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 103 results

1. Put Up and Shut Up

Proverbs 18:21

Sermon

James Merritt

... trifles, and they go down into the inmost body." The ear craves gossip like a hungry stomach craves good food. That's why Solomon goes on to give this warning: "He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips." (Prov. 20:19) Your kids will have one of two tendencies: either to have gossipy lips or gossipy ears. If they have gossipy lips teach them not to share gossip. If they have gossipy ears teach them not to receive it. b. The Flapping ...

2. Let Me Tell You about the Birds and the Bees

Proverbs 5:15-23

Sermon

James Merritt

... soft music playing in the background. Notice how she uses his eyes and his ears as a pipeline to his heart. Flattery is the bait and her tongue is the hook. Solomon refers to the danger of flattery repeatedly: "To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words." (Prov. 2:16) "For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil." (Prov. 5:3) "To keep you from the evil woman, from the ...

3. What Must I Do?

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

King Duncan

... care of. God accepts us as we are. God sees us as perfect, according to scripture. There is nothing we can add to perfection. The deal is sealed. You can't buy God with your puny actions. God loves you just as you are. This young man tried to flatter the wrong person and he asked the wrong question. And yet, says the writer of Mark, "Jesus loved him." Jesus turns to the young man and says to him "You know the commandments: You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall ...

4. To Tell The Truth

Exodus 20:16

Sermon

James Merritt

... ; to the person who "damns another man with faint praise." Solomon said in Pr. 26:28, "A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin." That's why he gave this advice in Pr. 20:19, "Do not associate with one who flatters with his lips." Oh, it's sugarcoated, it is honeybaked, but flattery is lying just the same. You ask what is flattery? Flattery is what you will say to a person's face that you would never say behind his back. It is not sincere praise for another ...

5. A Man Who Was a Lion-Tamer

Daniel 6:1-28

Sermon

R. Blaine Detrick

... , or dishonest. He could have lied. He could have been a hypocrite. He didn’t have to tell those kings all that their dreams meant. Telling the truth endangered his life. Yet he told the truth, the whole truth, the ugly truth, the unpopular truth. He might have flattered the kings with half-truths or "little white lies." Or he might have simply said, "Like the rest of your wise men, I don’t know." But from his God, he received the guidance and ability to tell those kings what they needed to know. And he ...

6. A King - A Kingdom

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Warren Thomas Smith

... celebrating his own worship in the midst of his host of priests and faithful." Never in modern history was an individual permitted to gormandize to the extent of the Grand Monarch. Hardly a mortal before or since has known such pampered elegance, such crapulence. He was flattered, fawned upon, and idolized by a throng of sycophants. When he died, Louis XIV’s body was hissed and booed as it was carried through the streets. It was a welcome relief that the vain old man was dead. Louis XIV built a house and ...

7. Hang in There!

Matthew 15:21-28

Sermon

David E. Leininger

... us wonder what we have done. After all, at first blush, this lesson makes the Lord sound like something of a jerk. My first reaction is to want to "rescue" Jesus, find some way of explaining away this conversation that will put him in a bit more flattering light. The commentators are all over the lot on this one. Some have said that Jesus was just having a bad day - he and the twelve had gone north, out of Galilee (the only time the Gospels have Jesus leaving his native land). He had been having trouble ...

8. The Dark Side Arrives

Sermon

James Merritt

... with her words." (Proverbs 2:16, NASB) In Chapter 6, verse 24, he speaks of - "The smooth tongue of the adulteress." (Proverbs 6:24, NASB) In Chapter 7, verse 5, he warns about the "Adulteress… who flatters with her words." (Proverbs 7:5, NASB) Speaking of a young man seduced "So she seduced him with her pretty speech. With her flattery she enticed him." (Proverbs 7:21, NLT) You would be amazed how often the dark side of sexual sin arrives with just seemingly casual conversation that ...

