Winning: Win In Dating | Herbert Cooper

5 Ways To Win In Dating 1. Do not play the dating game Judges 15:1-2 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in. 2 "I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.(NIV) Judges 16:1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. (NIV) Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. (NIV) 2. Do not sleep around 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 God's will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. (NLT) 1 Corinthians 6:18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. (NLT) 1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (NLT) 3. Take time to get to know the person Judges 16:4-5 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver." (NIV) DATING CHECKLIST 1. Are they a Christ Follower? 2 Corinthians 6:14 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? (NLT) 2. Do you share the same core values?  3. Can you negotiate differences?  4. How does the person handle conflict? 5. How do they handle challenging or difficult relationships? 6. How do they handle suffering, loss and grief? 7. How do they interact and treat their family and friends? 8. How do they handle money? 9. How do they respond when they’re hungry, angry, tired, hurting and lonely? 10. What is their daily outlook on life? Winning Advice When Getting To Know Someone 1. Do not ignore the red flags 2. Do not believe issues will automatically work themselves out over time 3. Do not believe that you will change the person 4. Seek out godly and wise counsel Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. (NIV) Proverbs 4:7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. (NIV) Proverbs 12:15 The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. (NIV) Proverbs 4:1 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding. (NIV) Proverbs 19:20 Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. (NIV) Judges 16:15-16 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. (NIV) 5. Be it so you can receive it Numbers 6:5-6 "During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the Lord is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. 6 Throughout the period of his separation to the Lord he must not go near a dead body. Judges 14:8-9 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, 9 which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass. (NIV)