A Turning Place – Michael Galles 12/8/13

Cabo Church in Mexico is a Bible based Church. Click the logo to visit their website.

We had the honor to visit Cabo Church while we were on vacation in Cabo San Lucas.  We found this church last year when we were in Mexico – the trip when Mark proposed!  We were impressed by Pastor Michael Galles – clearly Spirit led and Bible based.  So we were excited to return again this year.

The Sunday we were there Pastor Michael Galles preached the sermon “A Turning Place.”   The root verse for this sermon is Jonah 3:10:

Pastor Galles dug into the portion of Jonah’s story after he was released from the belly of a fish.  God had given him an assignment – one he didn’t like.  Jonah didn’t want to go and warn the people of Nineveh, for they were wicked.  Jonah wanted to see them receive what was fair – punishment!  So when God told him to go into Nineveh and warn the people, he didn’t want to do it.  Jonah didn’t want to see these people have a chance to turn from their wicked ways.

And this is where Pastor Michael Galles of Cabo Church digs in.  He preached on Jonah’s turning point.  Jonah had rebelled and in doing so ended up in the belly of a giant fish for three days.  During that time, he finally broke and agreed to do what God had called him to do.  This was Jonah’s turning point.

When Jonah went to Nineveh and delivered God’s message, the people believed God.  They acted in repentance.  The King of Nineveh heard Jonah’s message, and also believed.  As a city, they repented.  And as Jonah 3:10 shows us:  “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”  The act of repentance and turning from their wicked ways was Nineveh’s turning point.

There are three key points we learn in Pastor Michael’s sermon:

1.  God gives second chances.

If God tells you something, He’s going to bring it to pass!  Jonah tried to run from God’s leading, and that didn’t work out so well for him.  When God gives us a direction or a mission, we are to follow it.  We can try to run from it, but God’s will prevails!

2. God gives us a second stance.

God doesn’t wait to use people who are perfect.  He sends sinners after a sinner.  God’s message is delivered strongest from people who have been there and understand.  To quote Pastor Michael, “Your greatest failure can be your greatest ministry.”  There is power when you can say to a person or group of people, “I understand you because I’ve been you!”

3.  God gives us a second thought.

When a person repents, God will often relent.  Pastor Michael did a great job of giving us the difference between being sorry and true repentance.  God isn’t going to give us a second thought if all we have to offer is an “I’m sorry.”  True repentance is not only being sorry, but being dedicated to turn from your ways and follow God’s ways.

Our Takeaways:

We love what Pastor Michael Galles had to say about turning a failure into ministry.  After all, that is what led us into the ministry we have!  We failed miserably in our relationship when we tried to live as the World says we should.  When we were separated and Jesus called us both individually into complete surrender, we responded!  That was when God brought us back together.  We focused on having a relationship the way that Christ leads us to, and in that we have become husband and wife.

That isn’t to say that we don’t have struggles – we do.  But with Christ as our focus, our struggles are manageable.  Because we have Christ at the center, divorce will never be an option between us.  Because we have Christ at the center, even our toughest times can come with joyous moments, because we realize that God is in the center of everything – even struggles!

So this is what we bring into our ministry – both as a couple and as individuals, we know what life looks like when we try to live by the World’s standards.  We’ve chased money, sex, material items, self-sufficiency – you name it.  We turned it all around, and now chase the things of God’s leading – love, discipleship, reconciliation, Christ-dependency – all for the Kingdom of God!

Both of us can tell you our own personal Turning Points – and both of us can tell you our Turning Point as a couple.  And what made all the difference?  JESUS.

We both loved listening to Pastor Michael Galles from Cabo Church.  If you’re in Cabo San Lucas Mexico, make it a point to go to this church while you’re there!