I love this time of year.  Fall is my favorite season, but within that season there is one day that stands out as my favorite, October 31st.  I want to use these lines to share with you why October 31st is among the greatest holidays of the year.  As a matter of fact, I would place it third behind Christmas and Resurrection Day in my personal favorites.  Why do I love October 31st so much?  It is Reformation Day.  This week we will celebrate the 498th anniversary of the event that is probably the most significant moment in the history of the church since the day of Pentecost.  (Can you believe only two more years until the 500th Anniversary?  Let’s plan a church wide trip to Wittenburg, Germany two years from now!)  On that day, those many years ago Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenburg, Germany.  Luther had become more and more concerned about some of the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church, especially the sale of indulgences.  Indulgences were like “get out of jail free” cards.  The church was teaching that for a fee you could buy a pardon from some years in purgatory.  The truth is you can’t buy your way into heaven.  Martin Luther knew that and he wrote 95 statements about why he disagreed with Rome. He could no longer stand the fact that the Catholic Church had become a hollow shell of what the New Testament taught about the Christian faith.  That simple act of posting his convictions, that he never thought would cause such a stir, started the Protestant Reformation.  That simple act was one of the defining moments in all of human history.  Sadly, it is all but forgotten in the shadow of the godless heathenism of Halloween.
          Now you may be thinking, why in the world does it matter that some monk nailed a piece of paper to a church door?  It matters because the Reformation reminded everyone what the Bible really teaches.  Out of the Reformation came what we now summarize as the “Five Solas,” or the five “onlys.”  In short the “five solas” state, “The Bible alone teaches that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.”  That is what we believe above all else, but that was quiet different than what the Roman Catholic Church of Martin Luther’s day was teaching.  This October 31st we should praise and thank God for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We should celebrate that we are justified by faith alone, not by our effort or works.  I am not saying that the gospel didn’t exist until 1517, certainly not.  What I am saying is that God used men like Martin Luther to make sure the whole world can know the Bible is the true word of God and Jesus has died on the cross and risen from the dead so that we might have eternal life.  Reformation Day is the celebration of the recovery of the glorious gospel of Jesus by grace through faith.  Happy Reformation Day!  ecclesia reformata et, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei  ("the church reformed, and always being reformed according to the Word of God")!  To God alone be the Glory!  May he bring reformation to our lives! 
 
In Christ, 
Blain Craig

Oak Crest Baptist Church exists in covenant community to bring glory to God by living out the gospel of Jesus Christ, passionately sharing His love and growing in His Word. 
 
The last couple of blocks have been devoted to offering some remarks about that statement.  We must constantly remind ourselves of our identity and purpose in Christ. Let me say again, I am excited about this statement.  It is a statement that speaks of our mission, passion and identity.

So, we have talked about who we are -- a covenant community.  We have also talked about what we are to do above all other things, bring glory to God.  Finally, we talked about how we do that, by living out the gospel of Jesus Christ.  All of that is wonderful and true, but the statement does not, and should not, end there.  There is a final clause that fills out the statement perfectly.  If we bring glory to God by living out the gospel, the next logical question is how do we live out the gospel?  Certainly that sounds good, but what do we believe that looks like?  The final clause of the sentence answers that very important question.

We do that first of all by passionately sharing His love.  I hope you are daily excited about being a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When we are excited we are also passionate.  When we love someone we should desire to tell others about that person.  Think back to when you first fell in love.  I remember having to work very hard not to shout to everyone how much I loved Sara (and still do).  We have the knowledge of the very cure for death.  It is foolishness to keep that inside.  We must share good news.  Our Outreach Team is committed to offering us opportunities to learn how to share our faith.  Additionally, we have excellent online and print resources (The Story Tract) that you can pass on to people you come into contact with.  This is a simple way to fulfill this part of our purpose statement.  We live out the gospel by sharing the love of Christ.  That entails sharing the gospel verbally, but also meeting the physical and emotional needs of the people in our church and in our community.

