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In the Pastor’s Choice series, Pastor Derrick Overholt brings a message that begins not with noise, energy, or explanation, but with two full minutes of silence. That kind of quiet can feel strangely long, even in church. It exposes something in us almost immediately: the urge to reach for a phone, whisper to someone nearby, mentally review the day, or wonder whether something has gone wrong. Derrick uses that uncomfortable silence as a spiritual diagnostic. What once might have felt normal has become awkward, and what God often uses as a gift now feels like a threat to our overstimulated hearts.

Derrick points out that because we are so afraid of silence, we rush to fill every empty space. We fill it with Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, television, books, podcasts, background noise, scrolling, notifications, and whatever else keeps us from sitting alone with our thoughts before God. Many people cannot even fall asleep without something playing in the background. The issue is not that every form of media is evil or every sound is sinful. The issue is that constant noise trains the soul to avoid stillness. When life gets louder and louder, prayer begins to feel distant, conviction becomes easier to ignore, and the voice of God seems harder to hear. Derrick illustrates this with rising digital noise, showing how modern life can become so chaotic that, even if God is speaking, we may only catch a few words.

This connects deeply to the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was not doing something obviously wicked; she was busy serving. But she was so consumed by what needed to be done that she missed the King of Glory sitting in her living room. Mary chose to sit quietly at Jesus’ feet. Derrick’s point is not that work is bad, responsibility is wrong, or service does not matter. His point is that distraction can hide inside good things. Busyness can become a spiritual anesthetic. Even productive work can become a way to avoid the quiet place where God wants to expose, heal, convict, and direct the heart.

Derrick ties this to a word he has been carrying through the year: sharpened Christians are prepared for crisis. A knife is not sharpened by being slammed against rocks. Noise does not equal sharpening. A blade is sharpened through quiet, precise, intentional friction against the right surface. In the same way, believers are not spiritually sharpened by constant chaos. If our souls are dulled by the noise of the world, we may not be ready when crisis comes. Derrick says it plainly: we are often called the army of God, but a distracted army cannot hear its marching orders. No soldier wants to be in a war and not even know it, and no Christian should want to miss the Commander’s voice because the volume of the world is turned up too loud.

That brings Derrick to the heart of the message: distraction is not merely a productivity problem; it is part of a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6 reminds us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Derrick presses on the reality that believers often confess spiritual truths but live with their eyes locked almost entirely on the physical world. We believe our spirits go to be with the Lord, yet we can spend whole days without considering the spiritual battle around us. We interpret everything through bills, jobs, sickness, stress, family tension, and anxiety, while forgetting that the enemy is actively scheming to capture attention, devotion, and trust.

Derrick describes the enemy’s strategy as one that often stays incognito. The devil does not always need to show up in dramatic, obvious ways. He often works more effectively through slow erosion. He keeps people busy, overstimulated, distracted by entertainment, bombarded with notifications, and locked into the chaos of the moment. Instead of only tempting people toward dramatic rebellion, he normalizes small compromises over time. Derrick has used the phrase “sin shots” to describe those small injections of compromise that gradually dull conviction. A person does not usually become spiritually numb overnight. The conscience is often worn down through repeated exposure, little negotiations, and the quiet normalization of things Scripture warns against.

This is why Derrick pushes back against the idea that the Bible is simply a list of restrictive rules. He compares God’s commands to a parent warning a child not to put a hand in the fire. The command is not hatred; it is love. The warning is not meant to steal joy; it is meant to keep the child from being burned. When Scripture says, “Do not do this,” or “Watch out for that,” it is the voice of the Creator protecting His creation. Sin may promise freedom, pleasure, or self-expression, but it burns. It wounds the soul, clouds the mind, distorts desire, and leads people into deeper bondage. Derrick challenges believers to see biblical warnings as the kindness of a Father who knows what destroys His children.

The Scriptures Derrick walks through make that warning clear. First Timothy 4:1 says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. Ephesians 4:14 warns against being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and deceitful schemes. Jesus, in the parable of the sower, says the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches can choke out the Word. Derrick brings these passages together to show that spiritual dullness is rarely accidental. Noise chokes out life. Anxiety, entertainment, worldly values, and false teaching can crowd the heart until the Word no longer bears fruit.

