180 Table Talk

Hey guys, Mike Cabell and myself have started a blog call at www.180tabletalk.blogspot.com Check it out if you get a chance. josh

Wed Devo (sort of)

Boldly Speaking the Truth This morning’s devotion is a little more of a confession than examination of scripture. Never the less, hopefully you will be encouraged and challenged. Having just come out of the recording studio, I am finding myself reexamining the songs that I have written. Many of the songs that I have written are songs of challenge. Songs like “Not So Easily Pleased” and “Depths of Your Mercy”, although they may be considered fast songs, are really songs that I must sing to myself everyday. If the truth be known, I am very easily pleased most of the time. I am wearing a shirt that bears the title of that song along with Philippians 3:7-9 to remind me that I have someone who is infinitely more satisfying than anything I have ever seen, touched, or tasted. If the truth be know, I often view God’s mercy as very shallow because my pride would have me believe that I really don’t need too much mercy to start with. I have a tendency to believe that I am basically good when in reality I am just good at hiding my sin. Martin Luther was pastoring a church a few years after the reformation and his congregation would come to him and ask “why do you continue to preach us the gospel week after week?” They were implying that they were ready to move on to something else. He responded by saying, “Because week after week you forget it. Until you come in here looking like a people who are truly liberated by the gospel, I will continue to preach it to you.” Is that not a picture of us? Has the truth of the gospel set you free? Have you been set free from comparing your ministry to others? Have you been set free from living in fear of your sin being found out? The gospel liberates because the gospel will expose a crucified Christ and expose your sin. How beautiful and offensive is the cross! The cross exposes my pride. The cross exposes my lack of love for my enemies. The cross exposes my wandering mind and lustful heart. STOP HIDING!!! Your sin HAS been exposed! It is my prayer for myself and for you as the church that we would truly repent and stop hiding as if God were against us. I have always had a desire to speak truth through music and that is why I must go back and examine what I sing and say night after night. This conviction has come at what seems to be full force just in the past few months. I have written songs that many people have commented about how much they love the song. After having examined the song a little closer, I find that the song glorifies man and not God. In case you have ever wondered why we sing and play, it is to glorify God by lifting him up and portraying him as he is which is something that our minds can’t fathom. I am interested to see what songs filter through my brain and heart for future concerts. If any songs on our new recording should be dwelt on, I would recommend “Wrap me in Your Cross” and “Redemption Hymn”. Until then, here is a song to read and re-read and re-read again and again. Read this aloud if you can. You need to hear this as much read it. The Church’s One Foundation by Samuel S. Wesley The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord She is His new creation by water and the word From heav’n He came and sought her to be His holy bride With His own blood he bought her, and for her life he died Elect from every nation yet one o’er all the earth Her charter of salvation, One Lord, one faith, one birth One holy name she blesses, Partakes on holy food And to one hope she presses, with every grace endued Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war She waits the consummation of peace forevermore Till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest And the great church victorious shall be the church at rest Yet she on earth hath union with God the three in one And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won O happy ones and holy! Lord give us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with thee. A-Men. josh

Two days later

The Cedarmore Sessions have officially ended. I am glad that the band decided to record most of this project in one weekend. It makes things so much easier on everybody. I think that we all had as much fun just hanging out and goofing off. The ghosts of Cedarmore past spared our band until next time we visit. Although one of the beds from the lodge mysteriously appeared in the hallway the last night. BOO!! That was for derek! LOL! Hope to see you guys soon! josh

JMB Recording: Day 3, Part 3

Technically, it's Day #4 (12:39 a.m.). Josh is in the drum booth (which has been converted to a guitar booth) recording his acoustic guitar tracks. "Get Up to a High Mountian" is up currently. He's moving through the songs pretty quick, so he'll probably wrap up pretty soon. Bert is passed out in the middle of the floor (he fell asleep listening to Josh record). Kelly is manning the recording console. I (Andrew) have torn down most of my drum & recording gear. I'll be packing up in the morning and heading to the first service at my new church, The Point. Derek & Danny headed home a little earlier - they have an early church service in Frankfort tomorrow. Doug has also packed up and headed home. The rest of the guys will come back after their church services to lay down vocals. From that point, we should be pretty close to finishing recording. We've had a great time this weekend and can't wait to start mixing the album. We're excited about what God has in store for this album. See you soon...

