Reagan explores how Jesus found peace amidst the chaos by seeking quiet places to connect with His Father. He discussed the importance of imitating Jesus' example in finding moments of solitude for spiritual growth and reflection. Learn how Jesus managed the noise of life, prioritized quiet time, and invited his disciples to do the same. Practical suggestions on how to incorporate quiet places into your life are also covered.
00:00 Introduction and Opening Remarks
00:36 Congregational Focus for 2025
01:18 Outline of the Study
01:41 Three Key Questions
03:47 The Importance of Quiet Places
06:47 Jesus' Example of Finding Quiet
16:32 Practical Steps to Find Quiet
34:18 Invitation to Follow Jesus
Good morning. If you would, please take out your Bible and turn with me to Matthew chapter 14. That's where we'll be in just a moment. Matthew chapter 14 beginning in verse we'll probably begin reading in verse 10. Matthew chapter 14 in verse 10. If you did not receive a handout this morning and you would like one raise your hand.
There are some gentlemen who are walking around who will get you one of those. If you'd like a handout for the lesson this morning.
Last week, as we introduced our congregational focus for 2025, we asked and hopefully answered the question, how could Jesus sleep during the storm? And we know that Jesus slept in the storm because he knew true peace. And if we follow and imitate Jesus, we can find the peace that he offers us as his disciples, as his followers.
We can have the peace that passes understanding When we follow the example and teaching of Jesus. And today what I'd like us to do is, is think about the first step toward that peace. When we walk like Jesus by finding the quiet places. And just to kind of, as a housekeeping matter, just to kind of get in our minds what this study is going to look like.
In each quarter, we're going to think about these four things that we introduced last week, and we're going to try and answer these three questions for each one of these. And, and that'll provide the outline for our lesson this morning and in subsequent lessons as we talk about walking like Jesus. We're going to ask the question, what did Jesus do?
So we're going to look in the Gospels, we're going to look at Jesus example, and we're going to see the way He lived His life on this earth. Not just in His heart, and His motivations, and in His attitude, but also in the actual life of Jesus. practical, literal actions that he took. What did Jesus do?
Secondly, we're going to ask, what did he teach his disciples to do? So what was it that Jesus said? If you want to imitate me, if you want to be like me, this is the way you need to live as a disciple, as a follower. What did he teach his disciples to do? And then finally, we're going to look to each one of us as disciples of Jesus and ask the question, what should we do in imitation?
Those are the three things, the three questions we're going to ask every time we introduce one of these concepts. What did Jesus do? What did he teach his disciples to do? And what should we do in imitation? And I'll have you know and think about, with some of these things, it's, well, Jesus commanded this.
This is what we have to do if we want to be his disciples. This is what is required of us. But I'm afraid sometimes when it comes to, well, lots of things in life, maybe work, maybe when it comes to the things our parents want us to do as young people, and even sometimes as Christians, our question is, what do I have to do?
You know, what is required? What is it that I'm commanded to do? When maybe sometimes a better question might be, what should I do? What is it that I have an example as something that works well? What does wisdom suggest that I do? And so for some of these things, it's Jesus commands us we have to do these things.
But for other things, like finding the quiet places, it is not so much that this is a commandment, a requirement, that you have to do this, you have to spend these many minutes in quiet places every day. Instead it is, Jesus gives us an example. He showed his disciples that this was important, and we as disciples of Jesus should follow that same example.
As we think about finding the quiet places specifically this morning, I want us to consider, I want us to consider our friends for a moment. How much time, or texts, or conversations, or questions. How much do you put into spending with your closest friends? And if we disconnect, if we pull away, if we never spend any time at all with a friend, Would we expect that relationship to grow or even continue, perhaps?
I want you to imagine a friend. A friend that you never spend time with, you never talk to, you never listen to, and you generally ignore whenever they come within somewhere in your life. I mean, would you really consider that to be a friend? a good and close friend? Sure, I know some of you are thinking of exceptions to that rule.
