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 745 results

1. A Fireside Chat

Exodus 3:1-22

Sermon

Barbara Brokhoff

... s God sent me, suppose they ask me your name, what shall I tell them?" Committed God tells his man his name: "I AM THAT I AM." "You can fully commit yourself to me, Moses. I have committed myself to you in giving you my name. You can be, not self-confident, but God-confident!" In revealing his name, God is indicating that he has his being of himself ... "I AM." God is self-existent, and dependent upon no other. He is both self-sufficient and all-sufficient. This is God's name forever; "I AM WHO I AM." He is ...

2. Overcoming The Destructive Dont's That Have Shaped Our Lives

2 Corinthians 1:12--2:4

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... stuff itself." (The Right Stuff, quoted by Donald Shelby, "On Being Assertive", August 16, 1981). "People who elbow their way to the top, who win by intimidation, who call attention to themselves with trappings and pomp, all the time bragging about how self-confident and self-sufficient they are, betray their glaring lack of both." (Shelby, Ibid.). Such people are still not trusting, still not willing to risk and be vulnerable. Their lives are still being shaped by destructive don'ts. But when we know that ...

3. Pride Is a Noxious Weed in the Garden of Life

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... Philippians 2:3). The Pharisee had a massive, untreated infestation of pride. Pride is more than a feeling of self-worth. It is more than feeling pleased about what one has accomplished. It is more than enjoying one's success. Pride is to be so overly self-confident that you believe you can do no wrong. It is to believe your equals in the human race are rare. In its most destructive form, pride goes beyond self-assurance to equating self with God. Pride is generally regarded by theologians as “the root of ...

4. Never Let Them See You Sweat (Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control)

Galatians 5:23

Sermon

James Merritt

... called self-control "the hardest victory." But it really is the difference between victory and defeat in the game of life. For if you control self, you win; but if self controls you, you lose. We see that in three truths we learn from this passage. I. The Danger of Self-Confidence Now you will never be free of self, but you must be free from self if you are going to win the race of life and fight the good fight. There is a danger to what is called self. There is no middle ground. Either you control self, or ...

5. A Strange Authority

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Kristin Borsgard Wee

... the mirror and practice smiling like Marilyn. For a while, I dressed like she dressed, walked like she walked, and laughed like she laughed. But, I couldn't pull it off. I couldn't be Marilyn. I was still me. And the boys still liked her better. My lack of self-confidence wasn't helped very much by my high school band director. I can still remember the look on his face every time we got to a place in the music where I had a bassoon solo. He would cue me in with such a worried look you would think he ...

6. The Awesome Power of FUD

John 21:1-19

Sermon

R. Robert Cueni

... them doubt their possibilities. When important people in our lives die, fear and uncertainty about the future are commonly experienced. I experienced FUD in a first grade art lesson on boat drawing. In the twinkling of an eye, I went from a self-confident little boy to a quivering mass of devastated protoplasm. Such is the power of FUD. It happens. There is nothing rare about the experience of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. These voracious destroyers of confident living linger at the edge of life, waiting ...

7. Clean Hands

Psalm 26:1-12

Sermon

Will Willimon

... He had even required hospitalization on one occasion. Because of his bouts with depression, it had been difficult for him to apply for jobs. Yet his psychiatrist said that he was making progress. "It's funny," he said, "when I came here to Duke as a freshman, I was self-confident, self-assured. But now, I don't know what I believe. I feel insecure, unsure. Funny, I was more confident and knew more when I was a senior in high school than I do now that I'm a graduate of Duke." And I said, "Look, I can explain ...

8. The Power of the Staff

Mark 6:1-13

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... no longer help us, or in places that no longer sustain us. Getting “stuck” for us is complicated. Some of us get “stuck” due to some form of grief, trauma, or fear-inducing experience. Some of us can get “stuck” because we lack self-confidence, self-motivation, or the big one, self-compassion. One of the strangest things about humans is that we can learn “stuckness” the same way we learn self-critique or self-denigration. We internalize the messages others have given us through our difficult ...

