"Return Home and Tell How Much God Has Done for You” | Luke 8:26–39

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways. Jeff, eventually we're going to get a new

role in.

You think, so, yeah, I hope.

So that is so unbelievably old.

It is old that we used to do. You're like

half the man you are in that video. Yeah yeah, yeah,

weight was Yeah, you've lost so much weight.

But guess what we used to use headphones?

Did so on this because we were cool?

Yeah back then, that was that lone. How how long

has it been since we have not used headphones?

More than a year?

Oh, way more than a half I was. I would

say closer to two years.

Okay, yeah, probably a long time.

That's how long that rollins?

Trying to make a new roll in?

I think so yeah, okay, yeah, well we'll get to

it eventually, we'll get around to it.

Okay.

But but but everybody who listens regularly, if we change

the audio of that, they're going to be like, it's

not the same.

They won't even know what they they don't even know

what to do with Connor. He did a great job

on that, great job. So all right, well man, we've

got a cool uh what do you call these things

that we do at the beginning segments, segments? We've got

a cool segment.

Yes, we do, before we dive into the quote that

Jesus said, return home and tell how much God has

done for you. I'm not sure that that is necessarily

one that we quote all the time all the time,

but it certainly is a attached to a famous story. Yes,

we're gonna go ahead and fill in the blank today.

So it says this desiree says, let's try this again,

but this time Jeff will start a sentence, then Chris

will have to complete it in an unexpected way. Okay,

so we'll see if it goes better this time. Last

time it was pretty good.

Okay, So that goes to make So I'm going to

start a sentence, yes, that you have to finish. Yes,

maybe setting up some kind of story concept.

Yeah, just well it says unexpected, which means I could

do whatever I want.

Okay, Well I'm going to be unexpected. Okakay. So there

I was standing in the lobby with a chicken under

my arm when the janitor came up and said.

Do not slice its neck because I don't feel like

cleaning up another bucket of blood today.

Wow, that went dark.

Well, it's only chicken killing.

It's not human, it's only it's girls. We are not

advocating that you go out and.

Slice your chicken. Hey, listen, anybody who goes up in

a farm.

That's true, cut chicken. That's true. That's true. WHOA Okay,

that is not what I was expecting to come out of.

Well that you said, it says unexpected.

I thought you were going to say something about don't

squeeze it because I don't want to clean the mess,

or something like that.

No, I said, spilts blood.

More eggs. You know, there's all kinds of things that

could have happened there besides well, guess whying it. Guess

what you watch too many movies. No, I I have.

Actually believe it or not. This is this is a

true statement. I've actually wrestled with the idea because I'm

not a hunter. Right, so, if you like I would,

I would never go hunting. I just I never could

do it. But I've held chickens before, and I've heard

stories about chickens, probably more so than any other animal,

about how to prepare chicken.

You and so and so I just think you can

do that one.

Visually, No, of course I cannot, But visually I picture

it every time I think of a chicken. So me

holding a chicken, that's all I think about it.

That's how you think about it.

Because people say, this is what you do, this is

what you do, and I'm like, I'm like, I could

never do that, right, I'm glad other people do.

Yeah, but when I was growing up, we butchered one

hundred chickens in two days.

Right, exactly exactly.

I take it back, it was ninety nine because one

of them had died, but yeah, we had ninety nine.

That's crazy since that we butchered in two days. So

isn't that the ones.

Where it's just the thing man, where you were wanting

male and female? They were all females.

Well, we wanted we wanted hens, and somehow my dad

got ninety nine roosters because we wanted to I wanted

to sell eggs. Yeah, so we had to fat them

up in the butcher.

That's so good, go ahead. So that's another sentence.

Well that was my only sentence.

Oh no, we're supposed to do a few.

Oh, we're supposed to do a few.

Yeah, say what, let's just do one more.

Okay, let's just do one more yep, Okay, go. When

the officer walked up to the to my window, I said, would.

You like to go on a date?

What?

I don't know. I just saw a TikTok you just proposed, well,

not me personally, a hypothetical person in the car.

No. I thought it was yours story. You're supposed to

so I start your story. So it's your story, So

it's me.

I wasn't. I wasn't thinking it was me.

Okay, the helen me tell you the reason why.

