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baptist church
baptist church
Topic: Hospitality
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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10 April, 2005
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Forgiveness, Hospitality, Mission, Repentance
The decision to repent and accept Christ’s gift of forgiveness and life involves a life change which includes a new willingness to honour and serve Christ in the stranger.
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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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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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25 May, 2003
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Grace, Hospitality, Love, Resurrection
Scripture: 1 2 & 3 John, Acts, John
The resurrection has broken open many old certainties, and our ethics must now be grounded in the new things God is doing, characterised by radically inclusive love, rather than in the old restrictions.
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18 August, 2002
Jesus is opening our eyes and widening our focus to allow God’s ‘unbiased grace’ to break through.
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14 July, 2002
It is only by letting go of our tribal need to define who is in and who is out, that any of us shall, in the end, show forth a kingdom which is from God.
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28 May, 2000
The extent of God’s grace constantly astounds us as it floods over ever social barrier we erect.
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14 June, 1998
People judge one another by their conformity to certain expectations (which vary from group to group), but God is only interested in our willingness to come into the loving intimacy he offers to all.
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24 November, 1996
Christ’s call to respond to his presence in the needy is a call for the church to embrace a lifestyle of radical communal hospitality (but we have often used it to justify empires built on the labour of guilt-ridden, over-extended, under-prepared Christians!)
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10 November, 1996
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Faithfulness, Fullness of Life, Generosity, Hospitality, Stewardship
Scripture: Matthew
Although all in the church may appear equally worthy, it is those who live the life (inward and outward) of the Kingdom now who are prepared for its coming.
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14 May, 1995
God breaks down all social barriers and differentiates between us on love alone.
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4 September, 1994
Preacher: Nathan Nettleton
Topic: Formation, Hospitality, Humility, Jesus, Racism, Relationships, Sin
Scripture: Mark
God uses the experiences of our lives to confront us with our own imperfections and, once so confronted, we are responsible for our growth and change in that area.