Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: humiliation, mortification, chagrin, ignominy, loss of face, shamefacedness, embarrassment, indignity, abashment, discomfort, discomfiture, discomposure, guilt, remorse, contrition, compunction, disgrace, dishonour, discredit, degradation, disrepute, ill-repute, infamy, scandal, odium, opprobrium, obloquy, condemnation, contempt, pity, misfortune, crying shame, cause for regret, source of regret, sad thing, unfortunate thing, discredit to, disgrace to, stain on, blemish on, blot on, blot on the escutcheon of, slur on, reproach to, bad reflection on, bring into disrepute, degrade, debase, defame, stigmatize, taint, sully, tarnish, besmirch, stain, blacken, drag through the mud/mire, give a bad name to, put in a bad light, humiliate, mortify, make someone feel ashamed, embarrass, abash, chasten, humble, put someone in their place, take down a peg or two, cut down to size, show up

Antonyms: honor, pride, respect, glory, praise, dignity, honor, esteem, glorification, laud, compliment, regard, credit, elevate, acclaim, pleasure, favor, kudos, recognition, flatter, admiration, greatness, happiness, self-confidence, reverence

Showing 1 to 25 of 277 results

1. Jesus Radical Prescription

Matthew 5:21-26

Sermon

Mike Ripski

... being thrown into Gehenna, the smoldering garbage dump in the Hinnon Valley outside the Jerusalem city walls. Do you see what Jesus is doing here? He’s saying deal with your anger before you become its slave. Before it leads to violence, to contempt, to degradation. Once you degrade someone, so that they are less than human, you will find killing them an easy next step. Gordon Peerman admits that dealing with his anger is his greatest growing edge. As he puts it: how to be with his anger, how to live with ...

2. Walk In Love

Ephesians 4:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... that it's not known why this happens or if people can change their behavior, but "It's not going to hurt people to adopt a more positive view of others." (3) That is certainly the understatement of the year. NEGATIVE EMOTIONS ARE NOT ONLY DESTRUCTIVE BUT THEY ARE DEGRADING TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT. You may have read about a reply that came to the credit department of a jewelry store from an irate customer. It seems he was angry over a mistake in billing. He wrote: "You have made me so think, I can't mad straight ...

3. Is It Too Late?

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

George Johnson

... an interesting statistic. The United States in 1990 spent 303 billion dollars on defense. The money was used for the creation of bombs, guns and missiles, to protect us from military threats. We spent in that same time 14 billion dollars to protect us from environmental degradation. That's a 22-to-1 ratio. We need to ask what good all our finest weapons will do for us if we continue to destroy the environment. A coalition of nations recently spent over 50 billion dollars, some say 100 billion, on a six-week ...

4. Redrawing The Landscape

Multiple Scriptures

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... who can affirm the assets in other people. Timeless truths about human relationships will need to be revivified. Men will need to realize that men were made to protect, love, and cherish women, not to undervalue, neglect, or abuse them. A gentlemen realizes that to degrade a woman is to degrade himself as a man. He realizes that her character is as sacred as his. Not to be like this is to fail in your relationships and fail as a person in our kind of world. Conversely, to be a woman and not expect a man ...

5. Looking Ahead with Hope

John 1:43-51

Sermon

... at a man forced to carry a felon’s cross, charged with the worst. Yet, just thirty years later, out of the degradation and humiliation of that moment, something happened in the life of Simon of Cyrene. When the author is listing great Christians, he ... it. Alfred Lord Tennyson writes: "Oh for a man to arise in me That the man I am might cease to be." Many of us have felt degraded in heart and mind by the consciousness of what we are and how we have failed. But the glory of the Christian faith is the glory of ...

6. The Racial Gap

Psalm 53:1-6

Sermon

William McKee Aber

... that honesty may mark the relationship between us. II Paul’s suggestion to the Romans goes on: "HATE THAT WHICH IS EVIL." I suppose that this has been the race relations theme for years and it’s still valid. Hate that which is evil. Evil is anything that degrades a man - little things and big things. A few weeks ago I heard a waitress say to a group of burly white truckers, "What will you boys have?" I wondered if that was how she would speak to a group of black customers. Probably. Just her way of ...

7. Only Sex? (New)

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Sermon

King Duncan

... airways and other apparatus that allow for speech. (3) Human beings are uniquely created for prayer and praise. We are made to communicate with one another and with our Maker. Our bodies, minds and souls are God’s crowing glory. Shall we abuse them or cheapen them or degrade them? Sex is a gift from God. It is to be used as God intended--within the marriage relationship. Our bodies are not our own. They belong to God and we are to use them to bring honor to God. One final word: Paul didn’t write these ...

