Chosen and Adopted: Standing for the Fatherless on Stand Sunday

In this special Stand Sunday episode of the Defender Bible Study, recorded at CrossPointe Church in Columbus, GA, Herbie Newell takes us to Ephesians 1, exploring the powerful truth of our spiritual adoption by God and its profound implications for our call to defend orphans and vulnerable children.

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The mission of Lifeline Children’s Services is to equip the Body of Christ to manifest the gospel to vulnerable children. Our vision is for vulnerable children and their communities to be transformed by the gospel and to make disciples.

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Creators & Guests

Host

Herbie Newell

Herbie Newell serves as the President & Executive Director of Lifeline Children’s Services, holds an MBA in Accounting from Samford University and brings years of experience from his work as an independent auditor at WAKM Companies, LLC. Serving as Lifeline's Executive Director since 2003, Herbie has significantly expanded international outreach, obtained licensure in 17 states, and led the establishment of the foster care arm. A passionate advocate, he co-founded (un)adopted in 2009, focusing on equipping orphaned children with life skills for community transformation. Herbie, also the author of "Image Bearers: Shifting from Pro-birth to Pro-Life," emphasizes that being pro-life extends beyond opposing abortion, urging a broader ethic that includes fighting for racial equality and embracing every individual with the love of Christ. Herbie and his wife, Ashley, reside in Birmingham, Alabama, and are the parents to three children.

What is The Defender Bible Study?

The Defender Bible Study is a weekly study of God’s Word as we seek to equip the Body of Christ to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children's Services.

Herbie Newell: 00:02

Welcome to the defender bible study. A weekly encouragement to equip the body of Christ through the study of scripture and prayer to manifest the gospel to orphans and vulnerable children around the world. This podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services, where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word. Well, church, what a blessing it is to be with you this stand Sunday, orphan Sunday in Columbus, and it's been quite a treat. I've realized in all my years of of having the opportunity of coming to Columbus that I've been very destination oriented, but it was great last night to be able to walk along the river as the sun was setting and then to be able to dine with your pastor.

Herbie Newell: 00:50

You know, actually, when he told me where we were going, it conjured up, a memory. My wife and I have been married, Ashley, for 23 years, and when we were newlyweds, there was one night I came home and she had made spaghetti, and and we love spaghetti because you you know, when you there's just 2 of you, she would make a lot of it, and we would store it and have plenty of leftovers. Well, this particular time, I'll never forget. She, accidentally put Rotel tomatoes in the spaghetti, and we had what was affectionately known as Mexican spaghetti. And being the ever good husband, I told her it was great and I ate it.

Herbie Newell: 01:26

And so when your pastor said, hey. There's a place called Mixed Grill or Mixed Market, and they have Italian and they have Mexican. You can get an enchilada pizza. I was like, what in the world? Mexican spaghetti, again?

Herbie Newell: 01:39

But, no, what a great place it was to be at the mixed market last night and just to enjoy your city. But but, church, more than anything, I'm grateful for this church, for the spirit of god within you, for your generosity, for your partnership in the gospel. And and legitimately, I've been at this for over 2 decades with Lifeline, and I would say that this there's no sweeter partnership that we have than with Crosspointe Church as as we've seen not only domestic partnership, but also at reach across the world and the way you've cared for the Kajubi family, the way that you've cared for King Jesus' church in Uganda, and the way that you truly have partnered in the gospel, the way that we see Paul plead for other churches you've plead for that church. And so church, I'm grateful for you. I'm excited to be here.

Herbie Newell: 02:30

And it's with this heart that I want us to look at God's word this morning. We're gonna end up in Ephesians chapter 1. I'm gonna go and and read in acts 19 first just to give us some some background. But what I want us to see this morning is to know that orphans and vulnerable children live in a world of darkness. And beloved, the church has been charged to take the gospel and the justice of Christ to pierce the darkness that children, the fatherless orphans live in.

