Transcript:

Introduction

Good day, this is an introduction to Luminary and to what this podcast is for. So basically, what Luminary is, is a ministry, with one thought in mind, which is to preach Christ in Christianity. So this has been for me personally, a theme, since I’ve become a Christian, and discovered not only my experience, but in the Scriptures as well.

Old Story

Early on in my Christian walk, I remember talking with a bunch of brothers, around 10 of them, I would say, in a circle. And I basically asked a question to the brothers there about why they had accepted the gospel. And I remember person after person telling me that they had accepted the gospel to go to heaven. And I noticed that and I, I left from that conversation, thinking a lot about that, and I, it didn’t sit well with me to hear several people who were just telling me they accepted the Gospel because of heaven, because it didn’t sit well with me and I didn’t understand why yet. And what was bothering me is that they, I came to the conclusion that they were accepting the gospel in their part for a place, not a person.

Defining Eternal Life

Years afterwards at some point, in that kind of same vein of thought. I understood that while the gospel in Christianity is really about the person of Christ, and about anything else, whatever it may be, I love this thought of how accepting the gospel gives us eternal life. But we have to look into the Scriptures into what eternal life means. I love placing these two verses side by side, John 3:16, and John 17:3 I’ll read them, one after the other.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

And this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

So if we look into what eternal life is, and we let the Scriptures define it, eternal life is getting to know the person of God, and to know who He is. I’ve learned basically this as a Christian, in the Scriptures, that basically: everything in Christianity, everything in whatever we may think that Christianity is, it’s about Christ and His work on the Cross, and the Scriptures point exactly towards that.

A Lack of Christ

Basically, it’s about Christ, and what He did for us. In different things I have seen, I have found a lack of this. Sometimes exposing myself to a book, or a sermon or different people, I leave with a sense of hunger, or with a sense of lack. I live with a hunger in a lack of Christ. I see different things in Christianity, as the years went on, I saw that there was a lack of Christ, in what I saw in Christianity, that’s because many are not preaching Christ.

What’s Your Subtext?

Some weeks ago, I heard this example, that kind of simplified things for me. And it was from a preacher talking about the content of the sermon, how to have a text and then a context — but additionally to that a subtext, what is the underlying theme over everything that we say? And he said that there were four things, and only one was correct. The first one was, to hear a sermon, to hear a preacher and to think at the end: “What was the subtext of this?”. And the subtext of that could be Aren’t I great? Aren’t the person that is preaching great? The second subtext will be: Aren’t we great? Are you great? Aren’t we as a people great? Another subtext that hits close to home but doesn’t arrive yet is: isn’t the truth great? Isn’t the truth that we’re speaking about, the knowledge that we’re talking about great? The fourth one, which is the right one is, isn’t Christ great?

Meaning Behind Luminary

And that is the aim of all Christian preaching and in Christianity as a whole, that all the goals that we do is to glorify the person of Christ. Basically, as I go on with this podcast, I’ll be sharing thoughts around this matter. Luminary, the name, I like words, I think words are fascinating how we place meaning on them, how they provoke us into different thoughts and emotions. And that word Luminary means something that gives light or a prominent person, which in those both senses, both for me would be Christ and I want to name that would point towards that. In a sense, everything should be pointing towards that, towards who Christ is and what He did for us. So that is what this ministry and what this podcast is for. Thank you for listening. God with you.