Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church

What is the "Good News Of Peace" that Paul wants us to be ready with in Ephesians 6? Donald builds on the All-Together Morning's series on the "Armour of God" and blends the morning and the evening as well as a bit of "Questions of Life" to go deeper into the spiritual shoes we need to wear.

Hagar and Ishmael are kicked out and sent into the desert, then the water runs out...

Deb explores the first part of Ephesians 6 where instructions for a new household order are introduced for the church to show the world a glimpse of a new way forward.

Joined by Paul; Deb and Donald discuss how we balance making sacrifices for others in the name of Christ's love and obeying the command to rest that we might not burnout. With questions from the congregation and stories from their own lives the team share their understandings of finding the right balance

Jesus suggests the secret to finding life, lies in not trying to save our life. But what does this mean? And what does it look like?

Sam explores the story in Acts 12 and how this speaks into our lives and the situations many Christians find themselves in around the world.

We can feel insignificant with minority views, is there any point trying to be different? Sam, Donald and Mark discuss whether our lives can make any difference.

James, from Compassion (and also one of our mission partners), shares from Nehemiah on how value and security are intertwined and key values of our faith.

What might it look like for Jesus to trust us, as he trusted Peter - "the rock"?

Jesus challenges the disciples to articulate who they think Jesus is. It is a good question for us to ask ourselves. We can learn a lot from Peter's answer

Sam shares a summary of what the youth have been exploring on their weekend away, and gives the final talk for the weekend.

Paul explains how the early church interpreted this joy-filled passage and the side effects of living in a community that believes in God’s promises.

Jesus warns His disciples to guard against the small negative, critical words that can influence profoundly. What voices are we hearing that are shaping us, but not in a Christlike direction? Donald gives us some pointers to look for in the words we hear.

Deb looks at the next passage in Ephesians - which uses marriage as an illustration, and has long caused controversy - but actually has applications for anyone and everyone involved in church life, and is incredibly good news for the whole of society.

Paul speaks about lies, disaster, and plans going off course.

As the first part of our Renewal Sunday and the last part of our mini-series on John 1v5 Donald encourages us to be "a light in the darkness" and gives us two simple ways

At our Carol service, Donald helps think about how our hearts might be the very home Jesus wants to live in

Some of the religious leaders ask for a sign from Jesus that he is from God, but Jesus tells them they already have it. What was the sign? And ... is it ok for us to ask God for a sign?

Deb looks at Ephesians 5 and two major obstacles that stop us from making the most of the opportunities that God gives us.

Can we find any clues as to the meaning of life in the Bible; what is the point of life? When we come to Christ we discover the reason God has given us breath. At our last baptismal service Donald shares our one purpose as it is described in 7 different ways in the Bible.

Donald and Deb discuss how we navigate away from arrogance and poor self-esteem towards a healthy confidence and humility - what each of these mean, how we reflect on where we're at, and practical tips to move forwards.

Terry looks at Acts 1 and what we can learn as we look at Jesus and the conversation in this passage.

Donald looks at a story about Jesus in Matthew 15, at how the crowds react, how the disciples react and how Jesus responds - and which of these we might identify with as we seek to deal with the "crowds" in our society and their and our beliefs and fears.

A difficult story of shame becomes a wonderfully story of redemption, Paul continues his series in Genesis and helps us move on from what can feel shameful and useless in our lives into discovering how God can reshape and show his grace

Deb and Donald discuss what shapes our thinking and what kind of things we can do if what we think doesn't match up to how Jesus thinks.

Jesus is silent when we want him to say something, then to make matters worse he appears to say something racist and divisive. What is going on? Donald unpacks a tricky passage in the Gospel of Matthew and helps us find a deeper message of radical faith and inclusion

Looking at Ephesians 5:1-14, Deb explores why the problems Paul names in Ephesians 5 are still an issue today and how we might avoid destructive habits and instead expose ourselves to God so we learn how to live in love.

