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...
… and the old Scrooge in me was confronted by the spirited retired kindergarten teacher who demanded that the Christmas decorations be brought down from storage… and she won! I was having a bah-humbug moment when the ghost of Christmas present put her foot down.
It was probably arthritic inflammation and a sugar coma that was fueling my Mr. Scrooge and trips up and down the stairs and the ladder into the attic probably did me a lot of good. As I write I understand so many are adjusting to the holidays without the better half, the voice of friendly opposition, or just the pure enjoyment of efforts made to please the other. Grief in the holidays is magnified and challenging.
While “putting on a happy face” and “plowing through” the painful terrain of loss is not always the best advice, entering the spirit of the holidays can be. To prepare my heart for the Christmas season I need to be mindful of the Christmas story… the angel announcement to Mary… the birth of John the Baptist… the birth of Jesus and the glorious night when the angels proclaimed His birth to the shepherds… and the stable in which our Lord and Savior was born. If you are using the “Words of Hope” devotional, it is leading us through the Biblical account.
As my word of encouragement to you, I offer this humble suggestion… pray for opportunities to show love to the people in your life. Ask for creative gift ideas (and write them down), consider thoughtful words to say or write to loved ones (and do it), dig deep into your soul for the strength to be kind. Rather than submitting to the natural depression that accompanies grief, sit with it first, then excuse it gently while getting back to the spirit of the season.
Christmas is exactly what the world needs right now. Mindfulness to outwit and overcome the enemy tactic of “divide and conquer” and ignoring the loud and obnoxious taunts of fear and hatred that are amping up in the media is where it starts. Prayerfully considering the well-being of others is how we can influence our world from following Scrooge into holiday blues.
For His glory,
Pastor Mike