Homestead Homilies

Homestead Homilies PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532614802
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 117

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Book Description
Relive through reminiscing and remembering, a Maine pastor's recollections of boyhood experiences that turned into a minister's messages in old age. After five decades (Barry's first message was preached in 1966), travel back in time with a lifelong Maineaic to his home place, the Blackstone homestead of Perham, Maine. What sparked these homilies was his inheritance of seven acres of the family farm, homesteaded in 1861, and the receiving of his grandparent's house built in 1924 at the death of his Uncle Paul. You will probably come to the same conclusion as this coastal Maine pastor--that his seminary training began long before he attended a Bible school in South Carolina in the early 1970s. Flash back with him to the 1950s and 1960s when spiritual lessons were everywhere on his rural potato and dairy farm. Pastor Blackstone didn't know it then, but realizes now that he was surrounded by family Bible teachers and friendly Biblical instructors that eventually would inspire this series of sermons. Homestead Homilies is a collection of scriptural observations inspired by a dog named Rover, an uncle named Read, a moonlit night, a barnyard hedge, a day plowing, a grandmother's helpful hand, a bee hive, a simple prayer, a sparrow's song, and many more simple events in a past age where homilies were being preached and now eventually heard. It is the author's prayer that these simple sermons will provoke the reader to remember long lost messages from their distant past.

Homestead Homilies

Homestead Homilies PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532614802
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 117

Get Book Here

Book Description
Relive through reminiscing and remembering, a Maine pastor's recollections of boyhood experiences that turned into a minister's messages in old age. After five decades (Barry's first message was preached in 1966), travel back in time with a lifelong Maineaic to his home place, the Blackstone homestead of Perham, Maine. What sparked these homilies was his inheritance of seven acres of the family farm, homesteaded in 1861, and the receiving of his grandparent's house built in 1924 at the death of his Uncle Paul. You will probably come to the same conclusion as this coastal Maine pastor--that his seminary training began long before he attended a Bible school in South Carolina in the early 1970s. Flash back with him to the 1950s and 1960s when spiritual lessons were everywhere on his rural potato and dairy farm. Pastor Blackstone didn't know it then, but realizes now that he was surrounded by family Bible teachers and friendly Biblical instructors that eventually would inspire this series of sermons. Homestead Homilies is a collection of scriptural observations inspired by a dog named Rover, an uncle named Read, a moonlit night, a barnyard hedge, a day plowing, a grandmother's helpful hand, a bee hive, a simple prayer, a sparrow's song, and many more simple events in a past age where homilies were being preached and now eventually heard. It is the author's prayer that these simple sermons will provoke the reader to remember long lost messages from their distant past.

Meows from the Manse

Meows from the Manse PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666743585
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
If you are a cat lover and a Christian, then this book is for you. Seventeen years in the making, Meows from the Manse is a collection of remembrances and reflections from a Maine pastor about his “cat of a lifetime” and the years they lived together at the parsonage (manse) of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Ellsworth, Maine. Eddie was a stray tomcat that eventually worked his way into the heart of this reluctant minister, despite the fact that this man of the cloth never liked cats. Surrounded by cats in his younger years on a family farm, and always living with a cat or two because of his wife’s love affair with cats (Coleen’s last cat would live twenty-two years—sixteen of them with Eddie), and his kid’s love of cats, the exploits and experience with Eddie would change this pastor’s mind about cats, teaching him the biblical challenge of Job 12:7: “But ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee!” Relive the years with Eddie and the Pearl (Coleen’s cat) and the enriching spiritual lessons this preacher learned from his constant companion and friend through the challenging years as a pastor of a small coastal church, the death of a thirty-nine-year-old son, and the passing of his dear wife of forty-eight years. The cat tales begin with Eddie’s arrival across from the pastor’s church and end with the passing of Eddie from throat cancer. In between are insights you might not believe from the Bible, but for the author were some of the best sermons he heard during that period of his life. Without a doubt for this widower, the messages (meows) from Eddie were some of the best he ever heard, but he will let you be the judge!

