Giancarlo: Hello everyone i don’t know where to look because it’s also my first time but welcome to this first episode of Grace That Works podcast
Steve: praise God that’s a good name
Giancarlo: i’m a bit like embarrassed to be here in front of our guest i will present you now but at the same time I’m afraid because this man is really unpredictable with his words. So before we start let me thank International Christian Church Rome ICCR Church for providing us this building providing us this studio for us to very nice for us to be here and uh encourage other people around the world and for you to know this episode will be in English but the next episode will be in Italian Spanish I don’t know French if you know to speak another language you’re welcome
Steve: well I want to say thank you for putting this in English today because I’m mostly English i’m from the United States Michigan i grew up in Connecticut um and then about 40 years ago I moved to Michigan so I’m my roots are in New York
area but my my children and my grandchildren are most of them are growing up in Michigan okay so he
introduced himself but let me introduce for to you our first guest is not pastor Lawrence no so uh
pastor Pastor Lawrence charges too much i do it I do this for free okay amen you said it you said
it so let me introduce to you the greatest man in America okay no I’m joking let me introduce to
you Pastor Steve Miller a pastor from the United States from Michigan tell me if I’m wrong and he’s
here for the leadership conference that we had so tell me about this leadership conference that
we just had well this is our second annual one i don’t know if I’ll you know there’s no uh we
formed it uh main pastor Lawrence I came for a wedding my niece’s wedding met him and we talked i
teach leadership at the university or the college in Michigan Assembly God College for Pastors
and we chatted about that and he said “Would you be willing to come and teach leadership
here in Rome?” And from that my brother-in-law Josephenza knew knew him and together and then
I invited Dr randy Helms who has his doctorate in leadership to come and uh together this is our
second I don’t know that we’ll we don’t have any like locked in plans to make it every year maybe
next year i hope they have another conference maybe they’ll have three other speakers but um
I’ve enjoyed my time here i I uh I like I keep I have a different style than many speakers i it’s
more of a conversation and and um I’d like to use humor if I can but I don’t plan it in advance
and so I really enjoyed yesterday my breakout session was with the youth okay and I really uh
I really enjoyed that um uh just challenging them to pick one person in their life that doesn’t
know the Lord who they’re friends with and to uh pray for them every day and then to eventually
when it time is right share their story of what Christ did for them and hopefully grow the youth
group but the church and also get them to a place where they’re right before God so it’s been good
i I that’s been the conference for me i’ve spoken three times i’ve shared my heart i got to see
some friends I made i got to see Rachel who’s my favorite you know you’re not supposed to have
favorites but if I did it would be Rachel and of course her family are precious to me so okay and
by the way I don’t want to say this if I don’t mean to talk too long but I’m kind of Rachel’s
favorite too so you know yeah are you sure about it i’m sure so yeah rachel are you is he rachel’s
beh Rachel’s behind the camera she’s not allowed to talk okay okay i like the answer podcast rules
so I hope the people that are watching us right now can understand that Pastor Steve is older than
me and I’m younger i don’t think and uh I don’t think you’d notice that on the on of course you
have more experience than me in ministry in the in life yeah and I know like you experience many
times the power and uh the Holy Spirit power God’s power and uh my question for you is what is the
greatest miracle that you ever experienced yeah during your ministry time well my theology may
be a little bit different than some i feel like the greatest miracle that anyone can see or re
receive as you said is their salvation because I believe a life that’s destined to eternity and
darkness and damnation puts their faith in Jesus Christ confesses with their mouth believes in
their heart that when they have that supernatural experience that’s a miracle if you can imagine and
you don’t have to be a wicked dirty rotten sinner and and you know steal money and just everybody
needs that miracle and so setting that miracle aside because that is the ultimate miracle uh I
will tell you of a miracle that we had when our when my grandson was born Luke uh he had what they
call migration brain disorder which means the the things for the speech migrated to where the sight
was and the hearing and it all went to a different area and and we didn’t realize it right away
but the doctors told us he would probably never uh crawl or uh I mean run or walk or even crawl
because he couldn’t his motor skills were all jumbled and we begin to pray and of course one
of his eyes wasn’t functioning in his ear so he still but I will tell you today and it’s fresh in
