Afraid to preach boldly? Try using the “Latimer technique” …

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“Glossophobia,” or speech anxiety, is the fear of speaking in public. It’s something some preachers must face and overcome when they first become preachers.

A greater fear that many ministers face in preaching is the fear of what people will think about what they say. Some preachers never get over that fear and suffer it as a permanent impediment to preaching with boldness the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I remember at the start of my own preaching ministry feeling a twinge of nervousness about speaking to an audience. I dealt with the issue by referring to a scripture to help rid myself of any unease …

“The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” Psalm 118:6.

I’m not sure why that verse came to mind at that time, but it helped me reason that even if the people listening to my sermons didn’t appreciate a bold proclamation of truth, how bad could the result really be? What’s the worst that could happen? The worst thing people could do to me is kill me, and that reminded me of these words from the Apostle Paul: “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better” (Phil. 1:21).

Those verses connected together worked for me, but they may not work for you. Perhaps you would be better inspired to preach boldly by applying what I call the “Latimer technique.” J.C Ryle preached a sermon titled, “Not Corrupting the Word,” in which he related a story about how one preacher motivated himself to proclaim the Word of God with boldness …

    In the sixteenth century, there was a protestant reformer in England by the name of Hugh Latimer. He was known as a great preacher of his day and as a result he had many opportunities to speak. Once he found that he was to preach before King Henry VIII of England. As he thought about his great responsibility to bring a message before the king, he realized that the message that God laid on his heart was not the message that the king would want to hear.

    As he began his sermon he said, “Latimer! Latimer! Do you remember that you are speaking before the high and mighty King Henry VIII; who has power to command you to be sent to prison, and who can have your head cut off, if it please him? Will you not take care to say nothing that will offend royal ears?”

    He then paused and continued, “Latimer! Latimer! Do you not remember that you are speaking before the King of kings and Lord of lords; before Him, at whose throne Henry VIII will stand; before Him, to whom one day you will have to give account yourself? Latimer! Latimer! Be faithful to your Master, and declare all of God’s Word.”

    Latimer faced the choice: would he preach what man wanted to hear or would he preach what Christ would have him preach? Latimer did take his stand for truth and preached boldly. Eventually, he was martyred by Henry’s daughter Queen Mary.

No matter who we stand before to preach to, all of us will some day have to stand before God and give an account of ourselves. That truth should kindle a courage to preach boldly, diverting our attention away from any irrational fear of people and reminding ourselves we’re speaking on behalf of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Now, may your prayer be the same as that of the apostles Peter and John, after they had been threatened by religious leaders to stop preaching about Jesus and then, when freed, prayed, “And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word” (Acts 4:29).

Scotty