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baptist church
baptist church
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
At Open Icon Baptist Church, we value great preaching — preaching that engages deeply, humbly and honestly with Jesus, the Bible, and the pain and joy of living in the real world. And since going permanently online, we have been able to welcome great preachers from all over the world without having to wait for them to visit our shores. Click here to meet the inspirational preachers depicted in the gallery above, none of whom have preached for us!
Garry Worete Deverell
The Revd Dr Garry Worete Deverell is a Trawloolway man from north-eastern Tasmania. He served as an associate pastor in our church from 2002 – 2007 while completing his doctoral studies through the University of Divinity, Melbourne. Garry has since worked within Uniting Church and Anglican congregations, and has worked in hospitals and theological colleges, all in Victoria and Tasmania. He served as Academic Dean, Lecturer, and Research Fellow in the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity, which he helped to found. He and his wife Lil have two adult daughters, and are now living back on Garry's ancestral country in north-eastern Lutruwita/Tasmania. Garry is the author of:
- The Bonds of Freedom: vows, sacraments, and the formation of the Christian Self, Wipf and Stock (2008).
- Gondwana Theology: a trawloolway man reflects on Christian faith, Morning Star Press (2018).
- Contemplating Country: More Gondwana Theology, Wipf and Stock (2023).
Sermons by Garry Worete Deverell
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13 December, 2020
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Church, Grace, Humility, Jesus, Leadership
If you’re looking for wisdom, healing, practical solutions, look to Jesus, because church leaders constantly fail when they do any more than point to Jesus.
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23 August, 2015
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Discernment, Evil, Jesus, Spiritual Warfare
We only reliably recognise and combat evil by listening to Jesus and taking his wisdom into our hearts.
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19 April, 2015
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Baptism, Discipleship, Identity, Jesus, Resurrection
Scripture: 1 2 & 3 John, Luke
We shall be ourselves when we are able to surrender ourselves to Christ and say ‘not my will, but yours’.
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7 July, 2013
In order for God to come to us as the healer and the liberator of souls, we must be prepared to let go of every religious pretension, every cultural certainty, every economic doctrine, every aspirational rule.
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16 May, 2010
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Culture, Empire, Exploitation, Liberation, Love
We are called to privilege the God of love and liberation over the economic realities of dog-eat-dog capitalism, and prevent that ‘reality’ colonising the truth of love with its divide-and-conquer business plan.
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14 March, 2010
The story of the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son is a crucial part of the message of grace.
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1 August, 2004
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Conversion, Formation, Spiritual Disciplines, Spirituality, Wisdom
Scripture: Colossians, Luke
When we detach from things, God comes to fill or possess us by God’s Spirit, and suddenly the world is full of life once more.
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2 May, 2004
Preacher: Garry Worete Deverell
Topic: Identity, Jesus, Martyrdom, Resurrection
Scripture: John, Psalms, Revelation
Jesus’s resurrection was a sign which declared that Jesus’ cause was God’s cause, that Jesus’ values were God’s values, that Jesus’ people were God’s people.
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18 January, 2004
God’s love is like a refuge from the storm, like the hospitality of a generous host, like the continuing delight of a bridegroom for his bride, and like the alchemical power of the miracle-worker transforming even our fear and inconstancy into the power to love, forgive, and cherish.
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11 January, 2004
In baptism Jesus submits himself to his God-given destiny and vocation, and it is by a similar submission to God, allowing Christ to live out his baptismal life in us and for us, that we have life and hope.
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14 December, 2003
Advent faith believes in the possibility of surprise, and that our tragic and repetitive history has a punch-line which will overturn everything that we have been taught to expect.
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9 November, 2003
Jesus promises that if we will face our deepest fear – the loss of our very souls – and if we will trust in his love, then we shall live, even though we die.