our hearts he runs he he of course he can walk if he can run and he when he saw me a few months ago
he we were at a b a game of of my other grandchild and he looked up just a little just a year and a
half old and he he looked at me and said papa and so we know that he doesn’t just see but He can and
they told us he would never even crawl and he runs and greets us so to me right now I would say you
know the doctors mean well i I want to just you know doctors are good people they may not even
be believers but they mean well but let me tell you this they’re not always right because when
you pray they’re they’re puzzled they can’t even understand why he can he can do these things but
God is moving on his life and so that’s my most precious miracle right now what about you have
you seen anybody i mean uh uh I agree with what you said i mean we praise God for doctor’s life
and we praise God for the the wisdom God gave them uh for us right absolutely but you know I will
tell a story a testimony it’s not my testimony it’s my mom’s testimony okay okay my mom she had
two two type of cancer okay and the first time I was really a little boy and I was really afraid
to lose my mom of course because she had like uh a cancer to the thyroid thyroid cancer yes and
just imagine me like eight years old child and I was asking myself why is my mom sick but then I
remember that I did a small prayer just imagine this young boy praying to God say “God please
heal my mom.” You know my mom got healed amen praise the Lord praise God but then she got sick
again and she had breast cancer stage three level three cancer oh my and I was asking myself again
God why my mom you’re you’re older now quite older from the first cancer of course yeah of course the
first cancer I I remember was like eight years old and now and the second one was like when I
was 15 years old okay so I’m 24 like So your faith is different now cuz Yeah now my faith is
different but you know when I was like a teenager I was thinking why why is my mom sick again
why she have cancer breath breast cancer again and I remember another time you know I went to
God and I said “God please heal my mother.” You know what you know what is the end of the story
my mom got healed okay my mom she’s here i think you met Pastor Melinda she’s my mom and she’s
here she’s standing strong and this is one of the greatest miracle I experienced in my life and
sometimes when I think about it okay God allowed it because he wanted not only my mother to like
grow in faith but also he wanted also me to grow in faith you know believing in the power of faith
the power of course of God’s resurrection okay so I don’t want this to be like more dramatical i
don’t want you to cry well I’m I’m hope I mean I the idea of a little boy crying out to God for
his mom should make us could make anybody tear up but then walking in your faith you know everyone
who’s watching this both believers and unbelievers are going to have sadness they’re going to
have bad news there’s going to be a doctor’s report that you get that you’re not going to like
you’re not going to you’re not going to say “Oh this is great.” But here’s the thing if you’re
a believer we know where to go when we get bad news we know where to go when we have a heartache
or a setback we don’t we don’t go to alcohol we don’t get drunk we don’t go to drugs we don’t you
know we don’t go trip out on drugs we don’t have illicit sexual affairs to escape reality those
things are temporary very temporary satisfactions that don’t last what we do is we go to the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords and we put our faith in him and we trust him listen if if we don’t if
our mom dies of cancer we’re still going to love him if mom chooses to if doctors if Jesus chooses
to take her home if it’s her time or our whomever in our life if our prayer doesn’t answer the way
we want it we’re still going to love Jesus and we know we can come to him and he will he will see
us through that situ not always around it we may have to go through it because there was a little
boy somewhere whose mom got cancer and prayed and mom died but that if that God’s will is for that
little boy to continue to love the Lord and I’m here to tell you is ever watching this you may be
going through a story somewhat like this or maybe mama maybe you had a little boy that has brain
disorder like my grandson did and they’re you’re not getting good news but I’m telling you your
worst day with Jesus is better than your best day without him listen to me your worst day with
the Lord is better than your best deal you don’t have to get into drugs to to get you don’t have to
get into an affair or an illicit sexual activity you don’t have to go to get a high you don’t have
to to get drunk to escape those are temporary and they only add more hurt i’m asking you like
whether whether you get the answer you want i’m ask because I prayed for things I didn’t
get you know it’s not magic it’s not automatic but I’m decided I’m going to serve Jesus from this
day until my last breath because he’s worthy and I promise you in fact if you contact this church
this is International Christian Church in Rome there’s people that can help you and will pray
