Sermon for Sunday, March 6th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Pro 2:1-8 ESV] 1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for …
Sermon for Sunday Evening, February 27th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Scripture reading: [Act 5:12-42 ESV] 12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but …
Sermon on Acts 5:12-5:42 – “The Wisdom of Man and the Wisdom of God” Read More »
Sermon for Sunday, February 27th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 40:34-38 ESV] 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on …
Sermon on Exodus 40:34-38 – “Filling the Tabernacle” Read More »
Sermon for Sunday, February 20th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 34:29-35 ESV] 29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face …
Sermon on Exodus 34:29-35 – “The Shining Glory of God” Read More »
Sermon for Sunday, February 13th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 34:1-28 ESV] 1 The LORD said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 …
Sermon on Exodus 34:1-28 – “The Mercy and Grace of God” Read More »
In a previous post here I noted the existence of a Meeting House that predates all of the churches in my area. Today I went and found it with the help of a local property owner nearby. The Meeting House, built on the land of Samuel Meeker in the late 18th century, is now is …
Sermon for Sunday, February 6th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 33:1-23 ESV] 1 The LORD said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, …
Sermon on Exodus 33:1-23 – “The Presence of God” Read More »
Today’s Unionville, NY had other names in its early years. According to the histories, it was once known as “Tucker’s Store” since an early resident, Henry Tucker, operated a store out of his house here. Then the general area was referred to as “Westown” (with one “t”) or “Westtown” (with two “t’s”) being as it …
The Changing Name of the Village of Unionville, NY Read More »
Two newspapers noted a surprise wedding at the Unionville Presbyterian Church in 1878. The first is the Evening Gazette of Port Jervis, NY of August 1st of that year. The second, similar but with a few changes, is the Tri-States Union, also of Port Jervis, NY but from the next day, August 2nd.
Sermon for Sunday, January 30th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 31:1-11 ESV] 1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit …
Sermon on Exodus 32:1-35 – “Who is On the Lord’s Side?” Read More »
I recently read an old (1990s) pamphlet written by Bible Presbyterian minister G. W. Fisher titled “Should Morality Be Legislated.” It was a valuable read, well thought out, and fair in explaining the positives and negatives of legislating morality. His major conclusion in the final section titled “So What Is The Church To Do?” was …
Sermon for Sunday Evening, January 23rd, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Scripture reading: [Act 4:32-5:11 ESV] 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything …
Sermon on Acts 4:32-5:11 – “Just Say No to Communism” Read More »
Sermon for Sunday, January 23rd, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament Reading: [1Ki 17:17-24 ESV] 17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, …
Sermon for Sunday, January 16th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 30:1-10 ESV] 1 “You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood. 2 A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth. It shall be square, and …
Sermon on Exodus 29:1-46 – “What Does it Take to be Clean?” Read More »
In 1979 Covenant Seminary professor J. Barton Payne died from a fall while climbing Mt. Fuji on sabbatical in Japan. In 1996 Denver Seminary professor Bob Alden died of a heart attack shortly after hiking in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I had learned about each of these cases some years ago, but conflated them …
The hiking deaths of two Old Testament professors. Read More »
Sermon for Sunday, January 9th, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 27:9-21 ESV] 9 “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. 10 Its twenty pillars and their …
Sermon on Exodus 28:1-43 – “The Glorious High Priest” Read More »
Things got busy in 2021! So while I read around 100 books a year each of the last few previous years, in 2021 I managed to read only 27 books. What happened? Well, in July my wife gave birth to our second child (and first son, Birch). While Birch has been generally a smiley boy …
This is entirely my own definition; I think of homesteading as a situation where you have a property that somehow makes you some money rather than you merely paying rent or a mortgage on it. It is not necessarily the case that the property “pays for itself.” Even if you can make a few hundred …
Sermon on Luke 2:1-7 – “A Christmas Message to Remember” Sermon for Friday, December 24th, 2021 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Scripture reading: [Luk 2:1-7 ESV] 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius …
Sermon for Sunday, December 19th, 2021 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 27:9-19 ESV] 9 “You shall make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side the court shall have hangings of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. 10 Its twenty pillars and their …
Sermon on Matthew 18:15-20 – “Directions for Corrections” Read More »
I have often seen Christians doubt their salvation because of concerns over whether they have sufficiently repented of their sins. Their mindset is something like this: “I’m told I must repent to be saved, but I keep sinning, therefore I must not be saved.” This mindset, however, generally misunderstands the nature of Biblical repentance and …
Sermon for Sunday, December 12th, 2021 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Exo 27:1-8 ESV] 1 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits broad. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be three cubits. 2 And you shall make horns for …
Sermon on Exodus 26:1-37 – “Seeing Christ in the Tabernacle” Read More »
Sermon for Sunday, December 5th, 2021 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC) Old Testament reading: [Isa 7:10-17 ESV] 10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and …
