It’s 11:21 am and here I am at the Philippine-Airlines-only-dedicated-terminal A.K.A. NAIA2 waiting for the boarding of my flight to, yes, CEBU CITY! Oh, music to mine ears!

I’m really anxious to get to the country’s oldest city already. Been anxious fir months! It’s my first time to visit Cebu but that’s not why I am so excited.

The reason for my glee, what makes me oh so happy– oh the smile on my face, you should see–is because I will again be seeing my baby!

Yup, you read right! I’m really psyched about seeing my dear Dindin again after three long months! (she visited here in Manila last September for friends’ wedding) It really is not easy trying to maintain a long-term relationship and honestly I never imagined I’d be in one.

But whaddyaknow? Here I am in two long distance relationships and both are working just fine. Why? I guess it’s because while my Beloved and my beloved are far, yet they are near to me. Always in my heart.

If you have not guessed it yet, yes, the two long distance relationships I’ve been talking to you about is with (1) My Beloved Heavenly Father, and (2) with my beloved Dindin.

Yes, my relationship with my beloved is but a mere type of my eternal relationship with by Beloved Father and Redeemer! Oh, how marvelous is His wisdom and how abundant the manifestations of His love! That he would give me a heart that loves and longs for my beloved so that I may be reminded of the deeper and more profound yearning that I have to be with Him for ever! How I love Him because He had given me love, and the grace to love Him back!

Praise YHWH with me O you His people! Do you not see the marvel I’m that most glorious of phrases? ‘you HIS people’!

Oh we worship the most high God, He is our God and we are his people! But how could that be for He is a holy God and we are sinful offenders of His beautiful law? How could we be called the people of One whom we have spited, rebelled against, and infinitely offended?

The answer is Christ. The God-man. He pleaded guilty for all our offenses against our gracious Creator and King. And for that He suffered infinite punity. The punishment that was supposed to come to me–rebel, traitor, adulterer, ingrate–He took upon Himself, though He Himself never committed any wrong, and sin was never in his heart or ever proceeded from His speech. He suffered: Mocked, abused, tortured, spat at, flogged, nailed to the cross. Brutally murdered. Punished. Yet innocent.

“Jesus paid it all, all to Him must go,
Sim has left a crimson stain, He washed or white as snow.”

Think about that for a moment.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

These people were attracted by the preaching of Jesus, why? What had He been talking about up to this point? Tax collectors are taken as a different group of people as sinners, why? Jesus does not shy away from them.

And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,

The Pharisees and scribes too were present, were they there prior to the drawing near of the tax collectors and sinners? They were grumbling because they disapproved of Jesus’ tolerance of these unholy “sinners.” Pharisees were the lawyers of the day, who were the scribes?

“This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

They consider Jesus a mere man but shuns His welcoming of sinners—something they themselves would not do. They remark that Jesus ate with the sinners, this is more reason to believe that Jesus did not want to distance Himself from these people.

And he said,

Jesus responds to the comment of the Pharisees and scribes by telling a story. This is the third story He tells in response to their grumbling. Apparently, Jesus knew they were grumbling, perhaps He heard their complaints audibly or he intuitively knew what they were saying amongst themselves.

“There was a man who had two sons.

Jesus begins the story with the man who had two sons—the father in the story. This tells me that the story is in fact about the father more than about any other character. Two sons are good for a father, it is a blessing to have sons who can carry the father’s name and help in the family business. Traditional Chinese people in particular are happy to have sons and prefer them over daughters who simply marry away into a different family. Was there also a wife? Why was she not mentioned. Perhaps her role was not as important for the point of the story.

And the younger of them said to his father,

The younger son is here addressing the father. We know nothing about the relationships that existed among father and his two sons.

‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’

The younger son asks for his share of property. As in any culture, sons usually inherit part of their father’s (or parents’ or predecessors’) estate, nothing shocking about that, as long as the father is already dead. This demand here is in fact an insult to the father who is still alive and well. The younger son is in effect wishing the father dead. Why did he want his share? Was he not content to live under his father’s house? Was the father a mean father? Selfish? Did he not care for his sons? We don’t know thus far because we are not told anything about the father’s character yet. But the younger son seems to be an ingrate rebel who spites the father by asking for his share of the property. Did he really think that the father would give in? Was he here merely trying to provoke the father to anger? Why did he want to do that? Why did he feel this way about the father?

And he divided his property between them.

The father, after being insulted by his younger son, acts in such a way that is inconceivably shocking and counter-intuitive. I do not understand how the father does not become furious with the younger son for his insolence. Was he not offended? I think he was, but why had he acted this way? Why did he not only tolerate the insult but also granted the request? He divided the property between them! The property is divided between the two sons—the elder son also benefits from this division, but where is he? Why has he not uttered a word of protest to his younger brother’s requests? Was he also in agreement with the younger sons’ sentiments but had no guts to speak out? Meanwhile, the father has lost everything that he owned. Now, because of the division, the father owns nothing because all of his estate has been divided between his two sons. What a radical reversal of roles! From a patriarch who had an estate, servants, and two sons in his care, he is now reduced to a possession-less dependent upon his sons.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

The younger son, having now received his share in the properties, sets off to distance himself from his father and brother. He wanted to be free, wanted to be independent. Here, he presumably sells his property first and just leaves with the cash because he obviously could not bring patches of land with him. And so he goes to a far country. He is not content to just go to the next town or village, he goes far away. And what does he do there? Does he take the money that he had and use it to buy property? (so as to settle down and to make a living for himself) Does he use the money to start a business? No, he does not. Rather, he squanders all his money in reckless living. But what is reckless living? “happy-happy” The elder brother later gives us his ideas on this “reckless living,” it at least involved hiring prostitutes. Most probably also involved drinking and gambling and other vices as well.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

