What Does a Confused Man, a Chainsaw, and the Holy Spirit have in Common?

A few years back, a guy walks into his local hardware store bright and early, looking for a new saw. The friendly salesperson pulled a sleek, bright orange chainsaw off the shelf and said with a smile, “This is our latest model—top-of-the-line technology. It’s guaranteed to cut up to ten cords of firewood a day!”

The man thought that sounded amazing, so he bought it and took it home.

The next morning, he came dragging back into the store, looking completely worn out. “I don’t know what’s wrong with this thing,” he sighed. “I worked as hard as I could all day yesterday and barely managed to cut three cords. My old handsaw used to get me four!”

The salesperson looked puzzled and said, “Mind if I take it for a quick test out back?” They walked over to the woodpile, the salesman pulled the starter cord, and the chainsaw roared to life with a loud vrrrroooom!

The customer jumped back, eyes wide, and exclaimed, “What in the world is that noise?!”

That poor guy had been trying to do all the work himself, never realizing the incredible power that was right there in his hands the whole time.

And isn’t that so much like many of us in the church today? We often try to live the Christian life in our own strength—pushing, striving, and wearing ourselves out—when the Holy Spirit is right there, ready to empower us with His strength, joy, and peace every single day. We don’t have to do it alone. The power is available… we just have to turn it on.

If you’d like to learn more about the power of the Holy Spirit, we’d love for you to join us, starting this Sunday, for our new sermon series, “Holy Ghost Stories: Seeing the Spirit of Yahweh at Work”. We’re diving deep into who the Holy Spirit is and His work in our lives every day.

Come worship with us at the Black Hills Church of Christ — you’re always welcome!

You can find service times, more info, and all the latest at our About Us page.

— Charlie