KINGS | Week 3 | Full Service · Rewind

KINGS | Week 3 | Full Service · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · May 1, 2023

Big Idea

Quoting the message: God is King, not a consultant, end quote. — you cannot pick and choose when to obey Him and still call Him your King.

God offers us real victory — a right relationship with Him — but too often we treat Him like a consultant, listening only to the advice we like and rejecting the rest. Saul and David both sinned and both hit desperate moments, but Saul kept fighting God while David learned to fail forward, take the loss, and trust his King.

Key points

1
1We naturally treat God like a consultant rather than a king
Pastor Bill opens with the story of his three-year-old grandson bouncing between mom, dad, and grandma looking for whoever will say yes, and says adults do the same thing to God — we come to church, hear advice, and then decide for ourselves whether to take it.
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2Saul treated God as a consultant and it led him to disobey the very command he had enforced
In 1 Samuel 28, with the Philistines closing in and God silent, Saul — who had banned mediums — disguises himself and visits the medium at Endor to summon Samuel's spirit, swearing an oath in the Lord's name while violating the Lord's law to do it. Samuel tells him God has already answered him: the kingdom is torn from him and given to David, and he and his sons will die.
3
3You know you're treating God as a consultant when you seek a good thing in a bad way, or seek counsel on something His word already answers
Pastor Bill names two diagnostic signs: pursuing something good — spiritual advice, worship, involvement — through disobedient means, and asking around for permission on issues Scripture has already settled, like whether to serve or give. He points to James 1 to show a divided heart gets no answer from God.
4
4David, in his own desperate moment, chose obedience over the obvious path
When Absalom rebels in 2 Samuel 15, David flees Jerusalem to spare the city and people rather than fight to keep his throne, and he sends the Ark of the Covenant back into the city instead of using it as a good-luck symbol. Pastor Bill contrasts this with 2 Samuel 6, where David once tried to move the Ark the wrong way and a man died — a failure David learned from rather than repeated.
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5The difference between Saul and David is failing forward versus failing backward
Both men sinned, but David owned his failure and turned — true repentance — while Saul kept circling the same disobedience. Pastor Bill illustrates this with trying to eat healthy: you can't just stop doing wrong, you have to replace it by turning and doing right.
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6Winning and victory are not the same thing
Pastor Bill defines winning as getting the temporal blessing we want — the prosperity-gospel cookie — while victory is being in right relationship with God, even when it costs a loss. He uses the Phoenix Suns' many regular-season wins without a championship, and his own recent argument with his wife where he had to apologize first to stop fighting each other and start fighting for each other.

Application

Pastor Bill's charge is to stop treating God like a consultant and let Him be King, whatever, whenever, however.

Stop shopping for advice you want to hear
If you're going from person to person hoping someone will tell you what you want instead of what God's word already says, stop seeking allies and submit to the answer you already have.
Quit asking permission on what scripture already settled
Whether to discover your gifts, serve your church, or give financially and generously of your time and money isn't an open question — obey what God has already made clear instead of hunting for loopholes.
Fail forward, not backward
When you sin, don't just say sorry and stay in place — actually turn and replace the wrong action with the right one, the way David repented and changed course.
Choose the obedient path over the obvious one
When the easier, more obvious road conflicts with what God said, take the harder, obedient road even when it looks like a loss.
Examine where God is a consultant, not King, in your life
Pray and let God reveal any place you're only listening to Him when it's convenient, and surrender that area to Him as King rather than staying king of your own life.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“we're gonna start in first Samuel 28. And what I'm gonna do is I'm start reading verse three. And and what's happening is Samuel, you know, we've seen, he he kinda rejected”
From the transcript
“first Samuel 28. And what I'm gonna do is I'm start reading verse three. And and what's happening is Samuel, you know, we've seen, he he kinda rejected, wouldn't listen to God”
From the transcript
“A matter of fact, in James chapter one, you can go read it. He talks about this idea. It says, if you need wisdom, ask God and he'll freely give it to you. But he says, but don't ask with a divided heart”
From the transcript
“in in second Samuel 15 starting verse 13, it says this, a messenger soon arrived in Jerusalem to tell David, all of Israel has joined Absalom in conspiracy against you”
From the transcript
“And specifically something later on. If you skip down to verse 23 as he's leaving the city, it says, everyone cried loudly as the king and his followers passed by”
From the transcript
“If you've been reading through the Bible with us, you already read second Samuel six. And early on when David was king and he captured Jerusalem, the holy city of God”
From the transcript
“Because the Bible says over and over in the book of Proverbs, there's a way that seems right to man, but the end that leads to death”
From the transcript
“In the New Testament, it says, wide is the road that leads to destruction, but narrow is the road that leads to life. What do think that's talking about”
From the transcript
“See, in the book of Ecclesiastes, it says God planted eternity in our hearts. You know what it means? He built us for an eternal relationship with him”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

There is a question underneath Saul's story that is easy to miss at first: why would a man who had already expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land turn around and seek one out? The answer is painful in its familiarity. Saul was not looking for God's will — he was looking for a way to get the answer he wanted through the trappings of seeking God. He wanted the appearance of obedience without the cost of it. Pastor Bill put it plainly: when we treat God as a consultant, we are really keeping ourselves on the throne. We ask Him for input, but we reserve the right to reject it if we don't like what He says. That is not surrender — that is management. The honest, uncomfortable question is whether there are areas in your own life where you have been doing the same thing: going through the motions of seeking God while already having decided what you plan to do. That kind of seeking is exhausting, because it never actually settles anything. Real peace doesn't come from finding a loophole. It comes from the moment you stop negotiating and start following.

For reflection

Is there an area of your life where you have been seeking God's input but quietly reserving the right to override it if you don't like the answer?

Pray

Pray for honesty — ask God to show you where you have been managing Him rather than following Him.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message sits with a question most of us don't ask out loud: Is God actually in charge of my life, or do I treat Him more like someone I check in with when I want a second opinion?

Discussion questions

1
Pastor Bill drew a sharp line between treating God as a consultant and treating Him as King. In your own words, what is the difference between those two postures — and why does that difference matter so much?
2
In 1 Samuel 28, Saul is trying to reach God through a medium — which is striking because he himself outlawed that practice. What does that contradiction reveal about what was really going on in Saul's heart toward God?
3
Pastor Bill pointed to James 1 and said a consultant mindset shows up when people go looking for loopholes on things Scripture is already clear about. What makes that kind of searching feel so natural — and what does it cost us when we do it?
4
In 2 Samuel 15, David is fleeing Jerusalem and chooses to send the Ark back rather than keep it with him as a strategic advantage. What does that decision tell us about how David understood his relationship with God at that moment?
5
Pastor Bill made a distinction between winning and victory — saying that accepting a loss is sometimes the only path to true victory. How does the story of David in this passage illustrate what that looks like in practice?
6
Pastor Bill challenged us to ask honestly whether there is even one area of life where God functions as a consultant rather than King. How might a community of people — a small group, a church — help each other move from recognizing that toward actually changing it?

Pray together

Asking God to reveal any area where we have been treating Him as a consultant, and for the courage and grace to surrender that area to Him as King

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Topics

God as King Heart Posture Obedience Over Strategy Saul and David True Repentance

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