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In this special Christmas episode, Herbie Newell reflects on the extraordinary roles of key figures in the Christmas story and how their actions reveal our part in God’s plan. From Mary’s faithful obedience and Joseph’s protective leadership to the shepherds and angels proclaiming hope and glory, we’re reminded that even in the mundane, God calls us to play significant roles in fulfilling His purpose. As we celebrate Christ’s birth, let’s consider how we can embrace our unique calling to manifest the gospel to orphans, vulnerable families, and those in need, living as witnesses to His grace and redemption.
LIFELINE CHILDREN'S SERVICES
LIFELINE CHILDREN'S SERVICES
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.
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 podcast is a ministry of Lifeline Children Services, where we believe that defending the fatherless begins by being rooted in God's word.
Herbie Newell:It's Monday, December 23, 2,024, and I'm coming to you from Birmingham, Alabama. Well, Merry Christmas. This week, our staff did not meet for our normal bible study, but, instead, we decided to come together on the Defender Bible Study to talk about the great gift of Christmas, but not just the great gift of Christmas, but also the extraordinary roles, the unique roles that all of those in the Christmas story played in Christ's birth. And their stories remind us that we all have a part to play in fulfilling God's plan, no matter how small it may seem. So, as we draw near to Christmas and to Christmas day, where we celebrate with family and friends, the coming of Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us, we also look forward to what Christmas means for our everyday.
Herbie Newell:It means that Christ has come to free us from ourselves and free us from our sin in order to live most authentic self in him, being used by him for extraordinary purposes. And so, let Christmas and the Christmas narrative and the Christmas story remind each of us that the Lord has appointed us to play a role, a role in the life of a child, the role in the life of a vulnerable woman, a role in the life of a vulnerable family, and a role in fulfilling the great commission to to every tribe, tongue, and nation. A role even in our faithfulness of the mundane of every day. And so, we wanna look quickly at the characters of the Christmas story and and see 7 specific characters that were in this Christmas story, and the part that they played that shows us the part that we can also play in the everyday mundane messiness of life by being consistent witness and a consistent herald of the glory, the gospel, and the goodness of Christ. First, we see Mary, and Mary portrays faithful obedience.
Herbie Newell:You see Mary trusted god's plan even when it felt impossible or heavy. We see in Luke chapter 1, after Gabriel has come and foretold the coming of Messiah Emmanuel to tell this virgin who was betrothed to a man that she was great and with child. She says, we hear that for nothing will be impossible with God. That's what the angel Gabriel tells Mary, for nothing will be impossible with God. And what is Mary's response?
Herbie Newell:We see faithful obedience. She says in verse 38 of Luke chapter 1, behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. So, Mary trusted God's plan even when it might have seemed impossible or overly heavy. And brothers and sisters, there are times and there will be times in this upcoming new year of 2025 where things will seem heavy, things will seem burdensome to carry. But the Lord is asking us to be faithful in what he has given us, and and there are just times when the mundane overcomes us, the regular, normal rhythm of every day.
Herbie Newell:Taking kids to school, taking kids to activities, picking them up, surviving, cooking dinner, going to work, filling out paperwork. The mundane, the normal, the ordinary reminds us that we can still be faithful. And so, how can we show faithful obedience in our lives and trust that god will use us for his purposes? He's given us all a part to play. Maybe not as life altering as Mary's part to play, but the question is, will we be found with faithful obedience?
Herbie Newell:And then we see the second character, and probably, obviously, when we talk about Mary, the next character is Joseph, and what we see from Joseph is protective leadership. You see, Joseph was betrothed to Mary and he had a lot of different options when he found out that she was pregnant. He could have had her stoned because she had broken the law, the sacred law of the Jewish people. He could have left her to be, left her alone, and let her live in her shame, and and shamed her and and had spite upon her. In a lot of ways, that could have been far worse for Mary to have people look down upon her, but what does Joseph do?
Herbie Newell:Instead, he decides to lead. He decides to take Mary as his own, meaning that he was welcoming the shame that the community was putting upon Mary. He was actually not just heaping it upon her, he was taking it upon himself. And brothers and sisters, so many times, protective leadership means standing in the gap for another, being willing to enter into another's pain, another's hurt, another's shame, coming around them and championing them, loving them, and showing them the gift of God. We see in verse 24 that after Joseph has been told by the angel that Mary, hey, Mary was with son and it was okay, you don't need to divorce her, you don't need to stone her, but know that she is with child and and I'm asking you, the Holy Spirit through the angel says, I'm asking you to love her and lead her.