Herbie Newell: 03:01

By the way we pray, by the way we serve, by the way we go, by the way we give, by the way we adopt, and by the way we foster. So much of God's Bible shows and commands the people of God to show the character of God, to the downtrodden, to the sojourner, to the widow, and to the orphan. However, this morning, I want you to know if you are a Christ follower, I want you to first know that before we're called to go, we're called to look at who we really are. You see, we are the chosen. We are the adopted children of God.

Herbie Newell: 03:35

And so this morning, as we look at Ephesians, I want us to see, what the apostle Paul tells us about being the adopted chosen children of God, because we can't truly give a child, an orphan, the vulnerable, anything until we realize how much we've been given by God. So with a background before we go to Ephesus, I want us to know a little bit about Ephesus. It was a port city on the West Coast of Asia Minor and it boasted of the temple Artemis, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Ephesus was was in not only Paul's time as a great place for trade in Asia Minor. And the book of Ephesians articulates general instructions and the truths of the cosmic redemptive work of God, the unity of the church among diverse peoples and proper conduct in the church, the home in the world.

Herbie Newell: 04:28

Unity and love are the markings of the gracious work of the savior, but also his evidence in the life of a Christian in our response to God's work in us. And so I want us to look real quick at acts chapter 19, starting in verse 8 and see Paul when he first comes to Ephesus. It says, and he, Paul, entered the synagogue, verse 8, and for 3 months he spoke boldly reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him reasoning daily in the hall of Taranis. This continued for 2 years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Herbie Newell: 05:18

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hand of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some of the itinerant Jew Jewish exodus undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirit saying, I adjure you by the by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims, 7 sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this, but the evil spirit answered, Jesus, I know and Paul, I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. This became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also, many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices and a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burn them in the sight of all.

Herbie Newell: 06:19

And they counted the value of them and found it to be 50 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. And you see beloved, this is the setting for the book of Ephesus. And here's what I want us to see this morning on this stand Sunday from Paul's letter to the book of the Ephesians that we even see in this passage of acts. When we are called to care for the orphan, for the vulnerable, for the vulnerable child, for the widow, for the stranger, for the alien, we're not the star of the show.

Herbie Newell: 06:53

Jesus is the star of the show and it's the gospel that we must preach. You see, if if all we do is care for the physical needs, the void of the gospel, our work is meaningless. Our work is is devoid of the power, and we even see there in acts that these 7 sons of Sceva were trying to conjure up something in order to be the star of the show. But beloved, our names may be forgotten. Our impact will never be mistaken when it's in the hope of the gospel and of Christ Jesus.

Herbie Newell: 07:29

And so this is what we see in the book of Ephesians. We see that when we go as we go, we go because of who we are and our new reality in Christ. Paul had 2 major themes in the book of Ephesians. The first was that God had reconciled all creation to himself through adoption in Christ. But then second, the second thing we see is that Christ has united people from all nations to himself and to one another through the church.

Herbie Newell: 08:00

And so Ephesians 1 addresses our adoption and the power of God that rests upon this letter, unlocks the duties of the church and our commission to follow in the work of Christ. Why do we go and care for the vulnerable? Because we were the vulnerable that Christ Jesus cared for and adopted. I love what Sinclair Ferguson, professor at Redeemer's Seminary in Dallas said. He said, the notion that we're the Children of God, his own sons and daughters is the main spring of Christian living.

Herbie Newell: 08:31

Our sonship to God is the apex of creation and the goal of redemption. And so if we want to understand what a Christian is and why being a Christian is a privilege, we need to understand divine adoption. You see, we, we get the seed of Abraham. We get the seed of coming into the family of God through our adoption papers, which are sealed by Christ and his life. And this is what fuels the stance that we have to stand for orphans and vulnerable children is that we too were adopted in the family of God.

