Baptists Preaching is a column from the Baptist Standard. It is not an effort to advance any one theology or style but to present what a collection of Baptists considers a word from God. Likewise, Baptists Preaching offers a repository of Baptist preaching for future study and research. To recommend a sermon to be featured in Baptists Preaching, please contact eric.black@baptiststandard.com.
Kimberly Texidor: Conquering Virtual Giants (Philippians 4:4-9)
Kimberly Texidor, kids’ and women’s pastor at The Woodlands First Baptist Church, reflected on whistleblower indictments of Facebook that also apply to other social media platforms. Social media is credited with a host of negative effects on mental and social health, many of which the whistleblower claims are by design in service of increasing profits.
The Bible provides instruction for overcoming social media pressures, Texidor said. Being more firmly grounded in one’s identity in Jesus enables a person to be less likely to succumb to pressures aggravated by social media. The God Paul described to the Philippian Christians is this firm ground.
Paul’s social milieu exerted cultural pressures similar to today. In his letter to the church in Philippi, he named qualities that should characterize followers of Jesus. These qualities provide a direct response to how social media tries to shape us and how we can shape social media.
This sermon was delivered Oct. 10, 2021, for the morning worship services of The Woodlands First Baptist Church. It is part of a series titled Hypernikao, a Greek word often translated as “more than conquerors.”
A sermon transcript is available here.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.