Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
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!
Pastor
Nathan Nettleton
Nathan Nettleton has served as pastor of this congregation since 1994. He was ordained as a Baptist pastor that same year and completed an honours degree in theology at Whitley College in 1995, followed by a Master of Theology in Liturgical Studies from the University of Divinity in 2001. In our church, he carries particular responsibilities for the preaching, teaching, and ordering of worship and prayer, and for pastoral care. He also writes liturgical resources for a global audience through LaughingBird.net, and serves as a board member of Open Baptists. Nathan is married to Margie, and they have an adult daughter, Acacia, and two dogs.
Sermons by Nathan Nettleton
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14 May, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Ascension, change and loss, church identity, Community, Holy Spirit, liminal space, multilingual worship, Pentecost
Scripture: Acts
When everything familiar has gone and the new thing hasn’t arrived yet, the disciples’ upper room is closer to home than we might think.
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10 May, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Evangelism, fasting, interfaith, Islam, Paul in Athens, Ramadan, Reconciliation, religious diversity, spiritual formation
Scripture: Acts
Paul in Athens, a Muslim Uber driver, and a Georgian bishop walk into a sermon — and together reframe what Christian interfaith encounter could look like.
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3 May, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Philip asked Jesus to show him God. The answer dismantles centuries of angry-God theology — and exposes the retributive impulse hiding in all of us.
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26 April, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Jesus came that we might have life in abundance — but abundant life can’t be hoarded. The moment we try to secure it for ourselves at others’ expense, it stops being life at all.
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19 April, 2026
When the executed one comes back, everyone expects retribution. The shock of resurrection is that he doesn’t.
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4 April, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Communion, Community, Icons, Identity, Resurrection
Scripture: 1 Corinthians, Genesis, Matthew
The resurrection doesn’t restore what we lost — it reveals what we were always becoming: living icons through whom the world might glimpse the life of God.
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15 March, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Abundance, blindness and sight, Generosity, Justice, Karma, Light and darkness, reward and punishment
Scripture: 1 & 2 Samuel, Ephesians, John, Psalms
The desire for a fair universe is real and grief-filled – but Jesus steps outside that framework entirely, and invites us into something better.
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1 March, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Blessing, Discernment, Faithfulness, Identity, Love, Pilgrimage, Vocation
A church discerns its new name while remembering that identity is not possession, but a journey of love shaped by God’s call to be a blessing.
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22 February, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Abundance, Blessing, Generosity, Grace
In a world ruled by suspicion and blame, the gospel announces an abundance that was never earned and cannot run out.
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8 February, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Compassion, Culture, Discipleship, Ethics, Jesus, Justice, Law, Suffering
Scripture: Matthew
Jesus calls us to be salt and light by living a public embodied faith that tells the truth, resists indifferent silence, and makes God’s justice and love visible in the world.
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1 February, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Blessing, Discipleship, Ethics, Generosity, Service, Vocation
Scripture: Matthew
The call to live the beatitudes is not about turning them into a guilt-inducing to-do list, but about living a life that is a blessing to others.
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18 January, 2026
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Discipleship, Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Salvation, Sin, Tribalism
Salvation – reconciliation with God and with one another – is relational rather than transactional, and it begins with a willingness to see, listen and learn.