Herbie Newell: 09:06

And so with that, let's look at Ephesians chapter 1 starting in verse 3. Paul says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be found blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespass, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Herbie Newell: 10:11

In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the council of his will. So that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard the word truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for your word, for it truly is living and active and sharper than any double edged sword.

Herbie Newell: 10:53

Lord, I pray for those that are within the sound of my voice that if they are discouraged, if they are wandering, that they would be reminded today that you are the father to the fatherless. If there be those in the sound of my voice that have never come to saving faith in Christ, I pray that they would know that you stand knocking, coming, wanting to adopt them into your family. And Lord, I pray that as we come together on the stand Sunday to see how we can stand for orphan and vulnerable children, that we will be reminded who we really are. Children of the most high God. It's in your great name that we pray the name of Jesus.

Herbie Newell: 11:35

Amen. So the first thing I want us to see from this passage is 3 overarching truths of our adoption. And the first is that adoption is from God, the father. Look again at verse 3. It says blessed be the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Herbie Newell: 11:53

We see that that God is the one that's acting to us, acting towards us through Christ for his glory. You see, God is the supreme worker in our adoption story. God, the father is the actor and adoption was part of his plan. It was his idea, his purpose. It was not an afterthought.

Herbie Newell: 12:15

Verse 4 makes it clear that he chose us before the foundation of the world. And if you look throughout this passage, you can see him at work. Verse 5, He predestined us. Verse 6, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He blessed us. Verse 7, in Him we have redemption.

Herbie Newell: 12:36

Verse 8, He lavished. Verse 9 His will, His purpose He set forth. Verse 10 to unite all things in Him. Verse 11 in Him we have obtained to the purpose of Him, the council of His will, and then verse 12 to the praise of His glory. Beloved, don't miss it.

Herbie Newell: 12:56

You have a father who is pursuing you and who marched you out before the foundation of the world. Just as with physical adoption and orphan care, there's nothing a child can do to be chosen. They don't go out on campaigns like we've been going through a campaign season and putting signs in yards to say, I need, I need a family. I need help, but no, it takes the right person with the right pedigree and the right resources to seek after them. Well, here's the deal, beloved, the author, sustainer and creator of the world is who sought after our souls.

Herbie Newell: 13:34

Not because we put out a campaign sign, but because he's the right one with the perfect pedigree and unlimited resources. Romans 5, 6 through 8 says, for while you were still weak at the right time, God died for the ungodly. For 1 will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would even dare to die. But God shows his great mercy that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, our adoption is not based on our ability.

Herbie Newell: 14:05

It's not based on our worth, and it's certainly not based on our works. No, it's rooted in the eternal purpose and grace of God. This means that our adoption in Christ, it's not fragile. It's not uncertain. God's not going to just throw us back and determine we are too hard or unworthy or unadoptable.

Herbie Newell: 14:25

Now the precious truth is this. He knows that we are unworthy and yet he chose us anyway and predestined us to adoption. And this truth is firm and unshakable. And so that brings us to the the second overarching truth we see of our adoption, and that is that adoption is through the grace of Jesus Christ. Verse 5 says he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons to Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.

Herbie Newell: 14:55

Verse 6, to the praise of his glorious grace. The instrument of our adoption into the family of God is the grace of the son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the foundation of the Lord world, God planned his death of the son so that our sins could be forgiven and his wrath removed. It's solely by his grace, and there's 2 clear distinctions we must see of this grace of adoption. 1st, the the sin, the blood of Christ covers over all the sins of those who believe.

Herbie Newell: 15:29

Therefore, believers in Christ are fully adopted. However, God is not the father of all mankind, but only those who confess and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and follow him. This truth drives the way we talk about our daddy in our neighborhoods, in our communities, at our office and all throughout the nations. Church, what would it look like if people knew as much about our daddy as they do about the football team that we cheer for, maybe the political candidate that we vote for, but they knew more about us, about our daddy, our God. I remember several years ago, a family adopted a young boy from a country in Eastern Europe and after a couple of years in their home, he he was adjusting well.

