Welcome to Oak Springs Community Church!
Thanks for visiting our website! Oak Springs Community Church is a group of believers dedicated to loving God and the people in our lives, for His glory. Our mission is to get the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of the people we live with, work with, play with, and interact with. These relational connections we have are the ‘live wires’ God uses to transform lives! We hope that your visit here will be inspiring.
We meet together on Sunday mornings for worship and study of God’s Word. We welcome you to venture out to Grand Isle Senior Apartment Homes in Murrieta each Sunday at 10 AM to experience God in worship and to study God’s Word with us as we equip one another with the truth.
To say, “our doors are always open” would be a little misleading, for our “doors” belong to the Grand Isles. But it is an understanding of Oak Springs’ that we are ‘open doors’ to the love of God and His grace by the sheer fact of His open arms to us. We’ve been embraced by our Heavenly Father and we are just one of many of His open doors to the world He loves and gave His only begotten Son to rescue. So, we welcome you with open arms!
Good Monday morning...
… I receive more phone calls from “Spam Likely” than any other of my friends and family. That sounds like the beginning of a Rodney Dangerfield joke, I know, but it is the truth! It is hard to not grow weary of the constant demand on my attention from spammers or scammers. I don’t answer calls from unknown sources, but I will always return a call from a legitimate voice message.
The point of my effort to encourage you this Monday morning is to become more demanding of the truth. Scams are built on the promise of something that seems too good to be true. The authorities encourage us, especially seniors, to conclude that if it seems too good to be true, it is. I would add, if you feel like you are on the hook of a scammer, hang up! You have the control to push the red X on your phone.
The Reformed Church in America has recently published a letter of lament, offering a healthy perspective on the injustices of structures of racism and abuse of power being exercised across the country. It can be found at https://www.rca.org/pastoral-letter-of-support-and-lament-for-immigrants-and-refugees/. This letter is an example of speaking the truth and shedding light on injustices that the church can and must oppose. The Lord is clear about His demand for His people to be just, merciful and humbly following God. I was pleased to learn that the words of this collaborative letter came from one of our emerging leaders in the Classis of California.
As I read this letter of lament, and reflected on the new leadership of the RCA, I thanked God for His leading us, Oak Springs Community Church, through the splitting up of the Classis of California that took place a few years ago. We refused to be misled by those who promoted division over unity… and I am so glad we did. Rather than being misguided, we have been led through this time by His Spirit and His Word. But what are we to do about the injustice and oppression of immigrants and refugees?
In the immediate, each one of us can show Christ’s love by stopping the narrative that all immigrants are evil and, instead, treating every person with the truth that they are created in the image of God. To begin with the end in mind is to treat fellow human beings as though they are loved by God and chosen by God to be saved in Christ, just like you and me. That is way truer than the rhetoric of fear and distrust of immigrants and refugees! It is to behave as one who is loved and forgiven, and therefore, in a place to extend love and forgiveness.
For His glory,
Pastor Mike