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 4998 results

1. What Will It Take to Make You Happy?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... to be blessed, with all the external trappings of the good life, who is so easily miffed at God, while the person who has very little feels a much greater sense of gratitude for life’s little joys and pleasures. This is not to say that in order to find happiness, we need to give away everything we possess. That might help or it might be the worst thing we could possibly do. It might fill us with so much resentment, or even worse, with so much self-righteous pride that we would be intolerable. It is to say ...

2. How To Be Truly Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

King Duncan

... self respect and our witness for Christ in order not to ruffle anybody’s feathers. Then we come to Christ’s words, “Happy are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account . . .” ... a hotel room in Alaska writing. I looked up and saw myself in a looking glass and said to myself: ‘Stanley Jones, you’re a very happy man, aren’t you?’ I replied, ‘Yes, I am.’ And then the vital question: ‘How did you get to be this way?’ And my reply ...

3. The Science of Happiness

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... mission. Paul’s mission lays out what matters most: Pleasing God. Preaching the gospel. Proclaiming Christ. Those are the only measures of success worth counting. And those are the only activities that so fill Paul’s heart with love, and joy, and human happiness that he is “delighted” by life and all those he knows are “dear” to his heart. Paul’s path was never easy. This first letter to the Thessalonians is judged by most scholars to be the earliest of Paul’s correspondence. It was written ...

4. Hallelujah! Come On, Get Happy

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

David G. Rogne

... will bless me tomorrow for having saved the country from the greatest peril through which it has ever passed, though none but God can ever know the struggle that it has cost me." The decision to do what he felt was right was costly, but there was the happiness of knowing he had done what he felt was right. What are the circumstances that we face? The loss of someone who gave life meaning? The loss of a job that provided for home and family and gave us fulfillment? The loss of health and independence? Are we ...

5. Happy New Year?

Isaiah 61:1-11

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... a man who was in the Indiana State Prison for 66 years was given his release. Upon getting out and breathing free air again, he told reporters, "I feel like I've just been born again." This is the way a true Christian feels. He lives daily the happiness of a newly released prisoner, for daily he receives the forgiveness of sins. Because of this he no longer has the fear of future punishment for his sins. As a Christian who has been forgiven, he no longer has to worry about being good enough to please God ...

6. The Difference between Happiness and Joy

1 Peter 1:1-12

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... And, whether or not this occurred to Paul, it's profoundly important. Unless we're filled with joy we cannot pray. And unless we pray we cannot give thanks" (Herbert McCabe, God, Christ and Us; edited and introduced by Brian Davies (New York: Continuum, 2003), 110). 4) Happiness is from the world. Joy is from Christ. In fact, joy is Christ. I tried to purchase this cup on eBay. When it got to $100.00, I gave up. Here was the item description that inspired the intense bidding: A FINE EARLY LUSTER CHILD'S CUP ...

7. What In The World Is Happiness?

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... . It is about moving from a life that is self-centered to a life that is God-centered and other-centered. It is about moving from a life in which we are conscious of what we lack to a profound gratitude for all we have. Thus we find true happiness. Thus we find true blessedness. In 1989, columnist Nick Clooney decided that he, like a modern-day Huck Finn, wanted someone else to do his work for a little while. So he invited a variety of local celebrities from the Kentucky-Ohio area to send in their ideas on ...

8. You Can Be Happy

Mark 1:29-34

Sermon

King Duncan

... was not a choice he made. Something happened to him within. He fell in love. He was touched. So it is when we experience Christ's presence in our lives. The world seems to change. But it isn't the world at all. We are changed by a touch. HAPPINESS ALSO COMES WHEN WE DISCOVER THE POWER OF PRAYER. An unwritten motto of our culture here in the 21st century is that the busier we are, the happier we are. So, we strive to be busy. It's a mistake. Consider Jesus' approach. By nightfall, word had spread throughout ...

