Trading Spaces - Redesigned From The Inside Out Series

Sermon Series -- An Inside Look

Text: “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

This is the last part of our Inside Look series. We’ll take our last look at one of your bedrooms tonight – and we saved the best for last!

Show Video Clip. Trading Spaces Introduction

Trading Spaces: Redesigned from the Inside Out

TV show. Trading Spaces. Yet another TLC creation. People agree to let their family or friends or neighbors come in and redecorate a room in their home, while they do the same to the other person’s house. Needless to say, it can get quite interesting with some of the things they come up with. Sometimes things get really messed up and the people aren’t happy. Other times, the rooms were in desperate need for a facelift and it helped a great deal.

It’s not just our homes that need redecorating, but our lives as well. We need to be redesigned. All of us start out flawed. We have a tendency to sin. We’re drawn to it. We’re also drawn to God, but the conflict remains. And we all blow it and give in to sin.

Romans 3:23 “Because all people have sinned, they have fallen short of God’s glory.” (GWT)

That’s everyone. You. Me. The person sitting next to you. Your Mom. Your Dad. Everyone. We’ve all blown it and just don’t measure up when it comes to God’s standard.

When you have a decorator that knows what they’re doing, they walk into a room and see the potential. They see what could be done to make things better.

God takes a look at our lives and sees so much potential. He sees what your life could be like. And like Trading Spaces, we just need to step out of the way and let Him come in and do his thing. God wants to help you get your life where it should be and where it could be. We just need to let him.

2 Cor. 3:16-18 (GW)

But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17This Lord is the Spirit. Wherever the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. 18As all of us reflect the Lord’s glory with faces that are not covered with veils, we are being changed into his image with ever-increasing glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

God wants to redecorate our lives, and He wants to pour himself into it. Using himself as a model, God will show you how you can be changed.

God’s Redecorating Tips

Clean Things Up

One Trading Spaces, the first thing they need to do is come in and get rid of everything that can’t be used. They tear up carpet, throw out old furniture. They clean house. They can’t really do much else until all of the old junk is gone.

How many of you have bedrooms that really couldn’t have much done until the junk was gone. Anyone have a junkyard for a room? Well, at least one of you does…

It’s time once again for our next, and final, victim as we take An Inside Look… on location.

SHOW MATT BOPP VIDEO

Obviously, there’s a little bit of cleaning up that needs to be done in Matt’s room. But he doesn’t. The question is why?

We have a lot of things in our lives that need to be cleaned up. We’ve all got junk there that needs to be removed. Problems with sin. Things we watch or listen to that is not glorifying to God. Habits we don’t let go of. We know things need to be cleaned up, but we don’t. The question is why?

In reality the reason is the same for both Matt’s room and your life. Matt doesn’t clean his room because he’s used to it. He’s comfortable in the refuse. In fact, he probably doesn’t even notice it’s a problem until his mom has company coming over and threatens to kick him out of the house if he doesn’t clean it up.

The reason we don’t feel the need to get rid of the junk in our lives is because we get used to it. We’ve lived with our mess for so long that it doesn’t even bother us. The hardest part about turning your life around is recognizing the need to do it.

I was talking to someone the other day… I’ll protect their name in the sermon. But he was talking about a new movie and how much he liked it. He said I needed to see it. I told him I wouldn’t because of the language in it. He said it wasn’t that bad, and I proceeded to tell him that they dropped an “f-bomb” in the movie. He argued with me until I told him about the website I use to screen movies and they detail every bit of content. He said he didn’t even notice it.