Nathan has been a pastor of our Church since 1994.
The church is formed when we ask Christ to rule over us and make a covenant with him to define the terms.
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
An Open Table where Love knows no borders
Sermons by Nathan Nettleton (Page 29)
The Christian life is often lived against overwhelming odds, but the presence of Christ and some basic godly resources make it a good bet.
The Kingdom of God grows like a weed – seemingly insignificant and unwanted – but it ends up with a place of refuge for everyone.
The God who we encounter in such different ways is, nevertheless, the one God, and we are called to share in the life of this one God.
Love is a gift which we invited to become at home in, receiving and enjoying it, not questioning, measuring and regulating it.
The risen Christ confronts us with both the gruesome consequences of our violence and the terrifying shock of grace.
The death of Christ strips us bare, but in his resurrection we are clothed in Christ and become participants in his resurrection life.
God will do great things with us, but will not impose them on us, so we have to relinquish control before God brings about the growth we crave.
Violence must be a constant temptation for God, but in absolute love, God has vowed never to resort to it.
In Jesus, God is calling us to see and hear a gospel that takes us beyond rule making and sacred violence.
God’s new culture of forgiveness is entered by faith, and sometimes it is even vicarious faith.
The gospel calls us on a road to healing and wholeness, but its steps are so deceptively simple (which doesn’t mean easy) that we often don’t take them seriously and so don’t do them.
When we know ourselves as known by God, the demonic power of violent naming is broken and new life dawns.
In the encounter with Jesus, our self-delusion and our scapegoating are painfully exposed, but with the possibility of forgiveness and freedom.
After the big event of Christmas, it is faithfulness in our everyday living that produces growth and godliness.
God longs to bless us in the land we have been given, but if we fail to live in faithfulness to the welcoming God, we will destroy ourselves and alienate ourselves from God’s blessing.
God will open the way through the world’s chaos, and it will be grounded on extravagant mercy.
God will wound us if necessary to bring us into the full blessing intended for us.
Perhaps when law and order perpetuate injustice, God is on the side of the scammers and swindlers.
The Church will always contain more than its fair share of maliciousness, pettiness and nastiness, but the temptation to try to weed it out is a temptation to abandon the way of Christ and make things worse.