Welcome to the God's Goodness podcast, where our mission is to encourage as well as highlight
God's goodness and modern-day miracles. We are your hosts, Josh and Shelly Hankins.
Today we have with us a very special guest from church. His name is Jeff Nucles. He has
an amazing story and where the Lord has brought him from and where he is now. Everyone needs
to hear about the details because they're just amazing. So we're going to have him start us
off with a little bit of prayer first. Alright, thank you. Lord, we just thank you and praise
you for who you are. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And Lord, I just thank you for Shelly
and Josh, Father God for this podcast where we can share what you've done in our lives and through
our lives. God, that we could reach out to those that might be saying right now, is there a God?
And can you help me, God? We're here to let you know that God is here for you. So we thank you,
and praise you Jesus for dying on a cross, for the remission of our sins. And we thank you,
Lord, that we are able to be extensions, Father God, of the goodness that you have. We thank you
for your grace and mercy and that your mercies that are new every morning. So I thank you, God,
for what you're about to do innocent through us. We give you the praise, the glory, and the honor,
and Jesus' name. We pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that. So I'm asking all my guests to share
like what the Holy Spirit has led them to. So I'll let you take it from here.
All right. Well, we just, first of all, I said I do thank God that I'm here. I thank God for both
of you that you're having this broadcast because there are so many lost and hurting people. I
thank God for my wife that's next to me here who's always been by my side. We've been married for
almost 30 years now. And we thank God for that. And it was funny, Josh was talking about, what was
that word you guys use when you guys have a little bit of a argument of thing or something going on?
I says, well, we have a little intense fellowships, you know, but we thank God, you know, for what
he's taken us from and where we're at right now. And I thank God for what he's done in my life.
When I was growing up, the only time I saw or went to church was on Easter, you know, we went to a
dawn nomination that basically my dad just says, we'll go on Easter and we're good to go basically.
And I was up to, I was about eight or nine years old. And then there was really nothing
of God after that. And I'm going to speed it up a little bit to a point where my father passed
away. I was 28 years old. My dad was only 50 years old. He had a heart attack and he passed away.
And so I was basically the head of the house at the time. And it was just my mom and there was no
insurance and anything like that. So I lived with her to help take care of the means at a house, so
to speak. And I remember I was working a job and I was just by myself on this job up in
Swickley. And I was going through a lot of things and I just happened to remember someone saying one
time about, you know, you just need to cast your cares upon God, which is actually the scripture
1 Peter 5-7. So I'm alone in this house. And I just said, basically what my mom said in the
podcast, you God, if you're real, you know, I need your help right now. I'm casting all my cares on
you. I'm going through things in life and, you know, I'm really struggling. And here this was
back in when they had the beeper days. I wasn't cell phones. It was a beeper. And just when I
just got done praying up, my beeper goes off and there's a number on there. And I believe the
number was 412-835-4040. And so I called the number and here, hello, she said, is this Jack? And I
said, no, my name's Jeff. And I says, well, who is this? She says, well, this is Barb Cicero from
Hill Christian School, South Hills Assembly of God. I had no ties to the church. I wasn't going to
any church or anything like that. And the number comes across my beeper at a time when I just said,
God, if you're real, I need, you know, help. So not knowing that that's a confirmation from God,
but I thought, maybe I'm going to show up this Sunday at South Hills Assembly. So to speed up a
little bit more, I go and I'm just blessed by what's going on there. And I have to be sitting next to
a fellow and he liked the golf and we started golfing and as guys talk, he said to me, he says,
are there any women at church that, you know, kind of catch your eye, you know, guy talk? And I said,
there's this one lady, she's all the way up in the front and I understand there's over 500 people
in the church. I'm all the way in the back with this gentleman. And I just said, there's this one
lady up front, her hands are always up there praising the Lord, her hands are up there. I said,
I don't know what it is, but I'm just like attracted to her hands because I never really
seen her, you know, but that's the anointing of God. The Bible says our steps are order of the
Lord and God strategically placed this man in my pathway to, you know, and so anyhow,
he goes, I drive her home on the van every Sunday. So long story short, we started dating. We dated
11 months and let me say this, there was no foreign to Kate and before we got married and we got
married and God just did some amazing things. I mean, on our honeymoon, we went on a cruise and
we're on a cruise. This is a 1994 and we get on a cruise and of course we, you know, we turn on a
TV and they're chasing OJ and the Bronco. But anyhow, we get on a cruise and we just got the
regular flight. They gave us first class out of blue. We get on and we're supposed to be on a
cruise ship. We're supposed to be have a little porthole on the second thing. Basically, all she
sees is water and waves. But here they upgrade us all the way to the top floor of state room.
