Please Read This

This is a great article about which understanding where lines are drawn when it come to doctrines that so often divide. Please read this. http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-07-12

What's going on folks?!

Been a while since we have seen some of you guys. So, how are things going? Anything going on in your lives that you would like to share, good or bad?

Oh yeah, life goes on

For those who never venture over into my own little world that I call my blog, I'll bring my next post over here. Hello all. How are things? Let me tell me, things are great over here. I'm still at good ol' U of K and loving it. Midterms are upon us so I'm a little swamped, but nothing too bad. My honor's class is definitely my least favorite class at the moment and I am very ready to be finished with it. I'm not really enjoying the reading or the papers that I have to write but I'm dealing with it. I've got all of my work turned in and I'm passing so I guess there's no real complaints. Life with Mary Beth is good. We've been together for 1 month now (as of Monday) and things are still going great. We don't get many chances to see each other besides weekends but we are managing. God has blessed us so much and any amount of extra work and travel that we have to do is well worth it. I'm missing JMB and music together, but it's always like this around this time of year. I'm really looking forward to our two gigs at the end of November. Hopefully we'll get some practice time in before we have to travel and maybe work up some of those new songs (hint, hint). Well, I'm really just typing this so I have an excuse to not finish my homework but now I'm starting to feel bad about my procrastination tactics so I guess this is good bye. I'll see you when I see you.

VACATION TIME IS HERE AGAIN

VACATION TIME IS HERE AGAIN Current mood: excited It's the night before the big day! We head off again on another cruise tomorrow morning. We are so excited that my mom is able to come along on this one with us along with Ericcia's dad and step-mom and her brother and sister in law. It has been eighteen years since mom has been on a cruise, so I am anxious to see her reaction when she sees how much bigger the boats are these days. We will be getting up way to early in the a.m. to head to the Lexington airport. We don't take off till 8:30 but Ricci (Ericcia's dad) wants to get an early start just in case we have vehicle problems so they are going to be here at 6 a.m. I don't leave that early to be at work at 7:30....lol I understand though. The boat will be leaving from Tampa FL. and we will be visiting Costa Maya, Belize, Grand Cayman, and the Cayman Islands (I think). I plan on gaining about 5 pounds while I am gone and really do not plan on doing a whole lot other than eat. Anyhow, please keep us all in your prayers as we head out tomorrow and I will try and update as often as I can. Kelly

LiveBlog: JMB @ Vincinnes Retreat - Day 3

“Here Comes the Sun,” and “On the Road Again” are the theme songs for today. The sun finally showed itself this morning, and we’re preparing for the trip home. Just a short closing session and worship set remains. For the Morning Show, we performed our rendition of “My Girl” titled “Sunshine.” We’ve recorded the entire weekend, and plan to post some of the performances on the audio section of our site. Look for these soon! We had a great time learning and growing with the VU campus ministry folks. We look forward to joining them at next year’s retreat.

LiveBlog: JMB @ Vincinnes Retreat - Day 2

Today has been an eventful day. The band opened the Morning Show with our own rendition of “Smokey Mountain Rain” titled “Illinois Rain.” Our weather forecast from yesterday was dead on – it’s still raining. We opened the morning worship with some more upbeat stuff to get the kids moving. This afternoon, we discovered a few things: • Not all Bibles include all 66 books of the Bible (Andrew’s new NASB left out Ezra, Esther, Nehemiah and all but two chapters of Job). • Derek can, occasionally, have a striking resemblance to a Smurf • When we actually rehearse songs, we can sound fairly good. During the free time, we decided to have a rehearsal. Feeling the need to add more worship songs to our sets, we learned “Grace Like Rain” by Todd Agnew and “Sometimes by Step” by Rich Mullins. We debuted both songs in the evening worship set. Look out for these new worship songs at a gig near you (we have also recently added “God of Wonders” to our catalog). After the evening worship, the Late Nite Live game was “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” The band and Matt Walton formed the Kentucky Headhunters team. We rocked the competition, but unfortunately, the partial judges gave the victory to a student team. Our reference to aliens listening to bluegrass was quoted several times by other teams, and our party skit was the “funniest things I’ve seen in years,” according to Mike Cabell. Nevertheless, we finished third in the competition. Thus concludes Day #2.

