Here is my Christmas wishlist for those of you who shop early. Josh

New Recording

Just so you know, I have finished all of my vocal "stuff" for the recording. We are just about ready to start the EQ and mastering process. I am really excited! I am very pleased with the sound. Josh

Second Jobs

Since radio releases have been lacking, Carmen has taken up a second job.

Conspiracy #2

David Crowder is out of this World!!

Cospiracy #1

Seperated at birth or Federal Witness Protection Program? Either way, it's a little scary! josh

Something to think about.....

Ralph Winter is the founder of the U.S. Center for World Missions. He has an interesting comparison that took me back. Here it is.

"America today is a "save yourself" society if there ever was one. But does it really work? The underdeveloped societies suffer from one set of diseases: Tuberculosis, malnutrition, pneumonia, parasites, typhoid, cholera, typhus, etc. Affluent America has virtually invented a whole new set of diseases: obesity, arteriousclerosis, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, veneral disease, cirrhosis of the liver, drug addiction, alcoholism, divorce, battered children, suicide, murder. Take you choice. Labor-saving machines have turned out to be body-killing devices. Our affluence has allowed both mobility and isolation of the nuclear family, and as a result, our divorce courts, our prisons and our mental institutions are flooded. In saving ourselves, we have nearly lost ourselves."

Words I Love to Sing (and know) The more time that I spend in God’s word, the more I find myself falling in love with some of the hymns I sang as a child. The worship services here at Harvest Community are mostly filled with modern contemporary music, which I believe have some very great truths within them. Contemporary worship music tends to get a bad name because some of it is pretty wishy-washy. But just as much can be said of some hymns. Take for instance, “The Savior is Waiting”. I have never sang a song in all of my life that makes God sound so much like a helpless old man with no power at all. “Time after time he has waited before and now he is waiting again, to see if your willing to open the door, Oh, how he wants to come in.” Now, seriously, who in their right mind believes that this depicts the God of the Bible? God is not helpless and begging you to just please, please, please let him be God. He wants to be God. Why won’t you let him? Seriously, this is pretty lame and in my opinion, blasphemous! Enough of my soapbox. That is not what this is about. I want to talk about another hymn that is pretty stinking awesome! Charles Wesley wrote a hymn called “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” and it is one of my favorites. Here is my favorite line: “He breaks the power of cancelled sin, and sets the prisoner free, His blood can make the foulest clean, his blood availed for me”. I believe this to be one of the best lines to ever be written on paper. I love the part that says, “He breaks the power of cancelled sin, and sets the prisoner free.” I want us to look at what “cancelled sin” means. Colossians 2:13,14—And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Christ cancelled our sins on the cross! The cross stamped the word “PAID” on the sins debts of any who would believe. It was cancelled just like a stamp that you would mail a letter with. Done away with, not to be brought up again. Paul made it pretty clear in this letter that the blood of Jesus has canceled our sin. But looking back at the song what does it mean to “break the power” of that “cancelled sin”? I believe that the grace that we have been given is not just canceling grace, but overcoming, conquering grace. Romans 6:14 says, “Sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace.” If you are a believer then your sins, past and future, have been cancelled. Your sins in the future have been cancelled even before you commit them (now that is Amazing Grace!). But for all of us, sin still demonstrates some power in our life. If you think it doesn’t, maybe we should take a look at your pride. We all struggle with some things more than others. For instance, I don’t struggle with being a thief. Maybe some of you do. I struggle with pride and loving my enemies. Some of you may not. But just because we struggle with particular sins does not mean that the blood of Jesus has lost its power. Because this blood that has cancelled your sin will also break it’s power through faith in the grace that awaits us. In “Future Grace”, John Piper writes about overcoming lust; “Triumph over the sin of lust is all of grace—past grace canceling lust’s guilt through the cross, and future grace, conquering lust’s power through the spirit. That’s why the only fight we fight is the fight of faith. We fight to be so satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus, that temptation to sin loses it’s power over us.” “O for a thousand tongues to sing, My great redeemers praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace.” May God embed this truth deeper and deeper into your heart. Josh Martin