And this was all God. It was all extra, you know, and God, because we, he honored that we wouldn't
fornicate and that before marriage and those types of things. I just thank God for that. And the job
I've now, I've had for over 30 years, you know, you open the door up. And if you look at my Bible,
1995, I need a new job. And here God opened the door the next day for a new job. So if you just
walk in obedience to God, and this isn't to say that I haven't fallen, you know, all of sin and
fallen short of the glory of God. But I thank God for a scripture says, and John one night says,
if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to cleanse this from all unrighteousness. So I'm
here to let anybody know that if you're going through a struggle and you feel that God isn't
there, he's there. He said, I'll stick to you closer than a brother, you know, I'll never leave
you no forsake you. And I thank God for holding on to those scriptures, because I know that he's
there no matter what I've done. No matter how many times I've fallen, the thing is to get back up and
know that God is there for you. You know, and I thank God for my, my lovely wife. I said, we've
almost been married over 30 years. And God has just done some great, great things, you know.
But I work construction in 2013. I had some pains. I woke up with some pains and I
told the wife, I said, I'm not going to make church today, but I'm going to drive you to church.
So I drove her and to church and I dropped her off. My son had already come to church another way.
This was down in Hazelwood. And I said, I'm going to go home. I don't feel good. Well, on the way home,
there was a ride aid. And I thought, you know what, I'm really haven't gone to the restroom. I'll say
restroom or bathroom for like four days. And I thought, I'll take this, you know, get something
to help me. And so I go home. That's a Sunday. Right after I dropped off, I try to go bathroom
and nothing but blood come out. So, and it was red blood. I was bleeding. And so I called my son
to get hold of my wife at church and I says, Hey, tell mom, I'm driving myself to the hospital.
So I drove to the hospital and long story short, I had diverticulitis and it had perforated.
And I had gone septic. And my time, my wife and pastor and everybody got there. They basically said
that I had an hour to live. And I was jaundice and they had to do emergency surgery. I was on a table
for seven hours. I had to take all my organs out. I ended up having to wear a colostomy bag
for seven months. It was difficult. I've never been that way. I was always a healthy person.
And here I was so frail and, you know, I worked out all the time and I'm skinny and frail and all
those types of things. And but God, you know, it was able to be reversed, you know, it's just
like anything in life, you know, there might be some dirt and things going on your life. And you
just feel dirty. But no, this God can clean you up. It was something when I wore that colostomy bag,
I thought of, you know, all the junk that's in my body, but it comes out. Some people hold onto
that bag of dirt or whatever. But realize that God has already cleansed you. He's made you whole.
When you get saved, you're saved, you know. And the thing is just go through sanctification and
know that God's still working on you. But every time I would fill that bag up, you know, and I get
rid of it. And then but I knew I was funny. I kind of done. He told me I had to wear at least six,
seven months, you know, I kind of how many times I'd have to change that bag, you know. And when
it kept going down, I kept realizing that I'm going to be really clean, you know, everything that
has been hanging on the outside. And I'll never forget, I was working one time and we were putting
in racking and one of the decks caught the bag and ripped it off my body. And my buddies just
like were like, saw me take off. And I said, and I come back a half hour later and I explained to
what happened, you know, but that's how sin is. It causes a stench. It causes a smell and things.
But know that God has cleaned you up and whatever you're going through, God is there to clean you
up. And finally, when I knew it was the last time that bag was going to hang on my body and like the
weight that's on your body and all the same, give it over to Jesus, you know, he does care for you,
the weight of the world, the things that I think God has already taken care of that. So when it was
the last one and they could do the operation and do what they called the reversal, just like God
does in anybody's life that's been in all types of sin and caught up in all kinds of mess, God,
by his Son through Jesus through the blood that he shed on the cross, is a reversal in your life.
