Sermons and Teaching

Christian faith invites us to bring the whole of our lives into conversation with the Triune God. At Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, we explore the Bible to better understand who God is, who we are, and what it means to follow Jesus faithfully in the world today.

Our sermons and teaching engage Scripture alongside the questions and challenges of everyday life: relationships, work, prayer, suffering, purpose, technology, spiritual growth, and the search for a life of meaning and hope. You won’t find much partisan politics here. Instead, we try to keep our attention centered on Jesus and the Scriptures, trusting that a life deeply formed by them will shape how we live in every part of the world, including our life together as neighbors and citizens.

Rooted in the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, we believe thoughtful Christian faith welcomes honest questions and continues growing in wisdom. We don’t expect everyone who comes here to begin with the same beliefs, experiences, or questions.

Whether you have followed Jesus for many years, are returning to faith, or are simply curious about Christianity, these resources are offered to help you explore Scripture, grow in faith, and take your next step with Jesus.

Thinking Faithfully About AI: Speed - Psalm 37 Sermon

Thinking Faithfully About AI: Speed Scripture: Psalm 37:1–11 Series: Thinking Faithfully About AI Preacher: Rev. Russell B. Smith Date: September 13, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Theme verses: Psalm 37:3–7 Explore the sermon slide show The Idolatry of Speed We continue through Thinking Faithfully About AI, and this week we are talking about speed. This is so interesting to me, because just this week you may have seen the news stories a

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Thinking Faithfully about AI: Agency - What Will We Build?

Thinking Faithfully about AI: Agency Scripture: Genesis 1:26–28 Series: Thinking Faithfully about AI Preacher: Russell Smith Date: September 6, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Explore the sermon slide show AI and Agency One of the great buzzwords in AI is agency. Agency is loosely defined as the power to take action. This has been the big turn in AI this year. The models have gone from simply being able to chat with us and produce funny g

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Thinking Faithfully About AI: Fear - Psalm 46 and Finding Refuge in God

Thinking Faithfully About AI: Fear Scripture: Psalm 46 Series: Thinking Faithfully About AI Preacher: Russell Smith Date: August 30, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Theme verses: Psalm 46:1, 4-5, 7, 10 Explore the Sermon Slide Show Thinking Faithfully About AI: Fear We are beginning a new series called Thinking Faithfully About AI. For this week and the next four weeks, we will consider how to think faithfully about artificial intelligenc

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How Do I Live In Confidence? Psalm 138 Sermon

Learning to Pray in the School of the Psalms Scripture: Psalm 138:1-8 Series: Learning to Pray in the School of the Psalms Preacher: Russell Smith Date: August 23, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Theme verses: Psalm 138:1-8 Explore the sermon slide show How Do I Live In Confidence? The Psalms are the hymns of ancient Israel, but they are also its prayers. Jesus had the Psalms on his lips; Paul had the Psalms on his lips; the early church

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What Really Lasts? A Sermon on Psalm 90

What Really Lasts? Scripture: Psalm 90:1–17 Series: Learning to Pray in the School of the Psalms Preacher: Russell Smith Date: August 16, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Theme verses: Psalm 90:1, 12, 14, 17 Explore the sermon slide show What Really Lasts? We are continuing this series, Learning to Pray in the School of the Psalms. From time to time, I like to take a month or so and see how the Psalms teach us about prayer. This week we ar

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What Is Enough? | Psalm 16 and Finding Contentment in Christ

Learning to Pray in the School of the Psalms Scripture: Psalm 16:1-11 Date: August 9, 2026 Theme verses: Psalm 16:1-2, 5-11 A sermon preached by Russell Smith at Madeira-Silverwood Presbytrerian, Cincinnati, OH Explore the sermon slide show Psalm 16 takes up a question that feels very contemporary: What is enough? We live in a consumeristic society, in a world continually telling us, "You need more. You do not have enough." How much is enough? Psalm 16 helps us answer that qu

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What Do You Seek? Seeking the Beauty of the Lord in Psalm 27

Praying in the School of the Psalms What Do You Seek? Psalm 27:1-14 August 2, 2026 Theme verses: Psalm 27:4, 8, 13-14 A sermon preached by Russell Smith at Madeira Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. Explore the sermon slides We have finished Sabbath month, and now we are moving into a new series for August: learning to pray in the school of the Psalms. The Psalms are the ancient hymnbook of Israel, but they are also its ancient prayer book. They were frequently

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Christ Is the Wisdom of God - 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Series: Hearing From God Preacher: Russell Smith Date: June 28, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Theme verses: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:16 Explore the sermon slide show Christ Is God’s Living Wisdom We bring this Hearing from God series to a close as we prepare for July’s Sabbath month. We began in 1 Corinthians 2 with the promise that, by the grace of Christ, we have the mind of Christ. In a world full of

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Growing in Hearing the Voice That (In)Forms - 1 Corinthians 4:1-17

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:1-17 Series: Hearing From God Preacher: Russell Smith Date: June 21, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Theme verses: 1 Corinthians 4:3-5, 6-7, 14-17 Explore the sermon slideshow Who Has Helped You Hear the Voice of God? This sermon continues our Hearing from God series as we prepare for July’s Sabbath month, a retreat in place centered on seeking God’s wisdom. Each of us carries a problem, question, crossroads, or

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What Kind of Fruitfulness Are You Seeing? - 1 Corinthians 3

What Kind of Fruitfulness Are You Seeing Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:1-15 Series: Hearing from God Preacher: Russell Smith Date: June 14, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Explore the sermon slide show Social Media Shareables Fruit of Our Lives Reveals The Voice that (In)Forms We are continuing our Hearing from God series as preparation for Sabbath month in July. In July we will take a retreat in place together, meet in one service, share Co

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Hearing from God: What Voice (In)Forms You? - 1 Corinthians 2

Hearing from God: What Voice (In)Forms You? Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 Series: Hearing from God Preacher: Russell Smith Date: June 7, 2026 Church: Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio Explore the sermon slide show Social Media Shareables The Voices That Seek Our Attention We are beginning a month-long series on hearing from God because we live in a noisy, cacophonous world: a world full of voices competing for our attention. In July we will take a Sab

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This sermon archive is part of the Digital Discipleship Resources of Madeira-Silverwood Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

We create resources to help people take their next step of faith with Jesus.

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