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 895 results

1. When You Have To Face Your Own Personal Goliath

1 Samuel 17:1-58

Sermon

James W. Moore

... come from the lips of your spouse. Your Goliath may be called cancer or heart failure or alcohol. It may be called divorce or grief or disappointment or rejection or betrayal or temptation or sin or tragedy. It may be loss of mate, loss of job, loss of health, loss of face, or loss of security… but one way or another, one thing is sure… each one of us at some time or another will have to face a fearsome giant… we will have to do battle with our own personal Goliath. Now, with that in mind, let me ask ...

2. The Secret Man

Mark 8:27-38

Sermon

Frank Ramirez

... Jesus came to minister, and which we are called to minister to as well. I think the crucial thing about the cross is that Jesus did not deserve it. Jesus was not guilty of a crime. Jesus was not exposed to public humiliation and a complete loss of face. Jesus was covered with shame for something he had not done, but he accepted it. Certainly we don’t deserve the physical and emotional suffering we experience either. But I wonder if we only truly pick up our cross and follow Jesus when we stand up for ...

3. When Christians Quarrel: Resolving Conflict in the Church

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

Jerry L. Schmalemberger

... world either repulsive or attractive. It isn’t a matter that Christians are perfect and will not have conflicts. There will always be quarrels, differences of opinion on how and who, disappointments with preachers and councils, hurt feelings, bent pride, loss of face, and lots of mistakes. It’s the idea that Christians can resolve these conflicts as no other fellowship can, that Jesus puts before us today. Comus, a Duke of Florence, had a saying that indicated the limitations of his religion: "You ...

4. Scandal

Luke 22:14-23:56

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

... up on a cross in despicable shame. Only when the dastardly deed was done, it was not he but we who were suddenly cut to the heart. We heard his words from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” and we were embarrassed beyond loss of face. We saw in his reflection what we had become, and came to know the ugliness of ourselves for the first time. His morality pierced our immorality and we must turn away. Like the dirty old man in one of O. Henry’s stories, the one who saw by ...

5. Bad or Good?

Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... . The child's birth would be indubitable evidence of her apparent immorality and betrayal. Although Joseph intended that she escape the legally sanctioned death by stoning, Mary was about to become permanently scarred by scandal. Joseph himself faced humiliation and a loss of face within the community for allowing himself to be so badly fooled by a young, insignificant woman/child. This is good? But this hands-on God wasn't finished messing about in this couple's lives. Through the appearance of an angelic ...

6. The Loss of the Harvest

Jeremiah 8:20

Sermon

James Merritt

At McGill University the engineering and medical faculties had an intramural basketball game. The score was 33 to 34. With about a minute left, the engineers stole the ball, and then froze it with excellent passing and ball handling until the clock ran out. Only when the final whistle had blown did they learn that they were the ones behind. They were so wrapped up in freezing the ball, they had lost track of the score. I am afraid the church looks at buildings, budgets, and baptisms, and has frozen the ...

7. Facing Life’s Central Tests

Mark 14:32-42

Sermon

Robert Allen

It was a beautiful spring afternoon in Eastern Oklahoma when my secretary told me that Oleatha was on the phone. Oleatha was 67 years old and she had been having problems. She often became confused. She had a tendency to forget. Once, she had gotten lost going from church out to her home on a bluff that overlooked the lake. At the insistence of her family, she had gone through a battery of medical tests. The reports were in and Oleatha wanted me to come by and visit her. When I drove into her driveway, I ...

8. Song Of Loss Song Of Hope

2 Samuel 1:1-16

Sermon

Charles Curley

David loved Jonathan and, from the day they met, David was loved in return, with a love which has virtually defined the meaning of friendship down through the generations. "The soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." - 1 Samuel 18:1 The difficulty was that Jonathan was Saul's son and heir. Jonathan was to be the next king of Israel, following his father, King Saul. God had disinherited Jonathan, dethroned Saul, and sent Samuel to anoint David King of Israel ...