Today's the day where you can reverse things through the blood of Jesus Christ. So what they
did, they reversed it and they sewed me back up and I was starting to feel great and all those
types of things. And then forward to 2018, I fell 12 feet off of a ladder. Actually, I was pulled off
a ladder and they had to rush me to trauma. My body, I was working with thought I died because
he said, you weren't breathing, you turn blue, then all of a sudden you gasped. Well, it turned out
that I had broken my back. I fractured all the transverse process in my spine. I had broken four
ribs and from the fall, my intestines started to come through my belly button. I had a previous
hernia that now turned into a grapefruit. So I had a broken back. I had four broken ribs. I had to
get double hernery surgery. So what they had to do is they split my stomach back open again. I said,
you know, I'll just put a zipper there because you guys are just, you know, keep going. You take
my organs out, you put them back in. Now, you know, you're doing it again. So they had to put what
they call a pore sign in my stomach, which is like pigskin because I had ruptured all the
intestinal wall and all that type of thing. And then they had to put mesh all in my groin. So now
here's a fellow here who is ready to give God all the glory for what he's done in my life. I went
from diverticulitis, closomy bag. I had four broken ribs. I had broken my back. I had broken all the
transverse process. I have arthritis in my L1 to L5. I have a dispertusion in my neck. I had
double hernia surgery. Yet God laid on my heart to go back into the sport of long drive. Now,
for you golfers out there, you know what that is. It's on ESPN and that. I hadn't done that in over
10 years because of all the affliction I had. And my only goal was that if God was going to use me,
I would be able to have the platform where I could share what God did for me. And so I went
it back into the sport three years ago and took a glory of God with all those things. He healed my
body. See, where workers caught wanted me to take a settlement, go on disability and all those
types of things. A lot of kids, anybody that had to go on disability, understand that. But God laid
them a heart to go back to work, not sue my company or the other company where I fell because I had
a right that I could have done that and I didn't do that. I chose to just trust God. So I went back
into this sport and I remember the first year my wife said, because it costs money, you got to enter
these events. And my wife said, if he doesn't win or get any money, she basically said to me, you need
to hang it up. Well, she wasn't able to come. We traveled to South Carolina. She wasn't able to
come because she was sick and I come back and I actually finished second and I want some money.
And she says, well, that was God. So for the last two years to make a long story short, and let me
reiterate, this is a broken back. This is diverticulitis. This is a claustomy bag. This is septicism.
This is four broken ribs. This is broken back, double hernia surgery and other issues. And but to
the glory of God, I am now a two time world champion. I'm a three time runner up. I just won two weeks
ago and I actually won by over 40 yards. And I give God all the glory. And of course, as soon as
they put the mic, they want to talk about the grid and the wind and all those types of things. I
said, look, I said, let me tell you something. I said, first of all, I says, I want to give Jesus
Christ, my Lord and Savior, all the glory. And I said, I want to thank my sponsor,
DeMarco Restorations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I said, thank you, Dominic. And then I said,
I just want to thank the other workers and I just kept on. And I shared what God did in my life.
And I'm telling you out there right now, if you are going through and you need a healing, trust
God because he is Jehovah Jire. He's our provider. He's Jehovah Nisi. He's a healer. It says,
by your stripes, we are made whole. And so I just encourage anybody out there, know that God
is in your life. And no matter what you're going through, no matter what affliction is, if you
turn it over to God, he might not make you a world champion. That was my goal to get to the
platform that I could share the gospel. Thousands of people got to hear me say, I want to thank my
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Where I go from now, I don't know, but I know one thing. I am not
afraid to share the gospel with Jesus Christ. And I thank God for you two here that allow me to
share this just part of my testimony of what God's done. I thank God for Sattel's assembly of God,
like my wife said. I thank God for my wife who's been in every one of these events. She was filming
me at this one. I could hear out there all the fans you could ever hear. I could always hear my
wife's voice. All you men out there go, amen. I could hear my wife's voice.
No doubt. I've heard her too. I have no doubt.
Amen. So, I just do once again thank God for both of you. Allow me to share. There's so many other
testimonies, but I just want to just say that if you need healing, God's there. If you need salvation,
God's there. Just ask God to comment here. Like I said, God, I ask for forgiveness of my sins.
