Update: You can listen to the sermon here. Because of technical problems, the first five minutes have been cut off. Thanks.
Tonight I am getting the opportunity to preach to a group of young adults at the Awakening. I am involved with leading worship there weekly, so this will be a great opportunity to interact with that group in a different way.
We have been working through a series called Ruth and Relationships and I will be focusing in on the aspect of dating. For those of you who will be there tonight, I wanted to give you a sneak peek for tonight, and for those who can’t be there tonight I wanted to share a little bit of what I will be sharing tonight.
The passage I am preaching on is Ruth 2:3-16 and the main point I am making is that the point of dating is to help the other person honor God more in their life. I define dating more thoroughly this way:
Dating is the process of helping one another fall more in love with Christ, through intentional service and selfless giving, with the hope that as the individuals fall more in love with Christ, God draws the hearts of the two together as well.
By comparing two famous Bachelors (Todd Womack and Boaz), we will explore the different effects of self-centered dating and others centered dating.
Self-centered dating
Self-centered dating, the belief that the point of dating is to fall in love and be happy through the other person produces these three things:
1. Self-centered dating produces an atmosphere of manipulation.
2. Self-centered dating exchanges the subject with the object in a godly definition of love.
3. Self-centered dating reverses the order of operations for how couples grow in intimacy.
Other-centered dating
Other centered dating is the view that the point of dating is to come alongside the other person and serve them in such a way that helps them fall more in love with Christ. It produces these three things:
1. Other-centered dating builds an atmosphere of authenticity.
2. Other-centered dating reinforces the subject and object of godly love.
3. Other-centered dating establishes the proper order for developing intimacy.
I’m excited to get the opportunity to preach tonight and would appreciate your prayers. There is a lot of hurt that happens because of self-centered dating, so I’m hoping God can use the message tonight to heal some wounds and shift the paradigm back to a healthier approach to dating.
Shouts From the Wilderness 
So well put Cody. We will be praying for you tonight and know that you will do a great job of communicating the heart of this passage. I hope your younger counterpart gets a chance to see this.
Self-centered dating sacrifices the permanent on the altar of the immediate. It’s the surest way to sabotage your ultimate wedding and to spend the lion’s share of the second half of your life alone.
His name is BRAD! hehe. 😉
And good job, Tuesday! Thanks for the message!