The Oak Park Blog

Advent: Remembering in Anticipation This Sunday, December 1st, is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent simply means "coming," and is the term used to describe the four weeks leading up to Christmas whereby the church remembers Christ's coming to dwell with humanity. While the origins of this tradition are debated, we have evidence of the church celebrating Advent as early a...

Oak Park Baptist Church Elders' Statement on Wesley Leon Feltner November 7th, 2019 Recently, the Elders were informed of the allegations brought against former youth pastor, Wesley Leon Feltner. Feltner served on the pastoral staff approximately from 20032007. The circumstances around these allegations occurred prior to Feltner's employment at Oak Park Baptist Church...

Pastor Chase offers an explanation of what Biblical ordination is, what our process at Oak Park is for ordination, and a preview of our coming ordination service....

This past Sunday we finished a five-month journey through the Sermon on the Mount. This whole section of Matthew’s Gospel (chap. 5...

Care and Discipleship Jesus told His disciples, "Go therefore and make disciplesof all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded" (Matthew 28:19-20a). This command is for believers today just as much as it was for the disciples to whom He was speaking. Many Christians are f...

As we approach Good Friday and Easter Sunday this Holy Week, take this guide to prayer and fasting and use it to shape your time before God as you pray and fast....

This Thursday, at 7:30 PM, will commence our church-wide call to prayer and fasting. We'll conclude this 24-hour fast at our Good Friday service at 6:30 PM. The purpose of this time is to produce a greater wonder of our Savior who was crucified and raised for our redemption, and for us to ask God to bless our ministry efforts to reach this community. As 21st century Chris...

We've recently embarked on the journey of climbing the Mount Everest of the New Testament, Romans 911. While there are difficult concepts to digest such as the doctrine of election, we need to keep in mind that this section is primarily concerned with the salvation of Israel and God's faithfulness to his promises. Paul is grieved over their rejection of the Gospel but find...

Have you ever considered the question, "How do I listen to a sermon?" or more specifically, "How do I come ready to hear a word from God as the Bible is preached?" Many of us haven't considered that question, because after all how hard is it to sit and listen. But in reality, it is difficult to listen. Most of us have not trained our minds to listen to a 45 min monologue. ...

In light of Sunday's sermon on Romans 8:26-30, I thought it would be helpful to provide some supplemental reading on the issue of God's sovereignty and human responsibility. On Sunday I argued that these two truths are not at odds, rather they are friends who do not need to be reconciled. What we see in Scripture is that humans do what they want to do, but in so doing they...