Good morning, church.

Hairs Creek, good to be with you all.

My name is John.

I'm one of the pastors here, and if you're visiting with us, just want to give you a special welcome. Thank you for entrusting us with your time and believe that the Lord has something for you today. You notice what I'm holding in my hands, not a shot put, not that kind of athlete. It's a Civil War cannonball. You might think like, how in the world did you get your hands on a Civil War cannibal?

I thought that these things belonged to music. not that kind of athlete. It's a Civil War cannonball. You might think, like, how in the world did you get your hands on a Civil War

Cannonball?

I thought that these things belonged to museums.

You can get them on eBay.

And so I have this Civil War Cannonball that sits on the front left of my desk,

on this little mount.

It sits there as a reminder to me of who I can be apart

from the Holy Spirit. You see, this cannonball that once routed armies that sent men fleeing in fear

now sits on my desk and can be held in a hand completely innocuous, harmless.

It's ineffective, why? Because it doesn't have gunpowder behind it. And so it could be said,

no powder, no power. And more than we realize we are this cannonball. You see, this cannonball is still a

cannonball while it sits on my desk. It is not ceased to be a cannonball, but it has ceased to do

all that it was intended to do because it lacks power and it lacks direction, and it lacks a person behind it,

aiming it and the trajectory of where it belongs to be.

And so we, more than we realize, are like this cannonball

that without the person and power and promptings of the Holy Spirit,

still a Christian, but altogether unmoved, lacking power, lacking the directional

promptings of the person of the Holy Spirit. Today is May the 4th. I've been told by Star Wars

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