open icon
baptist church
baptist church
Topic: Law
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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26 May, 2019
Following the living Jesus is the pathway to healing, integrity and life, and sometimes it comes into conflict with “following the Bible”.
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3 June, 2018
Jesus calls us to move beyond hostile identity politics, whether shaped by Sabbath keeping or #Outrage, and to welcome a new culture of love, forgiveness and welcome.
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14 January, 2018
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Discernment, Gifts, Holy Spirit, Law, Virtues
Scripture: 1 Corinthians
Our freedom in Christ renders the law irrelevant as a factor in our relationship with God, but we are set free to grow into union with Christ, not to fall into new slaveries.
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31 December, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Christmas, Faithfulness, Hope, Law, Love
Jesus was born to reveal and fulfil what God had long sought to do; set people free to live joyously as God’s children.
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29 October, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Discipleship, Grace, Incarnation, Jesus, judgement, Law, Love
Scripture: Matthew
Today, as in Jesus’s day, two fundamentally different visions of God and God’s expectations compete. Jesus calls us to side with the one that centres on love rather than the one that centres on concerns for holiness.
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15 October, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Authority, Faith, Fear, Forgiveness, Grace, judgement, Law, Temptation
Scripture: Exodus
God invites us to live joyously, boldly and freely in the midst of mystery, but we are frequently tempted to grasp for something more tangible and certain.
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8 October, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Grace, Jesus, judgement, Law, Reconciliation
Scripture: Exodus, Matthew, Philippians
When we use the biblical law to reinforce a worldview of sin and punishment, we doom ourselves to live in a judgemental world, a world from which Jesus offers to break us free.
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1 October, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Authority, Discernment, Faithfulness, Jesus, Law, Love
Scripture: Matthew
The marriage equality debate raises questions about authority, but prophetic authority is not proved by fidelity to past rules, but by its power to produce a harvest of new life and love among the people.
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24 September, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Scripture: Matthew
When Jesus exposes our aversion to having others recognised as our equals, he calls us to repent and celebrate God’s generosity to all. The marriage equality debate exposes another frontier of his challenge to us.
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17 September, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Scripture: Romans
Jesus calls us to welcome and honour each other at his table regardless of the disagreements we may have over how to apply biblical teachings.
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10 September, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Jesus, Law, Love, Reconciliation
Law typically serves to contain the expression of human desire within safe bounds, but Jesus calls us to follow him in fulfilling the law through radical love and mercy that always seeks reconciliation.
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14 May, 2017
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Scripture: Acts
True martyrs are those who are killed because their love, truthfulness and forgiveness are intolerable, not those who die killing for their cause.