9. You Are God's Handiwork

Ephesians 2:10

Sermon

King Duncan

... to the stars in Los Angeles, California. He also donates his skills to a local women’s shelter, where he fixes the teeth of homeless women, prostitutes, abused women and children. One benefit of his work at the shelter is seeing the women develop a new sense of self-confidence once the work has been done on their teeth. As Dr. Dorfman says of his patients, “She becomes a new person because she sees a new person.” (4) Now why do I say this may be a more difficult task in our society for women? Studies ...

10. The Problem With Keeping All The Rules

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

King Duncan

... touching one. But Wendy Ewald insisted that he take the camera and use it to share his ideas. A few days later, Ewald passed Pratap's house. He was posing his family for a picture. The scared, self-conscious little boy was bursting with self-confidence. A simple camera had changed his self-perception. (1) Jesus was the kind of person who would have given untouchable people cameras to build their self-concept. We need to remember that. Jesus was continually taking those who were on the bottom and putting ...

11. TRYING IT WITHOUT GOD

Sermon

Louis H. Valbracht

... citizen would do if Almighty God returned his compliment - "A God in my position doesn’t have much time for such a man." This man has many faces. I meet him everywhere, the stereotype of Sinclair Lewis’ "Babbit" - self-made, self-supporting, self-confident, self-worshiping man. You can bet on it that he is always patriotically anti-Communist, because the Communists are against religion. Let the religious foundations of his society - or especially of his economy - be threatened, and he will scream like a ...

12. Faces of Failure: Peter

Matthew 26 (selections)

Sermon

Don Tuttle

... won’t deny Jesus even if it means dying with him. That’s an incredible promise, and Jesus warns him not to make it. He even tells him that before the night is through he will break his promise three times. But this is Peter, and Peter doesn’t lack self-confidence. He is, after all, first among Jesus’s disciples as well as the group’s spokesman. He’s the one who hops out of the boat to walk on water, at least for a moment, and he is the first to confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the ...

13. Weakness into Strength

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sermon

James McCormick

... of his weakness and reached out for the resources of God that he became really strong. So, you can understand what he meant when he said, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” II. One of the things to be most careful about is excessive self confidence, too much self reliance. The truth is, when we think we are strong in wisdom, in ability, in morality, in coping ability, the chances are we are really weak, at least weaker than we think. Someone has written, “Half the headaches and many of the heartaches ...

14. Silent Sinning

Luke 18:9-14

Sermon

Lori Wagner

... ’s easy to fall into the “judgment” trap, in which we can start wielding judgments on the lives of others, whom we determine have “sinned” far more than we. But when we get to that level of “pepoithotas,” we’d better beware. We’ve just self-confidently, over-confidently stepped ourselves into the shoes of God. Silent Sinning is just another name for blatant idolatry. I want you to imagine for a moment that you are a lion tamer. Two of the important lessons to learn is to 1) never take your ...

15. Winners Losers

John 8:31-41

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

... , excuse-making self, moving from this loyalty today to another one tomorrow. We are not able to talk a big job of courage; we know that we have to be courage. Finally we are free, because in whatever circumstances, we know we can move through life with self-confidence, fortitude and self-respect. We are free to try another day. Jesus calls: “I want you to come out ahead in life. I wish for you maturity, self-governance for your good and the good of those around. I want you to be a winner, and here ...

16. The Grasshopper Mentality

Numbers 13:26-33

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... later when we are adults, those stakes are still holding us fast. Most of our limitations are self imposed. Often during our childhood years we pick up unrealistic fears and unreasonable insecurities. By the time we reach adulthood, we may have little self-confidence and lots of fears. In a recent poll taken by Americans in their 20’s, this question was asked: “What is the basic feeling you have about life?” Sixty percent said, “Fear.” (1) That surprising data confirms my suspicions that the level ...

17. Death to Glory

Revelation 5:11-14

Sermon

Richard Gribble

... assuredly as the Jews were freed from Egypt and Jesus was raised from death. The new life is ours for the taking. Lastly, our movement from death to glory forces us to seek renewal in our lives. Maybe what needs to be restored is our self-confidence. Many people think too little of themselves. Others may think too highly of themselves, their position, or their abilities. In both cases, Jesus' resurrection can restore us to where we should be. Possibly, we feel inadequate, we are not up to the challenge of a ...