I just saw like a TikTok video or something where

a girl got pulled over and she asked the officer out.

I literally just saw it like it might have been

this morning or yesterday. Okay, well I don't feel like

that counted.

Well okay, I didn't do it from me. Okay, all right, you.

Want to do one more.

There I was in the ocean, yep, and I had

just stood up on my surfboard when.

The Lockness monster came up and took a bite out

of my shin.

Wow, there it is in the ocean.

Yes, that's the reason why they haven't.

Spotted him because he's cruising the ocean.

All all water sources lead to the ocean.

Okay, wow, all water sources except the Dead Sea.

That's correct.

And that's correct, and all of the other lakes that

are below sea level.

You know, you know what I was trying to quote, right, No,

in Finding Nemo, he said all drains lead to the ocean.

Oh okay, yeah, so sorry quoting Nemo.

Yes, Finding Nemo, I was actually quoting.

I would have thought that a cartoon wouldn't be entirely

scientifically correct. I would have never thought.

Well, I mean, they weren't trying to be scientific. It

was a fish.

Was It was a joke? Yeah, it was a joke.

I don't remember the name of the fish though, I

don't either whoever his name was.

Okay, well, here we are now, and speaking of leading

to water, I don't know. Is that what we've got?

No, I would say, speaking of unexpected endings.

Unexpected endings, Oh that's a good one. Yeah, yeah, we're

talking about Jesus.

Who would have ever thought that the deranged man filled

with demons would end up being in his own right mind?

Yeah, Or that the pigs would run down the hill

into the water. Yes, I mean that's what I was saying.

All things run down, all of it is unexpected. Okay.

So anyways, that was a terrible, terrible rolling set up

for this story. But we are in Luke position. Yeah, yeah,

we are in Luke chapter eight and verse twenty six.

It says, so they arrived in the region of the Garacenes,

across the lake from Galilee. You remember when Jesus had stopped

the storm.

I do remember.

Remember on the other side it was just massive crowds

and He's like, hey, we got leave these crowds. Let's

go to the other side. In the middle, there's this

big storm. He wakes up, says, peace be still. When

they get to the other side of the lake. This

story happens, Yes, as soon as he gets off the boat.

So they arrived in the region of Garriscenes, across the

lake from Galilee. As Jesus was climbing out of the boat,

a man who was possessed by demons came out to

meet him. For a long time, he had been homeless

and naked, living in the tombs outside the town. As

soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked, fell down in

front of him and then he screamed, why are you

interfering with me? Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

Please I beg you don't torture me. For Jesus had

already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him.

This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even

when he was placed under guard and put in chains

and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into

the wilderness, completely under the demon's power. Jesus demanded, what

is your name? Legion? He replied, for he was filled

with many demons. The demons kept begging Jesus not to

send them into the bottomless pit. There happened to be

a large herd of pigs feeding on the hill side nearby,

and the demons begged him to let them enter into

the pigs. So Jesus gave them permission. So the demons

came out of the man and entered the pigs, and

the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the

lake and drown. When the herdsman saw it, they fled

to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the

news as they ran. People rushed out to see what

had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus and they

saw the man who'd been freed from the demons. He

was sitting at Jesus' feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane,

and they were all afraid. Then those who had seen

what had happened told the others how the demon possessed

man had been healed. And all the people in the

region of the Gharriscenes begged Jesus to go away and

leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept

over them. So Jesus returned to the boat and left,

crossing back to the other side of the lake. The

men had been freed from the demons begged to go

with him, but Jesus sent him home, saying, no, go

back to your family and tell them everything God has

done for you. So he went all through the town,

proclaiming the good things Jesus had done for him. Oh, well,

that corrected my application from the other day. The other day,

I said, Jesus told him, don't tell people. Oh remember

we were talking, okay about how so many times these

don't tell people, and I just lumped this story in it.

But he didn't. Jesus told him no, you can't travel

with me. I want your Your best witness is going

to be at home. Yeah yeah, yeah, right right yeah,

and it was the evidence of his healings that was

the witness. But he went home and told everybody.

Yeah, and didn't. Another version records the same story and

says that he actually went to the ten surrounding cities

the capitalists. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah. So actually

maybe the other one includes something else too, but yes,

he says, yeah, don't go with me, but go tell everybody,

to go, tell everybody, and yeah, he went out around

and he didn't just Jesus didn't say go to the

ten cities. Jesus just said stay here. And then it

says that he went to the capitalists. Am I saying

that right?

