Fire Season
Judgement
August 20, 2023 • Pastor Scott
“Pastor Scott wraps up his series on the fire passages by bringing it all together in one place: Judgement. Nobody likes it, for sure not feeling it, even though we do like giving it out. Judgment is a scary word to most; it feels like you’re sitting in front of a judge to be condemned. One of the issues though is we take our human perspective of judgment and put that on God, but the Bible has a different view of the final judgment. It doesn’t make it less serious, it just means the purpose of God’s judgments are different. We can’t cover it all but Scott gives it his best shot in this final episode of Fire Season.”
Salted
August 13, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
This week we look at two terms that don’t normally go together but have the same spiritual connotations: salt and fire. The Gospel of Mark gives an encounter where Jesus is really serious, almost scary, but Jesus always has a purpose in mind. He says “Everyone will be salted with fire, but salt is good.” Salt has many helpful qualities, but one specific with fire in that it purifies things. But how does it do it? By just being salt and doing what it does. Jesus has a purpose for our lives in the world, to bring out the flavor and purity. But are we known for that?
Exposed
August 6, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
As we continue to look at the purpose of fire in the Scriptures this week, we piggyback off the previous week of "Purified". In order for something to be purified, it first has to be exposed for what it is. All of our lives have two different natures: a sin nature but also a love nature that is totally secure in God. The sin nature is exposed by the love of God, but for the true nature, the God nature is to be revealed. Being exposed is not a pleasant experience, just like a doctor exposing a wound can be painful. Yet it is necessary for the wound to be healed. The Fire of God’s love is necessary in our lives not to hurt us, but to heal us.
Purified
July 30, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
No matter what currencies are doing in the world, silver and gold have been the constants throughout time. Yet they both must be tested for their purity before they can be truly valued. In order to see the real from the fake, it is tested on a rock called the touchstone. This leaves a streak to compare it to the real gold. The gold and silver are also heated up in fire so that the dross can rise to the surface and be wiped away in order for it to be purified and shined. This week we look at these concepts to see what the scriptures mean by “God’s purifying fire.”
Consumed
July 23, 2023 • Scott Klaudt
We say we have 6 seasons in Montana: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Road Construction, and Fire Season. The smoke is no fun to deal with but it’s vital to the forest's growth. Fire touches everything it comes across, it changes everything it touches, and it consumes the dead but uses the good.