Herbie Newell: 16:17

He loved his family and he had at at dinner time one night, he said, look, I have 2 friends back in the orphanage. Would you go back and adopt those 2 children? And this family prayed about it. They advocated for these 2 other little boys and they ended up adopting 1 and having a friend that adopted another. You see, when we've understood the blessing of our adoption in Christ Jesus, it brings us to a place where we want to speak and tell others of Christ Jesus.

Herbie Newell: 16:50

But the second distinction of of the grace of Christ in our adoption is this, we are not cute children in need, but enemies of wrath and rebellion. Romans 5 continues in verse 10 when it says, for if we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more. Now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? You see, our adoption is not based on the fact that we were cute, attractive, or worthy, but it's a based on the sovereign grace of God. We are blessed in Christ through our adoption.

Herbie Newell: 17:25

Verse 3 and we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Verse 4. But then we are also predestined in love by Christ, and this word predestined appears 5 times in the new testament. It's not a bad word. It's a good word.

Herbie Newell: 17:43

You see before you were born, God destined you to be adopted into his family. Christian, despite who you were, despite your sin, despite your rebellion against God, and despite your imperfections, the Lord Jesus determined to say to you, I'm coming to get you and I'm going to take you home and you are going to be a part of my family and this radically changes our identity. But 4th adoption grace tells us we are redeemed in Christ and this this verse for 7 and 8, it's a present perfect tense. In other words, we've been redeemed past tense. We're being redeemed present tense and we will be redeemed future tense.

Herbie Newell: 18:29

Beloved, we are forgiven and our life now is hidden in Christ. Unlike in the old testament where people had to continually make atonement before sin, Christ has come once and for all to redeem us. As the book of Hebrews says, it's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. Consequently, when Christ came in the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure.

Herbie Newell: 18:59

Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, oh God, as written of me in the scroll of the book. When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings. These offered according to the law. Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

Herbie Newell: 19:21

And by that, we have all been sanctified to the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Beloved, knowing that we are God's chosen, that we have have been in his family, that we are redeemed in Christ is supply us with great confidence in great perseverance. The gospel of grace of our adoption. But then lastly, we see adoption. Grace tells us that we are sealed in Christ.

Herbie Newell: 19:51

Look at the great promises in verse 13 and 14 again, it says, in him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. You see, not only does this Christ adopt you and bring you into his family, but he seals you and he preserves you and he keeps you. My grandparents, when I grew up, they started, a type of table syrup. It was called golden eagle table syrup, and they started it in the great depression and my grandfather didn't really love maple syrup. But what my grandmother would do was put just a little bit of honey in his syrup, and he loved it.

Herbie Newell: 20:40

And not only that, but it would keep him full because, you know, honey has that property of helping you feel full. And so in the midst of the great depression, they started a business called Golden Eagle Table Syrup, and and farmers would go and they would take a little bit of that table syrup on their biscuit, and it would take them until they came home for dinner. Well, my grandparents sold the company in 1988 and set aside many, many boxes of this Golden Eagle table syrup. Well, one of the thing about the syrup is they would heat pack it into glass bottles. And so whenever you opened it up, you knew it was fresh.

Herbie Newell: 21:13

When you opened up the top, you flipped off the top and then make this huge popping sound. Well, several months ago, we opened up another one of these bottles packed in 1988, and I popped it open and it made a pop in the golden, the golden syrup came out of that glass bottle. You see in the same way, beloved, as as as syrup that that has lasted over 30 years. Even more than that, we've been kept by Christ. We've been sealed by Christ.

Herbie Newell: 21:44

He comes as a guarantee and that helps us grow in holiness. It's the Holy Spirit that keeps us and binds us and unites us. Even today, it's through this preservation that, that, that we have brothers and sisters from different biological families, different backgrounds, different cultures, and even different languages and dialect. This is the seal of the Holy Spirit. And then the third overarching truth of our adoption is that adoption is for God's glory.

