First Ards Presbyterian Church Sermoncast

Rev. Craig Lynn shares a short concluding epilogue after having heard from some Character Around the Cradle at morning worship on Sunday 21st December 2025 in First Ards. As those who were there responded to Jesus’ birth in different ways, so we’re invited to respond, not just with tradition, but with trust. Whether it’s commitment like Joseph, fear like Herod, worship like the wise men or wonder...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 35 and 36 at evening worship on Sunday 14th December 2025 in First Ards. As Jacob’s long story draws to a close, God speaks into the mess of chapter 34 and calls him back to Bethel, a return not just to a place, but to the promises of God. This chapter is full of grace: idols are buried, worship is renewed, old names are reaffirmed and, even in the midst of deep so...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 7:36-50 at morning worship on Sunday 7th 2025 in First Ards. At a dinner in a Pharisee’s home, a woman with a sinful past breaks into the room and pours out tearful, costly love at Jesus’ feet, an act that exposes both her need and Simon’s blindness to his own. Jesus tells a simple story that reveals the truth: forgiven people love much and those who think they need l...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 34 at evening worship on Sunday 30th November 2025 in First Ards. Genesis 34 shows the fallout of Jacob stopping short of obedience. Dinah is grievously wronged, her brothers answer sin with deceit and bloodshed, Jacob retreats into fear and the whole disaster exposes what happens when God’s people live in compromise instead of at Bethel. It’s a dark chapter, but i...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 7:18-35 at morning worship on Sunday 30th November 2025 in First Ards. John the Baptist, once so sure about Jesus, sits in prison confused and asks a question we all recognise “Are you really the One?” Jesus answers with evidence, broken lives healed, good news preached, and gently says, “Blessed is the one who isn’t tripped up by me.” Then he turns to the crowd, hono...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 33 at evening worship on Sunday 23rd November 2025 in First Ards. Jacob limps into a new day after wrestling with God and Genesis 33 shows what grace looks like when it’s lived out in real relationships. The brother he feared meets him with unexpected mercy, Jacob responds with humility and yet the old instincts still surface, a reminder that God’s work in us is re...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Like 7:11-17 at morning worship on Sunday 23rd November in First Ards. Jesus walks into a tiny nowhere town and straight into a funeral, a widow burying her only son, her last bit of security and hope. He sees her, feels deep compassion, stops the whole procession with a touch and, with a word, brings her son back to life. Jesus isn’t just moved by our tears, He has author...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 21 at evening worship on Sunday 16th November 2025 in First Ards. Jacob’s story is as messy as ever, running from Laban, dreading Esau and realising his biggest problem isn’t his brother at all, it’s himself. Before any reunion can happen, God meets him alone in the dark, wrestles him to the ground and blesses him with a limp. It’s a chapter that shows us how God s...

Rt. Rev. Dr. Trevor Gribben, moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, preaches Joshua 3 at the Moderator’s Rally on Sunday 9th November 2025 in Movilla Presbyterian Church. As Israel prepares to cross the Jordan, God gives them four simple, life-shaping instructions: look to the Lord and follow Him, because that’s how you’ll know the way; consecrate yourselves, beca...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 7:1-10 at morning worship on Sunday 9th November 2025 in First Ards. After the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus walks straight into Capernaum and into the need of a Roman soldier whose servant is dying. The centurion knows power, but he also knows his limits and he humbly asks Jesus to heal with just a word. Others say he deserves it; he insists he doesn’t. Yet his trust in...

Very Rev. Dr. Roy Patton preaches Psalm 139:1-12 at morning worship on Sunday 2nd November 2025 in First Ards.

