Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

Liturgy Based On Psalm 16:
Minister: Protect us, O God, for in you we take refuge.
People: We say to the LORD, "You are our Lord; we have no good apart from you."
Minister: As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
People: Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
Minister: The LORD is our chosen portion and our cup; you hold our lot.
People: The boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places; we have a goodly heritage.
Minister: Bless the LORD who gives us counsel; in the night also our heart instructs us.
People: Let us keep the LORD always before us; because he is at our right hand, we shall not be moved.
Minister: Therefore let our hearts be glad, and our souls rejoice; our bodies also rest secure.
People: You show us the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Minister: This is the Word of the Lord!
People: Thanks Be Unto God!

"Where the Spirit of the Lord Is"
John 20:19-31

I was sitting in my "easy chair" preparing to speak at the morning worship service of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church. I sat there reading my Bible and drinking my coffee. I hadn't even put my shirt on. My son Seth was playing on the floor content with whatever it was that he was doing at the time.

My coffee cup became empty and I stood up to get another when Seth yelled at me:

"Daddy! Daddy! Your Tubes!! Your Tubes!!"

At first I didn’t know what he was talking about and I asked him to come closer and repeat what he had said. "Daddy! Your Tubes!!" This time he pointed to the floor. I looked down and my heart jumped into my throat. What he saw was the end to a tremendous physical, emotional, and yes spiritual battle that was raging in my life at that time.

I had been a Southern Baptist Minister for many years. (I thank God it was what I prefer to call "The Good Years.") Not long after I had been married and was serving First Baptist Church in Roaring River, North Carolina, I had some kind of a lump appear in my lower abdomen. Upon having it biopsied, we discovered that my body was filled with cancer.

I have always been about doing things in a BIG way but this was ridiculous. I was informed that I had "T-Cell B-Cell Rich Lymphoma." I didn’t know a whole lot about this kind of cancer but I soon learned it is considered one of the most deadliest forms of cancer known to man and that at THAT time there was only twenty-four pages written on it anywhere.

I don’t mind telling anyone that I was scared! I was frightened to death! I spent many hours sitting in my "easy chair," holding pictures of my wife and children and crying my eyes out. I remember time and again shouting in anger to God: "I have spent my life serving you and YOU do THIS to ME???!!! I hate you God! In fact I don’t think I believe you even exist any more!"

My cancer didn’t get better - it got worse. Even with chemotherapy it spread enormously and rapidly throughout my body. I had lymphnodes in my neck, under my arms, in my stomach, one on top of my heart - I literally had them everywhere. I had lost 167 pounds and I was so weak I had no other alternative than to leave the ministry.

In the beginning I remember my oncologist saying to me - "Ray the last resort will be a bone marrow transplant but let’s just pray it doesn’t come to that."

"Pray?" I thought, "Man I HAD been praying and look what it got me!"

I will never forget the day my oncologist said: "Ray I need to get you to Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem for a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT)." My heart sunk.

As my wife and I went for that "BMT" consultation, I took two objects with me - my daughter’s passy (don’t you know she was mad!), and a pair of my little boy’s socks. As the doctor came in and set down I remember reaching into my pockets and rubbing the passy and socks like they were good luck charms. I was determined to live to see my children grow and to rock in my elderly years with my wife and there was no one - NO ONE who was gloing to stop me - not even God!

The doctor sat there and said: "Reverend Osborne I’m afraid I have some bad news. You have a very aggressive cancer which has not responded to treatment and therefore a BMT would be not only a horrendous ordeal to put you through but also a waste of moneys you now need for final expenses. I’m sorry."

I looked at my young bride. Tears were streaming down her face. I remember saying to her: "Honey it will be okay. Baby we can never discount God." I did my best not to cry. I tried to convince myself of the words I had just spoken to comfort my wife. To convince myself that God was real and that God really cared and that God was going to get us through this. That I would see my son play baseball and football and see my daughter go to the prom. I wanted to believe - I really did - but it was so incredibly hard!

The doctor excused himself to leave us alone for what seemed to be an eternity. When he returned he had a puzzled look on his face. "Reverend Osborne there is a chance that you were misdiagnosed two years ago. Would you agree to one more surgery so that we can do our own diagnostical tests?"