​The second way we live out the gospel is by “growing in His Word.”  Scripture is God’s perfect revelation of himself.  We simply cannot be faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we are not faithful to Scripture.  This is not something we take lightly at Oak Crest.  We grow in the word through the preaching and teaching of the word, but also through one on one personal discipleship.  Those who have been followers of Christ and students of Scripture should come along side others and grow them up into Christ.  This is so important in our current culture.  There are so many groups that claim the name Christian, but do not know the gospel.  We must be alert and faithful to the Word of God alone.  “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, in Christ,” (Ephesians 4: 14-15). 
 
In Christ,
 
Blain Craig

Oak Crest Baptist Church exists in covenant community to bring glory to God by living out the gospel of Jesus Christ, passionately sharing His love and growing in His Word. 
 
          We have been blessed to have a Christ-Centered, Bible-Based Purpose Statement.  It is important to remind ourselves of that purpose on occasion.  I am currently devoting a couple of these blocks to offering some remarks about that statement.  Let me say again, I have always been excited about this statement.  It is a statement that speaks of our mission, passion and identity.
    Following the phrase about “covenant community” that I spoke of last time, is the phrase “to bring glory to God.”  I cannot say enough about that phrase.  In fact, that phrase is the core of the statement.  It is in fact – our purpose.  The Bible makes very clear that the chief end of man is to glorify God.  Everything we do as individuals and as a church should be to glorify God.  1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  God’s glory is our supreme objective.  Remember the proclamation of the angels at the birth of Jesus, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased,” (Luke 2: 14).  Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension, reign, and return are all to the praise and glory of God.  Our worship is to the glory of God.  Our evangelism is to the glory of God.  Our discipleship is to the glory of God.  Our covenanting together is to the glory of God.  When we reflect Christ, we are reflecting his glory back to him.  So, who are we? A Covenant Community!  What do we do?  Bring glory to God!  How do we do that?
       The next phrase of the statement answers that question.  We bring the most glory to God as we live out the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus has commissioned his church to be living testimonies to the good news that Jesus saves sinners.  The crowning work of God is Jesus Christ come in the flesh as the sacrifice for sin.  When we live out that truth daily we are glorifying God.  The question remains, how do we live out the gospel?  The remainder of the statement answers that question.  Next time we will focus on how a New Testament church brings glory to God and lives out the gospel.
 
In Christ, 
​
Blain Craig

​Oak Crest Baptist Church exists in covenant community to bring glory to God by living out the gospel of Jesus Christ, passionately sharing His love and growing in His Word.  That statement is the purpose statement of Oak Crest Baptist Church.  Beginning this week, and continuing through the next couple of weeks, I hope to remind us all of the importance of this statement.  Of course, this statement was adopted by the church almost eight years ago, but it is not merely a part of our past.  It is part of our present and certainly our future.  Let me remind you of why this statement is such an important part of glorifying God at Oak Crest.
          The first phrase that is likely to strike you after the name of our church is “covenant community.”  I recognize that it is not a phrase that you would probably use in casual conversation.  So is using a phrase that the world is not familiar with the best choice to include in a statement of our primary purpose?  I strongly believe it is the best choice.  The Bible is a book of covenant.  It is all about God’s eternal covenant with his creation and specifically his people.  Although we may not use the word often, there is no other word that communicates the deep, abiding meaning of membership at Oak Crest than Covenant.  We should, according to Scripture, take our relationship with each other very seriously.  We are literally the family of God.  We are not simply in contract with each other, but we have devoted our lives to Christ and each other.  The fact that the word “covenant” is in our purpose statement gives us the opportunity to share its rich meaning with everyone who enters the doors of Oak Crest.  It reminds us that we are not merely a casual, voluntary gathering of people with like-minded interests; rather we are a “called out” people who have been joined together by God, adopted as his children.
          Another aspect of covenant beyond relationship is commitment to eternal truth.  In the Bible, when God covenants with his people it is always on the basis of his own character and nature.  The covenant is true because God is true.  At Oak Crest, covenant community implies that we stand on the truth of God’s word.  Covenant means we hold fast to doctrinal truth.  It means we can never stop spurring one another on toward love and good deeds in Christ, according to the words of Hebrews.  In short, we should never fear covenant, we should embrace it.  Our covenant with each other is grounded in and fulfilled by Jesus Christ.  At Oak Crest, we exist in Christ-Centered covenant.  That is our identity and that is what we should share with the world around us.
In Christ,  Blain Craig