9. Sick People Like Us Will Always Need The (Divine) Doctor

Matthew 9:9-13

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... , do not consider the purpose for which Christ was sent into the world, and do not acknowledge the depth of evils in which the human race is plunged ... The consequence is, that they are too stupid to feel the miseries of men, or to think of a remedy. While they flatter themselves, they cannot endure to be placed in their own rank, and that injustice is done them, when they are classed with transgressors.4 These are pretty harsh words. Calvin says that you and I are hypocritical and stupid, inclined to ...

10. Living to Please God

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Sermon

King Duncan

... and dish‑watery utterances of the man who has been pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States.” (1) Sooner or later all of us have to deal with criticism. Let me ask you a second question: Has anyone ever tried to flatter you? That is, have they ever tried to praise you extravagantly? Let me guess we are not nearly as sensitive to flattery as we are to criticism, are we? I chuckled when I read a story about the late, great motivational speaker Cavett Robert. Robert was ...

11. Which Way To Jesus?

John 12:20-36

Sermon

Harry N. Huxhold

... can live above the world and live in him by faith, which is to live eternally, beginning right now. The Glory Of It When Jesus spoke of these prospects, however, things did not look all that good. Here come these strangers, who certainly must have appeared to flatter Jesus by taking the time to look him up and express their interest. Then Jesus comes back with this very sober appraisal of his prospects. He is going to die, and asks his followers to die with him. However, Jesus called it his "hour of glory ...

12. Through The Eye Of The Needle

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon

Steven E. Albertin

... like signing up for the military or a membership at the local health club. No, Jesus takes the initiative. He's the one who does the recruiting. Perhaps that is why Jesus is so put off by this man's attempt to butter him with his flattering "Good Teacher." Flattery will get you nowhere with Jesus. Likewise, the man's "What must I do?" question makes the wrong assumption. With such a question the man mistakenly assumes that he is capable of doing whatever it takes to impress Jesus and become one of ...

13. Exercise Your Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Sermon

Richard Hasler

... players ever to wear a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform, showed great promise even in his rookie year. Once when he was playing in New York, a reporter interviewed him and began comparing him with Willie Mays, a recognized superstar. Any rookie would have been flattered with such a comparison and undoubtedly this young Pirate outfielder was, too. But when the reporter finished speaking the rookie said to him: "Nonetheless, I play like Roberto Clemente." God has given each one of us a special gift that sets us ...

14. Sermons

Sermon

John R. Bodo

... are to sympathize with Thomas the Doubter. Doubting Thomas At first glance, Thomas does not cut a very good figure. The first three Gospels merely list his name among the Twelve. The Gospel of John has more to say about him, but nothing particularly flattering. Thomas is first shown at a conference of the disciples in the province of Perea where they have taken refuge after the first threat of hostility from the authorities in Jerusalem. Suddenly a messenger comes to tell Jesus that his friend, Lazarus of ...

15. Leave It On The Course

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Sermon

Robert R. Kopp

... only of sons. But the most recent greatest indignity occurred at a local restaurant when the waitress said I look like a clergyman. As someone who recalls the chap who said he would have become a pastor except for so many of them looking like undertakers, I was neither flattered nor amused. And yet there's a line from Paul to Timothy that really tears at my soul: "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?" (1 Timothy 3:5 NIV). Ouch! Over two decades in this ...

16. Salvaging Our Lives

Genesis 29:15-30

Sermon

... it is shameful to me; and yet, it is a fact of my ancestral history that I cannot erase and must acknowledge. One of the most amazing things about the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, is its willingness to describe the ancestors of Israel in all their less than flattering human actions and traits. The Jews have had the courage and wisdom not to hide our human nature, but to reveal it in all its forms, from the most splendid to the most vile. We have only to think of David and how he is portrayed as one ...

17. Jesus: The Ultimate Ordinary

John 18:28-40

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... as servants that others might be redeemed. Since we respect people’s abilities to do what is good for them, we are not sloppily sentimental but intelligently hardminded. We practice unconditional love which is often very demanding, and we expect it from others. We do not flatter but try to draw out in others the basic wonders every person has within the self and needs desperately to express. Ordinary means those aspects of life that do not vary from day-to-day. When I keep faith with God and put him first ...