8. The Ultimate Blasphemy

Mark 2:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... spirit and a soured soul are the greatest blasphemies we breathe out into this world. When we look for ways to pass the time, when we look forward to a weekend of getting wasted, when we put our spiritual lives in the waste basket, we insult and degrade that divine spark, that breath of God, that breathed life into the human being God created. It's blasphemy to turn the church into nothing more than a comfortable building, instead of Christ's body. It's blasphemy to use faith as an excuse for hate. It ...

9. The Parable of the Lost Son

Luke 15:11-32

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... He then went to a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. In the minds of respectable first-century Jewish people the behavior of this son would be considered disloyal and outrageous. But the parable advances from the son’s selfishness to his degradation. He ends up working for a Gentile (as implied by the reference to the “distant country”) for whom he feeds the pigs. Not only does he feed swine, he even eats the very pods that the pigs were eating. From a Jewish point of view ...

10. Spirit-anointed Son Of God The Father

John 1:29-34

Sermon

Mark Radecke

... such as "Mother-Lover-Friend" or "Parent-Child-Spirit." In part, the intent of these advocates is laudable. They seek to repudiate the unbiblical notion that the transcendent God is male. They denounce the physical, emotional, economic and spiritual degradation of women, especially when such degradation cloaks itself in a mantle of religious righteousness. They decry any attempt to use God as a prop to buttress the wall that holds women back from full and essential partnership in the world and in the church ...

11. Loving Close-up

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... and uplifts and transforms and renews others. "Grace reaches down into the very heart of the human struggle, and brings graceful influence to bear on the battle waged in the human soul..."gracelessness" is then the characteristic of everything that pulls down rather than builds up, degrades rather than refines, brings deterioration rather than spiritual improvement. Love can never do "the graceless thing." For all it offers is for our ultimate good. Love can have no connection with attitude or behavior that ...

12. The Heart of an Intimate Matter

Matthew 5:27-30

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... that Jesus exposes to the light. It is not enough to avoid adultery; underneath the act is the attitude and habit of lust, which is the desire to use another for my gratification as if they were a disposable object. Lust, and the pain and degradation that flows from it, shatters the love and respect God intends between men and women. Unresolved anger is a deadly sin; unbridled lust is a deadly sin. People die from STD’s, AID’s being the most prominent; the unborn die because of convenience abortions ...

13. Dirty Dreams and Slick Schemers

Jude 1:8-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... every other religion in the world. One says we're saved by grace through faith and not of works. The other says we are saved by works and need neither grace nor faith. Well, dear friend, never forget this: The way of the cross leads home. b. Like Balaam, They Degrade The Gospel The story of Balaam is found in Numbers 22-25. Balak was the king of Moab, and he feared the Jews as they were about to enter into Canaan. So he found a prophet named Balaam and tried to bribe Balaam into cursing the people of Israel ...

14. O Holy Night

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

James Merritt

... could watch the humiliating body contortions and bodily excretions in public view. Many times the bodies were not buried but left on the cross until the birds came and ate the flesh. In other words, crucifixion meant death with great dishonor, with public degradation, with total shame. That's why Heb. 2:2 says that "Christ endured the cross, despising the shame." We all have heard of the famous man called "Dr. Death," Jack Kevorkian. Jack Kevorkian has, as you know, an obscene obsession with death and ...

15. The Elephant in The Living Room

Mark 8:31-38

Sermon

John Smylie

... fact that he will be put to death after being rejected and experiencing deep and painful suffering. We live in a culture that seems to be spiraling downward. We live in a culture where the holiness and value of life is being continually degraded. The signs of degradation appear more and more frequently upon the bodies of our young people. Some have even called the multiple piercings and tattoos that have become a norm among our young people (and some of our older people as well) a cult of self-mutilation ...

16. Living as Children of Light

Ephesians 4:17--5:21

Understanding Series

Arthur G. Patzia

... alcoholic beverage leading to drunkenness (1 Tim. 3:3, 8; Titus 1:7; 2:3; asōtia, “debauchery,” “profligacy,” “waste”). The contrast is not between wine and the Spirit but between the two states that they produce: Intoxication with wine has a degrading effect; intoxication with the Spirit (cf. Acts 2:13) can have an uplifting effect upon the Christian community. 5:19 This uplifting effect manifests itself in several ways. One is in worship: This verse suggests that early Christian worship had a ...