The younger son spends all his money. How long does it take him to do so? We don’t know. The point is that he used everything up. He had squandered everything. And just as he spends everything he had, a severe famine hit the country where he was staying. This was not just a minor crisis, this one was severe. And having no money left to himself, the younger son began to be in need. He had no money left and he was beginning to go hungry.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

It seems like the younger son did not make any friends at all in this foreign country either, else he would have been able to ask them (his friends) for some food or help. Rather, being so much in need, he hired himself out to a citizen of that country. A person who had no affinity with him whatsoever. So now the rich kid is reduced to a mere worker. He is sent to feed pigs. This is a very degrading job, especially for Jews who considered pigs unclean. But what the heck, he’s been mingling with unclean people and doing unclean deeds already anyways. Besides, he did not really have much of a choice.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Unfortunately for this younger brother, he was not even being fed by the employer. This is why he longed to even feed on what the pigs ate. Imagine this: pigs are unclean. ergo what pigs eat are ultra-unclean. But this younger brother didn’t seem to care anymore. He was really hungry and it seemed like he would eat anything, just as long as it was edible. Never mind that it was unclean, ‘beggars can’t be choosers.’ But wait, if he had hired himself out to this employer, what was it that he was being paid in for his services? This is quite puzzling. Employer does not give him food for his services, was the payment merely shelter?

“But when he came to himself, he said,

The younger son has a realization: he comes to himself and realizes the situation that he was in. He was probably covered in mud and smelled like swine when this thought came to him.

‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

The younger son recalls the condition of his father’s hired servants and how they did not lack food even though they were but workers. He considers his own situation and sees the irony in his person as compared to their hired workers from back home. He was an alien in a foreign land (as were perhaps some of his father’s hired workers), a hired worker for a citizen of the land. And yet his belly was in a far worse condition as those of the hired workers in his father’s house.

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him,

The younger son devises a plan, he will no longer be a servant to this gentile employer, he will go to his father to have a word with him. I am assuming that he realizes as well the gravity of his offense towards his father and that he might just as well be rejected or driven out by his father, but nonetheless he has a plan in mind and it’s just worth a try. After all, how must worse could things be for him?

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

The younger son realizes his sin against his father and he seeks to acknowledge this before him. Very interesting is his recognition of his sin against heaven (God) as well. He was clear about his faults and he wanted to come clean.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

The younger son knows that he is no longer worthy to be called his father’s son after what he had done before. He realizes his own standing before his father.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.”‘

The younger son therefore does not seek anymore to be restored as a son but he would rather present himself as a hired servant of his father’s, perchance the patriarch would take him in as a servant. This was the plan of the younger brother, he recognized his present status as a hired servant and he did not seek to be elevated from that position. He did not even think that he was worthy of anything more. Rather he simply sought to be fed. He knew that it was better to serve a generous employer rather than to serve an employer who did not even give him enough to eat.

And he arose and came to his father. The younger brother, having thus formulated his plan to be provided for, sets forth to execute this plan by going back to his country.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

The younger son was on his way back to his father’s house when the father saw him. He was probably ill-clothed, had not bathed in a long time, filthy from the mud in the pig-pen, weary, tired and beat. The father saw this younger son approaching, this rebel had returned. Now what does he want?! We would expect the father to start fuming with anger at the sight of this ingrate child who still had the audacity to come back home but again the father surprises us as he again acts counter-intuitively to how many of us would probably have acted. The father felt compassion for the son. He was so filled with love and compassion that he did not consider that he was a respected and rich patriarch who owned property and many hired workers, he just ran towards this wayward son. This is such a striking picture because it is so unexpected. He runs towards the son. He could have just waited for the son to come to him, but no, he did not want to wait for the son to come to him. He ran to meet his son and without saying a word he just throws himself upon his son. Never mind that the son was covered in filth and he was well dressed, never mind that the son was smelly and that he was well perfumed, never mind what the neighbors would say, never mind what the servants would say. The father simply displays this burning compassion and love that he felt in his heart towards this returning son and hugs and kisses him. How could he have done it? Such forgiveness and acceptance! After being wished dead by his own son, he puts that all behind him and runs towards his son to embrace him and to kiss him.

And the son said to him,

The younger son, clearly shaken by his father’s odd behavior tries to stick to the plan that he had devised. He opens his mouth to propose this to his father.

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

The younger son humbles himself before his father (what a reversal of disposition from the earlier proud child who could care less about offending the father!) and acknowledges his sin.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

The younger son continues with his speech and says that he knows that he is no longer worthy to be called his father’s son.

But the father said to his servants,

This was too much for the father to hear. The younger son’s words were utter nonsense to him and he did not want to hear any more. He cuts the son off and does not even pay attention to what he is saying. Rather the father calls out to his servants. They are still a far way off from the actual estate and here we might envision the father shouting homeward to the nearest servant. The younger son is muted and does not say any more.

‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

The father instructs the servants to bring the best robe. And what other robe could be the best robe if not the father’s? Was he not wearing it at the time? Why? Was this a special robe that he only wore on very special occasions? Notwithstanding what this robe was made of or when it was appropriate to be worn, the thought of putting it on his younger son is appalling to me. The younger son wanted to be his father’s hired servant but the father wanted him to be restored. The father commands the servants to dress up the younger son and he also commands them to put a ring on his hand (only a son got to wear a ring!) and shoes on his feet (he wasn’t even wearing any on his journey back from the far country!). The father had his son back and he wanted the world to know this. He could have just brought the son home, dressed him in decent clothing, provisions and kept him from the public eye. But that was not the father’s intention. He wanted the entire world to know that his wayward son is back and that he was intent on restoring him to his place in the family.