Jesus tells us to look into our hearts, rather than worry about the actions of others. It's a tricky balance to manage the need to be honest with ourselves about our failings and yet also understand and receive the forgiveness of God rather than live in condemnation. Donald explores from Matthew 15

It's Harvest and Donald goes deeper on a story from David's life about Kindness. He also answers some questions texted in about Kindness and the difficult reality

Jesus is repeatedly annoyed with the seriously religious, for their hypocrisy - where they are zealous about the less important parts of faith and ignore the essential elements of the fundamental command to love. How does this speak into our troubled world today and our daily living?

Why does Jesus wait to go to the disciples in their moment of need and why don't we have answers to the "why" questions? What does Jesus feel about our fears, doubts and failures? Donald takes a different look at a familiar event in Jesus' life and addresses these and other questions.

We all struggle to pray. Even the disciples, close to Jesus, needed help. Jesus gives a template, not just set prayer, but an agenda. Donald takes the Church through the themes but also shares his own failures in prayer and the importance of just keeping going

For Jesus, his own needs and the needs of others clash - Jesus needs to be now His own, the people need help. How do we balance the needs of others and our own needs? Donald also shares his own experience of solitude and busyness

Donald explores the story of Herod and John the Baptist with 5 different characters, each with a different experience. A difficult story of sex and weakness, tragedy and coercion. We all battle with our self-control and are damaged by other people's lack of self control, where can we find hope in this painful story?

How do we reflect Jesus when we’re the only follower of Jesus amongst our family, friends or colleagues? Cath is back for a one off and she and Donald share their thoughts and experiences

Inspired by the writings of King David - Donald leads us through a personal reflection on the elements of worship we see in David's thoughts and actions and helps us think this through for ourselves

After a week of our Youth Camp, Sam, our Youth and Young Adults Co-ordinator helps us learn from Romans 12. Is there more to life than this? And if so how do we access what we are meant for?

What do we long God to rid of in the world? We may be longing for Jesus to return and get rid of all that is wrong, but what do we do if we fear his return and feel we are part of the problem. Donald brings re-assurance with the words of Joel.

Deb explores what it means to live for the common good, why we would do this, and how to live this way.

Neil explores the emotive character of smells - and how Jesus' aroma rubs off on us when we spend time with him, so that those around us can tell from being with us that we have spent time with Jesus.

Deb continues her series through Ephesians focusing in on one word that is repeated 6 times in two chapters.

In the light of the constantly changing news, and the rise of nationalism Donald unpacks the question "what makes a nation great?". With questions on Britain, Israel and the USA, Donald looks at what measure the Bible gives for greatness

What is strength in God? What does it look like? How can we find this strength? Prompted by the story of Jonathan and David, Donald helps us seek resilience

Joel tells us of a time when God would be within everyone. What difference can this make? Donald explores the significance of this for us today. We use one of the great videos from the Bible project to help us understand the wonder of God's Holy Spirit. BibleProject is the author and owner of this video. To find more BibleProject resources, visit bibleproject.com.

Our mission partner Charlie shares the three values he and Abby have lived by in Sutton, Ibiza and now in Mevagissey - that have led to amazing opportunities and positive changes. Values that we can all adopt if we are willing to.

Will leads us through John 12:1-8 - reflecting on Jesus' shocking statement after Mary pours a year's worth of perfume on his feet.

Following on from our last Questions of Life on free speech. Mark and Donald discuss the problems with and the guard rails to speaking the truth to another person "in love".

Sensitively, Paul unpacks the warnings from the story of Lot in Sodom. How do we respond when God, seeking to protect us, gives us warnings?

When the Bible talks of God being jealous - what does it mean? Donald seeks to explain and show how this links to God's promise to do the best for his people. When we have lost much in life God seems to promise to give us much more in return. Was might this look like?

We are all faced with choices as to whether to do what we think is right when it looks pointless or doomed to failure, or whether to do what is expected and easy, though it feels wrong. How do we carry on? The woman carried on to the tomb when there seemed no point - "Who Will Roll Away The Stone?" they asked. Why did they go when they expected their way to be blocked?