Let’s talk about Abraham to see how he was set apart. When we read Genesis, we know that Abraham came from the city of Ur. Modern archeology tells us that Ur was a sophisticated and lively city, located along the Euphrates River in modern day Iraq, about 200 miles from Bagdad. It’s interesting to note that the people of Ur worshipped the moon god. The moon god was the patron god to the city of Ur.

Genesis 15:7 "When Yahweh appeared to Abraham in a dream, the Lord said: I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

Archeologists tell us that the moon god’s name was "Sin." S.I.N.

Think about how the moon has its cycles. Quarter moon, half moon, full moon over and over again. Month after month, and year after year, the moon’s cycles continue. Sometimes, it is the same with sin in our lives, as we sin over and over again. Sometimes, our sins can feel like a never ending cycle.

One of my most cyclical sins – something that I have done over and over again for most of my life is that I get excited real quick. Just the other day, I couldn’t find my hat and gloves and it was below zero. So I quickly and excitedly assumed that my wife had put them away for me after I had just plopped them on the kitchen counter. Later that day, my father-in-law stopped by the office to see me. And as he walked in, he tossed me my gloves and hat which I had left at his house – plopped on his kitchen counter – from the night before.

My sin wasn’t a terrible, oh my gosh thing. But I did get excited, and wrongly blamed my wife – even in my own mind for hiding my gloves and hat.

And like the cycles of the moon, I do it over and over again.

Of course, none of us would say that we "worship" sin. But many of us devote a lot of time, and invest a lot of ourselves into things that deep down, we simply know are wrong. Perhaps we gossip on a regular basis. Maybe we enjoy judging others, or we say, "we just can’t help" putting ourselves first. Is it possible that your cyclical sin is getting angry or feeling entitled?

We often choose to entertain these thoughts or actions. And like the cycles of the moon, we repeat them over and over.

Let’s just discuss gossip because just about everyone is guilty of this, at least to some extent. I met someone who told me how she looked forward to calling her friends, just the minute she got out of work every day, just to share the latest news. She told me in her heart of hearts, that she couldn’t wait, and would even set aside time, almost like a devotion.

We forget that we are called to be set apart.

Well Abraham broke that pattern and made a decision to stand apart from the others as he chose to worship the living and true God. Abraham is called the father of our faith and in the Bible he is mentioned as the first person to WORSHIP God. He believed in God’s promises when God told him to move to the land of Canaan where he would be blessed to have descendents like the stars in the sky, too numerous to count. Yet here Abraham was, a very old man who was married to a very old woman and they were without children.

Genesis 12:1-2 "The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing."

God commanded Abraham to leave the thriving culture and commerce of Ur to go to Canaan, in many ways a primitive society.

Abraham prospered because he acted on faith and he chose to obey. He chose to live apart from the others because he believed in God’s promise that he was to be set apart. In the same way, you and I are called by God to be set apart.