For one small moment there was a glimmer of hope! "Yes sir! Show me the way to the O.R.!"

The surgery was performed and I had indeed been misdiagnosed two years prior. Dr. Radford ordered a different type of chemotherapy. After one dose the nodes began to shrink! My cancer was so advanced however, that my only chance at life was a Bone Marrow Transplant.

I stayed in the hospital almost a month. I was many times at death’s door. Once they called in our pastor because my blood pressure had dropped. He told me that on that day I sat up in my bed and said:

"Over there’s Bill Gaither! I’m going to sing a while."

Just before they were ready to put the Bone Marrow in, they took me again to the O.R. for another procedure. This time it was to put a double lumin hickman in my chest that went into a main artery which was big enough to transfer the Bone Marrow. When I came out of surgery I had two 24 inch tubes coming out of my chest.

It is so easy for you and I to look back on Thomas with a great deal of criticism. I however can relate to Thomas. There were many times throughout my battle with cancer that I wondered if God was there. If God really cared about me. If Jesus was who He claimed to be. Even of God was real. I can relate to Thomas’s doubt. I can relate to the fear he must have experienced as he witnessed something he had never seen before.

We have all been there! We have all wondered if God had not mixed our plates up with someone else’s. Life is a long way from being easy. There have been things to occur in our lives that have caused us to doubt the intentions of God or question God. We have all felt abandoned and alone at times.

Upon seeing the battle scars of the cross Thomas exclaimed in a spirit of worship - "My Lord - My God!" You see - wherever the Spirit of the Lord is the final result is always victory.

That’s right - those tubes I had placed in my chest are the very tubes that Seth was referring to when he yelled: "Daddy! Daddy! Your Tubes!!"

When I stood up that day they fell out of my chest and onto the floor. I grabbed my chest in fear that the artery was going to gush and cause me to bleed to death. I yelled for my wife: "Stephanie come quick I’m gonna die here!" She came and told me to move my hand. "Move your hand!" "No! I’ll die!" "Ray move your hand!!!" She took my hand and pulled it away from my chest! There was not one drop of blood.

I thought it best to call the hospital and let them know what had happened. "Reverend Osborne we are really concerned about bleeding here!" I told them "There is not one drop of blood!" I also told them "I have committed to be standing in a pulpit in about 1 hour. Since there is no bleeding I am going to keep that commitment." They thought I was crazy.

As I stood in that pulpit that day the message was nothing like what I had prepared to deliver. Instead I shared with them the testimony I have just shared with you only I added these words: "This morning as I stood up to get another cup of coffee the tubes in my chest fell to the floor. It wasn’t because the stitches broke, nor because I had pulled them out. No. It was God! It was God speaking softly yet boldly and this is what He said: ‘It’s over! You’ve won the battle and it is over!’"

To this day - four years later I remain cancer free! I like Thomas was humbled that day by the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is - there is victory!
Amen.

"Where The Spirit of the Lord Is"
Spring Revival

April 11th thru April 14th
Sunday: 11:00am & 7:30pm
Monday thru Wednesday: 7:30pm Nightly
Guest Speaker: Dr. R.G. Puckett

The above sermon is here for your benefit. I will not be preaching this Sunday rather the sermon this week will be brought by Dr. R.G. Puckett. I have no idea what his message will be even though he has told me he will use the Theme: Where the Spirit of the Lord Is." So I give Dr. Puckett full credit for the title of this message. Realizing that a couple hundred people read these sermons each week I decided to write the one which appears above.

Dr. Puckett is recently retired from the editorship of the Biblical Recorder - the North Carolina Baptist Newspaper.

Dr. Puckett currently serves as Senior Professor of Journalism at Campbell University School of Divinity.

Our church cordially and warmly extends an open invitation to any and all who would attend these marvelous services! Dr. Puckett is a very sought after speaker and we are very fortunate to have him with us this week.

Come if you can - Pray for us please! And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ sustain you now and forever more.

We will once again have the sermon and liturgy posted for the Third Sunday of Easter - Year A next week.

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