Change of things in me that I can't change. And he will. He will come because he is a friend,
a six cruiser, and a brother. Yeah, you know, when you were talking about your
analogy with the Colostomy Bag of cleaning out all the garbage that's in you and you were counting
down the days of all the junk that was in you and all you had to do is change that bag and you were
counting down the days that you didn't have it anymore. It reminds me that a lot of people run
back to the Colostomy Bag because it's familiar. Yes. It's a safe place for them. And so, you get
these people that are in addiction, you get these people that are in ruts, these people that are in
dire straits that cry for freedom. And at the minute they have it, they feel free, they feel happy,
they feel loved. And the moment adversity hits, instead of running to God who gave them that
freedom, they run right back to the safety of the Colostomy Bag, to the safety of the cage,
to the safety of the drugs, to the safety of whatever it is that they're afflicted with.
And they forget because they're not mature in the faith yet. And I think a lot of people have that
struggle. And I'm so glad that you referenced it as, you know, just dumping that out.
And so I would encourage the listeners that don't hold on to your Colostomy Bag.
Oh, wow. It is something you don't want to hold on to. Don't hold on to that cage.
No matter how comfortable it is, no matter how good you had the bedding in that cage,
no matter how familiar the walls are, that's not the place where we're supposed to be. That Jesus
died for more than just us to stay in the cage with the door unlocked. That there's a whole world
he wants us to go out to explore. He wants us to go to his kingdom. He wants us to be right where he
is. He wants to adopt us as his sons and daughters. He wants us to go forth and tell other people
that are in their cages about who he is and who his goodness is. And I just love that. I love that
a lot of people, they even know the gospel, right? They think they do it. Jesus loves you. Yes,
he does, but that's not the gospel, right? The gospel is, as you are a rebel against the most
high God and you deserve death. Yes. But God in his love, infinite wisdom, his manifold wisdom,
has decided that he is going to choose love for you and send his only begotten son to die for
you, that you do not have to suffer that fate, that he has died for you, that you may take on his
mantle of righteousness. That is the very essence of the beginning of the gospel. And then Jesus
loves you. And then Jesus will do that, right? It's not just about what Jesus will do for you.
It's about what Jesus has already done for you. That's right. That's right. That's right. He said,
it's finished on a cross. He said, it's finished. And we have to have to believe that the finished
work in you has already happened. It's just the process of God using you and you allowing God to
continuously cleanse you from the inside out. I take the mental image of a car that you see
on the side of the road with the weeds growing through the engine. It's like three different
colors rusted, ragging a gas cap, no windows, a beehive in the glove box, you know, and God sees
that and he pulls it aside into his garage and he doesn't look at it as the work that it's going to
take to restore it. He already sees it in his mind as the restored work. Like, you know, when you
have a vision or a goal, you see the end of it, you see what you're looking for so you can, you
know what to aim for. And so he sees this whatever fancy guy 1963 Shelby, you know, he sees this car
with this V8 engine in it and he sees it polished chrome. He doesn't see any oil drips,
he doesn't see any crud, he doesn't see any rust. He sees it fully restored in better shape than when
they first created it. Right. And our problem is, is we have a hard time seeing it from his
perspective. And so I'm thinking, Lord, how are you going to get in that glove box? Then bees are
going to get you. Right. You know, and how are you going to work on this frame? This frame is bent.
You need a new frame. You can't just work with this frame. You can't just make this and we're
trying to limit God based off of our understanding. I was like, Oh, are you kidding me? I made this
frame. Right. It's nothing for me to fix it. It's nothing for me to buff that hood. You just have to
let me. And when I die, I'm not going to be that fully restored car. The moment of my death,
I'm not that restored car that God sees. But the moment right after I am, right, that moment right
after that, I am fully restored because now I have no longer have the burden of this flesh.
But until then he is faithful to finish what he has started. That doesn't mean in this exact
lifetime, but I will be a complete car. I will be that complete. You know, that'll be that wonderful
vehicle. And we need not to get hung up on the process that if I find out that I have cancer
tomorrow and I have like two days to live, I can't be hung up on the fact that I'm not a solid color.
