POSITIVE WRITTEN SERMON - God's Truth Will Clothe You
Time Sensitivity: none
A FREE GIFT FOR CLERGY
Positive Written Sermons is a FREE service of Positive Christianity to those ACTIVE IN CLERGY MINISTRY to ease your burdens in ministry. Each positive sermon is non-denominational; feel free to tailor to your denominational needs, or personal style. We consider our sermons to be 90% complete; they await your personal stories and anecdotes.
Also, great lesson material available free daily – get Positive Daily Inspiration direct in your email inbox every morning. Text POSITIVEMINISTRY to 22828 to easy, free subscribe.
_____________________________________
There was an emperor who loved new clothes. Actually, he spent all of his money on clothes. He spent all of his time trying on his new suits and showing them off.
One day, two men came into the town where the emperor lived and they said they were weavers. They said they could weave the most beautiful cloth in the entire world. Well, the men were not really weavers at all. They were conmen.
The two men went straight to the emperor’s palace. One of them said, “Your Majesty, everybody knows about the beautiful cloth that we weave. But have you heard the amazing thing about it? Some people cannot see our cloth. They cannot see it, even when they are looking right at it.”
“They can’t see it?” the emperor said. “What kind of people can’t see your beautiful cloth?
The other man said, “Stupid people, people who aren’t good at their jobs; they cannot see the beautiful cloth.”
“That is truly amazing,” the emperor said. “I must have a suit that is made out of that beautiful cloth.”
The emperor told the two men to begin to weave at once. The men said, “Well, Your Majesty, in order to do this, we will need a great deal of money. We will need the best gold thread and the best silk thread to weave with.” The emperor gave them a great deal of money, thread, and a room in his palace to work in.
Well, the two men set up two big looms to weave on, but they did not put the thread on the looms. They put the thread away in a bag. Day after day, the two men sat at the empty looms and pretended to weave.
Everybody was waiting for the cloth to be finished. Everybody was waiting to find out if their friends would be able to see the cloth. The emperor wanted to go look at the cloth. He was absolutely certain that he would be able to see the cloth. He said, “I am not stupid, and I know that I am a good emperor: but this once, I’ll send somebody else to look at the cloth.”
So, the emperor sent his chief assistant down to the workroom. The two men at the looms said, “How do you like our beautiful cloth?” The chief minister looked at one loom and then he looked at the other loom, and he couldn’t see any cloth (because there was not any cloth to see).
“Dear me,” he said to himself, “I can’t see any cloth. Am I stupid? I never thought I was. Am I bad at my job? If I am, I must keep it a secret. I must NOT say that I cannot see the cloth.”
So, the chief assistant said to the men, “The cloth is beautiful.”
“Be sure to tell the emperor,” they said. “Tell him about the beautiful colors and tell him about how the gold thread shines.”
The chief assistant went back to the emperor. He said, “The colors, Your Majesty, they are beautiful. The reds, the purples, and how the gold thread shines.”
The next day, the two men asked the emperor for more money and more gold thread and more silk thread. The emperor gave them the money and the thread. The men put the money in their pockets, and they put the thread away in their bag. They kept on pretending to weave.
Soon, the emperor wanted to know when his cloth would be finished. So, this time, he sent his second chief assistant down to the workroom. The second chief assistant looked at one loom and then looked at the other loom, and he could not see a thing (because there was not anything to see). “Oh dear,” he thought, “I cannot see the cloth. I had better pretend that I can.” So, he said to the men, “The cloth is just beautiful.”
He went back to the emperor and told him that the cloth was really beautiful. The emperor couldn’t wait a minute longer; he had to see the beautiful cloth for himself. So, the emperor went down to the workroom. He took his chief assistant and his second assistant with him. The first chief assistant looked at the empty looms and said, “How the gold thread shines, Your Majesty.”
The second chief assistant said, “Wow, it is really beautiful.”
Well, the emperor looked at one loom and he looked at the other loom and he could not see a thing on the looms. “What is this,” he said to himself. “Am I stupid? No. That is not possible. Am I not a good emperor? Oh, no. That would be simply terrible. Well, I will have to pretend that I see the beautiful cloth.”
