Players and Fans

Throughout his sermon, Peter has one goal in mind for the Jews. It was for them to repent and be baptized. Peter also realized that ever since God's promise to Abraham. The Jews were expecting a messiah. They believed that when the Messiah came, all their problems would disappear. For Peter and the other Apostles to claim a resurrected Jesus as Messiah would have been viewed as blasphemy in Jewish society. With such a claim, Peter would have to give compelling evidence for his case.

Something intriguing about Peter's sermon is how bold he was. Especially before the Day of Pentecost when he chose to deny Jesus three times. However, instead of denying Him on the day of Pentecost. Peter straight-up starts preaching and telling people about Jesus. It takes a lot of courage to be able to do that. It is also amazing how God used Peter to start His church. It is fantastic how Peter led all those people to Christ. This shows that God can use anyone even if you fail. Peter is an excellent example of this even though he failed and denied Christ. When given a chance to learn from his mistakes, Peter preached with boldness. This is a quality that Preachers today need. There are so many variables to fear. There is the fear of getting fired, the fear of giving up everything for Christ. The fear of failure, the fear of anxiety.

There is so much pressure that Preachers and Christians, in general, must have it all together. They are supposed to have a fake smile, sing many Chris Tomlin songs. But this is not authentic Christianity. It is store-bought counterfeit Christianity. To quote Kyle Idleman, "The biggest threat to the church today is fans who call themselves Christians but aren't actually interested in following Christ. They want to be close enough to Jesus to get all the benefits, but not so close that it requires anything from them." Kyle Idleman calls these fake Christians Fans. It is kind of like being a fan of the Chiefs. You can cheer for them. You can have posters hanged up in your room, but ultimately, you are not a player, you’re just a fan. The difference between a player and a fan is that a player is willing to get his hands dirty and play the game. A fan sits in the bleachers eating popcorn. If you want to be a player for Christianity, you must be like Peter and throw everything on the line. If you are going to be a fan, all you need to do is sit in the bleachers and do nothing.