JMB Recording: Day 3, Part 2

As a band, we finished the last two songs today ("What Part of Go Don't You Understand" and "Depths of Your Mercy"). Doug has been busy laying down his tracks in the mean time. Josh, Kelly & Derek will begin adding vocals tomorrow. From there, we'll take care of any overdubs that are necessary and then begin mixing the album. As of right now, it's still untitled, although we're leaning toward a few ideas. We'll check back in tomorrow...

JMB Recording: Day 3, Part 1

Day #3 of recording is underway. Our good buddy Doug has arrived and is getting set up as I type this. We opened the morning, as we did yesterday, with a devotional by Josh and prayer. This morning's prayer time was very encouraging. A lot of great progress was made yesterday, and we should be in good shape to finish up the bulk of the project today. More to come...

JMB Recording: Day 2, Part 3

Day #2 of recording is done here at Cedarmore. Work has been done on a total of eight songs to this point. Our good friend Doug (as heard on our live album) will join us tomorrow to lay down some tracks. He's pretty stinkin' good, and we can't wait to hear what he adds to the songs. It's looking like we'll be in good shape to finish up the bulk of the recording by tomorrow night. After that, we'll overdub vocals, extra parts and all that good stuff. For now, we're off to play some Texas Hold 'Em and call it a night. See you in the morning...

9:25 pm Cedarmore Sessions

I have now witnessed a different side of Andrew. While recording Sweet Embrace he decided he would do a complete lip sync to Josh's track that already had been laid down while a couple of us fixed a few things. I must say he looked like a pro holding that guitar and standing up to that microphone (key words are "looked like"). I think we are wrapping it up for the night and going to break out the cards and let our minds relax. By the way, Danny (Derek's dad), is doing an awesome job at engineering this thing for us. He has been extremely patient. Thanks Danny, and thanks to Rhonda for letting him come out and play.

Goodnight Ericcia

Seeya bye,

Kelly

JMB Recording: Day 2, Part 2

For the record, I'm typing this post in one take. Ha ha. Just a little recording humor for you. After a slow start this morning, we seem to be picking up steam. Most of the tracks for "Wrap Me In Your Cross" were recorded this morning. We just started working on "Learning More Everday." We were pretty happy with the first take, so a couple of us are fixing minor parts right now. "Call Me Crazy" is up next. We're looking forward to relaxing a bit tonight and getting our minds off recording. Another game of Texas Hold 'Em is in the works.

1:05 at cedarmore

We have completed two songs as of 1:05 and we are taking a break shortly. Recording is very tedious work. We are taking a break! sounds a lot like a union,huh.

JMB Recording: Day 2

Day 2 is underway here at Cedarmore. God protected us from the ghosts of Cedarmore our first night (more on this possibly later). Bert is busy making fried doughnuts for breakfast. Yesterday didn't see much recording get done. A lot of Texas Hold 'Em was played (no money changed hands - Andrew won big). The band sat down for a short meeting to discuss possible song order for the album, transitions, etc. We attempted to record "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" late last night. No one was terribly satisfied with how it turned out, so we're going to tackle it again this morning. More to come....

JMB Recording: Day 1

Howdy folks. We're settling into our "studio" here at Cedarmore (Boone Lodge). No recording as of yet, other than checking levels and all that good stuff. We'll probably get the ball rolling a little later tonight. Check back soon!

Time to Record!