We all have friends that time and circumstances have separated us from, and we even say, well, when we get back with that person, we can just pick right back up where we left off. And it's true that we have friends like that. But I want you to think about that friend. How did you get close to start with?
Was it always this way, where you just occasionally, you know, find this time to reconnect? Or is it that when this friendship began, it began because you committed to spending time together? Maybe you were thrown together initially, but you spent that time together. And generally, the understanding is, I would spend more time with this person if I could because they're my friend and I enjoy them and enjoy being with them.
I wish we could be together more. And maybe, thinking negatively for just a moment, how does it feel when a friend chooses Not to spend time with you, and you would like them to. Makes excuses why they can't. You invite them to do something, and over and over they tell you no. They ghost you whenever you try and reach out to them.
You look at the text messages, and it's message after message of, of you sending text messages to them. And the receipt down on the bottom that says read at this time, and yet there is no response. How would you feel? Well, flip it around. How do we think God feels if we never spend any time with Him, we never talk to Him, We never listen to Him, and when He tries to send us messages, maybe we don't even read them.
May I suggest this morning, that the Bible says, to be close with God, we have to spend time with Him. We have to find the quiet places, For us to be alone. And so as we consider these three questions that we'll go through, I suggest number one, that Jesus found quiet places. He found these quiet places and times to be alone with his father.
And certainly we know that Jesus had noises that shouted at him. Jesus certainly was one who was busy. And we're going to talk about us finding the quiet places here in just a moment. You know, I think sometimes I say to myself, I'm a busy person. I have a lot going on. I have a lot going on with my work for the Lord.
I have a lot going on with stuff I'm doing, trying to do in the community. I have a lot going on with my friends and my family. I'm a busy person. But maybe I need to have a dose of humility that asks, Am I really more busy than Jesus was? Jesus had so many noises that shouted at him. Jesus had the noises of the multitudes.
Crowds stalked Jesus seeking his preaching and miraculous healing. Jesus had the noise of harsh critics. Jewish leaders attacked Jesus with criticism and complaint. Jesus had the noise of family drama. Even Jesus was not exempt of that. His brothers did not believe in him and thought he was out of his mind and tried to get him to quit doing some of the things that he was doing and even spurred him on sometimes, if you're really who you say you are, do this or do that.
He had family drama. Jesus had the noise of friendship, denial, and betrayal. Peter denied him. Judas betrayed him. Jesus had the noise of doubters. The Jews, even his disciples, often doubted. Jesus lived in a society like ours where there was the noise of ungodly entertainment. The Roman world was filled with entertainment.
Yet we never read of Jesus seeking peace through ungodly recreation. Jesus had the noise of Satan. Satan continually pursued opportunities to tempt Jesus and lead him astray from his mission that God had given him while on this earth. And to all of this noise that was all around Jesus his entire life, he said, Peace.
Be still.
How did Jesus turn down the noise? Jesus intentionally turns down the noise in the gospel by finding time to be alone with his father. And we see that this is not just happened, this didn't just happen, you know, at certain times here and there, over and over and over. Jesus sought out intentionally and found and then spent time in the quiet.
If you're there in Matthew chapter 14 I had these arranged kind of topically at first, but here's what I decided to do. I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 14. I'm going to give you five examples. There are many more that we could point out, but five examples, and we'll just go through them as they appear in the gospel.
So first, Matthew chapter 14. Beginning in verse 10, Jesus found time to be alone with God during times of grief and times of loss. We see that John the Baptist has been in prison, and Herod, at the request of, well, a debaucherous dance by, A girl he was kin to, he ultimately agrees to have John the Baptist beheaded.
So in verse 10 it says, So he sent and had John beheaded in prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, notice, and they went and told Jesus. Now, I know that Jesus knows the end from the beginning, that he knows all things, He knew about John's death, and he knew with his foreknowledge that John's death was going to happen.