18. Out On A Limb

Luke 19:1-10

Sermon

Larry R. Kalajainen

... Jesus knew Zacchaeus' name, nor even intimated that Zacchaeus must have nearly fallen out of his tree when he heard himself being addressed by this Galilean rabbi he's heard about, but never laid eyes on before. We're left to wonder about the details. Did Zacchaeus flatter himself by thinking that his own reputation had spread to Galilee, so that his name was a household word? Was he stricken with a sense of awe and dread that a total stranger should come right to where he was hanging out on a limb and stop ...

19. What "They" Say

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Larry Powell

... and don't know what this is about. It doesn't matter; all our false securities will eventually become conspicuous by their absence. Exercise programs, low-calorie diets, financial investments, finely laid plans for the future - all good things to do, but don't flatter them by referring to them as "securities." One potent storm in your life can erase your good health, empty your savings account, or dramatically alter the direction of your future; perhaps all three at the same time! If it is security you want ...

20. The Gift That Keeps On Giving

2 Kings 5:1-27

Sermon

Keith Hammer

... with him. This part of this story lifts up for us a dilemma which constantly faces us in the church. How do we respond to those who come to us seeking some kind of help for themselves or members of their family -- sometimes even bearing us gifts and flattering us in the process? This is every church’s challenge. One of the groups of persons I think of immediately here are the transients who come to the church seeking help. Most often they come directly to me and ask for a handout. Usually they describe a ...

21. Endorsing The Future

Sermon

Harold Warlick

... like this: There are a number of us creepInto this world, to eat and sleep;And know no reason why we're born,But only to consume the corn,Devour the cattle, fowl, and fish,And leave behind an empty dish....Then if their tombstone, when they die,(Doesn't) flatter and lie,There's nothing better will be saidThan that "They've eat up all their bread,Drunk up their drink, and gone to bed." As I say, it's a haunting poem. We can indeed release all our energy eating our bread, drinking our drink, and going to bed ...

22. "Because I'm God"

Job 38:1--41:34

Sermon

John P. Rossing

... judge him. We, like Job, must remember that although God has promised to answer our prayers and to act on our behalf, it is only because he chooses to. God doesn't take orders from us or defend himself to us. Well, all of that doesn't present a very flattering picture of God, does it? God keeps people waiting, and then when he does reply to their cries it's to pull rank or to make fun of their complaints. So is God a tyrant? Perhaps, but this passage reminds us that if God is the absolute ruler of the ...

23. Holy Arithmetic!

Matthew 28:16-20

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... of a prima donna, a very popular, flamboyant Super Star who has lots of fans, lots of connections, and above all, lots of ego. If you want to stay in favor with Rock Star God, you have to go around saying nothing but nice things, flattering things about God, giving Rock Star God all the credit for everything good that happens and taking personal responsibility for everything that goes wrong. God the Kindergarten Teacher is another popular concept. As long as you’re in school, Kindergarten Teacher God will ...

24. Some Assembly Required

Luke 2:21-40

Sermon

Johnny Dean

... was. Babies are so warm and appealing, so unassuming, so vulnerable. Babies don’t challenge us, they only depend upon us and respond to our love. It’s easy to love a baby, and it’s easy to worship the Christ-child. Mary and Joseph must have felt flattered when Simeon searched them out, asked to hold the baby - just for a minute - and then began to pray the beautiful prayer of praise recorded in Luke’s gospel, "You let me die now, God, for I have seen your salvation." But the flattery must have faded ...

25. After A Lost Election, Field Of Dreams

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Sermon

James Angell

... my upbringing, an intellectual pilgrimage that had caught fire in college, plus three and a half years at sea, had left me with the nagging thought that maybe the ministry, rather than law, was where I belonged. One day Mr. Whitmore called me into his office with a flattering suggestion. "Jim," he said, "if it's okay with you, I'd like to nominate you for City Attorney. You haven't had a lot of experience, but I know you can do it. May I have your permission to make the nomination?" "Of course," I said. How ...

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