Herbie Newell:Says in verse 24, Joseph woke up from the sleep and he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and he took his wife. Verse 25, but he knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he, he being Joseph, named him Jesus. You see, those naming rights were so important that the father would name the son and here Joseph took care of and protected Mary by bringing her in as his wife. She would not be a woman in a crisis unexpected pregnancy, but she would be a wife with a husband who was being her protector, who was being her leader, but that's not where Joseph's leadership of protection ended. We see that in a dream, Joseph was told, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there and tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.
Herbie Newell:And then verse 14 of Matthew chapter 2 says that Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there into death of Herod. And this was fulfilled what the lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt, I called my son. You see, beloved, what does Joseph do? He protects Jesus. He adopted Jesus as his own.
Herbie Newell:And by adopting him as his own, he takes care of him. He reorients his life. He moves from Nazareth to Egypt for a short time in order to ultimately protect the life of Jesus, to protect the life of his own king, of his own lord, of his own messiah. And so by following God's guidance, even in tough and difficult and hard circumstances, Joseph brings protective leadership. He takes Mary's shame as his own and guards her heart and her mind and her body and her soul.
Herbie Newell:And then he protects the baby Jesus as the adopted dad of Emmanuel and takes him in to Egypt. Joseph shows us protective leadership. And so how can we lead others faithfully even in ways that might go unnoticed? How do we lead that mom that's walking through a crisis pregnancy and help her not live in shame, but to live in victory because the life within her is sacred. How do we care for vulnerable children?
Herbie Newell:How do we lead vulnerable families? Maybe when no one else is looking, how do we protect? But then we see yet another character and that's the character of the shepherds, and they are messengers of hope. They are the ones that proclaim the hope that they have heard and seen. Isn't it funny that in the Christmas story, it's not a lot of pomp and circumstance that Jesus is born into?
Herbie Newell:Instead, it's a a cave, a dirty cave with nothing but shepherds to witness the miraculous? You see, the shepherds were everyday people with exciting news and they joyfully shared the good news about Christ. We see the scene in Luke chapter 2 starting in verse 17, it says, and when they, the shepherds, saw it, they may known the saying that had been told to them concerning the child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart, and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, and as it had been told to them.
Herbie Newell:And and beloved, I think so many times we miss these verses in Luke chapter 2 of the Christmas story. We look at the angels coming to the shepherds, we look at the miraculous birth, we look at the the manger scene, we look at Mary and Joseph, we see Mary even pondering these things in her heart, but don't miss it. The shepherds didn't just come to see the spectacle. They weren't just viewers. They weren't just coming to look, but they were heralds.
Herbie Newell:They were messengers of hope. It said that they made known, they went to tell others, and then it says that they returned glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and and had heard. They became messengers. They went and told others. They didn't keep the truth to themselves.
Herbie Newell:They didn't just hide it in their heart. It wasn't just something that they checked off and said, we saw it, we experienced it, we did it, but they went and they told others. They told others of the hope that was theirs in the manger in Bethlehem. And so the question for us today is, how can we share the hope of Christ in our daily lives? Regardless of our status, regardless of who we are, how do we share this hope with our neighbors?
Herbie Newell:How do we share this hope with those in our sphere of influence? Does it matter if we're working in a warehouse or an assembly line? Does it matter if we're working in places of prestige, in government positions, or in the the c suites of of large corporations, or in the middle of middle management. It doesn't matter who we are. We've been called to be a messenger, and we've been given a hope.
Herbie Newell:We've been given a message. We've been given a salvation. And at Christmas, don't let us just ponder in our heart, but let us share it. Let us tell it. Let us reflect it.
Herbie Newell:But then we see the 4th of these characters, these 7 characters, and that's the angels. And the angels truly were proclaimers of god's glory. They were the heralds. The angels announced Christ's birth joyfully, making sure to focus on god's glory and peace. And we also see them come in Luke chapter 2, but, you know, the great thing that I I have been told and taught, and I love this from scripture, is that angels were not what we think of from a Charming commercial.
Herbie Newell:You know, just little beings that have wings and are sweet looking and have a smile on their face and and kinda giggle. Right? Angels were warriors of light. If you look throughout God's word, whenever an angel, a messenger comes, people shriek in fear. They're scared.
Herbie Newell:They're frightened. Just as if on your day, a knock came to the door and someone in fatigues, a military official with an oozy was outside of your door, you wouldn't just smile and go, well, how can I help you? You would be alarmed, why are you at my door? What are you here for? In the same way, the shepherds were abiding in their flocks by night, they were keeping them.