LiveBlog: JMB @ Vincinnes Retreat - Day 1

We're just wrapping up the first day of the Vincinnes University campus ministries retreat at Oil Belt Christian Service Camp in Flora, Illinois. The big story here is rain - and lots of it. Some storms have rolled through, but nothing too severe. Word is that it will rain most of the weekend, which puts a "damper" on the situation. Rumor has it, Noah's ark was seen floating in the distance earlier this evening. Never fear! We're still having a great time. Approximately 60 students made the retreat. Matt Walton is this weekend's speaker. We heard an introduction tonight, and we're all looking forward to what God has laid on his heart for the weekend. The full band wasn't able to make last year's trip, but we're in full effect this year. Doug, Bert, and Kelly weren't with us last year, so they're getting the VU experience for the first time. We're also playing with our snappy new soundboard for the first time this weekend. It makes us feel like a real band having a nice, new, very large soundboard. More to come!

Coming soon..........

Bert and myself attend church at Harvest Community Church. I just wanted to let you guys know that on or church's website in the next few weeks there we will be putting up our weekly sermons and a "Learning Biblical Theology" class that Pastor Kevin and myself are teaching on monday nights this fall. You don't have to have a seminary education to understand what we are talking about (I'm teaching, it can't be too hard to understand!). You will be able to check this out in the next week or so. You can access the site by clicking on the link for Harvest Community Church on our links page. Later.

"A Year With the Parents"

I had discussed briefly on the message board a few months ago about putting together some resources for Youth Workers. In November I will be making the first of these resources available for anyone who wants them. The first series will be titled, "A Year with the Parents". This will be a monthly Bible Study starting in January that youth workers can send to the parents of their youth. It will stress the importance of parent's knowing and being involved in their child's spiritual growth. These bible studies will hopefully encourage and edify parents as well as shaking up some of the apathetic ones. Be watching for this series in November. You will be able to download it right from our website completely free. If you are a parent of a youth or if you are a youth worker, I strongly encourage you to do this. God Bless!

Good Luck Derek!

Just wanted to publicly wish Derek good luck on his Freshman year of college. We are praying for you homey!

I guess this makes me eligible....

I think a lot of us sometimes struggle with thinking that we are not good enough to know Jesus. The truth is....we're not. But we can find great hope in the words of Jesus himself as we read the story of how Jesus called Levi (aka "Matthew") to follow him. Here is the story. "After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:27-32 (ESV) I am very glad of that last line! Because all of us are sinners. Most of us have a tendancy to fall into the same problem that the pharisees do. It is really easy for us to pick out everybody else's problems and not examine ourselves. It is not that the pharisees didn't do the right things, they just did the right things with the wrong motives. They acted like they cared about God's law but they didn't. They were more in love with being right than being with Jesus. But we find tremedous hope in these verses! Jesus came to call those of us who are sinners. He calls those who realize their need of Him. We need him and we need him more than anything. Today, how will you respond to such an amazing God who comes and gives himself to those who don't deserve him?

Come see us!

Yes, yes, we know... Kelly is back from vacation. Since no one else is posting anything new I guess that I will have to. To all of you who have never seen the Josh Martin Band in concert I urge you to come see us this month. We'll be here in Frankfort on the 20th (I say "here in Frankfort" because that is where I am), Harrison County High School on the 26th, and in Shelbyville at the New Hope Baptist Church on the 27th. For those who have seen us... you should come back and see us again. You'll probably notice some new elements to our live shows including airborn guitar solos, lasars, and pyrotechnics. Am I lying? Maybe... but there's only one way to find out for sure!

I'm Back!

Hey folks.......I'm back from a long needed vacation! The houseboat was great and it was fun to just hang out in the water and do nothing. We did get to do some tubing while we were out there which was too much fun. I hadn't done that in YEARS! I also attempted to ski for just the 2nd time in my life and I actually made it up for about 30 seconds or so. Pretty impressive for a short fat guy. However, after all that tubing and very little skiing I did, my body is not liking me at all right now and I think the only part of me that doesn't hurt are my fingers. I'm looking forward to get back in the groove of things and start working towards my next vacation in Oct. Another cruise! whoooo hoooo!!

What if Jesus said "NO"

Luke 18:13--But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" What if Jesus said no? Could you imagine crying out to God for mercy and his reply be "no". Would that be unfair? I mean, don't the rules say that if I cry out for mercy God has to give it. Let there be no mistake about it, there will come a day when it will be too late to cry out for mercy but that day has not arrived yet. Would it be unfair for Jesus to tell us no in this present day? It would not be unfair. I hope we never ask for what is fair with Christ. We have life today because of the unfairness of God. If God pronounced nothing but judgement and wrath upon us, it would be a just judgement. It would be deserved and he would be right for doing so. However, God does not overlook our sin when we are forgiven. Christ paid the penalty for our sin. Our sin was dealt with by Jesus and he took the punishment (the wrath of God) in our place. This is what is meant by substitutionary sacrifice. Christ was our substitute on the cross. This is not fair. Christ being completely without sin was punished as if he were a sinner. In the same breath we must also realize that just as Christ was counted a sinner (even though he was not morally a sinner) we get counted as righteous even though we are not morally righteous. Christ got the credit for our sin and we got the credit for his righteousness. Again, this is not fair. But it is a reality for all who will repent of their sins and believe on him. Jesus will not say no. We have the promise of John 6:37--"All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." Until the day of Christ's return, he will never say no to those who draw near by grace through faith. It is my earnest desire that we would all realize this truth and stand in awe of the grace of God. It is an awesome thing. It is unfair, but it is a reality. It is the good news!