And yet, all of us who have lost a loved one, even one that we knew their death was going to happen. You remember how it feels? When Jesus heard it, verse 13, what did He do? He departed from there by boat to a departed place by Himself. And yes, the multitudes followed Him on foot, but going first in a boat no doubt gave Him a few moments to Himself.
To be alone with his father. Jesus intentionally turned down the noise and the gospels by finding time to be alone with his father during times of busy activity when much was going on. If you turn to the gospel of Mark in Mark chapter one, mark chapter one, verses 34 and 35,
start there in verse 32.
At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were demon possessed and the whole city gathered together at the door. Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him.
Now, that was an evening after he had taught, after he had healed Peter's mother in law, and now he heals the entire city, basically, comes. And so he spends the whole evening working in this way. Now, in the morning, Having risen a long time, a long while before daylight, he went out and departed to a, my translation says solitary place, maybe yours says a deserted place, and there he prayed.
We're going to see Simon and others, they have to go and search for him. Where's Jesus? What's he doing? He's finding the quiet places. Turn to Luke chapter 5 and verse 16. We see that this was not, again, just a here and there sort of thing. Instead, this was a matter of habit. This is what Jesus did all the time.
The report has gone out about him. Great multitudes come to hear his teaching. He's healing people right and left. But then there is this little note in Luke chapter 5 and verse 16. Luke chapter 5 and verse 16, So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Now, if your Bible is like mine, often is in italicese, which means it's added by the translators.
But this word is added because of the tense of this sentence. The tense of this sentence is such that it is ongoing, that this is happening. Not just one time, it is happening ongoing, over and over and over. This was Jesus habit. This was His routine. He often withdrew into the wilderness so that He might spend time in prayer to His Father.
Jesus went to the quiet places during times of decision, when there were important things to be done and decisions to be made. In Luke chapter 6 and verse 12, Now, it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. Why? When it was day, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose the twelve whom he also named apostles.
He sends them out. for the things that God has called them to do. And so what does Jesus do before this big decision to choose these 12 men? He spends the night, apparently the whole night, in prayer to God. And then a final example in Luke chapter 22. As we sang about this morning, A knight with ebon pinion, that black wing that was over Jesus in the garden.
Notice Luke chapter 22 and verse 39.
Coming out from that place where they observed the Passover, and he instituted the Lord's Supper, he went to the Mount of Olives, and as he was accustomed, this was his custom, And His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, And he knelt down and prayed.
I don't know what kind of arm Jesus had, right? Probably a pretty good one. But a stone's throw think about how far you are from anybody else. Get a good rock in my hand. I know for sure I can get it out in the parking lot over there somewhere. Now I haven't warmed up. Maybe I can only do that once.
But I could get it pretty far out over there, right? And so you think about how far away Jesus was. And he was this far away from his inner circle and even further from the other disciples. He finds a deserted place to be alone so that he might say, verse 42, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Then an angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Then his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Jesus prioritized quiet time in quiet places. And notice what Jesus did. To find quiet, Jesus was willing to wake up early.
He was willing to stay up late, specifically. He was willing to climb a mountain. He was willing to brave the wilderness. He was willing to travel across the sea or visit a garden at night. Jesus walked in peace. He slept in storms. He overcame his critics. He loved even his enemies. And he completed his mission because he made it a habit to turn down the noise
This is what Jesus did. And though Jesus does not command us to find the quiet places in the same way, What He does is invite us to go to these quiet places to be with Him and to be with His Father. Jesus told His disciples, I might say He invited His disciples to find the quiet places just like, like He did.
Turn to Mark chapter 6 and verse 31, if you would. Mark chapter 6 and verse 31. This is another occasion of Jesus finding a quiet place when lots is going on. He is healing and teaching
in Mark chapter 6 and verse 31. Jesus not only is practicing quiet time alone, he's teaching his disciples to do the same. Following an extremely busy season for the apostles, he sent out the apostles to preach. They're healing two by two earlier in the chapter. Then he tells them this in verse 31, And he said to them, Come aside, or come away by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while.
