Keith Battle - The Dating Game

Judges Chapter 14. I have no idea how that’s going to go. Judges Chapter 14! How y’all doing? Tessa, mine’s good to see you in church! I saw you at the club, so it was good to see you in church. Judges 14, beginning at verse 1. Hmm, let me pray. I’ve got to get that off me; this song is so good! Father, thank you so much for this time. Thank you for your word. Your word says at the entrance of your word, you give light. Give us light today; give us help; give us hope, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless every one of the brothers and sisters at the DC jail, and thank God for everybody tuning in, wherever you’re listening to this radio broadcast. We are excited to connect with you.

Judges Chapter 14, beginning in verse 1, says: One day when Samson was in Timna, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. Verse 2: When he returned home, he told his father and mother, «A young Philistine woman in Timna caught my eye; I want to marry her. Get her for me.» That’s pretty strategic! Yes, his father and mother objected: «Isn’t there even one woman in your tribe or among all the Israelites you can marry? How about somebody around here?» «No thanks, that’s mine.» «Must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?» Uh-huh, let me read. But Samson told his father, «Get her for me; she looks good to me.» By the way, for the record, he did marry her, and the marriage lasted one day. Read the story. One day! By the next day, he moved back in with his parents. At the fair, there’s an argument. You should read Judges 14 and 15; it’s really cool!

Here’s my subject today: I’m going to talk to you from this subject today: What married people wished they had heard before they got married. I’m in the house! Huh? Yeah, there are some things you wish you had heard before you did what you did. How many would agree with that? You can see! Don’t you name that? You ain’t gonna stay. She wishes she had this information ahead of time. When I look at what Samson did and how he saw this woman and said, «I want to marry her, ” and married her, it’s so shallow; it’s shocking! But then I thought about all of us who had the same experience.

The first day, the first day I laid eyes on her! Yawn, or whatever. The first time, I knew that was the one! Shorty, when I first saw her, it happens. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I think you should take a deeper look before you dive in, before you get all invested in a relationship with somebody who is relatively a stranger to you. I think it’s important that we take a deeper look.

Now, I want to preface this message by saying I am an optimist. I believe in love. I’m kind of like a romantic. I don’t know if I was always that way, but I’m definitely in that space now. Y’all know my story; Vicky and I had, you know, our marriage was bad for a long time. Now, it’s like we’re like eighth graders going to the kings of man; very rich! Well, you can grab your white button, put your tongue in her mouth, you’re good. That’s what I’m saying! Yes! I don’t know how all this is coming out. Hey, I need a little time; give me some time to get back in the pastoral mode. I know it’s deeper than that.

But even though I’m a love optimist, one of the things that Vicky has helped me with, with her wisdom, is to be more of a realist. Because my optimism collides with reality when some of my idealism about love meets where people really are. And by that, I mean most people who are single, who are in the dating space, if you will, tend to be auditioning. That’s a good word right there! Most people out here, who are not in a committed relationship, and some of you are even in a committed relationship, are really performing. It’s really an audition. An audition is always—you’re always on stage. It’s like it’s an ongoing audition because you don’t know when you’re going to be chosen or if you’re gonna be selected.

So, you have to always put your best foot forward, and you have to always be on top of your game. That’s why you’ll see someone who will never be caught outdoors with their hair undone or uncovered; never! I’m in one town; I reached for a woman’s hat who I knew, and I swear I thought she was going to stab me for even looking at her like that. It’s not a little game! Like the people who will never be caught wearing something that highlights any imperfection in their body. They’ll never be seen like that out in public. People work so hard to perfect their imperfections. If a person has a flat butt, they’ll wear something to make it poke out, or they’ll get support; or whatever. If a person has a protruding stomach, you know, all the men wear big shirts because we don’t want anything hanging out. I’m not being condescending; we all do it. Let me say this is the mood of a man with stomach issues; if we do, hold on, we sit.