9. Putting A Face On Jesus

Colossians 1:15-23, Colossians 1:1-14

Sermon

King Duncan

There is a new book out called THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ELVIS. I understand this book is full of little known facts about the superstar. For example, did you know Elvis was disappointed when he received a guitar on his eleventh birthday? He would have preferred a bicycle. You couldn't have learned that if you had stayed in bed this morning. Did you know that all three of Elvis' Grammy Awards were for religious songs? Do you care? I was interested in one fact: When Elvis died, he was reading a book on the ...

10. The Face Of God

Isaiah 55:1-13

Sermon

Steve Burt

Here we're dealing with the story of Jacob at the Jabbok River Crossing, an incident in which he wrestles all night and secures a blessing. It's a strange incident, isn't it? We've got something which occurred a thousand or more years before Jesus' time, something reminiscent of superstitions and primitive religions: a man wrestling for a blessing with a creature that must escape before the light of day, like a vampire or a werewolf. This is a strange portion of the Bible to have to deal with. Maybe it ...

11. Formula For A Glowing Face

Romans 12:9-21

Sermon

King Duncan

In The Winter's Tale, Act 1, Scene 2, the King of Bohemia is told that his suspicious host is plotting against him. He believes it because he recalls the look of enmity on his host's face. The king puts it like this: "I saw his heart in his face." Gilbert Stuart took one look at Talleyrand, the French ambassador, and said, "If that man isn't a scoundrel, God doesn't write a legible hand." A selfish prince once had a magician create a mask that would make him look kind so that he might win the heart of the ...

12. Trying to Face the Strain

Genesis 28:10-22

Sermon

Johnny Dean

In the late 1960’s a new genre (which is just a fancy word for "type" or "style") of music appeared on the American cultural scene. It was called "protest music," because that’s exactly what it was about. The songwriters and performing artists wanted to express their displeasure or discontent with a variety of social or political issues of the day: the war in Viet Nam; the rules and regulations parents place upon children; the style of clothing or length of hair you had to have in order to be considered " ...

13. Are You Sorry Enough to Wash Your Face?

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Sermon

Robert Leslie Holmes

For Christians around the world, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It was the practice among early Roman Christians for penitents to begin their period of public penance on the first day of Lent. They were sprinkled with ashes, dressed in sackcloth, and obliged to remain away from fellowship with other people until they reconciled with fellow Christians on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday and three days before Easter, the day of resurrection. Ash Wednesday is ultimately about one of the ...

14. About Face!

Matthew 25:14-30

Sermon

King Duncan

I’d like to take a quick poll this morning. If you could choose to visit a famous site around the world, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Colosseum in Rome or the Giza Pyramids in Egypt or any other place of your choice, which would you choose to see? That’s not an easy question to answer. There are so many beautiful places in the world to visit. British photographer Oliver Curtis has created a very successful career in films, television and fashion photography. His success revolves around capturing ...

15. Faces at a Funeral

John 18:1-19:42

Sermon

Wayne Brouwer

During the nineteenth century, all Oxford graduates were required to translate a portion of the Greek New Testament aloud. Oscar Wilde was assigned this passage from the passion story of Jesus. His translation was fluent and accurate. Satisfied with his skill, the examiners told him he could stop. But he ignored them and continued to translate. Several times more they tried to call a halt to his reading. Finally he looked up and said, “Oh, do let me go on! I want to see how it ends!” We need to read this ...

16. Face To Face With The Tempter

Mark 1:9-13

Sermon

King Duncan

This morning we want to deal with a theme that applies to all of us. Temptation. None of us is too old or too young, too sophisticated or too naive, to escape the tempter. Temptation can lead us into all kinds of problems. For example, the newspapers recently carried a story about an Alabama man who planned to profit from a simple burglary. He entered a house and began clearing out the valuables. He came across a .44 Magnum and accidentally shot himself in the calf with it. However, despite the fact that a ...