What if Jesus said "NO"

Luke 18:13--But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" What if Jesus said no? Could you imagine crying out to God for mercy and his reply be "no". Would that be unfair? I mean, don't the rules say that if I cry out for mercy God has to give it. Let there be no mistake about it, there will come a day when it will be too late to cry out for mercy but that day has not arrived yet. Would it be unfair for Jesus to tell us no in this present day? It would not be unfair. I hope we never ask for what is fair with Christ. We have life today because of the unfairness of God. If God pronounced nothing but judgement and wrath upon us, it would be a just judgement. It would be deserved and he would be right for doing so. However, God does not overlook our sin when we are forgiven. Christ paid the penalty for our sin. Our sin was dealt with by Jesus and he took the punishment (the wrath of God) in our place. This is what is meant by substitutionary sacrifice. Christ was our substitute on the cross. This is not fair. Christ being completely without sin was punished as if he were a sinner. In the same breath we must also realize that just as Christ was counted a sinner (even though he was not morally a sinner) we get counted as righteous even though we are not morally righteous. Christ got the credit for our sin and we got the credit for his righteousness. Again, this is not fair. But it is a reality for all who will repent of their sins and believe on him. Jesus will not say no. We have the promise of John 6:37--"All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." Until the day of Christ's return, he will never say no to those who draw near by grace through faith. It is my earnest desire that we would all realize this truth and stand in awe of the grace of God. It is an awesome thing. It is unfair, but it is a reality. It is the good news!

Checking In

Howdy folks... it's been quite a while since I've posted here at the JMB blog. First things first - Derek got a haircut. Saw him working in Kroger today... His hair is quite short now. Sad thing is, the ladies are still gonna love him. Stinkin' Derek. One of our biggest fans - Nele - has returned home to Germany. We played a concert for her going-away party last week at The Point. We - Derek more than most of us - miss her already. She was fun little German. Hopefully we'll see her again soon. Get us a gig in Germany! New songs are on the way! We'll be rehearsing a bit over the next month of so to learn some new material. Not only originals, but also some new praise & worship songs. Gotta keep things fresh, ya know. Don't worry - I'm sure you'll still hear "Drive" at every concert :-) Live downloads? Be on the lookout for lots of live MP3's on our website. I've been recording our past few shows, and they haven't turned out too bad. We're hopefully gearing up for a new live CD, and possibly a DVD. In the mean time, we're enjoying some time off... hanging out with friends & family, vacationing, etc. August will be busy, and we're looking forward to getting back on stage! See you all soon...

Dull bass player news

For those of you who don't read my blog I think I'll update you a little bit. I will be getting a new bass tomorrow. Although it won't officially be mine until I pay for it (probably Sunday) it will be mine enough to take home and play... which it good enough for me! It's a 1978 Rickenbacker 4001. People unfamiliar with that name may recognize it as the bass used by Paul McCartney (later Beatles and Wings), Lemmy of Moterhead, Chris Squire of Yes, and Geddy Lee of Rush (in earlier years). I'm excited to see how I can use it in JMB shows. We'll see...

Happy 4th of July

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th! I also wanted to pass along some words of a song that really helps us to remember our purpose here. "My first allegiance is not to a country or a land, My first allegiance is not to democracy, but, It's to a King and a Kingdom." As we celebrate the freedom we have, let's remember that even in this land we call America, we are still immigrants and only in Christ can we know freedom. God Bless!

New Equipment

The JMB has been fortunate to have the equipment that we have used for the last couple of years. However, we are finding good reasons to replace some of it. The main speakers that we have been using are getting pretty old and we are starting to get a buzz out of one of them. We are trying to get a new monitor system of sorts. We meet tonight to discuss our options and see what is the best option. You may not care about this stuff, but just in case you have ever wondered what we talk about, well, there you go!

We are now on MySpace

Hey folks.....I got to thinking of another way to get our name out there.....check us out on MySpace at www.myspace.com/thejoshmartinband Kelly