Church Voices

Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

Being raised and educated in a non-denominational denomination that puts a huge emphasis on baptism I know all the verses about baptism. I could put together a nice big powerpoint presentation for you, write a paper, justify my position, and generally get all academic up in this hizzle.

I wonder sometimes, if we don’t make an idol of the Bible. If what once brought joy now has turned into “much study[ing] wearies the body”. There were no NT scriptures at this point, no Romans 6, or words like “baptismal regeneration”.

Only the knowledge that forgiveness of sins was there, waiting.

Have we exchanged joy for a power point presentation?