Son of Encouragement // 勸慰子

Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”)
Acts 4:36
巴拿巴翻出來就是勸慰子
使徒行傳 4:36

After preaching in Acts 9 this past Sunday, I am reminded of all the Barnabas(es) in my life.  These Barnabas(es) encouraged me by (1)giving, (2)showing me grace, (3)serving and (4)developed me.  I was so moved in the sermon that I could barely continue with my sermon.  During and after which, by God's grace, he surrounded me with encouragements.  And with God's perfect timing, this story of John Stott come in my email from PreachingToday.com:
我禮拜日講道嘅時候，神用使徒行傳第九章嚟提我我有好多個巴拿巴呢度鼓勵我。我講道嘅時候感動度爭啲講唔道乜。但係因為神的恩典，鼓勵我。同埋神嘅計劃好奇妙，我琴日收到啲個有關約翰·斯托得嘅電郵：

John Stott shares the following story from 1958 when he was leading a university outreach in Sydney, Australia. The day before the final meeting, Stott received word that his father had passed away. In addition to his grief, Stott was also starting to lose his voice. Here's how Stott describes the final day of the outreach:

It was already late afternoon within a few hours of the final meeting of the mission, so I didn't feel I could back away at that time. I went to the great hall and asked a few students to gather round me. I asked one of them to read … "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness," (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). A student read these verses and then I asked them to lay hands on me and … pray that those verses might be true in my own experience.

When time came for me to give my address, I preached on the [broad and narrow ways from Matthew 7]. I had to get within half an inch of the microphone, and I croaked the gospel like a raven. I couldn't exert my personality. I couldn't move. I couldn't use any inflections in my voice. I croaked the gospel in monotone. Then when the time came to give the invitation, there was an immediate response, larger than any other meeting during the mission, as students came flocking forward …

I've been back to Australia about ten times since 1958, and on every occasion somebody has come up to me and said, "Do you remember that final meeting in the university in the great hall?" "I jolly well do," I reply. "Well," they say, "I was converted that night."

Stott concludes, "The Holy Spirit takes our human words, spoken in great weakness and frailty, and he carries them home with power to the mind, the heart, the conscience, and the will of the hearers in such a way that they see and believe."