Sermon Study Guide | Series: Beyond the Ballot | Sermon: Week 3 — No Kings… but Jesus | Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:4–22; Romans 13:1–7; Revelation 7:9–12| Date: November 1, 2026

CONNECT - “A Personal Reflection”

This section is designed to help you relate personally to the theme of the sermon. It encourages you to reflect on your own life experiences and how they connect to the message.

This week we heard about a people who wanted a king. Israel looked at the nations around them and wanted what they had: someone visible, powerful, and strong enough to make them feel safe. Most of us know that pull. Every election season invites us to believe that if we could just get the right person into the right office, things would finally be okay. So think honestly about the last few weeks.

When you picture Tuesday's outcome, what do you feel: relief, dread, or something in between? What have you been asking a candidate, a party, or a result to carry for you, whether that's your sense of safety, your hope for your kids, or your feeling that everything is going to be alright? What might that reveal about where your hope actually lives? Share with your group.

ENGAGE - “Exploring the Scripture”

This section invites you to dive into the biblical passage, discuss its meaning, and apply it to your life through thoughtful questions.

ENGAGE

• Read 1 Samuel 8:4–9. Israel's elders ask for a king "like all the nations." What reasons do they give, and what does God tell Samuel is the deeper issue underneath the request?
  
  
• God says, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them." Why is it possible to stay outwardly religious while practically shifting our devotion somewhere else?
  
  
• Samuel warns them exactly what a king will take: their sons, their daughters, their fields, and eventually their freedom. The people hear the warning and want the king anyway. Why does desire so often beat information? Where have you seen that in yourself?
  
  
• The message says God wasn't opposed to monarchy itself; He was opposed to misplaced devotion. What is the difference between appreciating a leader and devoting yourself to one? How can you tell which one you're doing?
  
  
• Read John 19:12–16. The religious leaders tell Pilate, "We have no king but Caesar." These were the most religious people in the story, and their emotions had warped their devotion. What does their confession warn us about in our own political instincts?
  
  
• The message notes that Jesus refused to build short-term alliances with the political powers of His day, even when He was pressured to take a side. What do you think He was protecting?
  
  
• The message uses two words for the same title: Messiah and Christ. Messiah is the Hebrew word and Christ is the Greek word for the same title, meaning "anointed one." In the Bible, anointing was how God marked kings. So "Jesus Christ" is not a first and last name; it's a name and a royal claim. How does hearing Christ as a title about kingship change what you're saying every time you say it?
  
  
• Read Romans 13:1–7. Paul calls governing authorities God's "servants" and "ministers." He wrote that to a church that had watched the state expel their Jewish friends and family from Rome. How does that context keep this passage from being a blank check for whoever wins?
  
  
• The message distinguishes between what individuals are called to do and what government is called to do. Why does that distinction matter when Christians are tempted to use this passage to endorse specific policies or candidates?
  
  
• Read Revelation 7:9–12. Describe the crowd John sees. What stands out to you about who is gathered and what they are doing? Nobody voted this kingdom into existence. What does that mean for how we walk into election week?
  
  
• Read Mark 1:15 and Luke 17:20–21. Jesus announces that God's kingdom has come near and is already in our midst. If the kingdom is both coming and already here, what does that mean for how we live this week, before and after the results?
  
  
• The key principle of this message is: a ballot can carry your vote but not your hope. Be honest: where have you been tempted to let a ballot carry your hope this season?

APPLY - “Putting the Scriptures into Action”

This section challenges us to take what we’ve learned and implement it in practical ways in our daily lives.

• Vote, and then release the outcome. If you haven't voted yet, make a concrete plan for Tuesday. Treat your vote as faithful participation, not salvation. Once it's cast, practice handing the outcome back to God before the results come in.
  
  
• Pray for leaders by name. Scripture calls us to honor and pray for our leaders whether we chose them or not. Pray by name for the officials who represent you, including the ones you didn't vote for, as servants accountable to God.
  
  
• Have one curious conversation. Before Wednesday, ask someone you trust who voted differently than you one genuine question about why, and listen without preparing your rebuttal. Curiosity is not compromise.
  
  
• Carry hope to one neighbor. Find one person who is carrying more fear than you are this week, maybe a neighbor whose family feels exposed by this election. Bring them dinner. Check in. Show up. Give them a glimpse of the King.
  
  
• Refuse one caricature. When you see the post that turns people on the other side into a punch line, don't share it, don't laugh it forward, and where you can, gently push back. The Revelation 7 family includes people who voted differently than you.
  
  
• Keep the Headline Practice. Results week will flood your feed. Before reacting to a political headline, give it sixty seconds: Pause. Notice. Name. Ask. Pray. Engage. Don't let the news catechize you faster than the gospel does.

PRAY - “Seeking God’s Guidance”

This section offers a short prayer to help us center our hearts and invite God to work in our lives through his scripture.

Jesus, thank you that your kingdom is not on the ballot this week. Thank you that you are a King who uses His power to give life, not take it.

Forgive us for the times we have asked politicians, parties, or outcomes to carry what only You can carry, and for the moments we have valued tribe over truth. Show us where contempt or fear has been forming us more deeply than Your gospel.

