Preventative Maintenance

Hook

This is our last lesson in our series about integrity.

Our series is called....

Since we are looking at integrity from a biblical perspective, we are defining “integrity” as the decision “to live a life consistent with biblical principles”.

Here is what we have learn’t so far:

We started out by discussing the concept of building the foundation of our life on obedience to the Word of God.

Next, we spoke about how to make our exterior lives and our interior lives match.

In our third lesson, we spoke about the sinful behaviours that we have hidden in our lives and were encouraged to allow Jesus to shine a light on those dark places in our lives.

We are going to finish off our series by talking about performing maintenance to our “houses” (Our lives). Specifically, we will discuss the idea of preventative maintenance. But let’s start out with a building challenge first.

Introduce Challenge

If you didnt notice - on of the teams had a big disadvantage. They started out with broken pieces of crackers.

Do you think it was harder to build with the supplies you were given? What would have helped to make your task easier? Do you think better tools would have helped?

It wasn’t impossible, but it was alot harder to build with broken pieces because you had to repair the broken pieces before building your house. It’s so much easier to work when things aren’t broken.

Thanks for being a good sport - You can all be seated.

In a house - 2 different types of repairs: reparative maintenance and preventative maintenance.

Based on the word “reparative”, does anyone know what that type of maintenance is? - fixing things before they are broken.

Any homeowner will tell you things in a house will break and when they do, they need to be fixed.

Sometimes, things get broken in the “houses” of our lives as well. When we sin, we find ourselves with some reparative maintenance to do.

Reparative maintenance was covered in our second and third lessons. When our inner life doesn’t match our outer life, we live in hypocrisy, and that needs to be fixed.

Brining our hidden sin into the light through confession and repentance is a way to begin the repairs that need to take place in our lives. To sum it up, when we sin, we have to make repairs and get things right with God.

But what abour preventative maintenace? What does that mean? - stopping problems from happening before they are problems or taking care of things before they break. In a home this may look like testing smoke detectors, changinf filters etc. The goal is stop problems before they start.

Lesson Content

Tonight we will discuss three different techniques to help us in the preventative maintenance of our lives. We will discuss resisting temptation, spiritual disciplines, and accountability.

Resisting Temptation: Keep the Termites Out ( 1 Corinthians 10:13; Matthew 4:1-11)

If a house is made of wood, one of the biggest preventative maintenance tasks you can do is to look for and stop termites from living in your walls. Termites can wreck havoc on a house if not taken care of.

One of the main issues to think about when it comes to keeping your life from being damaged is the process of handling temptation. What is temptation?

A good definition of “temptation” is an enticement to do evil.

Temptation is a lot like termites. If unchecked, temptation leads to sin, and that sin will ruin our life. In a home, termites eat away at the foundation weakening the home. Temptation, if not resisted, can eat away at your life. The Bible tells us that we will be tempted, but that we don’t have to give in to that temptation.

1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

This verse tells us that when we are tempted, there is always a way to escape, a way to say “NO” and stop temptation in its tracks.

Jesus himself gives us a great example of how to handle temptation well. The Gospel of Matthew reocrds a time when the devil tempted Jesus in three specific ways. If you were to read the account of the devil’s temptations of Jesus you will discover that Jesus used the scriptures to stop temptation in its tracks. He consistently quoted the Word of God as a way to defeat temptation. Jesus had scripture memorized and he understood it. One of the best ways to resist temptation is to create spiritual disciplines for your life.

Spiritual Disciplines: Use the Right Tools (Psalm 119:11; 2 Timothy 2:15, Psalm 1:1-2)

In addition to keeping our houses safe from the termites of temptation, we also need to use the right tools to strengthen our houses. In a physical house you might use woodwork tools to add extra wood supports or you might use a glue gun to seal cracks etc. There are several tools that we can use that will help to strengthen our spiritual lives. These will help us to stop problems before they start. The first is scripture memory.

Scripture Memory (Psalm 119:11)

Inputting God’s Word into your head and heart will provide you will tools to strengthen yourself.

Psalm 119:11 - “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”.

This verse tells us to store God’s Word in our hearts. Why ? Memorizing God’s Word can keep the termites of sin from our lives! But just dont memorize God’s Word, Study it!

