This weekend, the teens and I are away at “Reaching Rutherford”. The goal of “Reaching Rutherford” is to equip our teenagers with the tools necessary to share the gospel. It’s important when opportunities arise to share the good news that we are prepared to show what God’s Word says.
To equip our teens, we are focusing on nine verses we believe to be essential to defending and explaining the purpose of baptism and worshipping God with A cappella singing. These are conversations we all need to be ready for, so I want to provide you with the nine verses we will be encouraging our teens to be familiar with.
The first verse is 2 Timothy 3:16, because it’s important for us all to remember God’s Word has the authority and final say in all we do. The next three verses deal with A cappella worship; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19; Hebrews 13:15. Each of these verses describe singing to God and one another or using the fruit of our lips to praise God. Check out these and notice for yourself what they say about singing.
The next five verses all deal with the purpose of baptism. These verses are Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:1-5; John 3:5; 1 Peter 3:21. Each of these passages show that baptism is essential for salvation. They point to baptism as the moment of time we receive God’s grace. I hope you can take some time to review these verses. I hope you will ask yourself, “what do these verses show me about baptism?”
God’s Word must be the guide when discussing matters of salvation and God. We cannot be motivated by being right, but by the desire God has for all people to be saved.