trust God with everything, not just your salvation.
#5. AS HE HONORS HIS END OF THE COVENANT, YOU HONOR YOURS.
Ecclesiastes 5:4 (NLT)
When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him.
27. God’s promises are conditional.
a. if you meet the conditions, you will reap the benefits
Romans 12:1 (MSG)
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, andwalking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
28. It starts with you.
Romans 12:2 (MSG)
Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
29. Are you ready for a better life?
Matthew 13:23 (KJV)
But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
30. Why live at 30 when you can live at 100.
Make a quality decision to live at the top of the barrel!