Christian Trucker's Network · THE LORDS ROUND TABLE MINISTRY

THAT I MIGHT BE WITH HIM

March 16, 2026·1 hr 17 min·6 clips

A man tormented by 2,000 demons lived in a graveyard, cutting himself until he saw Jesus from afar.

1. Calvary Hill Baptist Church's Sunday morning sermon takes Mark 5:1-20 as its primary text, examining the Gadarene demoniac's request to follow Jesus and Jesus's surprising refusal. 2. The preacher, unnamed in the recording, delivers the message while dealing with spinal and shoulder pain that he mentions may require surgery involving bone fusion and two screws; congregation members referenced by name include Joy Kirby, Fran, Daisy, Hope, Brother Fowler, and Tracy. 3. The sermon's core thesis, stated explicitly, is that the path to closeness with Christ 'is not what we imagine' — and Jonathan Edwards's sermon title 'The Narrow Gate Is Too Narrow for Some Christians' is cited as encapsulating the problem. 4. Reading Mark 5:1-5, the preacher describes the demoniac as living among burial caves, uncontrollable by chains ('the chains had been plucked asunder by him'), crying day and night, and cutting himself — framing this as evidence that 'this society has no answer for the torment that torments mortal man today.' 5. The preacher discloses he used to mock people who self-harm but came to understand the mechanism: 'mental torment is so bad, the reason people cut themselves is to get their mind off what's going on inside their head — they cause body pain so they don't concentrate as much on the mental pain.' 6. He argues mental pain is more crippling than physical pain and says he understands why people with chronic pain consider suicide. 7. Reading Mark 5:6-8, the preacher notes the demoniac ran to Jesus and worshipped him, but when Jesus commanded the spirit out, the demon spoke through the same man saying 'What have I to do with thee?' — arguing this dual response reflects a real internal conflict between the man's desire for freedom and demonic control. 8. When Jesus asks the demon's name and receives 'Legion, for we are many,' the preacher connects this to the 2,000 pigs that subsequently drowned — 'every pig couldn't take what one man had been carrying — now you can imagine the torture he was under.' 9. Verse 15 shows the man 'sitting, clothed, and in his right mind,' which the preacher contrasts with the modern need for constant entertainment: 'People have to be entertained because Americans are miserable — they can't sit down, but Jesus came in and he could.' 10. The townspeople, frightened by what happened, asked Jesus to leave — 'they liked him better when he was a nut, so they rejected Christ' — and the preacher says he has been in churches where Christ was invited to leave as well. 11. Mark 5:18 records the healed man asking to 'be with him,' which the preacher identifies as the sermon's title and core question: 'Is that the way you feel? You want to go with him.' 12. Jesus refuses and instead tells him: 'Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee' — the preacher argues this represents a different but equally valid path of closeness: 'The path to nearness with Christ is not what we imagine.' 13. He illustrates with Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma, who 'crawled through hell' most of his years there, but whose work produced 2,000 traceable converts at a 150-year celebration in Burma, still using his translation of the Bible. 14. Reading 2 Timothy 4:10-16, Paul in prison records that Demas forsook him, that most companions have departed, and that 'at my first answer no man stood with me — all men forsook me' — presented as the actual experience of the desire to go with Christ. 15. A childhood illustration: the preacher carried a houseguest child named Daisy from her bedroom at 3am during prayer time; one morning she woke mid-carry and said 'don't leave me' — he says this phrase returns to him in his worst moments as his own prayer. 16. His granddaughter Hope's toddler shorthand — pointing at Fran and saying just 'you' — is described as the preacher's own altar-call model: stripping the request down to 'just you, Lord.' 17. The preacher challenges the congregation directly: 'Would you rather have Demas or have Jesus come? If I stand for Christ, I might lose my daughter — who would you rather have?' 18. The sermon's tone alternates between verse-by-verse exposition, extended personal confession (including his own failures of prayer, uncertainty about surgery, and past mockery of self-harm), and direct congregational challenge in a revivalist style. 19. Listeners drawn to vulnerable, autobiographical pastoral preaching that engages with mental health, suffering, and the cost of faith would find this episode substantive. 20. Listeners expecting systematic theology, short sermons, or a triumphalist message about the Christian life will likely find the content too bleak and the length excessive.

As heard by us

A live church service that moves from announcements into a repeated plea to stay close to Jesus.

The episode begins in the familiar rhythm of Calvary Hill Baptist Church, moving through a hymn, announcements, prayer requests, visitation instructions, and a Friends Day meal before the sermon takes over.

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You want a blunt Sunday sermon that keeps pulling you back to Jesus.

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