The English word crucifixion comes from the Latin crucifixio, or

crucifixus, the meaning is straight forward enough, "fix to a cross."

Crucifixion was a form of torture and execution used in the ancient

world. It involved binding a person to a wooden post or tree using ropes

or nails.

Why would Jesus tell His disciples, “If anyone has a desire to walk in My shoes, deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me.”

...therefore will I play before the Lord.

When is the last time you played before the Lord? Celebrated with all that you have? Thrown a party for how amazing He is?

And he must needs go through Samaria.

For 1, He went where others would not. He loved those that others would not. All for 1. Because, 1 matters.

21 years ago today, September 11, 2001 our world changed forever.

It was a moment that changed our world forever.

And now time has passed. The wound is not as fresh. We have moved on with our lives. We have slogans like, “We Will Never Forget”. We may not forget, but we have learned to live with it.

I ask us this, what else have we learned to live with?

Have you ever stopped to consider if the widow in our text knew the man asking her for bread and water was the man responsible for the drought?

She wasn't the prophet of God.

Maybe that's where you are, in a situation that is beyond your control and there's nothing you can do in your own power to change it.

The question for you is, do you have anything left?

Sometimes in our spiritual lives, God is silent and seemingly absent. The reason is not clear, and the experience of His silence can be disorienting and painful.

What do we do in those situations?

There’s nothing new on this earth. Year after year it’s the same old thing. Ecclesiastes 1:9 MSG

Long before any of the madness of our world right now, Solomon penned those words.  

Since the time of creation until now there has been an attack on the only part of creation God formed with His own hands, humanity. Do not be deceived by anyone, it will continue until the day of His return.

But, there is hope and it's that source of hope has not changed.

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

How can David pen these words with the faith that God will carry him to that place he could not reach on his own? Because he remembered when God heard his cry before.

Ever wondered where can you go?  

If the goodman of the house had known, if he would have been aware, he would not have allowed it to happen.

Are we aware of the signs and the times? Will we take ownership and responsibility?

Someone out there is hanging on by a thread and we are their only hope.

If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. Psalm 139:8

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Romans 8:35

The more I hear Paul's Question, Who can separate us, the more my spirit is stirred within me.

Because there is an answer to that question. I don't know if Paul meant it to be rhetorical, but there is an answer.