WEBVTT

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Day 88, or March the 29th. Majorities can be

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wrong. Our thoughts today are rooted in 2 Samuel

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chapter 19, verse 43. Then the men of Israel

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answered the men of Judah, We have ten shares

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in the king, so we have a greater claim on David

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than you have. And now the big picture surrounding

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this verse. When David lost his favourite son,

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Absalom, he was in danger of slipping into a

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desperate state from which he might never recover.

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With the help of his army general, Joab, David

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gets his priorities back in balance. It's ironic

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that the man who killed Absalom was the man who

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helped David get over his bereavement. David

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now turns his attention to reconciling the north

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and south of his kingdom. The North -South divide

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was to prove a problem for many centuries, and

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was even a big issue in the days of Jesus. And

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now, our action step for today. Many think, incorrectly,

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that majorities are always right. The bigger

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your vote or support, the more correct you are.

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Living in a democratic society can lead you to

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believe this. In reality, a democracy is a place

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where whatever the majority wants is declared

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legal. Groups of Christians, or even individual

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believers, should not think democratically, but

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theocratically. Speaking personally as a Baptist

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or free church man, we have church meetings to

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decide the road ahead, but I never cease to be

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surprised that folk think if a motion has a majority,

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then it's okay. I'd been involved in too many

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church meeting decisions to know that this is

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far from true. The tribes of Israel thought they

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were right, ten to two, which was, ironically,

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the same statistic as when the spies explored

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the Promised Land, and they got it wrong big

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time. When you have a decision to make, don't

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think in terms of how much support you have.

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It's only God's opinion that counts. Voting is

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meant... to show how you think God would vote.

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It's not meant to give us a chance to get our

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own way, if only we can get enough finance or

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enthusiastic supporters.