Rebuilding His House; Hag. 2:18-19

Delivered during the Thanksgiving Day Service, 11/27/2025. When Cyrus ended the Babylonian Captivity and sent the first wave of exiles back to Jerusalem, he made it clear the reason for the return was to rebuild the house of the Lord. Although the foundation was quickly laid, the completion of the house languished for almost two decades. During these years the times were hard, enemies were prevalent, and the crops persistently failed. When Haggai the prophet emphatically told the people it was because they had failed to rebuild the house of the Lord as they had been instructed, it stirred Zerubbabel and the others to get busy with construction. As a result, the Lord blessed their efforts. In many ways, in its current state, the "house of the Lord" lies in shambles in our country. In this Thanksgiving Day meditation, we will consider one of the root causes of this decline and what the church can and should be doing about it. Day by day the secular forces are at work, erasing the strong Christian foundation this country was built on. And yet, the church fails miserably to counter this intrusion by faithfully passing down from generation to generation the truth of our spiritual history. In this message, we will consider just a "slice" of this history in the unique but very significant friendship between George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin. And through that, establish the impact Christianity has had on secularism, and how important it is that we as God's people continue the struggle to rebuild His house.