Yet Derrick does not leave the church with fear. He points to God’s repeated invitation into stillness. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.” That stillness is not laziness or passivity; it is active trust. When Israel stood trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea, Moses told the people, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” In 1 Kings 19, Elijah looks for God in the wind, earthquake, and fire, but the Lord comes in a low whisper. Even Jesus, with only three years of public ministry, regularly withdrew to desolate places to pray. Derrick asks a piercing question: if Jesus withdrew from the crowds and noise to spend time with the Father, how much more do we need to?

One of the most compelling parts of Derrick’s message is his honesty about his own struggle. He admits that he often feels like he has to be doing something, producing something, building something, or proving that he is earning his place. He names the pressure many people feel but rarely say out loud: if I am not working, I feel like a waste. But he also recognizes that this is not always just a strong work ethic. Sometimes busyness becomes an intentional strategy to avoid silence. When the mind is constantly racing toward the next project, it does not have to face the true condition of the heart. In the quiet, the Holy Spirit may say, “Son, stop doing that,” or “Move over here,” or “Let someone else carry that.” Noise can keep us from hearing the very correction that would bring freedom.

Derrick also speaks directly about the way modern news and constant information can feed fear. He explains why he had to remove news from his life, not because Christians should be uninformed or uncaring, but because much of the modern media system is built on selling chaos, fear, outrage, and urgency. The question he raises is simple and convicting: why do we wake up and immediately turn on something designed to inject anxiety into our minds before we have even spoken to God? Many people begin the day by giving the world first access to their emotions, thoughts, and attention. Derrick invites believers to reverse that order and allow God to speak first.

From there, Derrick becomes intensely practical. He calls believers to guard the gates of the eyes and ears. If certain shows, apps, accounts, or media patterns repeatedly stir temptation, fear, envy, lust, anger, or spiritual numbness, they should not be treated casually. Psalm 101:3 says, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.” Derrick urges listeners not to debate endlessly with conviction. If something pricks the conscience, respond the first time. The more we ignore the Spirit’s warning, the quieter that warning may seem the next time.

He also calls for digital fasts and intentional boundaries with technology. The phone can be a useful tool, but it makes a terrible master. Derrick challenges the idea that everyone should have immediate access to us at all times. Family, prayer, rest, and attention matter. The first hour of the morning and the last hour of the night can become sacred spaces again if believers are willing to put the phone in another room, turn off unnecessary notifications, and reclaim silence. These are not merely lifestyle hacks; they are acts of spiritual resistance in a culture designed to keep the soul constantly available to interruption.

Derrick then points back to Ephesians 6 and urges believers to put on the full armor of God daily. Truth must replace the lies of culture and emotion. Righteousness protects the heart by closing doors that disobedience would leave open. Faith quenches the flaming darts of fear, doubt, and temptation. Salvation guards the mind. The Word of God becomes the sword by which spiritual lies are confronted with divine truth. Prayer is not an accessory to the armor; it is the atmosphere in which the battle is fought. Human willpower cannot defeat spiritual schemes. Christians need spiritual weapons.

Community is another essential part of staying sharp. Derrick uses the image of a wolf watching for a sheep that wanders away from the flock. Isolation makes deception easier. Accountability, however, brings freedom. He speaks of the relief that comes when trusted, mature believers are allowed to see the hidden places, ask hard questions, and help carry burdens into the light. Secrets give shame room to grow. Confession breaks its power. In marriages, friendships, and the local church, locked rooms of the heart become dangerous places. Transparency is not weakness; it is protection.

Finally, Derrick calls for immediate repentance. The longer we wait after conviction, the harder the soil of the heart can become. Pride begins to build a defense. Condemnation begins to whisper that change is impossible. Excuses start forming. But immediate repentance keeps the heart soft. Derrick compares it to freshly dumped dirt that is easy to move, versus ground that has been compacted again and again until it becomes hard. Every delayed moment can become another pass of the steamroller. But when the Holy Spirit convicts and we quickly confess, receive forgiveness, and adjust our steps, the enemy loses the opportunity to build a stronghold.

At the center of Derrick’s message is a gracious invitation: turn down the world so you can hear the Father. Silence is not empty when God is present. It becomes the place where conviction leads to repentance, repentance leads to freedom, and freedom leads to clarity. The goal is not a quieter life for its own sake, or a more disciplined digital routine merely for self-improvement. The goal is communion with God. In a world of constant notifications, endless entertainment, spiritual confusion, and rising anxiety, Derrick reminds the church that the Shepherd still speaks. Often, He speaks in the whisper. The question is whether we will become still enough to hear Him.