For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves. The multitude saw them, and many knew them, and ran on foot from all the cities, and arrived before them, and came together to him. All those things took place. But they had this moment to be alone.
How did the disciples and the apostles turn down the noise? Well, hear Jesus words again. Jesus told them to come away by yourselves to a desolate place after a while. Again, perhaps we might call this a command, but really it's an invitation. And what is it that Jesus is saying to His disciples, and by extension, what is He saying to us?
Hear Jesus invitation to come away by yourselves, that is, get alone, but we're getting alone with Him, to a desolate place. A place where we can be still. A place where we can be quiet. A place where our mind is not running in every direction, or maybe it is at the start. But where we can quiet our mind and heart and rest a while.
That this is a place where we can find rest, even when we're coming and going so much, we don't even have time to eat. Well, in those moments, we better make time. To find the quiet. Is that complicated? It is a simple pattern. And while we will be building upon this simple pattern of finding the quiet places, this, this is simple.
This is something that every person can do. Every follower of God, whether you've been a follower of God for five minutes or 50 years, we can all benefit from finding the quiet places. And just as Jesus told his disciples to find the quiet places. Jesus invites you as a disciple to find the quiet places as well.
Who here has a hard time with quiet? Yeah, I'm, I'm that way, you know, driving in the car. It's not like I'm comfortable. It's just like something comes to mind and I got Stephanie, right? I got to tell Steph. Hey, what about this? What about that? Hey, did you see that over there? And sometimes she's just like, can we just be quiet for a little while.
Do you think Jesus found silence difficult or comforting? Do you think he felt the need to fill every moment of his life with noise and distraction? Can I hear your head rattle on that one? Do you think Jesus felt the need, oh, it's too quiet, I gotta do something? Of course not. His example shows That God created us with a need, a need for quiet times and quiet places.
And that applies to the extroverts in the audience just as it does the introverts. Scripture confirms this. God calls us to times of silence many times in the Bible. Again, just to give you a few examples on the screen, Psalm 46 and verse 10, Be still. And know that I am God. I think those two things go together.
By being still, we can be reminded that God is God. We can see Him, and we can see His handiwork. Psalm 4 and verse 4, Ponder in your own hearts and be silent, or be still, depending on your translation. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 7 says that there is a time to speak, but there is also a time to keep silence.
And in James chapter 1 and verse 19, 1 James makes clear that this applies to all Christians when he says, Every one of you, or every man, be quick to hear, slow to speak. Don't misunderstand me. Do the quiet places have to literally be quiet? You know, we have to find a place with no noise in order to find the quiet places.
I'm asking. No, of course not. Who should be silent? The place or us? May I suggest it is not about our ears and what we are hearing. Instead, it is about our minds and what we are thinking. God created us with a need for our brains to, to unwind and wander and contemplate, to meditate. What does a quiet place have to be?
Well, in order to be a quiet place, it just has to be a place where you can be alone with your thoughts without the shouting of this world all around you. I look back on my life this, this was not something that I put in practice until just recently I guess. But I look back at my life and I know that there were quiet places where I found time to be alone with my thoughts and found time to be alone with God.
It may not come as a great surprise to you that when I was in junior high and high school, My quiet place was in a driveway or in a gym somewhere in front of a goal 15 feet away, and I would shoot free throw after free throw after free throw after free throw, and I would think, and I would pray, and I would have an opportunity to be alone with God.
I lost a classmate I guess I was in the 6th grade. So that means I'm not Christian yet. But this was somebody that I'd known since 1st grade. It was somebody that I was fairly close to. He'd been to my house, I'd been to his. I'd eaten tamales that his mom had made. And he was killed in a car wreck.
We didn't know it when we got to school. He was killed that morning. And they came and told us in Brian White's history class. And they, they brought in some counselors to help us and so forth. It probably would have been beneficial to me to talk to a counselor, but instead all I wanted to do was people leave me alone so I could go shoot some baskets.