Yes?

Yes, And it's the ten cities, Yeah, the ten cities

surrounding cities City yep, Deca, yep, and uh yes, yes,

thank you. I was reading I was reading a Roman

numeral just yesterday, and I was trying to figure out

all the all the meanings of it, and I couldn't

do it. It was like m c l V one

one and I was like, well, I know what V means,

I know what one one means and m's a thousand.

What's what's L?

L is fifty? Oh? Is it?

Okay? Yeah, darn it. I wish I could go back

now and see the number is.

Isn't it rom L is fifty.

I don't know what L is. I know C is

one hundred, so L has to be fifty, You're right,

and then uh and then uh V is five and

then one is one. So yep, anyway, anyway, the uh

so anyway Jesus, Yeah, yeah, I'm trying to I'm trying

to shift my brain. Oh yeah, there it is. I'm

trying to shift my brain. So here's what I love

about this, this conversation that the demon demons immediately recognize

Jesus and when they see him they shriek. So the

Book of James says even the demons believe, and they tremble.

It also says that if you, if you submit yourselves

therefore to God, resist the devil, he will flee from you.

So it tells us that the demons are afraid. The

demons recognize Jesus's authority. They literally call him by his title.

They say, Jesus, Son of the Most High God, and

do not torture me, do not. They're afraid because here

these demons possess this man, and they have just wreaked

havoc in this man's life. And then Jesus comes along

and they're like, oh no, right, and then they say, just, uh,

you know, allow us to go into the herd of swine, which,

by the way, is a crazy, crazy turn of events,

isn't it.

Yeah.

And now you were in the Sea of Galilee when

we when we sailed because I went at a different

time than you, but our group when we were there,

we sailed to the south near this city, and there

was a massive cliff that had a slight slope and

a complete drop off. And they said, this is where

the pigs most likely would have run down and jumped

off the cliff. Did they tell you that too?

Yeah, well, we could see it from where we were.

We were more to the north, but when we turned

around you could see the hill on the cliff side

over there. Together it's not a big lake, so.

Right right right, and which is pretty amazing. And and

so just the going goings on of these demons, uh,

they you know, how many demons were inside this man

to possess an entire herd of Swan.

A legion was the largest unit in the Roman army.

This according to the Life Applications of out. I don't

know why people don't have steady bibles, it says, well,

what do you mean, maybe people do? No, No, I don't.

I can't imagine why somebody wouldn't. Oh, there you go, Yeah,

that's it. A legion was the largest unit in the

Roman army, having between three thousand and six thousand soldiers.

What the man was possessed by not one, but many demon.

Three thousand and six thousand. I did not know that.

I thought legion meant a thousand.

Well, let me ask. Maybe the Bible's lying to us.

Let's find out what it would be.

The scholars writing the study notes, not the actual Bible.

But I just preached on this the other week. It

must have been three four weeks ago. And when I

was imitating, when I was reading the scripture, I said, we.

Are legion, This says. A Roman legion, at his peak

strength during the late Republican early Empire, typically had about

four thousand to six thousand soldiers.

Well, there you go.

The exact number varied over time and by circumstances.

There it is son of a gun, so many more

than we think.

And so when people talk about Allegian, they often mean

the core Roman citizen soldiers, roughly five thousand men. It

is a good ballpark. Wow, so you're talking somewhere around

five thousand.

So have you ever been asked the question over the years,

how many angels do you believe there are? Because it

does say it doesn't give us a total number in

the Bible, correct, But it does say that when Satan

rebelled against God, Lucifer, who was the chief angel beautiful

by the way in appearance, that that one third of.

The angel, the angel stars fell from Yeah, the.

Stars fell from heaven, and so they went down to

they were cast down to the earth, and they became

known as demons. And so whether or not their countenance

has changed, whether or not they're still beautiful, we don't

really have much insight into that other than you know, uh,

that Satan appears to Adam and Eve in the form

of a snake or actually a serpent.

Right, Well, so the question how many how many angels

are there and how many demons are there?