And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

The father desired this event to be known by everyone, even the neighbors. He killed the fattened calf. The fattened calf. It seems like it is the only fattened calf that they had! Usually calves are killed only for big feasts that would include many neighbors and guests. This is presumably what the father intended. Not only did he want to throw a party to celebrate his son’s return, he wanted to give a feast! One that probably lasted for more than a day.

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’

The father uses two different imageries to illustrate the cause for joy and celebration. Dead people do not come back to life but it is as if this younger son has come back from the dead. Perhaps the father knew about where the son went and was worried for the land was in famine. He may have feared that the son was already dead. But now here is the son in his arms, alive and safe. The younger son was lost and now is found. Just as the sheep and coins were lost in the parables proceeding, the younger son too was once lost. But now he is found. The shepherd sought the sheep and the widow sought the coin but the father did not (?) seek the son, how could he say that the younger son was ‘found’?

And they began to celebrate.

They celebrated. Everyone in the estate together with the father and the younger son.

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

It must have been a big estate because the son was in the field but did not see the father running towards the younger son in the field. Nonetheless, he comes back—probably tired and exhausted—from a long day of work and he is surprised to hear music and to see people dancing. There was a celebration in the house, what was this all about?!

And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

What was this all about? Why the dancing and the music? Is there a special occasion that I am not mindful of?

And he said to him,

The servant responds to his querying. Probably in a cheerful mood because he too was part of the celebration as everybody was.

‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’

He reports that the younger son is back! Isn’t that just great news? Your brother is safe and sound (this is the servant’s interpretation of ‘was dead and is alive, was lost and is found’) and this is cause for celebration. A big celebration! One that is worthy of the fattened calf.

But he was angry and refused to go in.

The fattened calf?!?! How could he? That’s not even his anymore. All of this property, the calf and the field, they have been divided between us. I own all of this. I decide how these resources are to be used. How could he kill the fattened calf for this rebel when he knew well that we had been saving it up for a super special occasion! I will have no part in this madness!

His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father,

The father, upon hearing that the elder son had refused to join in on the celebration, does not come out to scold him but rather comes and pleads with him! What a shock this is! The father in the story is such as remarkable character. He was insulted by the younger son, wished dead and yet he does not punish the younger son but rather welcomes him back safe and sound. And now the elder son also insults the father by not joining in the party that his father had thrown and still this remarkable father does not become furious over his elder son’s disrespect but rather comes out to entreat him.

‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

The elder son does not even address his father properly, he says “look” this is like saying, “hey you, listen to me!” he is disrespectful and deliberately spiting his father even after he had publicly humiliated him by not joining in the festivities. He then tells his father his mind and it reveals where his heart really was all along. He states as a fact that he had been a “good” son, he had obeyed his father perfectly. Yet his father never gave him a young goat. A young goat? He was being such a nice son in order to merit a young goat? Maybe not but nonetheless it shows that his heart was set on the material possessions of his father. He did not serve his father out of a heart of gladness but out of a sense of duty. I have never disobeyed your command, might I remind you. I have done all these things to please you and to rightfully deserve my share of the estate. And this is how you treat me?! You do not even credit my “obedience” for anything?! All I ever wanted was some little reward. I did not yearn for the fattened calf, maybe just a little kid so I could have some happy time with my friends. Why have you not given me such? Why have you withheld blessing for me while all this time I was toiling for you in order to be blessed by you.

But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

The older son continues his ranting. He was not content with simply showing how good he had been as a son. How much he was entitled to the material inheritance that was given to him but he even goes on to emphasize his own righteousness by comparing himself to his younger brother. Never mind that he almost starved to death in that foreign country, serves him well! He squandered everything. He devoured the property, he wasted everything and he probably even had prostitutes (this is an accusation that the elder brother could not have known to be true or not but I think that he most probably guessed right about this) by his side the whole time while he was squandering his inheritance! And as if that were not enough, you even take him back. You not only take him back but you kill the fattened calf for him! The fattened calf! He is not even supposed to be here, he does not deserve anything from us! What is this madness that you have done?! And besides, you have taken this calf from my property. Wait a minute, this is my fattened calf that you have killed for this, this son of yours! I am angry! I am very angry! It’s just not fair. I was good and I got nothing. He was bad and he even gets the best meat in the house!

And he said to him,

The father is still gentle in his response. This is again shocking but the father calmly explains the situation to his elder son.

‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

The father acknowledges the elder son by addressing him affectionately still: “son.” He tells his son that he has missed the point altogether. Everything that the father owed was the elder son’s. He had already divided the property, nothing belonged to him anymore. This is why the son is always with him. Because he is now a dependent on the son. Everything is now the elder son’s he had no need to complain. If it were the simple issue of the fattened calf, could not another calf be fattened for him? If it were a matter of the young goat, could he not simply have one killed for his own party? But as it was the elder son had missed the point. He had focused too much on the cost of the calf that he had neglected the far more preciousness of having his brother back from the dead. He had tried to earn it all by merit but it was all his already because of the father’s generosity.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

The father reveals the rationale for his feasting: it was but fitting. This celebration was warranted. It is a wonderful family reunion. The younger son who was gone is now back. I had expected that you too would be happy to have your younger brother back. It is not I who had acted out of impropriety, it is you who have not owned up to your role as an elder brother. Should you not have welcomed him as I have? Should you not have made sure he was reconciled to me? And here you are grumbling about the calf. The rebuke was gentle but it must have pierced the elder brother right through the heart. Or maybe it didn’t. We don’t really know because Jesus does not tell us.

If you have difficulty understanding the current world financial situation, the following story might help———

Once upon a time in a village in India , a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their efforts.

The man further announced that he would now buy at $20.
This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms.
The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50!
However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.  In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: ‘Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.’

The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.
Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!

Welcome to WALL STREET.

If you have peanuts, then you will get all the monkeys that you don’t need.