And I remember I went to the gym, one of the advantages of your dad being the principal, And I went to the gym and I shot free throws, I think for three hours, and I thought and I prayed. And when I came out, I wasn't okay. Okay. But I was okay because I had found the time to be alone with my father and to work through some things.
That was my quiet place in junior high and high school. It's different now, although it is funny how my mind stills if I shoot a free throw to this day. But all of us need to find a quiet place. And it really comes down to just a time and a place to be alone with God. There are quiet, quiet places. The Bible talks about going into your closet.
Maybe literally that's a place you can go to find time alone with God. Maybe it's your back porch or your office with the door closed. Maybe it's lying in your bed at night or in the morning. Maybe it's in the shower while you're getting ready. Maybe for you it's in a deer stand. Who knows? Maybe it's a noisy, quiet place.
I've found a quiet place for me now. You know how much I hate mowing the yard. I've had to turn that into something spiritual so I can get through it on a regular basis. And so now mowing the yard has become a quiet place for me. That's noisy. I have to wear ear protection. But it's a quiet place for me to think and pray and meditate on things of a spiritual nature.
I find that standing in line is a good place to find the quiet places to be alone with God. I hate standing in line. I hate waiting. So if I can make it something spiritual, all of a sudden it's beneficial instead of a negative thing. Maybe even sitting alone in a busy room, riding in the car. Or like me, maybe it's playing a sport or an instrument by yourself.
Because we all have noises shouting at us, don't we? What noises are shouting at you? Satan seeks to overwhelm us and distract us and tempt us with the chaotic noise of this world. The noise of busyness where we are Here, there, and everywhere. Work and play and work and play. And my stuff and the kids stuff and my parents stuff.
And all the things that we have going on. The noise of family drama where we ask the question like a great aunt of mine did one time, why can't we all just get along? The noise of betrayal and broken or difficult relationships that dominate our mind and thinking. The noise of self doubt and guilt and persistent sin that we have to deal with in our lives.
The noise of temptation and worldliness and materialism that are so strong in our culture. Maybe the noise of physical, personal sickness or grief or loss. The noise of financial difficulties and debt or financial success. And what am I going to do with all of these blessings that God has showered upon me?
The noise of social media and endless connection and comparison to others where there is no deep and meaningful connection. The noise of worldly entertainment. Hobby. How do we turn down the noise? I don't have all the answers to that, but I do know that we cannot turn down the noise by simply substituting Moreno more noise sometimes.
That's what we want to do. Anybody in here have a have a noise maker you sleep with at night? Okay. Yeah, we got some noise maker people we just have a little fan on. We like it to be pretty cool when we sleep anyway, so that gives us a little noise. Also if you've ever done that, have you ever been in a, a room, like a hotel room or something and you don't have it?
And you're like, every single thing I'm hearing right now. Until you finally fall asleep. Well, I think sometimes that's what we do in our spiritual lives, you know, or maybe not even in our spiritual lives, just in our lives in general. All this noise is going on. So how do I make it quiet? I just turn up more noise, right?
And if I can add more noise to what's going on, maybe the noise that I add will be louder than the noise that I'm hearing. And sometimes, people, even Christians, try to dull the chaos of this life with worldly entertainment, or video games, or scrolling our phones. Some turn to more sinful things, like drugs, or alcohol, or pornography.
Others turn to longer and longer hours at work because at least that's something I can control. In our modern society, we've been pushing out quiet times since at least the invention of the radio, and I'm sure there were people before the radio who said something and said, Well, this is changing the times.
Video games are not a quiet place to meet God. Neither is Facebook or Netflix or even a good book. These are all false promisers of peace. They rob us of the quiet places that are already a part of our lives. When we think about potential quiet places, I think a good place to start is thinking about the times and places where you feel bored.
When was the last time you felt bored? And what did you do when you felt bored? Leaving these times for God, we often fill in these times with noise to distract us. I talked earlier about standing in line. Think about the last time you stood in line. What was the first thing you do? Oh, there's a queue here.
