God Can Use Cancer for Good - Episode 156 - Health, Hope & Inspiration : City of Hope®

God Can Use Cancer for Good – Episode 156

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Featuring: Pastor Hector Nunez

Published: March 23, 2019

Rev. Percy McCray sits down with Pastor Hector Nunez, a former cancer patient whose battle with stage-four oral cancer helped him to clearly define how to utilize his faith in order to rely on God in his greatest hour of need.

Show Notes:

Chicago pastor Hector Nunez has always loved to sing. Growing up in Puerto Rico and later Chicago, Nunez always had the musical bug. “My mother discovered that I had a talent of singing. So, I was a little guy, 6 years old. I come from a musical family,” he says. “And when I came to Chicago at around 12 or 13 years old, we started a band, and my brother and I—we were, like, in charge of the group. And that’s when everything took off.” God would eventually call Nunez into the pastorate and gave the opportunity to record a Christian album in 2000. His church is named Casa de Fe, which translates in Spanish to “house of faith.”

Years later, Nunez would have another life-changing encounter that would challenge his faith to its core. “I was eating a sandwich and I bit and pierced through my tongue,” he says. “Everybody bites their tongue.” But a doctor’s examination and subsequent biopsy revealed much more—stage-four cancer. “I just broke down, I mean, a 62-year-old man crying like a little baby,” he says. “I went through an emotional roller coaster, especially when I was told that they were going to cut half of my tongue, and that I would never be able to speak.” The thought of never being able to preach or sing again was unbearable.

Nunez would eventually undergo extensive chemo and radiation therapy, as well as reconstructive surgery to rebuild his tongue. Today, he is cancer-free, and gives all glory to God. “When you have something happen to you like it happened to me, it’s like my faith was elevated. I see things more in the spiritual realm than when I do looking at what’s happening in this world. I emphasize to my congregants that we have to activate the faith that we have in ourselves. The impossible for God is nothing.”

Quotes:

“We have to believe that anything that comes our way through God is possible.”
“One night I was drinking and smoking, and I went to bed, and I had a strong pain in my chest. All I could do was say ‘God, help me,’ and immediately the pain went away. The very next day, I went to a Christian church to hear the sermon of when Peter denied Christ. I started thinking of all the people that would knock on my door, and I would just shut the door on them, only to realize I was shutting the door on Jesus Himself.”
“The name of the church [Casa de Fe] was given to me by God in the seminary. The pastor that was giving the class says, ‘I want you guys to give me a name of a ministry when you open your church and a verse to go with it.’ The verse that I chose was in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.’ We walk by faith and not by sight. We can’t see God, but we can feel God.”

Resources:

CLICK HERE to download this week’s resource: “Cancer Ministry Scriptures”

Watch Pastor Hectors Patient Story:

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CTCA | Chicago, IL