9. Create Your Own Happiness

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

Robert Allen

... interesting guest and it was obvious that his remarks were unrehearsed. They simply bubbled up out of his personality that was radiant and happy. It was obvious that the audience loved this old man and they roared with laughter at some of the things he said. It ... Whenever some problem rears its ugly head in our lives, we have a choice. We can allow it to overwhelm us and drain all of the happiness and joy out of our lives. Or, we can face it ... We can chip away at it a little at a time ... We can whittle it ...

10. Want to Be Happy?

Matthew 3:13-17

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... parents. How many times have you watched a grubby, sticky hand hold out to Mom or Dad a bedraggled flower, a half-eaten cookie, a slightly smooshed bug? As the parents exclaim over the treasure they’ve been offered, the child grins and gleams. That’s true happiness. As we grow up there will be countless times we will fail our parents, and countless times our parents will fail us. But we keep wanting to please those who love us, and those we love, to feel their love and appreciation for our entire lives ...

11. God's Kind of Happiness, Today

Matthew 5:1-12

Illustration

The Best Gift

... , one day God sent him a new insight: The creative use of his handicap could actually become his personal means of achieving happiness! So, Matheson went on to write: "My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn. I have thanked Thee for my ... tears have made my rainbow." Congratulations, George Matheson! Congratulations on finding God's kind of happiness -- the kind of happiness that is not only a future hope, but also a very present reality. So may it be for us all. The point I want to make here is ...

12. The Pursuit of Happiness

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Illustration

Leonard Sweet

... matter how intellectually gifted, how democratically on fire, or how socially revolutionary, at some crucial point, at some heart of our humanity, all we want to do, all we want to feel, all we want is to be happy. No wonder Jesus started one of his most famous sermons with a litany of “Happy are those who . . ." (Matthew 5:1-12). Perhaps the greatest sadness of Martin Luther, the simple monk who brought the hurricane winds of reformation to the entire continent of Europe, was that towards the end of his ...

13. Happiness

Matthew 5:1-12

Children's Sermon

Brett Blair

... have nothing to eat. And he said, the happiest people are those who pick up the sword...try to have peace in their life. Finally he said take out the football well, he really didn't say anything about football. But he did say that we could be happy if we remember that true happiness comes when we have a life that is empty. Show that the jar or box is empty. A life that is empty is a life that is ready to be filled with all the good things God wants to put there: His Kingdom, his peace, love, forgiveness ...

14. Looking For Happiness In All The Wrong Places

John 4:1-26

Sermon

King Duncan

... , Philo followed Jesus wherever He went, and it is said that on the day God's only Son Jesus was crucified, Pilate's only son Philo was at the foot of the cross, weeping over the death of his Lord and Friend. Philo, like millions of persons since found his happiness in Christ. (6) St. Thomas Aquinas told of a man who heard about a very special ox and determined to have it for his own. He traveled all over the world. He spent his entire fortune. He gave his whole life to the search for this ox. At last, just ...

15. Wedding: Creating a Happy Marriage

Sermon Aid

John M. Braaten

... by itself is much more likely to make for agony rather than bliss." That attitude may not sound optimistic, but it is realistic. Even the vows which you are making to each other, whether you realize it or not, acknowledge the same thing; marriage is not instant happiness. Let's look at them. You first promise to accept each other "for better or worse." Of course your minds have focused on the "better" - and that's good - but because we are sinful human beings, there's a lot of "worse" in marriage as well ...

16. No Other Way To Be Happy

Deuteronomy 11:1-32

Sermon

John R. Brokhoff

... point that we become enslaved in a legal straightjacket. The laws of God are to be obeyed because they are good laws and meant for our good. They express God’s will for us, and his will is always for our well-being. Obedience to his laws brings blessing or happiness. This is a basic fact we need to learn in our Obedience School. Of course, this is not always the case with human laws. As Christians, we do not teach that a law is to be obeyed regardless of what the law asks us to do. If someone told you ...

