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baptist church
baptist church
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!
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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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26 November, 2023
Jesus calls us to a new world in which the lives of nations revolve around bringing the previously marginalised to the centre of our national way of being. Nations that fail to do that collapse into self-destruction.
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19 November, 2023
While many have a passive-aggressive relationship with God, the gospel gives us a vision of God that liberates us to live freely, expansively and joyously.
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12 November, 2023
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Apocalypse, Bible, Empire, Identity, Oppresion, peace, Politics, Power, Suffering, Terror, Violence, War
Scripture: Joshua
Many parts of the Bible can be and often are weaponised as tools of oppression, but when we read it critically, with and through the teachings and example of Jesus, it calls us to liberation and life.
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5 November, 2023
We we allow God’s word to work in us, it lifts the burden of oppressive teaching from us.
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1 November, 2023
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Scripture: Matthew, Revelation
Living the beatitudes is tough and dangerous, and we will need the inspiration and company of the saints, before us and beside us, if we are going to make it.
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22 October, 2023
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Apocalypse, Conflict, Conversion, Grace, peace, Politics, Repentance, Terror, Violence
Scripture: 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Matthew
If we keep imitating one another, paying back violence with vengeance, the world will be consumed in an escalating fury, but Jesus rescues us and gives us a life-giving example to follow.
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1 October, 2023
There is life and nourishment hidden in the depths, and through Jesus the rock it is accessible to us.
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24 September, 2023
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Community, Compassion, Grace, Justice, Reconciliation
Scripture: Matthew
In order to recognise and cooperate with what God is doing, we often need to recognise and see past the assumptions that come with our own privilege.
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17 September, 2023
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Forgiveness, judgement, Mercy, Politics, Violence
God’s offer of unlimited forgiveness creates a new world in which we are free to stop judging one another and turning on one another and spiralling into violence and hatred.
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3 September, 2023
Our true identity is only found when we discover that it is not about us, but that we are only truly anyone in relation to the God who is everything, and who is not the opposite of anything.
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25 June, 2023
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Scripture: Matthew
Jesus did not come with the goal of making some gentle improvements to the status quo, but to disable the status quo by exposing its lies and revealing its victims. Without our culture being radically converted by that, the result is escalating chaos, to which Jesus offers himself as a victim and calls us to do the same.
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11 June, 2023
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Discipleship, Ethics, Faith, Fear, Healing, Purity, Righteousness
Scripture: Matthew
Jesus calls us to follow him in being a contagious force for love and mercy rather than fearfully quarantining ourselves from bad influences.
