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Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
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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20 June, 2004
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Christian ascetic discipline is not about earning God’s acceptance, but about banishing the demons so that we can live life more fully in the here and now.
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30 May, 2004
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Holy Spirit, Liberation, Resurrection
The message of Pentecost is the message of Pascha – Christ is risen and, in him, we are liberated from our captivity to the spirits of death, fear, despair, and division, and freed to dance to the Holy Spirit’s tune.
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9 May, 2004
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Gifts, Hospitality, Love, Purity, Reconciliation
When God accepts and gifts those who are supposed to be excluded according to our theology, then its time to change our theology to a rule of love instead of a rule of purity.
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25 April, 2004
The risen Christ is extravagantly generous and excruciatingly unwilling to settle for pious platitudes in return.
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18 April, 2004
The experience of the resurrected Christ may not be as instantly transformative as we’ve often thought, but those who seek Christ’s self-revelation will grow into his mission.
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14 March, 2004
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Fullness of Life, Repentance, Suffering
Scripture: 1 Corinthians, Isaiah, Luke
Repenting of our past ways and following Jesus does not guarantee us safety from disaster, but it certainly opens the way to an abundance of life that is beyond what any disaster can destroy.
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8 February, 2004
Extravagant grace can be terrifying because it asks nothing of us but a complete change of life!
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1 February, 2004
God consistently favours love and acceptance over purity, so when we are not sure, it is better to take a risk on love and acceptance.
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6 January, 2004
It is always a shock to realise just who Jesus is and what he’s on about.
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24 December, 2003
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Christmas
A modern paraphrase of the Nativity Sermon of St John Chrysostom, first Preached in Antioch in 386AD
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7 December, 2003
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Baptism, Fullness of Life, Hope, Salvation
Scripture: Luke, Malachi, Philippians
In baptism, we have passed from the preoccupations of the present to the a life shaped by God’s future, and though the completion of that transformation may be painful, it is nevertheless the fulfilling of our deepest longings.
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2 November, 2003
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Discipleship, Ethics, Jesus, Love, Relationships, Ritual
Religious ritual and ethical living are both bound up together in the journey of following Jesus into the Realm of God.