The emperor said to the two men, “Excellent, wonderful, beautiful,” and he gave each of them a medal to show how pleased he was. “Now, Your Majesty,” one of the men said, “We are ready to cut the cloth and make a suit for you.”
“Splendid,” said the emperor. “We are going to have a big parade next week, and I am going to wear my new suit of clothes.”
Before the day of the parade, the two men stayed up all night long. They used more than 20 candles to light the room so that everyone would see just how hard they were working. They pretended to take the cloth off the looms very carefully and move their hands around in the air and snap their scissors together. They used big needles and pretended to sew with them. But the needles had no thread.
At last, it was the day of the big parade. “Now,” said one of the men, “the emperor’s new clothes are ready.” The emperor went to the workroom at once.
One of the men pretended to hold out a coat. “Here is your new coat, Your Majesty,” he said, “It is as light as a feather.”
“And here are your new trousers,” the other man said. “And over here is your long royal cape. Your new clothes are so light that you will hardly feel that you have anything on at all.”
The emperor took off the clothes he was wearing, and the two men pretended to help him put on his new clothes. The emperor turned around and around in front of a mirror. “Why, my new clothes feel as light as a feather,” he said.
Two noblemen were supposed to hold up the end of the emperor’s royal cape. They could not see the cape, (they could not see the trousers or the coat, either), but they were not going to say so. They felt around on the floor and pretended to pick up the ends of the cape. Then the emperor and the noblemen marched out of the palace.
In the street, the people were waiting to see the big parade. “Look at the emperor,” the people cried. “What a beautiful new suit of clothes he has on.” Nobody could see the emperor’s new clothes, but no one was going to say so. “Look at the emperor,” they said, “what a beautiful new suit of clothes he has on.”
A small child tugged at his daddy’s pant leg. He looked up and said, “But he hasn’t got anything on.”
“Did you hear what that small child said?” somebody whispered. “A little child said that the emperor hasn’t got anything on.” Another person said it. And then another, and another, and another.
“He hasn’t got anything on,” everybody shouted at last. “The emperor hasn’t got anything on.”
The emperor knew now that the people were right. But he had to stay in the parade until it was over, he must not admit that he made a mistake. “The parade must go on,” the emperor thought, “and I must keep going, too.” So, the emperor walked proudly the rest of the way. And the two noblemen walked behind him holding up the ends of the new royal cape, the cape that wasn’t there.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Anderson
This is NOT a children’s story. It is a story with profound spiritual for us in our lives, today.
As human beings, we are very self-consciousness. We are afraid. We are afraid that someone will discover – who we really are – that we, through some event or some action, will expose ourselves as the person we think we are. We view ourselves from our lack of self-esteem.
Now, here was a king, like you are a king – the bible says you are a child of God, an heir to the kingdom. But this king has an excess of money. He spends all of his money on new clothes to make him appear better to himself and better to others. He puts on outer garments to cover up who he really is.
There is a saying “that clothes make the man.” In the long run only the man makes the man, and only the woman makes the woman. The clothes we wear are just costumes that will only hide, who we really are, for a brief time. Back to the story, one day, two men come to town. They are weavers – weavers of dreams. They are sellers of the momentary illusion of happiness by obtaining something else outside of yourself. They go to the palace and talk to the one who, in the entire kingdom, already has it all, and can get anything that he wants. He has it all by Divine birthright.
They tell the king about the cloth. They say to the king, the top person in the kingdom – as their authority and reference, they use “everybody knows.”
We often fall into the trap of “EVERYBODY KNOWS.” “They are so many. Surely, THEY must know more than me. I must not even question. I must believe what THEY think.” And so, the king says the same thing. “Surely, they are right. THEY must know more than me. After all, THEY are so many in number.” THEY vs. YOU.
One man said, “Some people cannot see our cloth, even when they are looking right at it. The people who cannot see it are the people who are blind with stupidity or people who are not good at their jobs.” So, we see one of our primary fears – the fear of every person – “I might not be as good as they think I am.” So, no one asks questions. Each person accepts the authority of the all-knowing “THEY.” No one dares to think or to speak up.
Twice, the emperor gave the men a lot of money. And he gave them a place to live and to work. That brings up another great Truth. Anything in your life, that costs you a lot of money, has to be questioned as to its true value. Someone years ago, quoted to me Homan’s law: “At what price – profit?” The things of true value in this life, the things that will make a difference in your life, cost NO money. They are already within you. You already have them because of your Divine birthright. As Jesus said, “You, too, are a child of God.” You have it all, right now.