As the results come in, anchor our hope where no election can reach it, and make us people who participate faithfully and love generously. Teach us to honor the servants you hold accountable without handing them the devotion that belongs to you alone.

Send us into this week carrying Your kingdom into every room and every conversation, until the day every nation, tribe, people, and language stands together before your throne. No kings but you. Amen.

If you have feedback on this guide or ideas that would help your group engage more deeply, we’d love to hear from you. 

Your insight helps us continue growing as a church that wrestles honestly and walks faithfully together. Contact msummers@menlo.church

FIVE DAY DEVOTIONAL

Beyond the Ballot // Week 3

Read the scripture first. Sit with it before you read anything else. Election week will try to disciple you before breakfast; let God's Word have the first word. Then, before you open the news, try the Headline Practice.

DAY ONE // LIKE ALL THE NATIONS

Read: 1 Samuel 8:19-20

But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, "No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."

Samuel had just told them exactly what a king would cost. Their sons in his army. Their daughters in his service. Their fields, their harvests, their freedom. The warning was clear, and it didn't matter, because the wanting had already won.

Notice what they asked for: someone to fight their battles. They wanted rescue without relationship, a king they could see instead of the God who had carried them out of Egypt. God names the trade for Samuel: they have rejected Me from being king over them.

Most of us won't say it out loud, but we know the pull. We want someone visible and powerful who will finally make things okay. Spend today being honest about what you want a king for.

Reflect: What outcome this week feels like it would finally make you okay? What does that reveal?

Pray: God, You have heard every demand I've dressed up as a need. I don't want a king like all the nations; I want You. Give me ears to hear Your warnings even after my mind is made up. Amen.

DAY TWO // NO KING BUT CAESAR

Read: John 19:14-16

He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

Sit with who says that line. Not pagans. Not atheists. The chief priests, the people who had spent their lives guarding the Scriptures that promised God's coming King. In one sentence they renounced the whole story to protect what they had.

Devotion rarely collapses all at once. It drifts. They didn't stop being religious; they just let something else become ultimate, and their emotions finished the job. That should make us nervous, not smug, because the same drift is available to every one of us.

Where are you tempted to use Jesus to protect your side instead of following Him as your King?

Reflect: Is there any place where loyalty to your side has started asking you to compromise what you know about Jesus?

Pray: Jesus, You stood silent while religious people pledged themselves to Caesar. Keep me from ever using You to protect my tribe. You are my King, today, Tuesday, and whatever comes after. Amen.

DAY THREE // SERVANTS, NOT SAVIORS

Read: Romans 13:6-7

For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Paul wrote these words to Christians in Rome who knew the state's power up close. Some of their Jewish friends and family had only recently been allowed back into the city after the emperor expelled them. Paul was not naive about government, and that's exactly what makes his words so steady.

He calls rulers servants and ministers, accountable to God whether they know it or not. Government has a real, God-given job: order, justice, and the public good. What it doesn't get is worship. Honor is owed; hope is not.

So when your leader wins this week, honor them without handing them your hope. When your leader loses, grieve without handing anyone your despair. Servants come and go. The King remains.

Reflect: Which is harder for you right now: honoring a leader you didn't choose, or refusing to make a leader you did choose into a savior?

Pray: Father, You appoint servants and hold them accountable. Teach me to pay what I owe, respect and honor, without giving away what belongs only to You. Amen.

‍

DAY FOUR // EVERY NATION, ONE FAMILY

Read: Revelation 7:9-10

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

John saw this while exiled on the island of Patmos, cut off from his people on account of his faith. No one voted for this kingdom. No campaign built it, and no loss can cancel it.

Look at who's there: every nation, tribe, people, and language. The differences haven't disappeared; the hostility has. People who learned to fear, dismiss, and blame each other are standing shoulder to shoulder, worshiping the same King.

Election week trains us to sort people into camps. Revelation 7 trains us to see a family. One of those two pictures is going to be true forever, and it isn't the camps.

Reflect: Who is hardest for you to imagine standing next to in that crowd? What would it look like to see them as family today?

Pray: God, give me Revelation 7 eyes this week. When I'm tempted to see enemies, show me the family You are gathering. Salvation belongs to You. Amen.

DAY FIVE // MAKING ALL THINGS NEW

Read: Revelation 21:3-5

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

This is where everything is heading: God moves in. God renews His creation, including His people. Death, mourning, crying, and pain don't get the last word.

And Jesus said this kingdom isn't only ahead of us. He announced that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15), and He told the Pharisees it was already in their midst (Luke 17:21). The future has already started breaking into the present through people like you.

So today, while the votes are counted or argued over, do one small kingdom thing. Bring dinner to a neighbor who's afraid. Forgive someone. Tell the truth when a lie would help your side. It won't complete God's kingdom, but it can give someone a glimpse of the King.

Reflect: What is one concrete thing you can do today that no ballot could ever do?

Pray: Jesus, You are making all things new, and You're not waiting on my party or my permission. Let my hope live so deeply in You that the people around me can see it. Come, King Jesus. Amen.

The practice continues. Before you react to a political headline, give it sixty seconds. Pause. Notice. Name. Ask. Pray. Engage. At the end of the day, look back: What did my reactions reveal about what is forming me?

‍