Herbie Newell:And then it says, the angel of the Lord appeared to them and it says, the glory of the Lord shown around them, verse 9, and what? They were filled with fear. Again, if these were little Cupids or little small angels with with smiley faces on, they wouldn't have been fearful. No. It says that they were filled with great fear.
Herbie Newell:So much so that what does the angel have to say, the warrior of light have to say? He says, fear not, for behold, I bring you what good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you this day in the city of David is born a savior who is Christ the lord. And this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And then you see surrounding this warrior of light, the heavenly host.
Herbie Newell:An army. The army comes up and says there was suddenly with the angel, a multitude of heavenly host against this is the artillery. This is the army of god praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth, peace among whom he is well pleased. You see, beloved, the angels come to announce Christ's birth joyfully. They were the heralds.
Herbie Newell:And we may not be a warrior of light. We may not be a heavenly host, but we have been given the same message, to be a herald of the good news of Christ Jesus. We've been given a commission to go therefore into all nations, baptizing in the name of the father, the son, of the holy spirit, teaching them to do all that I have commanded with you and knowing that Christ is with us no matter where we go. Oh beloved, we are to be heralds, proclaimers of God's glory. And the question is, how do how do we honor God in everything we do?
Herbie Newell:How do we direct others to see his greatness and to see his glory? Are we not just a messenger of hope but also a proclaimer of God's glory? Do we speak god's truth to those that are hurting? Are we unashamed and unabashedly willing to speak with boldness and conviction to the glory, to the love, and to the gospel of god? Are we willing in a post Christian culture to speak the truth of God, to speak it with biblical accuracy?
Herbie Newell:Let us be proclaimers of God's glory. But 5th, we see the 5th character, and that's the one that I think gets a bad rap, and it's the innkeeper. Yeah. There was no room in the end because there was a census time. And Joseph, because he was of the the lineage of king David, had to go to Bethlehem, David's city, and and it was a small place.
Herbie Newell:We remember Micah says, oh, Bethlehem Aviv for the how small are you? This is a small place and yet they've been flooded for the census. And so the innkeepers get a bad rap, but we see this one innkeeper, which it says, gave them a manger, gave them a stable, which would have been a a cave in the mountain. It says in verse 7 that Mary gave birth to her first born son, She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the end. Brothers and sisters, this would be very much akin to pitching up a tent in someone's parking lot.
Herbie Newell:Right? At Lifeline here, our our our home office, our headquarters in Birmingham, if I came up here one day and there were tents pitched in our parking lot, I hope I would show hospitality, but my first reaction would probably be to go to each of those tents and say, exactly what do you think you're doing and why are you here? Right? So to be in the parking lot, to be in the stable, to be in a manger meant that there was an innkeeper who showed simple hospitality. And even though this one innkeeper is not named, he offered a simple place for Christ to be born.
Herbie Newell:He was willing to give up his manger, to give up his stable for the king of king and the lord of lords, and and a good chance is he didn't even know that there was a king that was about to be born. If he knew that there was a king in Mary's womb, the king of kings and lord of lords, the wonderful counselor, the mighty god, the prince of peace, the everlasting father, if he had have known that's who was in Mary's womb, Oh, I'm sure there would have been room in the inn. But even though he didn't know, he showed simple hospitality. And, beloved, how can we show small acts of kindness and hospitality that ultimately will make a big difference in god's kingdom? Over and over, we hear so many testimonies of children and families and vulnerable women whose lives were reoriented by just a small amount of hospitality, a simple amount of hospitality, a meal, a friendship, a partnership, someone who took the time to pray over them or for them.
Herbie Newell:Let us show simple hospitality to the orphan, to the vulnerable woman, and the vulnerable family. But that brings in the 6th character that we see and that is the wise men, and they were generous worshipers. We see in Matthew chapter 2 that there were these kings after Jesus was born. And it was in days of Herod. There were there were kings, wise men from the east who came to Jerusalem, and they were looking for the one that had been born king of the Jews because they had seen the star.
Herbie Newell:And what did they do? They came to worship him. But not just worship him with song or melody, they came to worship him with gifts. And it says that they knew that he was in Bethlehem of Judea because of the prophets, so these were worshipers who had had read the scriptures. They knew what they were talking about.
Herbie Newell:Herod says, hey, I wanna do this too, but they were visited in the night and told not to go back to Herod. So they made their way on to where the star was, and verse 9 of Matthew chapter 2 says, behold, the star that they had seen when it arose went before them and until it came to rest of the place where the child was. And as we know, this is probably a 2 year old Jesus. They had moved into a a more suitable place in Bethlehem. It said when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Herbie Newell:And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and they worshiped him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. And then because they were in tune with the father, in tune with the spirit, they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and instead, they went home another way. You see, the wise men had traveled a long way to worship Jesus. They never stopped on their journey. They never gave up on their journey, but they went a long, long way.
