Rooted in the Spirit
Quiet in Chaos • Message 5
Bryan Jones
May 11, 2025
Prayer Points for Prayer Time:
- Pray for a desire to grow closer to God.
- Pray for focus and discipline in your quiet time.
- Pray against the distractions and noise of the enemy.
Scripture Reading:
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mark 6:30-31 (NIV)
A. Introduction
Do you know the average person will complain every 32 minutes? … So, today, I'm going to do something I don’t normally do … I'm going to preach for 31 minutes.
As a pastor, I hear several complaints, but one common complaint I hear from people (both young and old) is that they struggle to hear from God. They struggle to hear His voice.
People have always said to me, I wish I could discern His will, I wish I could hear His voice just a little clearer. Today, I want to talk to you about something that will help amplify God’s voice in your life!
Our ability to hear God is directly related to how we quiet our souls and listen to God.
B. Quiet in Chaos
- Satan FEARS your quiet time with God.
(Luke 4:1-2)
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry.
Luke 4:1-2 (NIV)
I just love this... He ate nothing, and He was hungry...but this shows He was fully human as well as fully God... I have used this on my kids... a few times... they say, I'm starving... and I say, Jesus went 40 days, you’re going to be fine... WWJD.
The Greek word for wilderness is EREMOS … say that with me!
Eremos: Wilderness, desert, deserted place, desolate place, solitary place, lonely place, or a quiet place…
This is the first time this word is ever used in the New Testament…
For years, I struggled when I read this verse: Why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness? Why would he lead Him there to be tempted?
Then I stumbled upon this insight from a man named Jon Mark Comer, and it really opened things up for me…
One of the key ingredients in Jesus’ ministry was this term “Eremos”… the practice of breaking away to a quiet, lonely place. In fact, Jesus was constantly breaking away to be filled up and empowered. He knew the importance of silence and solitude…
Notice it says … the Spirit led Jesus away to the desert or the quiet place. And then He was tempted by the devil…
A couple of observations about this verse:
This is the most prominent attack of Satan on Jesus in the Bible... notice, for 40 days He's being attacked... if an army is attacking for 40 days, you would think they would be weaker...
So, when we teach this, or when I did, I taught that Jesus was at His weakest. But I really believe that He wasn't at His weakest. He was His strongest because He was connected with Father.
Now think about this... the most calculated attack Satan has is when Jesus is getting away... isn't this interesting... Now, you would think the most attacked or tempted Jesus would have been was during a miracle... but what Satan, I believe, feared the most was this... His time with the Father, rooting in the Spirit.
Think about it: Most of us experience the most distraction in our time with God. You just get so distracted.
Our adversary, the devil, majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds.
Richard Foster
- Why is quiet time so important for us?
a) If Jesus NEEDED it, we NEED
(Luke 5:15-16)
For many of us, when our schedules get packed…silence is the first thing to go. Time with God is the first to go!
Yet the news about Him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
Luke 5:15-16 (NIV)
Notice that as Jesus got busier, He withdrew more. There has never been anyone busier on this Earth than Jesus, and there has never been anyone with a more important task than Jesus. Yet what did he do when he was busier? He broke away to the quiet place more and more…
People will often ask me how regularly they should spend time with God. The verse above tells us that Jesus often broke away. You can pray about what that looks like, but it was a priority.
b) Quiet time is the only way to live out God’s PLANS for our lives.
(Mark 6:30-31. C/R: Matthew 14:12-14)
I grew up in the late 1900s, and when I was growing up, we knew one thing… be home before dark… we were off the grid. Nowadays, people are tied to screens, phones, and electronics, so getting alone has become incredibly difficult.
What happens to so many people is that, in life, they have this…
Dream -----Drive ---- Exhaustion …you start chasing after a great marriage, or a great job, a great future… you’re determined… but after a while, you just get tired, you get exhausted…
This is what happens to the disciples….