Well folks it is that time again! It seems like only a few weeks ago we were trying to finish up the Alive project and now we are jumping right back into it. We have the privilege of being able to set up and record at the Cedarmore Campgrounds in Baghdad. We are so excited about the new songs that the Lord has laid upon Josh's heart to write, and also the variety of styles that this project is going include. Anything from blues to country and of course our own little style which I have yet to figure out what it is called, is going to be on this one. It is the afternoon before we go and set everything up and get ready for a grueling weekend of recording and fellowship. Please be in prayer as we try to lay down the songs and hopefully we will be able to give updates as we go along and maybe add some pics in the process. Well I now must go and start getting all of this equipment together and figure out how I am going pile it all in my jeep. Wish me luck!! Until next time. Seeya bye! Kelly

Recording Preparations (from Andrew's blog)

I posted this over at my personal blog, but I've decided to post it here as well:

Next week, the Josh Martin Band heads into the “studio” (that term used loosely in this case - our studio will be the dining room of Boone Lodge on Cedarmore’s campus). This long weekend will involve almost everything I love - playing the drums, recording, blogging, taking pictures, video, hanging out with friends, not working, updating websites, eating, sleeping, etc. (read further for more explanation). Most of all, these things will be done to glorify God. As you can imagine, I’m pretty excited. During the weekend, I will document the entire process. I’ll have my iBook, camera, and camcorder in tow. My goal is to use the JMB blog as a recording journal and keep folks updated on the progress. I’m anxious for everyone to hear the new songs. We had our last rehearsal last night, and the new songs are sounding great. Here’s a look at the tracklisting (not in order): -Wrap Me in Your Cross -Learning More Everyday -Will the Circle Be Unbroken -Sweet Embrace -Redemption Hymn -Depths of Your Mercy -I Am -Not So Easily Pleased -Call Me Crazy -Get Up To A High Mountain -What Part of Go Don’t You Understand Aside from the new album, we have started planning a live DVD to be released later this year. We’re planning on filming one of our performances at Cedarmore in July. Also, we have new t-shirts finally!

Back to the Old Blog

We've come back to Blogger for our blogging needs. Seemingly, our move to Wordpress wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. So, we'll stick around here! Be sure to check out the links on the sidebar. I've updated them with sites to ministries, devotionals, and more! Later y'all....

Wed Devo

Old Testament Salvation Question: Before the death of Christ, how were people saved? Answer: The same way people have been saved after the death of Christ. Here’s why. Romans 3:25—whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. I can remember a few years ago when this question came to me. I don’t know why but it took a while for me to even think of such a question. I always thought that if Jesus had not yet died then there was no forgiveness of sins. I thought that through the Old Testament sacrifices people where saved when in fact, these sacrifices could not take away sin (Hebrews 10:4). These sacrifices were considered sacraments just like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Being dunked in water doesn’t make you a new person but it is symbolic of the death of your old spirit and the new life that comes with the new spirit, which is Christ. When we partake of communion we are not actually eating flesh and drinking blood but this symbolizes the atoning work of Christ in the life of a believer. The same is true with the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. These sacrifices did not atone for sin but were symbolic of the atonement of Christ. Let’s look back at Romans 3:25. We see that it is not the blood of animals that is the propitiation (the removal of God’s wrath by the removal of our sin from his sight) for us but that it is the blood of Christ. We receive this through faith. So the Old Testament people were required to have faith in the blood of Christ to be saved. In speaking with reference to time, the Old Testament believers faithfully looked forward to the sacrifice of Christ for salvation, while we look back to the sacrifice of Christ. Regardless of when you lived, salvation is only possible through faith in Christ. The ability to look forward to the sacrifice was only because of divine forbearance. When Romans says that he passed over former sins, it does not mean that he just forgot about them and didn’t hold them against the people. It means that what Christ did on the cross 2000 years ago was effective before it even came to pass (Ephesians 1:4-6). The Bible establishes salvation in one way: faith in Christ. If it were possible to live perfectly then you would be saved. But Romans 1:18-3:20 is a staggering reminder that we are all sinners and therefore not perfect. Our hope for salvation is the same hope that was present for Isaiah, Deborah, Abraham, Moses, and Hosea. Only faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross saves us. Nothing else.