Herbie Newell: 22:17

Verses 56 remind us that that that is for his purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace. All things are are from him and through him, and our adoption is ultimately for the glory of God. He adopted us in our unworthiness to show the supreme nature of his grace. Our adoption is God centered and God exalting. Don't miss this.

Herbie Newell: 22:45

We cannot make our adoption by God the father about us or we will begin to idolize ourselves and our desires. The goal of our adoption is that the glory of God's grace would be praised. God exalts himself and he loves us. And so the goal of our adoption is that we get God, not that God gets us. He is exalted and we are loved.

Herbie Newell: 23:10

Therefore we must ask ourselves, are our hearts fixated on the glory of God? Christ has infinite worth, which led him to the cross and his obedience for the love of the father so that God would be glorified. This is what Jesus prays in John chapter 17 verses 45 he said, I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do, and now father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. You see the aim and mission of Christ was to exalt God by loving us through his grace. God doesn't merely wait to be exalted.

Herbie Newell: 23:52

He exalts his own name. In Luke 1940, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees upon asking him his followers to stop praising Jesus the king. He said, I tell you, if these stones if these are silent, the very stones would cry out. Beloved, our God is about his glory and that is a good thing because who else would the author, creator, and sustainer of the universe glorify if he didn't glorify himself. So quickly, for implications of God's adoptive love from this passage.

Herbie Newell: 24:26

1st, what does this mean to you this week? You're accepted by God the father as his beloved children. You see, we've been chosen and redeemed verses 47 and therefore through Christ we're seen as blameless, not just like a criminal who's been let out for good behavior, but our record has been expunged. I love what Paul David Tripp says here. He says, Jesus was willing to be despised and he did it willingly so that as his children, you and I would be able to live in the hope and the peace of knowing that no matter what we face in the human community, we are perfectly and eternally loved and accepted by God.

Herbie Newell: 25:11

You see, beloved, we, we don't like that in our day and age to think that we're needy. As a matter of fact, everything that we're told is pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Do it. Prove that you're worth it. Prove that you have the ability, but the gospel tells us who we really are.

Herbie Newell: 25:26

We're weak, we're needy, we're foolish, reckless people, and we need a savior. We are weak, dirty and messy fools and the message of the gospel is humbling because over and over it reminds us again that we are hopeless and impossible and in an irreversible state apart from divine intervention. Ephesians will later say, Paul will later say that the people of Ephesus in Ephesians 2, 4 through 6 he says, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised up and seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is the good news of spiritual adoption.

Herbie Newell: 26:16

Just like an orphan child, lonely and possessing nothing in and of themselves to be a notice, God initiates his love and accepts you. You're no longer unacceptable, but you're now a child of God fully accepted by God because the work of Jesus on the cross. Beloved, we are these children and our God is a great daddy who comes to see us. This is what Paul tells the church to Galatia in Galatians 4 Galatians 44 through 7. He says, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Herbie Newell: 26:58

Because you were sons, God sent his spirit of his son into our hearts crying, Abba father. So you are no longer a slave, but a son and the son then an heir. Because we are accepted by God and we are his children, we have the abiding presence of our father. You see, we have the spirit of God in our hearts and this gives us boldness and confidence just as you would never leave a young child alone. God will never leave you or forsake you, but Galatians also shows us that we have the ability to cry out and speak to our father.

Herbie Newell: 27:33

This word is krazon and it's a loud it's a loud cry full of passion and feeling. This is a a child crying out for their parents. This is the woman who sees the mouse in the kitchen or the child that sees a frog in the yard, right? This is a loud cry of feeling and beloved. If you are a child of God today, you have the ability and privilege to cry out to your father.