Have a nice monkey day

note :
If you don’t have peanuts, the monkey will eat you

A Poem by Ralph Erskine (1685-1752)

The following poem, the second Part of which was written by Mr. Erskine, is here insterted, to fill up this Page, as a proper Subject of Meditation to Smokers of Tobacco.

Smoking Spiritualized. In Two Parts. The first Part being an old Meditation upon Smoking Tobacco; the second, a new Addition to it, or Improvement of it.

Part One: The Law *

THIS Indian weed now wither’d quite,

Tho’ green at noon, cut down at night,

Shows thy decay;

All flesh is hay.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The pipe, so lily-like and weak,

Does thus thy mortal state bespeak

Thou art ev’n such,

Gone with a touch.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And when the smoke ascends on high,

Then thou behold’st the vanity

Of worldy stuff,

Gone with a puff.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And when the pipe grows foul within,

Think on thy soul defil’d with sin;

For then the fire,

It does require.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

And seest the ashes cast away;

Then to thyself thou mayest say,

That to the dust

Return thou must.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

Part Two: The Gospel

WAS this small plant for thee cut down!

So was the Plant of great renown;

Which mercy sends

For nobler ends.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

Doth juice medicinal proceed

From such a naughty foreign weed?

Then what’s the power

Of Jesse’s flower?

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The promise, like the pipe, inlays,

And by the mouth of faith conveys

What virtue flows

From Sharon’s rose.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

In vain th’ unlighted pipe you blow;

Your pains in outward means are so,

Till heav’nly fire

The heart inspire.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

The smoke, like burning incense, tow’rs;

So should a praying heart of yours,

With ardent cries,

Surmount the skies.

Thus think, and smoke tobacco.

*The first part, according to the adverstisement, is of unknown origin, and not a work of Erskine.

HT: Reformation INK

“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus who went down to Jericho by night and fell upon stony ground and the thorns choked him half to death. The next morning Sodom and his wife Gomorrah came by and carried him down to the Ark for Moses to take care of him. But as he was going through the Eastern Gate into the Ark, he caught his hair in a limb and hung there forty days and forty nights. And he would have afterwards hungered and the ravens came and fed him.

The next day the three wise men came and carried him down to the boat dock where he caught a ship to Ninevah and when he got there he found Delilah setting on the wall. And he said, “Chuck her down, boys.” And they said, “How many times should we chuck her down? Seven times seven? ” And he said, “Nay, seventy times seven.” So they chucked her down 499 times and she burst asunder in their midst. And they picked up twelve baskets of the fragments and in the resurrection whose wife shall she be.”

The Chairman said to the Committee, “Ladies and gentleman, I know he is very young but I think we ought to call him anyhow because he really does know his Bible.”

HT: rtdisc@yahoogroups.com

This early morn, as you seek the Lord’s face,
So apply your heart upon His true Word;
May God there meet you, in the secret place,
Filled with His Spirit, may His voice be heard.
As you’re shown your sins, your imperfections,
May you the Savior bless, who took your place!
That the Lord would work and stir your passions,
To ever more praise His glorious grace!
From death were we raised, lovers once of night.
But now in Christ we live; in Him abide!
As you read the Word and therein delight,
Remember the cross, on which our Lord died.
That your heart be spurred to worship the King,
O how joyful and wonderful a thing!

II

Never in my life have I been so blessed,
In others to see, a one so like me.
In mind and in heart, a same faith impressed.
Surely ’tis providence, this I can see.
A like passion for books and learning deep;
Same in desire to glorify the King!
O what a joy, my heart in wait to keep,
Till God deems fit, together us to bring.
May our hearts be true, and our desires pure,
That the cross, in our midst, ever remain.
Dear Lord our hearts fill, with Thy love so sure;
That we may know true love, and this maintain.
If in Thy sight Lord, have we favor found,
Grant that through us, Thy mercies may abound!

III

By the Lord’s wise counsel, was He so pleased;
The paths of two children, in time to cross.
Upon such a grace, my heart’s praises feast;
For knowing you friend, has brought me much cause;
For deeper faith, encouragement and joy.
How I marvel, at how He is working;
To mold you as clay, for His just employ.
O to be deemed worthy, to serve the King!
May His Precepts, ever a strait path light;
While on you journey, as salt in this Earth.
As saints of old look on, fight the good fight!
And so live as one, who’s earned the New Birth.
To more lost souls, may you bring His blessing,
And to His church, right and proper teaching.

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The concept of antithesis is one that is perhaps familiar to most if not to all of us. In its most basic definition, antithesis simply means: the opposite of something. For example: the opposite of night is day, the opposite of right is wrong, and the opposite of good is evil. Thus we say that righteousness is in antithesis to, or is antithetical to wickedness. In fact we know that even in the Bible, we find many examples of antithesis: in Genesis for example, there are the sons of Cain and then there are the sons of Seth (Genesis 4-6), in Exodus we find on one hand Israel and on the other hand all the other nations (Exodus 19:5-6), the first Psalm contrasts for us the righteous and the wicked (Psalm 1), the book of Proverbs talks about the ways of the wise versus the ways of the foolish (Proverbs 1:7). Similarly, in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us about the saved and the lost (Matthew 18:11), the children of Abraham and the children of the devil (John 8:39-44). The Apostle Paul also, a few chapters before he writes our present text, in his letter to the young Christians in Rome, distinguished between the elect and the non-elect; the vessels of mercy and the vessels of wrath (Romans 9). Elsewhere, he talks to us about the difference between believers and unbelievers (1 Corinthians 6:6), practitioners of the wisdom of the world and of the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1-2). Thus we know that this Biblical concept of antithesis is something that is very real and very important, something that we as Christians must pay much attention to. Now as we venture to examine what our passage holds for us, it is very important for us to keep in mind this concept of opposites and how like water and oil, opposites can not and do not mix together.