From One of America's Greatest Thinkers

"You all have by you a large treasure of divine knowledge, in that you have the Bible in your hands; therefore be not contented in possessing but little of this treasure. God hath spoken much to you in the Scripture; labor to understand as much of what he saith as you can. God hath made you all reasonable creatures; therefore let not the noble faculty of reason or understanding lie neglected. Content not yourselves with...divine truth...you accidentally gain in conversation; but let it be very much your business to search for it, and that with the same diligence and labor with which men are wont to dig in mines of silver and gold." JONATHAN EDWARDS

Don't Waste Your Cancer

I think that all of us have had contact with cancer in one way or another. If not cancer, then some other illness. John Piper has just had surgery to remove cancer from his prostate. These are just a few words that he wrote the evening before his surgery: "Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ. Cancer does not win if you die. It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 3:8; 1:21)." Just thought I would share some words of encouragement. josh

Quote of the Day

Judge not the lord by feeble sense, But trust him for his Grace, Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face. --William Cowper

Wednesday Devo

Peace with God: The affects of Justification Romans 5:1—Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Romans 5:11—Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through whom we have now received reconciliation. One of the greatest realities that is never spoken is found in Romans 5. If you are a believer, there have most likely been times in your life when you have felt like you are not a peace with God. You have felt like you can’t read your bible because God is mad at you for sinning. You may have felt like you can’t pray because you can’t overcome a repetitive sin and wouldn’t be comfortable talking to God about other stuff if you feel like you can’t come clean with it. (The fact of the matter is, you can’t do these things but that is another day’s devo.) Why can’t we find peace with God? Have you ever done something that made you feel pretty stupid or silly? I can remember looking all over the house and car for my sunglasses only to find that they were on the top of my head the whole time. If you would be honest with me, you have probably done something like that too (or I am the biggest dork in America). The same thing is true for most of us when we apply this to our trusting in Christ. We run around looking for peace with God when Jesus already accomplished that for anyone who would repent and believe. Let’s take a look at what Paul says in Romans. Romans 5:1 starts by saying therefore which means we need to look back to see how this next part of the letter is connected to what Paul had just written. Paul had just spent a whole chapter (4) explaining how the righteousness of Christ is counted towards us by having faith in what Christ accomplished for believers. Although we are still sinners, God now sees us as righteous. “Therefore”, we have peace with God. Jesus made things right for anyone who would believe. Peace. Peace!! If you have been forgiven then you have also been reconciled to God! Praise the Lord for that! There is no reason for you to be scared of going to God when you struggle with sin! He knows about it. Remember, he has paid for it so that you can be at peace with him. We don’t have to live in fear of God’s wrath any longer! Christ bought our peace with his own blood! I hope you are getting this. Let me know if you are not. This is a crucial part of what it means to be liberated by the Gospel. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed!” John 8:36. If you have been freed from the law that binds our souls, then you are truly free! It almost sounds too good to be true. That is the reason why it doesn’t get said. Could you imagine what would happen to the church if this Sunday morning, every pastor in America stood up and preached a sermon entitled “The Freedom of the Believer” and covered these verses in depth. I believe that revival only happens to believers. You have to be alive in order to be revived. I believe that if the church would not hide any longer as if God were against them, then we would see the church as the church was created to be. Then revival would break out. Does it not stir your heart to think that your soul is at total peace with God and nothing can change that? Confession and repentance come much easier when we are not afraid of God.