Herbie Newell: 27:59

When life is hard, cry out to him because he will listen. Brother and sister cry out to the Lord because he hears your children. You have access to the author, sustainer, and creator of the universe. Not as a far off dignitary, but as your daddy. So we have access to God's throne, but we also have an intimate relationship with our father.

Herbie Newell: 28:24

The word that Galatians uses Abba, and this really is like a very intimate word like daddy. It's an it's an assurance of God's love for us. And here's the thing, beloved, we've also not only become his children, but we've been given rights and positions and benefits as only sons of the father. God sees us the way he sees Jesus. But then second implication of our adoption is we have a new primary identity, which is in Christ.

Herbie Newell: 28:56

We begin to imitate the Lord as our adoption papers are finalized. We begin to wanna be like our father. Moment by moment, we depend upon him so that we will look more like him. 2nd Corinthians 5 17 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed and behold, the new has come.

Herbie Newell: 29:20

Verse 20 through 21 says, Therefore, we're ambassadors of Christ God making his appeal through us. We implore you to on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him sin who knew no sin so that in him we might be the righteousness of God. Our identity has been exchanged. We are no longer seen as sinners, but righteous as Christ is righteous, and this is the beauty of our sonship.

Herbie Newell: 29:50

This is the glory of our salvation, but then 3rd implication, we now have belonging in the family of God. Look again at verses 11 through 14. We have an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things to the council of his will so that we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our, there's the word again, inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. You see, beloved, we have more in common with those in this room who we may have no biological connection than we do to those in our biological family who do not know Christ.

Herbie Newell: 30:45

The adoption of Christ brings us together as family. Through adoption and through the gospel, it tears down barriers of race and culture, socioeconomic and class. It makes us into a multicultural, multi ethnic and diverse family that bears the marks and the image of our creator. We're not slaves. We're sons.

Herbie Newell: 31:09

We're family of God. We're brothers and sisters. We don't throw the word brother or sister around in church as a cultural term. We throw it around as a familial term because we are one in Christ. But then the 4th implication of our adoption is that we are now called to model God's mercy and justice.

Herbie Newell: 31:34

We are now called to model God's mercy and justice. God changes us. He rearranges us. He brings us into his family so that ultimately we will model that adopted love to others. This is what fuels us to care for the orphan and the vulnerable child and the foster child and the orphan.

Herbie Newell: 31:57

When we see the poor, the needy and the broken and the orphan, we are called to love them because Christ first loved us and chose us before the foundation of the world. We're called to open our homes and our hearts to show the mercy and justice of God. We're called to sacrifice and open up our homes even when it may feel inconvenient. There will be a cost. There will be a cost when when we open up our homes and we begin to model the mercy and the justice of God.

Herbie Newell: 32:29

It's difficult. It's hard. You see children and and the fatherless live in very dark places, and when we take the light of the gospel, the darkness wants to push away. Just like this morning, maybe like many of you, the time change really messed me up. And then of course, I'm from over, on the other side of the river where I also live in Easter Central Time, and here we are in Eastern Time.

Herbie Newell: 32:51

And so I woke up at 5:15 this morning. I'm like, I don't know who I am or where I am, but I know I can't sleep anymore. And so I escaped the hotel room, went again on the river walk, went and got some coffee. And then I realized I gotta go wake up my family, And, they they hated me for it because it turned on all the lights and opened up the drapes and they're like, get it away. Turn off the light.

Herbie Newell: 33:12

In the same way, when we take the light of the hope of the gospel, we're not gonna be popular. It's not gonna win us any contest. The darkness wants to expel the light, but though we must, children live in brokenness and hurt and they'll bring those behaviors into our home. When we get our hands messy and gospel driven justice, it will cost ours us our convenience and our comfort. But beloved, take heart because God will give great grace.

Herbie Newell: 33:46

He will give great grace When we go, when we model his love, he will surround us. He will encourage us. He will empower us and he will be the star of the show. And so in closing, I wanna exhort us in 4 quick ways. 1st, consider the embrace and the wonder of our adoption in God's family through Christ Jesus.

