Latest / Time with God with John North / Things to Look for In a Dating Relationship Pt. 3

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Things to Look for In a Dating Relationship Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. I hope your week is going well as
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: we pass the midpoint. We're talking all this week at
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  Speaker 1: this time each weekday morning about things to look for
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  Speaker 1: in a marriage partner or in a dating relationship.
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  Speaker 1: 5 C's and we've looked at 2 so far. They
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  Speaker 1: go in order of importance. As a Christian, what should
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  Speaker 1: you be looking for in someone that you are dating
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  Speaker 1: or moving towards marriage with? The most important is that
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  Speaker 1: they also are a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: That there's a foundation that you can build on in
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  Speaker 1: your marriage, of your relationship with God, that God is
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  Speaker 1: there to help you work through the inevitable struggles that
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  Speaker 1: are going to come in your marriage. The Bible talks
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  Speaker 1: about marriage as a partnership, and it says don't form
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  Speaker 1: a partnership with someone who doesn't know the Lord, you
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  Speaker 1: want to be able to share the most important thing
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  Speaker 1: in your life with them.
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  Speaker 1: The second most important thing you're looking for in a
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  Speaker 1: dating relationship or a marriage partner is that they're not
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  Speaker 1: only Christian, but they're committed to God.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, that it's like a triangle where there's the two
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  Speaker 1: of you and God, and the closer you move towards God,
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  Speaker 1: the closer you get to one another as well, and
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  Speaker 1: that the Christian life, including marriage, only works the way
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  Speaker 1: God designed when we put him right at the centre.
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  Speaker 1: Of it. And if you're going down one path with
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  Speaker 1: God at the centre of your life, and the person
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  Speaker 1: you're married to is not putting God at the centre
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  Speaker 1: of their lives, it's going to lead to all sorts
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  Speaker 1: of struggle and pain. I've seen it again and again.
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  Speaker 1: The pain it brings into marriage when only one person
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  Speaker 1: is living a life committed to God. You want someone
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  Speaker 1: who will raise your kids to put God first in
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  Speaker 1: their lives as well. Well, what's the third most important
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  Speaker 1: thing you're looking for? The third C. First, Christian. Second,
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  Speaker 1: that they're committed. Third is character.
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  Speaker 1: Character. There's some humorous verses in the book of Proverbs.
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  Speaker 1: Proverbs 21:9 says it is better to live in a
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  Speaker 1: corner of a roof than in a house shared with
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  Speaker 1: a contentious woman.
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  Speaker 1: Another one from Proverbs 11:22 in the Bible says, like
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  Speaker 1: a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful
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  Speaker 1: woman without discretion. Her beauty is the gold ring, but
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  Speaker 1: if she's without discretion, it's like a gold ring on
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  Speaker 1: a pig's snout.
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  Speaker 1: But on the other hand, there's this beautiful description of
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  Speaker 1: a woman of character in Proverbs 31 which is specifically
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  Speaker 1: about marriage. It starts off in verse 10 saying, an
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  Speaker 1: excellent wife who can find she is far more precious
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  Speaker 1: than jewels.
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  Speaker 1: And if you jump on down to verse 25, it
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  Speaker 1: says strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at
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  Speaker 1: the time to come. That is, she's not afraid of
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  Speaker 1: the future. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the
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  Speaker 1: teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Well, this is
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  Speaker 1: talking about character. It's not only women.
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  Speaker 1: But men also need character for a healthy, fruitful marriage relationship.
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  Speaker 1: So when you're dating someone or choosing who to date
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  Speaker 1: or who you would think of as a marriage partner,
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  Speaker 1: think also of character.
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  Speaker 1: Is this person a person of character? Are they kind?
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  Speaker 1: Are they loving?
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  Speaker 1: Are they caring?
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  Speaker 1: Do they have a strong commitment to what is right
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  Speaker 1: in life, or are they so easily swayed by their
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  Speaker 1: own desires? Is this the kind of person that I
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  Speaker 1: can build a future around, right? Cause that's what you're talking.
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  Speaker 1: You're talking the rest of your life, right? As you
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  Speaker 1: get into a serious dating relationship, as you move towards marriage,
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  Speaker 1: you're thinking about the rest of your life. Now listen.
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  Speaker 1: The person you're dating is not going to be mature
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  Speaker 1: in all of these ways, in their young adult days,
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  Speaker 1: but what you want to see is the seeds of
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  Speaker 1: these things developing, right?
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  Speaker 1: You're not looking for some kind of, uh, giant of
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  Speaker 1: a person who'll go down in history. You're looking for
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  Speaker 1: someone though who is moving, who's building these things into
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  Speaker 1: their lives. That's what you want in the person you're
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  Speaker 1: dating or are going to marry. First, that they're Christian, Second,
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  Speaker 1: that they're committed to God. And third, they are a person.
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  Speaker 1: With character
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.