Our text is found in the opening verses of the twelfth chapter of the book of Romans. The epistle to the Romans is perhaps the Apostle Paul’s clearest and grandest explanation of the gospel. The book can be divided into three parts which build upon each other in a chronological fashion: Guilt (1:1 to 3:20), Grace (3:21-11:36), and Gratitude (12:1-16:27). The first part talks about who we were formerly: we were sinners in the hands of an angry God; utterly vile and corrupt, infinitely offensive to the infinitely holy God who is Creator of all things—the Almighty! We were all dead in sin and were in the dominion of darkness, we were all on our way to hell! There was nothing that we could do to save ourselves, we were spiritually dead, we may have been alive physically but yet our condemnation was sure, nothing in us could appease the wrath of God. This was our condition then; all of us sinners, offenders of God’s holy commandments, criminals and traitors in the sight of God, each of us have fallen short of the glory of God and each of us were supposed to receive the just and fair consequence of our disobedience and sinfulness: eternal spiritual and physical death and torment in hell. This was the first part of the Apostle Paul’s letter: our real guilt and our sure death—no one is exempt, no one is excused.

It would have been a terrible thing if the letter had ended with the theme of sin and misery, with no hopes whatsoever for anyone to be delivered from the impending wrath of God. But I’m glad that the letter did not end with the demonstration of our guilt. In the next part of the letter, the Apostle Paul acquaints us with the person who alone can save us from our miserable condition of spiritual death: the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father.

Our offense to God being infinitely evil in His sight, only an infinitely worthy sacrifice could be made that would be acceptable to Him. Thus out of His great love, God sent His Son to die for many that His wrath may be appeased. You see, even if we were to die for our own sins, we still could not save ourselves. We would die, yes, but just because that is what our sins justly deserve. We would die, but we would not resurrect from the dead. For how could we? Nothing in us can save us, and nothing in us can bring us to life. The only way that the wrath of God would be satisfied is if Someone who was infinitely good would be willing to die for our infinitely offensive sins on our behalf. And guess what? If you would read the Apostle Paul’s letter, if you would read the second part of his letter, you will see that God Himself has provided that ‘Someone’ who would take our place. That, “Someone” who was Himself infinitely good, who himself knew no sin. Yes, this Someone is Jesus Christ Himself. My dear friends, this is what Christ did for us: He died for us, he took our place, He suffered the death that we were supposed to suffer so that we may have life. So that we would be rescued from the fires of hell. The Bible tells us that:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

At the cross, a real and great exchange was made: all our sins and guilt in exchange for Christ’s complete obedience and righteousness. At the cross, bearing all our sin and shame, Christ suffered the death that we were supposed to suffer. He suffered the full force of the wrath of God and He was struck by the Father on account of our sins! Why then do you think, that when Christ way hanging on that cursed cross, He uttered these words as He looked up towards heaven with such a sorrowful countenance: “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (Matthew 27:46) My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why have you forsaken me? Why have you abandoned me? At the cross my dear friends, the Father forsook the Son. The Father turned His face from Jesus Christ. Now try to picture this. Try to think of how painful that was for our Lord. To be abandoned by the Father, to have the Father look upon Him with contempt and fury. He and the Father are one, they have been together since eternity past. They delighted in each other and they were fully satisfied in their unity. Yet the Father deserted Him. And this not because of any sin that He has committed, not for any wrong that He has done, for Jesus Christ had led a perfect life of obedience and righteousness. But what for? What was the reason that the Father turned His face from the Son? What was with Jesus at that particular point in time that the Father simply had to turn away, what was it with Christ that the Father simply could not stand seeing? It is this: my sins and your sins. All the sins that I have committed in the past, all the sins that I am presently committing, and all the sins that I would yet commit in the future. All the sins of His people, past, present, and future were upon our Lord Jesus Christ at the cross. This my dear friends is the heart of the gospel: that Jesus Christ, the righteous Son of God who is the same substance with the Father, equal with Him in power and glory, came down to earth to be human just like us, that He may take upon Himself the task of saving a people for Himself. And this is grace: the underserved mercy and kindness of God.

Now if we say that we are Christians and if we say that we believe that indeed this is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done in our place. If we accept this gospel of grace which is His finished work on the cross, if we say that we have repented of all our sins, and have placed our faith in Jesus Christ as our Master and Savior, then what should our response be? How should we then live?

The Apostle Paul spent eleven chapters explaining to us the gospel in its purest form. He discusses our guilt and then he goes on to explain to us the wonderful grace of God. And in the twelfth chapter, he begins a new topic: gratitude. Thankfulness. Appreciation. Gratefulness. Our text reads: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies…” He says this not by way of command but as an appeal, he tells us to consider the eleven chapters that he has just written, he tells us to consider what he collectively calls the mercies of God, the gospel of grace. This is the foundation on which our gratitude is to be based: the mercies of God! The mercies of a merciful God. Now pause with me and think about that phrase for a moment: the mercies of God. We are unworthy recipients of the mercies of God, the reason we are alive now and are enjoying God’s favor is only by His grace! Therefore we are to yield ourselves to God, we are to present all of ourselves to Him as who we are now: sinners bought with a price.

The Apostle Paul goes on to tell us that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship. Some translations read “which is your reasonable service” Reasonable? Why say ‘reasonable?’ Why use this word interchangeably with the word ‘spiritual?’ This is why: simply because it is the most logical or rational thing to do. Being saved from the wrath of God, having our God Himself die for our sins, how else should our response be? We are no longer our own, we are Christ’s! He has bought us with a price; He has ransomed us with His own blood! The only reasonable service or response that we could have to such great love and amazing grace is this: that we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Living and not dead, because the times when dead sacrifices had to be brought before the altar of God is now past and would not make sense anymore in this age. Christ has already put an end to Old Testament sacrificial rituals once and for all by offering Himself as the ultimate atoning sacrifice on the cross.