Yeah? Well, I mean this insight here if it's if

their name is Legion, there's a good chance there's thousands

in one man. Yeah, which means which means there's probably

a surplus of other demons elsewhere. Right.

Oh yeah, surely this guy didn't have all the demons, correct,

How important is he? Because you know, angels and demons

can't be everywhere at one time. Only God can be,

which means then the devil has limited resources and he

has to marshal his resource. It's why the Bible talks

a lot in military terms when it talks about angels

and demons, right, It's because the devil has to marshal

his troops. He has to use his troops. There's spiritual

warfare going on, and so he has to make sure

that his troops are on the front lines of spiritual warfare.

So the idea that this guy that the devil would

just willy nilly, just go, hey, let's send five thousand

into that guy, right, unless there's maybe millions of angels

well and millions of demons.

I have read in commentaries before that would suggest that

there's millions. Yeah, I would think so, yeah, I would

I would think that. Yeah, you know, you think about

you know, the you know, I think I literally described

I think it was yesterday. I was at lunch with

one of our people at our staff, and I told

them the story about how I was riding motorcycle and

I went down at fifty five miles an hour and

came up without a scratch, and so, you know, the

ambulance came. I only had a half a helmet on.

It was all tore up. It was literally just all

scratched up. And I didn't have a single scratch on

my entire body except for I had these leather gloves

on and they had the knuckles were exposed, and this

knuckle had a tiny little scratch on it where there

was a little bit of blood. And I went down

a fifty five on asphalt and I rolled like a

piece of sausage for like forty yards.

Which, by the way, that's an incredibly descriptive I know,

piece of sausage. Yes, fabulous for me.

Thank you.

You enjoyed that.

Yeah. Well, the people behind me who actually saw me

fall said I was flailing. I was flailing. I just

like kept on rolling over and over and over. And

the ambulance comes and the guy who's you know, literally

you know, shining the light in my eyes says, I've

been an ambulance driver for thirteen years. He said, I'm

a motorcycle owner myself. He said, how fast did you

say you were going when you went down? I said

fifty five miles an hour? And he said, I have never, never, ever,

ever seen anybody who's went down at fifty five. He goes,

I'm literally going to give you permission to get back

on your bike and ride. He goes, you are completely fine,

And so I don't know about you, but I'm like,

that's divine. Yeah, So I mean you could try to

explain it away another way.

Bob says that we have angels that look over us

and guard us God's people, that kind of thing. Yeah.

Well, so I'm thinking, hey, if if I have an angel, right,

and I've had an angel experience before, by the way,

which is a whole other sermon altogether, I don't have

time to tell that, but I believe it was an angel.

Hebrew says, we attend angels unaware, right, and so I

believe I've experienced that. That means there has to be

a plethora of angels, Oh sure, at God's disposal.

And then on top of that, you want to know

how powerful the angels are in the Old Testament, there's

one story one angel defeats seventy five thousand people one

one angel. Right, So as you're trying to work out

how powerful is the angel, God has a sign to

taking care of you. Well, there you go, right, right,

even if it happens to be the guy who's trying

to earn his wings on.

Oh stop, it's a wonderful life.

Yeah, was Clarence Clarence yea, even if you got Clarence right,

he's a pretty tough one, That's what I'm trying to say,

compared to us. So then that's also because.

By the way, Jimmy Stewart said, uh, figures you'd be

the kind of angel I get, that's what he says.

That's what he says to Clarence.

That's so good. But anyways, that's not how angels happened.

They're a distinct creation of nobody that comes an angel.

That's right, And by the way, that's important. I would say,

I honestly truly believe this. I believe the majority of

our listeners, probably up to seventy five percent of every

single Christian listening to this, probably don't differentiate the fact

that angels are not humans they get wings because because

it's become such a great part of our culture, largely

in part yeah, yeah, what did I say, a great part. Yeah,

it's a significant part of our culture, largely because of

that movie. That movie has become world renow. Sure, and

and so you see all the time people with cartoons,

you know, cartoon people die and all of a sudden

they have wings and they get Halo's and you know,

you see comic book, you know, cartoons written about this,

and every funeral that I go to, I bet you,

goodness gracious, almost half of them refer to the person

deceased as getting their wings and becoming angels.