Rover

Rover PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532634331
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 103

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Book Description
Walk again in your childhood with a favorite animal friend as Pastor Blackstone remembers his boyhood and best friend: a dog named Rover and their adventures together. This series of remembrances and reminisces of a canine companion after over a half a century of time was invoked by an adulthood best friend, a cat named Eddie (highlighted in his own book—Meows from the Manse). Rover: A Boy’s Best Friend is a mental stroll through memory lane when the author was much younger and the world of his family’s homestead was open for exploration and expedition with a mostly black German Shepherd and Collie mix at his side. Travel with these best friends through the four seasons of nature covered in white and green and brown; through the forest paths of north Perham, a tiny agriculture community in Aroostook County, Maine; through the fields and the pastures of a 720-acre dairy and potato farm as they encounter woodland creatures of every sort and barnyard animals of every kind; through meadows and mornings and moonsets that years later form wonderful illustrations and spiritual lessons for the young man who would grow up to become a pastor for nearly a half century. You will hear from Rover himself as he barks out sermons that will stand the test of time, and homestead homilies that will rebuke and reprove as the author makes a modern application to a boyhood experience with his dog. Sit back and read and recall your own “dog tales,” or “cat tales” if that is your favorite animal, as you travel again with “a lad and his Lassie,” with a “shaver” and his Rin Tin Tin, through the early years of life when your best friend was a dog named Rover!

Earth's Farthest Bounds

Earth's Farthest Bounds PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532698801
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Return for a fifth time with Pastor Blackstone to the fabled land of India and discover more biblical precepts and life-changing concepts as he travels again with his good friend Shibu Simon to “earth’s farthest bounds.” This time the Maine pastor will speak at three Indian graduations in three days in two different Indian states, witness a baptism in a cattle trough, get up close and personal with a temple elephant that had just blessed a house, and travel through eight Indian states in ten days while journeying the length and breadth of India in a four-thousand-mile odyssey. That odyssey will include visiting the Taj Mahal by water, the Red Fort of Agra, the Golden Temple of the Sikhs, a hostel in Delhi, and the guru caves of Udayagiri. Experience your first cycle rickshaw ride in Amritsar, your first rural hospital in Uttar Pradesh, your fifth Indian train ride through Haryana, and a surprising side-trip to Orissa. These encounters and experiences will cause you to think what is possible if you step out of your comfort zone and journey to “earth’s farthest bounds” on business for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords—Jesus Christ!

Expendable

Expendable PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666717126
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
Have you ever wondered why the best die young? Who of us hasn’t thought the same thing when we learn of the death of a young Christian with such potential when a fellow believer lives on to wreck his testimony, the reputation of the local church, and the cause of Christ? Having been a pastor now for nearly fifty years I have had nearly a lifetime to ponder the word “expendable” in relationship to not only individuals, but dreams and desires, hopes and wishes, events and expectations. This concept of expendability came home to me years ago when I learned that my grandfather, on my mother’s side, had a brother who died of an illness in his early twenties after only spending a year on the mission field in Peru! Over the portal to a special room that celebrates those that died young in the Hall of the Faithful in Heaven is found, I believe, this superscription: “EXPENDABLE”! I would like to share with you some of the biblical portraits that are hanging from those celestial walls, for if you are looking for the answer to the question I asked, I have come to believe it can only be found in the Bible.

Satan's Super Soldiers

Satan's Super Soldiers PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Barry Blackstone has been fascinated with the biblical reference to “giants” since childhood but only began looking deeper into the subject when he was challenged by a member of his congregation twenty-five years ago. Over those years, Blackstone compiled information on all the named “giants” and those that slew them (men well-known like David, Joshua, and Caleb and those not so well-known like Othniel, Elhanan, and Abishai). Coming to the conclusion that this race of super-humans was a product of Satan’s plan to corrupt man, stop the coming of the Messiah, and resist the Hebrews from possessing their promised land, Blackstone began to see the principles and precepts needed to combat the “giants” of our day in our spiritual warfare “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12). Travel with this pastor through the Bible as he reveals the origin of the “giants,” how they survived the Flood, and when they were finally wiped out in the days of David. With strange names like Rephaim, OG, Arba, Anak, Sheshai, and of course Goliath, learn about their fabled size, their formable weapons, and why they all were so easily defeated! This exploration will cover some of the greatest battles described in Scripture and will uncover how to win against gigantic foes personally. Each chapter is written in a devotional style that will bring a spiritual encouragement to the reader and will help them see that no matter how invincible the adversary, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).