Hebrews 10:10-14 And by that [the sacrifice of Jesus Chris on the cross] will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

The last dead sacrifice, the ultimate and last sacrifice that was needed to atone for the sins of His people is now resurrected from the dead! Jesus Christ was dead but is now living and reigning with the Father in heaven! Therefore just as we are called to be like Christ in every way, we are to be living sacrifices. Living and not dead. We have already died to sin and now we are alive again in Christ! We read from chapter six of the same letter to the Romans, Paul says

“(8)Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (9)We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. (10)For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (11)So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

This being the case, therefore, our whole lives must necessarily and obviously (reasonably) be consecrated for the purposes of God alone, holy and acceptable on account of Jesus Christ! Now the Apostle Paul says, offer your bodies. What this means to us of course is that we are to consecrate all of our lives for His purposes alone. Everything that has to do with our physical bodies, we are to subject to the Kingship of Jesus Christ! From the big things to even the smallest things. It is with our bodies that we conduct our daily living and this is exactly what is meant by this passage. By ‘bodies’ we are to understand this to mean that our whole entire existence is being spoken of here. In fact, even our eating and drinking should be subjected to the Lordship of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, the Apostle Paul commands us such, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Do all to the glory of God! Our eating and our drinking should be done to the glory of God. And not doing so is tantamount to sin. Now you may well think at this point that I am merely joking but this is exactly what the Apostle Paul tells us to do when he says that we must offer our bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord! We are to give Him everything. There is not an inch in our lives of which the Lord Jesus Christ does not point to and declares: “Mine! Mine! All of you is mine! You are no longer darkness, you are now light, and therefore you are mine! All of you!” Now what does this really mean for us, how does this all fit into the concept of spiritual worship?

My purpose at this point is to make you realize that spiritual worship is simply this: it is a life lived in antithesis to the world. Now what is the world? I do not mean that we are to separate ourselves from the world. Ours is a calling not to be out of the world but to be in the world. In the world but not of the world. The world is the prevailing culture that we all are surrounded by. It is the culture that we live in and it is the culture of many of our friends and family members. It is the way of the world and it is the way that we used to be. It is what the Apostle Paul was referring to in his letter to the Galatians by the words, ‘the present evil age’ (Galatians 1:4). The dominion of darkness, the kingdom of Satan. We formerly were all in this darkness. But now, because of what the Lord Jesus did on the cross on our behalf, we are now in this marvelous light. But now that we are in this light, now that we are believers and no longer unbelievers of the truth, now that we are already citizens of the Kingdom of God, now this is what we are to do says the Apostle Paul. We are to present, yield, offer, surrender, or submit our bodies and everything that has to do with it to Jesus Christ in spiritual worship. By now I hope you can see that a Christian is called to be different with the world. For the world does not know of spiritual worship. The world does not worship the true God. The world is not spiritual for the world is simply what it is: worldly, darkness—there is no light in them for there is no Christ in them. This is something I believe that I do not need to explain further as we were all formerly in the world and therefore know exactly what I am talking about when I say that the world is darkness. We all, when we had not yet known Jesus Christ as Master of our lives and Savior of our souls, we all were all of us darkness, we did not delight in the things of God, we hated God and we hated righteousness because we were wickedness. But now that we are in Christ, now that we have been salvaged from the kingdom of darkness and are now brought into this kingdom of light which is Christ’s alone, we are called to be different. Called to be in antithesis to the world. We are called to be in opposition to the world. For we are the opposite of this world. And this has to be evident. There is no two ways about it. Its either you are a citizen of heaven or you are a citizen of the hell. Its either you offer your bodies—and all of your life—up to Jesus Christ, or you offer your bodies for the use of the devil, Satan himself.

Now think about this dear friends. We call ourselves Christians. We say we are followers of Christ. But are we really? Is this merely something we know in our minds but not in our hearts? Let us be careful and examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. The true followers of Christ who understand the weight of the glory of God in the gospel of grace know that there is no other option but this: antithesis to the world. But how are we to go about being in this world and not of this world? How are we as new creatures in Christ supposed to navigate through this fallen world which is filled with people of darkness?