Clinging to the Cross,

Josh

A Word to Ministers (Christians)

As most of you know, I like to read books by either John Piper or dead people. Well, I have recently read a great book by a guy who is still alive that is not named John. Actually it is a co-written work. Mark Dever and Paul Alexander have written a book entitled "The Deliberate Church"--Building your ministry on the Gospel. Incredible book! I read the book a few months ago but while preparing for bible study for wednesday night youth here at Harvest Community, I picked it up again. I have written a series of studies called "Don't Go to Church!" with the implication that WE are the church. I came across a some sentances that I had underlined when I read it and thought I would share them. they are as follows: "But if you define success in terms of faithfulness, then you are in a position to persevere, because you are released from the demand of immediately observable results, freeing you for faithfulness to the Gospel's message and methods leaving numbers to the Lord............God is happiest to entrust his flock to those shepherds who do things His way." Josh

Great Words!!

"When a certain rhetorician was asked what was the chief rule in eloquence, he replied, 'Delivery'; what was the second rule, 'Delivery'; what was the third rule, 'Delivery'; so if you ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, first, second and third, and always I would answer, 'Humility' AUGUSTINE

Big Weekend

Hello Hello! Derek here. I just felt like popping my head in for a few to talk a little bit about this weekend and what's going on in my life (like anyone actually cares). Last night was the Homecoming games at Franklin County High School and it was quite a night. Both the guys and girls played and we were victorious in both games. I was worried during the 1st quarter of the guys game (and the 1st half of the girls game!) but both teams really played hard and pulled out the big win. In between the two games, the !Fly Guys danced their first dance of the basketball season. We came prepared with our Space Jam show and pumped up the audience for some more basketball. It was definitely our best dance of the year and it seemed as if every guy on the squad had twice the energy as usual. It was really a great night. I wish that I could have screamed and cheered a bit more but I had to reserve my voice for my first college audition which took place this morning. I auditioned for the University of Kentucky School of Music at 11:30 and everything went great. I had to sing a prepared piece for a group of professors and then they had me sight-read a piece and clap a written out rhythm. I felt pretty confident about the prepared piece but I know that I totally nailed the sight-reading portion. They gave me a few minutes to review over the sight-reading so I tried to sing it out in my head, but for some reason, I couldn't hear it at all. It was as if my brain just didn't feel like working at that moment. But as soon as I started singing, the notes just flew out of me. God is truely amazing isn't he? There is no way that I could ever accomplish anything like that if it wasn't for his amazing grace. I have another audition at UofL on the 18th so try to keep my in your prayers. More to come as more develops...

A Thought for Prayer

A man is what he is on his knees before God, and nothing more. ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE

Let the Dead Speak!!

"To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect." JOHN OWEN, III:433

Discernment and the Sovereignty of God

Discernment and the Sovereignty of God Proverbs 16:33—The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. Romans 12:2—Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. God is perfect (Matt. 5:48), sovereign (Deut. 32:39), and holy (Lev. 11:44). He makes no mistakes. Nothing comes to pass without his ordaining that it be so (Romans 11:36). He is light and in him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Humans are accountable (Romans 3:19), sinful (Romans 3:23), and the best things about us are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). With that being said, I want to address how we as the church are to be discerning the sovereign will of our Lord. You may ask, “If God’s will is going to be done regardless, why should I pray ‘Thy will be done’? Why try to discern something that is out of your control?” There are several reasons for this. When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he told them to pray “Your will be done”. The same is true for us. That answer may not be sufficient for your questions but it is sufficient for obedience. If you are given no other reason than that, it is sufficient. Now, before I start to sound too legalistic, let’s dig a little deeper. Much of our growing into holiness is about the means that get us to the end. In our attempts to discern the will of God, we are being sanctified. As we come to him, we see him, and he reveals truth. Truth about our sin, our situation, our plans. How can we come to him in this way? Through the final authority, his word. As you seek to know him and seek his will, your sin will be exposed. You can’t truthfully come to him without your infirmities being revealed. This is one of the reasons that we pray for his will and try to discern his will. The key is to come honestly, humbly, and prayfully. Even then only God decides whether he reveals or conceals. We are to be seeking his will, even if we don’t understand it. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. (John 20:29)