17. God’s Kind of Happiness

Matthew 5:1-12

Illustration

John Thomas Randolph

... are merciful to others." We have been taught that the quality of mercy is a sign of weakness. "Happy are the pure in heart." Tell that one to the guys and gals at work! "Happy are those who work for peace." We have been taught that happiness is defined in terms of preparedness for war. "Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires." We have tended to call such people fools or fanatics! "Happy are you when people insult you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are ...

18. Happiness Full Stop

John 15:9-17

Sermon

King Duncan

... than 2,000 years ago. Even when he knew we would misunderstand him and reject him and fail him, he still chose to love us to the cross and beyond. In this Bible passage, Jesus is trying to share a life-changing truth with us: love is essential for happiness and joy. But Christ had another point to make about love: Love requires sacrifice. He explained it like this, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Few of us will ever be asked to die for the people we ...

19. What Do We Do Now That We’re Happy?

Isaiah 62:1-12

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

... come? The gifts looked so ordinary, so regular, so - well, somehow unable to keep me on a high. What do we do now that we’re happy? Well, I got up and got out of the house and went visiting. Mother got busy preparing dinner. To get what we want is often just ... to his people. They are the redeemed of the Lord, and the city in which they dwell shall never be forsaken. Certainly they are happy that salvation has come to them, that they are holy unto the Lord, sought out from all the earth. But, now that they ...

20. Lost? Looking For Happiness

1 Peter 2:9-12

Sermon

Billy D. Strayhorn

... advertised all of them, but the truck ads out numbered the car ads almost 2 to 1. That's how the world says we should find Happiness. In Stuff. Scripture says we're the abnormal people, "aliens" as Peter puts it in 1 Peter 2:9-16 (NRSV). Listen: [9] But you are ... 'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives." If we're Looking For Happiness, then as Christians, we have to be conscious of the fact that we're different. We live by different rules, beliefs and ethics. And ...

21. How to Make Heaven Happy

Luke 15:1-10

Sermon

James Merritt

... say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." There is happiness in heaven when just one lost sinner is found. Notice, by the way, it does not say that the angels rejoice. It says, "there is joy in the presence of the angels." (v.10) It is God who does the rejoicing. Can I tell you how you can always know ...

22. The Secret to Happiness

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... , then they are right too. But as a random collection of cells, you are required to make up your own meaning or purpose for your life. Otherwise, your life is just a random series of meaningless events that may or may not meet your criteria for happiness. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Swiss philosopher and author who followed this line of thinking. In his influential book Émile, he wrote that a man’s own feelings are the source of all truth and values. A quote from his book reads, “. . . in the depths of ...

23. The True Nature of Happiness

Luke 6:17-26

Sermon

Brett Blair

... but the person wears the clothes. It is important to understand that Jesus did not give the Beatitudes, a word meaning blessed or happy, to the CROWD. The scripture very clearly states: “And seeing the multitude, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down ... wealth nor poverty that keeps a man out of the Kingdom of God. It is pride. Jesus is saying that the first step to personal happiness, the first step in our pilgrimage in coming to God, is to get rid of pride. Pride is the root of all sin. Blessed ...

24. Don't Worry Be Happy!

Luke 12:22-34

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... restore the whole creation? Do we believe that if we will seek first the Kingdom of God, then all else necessary for life and meaning and happiness will be added? We don't have to worry if the first priority of our life is the Kingdom of God. When we really hear ... is not as superficial as it first sounds: "In every life we have some trouble, when you worry you make it double. Don't worry Be happy!" Do we need to rehearse? You don't have to worry if you live in the light. You don't have to worry if you know ...

25. The Ultimate Happy Meal

Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... and low or no exercise lifestyles. So why are so many of us stopping at the take-out window at the same time we're stocking our freezers with "Lean Cuisine?" Are we hungering for something that we just can't seem to satisfy, no matter how many Happy Meals we ingest? The issue is not eating. Jesus loved to eat. He was always going out to dinner, cooking meals for friends, inviting others to join him for a meal, ready to tend to the stomachs as well as the spirits of his disciples and followers. The straight ...

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