The Haven Community Church

The Haven Community Church | Sunday Service | 06.28.26

Photos By: Caleb Noska

The Haven Community Church | Sunday Service | 06.21.26

Photos By: Caleb Noska

Some people think the Bible is all about control. It’s actually all about freedom.

Even Christians get confused about why we obey God. Some say it’s to earn salvation. Others say we obey out of gratitude for what God has done. There’s truth in that.

But obedience is more than a thank-you note tacked onto the gospel, and it’s certainly not a way to earn God’s favor. We obey because Jesus is Lord. And that’s a good thing. We follow Him because He is not only our Savior, but our King.

At the same time, I don’t want to swing back into burdensome rule-keeping.

What if salvation isn’t just about avoiding hell and getting into heaven someday? What if it’s about something happening right now? What if salvation is God removing everything that keeps us from becoming what we were created to be?

The biblical story begins with humanity created to bear God’s image and rule His good creation. Sin distorts that calling. It fractures our relationship with God, with one another, and even with ourselves. The result is not freedom but slavery—to sin, fear, pride, greed, anger, and death itself.

Jesus came not only to forgive us, but to rescue us from that slavery and restore us to the life we were made for.

If salvation is only a ticket out of hell, obedience can easily become one of three things:

• A way to earn God’s approval
• A footnote of gratitude
• Or a tool people use to control others

But if salvation is God restoring humanity, obedience becomes something altogether different. It becomes the path of wisdom. The way we learn to live in harmony with the grain of God’s creation.

That’s why Scripture says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). God’s commands were never arbitrary rules designed to restrict life. They reveal the way life actually works.

A fish flourishes in water. A tree flourishes when its roots run deep. Human beings flourish when they live in fellowship with their Creator.

Obedience isn’t the enemy of freedom. It’s what freedom looks like when humanity is becoming what it was created to be.

- Pastor Scott Hescht

Here's a question worth sitting with: are you living like who you actually are?

This week's message picked up in Ephesians 4 with one of the most practical truths in Paul's letter - before Christ, we were all shaped by a way of thinking that leads somewhere dark. But Jesus doesn't hand us a rulebook. He introduces us to a person. And in learning him, we slowly start to put off the old self and put on the new.
It's not instant. It's not easy. But there is real hope - no matter how much baggage you brought with you into this new life.

What's one area of your life where you've seen God slowly rewire the way you think? Share it below -

Center: A Study Through Ephesians Pt.12 Mowgli spent years learning to live like a wolf. And when he finall...