Thesis
Drawing from the contrasting stories of Saul and David in 1 Samuel 28 and 2 Samuel 15, Pastor Bill shows that the critical difference between a life that honors God and one that unravels is not the absence of sin but the posture of the heart. Saul treated God as a consultant — someone whose advice he could accept or reject depending on whether he liked the answer. David, despite his own failures, learned to treat God as King, choosing the obedient path over the obvious one and accepting apparent loss in order to pursue true victory: a life in right relationship with God.
Key points
- 1
Treating God as a consultant — seeking His input but reserving the right to reject it — means He is not actually your King; you are.
- 2
You reveal a consultant mindset when you seek a good thing in a bad way, just as Saul sought godly counsel through a forbidden medium while violating the very ban he had set.
- 3
You also reveal a consultant mindset when you seek counsel on things God's Word is already clear on, looking for loopholes rather than obedience.
- 4
David handled a bad situation in a good way by failing forward — owning his past disobedience with the Ark and refusing to repeat it, even when keeping the Ark would have seemed strategically advantageous.
- 5
True repentance is not just feeling sorry; it means turning around and replacing wrong patterns with right ones — the obedient path, not merely the absence of the wrong path.
- 6
Winning and victory are not the same thing; sometimes you must accept a loss in order to gain the true victory of being in right relationship with God.
- 7
If God is a consultant in even one area of your life, He is not truly King — because you are the one deciding when to follow Him.
Outline
Big Idea Introduced: God Is King, Not a Consultant
Using the illustration of his grandson shopping for a more agreeable authority figure, Pastor Bill frames the sermon's central claim: many people treat God the way a child treats a parent — as a consultant whose advice can be ignored in favor of a better answer elsewhere.
Saul's Desperation: Seeking a Good Thing in a Bad Way
Pastor Bill walks through 1 Samuel 28, showing Saul — facing the Philistine army and a silent God — turning to a medium he himself had banned, swearing by the Lord while violating His word, and hearing from Samuel only the confirmation of judgment he was trying to escape.
The Collateral Damage of the Consultant Mindset
Pastor Bill draws out two diagnostic signs of treating God as a consultant — seeking a good thing in a bad way and seeking counsel on matters God's Word already answers clearly — and challenges the congregation to recognize how this posture harms not just the individual but those around them.
David's Desperation: Handling a Bad Thing in a Good Way
Turning to 2 Samuel 15, Pastor Bill shows David fleeing Jerusalem rather than risking the city, and deliberately sending the Ark back — drawing on the painful lesson of 2 Samuel 6 — choosing obedience over the obvious power play of keeping God's symbol at his side.
Failing Forward: Repentance That Actually Turns
Pastor Bill distinguishes failing forward from failing backward, arguing that grace provides not only forgiveness but the power to genuinely turn — replacing wrong patterns with right ones rather than merely stopping the wrong without going the other direction.
The Obedient Path vs. the Obvious Path
Drawing on Proverbs and the New Testament's 'narrow road,' Pastor Bill argues that temporal wins — money, success, comfort — can never satisfy the eternal longing God planted in every human heart, and that the narrow, costly path of obedience is the only road that actually leads where we truly want to go.
Victory vs. Winning: A Marriage Illustration and Call to Surrender
Using a candid story from his own marriage that week, Pastor Bill illustrates how win-loss thinking destroys relationships and how taking what looks like a loss — going first, owning fault — is the only way to fight for the relationship rather than against the person. He applies this directly to how we relate to God, closing with the challenge: will you surrender to Him as King?
Memorable moments
God is king, not a consultant
maybe the reason you feel abandoned by God is because you've abandoned your submission to God
we weren't called to the obvious path. We were called to the obedient path
Victory and winning are not always the same thing
if you choose when he's a consultant and when he's king, you're king
we stopped fighting with each other and started fighting for each other
Application
Pastor Bill's challenge is direct: examine every area of your life and ask honestly whether God is truly your King or merely a consultant you consult when it suits you. The first step is owning it — not just feeling bad about it but actually turning around. That means moving from 'I'm sorry' to actively replacing wrong patterns with obedient ones: using your gifts to serve, giving financially, investing your time in what God has called you to, and refusing to keep shopping for the answer you want when God has already spoken clearly. In relationships — with God and with others — be willing to take what looks like a loss. Go first. Lower the flag. The win you're chasing will never satisfy the way victory does, and victory is found only in surrender to the King who loves you enough to have already taken the greatest loss on your behalf.