The Apostle Paul in the second verse tells us how it is that we are to be in antithesis to the world. He says, “do not be conformed to this world” do not be conformed, do not follow the pattern of this world, do not allow yourself to be placed into that mold called the world that would only make you indistinguishable from unbelievers. But rather, he says, we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. Two things are worth noting here, first we see the word ‘transformed’ and then we see the word ‘renewal.’ Let us first talk about the word transformed. Do you know what the original Greek word for transformed is? The word that the Apostle Paul uses here is the word: metamorphosis. Yes, metamorphosis, that English word we use to refer to the changing or transformation of an ugly and yucky caterpillar into a beautiful and majestic butterfly. This is the kind of transformation that is meant by this word. Now if you have seen a caterpillar before, you would know that it is hardly something beautiful. No one wants to use caterpillars as ornaments or accessories on their bodies. No one uses caterpillars as their school or class mascot. But butterflies on the other hand, are a totally different thing. We like these creatures. They just gently flutter by and they have this gracefulness about them. At least I know that some girls like butterflies. They think that butterflies are pretty. And so they wear blouses that have butterfly designs, butterflies on their bags, butterflies on their notebooks, butterflies on their jeans, butterflies on their hairclips, butterfly earrings, butterfly pendants, butterfly this, butterfly that, butterfly juice. Well, maybe not that last one but you get the point. This is the same thing with us. Metaphorically speaking, we used to be caterpillars, worms even, but now that we are in Christ we are to be transformed. We are to become beautiful creatures, we are to become: spiritual butterflies. No longer caterpillars that destroy the agricultural produce of the farmers but butterflies. Butterflies that exude beauty and grace. This is the kind of transformation that is meant here. We are to be metamorphosed or changed into something beautiful. We are to be transformed into the image of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the work of sanctification in our lives and this is that characteristic experience called the Christian life. So again, two words are to be noted, ‘transformed’ and ‘renewal.’ We have already talked about transformation, let us now talk about renewal: the renewal of our minds. The idea is not to be like the world, the idea is to be like Christ! If I could restate this verse positively for our purposes, I think this is how it would read: be conformed to Christ! Be like Him in every way, be transformed into His image! The idea of transformation here reminds us of the transfiguration of Christ Himself. Being transformed by the renewal of our minds is being radically changed and made into new creations. 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. New creations my friends, not renovations. We are not to simply fix things, we are to be made new. We are redeemed sinners and therefore our lives should reflect this truth! But how is this to be done? What does the text say? We are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds! Professor John Frame of the Reformed Theological Seminary in the US says, “Christians think differently from non-Christians; and when they don’t, they should.” Now this is very true and I think that this is a very good litmus test to see if we are indeed being transformed by the renewal of our minds. As Christians, we are supposed to think differently from non-Christians. Our thoughts should be in antithesis to their thoughts. And if they’re not, they ought to be! All of us once had the mind of the world but now we are no longer of the world, we are now Christ’s and as such our minds should be a reflection of the mind of Christ! But how is this to be attained? How can our minds have a renewal? And how can we know the mind of Christ to which our minds must be conformed to? This my friends is only by the Word of God. We should not expect that our lives would be transformed apart from the renewal of our minds. And we should not expect that our minds would be renewed apart from the Word of God. There is a historic Latin phrase that I am quite fond of that embodies this truth aptly: Spiritus cum Verbo—the Holy Spirit works in and through the Word of God! The more that we read the Word of God, the more that we apply ourselves to the study of the Word of God, the more that we struggle with the deep things of God in the Bible, the more that we develop a love for the Word of God, the more that the Holy Spirit can work on the renewal of our minds! My friends, love the Word of God! Study it attentively and read it with gusto! It is God’s gift to you and it is the means by which the Holy Spirit transforms us by the renewal of our minds!

Now when that happens, when your minds are being renewed and conformed to the mind of Christ, when your lives are beginning to be transformed by the Word of God, you will realize one thing. You will realize that you are now beginning to be in antithesis to the world. You will no longer like what the world likes. Your speech would no longer echo the speech of the evil world. You will no longer do what the world does and you will no longer think the way the world thinks. Now this is not an easy thing my friends. You will be seen as foolish by the unbelievers. You would be the direct opposite of what the world expects you to be. You would be disliked by others and you would be given a hard time. Expect to be persecuted for your faith, expect to suffer for Christ. This is the cost of discipleship. But this is what it means to live in antithesis to the world. This is the only proper response to the mercies of God. Therefore earnestly desire this and rethink the way you think. Rethink the way you do things. Rethink the speech of your lips. Rethink how you relate to others. What you approve of and what you disapprove of. How different are you from the rest of the world? And how much more like Christ are you, if at all you are like Christ.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

What did that last line read? ‘…that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’ The text says: that you may discern. Meaning, that you may know. That you may be sure of. The will of God. This is very interesting my friends as today people so wonder about the will of God in their lives. What does God want me to do in this particular situation? What colored T-shirt should I wear today, green or blue? What should I drink, tea or coffee? What university should I go to, La Salle or one of the other schools out there? Whom should I marry? What should I do in this particular situation? There is so much talk these days about discerning the will of God. Believers want to know what the will of God is in particular situations. And so they seek to “experience” God in different ways. They seek to “feel” God’s leading in their lives. And when they do not “experience” God, they think that God is no there. But my friends, this is all foolishness I tell you. Yes, God is there and He is not silent. In fact He has spoken and we have it all right here in this book called the Bible. The Word of God! If you want to know what the will of God is, let me try to summarize it for you in scriptural terms, it is this: do not conform yourself to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind! Be in antithesis to this world! Be holy, be set apart, be who you are now in Christ: a new creation! This is the will of the Father for us, that we would live in antithesis to the world. That our minds would be in tune with the mind of God! If you want to discern the will of God, read His Word! Study His Word! Then you can prove and test what the will of God is. His will is this: that which is always good, always acceptable, always perfect—complete. If you want to be complete, what you need is Christ—not Centrum. The will of God in your lives my dear friends is this: that all of your lives would be good, acceptable to the Father—that all of your lives would be complete and perfect. In short, the will of the Father who has clothed you with the righteousness of Christ in your justification, is that you be like Christ! Be like Him in every way. And if we are to be like Him, then we are to be antithetical to this world! Test yourself and ask yourself moment by moment, “am I living my life at the center of the will of God?” The Westminster Shorter Catechism poses the question: What is the chief end of man? What is the ultimate purpose of human beings? What on earth am I here for? So, what is the chief end of man? Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever! Our ultimate purpose in life and death is to glorify God, to reflect His glory and we are to do this in the enjoyment of Him and His good gifts! This is the will of God for us, that we glorify and enjoy him for the rest of our existence. Not just our lives here on earth—our lives for ever more! So think about the mercies of God, think about who you were before you were in Christ, think about what He has done for your salvation, think about His ultimate sacrifice for the sake of your redemption, and then, present yourself to God. Yield yourself, offer yourself up to Him. As the burnt offerings of the Old Testament burned before the Almighty God, the smoke from the offerings rose up to the Lord as pleasing aromas. And as you purpose to live all of life as a living sacrifice unto God, think about how the good works that the Holy Spirit enables you to do could likewise rise up to God as a pleasing aroma, good, acceptable, and perfect. This is your spiritual worship. This is your reasonable worship. This is what you are called to my friends: a life of antithesis to the world. Not conformity to the world but conformity to Christ. Not an agreement with the mind of this world but a transformation by the renewal of our minds by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God.