18. Obedience Really Matters

Matthew 7:15-23

Sermon

Phil Thrailkill

... go together: open to the power, and full of love and wisdom. But it is not always so. Which is why the prophets Jesus rejects did not list love and the other eight virtues on their resumes. How could they since they were full of self-confidence and pride? “Did we not... did we not... did we not?” Instead, the offered theology and miracles. You see, great anointing of the Holy Spirit and holy character are not necessarily the same thing. The Pentecostals and Charismatics have numerous examples in their ...

19. When Self-esteem is Snake Oil

Galatians 5:1-15

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... code of silence (omertia) is broken, not by torture or by terrorists but by the self-esteem code of confessionalism. The number one cause of everything wrong in the world? Low self-esteem. The truth? No one can live without self-care and self-confidence. Call it self-esteem if you will. But there's a huge difference between self-esteem and a self-absorption; between self-esteem and selfishness; between self-esteem and a self-centered life. Jesus argued that the self must be strong and courageous enough ...

20. You Can Face Your Giant

1 Samuel 17:1-58

Sermon

King Duncan

... do. That evening the father taught his son some basic techniques on how to defend himself. Together they explored all the possibilities, including the possibility that he might try to win them over as friends. The father worked hard to build up his son's self-confidence. The next morning the father and son prayed together. And with a reassuring embrace and a handshake, the father smiled confidently and said, "You can do it, son. I know you'll make out all right." With that assurance the boy got on his bike ...

21. Heads Down, Thumbs Up

Philippians 2:5-11

Sermon

Leonard Sweet

... to be of the same mind as Christ, to imitate him in humility and obedience, he was saying, "Kneel down and empty out." Jesus emptied himself of his divinity in order to come to us in humble human form. We must empty ourselves of our pride and self-confidence in order to be filled with the divine love Christ offers us. In the face of some of life's biggest challenges, the way we indicate our thumbs-up confidence is by bowing down. (You might have your congregation kneel down at this point.) - Let us kneel ...

22. We Must Be Blind!

John 9:35-41

Sermon

Mark Ellingsen

... that goes with it comes our way. It comes to us in God's Word. We can see it, even taste it, in the sacrament of Holy communion. Yet it is often like we never "heard" about this Word, for all the genuine self-confidence it gives to us. No, we are just like the blind man whom Jesus cured. We have our eyes, but we cannot see. We cannot seem to recognize God's love and what it could mean for our lives. We cannot recognize that love, even though it is right in ...

23. At The Fork In The Road

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon

Maxie Dunnam

... , of course, the first $100 goes to the church.' His surprise at her answer was enough that he only vaguely remembered how she said the balance of the $1000 would be spent. He was impressed by the tithe commitment, but more than that, it was the self-confident, no-deliberation, no-reservations way in which she said 'of course the first $100 goes to the church' that really had the greatest impact upon him. There was no self- righteousness in her voice, just a simple matter- of-face tone as if to say, 'Isn ...

24. Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?

Luke 9:18-27

Sermon

Bill Bouknight

... . Your spouse starts making passes at you in all kinds of unusual places. But, if you stop that diet and work-out program, guess what happens? Those twenty unwanted pounds come right back and you are worse off that you were before, because your self-confidence has been reduced. The same principle works in the spiritual life. Self-denial and cross-bearing are not just for Lent, those 46 days before Easter. It’s the ongoing lifestyle of the Christian. If we forsake this lifestyle, we will relapse into the ...

25. Have You Heard?

Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon

Mark Trotter

... move for that family in ten years. He is always going to new jobs, always moving up. They have two children: six and four, a boy and a girl. They are into everything: soccer, dance. The boy is taking Karate to build his self-confidence. Six years old, he needs self-confidence. Fortissima taught herself decorating. She is a decorator now. She's "into" decorating, that is the way she put it. I would think so after five moves. She used to be a cheerleader. Actually she used to teach cheerleading. But now she ...

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