1. Baptism by immersion in water, invoking the saving name of Jesus Christ, is essential for all who choose to believe in Jesus Christ and His gospel.

• The chapter opens with the word essential — not optional, not recommended. What is the difference between those words in practice?
• Read Acts 2:38 slowly. Peter answers a question with a response, not a suggestion. What are the parts of that response, and which of them have you personally obeyed?
• If baptism is essential, what does that say about how you have treated it up to now?

2. Jesus' words in Matthew 28:19 were a command to obey, not a formula to repeat.

• Read Matthew 28:19, then read Acts 2:38, Acts 8:16, Acts 10:48, and Acts 19:5. What did the disciples actually do with the command they were given?
• The chapter asks whether the disciples were in error, deliberately disobeying, or obeying. Which of the three had you assumed, and where did that assumption come from?
• What else in your walk with God have you been repeating rather than obeying?

3. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are titles, not names. The name is Jesus.

• Name the titles you carry. Now say your name out loud. What does the difference between those two lists show you about this chapter's argument?
• Read Acts 4:12 and Zechariah 14:9. If there is one name, and only one, what is lost when it goes unspoken over the water?
• The chapter says the disciples knew which name Jesus meant because of everything He had taught them about who He was. Do you know Him that way, or have you only inherited a phrase?

4. We are buried with Jesus in baptism, and since the eternal Spirit of God did not die, we cannot be baptized into a death He did not die.

• Read Colossians 2:12 and Romans 6:4. According to those verses, what is actually happening in the water?
• Read 1 Timothy 2:5–6. Why does it matter to the gospel that God did not die, and that the Man Christ Jesus did?
• The chapter says we can't be buried with someone who hasn't died. Trace that argument out in your own words. Where does it land you?

5. Being dunked in water is not what washes our sins away; it is calling on the name of the One who has the power to wash them away that makes this covenantal act of obedience effectual.

• Read 1 Peter 3:21. What does that verse tell us baptism is not?
• If you have been baptized, what name was called over you? Do you actually know, or are you assuming?
• Read Acts 22:16. What is the last instruction in that verse, and why does this chapter insist it cannot be skipped?

6. Our experience must match the experience we see in the Bible, where every disciple who believed was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

• The chapter says history and tradition are not authoritative; Scripture is. Where in your life have you let tradition carry an authority it was never given?
• Do you want an experience with God that does not match the one we observe in the Scriptures? Answer that honestly before moving on.
• Read Hebrews 6:1–2. What were believers told not to do, and what does it cost you to bring your practice back to the foundation already laid?

7. There is biblical precedent for rebaptism. When the apostles found disciples who had been baptized outside of Jesus' name, they called for the gap to be closed.

• In Acts 19:3, Paul did not ask “were you baptized?” He asked “into what then were you baptized?” Why does that distinction change the conversation?
• Luke calls these men disciples, not seekers. Paul honored their pursuit and still called them higher. How does that change the way you hear this chapter's challenge?
• Read Acts 19:5. If you have been baptized and it was not in Jesus' name, will you be rebaptized in His name? What is your next step, and when?