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 31 at evening worship on Sunday 26th October 2025 in First Ards. Jacob finally heads home, but not because the circumstances are easy, they’re actually falling apart around him. Laban’s family turns against him, idols get smuggled out under a saddle and a furious chase follows through the hills. Yet in every moment, God is quietly at work guiding Jacob forward, res...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:46-49 at morning worship on Sunday 26th October 2025 in First Ards. Jesus ends His Sermon on the Plain with a simple but searching question: why call Him “Lord” and then ignore His words? He says real disciples don’t just enjoy the sound of His teaching, they put it into practice. Like a wise builder who digs down to the rock, obedience gives our lives depth and sta...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 30:25–43 at evening worship on Sunday 19th October 2025 in First Ards. Jacob’s story reminds us that God’s providence doesn’t switch off in the workplace or the grind of daily life. While Jacob labours under Laban’s schemes, God quietly turns the odds in his favour, not through trickery or luck but through mercy and faithfulness. The striped sticks and spotted shee...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:43-45 at morning worship on Sunday 19th October 2025 in First Ards. Jesus says that sooner or later, what’s inside us will always show on the outside. Fruit comes from nature, not from noise. A good tree can’t bear bad fruit and a bad tree can’t bear good fruit. Our words, our habits and our attitudes all trace back to the heart’s root system. The mouth’s just the l...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:37–42 at morning worship on Sunday 12th October 2025 in First Ards. Jesus shows us what mercy looks like when it really gets down into the heart. Instead of picking up the gavel of judgement, we’re called to take up the scoop of generosity, giving others the same grace we’ve received. The measure we use matters, because it reveals what’s shaping us. True sight begin...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 29:31-30:24 at evening worship on Sunday 5th October 2025 in First Ards. In a household marked by rivalry, jealousy and heartache, God’s grace quietly holds the centre. Leah, unloved and overlooked, discovers that the Lord sees her misery and hears her cries. Rachel, jealous and scheming, finds that the Lord remembers her and opens her womb. Across all the bitterne...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:27-36 at morning worship on Sunday 5th October 2025 in First Ards. Jesus calls His followers to live differently: to love their enemies; to do good to those who hate them; to bless those who curse them; and to pray for those who mistreat them. This love isn’t sentimental but deliberate, a grace-shaped mercy that mirrors the Father’s heart. It’s the love Jesus Himsel...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 29:1-30 at evening worship on Sunday 28th September 2025 in First Ards. After the vision of Bethel, Jacob doesn’t find angels or ladders, only a well, some shepherds and a young woman arriving with sheep. Yet through these ordinary details, God leads him to Rachel and into the next stage of His covenant plan. Even amid love, labour, deception and disappointment, Go...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:20-26 at morning worship on Sunday 28th September in First Ards. Jesus opens His kingdom manifesto with shocking verdicts. He pronounces blessing not on the rich, the comfortable, or the popular, but on the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the hated, those who belong to Him. And He speaks words of lament over those who look secure now but are storing up emptiness...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Genesis 28 at evening worship on Sunday 21st September 2025 in First Ards. Jacob runs into exile with guilt on his conscience, a stone for a pillow, and nothing to his name. Yet it’s there, in a “certain place,” that God meets him, not because he deserves it, but because God comes down in grace. Jacob sees a stairway between heaven and earth, a vision fulfilled in Jesus Ch...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:17-19 at morning worship on Sunday 21st September 2025 in First Ards. Before Jesus speaks a single word of the Sermon on the Plain, Luke slows us down to look at Him. He comes down among ordinary people, His presence is both heard and felt and power flows from Him to heal and restore. Here is the Christ who is accessible, compassionate and sufficient. The call of th...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:12-16 at morning worship on Sunday 14th September 2025 in First Ards. Before choosing the twelve apostles, Jesus prayed through the night. Out of many disciples, He called ordinary people - fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, doubters and brothers - to be His witnesses. Their mission rested not on their brilliance but on His blood. And still today, Jesus calls, ch...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches an epilogue at evening worship on Sunday 7th September 2025 in First Ards. At the start of a new church year, we’re reminded of three simple but life–shaping words: WE SHARE CHRIST_._ Together we belong to one another in Him, we joyfully share the gospel and our lives and we keep Christ at the centre of our worship, welcome and witness. This is our calling and our privileg...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 6:6-11 at morning worship on Sunday 7th September 2025 in First Ards. On the Sabbath, Jesus meets a man with a withered hand and restores him with a word. As we return to Luke's gospel after a break over the summer months, we see in this passage that the Lord’s Day isn't about box-ticking rules but about mercy, restoration and life. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabba...