What Shall We Do? | Acts 2:14-41

We will be walking through Acts 2:14–41 together — the passage where Peter preaches the risen Christ, hearts are pierced, and thousands respond in repentance and baptism. It is the first baptism Sunday in church history, and it sets the pattern for everything the church becomes: Repent and be baptized. Repent. Turn. Re-center. Stop orbiting yourself. But here's the key: repentance is not a one-time event. Martin Luther opened the Reformation with this — "the entire life of believers is to be one of repentance." Not because we never make progress. Because repentance is how we make progress. There are two ways to repent. You can repent out of religion — where you beat yourself up enough to feel like you've earned another chance. That repentance is selfish, self-righteous, and bitter all the way down. Or you can repent out of the gospel — where you turn back to a Christ who already absorbed the judgment. That repentance isn't bitter. It's sweet. Because the more you see your sin, the more precious grace becomes. And the more you taste grace, the more honestly you can face your sin. The people in Acts 2 are asking "What shall we do?" for the first time. But if you've been following Jesus for thirty years, you're still asking it. Every morning. Every failure. Every mystifying situation where you feel lost about how to move forward. Every moment you catch yourself orbiting yourself again. "What shall I do?" Turn. Again. Back to him. That's the Christian life. At the end of our service, several members of our church family will publicly declare their faith in Jesus through baptism. They will share their stories — how God has worked in their lives, how truth has pierced their hearts, and why they are stepping into the water to say publicly what God has done privately. You will not want to miss it!