17. A Lifestyle of Holiness and Love

Leviticus 19:1-37

Teach the Text

Joe M. Sprinkle

... 21:1–24), as does verse 28a. Self-cutting was used by the prophets of Baal to get their god to act (1 Kings 18:28). On tattoos, see “Additional Insights” following this unit. 19:29–30 Do not degrade . . . have reverence. Note the contrast: prostitution, which degrades both women and society in general, versus reverent worship of God, which uplifts all. 19:31 Do not turn to mediums . . . spiritists. Necromancy, consulting the dead to divine the future, relates to the cult of the dead, in which ...

18. The Garden of Betrayal and the Garden of His Burial

John 18:1-11

Sermon

King Duncan

... break where they come in contact with the sweat glands. (3) This is a reminder to us that Jesus’ suffering was both physical and emotional. God gave His Son no free pass that would allow him to avoid a most painful and degrading death. When you and I go through painful and degrading situations we need to know that Jesus understands and hurts for us. He’s experienced such a trial himself. We see that plainly in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. John, on the other hand, doesn’t put much emphasis on Jesus ...

19. Named And Claimed

Isaiah 43:1-13

Sermon

Tony Everett

... were left in ruins. Families were separated. The entire nation was in chaos. All the symbols of identity as a people and nation were demolished. They were exiles and losers, a forgotten people. The once proud name of Zion became a symbol of shame and degradation. Sound familiar? The word of the Lord came to them and the Lord comes to us today, through this passage in Isaiah. The Lord created and formed Israel and Judah. They would not be forgotten. They have been chosen first, elected and selected to bear ...

20. Have I Got News For You!

Isaiah 9:1-7

Sermon

William L. Self

... won an Academy Award. Most of us know of it from that standpoint. But Ernest Gordon, theologian and preacher, later to become chaplain at Yale, wrote a book called Through the River of the Kwai, which told another side of the story of degradation and desolation experienced by those impoverished prisoners. This book tells how those in the camp interacted with one another. When these young soldiers realized that they were going to be there for a while, they began to have Bible studies and prayed diligently ...

21. Shameless Passion

Isaiah 50:1-11

Sermon

Paul W. Kummer

... removes those sticky analyzers, lots of hair stays with them. They pluck the hairs, a clump of hair, right out of the skin. That stings, but its not humiliating like the plucking of the beard Jesus went through out of hardened anger against him or the degradation of the spittle that ran down his face after one of the soldiers cleared his throat and let it fly. Utter contempt. Ignominy to the highest degree. Yet, Jesus wasn't disgraced. The only shame for Jesus would have been resisting this and many other ...

22. Our Helper

Acts 8:26-40

Sermon

Robert Beringer

... Through The Valley Of The Kwai.3 He tells in a moving way about British soldiers imprisoned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. The reader recoils at the appalling picture of human beings exploited, starved, tortured and degraded to the status of animals by the brutality of their captors. Reduced to skeletons, riddled with disease, these prisoners survived by the law of the jungle. They hated, they cursed, they stole from one another, and they watched each other die without even ...

23. Thistles Among The Wheat

Genesis 28:10-22, Psalm 139:1-24, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, Romans 8:12-25

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... action: solving problems of unemployment, homelessness, crime prevention, drug addiction, overpopulation, and similar issues? Is the church concerned about the amelioration of evil by minimizing violence, correcting violations of human rights, eliminating injustice, and working to avoid environmental degradation? Or is it the church's task only to preach the gospel and seek the conversion of persons, and to leave the problems of society to other agencies? Is social change a hopeless endeavor since evil and ...

24. Wicked Tenants

Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon Aid

William E. Keeney

... 1. The Earth is the Lord's. The earth was established by God with conditions necessary to support life. Some environmentalists blame the Judeo-Christian doctrines for the exploitation of the earth which results in the depletion of natural resources and degradation of the environment through pollution and other abuses. They contend that the belief that persons are to have dominion over the earth allowed these actions. It can be argued, however, that the Judeo-Christian belief is not that persons are to ...

25. Something New, Something Old

Sermon

John N. Brittain

... Jesus cited specific laws, saying "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times," and then giving a new, higher, and more personal interpretation, "But I say to you." It was not enough to avoid murder, Jesus says, one must not think degrading thoughts about fellow human beings. Not only should one eschew adultery, one must not look at members of the opposite sex with lust, and so on. As our world changes, as we mature, we must constantly strive for a deeper level of personal responsibility and ...

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