This message traces the tragic decline of King Saul and answers a crucial question: if David sinned just as badly as Saul, why was Saul rejected by God and David called “a man after God’s own heart”? Drawing from 1 Samuel 10–16 and 28, as well as Deuteronomy and 2 Chronicles, Pastor Allen walks through three major failures in Saul’s life:

- Offering sacrifices his own way instead of God’s way

- Partially obeying God’s command to destroy the Amalekites

- Turning to a forbidden necromancer when God stopped answering him

We see how Saul’s disobedience, excuses, blame-shifting, and refusal to fully submit to God’s authority led to the Spirit departing from him and God choosing David instead.

What if the only way to step into God’s calling… was to make it impossible to ever go back? In this episode, we look at the early days of King Saul—not the paranoid, jealous Saul we usually remember, but a humble farmer who had to make one shocking decision.

In this message, Pastor Allen Nolan explores Israel’s demand for a king and shows how their reasons—Samuel’s age, his corrupt sons, the desire to be like other nations, and the need for defense—were mostly excuses masking a deeper lack of trust in God. Pastor Allen walks through God’s warning in 1 Samuel 8 about conscription, property seizure, and taxation, revealing the high price of “being like all the other nations,” and how this applies to our lives, warning that when we insist on our own way, God may sometimes grant our demands as a form of discipline.

Discover how one of the Bible’s greatest heroes was also one of its biggest “screw-ups” – and why that should give you incredible hope. In this new series on the life of David, we’ll look honestly at his failures, his family dysfunction, and his darkest moments, and see how he was still called “a man after God’s own heart.” Join us and learn how God can use deeply flawed people—people like us—for His greatest purposes.

Raising godly, independent children requires intentional, repeated conversations—not just one-time talks. From identity to faith, sex to money, parents must shape their kids' worldview before culture does. Mark 8:36: "What benefit is gaining the world but losing your soul?"