Finally dear friends, let me try to paint a picture for you of what living in antithesis would mean for us all as a community, but first let us talk about what it means for us as individual Christians who make up this community. So, we all know that we need to live in antithesis to the world, we know that we are to set ourselves apart from the world and to keep ourselves holy. This is our only rational, reasonable, response—our spiritual worship in view of God’s great mercies. On the personal level, we need to begin practicing the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible reading. Many of us profess to be believers, but yet many of us are only mere professors of faith in Jesus Christ. We profess with our lips that we are Christ’s but in our private lives, in our heart of hearts, we despise Him. We do not subject our lives to His lordship. Let me try to give you one example. For starters, I think that it would not be too much of me to expect you as a believer to have your daily devotions. And when I say daily, I mean daily! Just as your physical body needs physical food for nourishment, so does your spirit need a daily dose of the Word of God for its growth and nourishment. You see God has so designed our bodies to have needs so that we would acknowledge Him. When we need food, our stomachs ache to signal that we are hungry. And when we are hungry, we eat. When we are hungry and we do not eat, we fall ill. Eventually if we keep up being hungry for too long a time—which is really an absurd thing to do—we would die. It just does not make sense does it? Why would we not eat when we are hungry? That’s foolish! Everybody knows that they would die if they do not eat, that is why we almost never find people who do not eat for prolonged periods of time. Unless you are on a fast or a hunger strike or on a temporary diet, you would not deprive yourself of food! Nobody is foolish enough to intentionally deprive themselves of food! Let me repeat what I just said: Nobody is foolish enough to intentionally deprive themselves of food! It just does not make sense to do so! But why is it, that many professing believers neglect the spiritual food that is so much more important? Why is it that we would starve our spirits while we would not miss more than one meal a day? Let me try to show you that there is a parallelism here that we need to take note of. When our bodies are hungry, we eat. That is the rational thing to do. That’s what we are supposed to do. Now when our spirits are deprived of food, do you not think that our spirits too would go hungry? And that when our spirits are hungry, that they would groan and they would ache for their need for spiritual food? I think so. Do you think so? And if you do think so, then what do you think would be the obvious thing to do? Well, feed it of course! But what if we do not feel the hunger in our spirits, what if it does not seem to be reasonable for us to feed our spirits? What if we go through life professing to be believers and yet not seeing the need to feed our spirits with the pure milk of the Word of God? Then, and I say this with much caution, I believe that we have reason to examine ourselves and to test if we are truly in the faith. If we do not desire God, when we do not hunger for His Word, it may not be the case that our spirits have died already. It may be the case that our spirits have never been spiritually alive in the first place. You see, when we are of Christ, we are no longer of the world. When we are in Christ, we would be in antithesis to the world. That is the example that I can give on the personal level. And I think this is a concern that is very relevant to all of us.

Now let us examine what living in antithesis would mean to us as a community. When you have people who are living in accordance to the Word of God and living in antithesis to the world on account of the mercies of God; when you put these people together and call them a community, what you have is commonly known as a Church. And as a church living in antithesis to the world, we would and should obviously be counter-cultural. And this is what we desperately need today. We need our churches to be in the world but not of the world. We need to build a culture within a culture. A culture of righteousness amidst a culture of corruption and sinfulness. A culture of Christ-likeness amidst a culture of selfishness. We need to stick together, we need to build a city within our cities. What we need is a Christian counter-culture. The only way that we could impact society at large with the gospel of grace that we are partakers of is when we stick together just like the New Testament Christians did and proclaim to the world: “look, here we are. A city on top of a hill, shining forth the light of Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners!” When we set ourselves apart from the World, when we keep ourselves holy by living in antithesis to the world, we send out a clear message to the dark world: “Look world, here where we are, we’re different from you. We’re different because here we see things clearly. We were where you were, world, but now we have been brought to the light. Watch us world, we are living sacrifices to the God who has shown us mercy! Come and see our light, come, taste and see, that the Lord is good! By our lives, see that Christ is living in us. By our testimony as a community, see that our culture makes sense while yours does not. Come and join our counter-culture and together let us redeem the culture, together let us redeem the city, for Christ!” This is the implication of a Christian counter-culture my friends, that we would all together, and with one mind, be the salt and light in this fallen world, calling the people of God back into His fold. Therefore, let us never tire of encouraging each other. Let us not forget who we are, or rather, Who’s we are. We are Christ’s. Let us continue to pray for each other and keep each other holy and blameless in the sight of God and in the sight of the world. Let us live in antithesis to the world, that with gratefulness for His rich mercies, we may glorify God with our bodies—that we would glorify God with our lives. May the Lord help us and may the glory be His and His alone. Amen.

Note: I preached this sermon at my home church’s youth camp last 19 March 2008. I am posting it here now as a reminder for all Chrisians. Soli Deo Gloria – J. Bryner Chu

Greetings from Zamboanga city! It’s my second day here and there’s not much for me to do yet. Mondays and Tuesdays are “free” days as there are no ministries scheduled. However the rest of the week is quite hectic so do pray for me. On Wednesday evenings I will be sharing a devotional during the weekly prayer meeting and this would be in Chinese! golly. And then there’s YoungPro fellowship on Thursday evenings, youth fellowship on Saturday evenings, and college sunday school on sundays. Please remember me in prayers.

I hope that you are all still having your daily devotions diligently. Remember that it is for you own good. Continue also to memorize your catechism questions and Bible books of the OT.

As promised, here are a couple of links that i would recommend:

www.reformed.org – you can find the shorter catechism here

www.monergism.com – you can virtually find material about any topic in the bible here

www.desirringGod.org – this is the website of John Piper.

Till here for now, do drop me a line, comment or YM… i would try to reply ASAP.