West Pines Community Church

In Part 2 of The Epic of the City, we explore one of the most powerful themes in Scripture: the battle between pride and humility. Using the unforgettable story of Larry’s lawn chair flight — a man who tried to soar 16,000 feet with weather balloons — this sermon illustrates the danger of self-elevation and the consequences of building our lives on our own glory. From Babylon to Jerusalem, the Bible presents two archetypal cities. Babylon represents self-glory, arrogance, and the pursuit of being “like God.” Jerusalem represents humility, worship, and lifting up the name of the true King. Through Isaiah’s vision, the fall of the king of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling in the book of Daniel, we see a clear pattern: internal pride always leads to external collapse. As Augustine wrote in The City of God, the internal fall always precedes the external fall.