First Ards Presbyterian Church Sermoncast

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 9:18-27 at morning worship on Sunday 8th March 2026 in First Ards. Jesus asks the question that has been building through Luke, “Who do you say I am?” When Peter answers, “The Christ of God,” Jesus immediately reshapes what that means, explaining that the Messiah must suffer, be rejected, be killed and rise again. The cross, not worldly triumph, stands at the centre o...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 9:10-17 at morning worship on Sunday 1st March 2026 in First Ards. Jesus withdraws with the apostles after their mission, but when the crowds arrive he welcomes them, teaches about God’s kingdom and meets their needs. As the day ends and the disciples see only limitation, Jesus challenges them to trust him with what little they have, taking five loaves and two fish an...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Ephesians 1:11-14 at evening worship on Sunday 22nd February 2026 in First Ards. We close our series considering the Doctrines of Grace journey answering a deeply personal question: is grace able to carry us all the way home? In Ephesians 1:11–14 Paul points us first to God’s unshakeable purpose “in Christ”, then to Christ’s own promise to lose none of those the Father giv...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 9:1-9 at morning worship on Sunday 22nd February 2026 in First Ards. Jesus sends the Twelve with his own authority to preach the kingdom and heal, showing that mission begins with Christ’s call, not human strength or strategy. They go in dependence, trusting the King to provide, knowing some will welcome the message and others will reject it. As the news spreads, even...

Rev. Craig Jackson (minister, Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church) preaches 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 at evening worship on Sunday 15th February 2026 in First Ards.

Rev. Nigel Craig (chaplain of Queens University Belfast, Union Theological College and Stranmillis University College) preaches 2 Timothy 3:10-4:8 at morning worship on Sunday 15th February 2026 in First Ards.

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Ephesians 2:8-10 at evening worship on Sunday 8th February 2026 in First Ards. This sermon in our Doctrines of Grace series explores how anyone comes to faith at all. Salvation is by grace, received through faith and even that faith is God’s gift, leaving no room for pride. God doesn’t just invite from a distance. By his Spirit he works within, making unwilling hearts will...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Hebrews 4:14-16 at morning worship on Sunday 8th February 2026 in First Ards. This epilogue on Hebrews 4:14–16 at the conclusion of our Prayer Weekend reminds us that prayer rests on what we already have, Jesus, our great high priest. Because he stands in God’s presence for us and understands our weakness, we approach a throne of grace with confidence, not hesitation. Pray...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 8:40-56 at morning worship on Sunday 1st February 2026 in First Ards. Jairus pleads with Jesus for his dying daughter while, on the way, a woman who has suffered for twelve years quietly reaches out in faith and is gently brought from hidden shame into public peace as Jesus calls her “daughter.” As news arrives that the child has died, fear declares the situation fini...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 8:26-39 at morning worship on Sunday 25th January 2026 in First Ards. Jesus steps ashore and meets a man utterly ruined by demonic power and, with a word, restores him to dignity, sanity and peace, showing that even a “legion” is subject to his authority. Yet, while the healed man longs to stay with Jesus, the townspeople, unsettled by his holy presence, ask him to le...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Ephesians 1:7-10 at evening worship on Sunday 18th January 2026 in First Ards. Paul traces the work of salvation from God’s eternal purpose to Christ’s finished work, showing that the cross wasn’t a vague offer but a decisive achievement. In Christ, redemption has been secured through his blood and sins have been forgiven, not potentially but actually, according to the lav...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Like 8:22-25 at morning worship on Sunday 18th January 2026 in First Ards. Jesus leads his disciples into a boat and straight into a violent storm, revealing that obedience to his word doesn’t guarantee calm circumstances. As fear takes hold, the disciples interpret reality through the danger they feel rather than the promise they’ve heard, until Jesus silences the wind an...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Ephesians 1:3-6 at evening worship on Sunday 11th January 2026 in First Ards. Paul traces our salvation back beyond our decisions or responses to God’s gracious purpose before the world was made, showing from Ephesians 1 that grace begins not with us but with God’s loving choice in Christ. Before we existed or did anything good or bad, God chose a people in his Son, not be...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 8:16-21 at morning worship on Sunday 11th January 2026 in First Ards. Jesus presses home that hearing God’s word is never neutral. When it’s truly received, it brings light that shows itself in changed lives. Using the picture of a lamp, he warns against a comfortable, hidden faith that listens without obeying, and urges us to consider carefully how we listen, because...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Ephesians 2:1-5 at evening worship on Sunday 4th January 2026 in First Ards. The opening of a new evening series on the doctrines of grace, beginning with the Bible’s honest diagnosis of the human condition and why grace is necessary at all. Drawing on Psalm 51, Genesis 6 and Ephesians 2, it sets out the doctrine of total depravity, that sin reaches every part of us leavin...

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 8:1-15 at morning worship on Sunday 4th January 2026 in First Ards. Jesus explains why the same word produces such different responses by telling a simple story about seed and soil, showing that the issue isn’t whether God speaks, but how his word is heard. The parable exposes hard, shallow and crowded hearts, while holding out the hope that through grace, perseveranc...

Rev. John Mullan (minister, Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church) preaches Luke 9:57-62 at morning worship on Sunday 28th December 2025 in First Ards.

Rev. Craig Lynn speaks on Luke 2:8-20 at the Christmas Morning service 2025 in First Ards. Christmas is God’s gift to ordinary people, announced not as advice but as good news that a Saviour has been born for us. Through the shepherds’ story, the focus is on receiving what God freely gives, Jesus Christ, the Son given, who comes to rescue, not because we’ve earned him, but because we need him.

Rev. Craig Lynn preaches Luke 2:1-7 at the Christmas Eve midnight service 2025 in First Ards. Jesus is born into a crowded world where the expected place is already full and from the very beginning his life is marked by humility rather than status. The familiar line that there was “no room for them in the inn” reveals not hostility but ordinary fullness, showing how God comes quietly into the marg...

Rev. Craig Lynn shares a short epilogue at our Carols by Candlelight on Sunday 21st December 2025 in First Ards. Who is Christmas really for? Drawing on the familiar carols and the opening words of John’s Gospel, it reminds us that Jesus didn’t come for the strong, sorted or self-sufficient, but for the weak, weary and unfaithful, stepping right into our darkness so we might become God’s children....

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...