“You mean this story is about me?”
The final line of a dramatic portrayal of Matthew 18:21–35 at opening night of Alliance Council 2017 quickly personalized the evening’s theme of forgiveness for the more than 3,000 participants. U.S. C&MA President John Stumbo drew three lessons from the passage, beginning with a call to “celebrate the extravagance of the King.”
Writing “paid in full” on our accounts is a “jaw-dropping offer,” Stumbo said. “That’s who our King is and that’s who He’s always been.”
To illustrate his second point: “obey the exhortation of our King,” John welcomed to the stage Saul Ebema, senior pastor of Lombard (Ill.) Bible Church. Saul gave his testimony of forgiving as he has been forgiven.
When Saul was 12 years old, the militia in South Sudan murdered his parents and burned down his family’s hut. He and his brother fled to a refugee camp in Uganda where they were kidnapped as child soldiers. After six years, the boys tried to escape, and Saul’s brother was shot dead.
In God’s providence, Saul made his way to Kampala, Uganda, then Johannesburg, South Africa, and finally to Lombard, Illinois, where the Lord led him to forgive the religious group that had taken so much from him.
“That spirit of unforgiveness was holding me back,” Saul said. “The moment I let go, I stopped having nightmares, and God started using me in ways He never had before.”
John’s third and final point was to “welcome encounters of our King”—those head-snap moments of wondering, What just happened? “For those who know who [our King] is, we welcome these encounters,” John said. “His mercy interrupts the trajectory we were on.”
Attendees then took communion in remembrance of the forgiveness Jesus provides. “I long for the family to walk lighter this week because we lay down some things at the cross tonight,” John said. “The gospel is nothing if it is not internalized, penetrating into every crevice of our souls with life and light.”
The Day in Pictures
Seen and Heard
“I had to create characters that were bald, naked, and limbless, that could somehow be sold in Christian bookstores.”
Phil Vischer, founder of Veggie Tales and Jellyfish Labs, on the limitations of computer animation in the Veggie Tales era
“The impact God has planned for you does not occur when you are pursuing impact; it occurs when you are pursuing God.”
Phil Vischer
Extras
Following are some additional items to remind you of today’s session.