PREACHING BOLDLY

In the 16th century, there was a great preacher of his day in England by the name of Hugh Latimer.

Once he found that he was to preach before the 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.

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

He then paused & continued, “Latimer! Latimer! Do you not remember that you are speaking before the King of kings & 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 & 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.

He did take his stand for truth & preached boldly. Eventually, he was martyred by Henry’s daughter Queen Mary.

Source: ‘Not Corrupting the Word’ a sermon by J. C. Ryle (ministry127.com)

Mark 12:14 (GNT): They came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we know that you tell the truth, without worrying about what people think. You pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people…”