What am I going to do? What was the first thing you do? You did. Was it this? I mean, for most of us, that's what we do. What about another potential quiet place is when we're in the car, especially by ourselves. What's the first thing you do when you get in the car? Do you, turn on the radio? Do you turn on a podcast?
Or as someone confessed to me a couple of weeks ago, do you go to YouTube and set it up there before you? I hope you're not doing that. But what do you do when you get in the car? Are we constantly trying to fill our lives with noise or Are we leaving time for the quiet places? We must fight if we're going to retake these quiet places, because there is no doubt our world and our culture and the devil himself are going to try and fill those times with noise.
What are we going to do to turn down the noise to be alone with God? So even though all our days are extremely busy, You're welcome to tell me all about it in the foyer. I know you're busy. I'm busy too. Can we start putting this habit of Jesus into practice today, this week? Here are three suggestions for finding the quiet places and the lesson will be yours.
Number one, if you keep a calendar on your phone or computer or even a hard copy, maybe it's on the refrigerator or on your desk at work, schedule quiet time with God. Start with at least 10 minutes. That's what I would ask you to do. At least 10 minutes. If you don't keep a calendar decide the night before where and when you're going to spend this time.
Choose a time and a place. I, I went a long time in my life not having much of a calendar at all. I just kind of kept it all in my head until I was juggling and I started dropping more and more balls. And so I decided, you know what, maybe I need a calendar to try and make this stuff happen. And it's funny, if it's on the calendar, what's going to happen?
You're gonna do it, because it's there, and you, you work everything else around what's already there. So schedule quiet time with God. Maybe it's first thing in the morning. Maybe it's on your lunch break. Maybe it's in the evening before you go to bed. Maybe you can think now, well on Mondays I have this, on Tuesdays I have this, on Wednesdays I have this.
First, schedule that quiet time to be with God at least 10 minutes. And then secondly, go to that time and place and be alone with God. I don't know what you're thinking. Reagan, what am I supposed to do while I'm there? Well, you can use this time however you choose, as long as it is something spiritual that you're doing.
Now, we're gonna, as the quarters go on, we're gonna give you some very specific suggestions. But let's just start by getting into the habit. I'm gonna do something spiritual for, again, 10, 20, 30 minutes, however long you schedule. Maybe it's reading and meditating on God's Word. Maybe it's praying or journaling.
Maybe it's going through a daily devotional. Maybe it's You're at least a stone's throw away from everybody else so you can sing praises. God knows how you sound already. Maybe it's counting your blessings. Maybe it's considering the beauty of God's creation. Or reflecting on the attributes that make God, God.
Even studying our Bibles and having several a Bible and several other books open. That's okay too, although we need to be careful not to be too noisy in that moment. But without distractions, whatever we do, We need to find a time and a place to let our mind be quiet enough to focus on something spiritual.
And then the third thing that I would suggest for you to do starting today, this week, now, is look for unplanned quiet places. Schedule a time and a place, you know, this is what I'm going to do and every day I'm going to have that time and place scheduled. But also look for those unplanned quiet places where you can pray and think instead of just distracting yourself into oblivion.
I challenge you to try this. Try this today. Try this this week. Make it a habit over the next three months to find the quiet places. Why? Because that's what Jesus did. Because this is what he invited his disciples to do. And as his disciples today. It will be beneficial to us as well to find the quiet places.
But as we talked about Sunday and again on Wednesday, that starts by becoming a disciple. By saying, I want to follow, and I want to imitate Jesus. And wherever He goes, and whatever He commands, and whatever He does, I want to do that too. Will you begin that journey of following Jesus by coming in humble submission, saying, It is no longer my will that will be done, but His, and His Father's, and the Holy Spirit's, as it's revealed to us.
Will you put off the old man of sin and repentance, saying, I'm not going to live that way anymore. So that you might follow Jesus example in baptism to go down into a watery grave and rise to walk in newness of life and begin down the path that leads to peace. If we can help you with that, even this morning, won't you come now, when together we stand and while we sing.