with you i don’t know when this is going out i don’t know when you’re going to watch it but if
if it works out that you’re watching this and you need prayer for anything this is the place to come
because these people have faith and they believe and I mean that from the bottom of my heart oh
wow amen uh if you want to stay in contact with ICCR Church of course if you’re watching this
and you are from Rome you’re looking for an English and Italian speaking language and soon
also a Spanish I heard about Spanish uh church language uh we will leave here in the description
uh the church media accounts and you can write us an email when you need prayer and you’re welcome
into this church okay yeah don’t don’t fight the battle alone there’s people here who care about
you and we’ll help you amen amen okay let’s shift our attention let’s let’s make it more like more
joyful more relaxing i like that yes of course uh my question for you is if you could if you could
sit and take a coffee with one character of the Bible okay what question would you ask well first
of all the character I think most people would say in the Bible would be Jesus Christ so is it okay
if we Let’s all agree no wait tell another one please yeah because because if you if you don’t
say Jesus you you got pretty good problems yeah so we set Jesus over here and and honor him as
he’d be the ultimate but everyone with everyone but Jesus i will tell you an can I use an Old
Testament hero of mine his name is Joseph okay now Joseph he took shots i mean people in his life
his brothers his father his ab blamed for things he never even did he got accused of things he
never even thought of doing you know we get upset when we when we get in trouble for things we did
do and if you know the story and then he ends up in prison he gets lied about that he attacked the
wife of of his boss for lack of a better term she makes up a story and he remains the Bible says
he remains faithful all the way through that and some of us we throw up our hands the first bad
day and say where are you God where are you God but not him he was faithful and in the end as
we know the story and and we don’t always see the end till heaven but he saw he becomes comes
back around and God redeems him and restores him but if it’s wasn’t quickly listen friends every
prayer request doesn’t happen overnight this was a journey for him process if you read it though
it’s so inspiring because he he wasn’t the Lord he wasn’t God but he was a man who said uh I’m going
to live for God can I give you one more quick one and that’s that’s Stephen stephen to me is a
deacon in the church he’s not a pastor but he’s a deacon and uh he he’s a preaching deacon which
all deacons should be preaching deacons you know and he was sharing his test he was preaching and
the the Jewish people got angry because you know they didn’t want to uh they didn’t want to live
for God and they had heard about they didn’t want to they didn’t agree and they picked up a rock
and they threw it at him and when one guy saw they thought that’s a good idea and then he picked up
and then several people picked up rock and here he is all he’s doing is is telling about God’s love
and Christ and they start hurling rocks at him and that would be a good enough story in itself and
that he died a martyr he died you know sharing Jesus but the Bible says that as the rocks were
coming he looked out on the people and because he loved them he was concerned about their future and
he asked God not to hold this against them can you imagine that’s hard for me to get my mind around
that even as the rocks are hitting and bam don’t don’t hold this ah you know being hit with a rock
unless you’re Goliath where the first rock kills you that’s a horrible way to die the rocks keep
hitting your shins your knees your shoulder one hits you right in the kisser ah you’re bleeding
your chips your tooth is chipped you know and he still he doesn’t re he doesn’t you know rebuke him
he doesn’t say curse him God he says Bible says he looked across him and said Lord don’t hold this
against him wow that’s a hero of mine i mean that that’s a guy that’s not going to You talk about
not taking an offense i mean he was literally offended what a challenge that is he inspires me
how about you does Stephen inspire you yes but I will tell you one character like that maybe no one
wants to have a chat with you know when I start my journey with the Lord of course we we all heard
the story of the of Jesus the crucifixion and he rose up again but if I had have a chance to sit
down with someone for me Judas Scariot wow that is that is going out there you know because when
I start to be a Christian I just wanted to ask him why did you do that i mean think about it you
see Jesus in real life you experience the miracles that he did but then he betrayed him like for a
little amount of money 30 pieces of silver yeah just think about it and but later when I start
to grow up mature in the Lord I understand that we are all Judah sometimes we’ve all betrayed him
in some way yes yeah and uh I just want to connect through this uh character and I just want to ask
you a question like there are a lot of Christians that sometimes not sometimes all of the Christians
