Easter, a Time for New Life

Easter, a Time for New Life

John 3:16 Nasb

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His [e]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Ever since the passing of Christmas and New Year, many people here in the UK seem to look forward to start of the Easter holidays whether that is the School Holidays or the Bank Holiday Weekend, It seems to me in the months building up to the Easter Holidays, the shops are selling items linked to Easter such as Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns, Easter like many public holidays or celebrations has become very commercialised.

I suppose Easter 2016, will be remembered for unseasonable bad weather we’ve had, with lots of mixed up weather !. I can’t explain why we are now having  weather like that, only the Meteorologists can hopefully an explanation of that.

In the Church that I’m privileged to be part of, we have small groups called house groups, many churches will also have a similar set up and use different names,  but basically they are identical in purpose  Being a Christian for a number of years now and have many Bible Verses and Chapters that are significant to me., the Lord bought my attention earlier today to John 3:16-18

John 3:16-18New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

 Which I remember learning in Sunday School, when I was growing up in Resolven when I was around the age of 8 or 9, although I made a public confession of Faith when I was 11 in a Children’s Meeting in Neath, Easter Monday 1981. I always say that’s when I became a Christian but if I’m honest, I’ve walked with Jesus since early childhood because of the influence of Christian Parents and Grandparents and people like my Sunday School Teachers and other adults at Church.

Growing up in my Church in Resolven was very much like an extended family I would address my parents and grandparents friends as Uncle and Auntie and followed by their first name. I had the privilege to spend some time in Resolven when I visited my dad in Neath a few years ago, and caught up with some of my Sunday School Teachers and addressed them as Uncle * and Aunty *.

Because I give my life to the Lord at Easter, Easter has always been special and significant to me, It’s time both of Celebration and Thankfulness and I thank the Lord that He has kept me walking with Him for 30 plus years, yes there have times that I walked closer with the Lord than I’ve walked with Him at other times. There have been times of disappointment and disheartenment, but they have been outweighed by the times of celebration and rejoicing.

I moved here to Southport, Easter 2011 after a tough few months where I had actually given up on Church, and had recently decided to come back to Church in February on a previous visit to Southport.  I was still feeling low and unsure of things, a particular situation had bought me to the end of myself, and I know I needed to change, that change was painful and challenging, I felt hurt and rejected by both the Lord and others.

 I arrived here in Southport and I realised it was a new chapter of my live and in many ways a new or fresh beginning for me. I was no longer tied or connected to my past or history, God had given me a new life because of Jesus’s death on the cross and his resurrection. I’m still Blair Humphreys but because of what Jesus had done and is still doing I’m a different or better Blair Humphreys, I don’t get it right all the time, and yes there are times when I could hit myself, but this isn’t an excuse or an opt out clause, I’m a work in progress, and yes I’m better and further along that I was before but I’m getting there. It’s called Sanctification.

When Jesus died, He died for our sins and the sins of the entire world from that day until the day He returns,  he literally became sin, every sin committed was laid upon Him,  he paid the ultimate penalty he died as our substitute he didn’t deserve to die, but he choose or volunteered to die in my place, in your place and the place for everyone else, When Jesus died in was the time of the Jewish Passover, when the people of Israel remembered the Feast of the Passover, Jesus became our Passover Lamb, When Jesus died and rose again, he ended the traditions of the Jewish Faith and because of this, Christians don't have to celebrate Jewish Feasts, so for example we do not have to remember Passover, it's old covenant not new covenant.

He was battered, bloodied and crucified for you and me, he was humiliated, suffered at the hands of an occupying army, he died a death unimaginable to all of us,  he died in our place for our sin, he didn’t deserve to die, but to choose to die for me and for you. Thank you Jesus for dying for me.

Romans 5:12-21 Nasb

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for [h]until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a [i]type of Him who was to come 15 But [j]the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression [k]resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions [l]resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.18 So then as through one transgression [m]there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness [n]there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 20 [o]The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 3:21-26 Nasb

21 But now apart [k]from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those [l]who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all [m]have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a [n]propitiation [o]in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, [p]because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who [q]has faith in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21 Nasb

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

He didn't stay dead, he arose Victorious from the Tomb after 3 days,   Christ is Risen indeed.

Yours in Him

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside

A living sacrifice, Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12:1-2

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

A living sacrifice



12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I’ve had a few difficult and challenging months recently, and I have had a lot of questions that to be honest if I’ve not been able to find answers for. Having spent a lot of time praying,  reading and writing but I’ve also spend many hours thinking about things, and if I’m honest over-thinking things.

I have great friends here in Southport and other places, and I know a lot of friends have been and are praying for me.

All of us have been influenced in the way we think or act by the way our parents and grandparents thought and we have developed learned behaviour patterns from both our family backgrounds and our culture or society. I grew up in the South Wales valleys which is predominantly white and working class. I remember going to a Youth Camp in the 1980’s and meeting people from an Afro-Caribbean background and spending time with them and making friends with them,  but it was something of a culture shock and again in the late 1990’s living in Leicester and working alongside people from an Indian Subcontinent background in many ways both were culture shocks for me  and I learned valuable lessons it was strange for me  coming from a predominantly white background being somewhere that was more of cultural melting point.


I love living in England, and I’m Welsh please don’t think that is an oxymoron, it was a cultural shift coming from the Welsh Valleys to live in the East Midlands, later living in West Yorkshire and now living in Merseyside.  The English were something like us but not entirely like us and we enjoyed beating them at Rugby, which is ironic for me because at least on the maternal side of my family, 100 plus years ago,  3 out of 4 of my great grandparents moved to Wales from Devon and Somerset!

