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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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3 April, 2016
Doubts and questions, far from being a threat to faith in the risen Christ, are its normal starting point and constant companion.
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21 February, 2016
Jesus is heart-broken when we refuse his call to gather with him in a place of powerlessness, vulnerable to the hostility of a power-hungry world.
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14 February, 2016
Whether we think of the devil as a personal being or as a metaphor, our call to put our trust in Jesus to strengthen our resistance to the temptation of expedient short-cuts is the same.
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27 December, 2015
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Christmas, Conversion, Faithfulness, Grace, Jesus, Salvation
Scripture: Colossians, Luke
We grow into the likeness of Christ as we model ourselves on him, and he is a model of growth rather than a model of static perfection.
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13 December, 2015
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Grace, Jesus, Reconciliation, Relationships, Repentance
Scripture: Luke, Philippians, Zephaniah
In an us-and-them world, people hope to find a way to get God on their side, but Jesus confounds our expectations of God siding against others.
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6 December, 2015
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Ethics, Generosity, Hospitality, Love, Repentance
Scripture: Luke, Malachi, Philippians
The refining fire made known in Jesus is not targeting “morality” issues, but our hatreds, hostilities and inhospitableness.
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22 November, 2015
In a world increasingly divided between violent powers, Jesus leads a kingdom that is a radical peaceful challenge to both of them.
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15 November, 2015
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Apocalypse, Conversion, Death, Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus, Reconciliation
Only when the world models itself on the self-sacrificial love and mercy we have seen in Jesus will it be saved from the cycles of apocalyptic violence and chaos.
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25 October, 2015
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Fullness of Life, Grace, Healing, Liberation, Salvation
Scripture: Mark
Jesus wants to lift us beyond the deadening conformity that seeks to silence us and confine us to a stunted life.
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18 October, 2015
Most suffering is random and unfair, but Jesus has joined us in it to lead us into new life.
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27 September, 2015
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Generosity, Grace, Hospitality, Humility, Jesus, Purity, Virtues
Scripture: Mark
Jesus’s invitation is radically open and inclusive, and we need to guard carefully against our own culturally conditioned instincts to start narrowing and policing it.
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20 September, 2015
The things that make Jesus the perfect leader to lead us into new life are probably the same things that would make us turn our backs on him and seek to follow others.