I can't be hung up that I have no windows or that are spring coming through the sea. I can't be hung
up on that because I know that I am in God's garage. Right. I know that I am His and that I
am destined to be more than what I am. And it's okay. Those two days are going to be great because
I know where I'm going. I know who I have now. Exactly. Exactly. Like you were talking about
the car, a lot of people when they see a car that's restored and they love it and they look at it,
it says, wow, that's awesome. And sometimes people are newly saved. They see like pastors or
whatever and they think, wow, you know, look at how like God has blessed them and he's a pastor
and all those things. And that you're like, wow, I don't know if I'll ever get there. But you don't
know the process it took for that car to be restored. You don't know the process of what it took
for a pastor to go from a layman to a pastor. You know, you're always looking at, it's like
everybody wants this microwave Christianity. I'm saved. I'm free. I'm delivered. All those types
of things. But you don't realize what, you know, what's better, a microwaved roast beef or one that's
been simmering in a stove and you could smell the Lipton Onion Soup and all that. You open up the
door of your somebody's house. It's like, I can remember my mom. She used to put Lipton Onion
Soup in a roast beef with water and then she put it in the oven and it would just marinate and it
would just cook all day for hours and hours. And when you opened the door, it permeated the whole
house. That's like the anointing of God. When you go through the process, you know, and it takes time,
but it's worth it. And then everybody will say, look at you. You might, you know,
like somebody said to Peter one time, it says, it's just a shadow was able to heal people.
Yeah. When people know, they don't know the process that you went through, but know this,
Christianity is not a microwave thing. And I would love to just have someone say, I don't know what
you went through, but I just love the smile that you have. I could just tell that you're different.
How are you different? Well, let me tell you why. Because my, remember my mom with the pot roast
thing. And I says, when I love that smell, I says, all you're seeing is the love of Jesus.
And I went through the process of many things. And I just know that God's delivered me. God set me
free. And if he can do it for me, as I per take of any persons, he can do it for you. Amen. Amen.
And made my mouth water on that. Yeah. I know. I was just thinking about my, unfortunately, my, yeah.
Yeah. Unfortunately, my mom passed away at the age of 57. I'm starting that. Yeah. My dad was 50.
My mom was 57. I'll be 62 in April. So I've lived them all through the grace of God, you know,
in the mercies of God. And it's something. Yeah. I brought that up with her pot roast was just
something else, you know, but I just, like I said, in life, it's not an overnight thing. Yes,
you can be delivered over. And God could say, you know, touch you with the cigarettes or the alcohol
or, or the pornography or all those other things. God can do it. But no, don't give up. Don't give
up. A righteous man falls many times, but he gets back up. And that's what God works with. Those
that can get back up. Absolutely. Thank you for that. I appreciate you. I appreciate you. I think
they, you should have been interviewed today. I just have my little anecdotes, things that
remind me of it. My girlfriend. I thank God for both you and allow on me to share just a little
bit of what God's done. I hope out there that you're encouraged by this. And like I said,
I didn't grow up in a church or anything. I really didn't get saved. I was 30 years old.
Somebody stuck a gospel track in my toolbox. And when I was working on a city county building,
the room is locked and we all go to lunch because we have all our tools and everything.
And we come back from lunch and there was a gospel track in my toolbox. None of the people I worked
with were saved. I looked at it and understand it on the back. I had a sinner's prayer and I just
read the little thing in there and I didn't really understand it. And I'll forget two weeks later,
I go out to a job out in Swickley. I go to a pay phone. That's back when I had pay phones.
And I go to the pay phone. There's the exact same gospel track at this pay phone. And at this time,
I took it, I read it and I did the sinner's prayer. And I could go on to where he went
for me from there. But I know we're going to shorten this broadcast. That'll be part two,
Diner Road. So praise God. Amen. Thank you. I praise God for him. From a gospel track to a world
champion. Yeah. Oh, and a lot of obstacles in the way with health. You know, your parents died
very young, relatively speaking, in my opinion, that's in the 50s, very young. And how old were
you when you had the sepsis from the diverty? I was 51. So by all rights, you should have been
dead in your 50s as well. And by all rights, I should be dead at two years old. I was hit by a
dump truck on my tricycle at two years old. Oh my goodness. And fortunately, it was tall enough
the dump truck that it went over me when it knocked me off the bike. God has been with you
from so like since the womb. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. He said he formed us. You know, he knew
his son when I was in my mother's womb. Praise God. I love that. Amen. Me too. I got some, God is
just, and everybody understands everybody has a story. Yes. Everybody has a testimony. Yeah. We
have unlimited content at our church. I was just needing to book everybody. Yeah. Technically,
we have like eight billion people we could interview. So I don't think we'll ever run out.
