KINGS | Week 5 | Full Service

The big idea

Worship isn't the thirty-minute song set — it's a lifestyle of giving God whatever He wants, no matter the cost.

Real worship isn't an activity confined to a song set; it's a lifestyle of full obedience to God. Saul shows what it looks like to give God only some of what He wants and to repent merely because he got caught, while David shows what it looks like to be truly grieved before God and repent from the heart — both remind us that God desires obedience, not sacrifice.

Point 1 of 6

Pastor Brent opens with Romans 12:1, where Paul pleads with believers to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, and says that's the true definition of worship. He warns that many Christians enjoy the thirty-minute worship set but live the rest of the week in a way that doesn't reflect the God they sing about, which is lip service, not worship.

Point 2 of 6

Working through 1 Samuel 15, Pastor Brent shows how God commanded Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites, but Saul spared King Agag and kept the best livestock for himself out of greed. He points out that God told Samuel He was sorry He ever made Saul king, because partial obedience grieved God.

Point 3 of 6

Pastor Brent walks through Saul's excuses to Samuel and his eventual admission of sin, but notes Saul only wanted Samuel to worship with him publicly so it would look good in front of the elders. He compares this to catching his own son with a hidden snack and admitting the boy wasn't sorry he did it, only sorry he got caught.

Point 4 of 6

Pastor Brent retells how David stayed home from battle, saw Bathsheba, slept with her, and then had Uriah murdered to cover it up, calling David's actions worse than Saul's. He then reads Nathan's confrontation in 2 Samuel 12 and shows that God still pronounced real consequences on David's household.

Point 5 of 6

Pastor Brent contrasts Nathan's gentler tone with David after his confession versus God's harsher rejection of Saul, arguing the difference was posture of heart — David was concerned with how God felt, not how he looked. He points to Psalm 51 as evidence, where David begs for a clean heart and says God desires a broken spirit over sacrifice.

Point 6 of 6

Pastor Brent shares a personal story about his wife asking what if God never calls him to be a senior pastor, and realizing his real goal had quietly become chasing a title rather than obedience. He concludes that pursuing obedience daily, even if it costs you what you wanted, is what it means to truly worship God.

Take it into your week

Pastor Brent frames it as giving God whatever He wants — not some of you, all of you.