St. Peter Lutheran Church
2929 F.M 972 (at F.M. 1105)
Walburg, Texas 78626
Office: (512) 863-
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Last Updated:
Apr. 28, 2024
St. Peter Lutheran Church at Walburg, Texas
2024 -
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ Texas District
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
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Several years ago a friend of mine was having trouble putting a face to a name. What was interesting was that part of his description fit a person that I knew to a tee, but it seemed like the other half of the description was describing a complete stranger. Finally I said, "Well, the only person I know that has that particular job is 'so and so.'" "That's him!" My friend exclaimed, "That's who I'm talking about!" The question remains, how did two people see the same person so differently?
I'm sure I'm not the only one whose had this problem; and I'm not sure that the problem is limited to conversations between friends. Indeed, I know it isn't! You see, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit deals with this problem all the time! If you get a couple of Christians together, you are bound to have a couple of different definitions of the Holy Spirit. If you get a whole group of Christians together, then you just have one big mess.
Let's briefly discuss what the Holy Spirit is not. First off, the Holy Spirit is not off duty. Some Christians say that he showed up on Pentecost, clocked out, and went home. Secondly, the Holy Spirit isn't some cosmic show pony that you and I can trot out to show that we are God's "super-
To paraphrase the old adage, the Holy Spirit is the one who takes us to the stream, fills up our cup, and then loads us down with bottles of water to hand out to other people along the journey.
In the first case, the Holy Spirit is the reason why the Gospel has any meaning for any of us. We have all met people who have looked at the Bible and seen just another book with words on a page. For the Christian, however those words are the very words of life. The difference is not in the people reading the words or that the words have some sort of magical spell about them; it is that the Holy Spirit works in, with, and under those words to convey the promises of God for us in the person of Jesus Christ.
But the Holy Spirit doesn't just leave us alone with those words on the page. Instead, the Holy Spirit continues the work of those words by causing them to come alive inside of us. We are nervous to drink the water from the stream. It is the Holy Spirit that hands us the full cup and reassures us that the water really is life-
Finally, being full of the promises of new life, the Holy Spirit doesn't just work alongside us, but propels us forward with that same life giving water. Daily, you and I come in contact with people who need to be refreshed the same way that we have been refreshed and we are able to hand over that same refreshing living water.
When the Bible speaks about the Holy Spirit, many of us have the same experience that my friend and I did. We have a hard time recognizing the person because the descriptions can vary so wildly in this life. But as we listen to scripture, we see that the Holy Spirit is the one who brings us to faith, fills us with God's spirit, and causes us to live changed lives. When the Spirit enters our lives, we are never the same.
In Christ,
Pastor Phil
The Holy Spirit