well is once again time for today's breakfast bite and I have the privilege of welcoming Pete Baker from Life Church Langershire. Hi Pete, great to see you again. Hi Nathan, great to be here. Indeed. And are you ready to bring us today's breakfast bite then? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah. So last week we lost this idea of a little series on Heroes of the Faith and we read from Hebrews 11 where it's this kind of hall of fame of Heroes of the Faith from the Old Testament. And I asked this question like, who is your hero? You know, we think heroes from the Bible, from our lives, from the world of sport or music, etc, etc, etc, art, education, whatever it might be. And thinking about this idea of the people who were heroes to us and how we can emulate them, how we can, you know, what can we learn from those that inspire us and how can we be everyday heroes? And so the first person I want to talk about is a character from the New Testament and we meet him in the Book of Acts. This is Acts chapter 4 verse 36 and it says this. So it's just a bit of context. The church is a brand new idea, Acts 2, the church is born and then Acts 4, they're preaching about Jesus, they're sharing their possessions with each other, they're seeing an interpoverty in their community. And then in verse 36 somebody pops up called Joseph. Joseph a Levite from Cyprus whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, sold the field he owned and brought the money to the apostles' feet. So we meet this guy called Joseph from Cyprus, not one of the twelve, but he's one of the followers of Jesus, he's part of the early church. And what's amazing is history doesn't remember Joseph by his given name, history remembers Joseph by his nickname, by his reputation, because it becomes known as Barnabas, the son of encouragement. In the Hebrew the word bar means son of, so it's Barnabas, son of encouragement. And that's how we, that's how Christian history, Christian tradition remembers Barnabas. We meet Barnabas a few more times in the book of Acts, we meet him with a reputation, there being a person of faith, we meet him as somebody who vouches for the apostle Paul. So the apostle Paul goes on to write half the New Testament, the apostle Paul goes on to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, which is the non-Jewish world. Now the apostle Paul goes on to become this great leader of the faith, but it's Barnabas that vouches for Paul, it's Barnabas that first trains Paul up, on Paul's first missionary trip, Barnabas is the leader of the trip. And then on Paul's second missionary trip, Paul is the leader of the trip, and Barnabas is his number two, Barnabas is his assistant. So Barnabas plays this incredible role we see in the book of Acts, and it becomes known by his nickname, Barnabas the son of encouragement. So he's one of my heroes because I recognize the power of encouragement, I recognize looking back in my own journey, that at pivotal moments, I had youth leaders, parents, friends, mentors, leaders, role models that came alongside me and spoke courage into me, encouragement literally means to place courage, to speak courage, to put courage inside of someone. And so we get this, you know, courage inside of us, which then empowers us, enables us to do the things that God's asking us to do. And so would the apostle Paul have become the apostle Paul without Barnabas? Well we don't know, and obviously it is, you know, providence and God's intervention and God's plan and all that kind of stuff. But what we can definitely see from the book of Acts is that Barnabas' role in Paul's development was massive, was pivotal. His encouragement was absolutely huge. I read this great quote once about Tolkien, talking about C.S. Lewis. No, I think it was the other way around. C.S. Lewis talking about Tolkien, C.S. Lewis who wrote the books of the Chronicles of Narnia, amongst other things, Tolkien who wrote Lord of the Rings. They were friends and peers who shared each other's work with each other and inspired each other and encouraged each other. And Tolkien said of Lewis, that it was Lewis's encouragement that took Tolkien from a private hobby to sharing his work. And we're so glad that he did. Tolkien published Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit and all the rest of his great work, which obviously then became his massive films that have inspired countless other fantasy stories written over the years. But once upon a time, for Tolkien, they were just cool ideas in his own head. For once upon a time for Tolkien, they were just ideas that he shared with his friend C.S. Lewis in Oxford. But because C.S. Lewis said, "This is really good. You should share this stuff with the rest of the world." Tolkien shared it. It was that encouragement that kind of took a private idea and a private hobby to something that shaped our culture and its inspired countless people. So I recognize the power of encouragement. So Barnabas is one of my heroes because he's a person of encouragement. He's a person that raises other people up. He's a person that invests in other people. He's a man of encouragement. So my simple challenge for each one of us today is to be a person of encouragement, to be a person that sees potential, spots potential in others, and then speaks it, speaks faith into people, draws it out of people, comes alongside people. Sometimes it's an arm around the shoulder. Sometimes it's a word of encouragement. Sometimes it's about investment. Sometimes it's about saying, "I recognize what you need is a platform. I recognize what you need is an opportunity. I recognize what you need is a resource." So sometimes encouragement is about investing resource in people. Barnabas took Paul on a missionary trip. He didn't just say, "You go for it." Barnabas took him with him. He gave him an opportunity. He gave him a platform. He probably cost him financially to take someone else with him. So yeah, I really want to encourage you today. Look at the story of Barnabas and be a person of encouragement. Who could you raise up? Who could you speak life into? Who could you believe in? Who could you invest in? Who could you mentor? Who could you sharpen challenge? Encourage in Jesus' name. I encourage you this morning, listening to this, to go for it. I encourage you to pursue the things that God's put in your heart. I want to be a Barnabas to you right now, but I also want to encourage you to be an encourager to others. Amen. Thanks so much, Pete. Such a great thought and encouragement. It makes a huge difference, doesn't it? I mean, like you say, maybe talking whenever I've written those Lord of the Rings trilogy out of the Hobbit, which, of course, have gone on to become incredible works. You know, I don't know. There are a few people in the world I expect who haven't heard of it. It's just such an amazing book. And I would say talking is probably one of my heroes. So yeah, but you're really good. And of course, encouragement is so important. I mean, who knows what might not have been done? Had it not been for the encouragement of somebody or perhaps what would have been done? Had somebody, had somebody been an encourager as they ought to have been. Yeah. It's a deep thought. It's powerful, yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks so much, Pete. A really great thought for us. We do need to be encourages. And I look forward to hearing again from you next week. Wonderful. Thank you. Bless you, everyone. Did you know, Pure 24/7 Radio has a shop? Well, we do. 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