Oh right, I mean, I know, you know, my angel

with me. Now, there's a lot of songs that talk

about that. Yes, that's what people think, but it's not true.

It's not angels. Angelic beings were distinctly created by God

as a distinct creation different from humanity, that's right. And

so people don't become angels, that's right. We are a spirit,

we're a soul in the spirit, and in Christ, then

you are alive. In Christ. The Bible says he gives

us a new body.

Right, Yeah, so my son and I and my wife.

We were going to a wedding. I just did my

nephew's wedding in Ohio last weekend, and we came across

this old antique store in this small town township, and

my wife loved it, of course, and they were playing

k love and Christian music and they said God bless

you and all these things in My wife was like,

I want to own this store anyway. So we're in

there and they had one of those old adding machines

they kind of go toiing chi ching like this, and

Stephen grabbed it and he goes chi ching and he goes, hey,

look fellas, I'm giving out wings because that's that's what

that's what Nick did behind the barn.

So we should get into the story of this guy then.

So this guy is absolutely tortured by his circumstances. I

don't know what led to his possession, right, we don't know,

but it's very significant his past. You can only imagine

what would lead to being possessed by thousands of demons

is incomprehensible. It's not just something. I don't believe that

you just suddenly are possessed by demons. It's something that

you have to kind of allow or open up in

your life, right, whatever.

Some people pursue or mess around with the mystic arts

or you know, Luigi boards, you know.

Voodoo begin is the beginning of the process, I think

for people when they begin to open up themselves to

this evil spiritual realm thing. Whatever happened. Anyways, he's howling

at the moon and running naked and they can't change him.

And he's living in.

The tombs, in the graveyard, in the tomb.

And it's just something happens in the graveyard. When Jesus

shows up, he casts out these demons. And then the

next phrase is that he was sitting there clothed in

his right mind. When the people show up mad because

the pigs are dead, right, right, they're terrified to this guy.

They won't let him live in the city, right, they're

in the village. They've tried to chain him up. But

then the economy gets affected and that's more important than people, right,

And they're mad at Jesus about the fact that the

economy gets screwed up, and they're more concerned about their

money than they are about this man. But he's sitting

there and he's in his right mind. Now we know

that this is a gentile town. This isn't a Jewish

town because they're raising pigs. So it's interesting to me

Jesus was doing miracles for non Jews just like he

was doing for the Jews right in the situation. And

that's a very significant moment.

So yeah, and I also love the fact that Jesus

tells the man. You know, the man has an idea,

and he says, let me go with you, and Jesus says, no,

I have a better plan for you. I have a

different plan for you. Right. And oftentimes, you know, we

we we ask God for certain things and we say God,

I want this. Uh. And by the way, a lot

of our requests are noble. They're good intention right. I mean,

who wouldn't want to get on the boat and go

with Jesus? Sure? Right, Hey, it could be your witness.

I'm going to go into full time ministry with you, Jesus. Yes,

And he says, no, your greatest ministry is with your family,

right yeah.

With your friends, where you have the reputation, where you

have influence. Go tell people and tell them who you

used to be because people have heard of him, right

and and and so yeah, he has an idea and

Jesus has a different idea. And I think that sometimes

in our lives we do the same thing. We say, well, God,

I want to do this, or I want to become this,

or I want to you know, take this step in

my life. And sometimes God whispers us, you know, to us,

or you know, closes the door and opens another window

kind of a thing where it's it's like, you know,

God has a different idea, and it's still you know,

a great idea. In fact, it's a better idea because

it's God's idea. And so sometimes we have to accept

the fact that God has a different course for us

than we want for ourselves.

Right right, Yeah, powerful there.

Are people who come and say, I want to be

a preacher like you, but they don't have they don't

have the gift of teaching.

Yeah, But to be clear, almost always then the other

course God has is all about impact too, that's right,

even though he couldn't see it. So go back to

your family and tell them everything God has done for you.

It's not like just go back home, get your job

and you know, live your life. It's go back now

and leverage what I've done. God's not going to waste

the hurt in your life. He's not going to waste

your story. Your story is God's story in your life.

So now go back and tell people what Jesus has

done for you. That's what he's saying. That's right, it's powerful.

That's really good. Okay. Well, hey, that's all of our time,

so we will see you next time, hopefully on the Bible. Guys,