Countrysidians... we're not your usual people. Jesus has set us apart!

Well, all of the coughing wasn’t fun (isn’t the cold and flu season a delight?), but I hope you didn’t miss the main thrust of what the Lord was trying to say to us all on Sunday: JESUS HAS SET US APART! And Jesus has set us apart for Himself, not all of the devious and deceitful masks and fancies of the enemy! I recently heard of this headline and news story about a student in England: "British Teen Puts “First Time” Up For Auction on eBay" "So, how much is that virgin worth on the Internet? These days you can put almost anything up for sale on the Web. But a 19-year old British student has pushed the boundaries one step further. David Vardy, a student at Bournemouth University in England has put his virginity up for sale on eBay. “By the age of 19, most people have been under enough pressure to have lost their virginity,” Vardy told ABC News’ Good Morning America . “I haven’t lost mine yet. I have to lose my virginity, so being a creative person, what is the most crazy way? I’ll stick it out on the Internet and see what interest I get. “I’m not selling myself for sex repeatedly like a prostitute,” says Vardy, “and the money issue is simply there to put back the losers and make sure only serious bidders are interested in this. I want to protect my own safety and I want to be honest.” I have set myself apart! I am an honest man about losing my virginity. I have integrity about anonymous fornication. I have my morals, and my personal safety to consider, which is why I am only going to sell myself to an honest bidder. Oh Lord, please, come quickly! Gang, what Jesus has set us apart for hardly belongs in the same Blog as that. He has set us apart that He might be our JOY. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) He has set us apart that He might LIVE through us. “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26 ) He has set us apart because we’re God’s possession, YOU’RE COVERED! “The head of every man is Christ…” (1 Corinthians 11:3) So, brothers and sisters of Countryside, glory in the simple truth that you have been set apart by a loving, and faithful and powerful God. May He bless you this week in great and even unexpected ways as you “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” (Romans 13:14 ) — Pastor Terry