The epistle lesson read to us this morning is evidence of the importance of baptism in the early Church. It was Jesus' command to his disciples, "Go into all of the world, and baptize in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The lesson read to you reveals that that is what they did, right from the beginning.

What we heard this morning is the record of the first class of baptizands. They were there in Jerusalem, at the Jewish feast of the Pentecost, when the Spirit came upon the disciples, empowering the disciples to preach the good news of what God had done in Jesus Christ, in words that all people could understand.

That is what Peter did. He went out into the street and started preaching. At the end of the sermon, the crowd gathered there asked, "What shall we do no…