Relationship Reset: Dating with Discernment
Selected Scriptures
Connect:
Share how you have seen God in the Highs and Lows of your week.
Prayer:
Pray that God would lead your discussion time and bring fresh insight, conviction, and hope through your time together.
Review:
Relationships shape every part of our lives — at home, at work, in dating, in marriage, and across generations. But without intentionality, even the most important relationships can drift from God’s design. Relationship Reset is a practical and biblical journey toward realignment — learning how to build healthier marriages, wiser dating lives, stronger families, better workplace connections, and more redemptive conflict. From motherhood and fatherhood to screens and singleness, this series challenges us to stop drifting and start building. Because when our relationships align with God’s design, they don’t just function — they flourish. This week, we looked at dating relationships that set us up for success.…
The Grand Tour of the message: Thinking back on what you heard this Sunday…
o What did you learn about God?
o What did you learn about people?
o What did you learn about yourself?
o What do you want to commit to putting into practice?
Reflection:
Personal Experience & Discussion:
Share about about a date that just went really well (to the point where you wanted to pursue a courting relationship with them). Discuss: What was it about the other person that made you think, “Wow, this might work”?
Reflective Discussion (Remember to look at the context of the verses as you are reading!):
Read Proverbs 4:23: Discuss:
What are boundaries in a dating relationship that make sense if our goal is to ‘guard our heart"‘ (and theirs) from unnecessary hurt?
Do those boundaries (1) honor God and (2) acknowledge that you may be dating some else’s future spouse?
Read Matt 7:24-27. We often envision a future in our relationships where nothing goes wrong… and it never works out that way because we are fallen humans in a broken world. We desperately need to anchor our lives, values, hopes… to something certain in a world of chaos. DISCUSS:
Why is hearing Jesus’ words not enough; we have to do what He says?
Why would that make our lives feel secure in a chaotic world?
What does it mean that the house “fell with a great crash”?
Read Ps 119:32: Unpack what that verse means in the context of honoring God in a dating relationship.
Read 2 Cor 6:14, Prov 12:4: Discuss:
Why does a spouse’s character have such a devastating effect on the other’s life?
How would the faith of one’s spouse affect one’s own journey of faith-lived-out (in stewarding money, raising kids, resolving conflict, building trust…)?
Read 1 Thes 4:3-5, Song of Sol 8:6-7: Pastor Scott made the comment that physical intimacy was not intended to “carry” the relationship but rather to “crown” the relationship. Discuss: In light of the Scriptures we just read,
What does “avoid sexual immorality” look like in practice (whether dating a boyfriend or girlfriend, or married and staying faithful)?
How does “knowing God” help us to be “holy and honorable”, seeking to live “sanctified” (set apart) and “in control of [our] own bodies”?
Application:
The focus this week was on dating with discernment, but the call to live holy lives is to all of us, as we are all tempted to live outside the “narrow way” of God’s intent. What is one area of your own life that needs to be rebuilt on "the “rock” of Jesus’ words lived out in obedience? Take some time to commit to this tonight, asking for the Lord’s help and seeking accountability from a trusted friend.
Prayer:
Spend some time thanking God for the gift of discernment and godly counsel, and commit to building your lives on the truth that sets us free.
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