{"id":52294,"date":"1998-09-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1998-09-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/prideful-deceits\/"},"modified":"1998-09-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1998-09-01T00:00:00","slug":"prideful-deceits","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/prideful-deceits\/","title":{"rendered":"Prideful Deceits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let&#39;s&#8211;all of us&#8211;decide to stop trying to convince the world that Christianity is true because Jesus makes us prettier, happier, thinner, wealthier, bigger, more successful, more popular, healthier, stronger, and more influential than everyone else. Do we acually believe that the world is impressed with our fancy new churches, 12,000 in Sunday School, five services each morning, the &quot;millions&quot; who are watching on television, converted beauty queens and professional athletes, our book sales, or our crusades? 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