sometimes uh they feel away from the Lord and what is a suggestion that you can tell to all of them
to stay and like to not close the relationship with him like Judas did yeah well I would say try
to keep short accounts in other words don’t wait until you’re way down the road to re to ask God to
forgive you but keep short accounts and that the at the very beginning and I hope you folks in the
room listen to this too in the very beginning when you sense oh I’m starting to drift check it then
you know if Judas would have the first time he be you know the Bible says he was stealing money
all along the way so think about it so he was he was struggling with money so of course when the
devil came what did he present as the temptation he didn’t say “Uh hey I’ll give you a couple women
for the night or no he probably would have said I don’t I’m not doing that cuz you but he said I
will get someone to pay you 30 pieces.” Because that was his flaw if he would have addressed that
at the very beginning and Jesus if I do talk to I was say why did you put him in charge of the money
but but if he’d have checked that early on things would have been different and in all of our lives
if we wait till the the hurt explosive catastrophe the damage is done the consequences are so broad
and deep so let’s agree my brother my sister let’s agree to stay in love with Jesus and the Holy
Ghost close to us so at the very beginning when we tempted to turn or stray before we do it before
we do the damage then the consequences that we get a check i spoke about that this morning in church
when you get that check that’s when the conviction don’t don’t push it away embrace it that’s the
warning sign from God hey there’s heartache down that road god loves us he doesn’t want us to go
he it’s not like he doesn’t want us to have fun doesn’t want to uh it’s not like that at all
he he knows that we don’t need those things to enjoy life and they come with a price to pay so I
would say that in Judas’s case had he at the very first inkland been tempted to take the money put
it back and said God forgive me there would have been a different story there but look at look
at the tragedy now if you betray somebody they call you a Judas you know that be he’s I mean
that’s the nickname for anybody who does it so let’s agree that we will stay in love with
Jesus and embrace the Holy Spirit to keep us short in our at the very beginning the first step
the first turn right then we stop and say I’m not doing that wow wow you know I I don’t think we
have much time to to continue but I want to start a trend with this podcast i just want like all
our guests at the end of an episode just to to pray and encourage the people that are looking and
uh watching us amen let’s let’s pray lord I don’t know who’s going to see this but you do i don’t
know who needs to see this but you do and I thank you for the ministry of these young people here
at this church in Rome and God I I pray a special blessing upon International Christian Church and
the young people involved with this podcast lord I believe this is this was birthed by you and so
I pray Lord that we will birth it by you we will be bathe it by you and that it will be built by
you through these young people thank you for the talents they have i pray for them that everybody
in this room will never turn away from God they will live for Jesus all the days of their
life and Lord I pray for those hearing this first podcast the launching podcast that they too will
have miracles to share and they too will have a testimony of people in the Bible that encourage
them either by showing them what not to do like Judas or by encourage them how to live for God
like Joseph ultimately Lord we thank you that you went to the cross for us and yet you took our
place Lord and that you who knew no sin became sin on our behalf so thank you for saving us for
cleansing us and for standing us on a solid rock and we give you all the praise and glory in
Jesus name amen amen amen pastor Steve I can be here like listening to you all day long but Oh
you’re yours i think your wife is waiting for you that’s all right so thank you for this time and
thank you and thank you that for the team that’s in here so good and cute and friendly not the
boys but the girls i have to say again this is the first episode and you are here not Pastor
Lawrence that’s right we want to say Pastor Lawrence that’s just too bad you can maybe come
to the second one if you behave all right okay god bless and God Hey listen can I just say one
more thing go for it if you are in Rome and you’re looking for a church and you just want to check
it out or maybe you’re not a believer but you say “Hey there’s something I see here just come
and visit just come by and stop by 10:30 Sunday morning just check it out.” Or 4:00 on Sunday
afternoon service um if I’m telling you there’s people here that love God and will love you and
they will help you so don’t don’t don’t try to make it by yourself okay i won’t be here but it’s
still going to be pretty good okay god bless you god love you thank you for having me thank you
thank you pastor you’re always welcome byebye
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Italian