2. Bible Study ( 2 Timothy 2:15)

Just like memorizing verses from the Bible will help equip us, learning more about God’s Word will also help us to live in a way that is pleasing to God. Not only should we listen to others explain the Bible at places like church or youth group but we need to dive into God’s Word on our own.

2 Timothy 2:15 - encourages us to rightly handle God’s Word. The only way we can do that is to study it! Come and talk to me or one of your leaders. We’ll be happy to help you with advice and a plan to study the Bible in order to learn from it’s treasure. Bible Study is great tool for preventative maintenance , but so is personal quiet time.

3. Quiet Time ( Psalm 1:1-2)

Personal quiet time is related to Bible Study but it’s more of a daily routine. It is like the routine checks that a homeowner will make to keep his house in proper shape. Each day, time spent with Jesus by reading our Bibles and praying will help add layers of protection in our lives. The first chapter of the Book of Psalms gives us a good description of how we are to view the Word of God.

Psalm 1:1-2- “Oh , the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners , or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of LORD, meditating on it day and night.”

God’s Word is to be our delight and we are to meditate on it day and night.

The more biblical principles that you know and use , the more likely you will be to make decisions that are in line with biblical principles, the more you will be living with integrity, and the more likley you’ll be able to stop problems before they start.

Another great preventative maintenance tool is accountability.

Accountability: Outside Help (Proverbs 27:17)

We need to keep an eye on our lives and while we need to be attentive ourselves, it can be helpful for someone else to be helping us look too.

Having someone look at your life with “fresh eyes” can help you to see things you’ve been missing.

Finding a trusted, spiritually mature friend that will help you to see some weak areas in your life is a great step toward keeping the cracks out of your life. This is called accountability.

Show definition

In addition to someone helping you stop problems in your life, accountability allows you to help others with checking fir cracks in their lives! Proverbs 27:17 gives a great picture of this.

Proverbs 27:17 - “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

You and a friend can help each other to be more faithful followers of Jesus and be better at resisting temptation. You leaders are also a great resource to help hold you accountable. We can help you to stop problems before they start.

Connection

Practicing good preventative maintenance is a good way to live with integrity, thus living a life that is consistent with biblical principles.

So, how can you fight temptation? With all of lifes temptations, there are specific truths that we can look to from Scripture.

If you are tempted to look at inappropriate images, you can combat that with Psalm 101:3.

Psalm 101:3 - “I will not look with approval on anything that is vile.”

What if your’e tempted to repeat the filthy jokes of your classmates at school? You can fight that with Ephesians 5:3-4.

Ephesians 5:3-4 - “Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk,and coarse jokes - thse are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.

Many of us are tempted by laziness. Who wants to get up and work hard when there are so many good TV shows to stream? Lets look at Proverbs 21:25.

Proverbs 21:25 - “Despite their desires, the lazy will come to ruin, for their hands refuse to work.” Thats a verse that will get you off the couch.

We must be continually looking for even the smallest cracks before they have a chance to get bigger. We can strengthen our lives before we fall into sin, and the Word of God is the source for preventative maintenance. Making a choice to memorize scripture, studying the Bible, and having a personal quiet time can help you stop problems before they start.

Will it be easy? Not always, but they are worth it. You will save yourself from unnecessary trouble.

Choice

Houses don’t just stay the same. They either get take care of or they begin to fall apart. The same is true in our spiritual lives. If you choose to be passive, ignore problems or pretend they dont exist,t hings will start to fall apart.

Protect the integrity of your life. Make a choice to perform preventative maintenance on a daily basis. Will you make that commitment to God tonight? If so, tell God what you will do to maintain your integrity.

Next Steps

As a way to do some preventative maintenance this week and protect yourself from sin, identify one area of your life that might have a crack. Do an online search for scripture verses that talk about that topic. For example, if you are prone to being deceitful, go online and search for “What the Bible says about lying”. If you struggle with anger, search for “What the Bible says about anger”.

Once youv’e found a scripture verse, make a point to read and memorize that verse. If you are able to do that with your small group leader, do it tonight so you can begin your preventative maintenance tonight and stop problems before they start.