The men appeared to work long hours, but they were not building anything. The pranksters are the real fools, for they are not leaving anything real, or lasting behind. You are only remembered for what you give, and every day, we must strive to give more real value to our world.
Everyone was waiting to see the cloth, not so much to see the cloth themselves, but to see IF their friends would be able to see the cloth. Some who are not yet on the spiritual path love to see others struggle and fail. But, when we come from following Jesus Christ, that high point, that Divine understanding, that Godly view, we want to see others succeed and win. Spiritual people get as excited about another person success as their own. We succeed and win every time that we come from our highest spiritual consciousness and live within God.
The king had an inner fear that when the big moment came, he would fail to see the cloth. So, he put it off as long as possible. Often, that is the way we do things. When we are afraid of something, we procrastinate; we put it off as long as we possibly can.
So, the emperor sent his chief assistant. He could not see any cloth, but he didn’t want to admit it. He might be stupid or not good at his job. So, he raved about the cloth to the king. It was the same with the second assistant. The emperor finally got enough courage to go and see the cloth for himself; but, of course, he could not see anything. Yet, he would NEVER admit it.
The day of the big parade, when hundreds of people would be watching, the emperor put on the invisible clothes and walked naked into the crowd. Everyone in the crowd did not want to admit that they could not see the cloth, so they raved about the emperor’s new clothes.
Thus, we see human consciousness at its worst; sometimes this is called mob consciousness believing in what everyone else says, instead of speaking up yourself for what you know to be true. Even inside of us, worries, and fears that do not exist, overpower our reasoning. Human consciousness will often rave on about it and have anxiety about it and even get sick and die over something only imagined.
The crowd was convinced in their minds that the king was wearing beautiful clothes. But a little boy, who was not yet part of the mass hysteria, shouted, “He hasn’t got anything on.”
The people, one by one, started to wake up, started to open their eyes – not their physical eyes, but their perception eyes – the eyes that could see with a new understanding. They started to think for themselves, to ask questions, and to express opinions.
Too many times, we go along, and we never ask questions. We never think for ourselves. We never express opinions. Many times, in a worst-case scenario we become sheep, instead of the individuals that have the power to think for themselves.
Soon, as the crowd began to murmur among themselves, “The king has nothing on,” the king, who was in the middle of the parade, woke up.
The crowd did not speak up until they gained power from the masses. The king was having a very bad day. But look what went through the king’s mind. Have you ever been like this?
The king looked down. He knew he was naked. And he knew that everybody else knew he was naked, but he STILL did not want to expose himself, so he continued to march in the parade to the end.
Have you ever been in a place in your life where YOU KNEW you were making a mistake, and you knew that you knew, and everybody else knew? Yet you continue to march ahead? We do that. I do not know why we do it. If we would only wake up the rest of the way and realize that it is okay, to stop, and change the direction we are headed.
We do not have to walk to our own doom. We can call a halt, right now. We control the momentum. We control the movement by our minds. And we can decide, right now, “I do not have to keep on going following the sheep to the slaughter. I can stop.”
Many companies have been like this. We see major companies failing; they are on the news every day. When the employees and even management our interviewed they will often say that they sensed the problems but were afraid to speak up. It is as fascinating, as it is sad. The company trainers would often admit that they did not believe what they were required to teach. But the people expected them to teach it and so they would get up and teach it, even though they KNEW it was wrong.
It is often suspected that the new employees did not believe what they were being taught, yet they would never think for themselves, ask questions, or express opinions on the fear of exposing themselves. We think that we must blend in, and become part of the mass instead of an individual.
There is a secondary thought and original thought. We have the God-given gift of original thought, and yet few in adult life exercise it. We allow others to do our thinking for us.
History tells us that the successful are the people that stand out and think for themselves.
One day, someone speaks up and asks a question. It is very disturbing to everyone when that happens. Yet when we ask a question, people must then wake up and take a look at themselves; they must look at the definitions they have given to their own questions. Definitions are like a fence. They fence more out than they fence in.
