Wednesday Devos

6 months later…………(finishing strong) As I sit here at my computer and type these words, several people come to mind. The people that I am thinking about are folks that I haven’t seen in a while. They are all folks who I have seen make professions of faith, join the church, and then leave the church. I am ashamed to say that where they are now, I do not know. They may be attending another church, have moved away, or possibly just stopped coming. What can we make of these situations? What can be said of those who were burning for Christ, and then their flame simply seemed to die? Before I go any further we must understand something. I am not being judgmental. I do not presume to know the condition of any one person’s heart but it is my desire to share scripture and thoughts right now so that God may enable you to finish strong. 1 Thessalonians 5:23,24—Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Only those who finish strong are true believers, and only true believers finish strong. This statement is made for us to examine ourselves, not others. Do you notice how everything, in the act of keeping us blameless is done by God? God sanctifies. God keeps us blameless. God calls. God surely does it. Surely. God is the worker of our assurance. Do you remember Fannie J. Crosby’s hymn? Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine O what a foretaste of glory divine Heir of salvation, Purchase of God Born of His spirit, Washed in His blood To be purchased by God means that the cross effected your salvation. Effected, not affected. Effect is the result. Affect means it did something to it. Effect means it did it. Paul says that God will keep us blameless to the day of Christ’s return. He keeps us! Now, obviously, Christians sin. I sin all the time. So what keeps us blameless if we are worthy of the blame? The Answer-the blood of Jesus! If he calls us, he is faithful to keep us. The bible does not speak of a hypothetical bride or church. The assurance of Christ having a bride is in the assurance that God is faithful to keep us. “He will surely do it”. So what does this mean to us? It means this—if you are a true believer, Christ will keep you. He may allow you to wander off and resist him for a while, but you are His and if you are a true believer, your resistance will be overcome by His grace and you will return just as the prodigal son. The story of the prodigal son is as much about you coming home, because you are His, as it is coming home because you are in need. God is Love! He is faithful! He will surely do it! Josh Martin

Feeling left out!

Greetings everyone! From looking at all the blogs posted as well as some of the messages on the board, it seems I missed out this past weekend. I would however like to thank Danny Hughes (Derek's dad) for filling in for me. From the sounds of it, I missed some great fellowship and fun. Your probably not wondering why I wasn't there, but I will tell you anyway. Working as a mail man means that I have to work on Saturdays which puts a damper on a lot of things for me, but Ericcia won't let me quit. :) I had scheduled an evening with the youth leader at my home church Conerstone Christian, Brandon Hadley. We set off on a little road trip and got lost for a little bit in Cincinnati. However, all turned out good and we had some great fellowship over the course of the evening. We had a chance to just kindof talk freely to each other about our faith and situations that occur in life that can test your faith. He turned me on to a pretty cool website and television show that really lays it all out for help in sharing your faith at www.wayofthemaster.com , check it out! I also got involved in a softball tournament with the post office on Sunday afternoon, well lets say I was there for moral support cause I absolutely stink at softball!!! We did have a great time though and raised some money for the MDA and the Postal Employees Relief Fund and our office brought home the trophy for the 2nd year in a row. So anyhow, I definitely look forward to JMB making another trip to VU. God Bless everyone and I only have 16 days until the cruise!!!!! later Kelly

VU Retreat

Hey y'all (I've started saying that for some reason... maybe since we're playing in other states and I need to stay true to my Kentucky roots). I had a great, great time at the retreat this weekend. I didn't want to leave. I enjoyed meeting and hanging out with a great group of students & leaders. Hopefully, we'll get to go back to VU sometime soon. I'm blessed to be a part of this band to have experiences & opportunities like this weekend. VU students - if any of you have pictures you'd like to send, send us an email through the website. We'd love to see them! More blogging to come... including the busiest gas station ever. For now, I'm exhausted! Later... - Andrew

Fall Retreat

Hey- Derek here with my first blog post... ever. Pretty exciting! Well anyway, i got home last night (actually i guess i should say this morning) at 3:30 am from Flora, Illinois. We led worship at Vincennes University's Campus Ministry fall retreat and it was truly an awesome experience. It was so much fun meeting a lot of new people, hanging out, and playing knock-out. I had to come home a day early in order to play at my church this morning but Josh and Andrew stayed and played for one more worship service (they should be on their way home right now). Oh, our new worship CD came in a few days ago and I am so excited to be a part of it. Be sure to check it out next time you see us in concert. It makes me even more pumped about our next studio album- it's going to rock your face off! Until next time...

The Josh Martin Band Alive 2005

I am sooooo excited about our new worship cd that we recorded live in may. I recieved them today and those of you who pre-ordered should get yours in the next 7 days. God is so awesome!! He continues to bless us and bring encouragement just when we need it. Although we have just now recieved our new live cd, we will hit the studio again in the next couple of months for our next studio project. God has really taught me a lot in the past several months and my songwriting is reflecting those things that he has revealed. We thank you guys for checking out our site and supporting us. Be sure to check out the message board and let us know what you guys are thinking. I am starting a topic on songwriting where folks can post any helpful hints and/or suggestions that would help us songwriters to write the truth. I am also going to start posting a weekly devotion right here on the blog. Check for it on Wednesday. Take care and God bless. Josh Martin

trying this out

Just trying out the blog stuff. Hello anyway! Josh

Countdown to Vacation

As summer draws to a close, I am anxiously awaiting October 12th! My wife (Ericcia), my in-laws, and myself are embarking on an eight-day cruise! This will be my third cruise over the past six years and we are going to be celebrating our 2nd anniversary. Those of you that have not been on a cruise, NEED TO TAKE ONE!, two dollars a day can get you a vacation of a lifetime! There is my free plug for Carnival Cruise Lines. All the JMB guys are excited about the upcoming release of our new Live praise and worship CD. Things are starting to pull together on the mixing and mastering and it is sounding great! Keep your eyes open on our website for all the latest details. Until next time......

Great Weekend

We had a great couple of gigs this weekend. Saturday, we had the pleasure of leading worship and giving a concert for the youth from Capital Church of the Nazarene. The group was on a weekend retreat to Camp Covenant in Bald Knob, KY. They were a great group of kids. I'm kind of partial - that's my parents' home church. Howard Wilson is helping lead that church in a great direction, and he knows that building a solid youth program is a fundamental element to a healthy church. (Sorry Howard - God hasn't lead me away from Crestwood yet!) Josh broke a string, shortly after saying he never breaks strings. Ha! Bert wasn't able to join us. Derek & Kelly were on fire, despite not even being able to see their instruments! "Billy Graham" is our closest attempt at being a jam band with the introductions and extended solos. It's becoming a crowd favorite. Sunday, we played at Pleasureville United Methodist. A bit of an older crowd (compared to the youth group from Saturday night), but they seemed to like us. No broken strings for Josh this time. Bert decided to show up for this gig (I'm kidding, Bert!). A couple of new songs, "Learning More Everyday," and "Wrap Me In Your Cross" are starting to develop nicely. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" is also becoming a favorite of the band. Look for other members of the band to start posting on the blog soon - including devotionals from Josh. Take care and God bless! - Andrew