Now, in Mark chapter 6, the disciples are busy. They are tired. They are hungry. Notice what Jesus’ medicine for them is. I’m sure you know…
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mark 6:30-31 (NIV)
Dream ----Drive ---- Exhaustion
They are so busy and on the move that they don’t have time even to eat. Yet, Jesus draws them away to replenish and guide. The medicine, the prescription He gave wasn’t more rest or great food, it was the eremos…
See if you don’t deal with stress and exhaustion the right way, what you end up doing is this…
Dream ---- Escape ---- Numbing
The pressure becomes so great that you just need an outlet to shut down… it can be things like excessive focus on hobbies, sleep, games, sports, or hangouts to keep from being alone. I’ve seen some people do this with exercise … and it can move into darker things like drinking, pornography, or addictions…
In fact, I shared with you that I had a pornography addiction, the top reason was to escape. I just had so much stress and noise in my head, I just needed to quiet it … So I could get back to my dreams…
But we can also numb out when painful things happen. Sometimes, in pain, we try to move fast and shut down the noise. Listen to what Jesus does.
John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard what had happened, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.
Matthew 14:12-13a (NIV)
The answer is eremos---. You need God's power and Godly people walking with you so you can live out God's purpose.
The reason so many of us move at warp speed is that we don’t want to feel. We want to avoid pain or discomfort.
- Quiet time with God cuts through the NOISE.
(Mark 1:35-39)
To them, the idea of sitting in silence didn’t seem productive… After all, there is ministry to be done, people to feed, lost people to preach to, and demons to be cast out. We don’t have time for silence.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for Him, and when they found Him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So He traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
Mark 1:35-39 (NIV)
External noise
Isn’t it crazy how much noise we all have? There is something about not talking. Generally speaking, … how many of you are talkers? The more we talk…the more we sin. And all spouses said Amen... What does it say that we always have to have noise around us?
A co-worker at my last church was telling me the story about when their daughter Landry was born… they were taking shifts taking care of the baby when she woke up … and when you are sleep deprived you say some interesting things… and so it was this guy’s turn and when his wife woke him up and said it’s your turn… He says he doesn’t remember… but he looked right at her and said, I don’t feel a need to be part of that. You go.
And the next morning, she felt a need for him to be a part of some serious conversations…
But there is so much noise…
Demonic noise
One more note: The reason silence is so important is that there is another voice that wants to derail your faith, and it is the enemy's voice.
Do you ever slow down and think about where all those negative thoughts come from? Why does that anger stir so deeply at times? Why do we engage in gossip and slander so easily?
Or why you are so easily distracted? … the enemy’s number one goal is to keep you from the eremos… because if he does that, he cuts you off from life!
It’s because the outside voices (like from the enemy) are often louder than the voice of God in our lives.
Eremos- quiet place/ quiet mind
A mind that won’t slow down… revenge… worry… bills that need to be paid…the TV show replaying in our mind… the squirrel… this isn’t about being an introvert; it's about being a non-anxious presence.
Cushion of the sea… There are spots in the ocean that are so deep that the ocean floor isn’t disturbed… what Jesus is advocating is a cushion of the soul… where you cut through outside voices and noise in your head and you are able to rest…
You can have hurricanes in your personal life, but your soul is still at rest and at peace with the Lord…
You need to get to the secret place…
The solutions to your business aren’t found in a book; they are found in the secret place.
The healing to your heart isn’t found in a spouse; it's in the secret place.
The joy you're looking for isn’t found in a hobby or online; it's in the secret place.
You need to get there…
You have to break away in whatever season you're in. If you're in a good season, break away and keep getting filled up. If you're in a bad season, break away… Just break away in every season…
The question is not if God is speaking, but can you quiet the external noise, the demonic noise, and the internal noise so you can hear God… so you can have a cushion of the soul…
My number one desire for our church is for everyone to be able to hear from God… God is speaking; we just have to tune our hearts and souls to his frequency. May we do that!