Faith, religion, is an ongoing adventure. It is not something that is within a fence. It is different for every one of you because you are living a different life and you are on a slightly different path. Each person has his, or her own path, and each person connects with God. But that is where the similarity begins. God is always the same. God gives you what you need at the moment. God gives you understanding so you DO NOT have to walk the rest of the parade (your life) unclothed. You can put on “the whole armor of God,” and that whole armor is with you now.
That gives you all the power you will ever need, no matter what you need to overcome.
The FIRST adventure in faith is to DISCOVER who you really are. It is that point that says, “Wait a minute here. I am not stupid.” There has never been a stupid person because we all have the ability, the possibility of connecting with God. It is a person that realizes that when I work with God, God does good work through me. Therefore, I can believe in myself, totally and completely. It is discovering who you really are.
You are not an isolated island separated by icy seas. You are connected with God and God can think through you and work through you and therefore you have great worth.
The SECOND adventure in faith is EXPLORING the depths of you to permanently find God. That is quite an adventure. It is one of the ultimate adventures. It is the adventure that will continue all the days of our lives. Our fears and worries are easy to discover. Many people live in this realm because it appears like it is the path of least resistance, but it is an illusion because it is the reverse.
We all have human fears of being exposed. Researchers say one of the most common dreams that people have at night, is being naked, in a class, or in front of a group.
In the Bible that says to, “Put on Christ.” This will be the new clothes of our soul.
The THIRD adventure in faith is EXPRESSING all that God is. If you have discovered, and explored the goodness of God, it is going to come through you as health, as Divine ideas, success in your business, success in human relations. Every area of your life can express all that God is, as you pray earnestly and continuously for the opportunity.
The FOURTH adventure in faith is BECOMING a spiritual teacher by example and helping others to rise up above human blindness.
It is time to wake up. It is time to take a good look from a new perspective and to ask yourself the question that so many of us have avoided for so long: Is my life working? If not, why am I still in the parade? Why don’t I get on a new path? Why don’t I go in a new direction? I have a question for us all. It is on excesses in our lives. Remember, the king had excesses on clothing. He spent all of his money on clothes. He was obsessed with it. He spent all of his time and energy on clothes, because he was hiding from taking a good look at himself.
I say, if we are going to have an excess, why not have an excess of God? Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” It is time to move away from stagnation of blind following in our lives, seeking only the approval of others for our self-worth and to leave no forwarding address. God is not a theory of life – God is Life itself. Nothing is too small or insignificant for God’s uplifting Presence. You question, “Okay, but how?” In every instance, it is prayer. Here are seven conditions for true prayer.
1.You must recognize God as your parent. Your own personal parent that you are connected with, that you can hold, that you can walk with, hand in hand.
2.Acknowledge your oneness with God. It is a yes-ness inside of you. “Yes, I can do it because I am not alone. God is with me at this moment.”
3.Pray in the secret place – inside of you.
4.Close the door to the outer.
5.Believe you have received – right now.
6.Seek first the kingdom of God. Why is this not number one? Because often, after we have done our prayer work, we believe we will receive and then we drop everything and look to the outer realm, completely. Then, if it does not come right away; we have disbelief and throw up our hands and say it does not work. That is the very time you should seek first the kingdom.
7.Forgive. Release. Do not hold on to any resentment. Allow the Presence of God to flow through without obstruction.
Then, after you get past that, there are four steps to true prayer to bring it into manifestation.
A. Say NO to what isn’t working. You may be a person who is getting a new suit of clothes, but you cannot really see it or feel it in your life. Yet you are impelled to go forward. You are in a parade, and you do not have any clothes on. What do you do? You begin to say NO. You say, “Wait a minute. What in the world am I doing? What am I doing with my life?” You say, “NO that this has any more power over me.” You say, “NO that I have to continue walking down the same way.” You say, “NO.”
B. Spiritually Affirm. You affirm who you are. You affirm your power with God’s help. You affirm the power to change direction and get REAL clothes on, you, your dreams, and your life.
C. Silence. Stop the noise and listen to God. Hearing God’s voice. Waiting on the Presence of God to flow through you, and with you.
D. Imagination. Imagination to know that the spiritual always replaces the lower when you work with God. To see it coming right now in your prayer. It will begin to show in your life.