I said earlier that we have developed learned behaviour patterns from our parents and grandparents, as children we observed the way our parents and other relatives dealt with certain situations and circumstances,  for example my granddad would gradually change the time on clocks, watches etc., but would leave one clock on watch on the right time until he went to bed when the clocks either went forward or back an hour, this year I noticed that I do exactly the same.

I was raised in a Christian Family so in many ways, a lot of things that happen in Church I understand and accept,  such as tithing,  male leadership,  breaking of bread or communion, although in many ways these come from learned behaviour I came to accept these for myself.

Today, we face many challenges and difficulties because culture and society try to break free of the Christian heritage that for hundreds of years have been the guiding light for society in the western world,  for example many believe that gay people have the right to marry other gay people, personally speaking I’m opposed to such views because they go against what the Bible teaches about Marriage,  I’m not anti-gay or homophobic, firstly I can’t be anyone’s auntie because I’m a man and it would be physically impossible for me to be an auntie, sorry some humour there.  Because of the fall of adam, sin entered the world



Romans 5:12ff
¹² Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— ¹³ for ^[h]until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a ^[i]type of Him who was to come¹⁵ But ^[j]the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. ¹⁶ The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression ^[k]resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions ^[l]resulting in justification. ¹⁷ For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ So then as through one transgression ^[m]there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness ^[n]there resulted justification of life to all men. ¹⁹ For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. ^20 [o]The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All we need is a love that changes everything

1 Corinthians 13 :1- 13

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

In an email to my friend Geoff Grice earlier today,  I briefly made a reference to the story of Cindrella, I’ve always wondered why Cindrella never feel in love with Buttons,  Buttons loved Cindrella for she was, but Cindrella didn’t love Buttons in the same way, she chased the myth of love with Prince Charming, yes she lived happy ever after, for many of us we need to stop chasing the myth of love with prince or princess charming and find true (real) love with buttons.

How the New Testament defines love

From http://biblemegasite.com/love.htm

New Testament love is different from the love most people think of when they think of "love". Most English Bible readers think that "love" has the same meaning throughout the NT. Most believe that love simply means "to have great affection for." Actually the New Testament Greek language has 4 different words for "love" and each has a different meaning. Don't worry about the Greek, I will explain them well.

1. eros - Physical attraction. Strawberry Shortcake love: "I want the shortcake. I want it bad! I will consume it without giving it a thought about how the shortcake feels" Eros doesn't appear in the New Testament, but is mentioned in the Greek Old Testament. Eros can often be selfish in the form of lust. A healthy eros would be a physical attraction between a married couple. But having this love and no others would make a mockery out of true love.

2. storge - Family love. We don't love Aunt Minnie because of her eros (physical attraction), but because she is our Aunt Minnie, a part of our family, even though she is blind, deaf, and senile. Storge appears 3 times in the NT, twice in its negative form (astorge - "without family love"), and once combined with phila ("be devoted"). A mother who has her baby and throws it in the trash can is showing astorge. I storge a Christian because he/she is a member of my spiritual family. But what if said Christian renounces Christianity? Could I still love him/her if storge was the only form of love I had?

3. phila - Friendship love. It is warm feelings and affection. It is liking someone. Philia is emotional, spontaneous, and instinctive. The weakness of this love is that in order to show it, it has to be shared. Your phila for me is damaged if I don't show phila for you. I call the weakness of phila "bowling partner" love: "I love you if you keep bowling strikes, but start throwing gutter balls and I'll find a new bowling partner." Many couples make this the main love in their marriage, and the marriage doesn't survive the gutter balls of life. I phila my friends, I have feelings for them, but that isn't enough to truly love them, especially if they don't show affection to me.

4. agape - A desire to do what is best for another. This Greek word is rarely used in other Greek writings and used in a colourless way. The New Testament gives agape a wonderful new meaning. Agape does involve a desire and a devotion, but doesn't depend of affection received from another in order to exist. Its purpose is to treat his fellow man with esteem and respect, even when rebuking someone who has done wrong. Christ said if we love (agape) Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). We are commanded to display agape with all of our heart, soul and mind to God and to show agape to our neighbor as we would do for ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

 We are told by Paul to walk in the way of agape (Ephesians 3:16-19). Agape is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:8-10). John stated that agape expresses itself in word and deed and that without agape, we don't know God, who is the very definition of agape (1 John 3:16-19, 4:8). Agape is the word used as love in John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 13. In 1 Corinthians 13, it says that "love bears all things." The Greek word for "bear" can also mean "cover," as in agape throwing a cover of silence over the faults of others. I can even agape my enemies, I can desire and act for what is best for them, regardless of their feelings for me. Agape is an act of the will. I truly agape people, and I will do what is best for them, even if they had no eros, storge, phila, or agape for me. What people don't realize is that while eros, storge, and phila come naturally to humans, agape is not, for it is divine. Agape has to be learned, from God's Word.

The Bible is not just a rulebook, but it is the dictionary of agape, whether agape defines how we worship God or how we interact to one another. If we master agape as defined in the Bible, we need nothing else to be more like God, for God IS agape (1 John 4:8)

Eros - Based on the glands. "I love you because I am attracted to you.

Storge - based on genetic ties. "I'm love you because we are kin to each other"

Phila - based on emotions. "I really like you, I love you because I enjoy being with you."

Agape - based on a decision, an act of the will. "I love you", not "I love you if....", not "I love you because....", just simply "I love you".

1 John 4:7-21 New American Standard Bible

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

The life that I have

Is all that I have

And the life that I have

Is yours.

The love that I have

Of the life that I have

Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have

A rest I shall have

Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years

In the long green grass

Will be yours and yours and yours.

Leo Marks, taken from Carve her Name with Pride the story of Violette Szabo