And [Barnabas] exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. (Acts 11:23)

How many of you have ever heard of Barnabas? He's not too well known today, but he was very prominent in the early church. He appears twenty-four times in the Book of Acts alone and then is mentioned in three of Paul's letters. Many Christians barely know his name today, but after the gospels, Barnabas ranks as one of the three or four most important people in the whole New Testament.

We first meet him in Acts, chapter four, where we learn that Barnabas wasn't his real name at all. His real name is Joseph, but the apostles renamed him Barnabas, which means, "Son of encouragement" (Acts 4:36). That's the clue to what is really important about this man: his name means "Son of encouragement." Ba…