After all that, you act. You begin to act upon what you are praying about. Emerson said, “Prayer is a contemplation of the facts of life from their highest point of view.” Too many have been fooled too few. God is constant, truthful and can be relied upon to give you the guidance you need.
I pray that we will never be fooled again by ourselves or by another; that if we do not have all that we need right now in our lives, we do not continue walking down the parade route naked and defenseless. I pray that we stop and we put on the clothes of God.
Through God you WILL succeed and win.
God bless you!
PRAYER / MEDITATION____________________
Allow me to speak for you …
Dear God, Hold me close, loving Presence of God. Be with me through the night hours and be with me through the day. Hold Thou my hand. Guide Thou my feet. Comfort Thou my heart. Fill me with new resolve and a knowing that all is well. I trust you to be with me and therefore I trust myself.
I trust my life, my hopes, my dreams, and my future to Your care.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
Where I am, You are, dear God. In my need, You answer me. In my joy, You smile upon me. When I cannot fathom the ways and the wherefores, Your Light shines steadily, beckoning me on – on to the Truth as yet unknown. To depths of understanding as yet un-guessed at.
Be with me, Lord. Hold me close, today, this moment, tomorrow, and in the days to come. I am holding Your hand. I shall not fear. I thank You, my loving Lord, for Your Presence.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
I strive, this moment, to allow more of God to flow through me – God’s love, the greatest expression in the world. Love is that Divine quality that makes our world go around. Love is the enthusiasm of God inside of us.
This moment, feeling God’s Presence, I feel God’s love. And in that feeling, that love, I feel a sense of love for all those that I know and meet. God always externalizes at the level of my concept. And I examine my mental equivalence, strong power plans ahead, progress happens on my spiritual path.
Absolute faith in God begets absolute faith in God. My faith in God is measured by the faith in ourselves. And this faith is a mind activity that is happening in me, this moment.
There is a dynamic power, a movement of God that is happening in mind and in body. It is that movement of God that knows that when I ask for something in prayer, I receive a definite result.
Rest in the silence of prayer …
I pray within, the measureless, boundless, eternal of God’s all good. I ask nothing amiss and therefore, I miss nothing.
In the great waves of God, my entire being is flooded with spiritual light; an inward knowingness, a glorious power is flooding not only my body temple and my mind, but also my home and my business. They take on a superb dominion of God. My very work that I do with my hands and my mind take on a superb dominion of God.
This moment, as you rest in the silence, you prepare yourself for an adventure – an adventure in faith, an adventure with God, an adventure of going the extra mile on the high pathway of life.
Rest in the Presence of God.
I am aware of God. My mind is flooded with Divine ideas, ideas that tell me about my possibilities, ideas that tell me about the Presence that is surrounding me, everywhere present, and within me. I am becoming awake, and aware.
I know, with certainty, that I am not alone. I know that I have a Power with me that will help me overcome, to go over the mountain or to tunnel or to go around any difficulty I face.
There is a Power that is with me that will help me achieve success. God will give me health, and God will give me a new awareness and new ideas. Whatever I need, today, it is in God’s Presence that is my answer is found; and the Divine awareness of the Presence makes all things possible to me.
All things good are prepared for me, now, by the Presence of God. In this moment, in total awareness, I say, “Thank You, God,” for I know the Truth. I know who I am, and I live within that awareness.
In Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.
Since 1999 – The worldwide PRAYER PLACE inside the Internet, serving well over 1,600,000 every day. Welcoming all faiths, excluding no one. Reaching the ends of the earth with the positive message of God. Not connected to any church, Positive Christianity is a Prayer Ministry without walls, physical or denominational, that the world can instantly access and use without cost.
ARCHIVES of recent Positive Daily Inspiration is available on our homepage; use anything you wish.
FREE Encyclopedia of Prayers: http://www.positivechristianity.org/prayersearch.php
NEED PRAYER? Click here– if you have a prayer need, Positive Christianity will start praying with you, daily, for an entire month. There Is Never a Charge for Prayer.
DONATIONS Thank You for helping us with this great free work for ministers of every faith:
Instant online donation:
https://positivechristianity.net/donation-tithe/
By mail: Positive Christianity Box 7993 Woodlands, TX 77387
GOD BLESS YOU,
Christopher Ian Chenoweth