North to Alaska and Back

North to Alaska and Back PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532647840
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Are you ready for an Alaska adventure? Travel with a pastor through central Alaska on a two-week tour of our fiftieth state. A lifelong dream to visit the land of the midnight sun, this preacher will share his spiritual insights and Biblical observations of the last frontier. Journeying with this Maine minister will be his wife of forty-five years and their first born son, who had spent his final two years of active military service stationed in Alaska with the United States Army. Experience the North Pole and fishing for grayling and rainbow trout near Fairbanks; taste for the first time Alaskan king crab; travel south with this trio to Denali National Park and witness the animal world at its finest; view Mt. McKinley from thirty-six miles; explore the Kenai Peninsula and catch the biggest rainbow trout of your life; visit old missionary friends at their airfield ranch in Chickaloon; take a plane ride over one of the greatest glaciers in the world; four-wheel through virgin forest to a glacier river; feel the spray of ice-cold waterfalls while passing through a mountain pass; share the thrill with your son of hundreds of migrating salmon bumping against your legs in a tidal stream, and pan for gold and find some nearby ancient gold dredge. Travel with the Blackstones as they experience the best of what Alaska can offer tourists as well as the explorers, and on the way learn a few spiritual lessons that might just change your life.

Sermonettes from the Seashore

Sermonettes from the Seashore PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532682573
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Coming from this preacher's love of the seashore is a series of sermonettes he heard while walking along some of the world's sandy beaches. Stroll with this man as he shares his insights from days spent on seashores in the counties of Israel, India, Canada, and Australia, as well as the states of Alaska, California, Florida, New Jersey, and Maine. Listen with him as he hears surf and sea sermons, tide and tern tenets, beach and breeze benedictions, and sand and storm sermonettes. Look with him into the face of a coastal nor'easter; watch with him as sea creatures and shoreline birds play together along the sea edge; behold brilliant sunrises and amazing sunsets over distant shores with family and friends; and observe the rising and falling of the great tides, all events along a seashore that inspired these spiritual messages from the Almighty. So take off your shoes; let the sand fill the cracks between your toes; lift your eyes toward the sea; open your ears to the sound of the surf; and "be still, and know that I am God" (Ps 46:10). What does God want to say?

Beyond the Bend

Beyond the Bend PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725291584
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
Journey with a family through six months in “the valley of the shadow of death” as an aggressive lung cancer takes a beloved, firstborn son through the worst battle of his life. A Purple Heart recipient from the Afghan war, Scott’s war with cancer will highlight and underline the survival on a distant battlefield only to die on a familiar home front. Share the thoughts and memories of a dad reflecting on the irony of the number forty, and read of his memories of his past that helped him endure one of the greatest tragedies of his life, the death of his son in his fortieth year. Witness the miracles in the midst of the misery as family and friends rally to help this family cope with an incurable disease. Note the sadness that comes when this father’s father passes away at the height of his grandson’s struggle for survival. Hear the glimmer of hope that comes from looking “beyond” to happier and fairer days coming in the blessed place called heaven. See the faith that sustains through insomnia and illness, heartache and heartbreak. Learn the precepts from the Bible that that will not only help one understand the process but understand the purpose of why someone so young passes away. This book is more about departing than dying; more about heaven than earth; and more about acceptance than bitterness.

At a Moment's Notice

At a Moment's Notice PDF Author: Barry Blackstone
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 166676034X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
At a Moment’s Notice is the very first writing project the author ever attempted in 1988. After thirty-five years, the author took a second look at the series of devotionals and decided they needed to be made into a book. At a Moment’s Notice contains fifty chapters based upon the truth of the title. Gleaning from the word of God, the Bible, the preacher in the author recognized that more often than not the main characters underlined in the Scriptures reacted immediately to certain situations and circumstances they were confronted with. Take a trip through Holy Writ as we encounter the judge Shamgar as he comes face-to-face with a marauding band of Philistines in his field; as Lydia the purple saleswoman meets Paul by a river in Philippi; as Hur helps Moses at a moment’s notice with the Rod of God that eventually wins an important battle; as Simeon comes into Herod’s Temple just at the right moment to meet the Christ-child; and as Naboth has to make the most difficult decision of his life that will also cost him his life. Though the actions and reactions of each famous or infamous hero or heroine highlighted in the book have the same quality, the lessons being taught are as varied as the stories being told. Take a few moments to read the account and ponder what is being taught, and then hopefully an application can be made in the reader’s heart—at a moment’s notice!