Image is everything. Reality has become pervasive in all walks of life. Even in churches.

In our natural states we are corrupted at the heart level. We are sinners by nature and by choice.

Human pride is to value our wisdom above the wisdom and Word of God. It is to begin with ourselves rather than beginning with God.

Pride is to pursue goodness and happiness apart from God and his provision for us. Pride is to take the divine prerogative. Pride is to decide good and evil for ourselves and live based upon how we decide what is good and what is evil.

That is what is at the very heart of sin. Sin grows out of this kind of pride.

Today we’re going to look at specific ways this works out in our lives. We’re going to build upon the framework that we established last week.

We will see that vainglory is a manifestation of pride that focuses on outward images to the neglect of inward realities.

Vainglory is not a well-known word, but we’ll see that the concept is omnipresent in our culture and in our own experience.

We’re going to ask and answer three questions that will expose this sin in the Bible, in the world around us, and in our hearts.

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