Oh, too bad the women's team from Little Rock couldn't have beat the women's sooner team down there in Norman this last week, but well, at least you guys know where we are now. so. I'm John Hiller and I am from Little Rock, Arkansas and my dear wife is with me, Bobby in the back, and we are delighted to be with you this weekend. I'd like to just tell you a little bit about what we're going to be discussing, and that will be from our text for the weekend is going to be Haggai, chapter one, and a very familiar verse in some senses, and yet probably not as familiar in other senses as it could be Haggai chapter 1 and verse 5 which reads now therefore says the Lord of hosts consider your ways and this weekend I'd like to ask you to do something for your own self and that would be out of Haggai chapter 1 and verse 5, what is the secret that unlocks the power of that verse? There is a secret in this verse that unlocks its power. And if I could put it to you in another way, and the reason I ask you to do this, because if I see you and I get a moment to visit with you during the weekend, I'm going to ask you what do you think is the secret that unlocks this verse in a person's life what makes this verse come alive in a very powerful way so hagi chapter one verse five says now therefore says the lord of hosts consider your ways and the theme that i'd like to take up this weekend is choices at all the different choices that a person can make. We may look at a few, but not many. I like to look at the anatomy of a choice. How is a choice actually made? What goes into it? And what are the results of the choice? Not necessarily are they results that will return to me something immediately, but I want to look at the dynamics of how many other ways your choices are felt. And that's something that I'd like to look at. So, as you think with me a little bit about this subject this weekend, I'd like to challenge you to begin thinking about the choice-making process that is going on in your life right now. Because we all are. And that's one of the things that God has so much to say about in His Word. of the key to that is the prophet Haggai was commanded and called out and said, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. And so I want to look at that this weekend. And again, in considering your ways, what is the key that unlocks that verse so that it means power in your life? power. There is a secret. If I could put it this way, let me just say this. What is the obstacle that must be overcome in being able to enjoy the good of this verse when Haggai says, consider your ways. There's a wealth of blessing that is just jammed into this little full of meaning and that's what we're going to look at this weekend we'll look at twice tomorrow twice Lord willing tomorrow and Sunday morning some of it will involve being able to make right judgments how to really know whether or not you should judge something if it's the right judgment whether or not the choice process that you have made matches up with the choice process that God has spelled out at his word that will guarantee God's very best in your life. So I thought perhaps you would be interested in that and be interested to see how much daily choices affect you. So by the grace of God and his help, Haggai 1.5, what unlocks the secret to this verse as producing real power for change in your life? What is the, and If that doesn't help you, what is the obstacle that I've got to learn to overcome, according to this verse, before I can enjoy the blessing of what God calls me to do when he says, consider your ways? Okay? This is a question for blessing, by the way. All right? So don't look at it as God coming down with a big bat going, now that I've got you squashed and smashed to pieces, now I want you to grovel. the rest of the days of your life he is calling us to a great blessing and I want to share by the grace of God how we can unlock that in our lives so I guess that's where we'll end that'll be the shortest message you'll ever hear out of this kid I guarantee you that so enjoy I'm all done I don't know who gets it next but I'm finished hope we're gonna have some snacks upstairs just a few moments notice there's been a few people that have come in if anyone needs a