Herbie Newell:But they also brought gifts that showed his greatness. Gold for the owner, the creator of heaven, the king of kings, the lord of lords, frankincense, very costly, expensive oil that would have been anointing a new king, anointing the lord of lords, but then also myrrh. As if to foretell that this king of kings, this lord of lords, this baby king would one day be a propitiation for the sin of all men. You see, the wise men traveled to worship Jesus, but they did it as generous worshipers, bringing all that they had for the newborn king. And it asks us, how can we worship God through being generous and offering what we have for his glory?
Herbie Newell:And not just our leftovers, even as we come to the end of the year, it's not about just giving what makes sense tax wise. Wow. What what if even the new administration completely rips apart our tax code and you don't get tax deductions for generous giving? The question is, will we be generous because we've been called by God, or are we generous only because of a tax burden? I I pray that we would be worshippers who are generous and offer everything we have, our first fruits, to the glory of god.
Herbie Newell:But that brings us to the 7th, and, again, another insignificant character in the story, and that is what we see when Jesus is taken to the temple. He's taken to the temple and we see 2 people, Anna and Simeon, those who were expectant worshipers. You see, in Luke chapter 2 verse 22, we see that the time came for the purification according to the law of Moses, and they, being Mary and Joseph, brought him up to Jerusalem to present him, Jesus, to the lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what it said in the law of the lord, a pair of turtle doves and 2 young pigeons. And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the holy spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the holy spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the lord Christ.
Herbie Newell:And so it says he came in spirit into the temple, when the parents brought the child that Jesus had due to him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and he blessed god. And then it said after Simeon had blessed them, he told his mother Mary, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce through his own soul also so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. And then it says there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phinuel of the tribe of Asheron. She was advancing years having lived with her husband 7 years from when she was a virgin. And then as a widow until she was 84, she did not depart from the temple worshiping and fasting and prayer night and day, and coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to god and to speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of Israel.
Herbie Newell:You see here, these 2 elderly folks who had been expectant, waiting for the coming messiah. They were profiting. They were speaking. They were foretelling the truth that there would be a child, a savior king, a warrior from heaven, one who would give his very life for the salvation of many. And not only were they propheters, I believe that day at the temple, they became evangelists.
Herbie Newell:Like the shepherds, they were messengers. Like the shepherds, they were speaking truth. Like others that we've seen in the story, they were expectant. They were waiting, and they were fulfilled by seeing the king of kings and the lord of lords. In the application, the question is, are we expectant?
Herbie Newell:Are we expectant that god's gospel will make a difference in lives of vulnerable children and orphans, the lives of of women going through crisis or unplanned pregnancies? Do we believe that god will restore families? Do we believe that god will do what he says he will do? Beloved, god used many different people with various roles and backgrounds to carry out his plan through Christ's birth. No role was too small, but each was important in god's design.
Herbie Newell:So as we approach Christmas, my question is what special role has god given you in his mission? How can you answer his call even if it seems small? And as we look to a new year and the reality of Christmas, how will you show the gospel of god to vulnerable children, vulnerable women, and vulnerable families? Succinctly said, how will you defend the fatherless? Thanks for joining the Defender Podcast.
Herbie Newell:Today, we are praying that the lord would provide and generous raise for Lifeline's ministry as well as other ministries they're seeking to serve him as we approach the end of the year. Father god, we thank you so much for your goodness and your mercy and your grace to us. We're thankful that you are the owner of a cattle on a 1000 hills and that you provide through your people. So, lord, I pray that you would stir up a spirit of generosity in people to give to Lifeline, to help us finish strong, but also to give to our churches that minister the gospel, that bring people together to equip the saints for good work. I pray for other Christian ministries that are making your gospel known and proclaiming and heralding your favor.
Herbie Newell:Would you provide for them in astounding ways as they end strongly 2024? Lord, we know that it will be through the faithfulness of your people that supply the needs of Lifeline, of our churches, and our ministries, but ultimately know we know that you are the one that give the seed to the sower. And so we thank you and we praise you, the one from whom all blessings flow. It's in your great name that we pray, the name of Jesus. Amen.
Herbie Newell: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. 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 at lifelinechild.org.
Herbie Newell:We look forward to seeing you again next week for
Herbie Newell:the defender bible study.