I'm not limiting it to the church people, but the relationships, I get to know them. I said,
oh, you have to share that. And people need to hear that. And God's just lining everything up.
We don't have our own studio yet. So I kept booking every, all the scheduling, all the recordings.
And I knew that God would work out the howl. Because sometimes we can't always go to people's
houses. And you know, nobody can come to our house because we have noisy dogs. So I kept scheduling
everything as if I had a place. And now we got permission from two separate churches that are
letting us, you know, use spaces there. And it's just such a blessing that it's just cool to see
God show up, you know, just you got to be faithful and take those steps. I think you're just waiting
to listen to a podcast to make sure we weren't speaking nonsense before they would say, yeah,
they can use our space. You know, playing it safe, if you're going to attach our name, our
building, and you're going to interview people here that you're not going to make sacrificing
chickens, right? And that's like, we might make food and use chickens, but no, no sacrificing.
Jesus is all the sacrifice we need. I've been to many churches. I even, I then even talk about,
I, my wife and I passed her to church at one time and we did, we did prison ministry for over 20
years. I said, there's so much to our story. I didn't want to, I just want to give you a little
nugget, you know, you have to come back. Like a drug dealer, the first taste is free. I got it.
See, we learned in construction. Exactly, right. But taste and see, it is good. Yes. And it's such
an adventure with God because you don't know what's going to come ahead, but you know it's going to
be good. And now he works all the details together and intertwines people's lives. Yes. You know,
knowing the same people and getting connected. Right. I can't wait to hear more. Yeah.
Thank God. I thank God for my wife. I just, she was sharing about Pastor Rick. You know, it was
funny. I just shared this quick thing when we were dating. She wasn't in a great neighborhood at the
time we were dating and I went to visit her and they come out and they threw snowballs at us and
stuff like that. And one night I come out and they stole my truck. They stole my tools and
I couldn't even go home. You know, a lot of times when I left her apartment, I was afraid because I
had to go around the corner to get to my truck. You never knew what was waiting around the corner.
But with God, you don't have to worry about the corner. And when they stole my truck and I sold
my tools and I had to stay overnight. And I'll forget Pastor Rick came in the church van the next
day to pick me up. And the first thing Pastor Rick said to me, did you pass the test? You know,
so, I mean, there's just so much things that God has done in our life. And I do once again,
I want to thank both of you. I want to thank, first of all, the Lord and the Holy Spirit because
without him, I wouldn't be here. And I want to also thank my lovely wife because she's been beside
me in every step of the way through all the long drive tournaments, through all the driving and
all those types of things and, you know, not having any money. And I mean, I could tell you
things that you would not believe, you know, being wheeled out of churches and wheelchairs under
the Spirit of God. I mean, it's unbelievable. I can't wait to hear more. That's part two.
Come back next time. Oh, this is great. If you'll have me back. Absolutely. Yeah, we would love to.
Yeah, I'll bring her along. Yeah, we'll have another microphone and then we can have you both
on at the same time. It seems like we can't actually keep you apart. So she's going to have to come.
Yeah, two shall become one flesh. Yeah, that's what I just thank God for. Amen.
Thank you so much for coming and recording with us and sharing your authentic self and your
experiences so it can be a blessing to others. I appreciate you guys. And if this episode or any
of these episodes have been a blessing to you, we encourage you to share them with others so they
can continue the blessings. And then also if you'd want to help us with our little ministry,
we have a fundraising campaign in the give send go.com account called God's goodness podcast.
And if you'd like to help us out with the cost of editing the audio for the podcast,
that would be amazing. And we would love the help and prayers also are welcome.
So thank you so much for taking the time out and listening and we'll talk to you next time.