Latest / Time with God with John North / Things to Look for In a Dating Relationship Pt. 1

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Things to Look for In a Dating Relationship Pt. 1 · Time with God with John North

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Good morning. Welcome to a new week. And as we
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  Speaker 1: do each weekday morning at this time, we want to
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  Speaker 1: take some time with God at the beginning of our day,
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  Speaker 1: just to listen to Him and let Him guide and
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  Speaker 1: shape our lives. Our lives come into balance when we
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  Speaker 1: put God at the centre of them.
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  Speaker 1: And this week I want to take a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a different tack than we've been taking. I want to
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  Speaker 1: talk to the young adults in the audience. I know
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  Speaker 1: many of our listeners are young adults, and I want
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  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about things that you should
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  Speaker 1: look for in a dating relationship or in a marriage partner.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's quite a topic, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: Let's think about 5 Cs during this week. Each day
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  Speaker 1: a different C. Someone passed this on to me years ago.
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  Speaker 1: I've taught it to all of our kids. All of
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  Speaker 1: them probably roll their eyes and groan when I say,
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  Speaker 1: What are the 5 C's that you should be looking
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  Speaker 1: for in someone that you date? So here we go.
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  Speaker 1: C number 1.
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  Speaker 1: You should be looking to date another Christian.
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  Speaker 1: A Christian
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  Speaker 1: 1, let me read you a few verses out of
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  Speaker 1: 2 Corinthians in the Bible, chapter 6, starting in verse 14.
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  Speaker 1: It says do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for
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  Speaker 1: what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has
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  Speaker 1: light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial, or
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  Speaker 1: what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
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  Speaker 1: Now this is talking about a much broader kind of
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  Speaker 1: partnership than just marriage, business partnerships, any kind of partnership.
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  Speaker 1: He's saying be careful because you want to go into
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  Speaker 1: partnership with someone who holds the same values and has
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  Speaker 1: the same first love in their life as you do.
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  Speaker 1: And definitely this applies to marriage, and that's what dating
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  Speaker 1: is for, right? It's to learn stuff that you're going
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  Speaker 1: to need to know in marriage, and eventually to identify
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  Speaker 1: the person that you're going to marry. Well, uh, 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 this person that you're dating and
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  Speaker 1: the person that you marry.
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  Speaker 1: The most important thing in your life is your relationship
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  Speaker 1: with God and what Jesus Christ means to you. I've
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  Speaker 1: seen so much tragedy, so much pain, so much strife
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  Speaker 1: come into relationships that began because of physical attraction, but
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  Speaker 1: in the end there wasn't that shared love for God
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  Speaker 1: that is the foundation of a Christian marriage.
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  Speaker 1: When you share God and His role in your life,
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  Speaker 1: God is there to help you work through the conflict
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  Speaker 1: and crises that come in marriage. Now, when your relationship's new,
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  Speaker 1: you're all excited about seeing that person, you're all excited
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  Speaker 1: about being together. You're not thinking there's going to be conflict.
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  Speaker 1: You're not thinking you're going to be struggling. I'm here
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  Speaker 1: to tell you, as someone who's been married for more
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  Speaker 1: than 30 years.
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  Speaker 1: In a committed Christian relationship there is struggle. There is pain.
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  Speaker 1: No matter who you are, you're going to go through
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  Speaker 1: times in your marriage where you really don't like each other,
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  Speaker 1: even for extended periods of time. You're angry, really angry
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  Speaker 1: with each other. Those times are going to come. Who
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  Speaker 1: is going to help you at the deepest level when
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  Speaker 1: you face those times?
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  Speaker 1: God is, and you need to be in that relationship
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  Speaker 1: with someone in your life who is also walking with God.
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  Speaker 1: The number one priority that you should be looking for
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  Speaker 1: in someone that you date or someone that you marry
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  Speaker 1: is someone who also has that relationship with God. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you're married and you're married to someone who doesn't
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  Speaker 1: share that relationship with you, it doesn't mean you should
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  Speaker 1: get divorced, you should leave that relationship, no. The Bible
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  Speaker 1: specifically talks about people who are married in that situation
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  Speaker 1: and gives them guidelines for how to relate within that situation.
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  Speaker 1: But this week we're talking about who to marry and
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  Speaker 1: who to date. Number one, a Christian.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.