Who Is Forming You? Faith and Technology
30-Second Sermon Summary
“Just 15 more minutes.” Pastor Hartman knows how easily a quick scroll becomes a habit. In the October 4 sermon, he asks who is forming us: our feeds, our need for certainty, or God? Faith invites honest reflection about our attention and trust. God’s mercy meets us in that honesty and opens a small next step: pause, pray, and be present with a neighbor.
View this sermon in its entirety: Who is Forming You?
View the full worship service: October 4, 2026 Worship Livestream
Just 15 more minutes
You set a screen limit. The reminder appears. You tap “ignore for 15 minutes.” Then the reminder comes back, and you do it again. A small choice becomes a familiar rhythm.
In Sunday’s sermon, Pastor Hartman began with that very human confession. He uses screen limits, too. He knows what it is like to get pulled into short videos. His question comes from inside the struggle: Who is forming us?
It is a question about the kind of people we are becoming. What helps us listen? What trains us to react? What draws us toward our neighbors? What leaves us less willing to see them?
What our feeds teach us
Pastor Hartman described how our online choices shape the content we encounter. We watch, click, and linger. We receive more material that fits those patterns. A familiar viewpoint can begin to feel like the whole world.
His most challenging observation was simple: “If it happens to them, it happens to us too.” We can often see the problem in someone else’s feed. Our own habits deserve the same honest attention.
This does not mean every belief we hold is false. It means we can ask better questions. Why does this post make me angry? Whose experience is missing? Have I checked the claim before sharing it? Does my response treat another person as someone God loves?
Those questions move us from reacting to discerning. We can slow down enough to test what we hear and notice what it is doing to us.
Where we place our trust
The sermon turned to the Ten Commandments and the place we give technology in our lives. Exodus 20 begins with God’s act of rescue before it speaks about other gods. The One who commands is the One who has already delivered the people.
That order matters. Grace comes first. God’s love is not a reward for a quiet phone or a perfect prayer routine. Christ meets us in our distraction, forgives us, and gives us a life we could never earn.
From that place of mercy, we can examine our trust. Where do we turn for comfort or certainty? Can we receive a challenge without treating it as a threat? Have we asked a tool to carry a kind of trust that belongs to God?
A phone can help someone hear Scripture, join worship, communicate, or reach needed care. Faithful use includes those gifts. The deeper question is whether our habits serve love and whether we are willing to let God reshape them.
Renewed for real life
Romans 12:1–2 is a companion reading for this week’s reflection. Paul appeals to the mercies of God before calling people toward renewed minds and a changed life. Renewal grows from mercy received.
God forms us through the good news of Jesus Christ, through baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and in a community that hears the Word together. Prayer makes room for us to bring our actual lives before God. Silence can help us attend, but we do not have to feel something special for God’s promise to be true.
Community matters because none of us sees the whole picture alone. A neighbor’s story may uncover something our feed never showed us. A conversation can help us move from defending our opinions to caring about another person’s life.
At New Spirit, Faith for Real Life means these questions reach our ordinary routines. They reach the way we share a post, listen across a difference, welcome someone, and show up when a neighbor needs help.
Weekly Spiritual Practice
Choose one daily moment when you usually scroll. Pause for five minutes: read Romans 12:1–2, pray for one neighbor, and offer that person your full attention through a conversation or a thoughtful act. Keep needed accessibility, caregiving, and emergency tools available. If you miss a day, begin again in grace.
At the end of the week, ask: What did I notice? Was I more ready to listen? Did someone receive more of my care? This small practice gives us a place to begin. God’s mercy holds us as we learn.