17. Profits And Losses

Mark 8:31--9:1

Sermon

King Duncan

Joan trembled as she put on her lipstick. She never dreamed she would be caught in this predicament. Forty years old, active in her church, with a fifteen year old daughter and a loving husband and she was considering having an affair ” with her boss, Jim. "Jim's such an attractive man," she thought to herself as she checked her lipstick in the mirror. "He's everything Bob is not. He takes care of himself, wears great clothes, and he's fun. And he's a visionary. The company's broken every record since he ...

18. You Don’t Really Feel That Way

Job 6:1-7:21

Sermon

Thomas D. Peterson

As a young soldier I was on my way to the Pacific Theater. The trip was at the height of World War II, with troop ships easy targets. To avoid the enemy our ship wove an irregular pattern across the ocean. The trip to Manila took 36 days. I was not a good sailor. Between sea sickness and infections, I was on sick call more than half the days. At one period I knew I had naso-pharyngitis, a condition for which I had often been diagnosed. On sick call, the doctor said, "Well, what’s wrong with you," not in a ...

19. The Underlying Mercy

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

Sermon

Stan Purdum

There was a heartbreaking story from Kansas back in the fall of 2003. During flooding there, a wall of water washed across the Kansas turnpike, overwhelming a family of six in a minivan. In an attempt to save his family, the father, Robert Rogers, kicked out a window, but was immediately sucked out into the torrent. In the end, he was the only member of his family to survive. His wife and their four children, ages one, three, five, and eight, all drowned, the three youngest still strapped into their car ...

20. With Friends Like These ...

Job 38:1-7 (34-41)

Sermon

Mary S. Lautensleger

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a favorite book of children and adults alike. Things are always going wrong in Alexander's life, and we can identify with his laments. Alexander goes to bed with gum in his mouth and wakes up with gum in his hair. His teacher likes his friend Paul's sailboat picture better than Alexander's invisible castle, which she can't quite see. At the lunch table, while others are enjoying various delicious sweets, Alexander discovers that his mother is ...

21. Those Who Mourn

Sermon

John A. Terry

Isaiah 40:1-5Matthew 5:1-12 I believe we have developed a greater understanding of the meaning and means of mourning. In 1969, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross published her classic book titled On Death and Dying. In it she identified five basic stages in the grieving process: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Personally and professionally, I have found these helpful categories in recognizing where I am in my grieving and where others are in theirs. I have also found it to be true that getting ...

22. Those Who Mourn

Isaiah 40:1-31

Sermon

John A. Terry

I believe we have developed a greater understanding of the meaning and means of mourning. In 1969, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross published her classic book titled On Death and Dying. In it she identified five basic stages in the grieving process: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Personally and professionally, I have found these helpful categories in recognizing where I am in my grieving and where others are in theirs. I have also found it to be true that getting stuck in any one of the first ...

23. Bless the World

Luke 6:20-31

Sermon

Molly F. James

A phone rang on a Sunday morning in September 1959. It broke into the joyful chaos that is life with five children between the ages of three and fourteen. It was a phone call she knew was coming, but that fact never does prepare one fully for the reality. It was the phone call that told her that her beloved husband, her soulmate, the father of her children was dead at the age of 38. The brain tumor that had taken his health and vitality, and had even begun to take his personality over the summer, had taken ...

24. Blessed Are Those Who Mourn

Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon

William B. Kincaid, III

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." In her novel Come and Go, Molly Snow, Mary Ann Taylor-Hall gives an account of Carrie attempting to come to grips with the loss of her eight-year-old daughter, Molly Snow. Carrie is a fiddler, but in the wake of this tragic loss she says, "The music doesn't rise up in me right now."1 In the months that followed, Carrie listens to homespun wisdom and begins the first steps of coming to grips with the absence of Molly Snow and the presence of a deep ...

25. Don't Fit In, Fit Together

Philippians 3:1-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

In every culture there are radically different standards that define beauty. For some its a neck elongated by brass rings feet bound up into crippling smallness pumped up biceps and six-pack abs cinched up, hour-glass waists Yet across the world researchers have found there's one standard, one constant that universally defines beauty: symmetry. When individuals from dozens of different countries and cultures were asked to identify the most beautiful faces, it was the most symmetrical faces that were ...

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