Herbie Newell: 34:10

Because the reality of our adoption should make us fierce defenders of life. You see, the church should be leading the charge and showing the justice and the mercy of God's kingdom to the world because we're the ones that are the benefactors of God's amazing grace. So we should fight for the single mother who just found out she's pregnant. We should go to the poor, the voiceless and the downtrodden because we understand that they are made and created in the image of almighty God. We're fierce defenders of life, but then second, the reality of our adoption by God enables us to embrace differences between race, socioeconomic levels, cultures and nations, and engages us in gospel driven reconciliation.

Herbie Newell: 34:57

You see, there should be no tribalism or prejudice within the body of Christ because we are a multicultural, multi ethnic family from diverse backgrounds and we are together adopted into the family of God. And so we embrace children from other parts of the world. We embrace children from other parts of the city because we realize they could be a part of our family. Our family has no prejudice. Our family is multi ethnic.

Herbie Newell: 35:29

Our family is diverse, but then the reality of our adoption by God, the father drives us to share the gospel in our neighborhoods and communities and propels us to go to the nations to fulfill the great commandment. You see the beauty of our sonship and the glory of our salvation thrust us into our neighborhoods, into the nations with a glorious spellbounding gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The great commission is not a burden beloved, but it's a joy. It's a joy to give everything that we have that others could experience the adoption of Christ Jesus. If you really understand your adoption in Christ and what it means for Christ Jesus to predestine and seek you out, then you cannot stop talking about the marvelous grace of Christ and our adoption into the family of God.

Herbie Newell: 36:26

You see, we have family members in our, in Columbus and in Georgia and in the United States and in the other most parts of the world that must be claimed and we must preach the gospel. But then last and certainly not least, I want to ask you to consider caring for or adopting children into your family as an overflow of the inheritance that you have in Christ from God. See, it's not the responsibility of the government to care for children and vulnerable families and vulnerable women. It's not the responsibility of humanitarians or the elite, but it's a call given directly to the family of God, to the church of God. When his people begin to show the mercy and the justice of the God in this world, then grace and Jesus and the gospel become irresistible.

Herbie Newell: 37:27

So in closing, it's not enough that we just live in the reality of our adoption, but we must show the reality of our adoption in the way that we go, in the way we pray, in the way that we give, in the way that we adopt, in the way that we foster, in the way that we care. So this morning I want you to know, adoption was not plan b by God the father, but it is his beautiful instrument of redemption and justice. He establishes us in his love so that we ultimately will spread his glory, the glory of God. The vulnerable children, vulnerable women, and vulnerable and vulnerable families here and around the world. Let's pray.

Herbie Newell: 38:13

Father God, thank you for Jesus, the author, the perfecter, and the finisher of our faith. Thank you for the reality of our adoption in him that you did not leave us as orphans, but you came to us. Lord, I pray that we would know your grace. I pray that we would know the adoption that is ours in Christ Jesus. And Lord, I pray that would only encourage us and helped us to know that we are accepted and loved by you, but I pray that it will send us and commission us to care for orphans and vulnerable children to care for vulnerable women who are struggling with an unexpected unplanned pregnancy, and I pray that it will fuel us to reconcile families that are broken in our foster care system.

Herbie Newell: 39:00

Oh, would your glory, would your grace, would your mercy and would your love overflow in us so that every tribe, every tongue and every nation would know the grandeur of the glory of God. It's in your great name that we pray the name of Jesus. Amen. Thanks again for joining us for the defender bible study. If you enjoy making this podcast a part of your weekly routine, we'd love for you to take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the defender bible study to make it easier for more people to find.

Herbie Newell: 39:35

For more resources and information on how you and your church can partner with Lifeline, please visit us at lifelinechild.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter by searching for Lifeline Child. You can email us directly at info atlifelinechild.org. We look forward to seeing you again next week for the Defender Bible Study.