So where are we going to find future leaders? I think I see one right here. And you know, all good leaders need great wives. Because it's not easy being a wife of an elder. I'll tell you, oh, this sweet darling.

And here's a very fine young man, Tyr. And Is your name Ezekiel? What a great name. Whole book in the Bible about you. Look at this one.

How about this young man here? You getting tired? It's not easy sitting that long, is it? Tell the truth. Yes.

I'm not. OK, we've got a bunch of young people back here. Where are they? That whole table. Where are we gonna find future leaders?

Here's one right here, I can tell. You know where we're gonna find them? In right in our homes. That's where we're gonna find them. Good to see you.

Okay, your buckle there. Okay, and you guys, let me see, you're one of the violinists? Yes, you did a marvelous job. You took a picture to go back and show everyone young people can play violin. How old are you?

Fifteen. Fifteen, that's a wonderful age. Remember, every church leader needs a good wife. Can't do it alone. We don't do it alone, do we?

Do we do this work alone, Mike? No way. We cannot do our work without our wives. Not possible. Our wife can shut us down in a minute.

You guys can stand or sit, whatever you like, I don't care. You can do jumping jacks. Where are we going to find leaders for the future? Let me say, it's going to be harder. Let me tell you why it's going to be harder.

Because the world is destroying our people. There's a secular tsunami running over the evangelical world, and it's destroying our young people. We're going to talk about one of the biggest problems, ruining the lives of our young men. Just like Corinth, they said there's no problem that the church was in Corinth. The problem was too much of Corinth was in the church.

And that's what's happening today. The world is coming into the church. And you'll find that you're going to find less and less men qualified for the eldership because they've already had a couple marriages, maybe they've dealt with drugs or alcohol. So as our society goes into moral decay, it takes society with them And we're going to have a very hard time right now and in the future, how can we find men of the kind of character we need? We may not.

In some cases, and I can tell you this because I have many missionary friends, There are missionary friends of mine who tell me in our church, in a certain country, we don't have a single man that could possibly be an elder. And so they have to do the best they can with the limited resources. So I'm telling you it's going to be harder and harder. And that's why we must protect the present generation. Now very often when people talk about finding future elders, they think of men in their 40s or 50s or maybe 30s.

That's wrong thinking, wrong thinking. We've gotta think teenagers, people young 20s. We've got to cast a vision when they're very young that God wants to prepare you and use you and not let them get ruined by the world or tied down by the world. Then we wonder why can't we find anyone? So let's look at this subject.

I'm promising you I'm gonna stop right a quarter after. Are you hungry? I'm hungry too. You're doing a good job though. These kids are doing a good job.

Because I know, Did you know I was a kid one time? I was. I was actually your age. How did I get to this age? I don't know.

It happened fast though. All right, let me give you four points. Four points. Number one, Jesus Christ prepared the next generation of leaders. Number one, Jesus Christ prepared the next generation of leaders.

Mark 3, 13, And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him, and he appointed twelve. So notice two things. They might be with him, he's gonna train them, and if you're gonna train them, you gotta be with them. They might be with him, and he might send them out to preach so they're gonna be with him. He says to them in Matthew 4, he says, Follow me, if you follow me, I'm going to train you to become fishers of men.

You're going to be winning people for me. But I'm going to train you, but you've got to be with me. That's how we train people by the way. They've got to be with us more as caught than taught often. And he had a job for him, he's gonna send them out to teach in the Matthew passage, he says, I'm gonna send you out to win people.

Now, I want you to listen to this wonderful quote by A.B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve. Relax, sit back, we've only got minutes before a wonderful meal is going to be served to us by some very wonderful young ladies. I already checked them out back there. They're doing a good job.

I told them not to cut their fingers off though. They got those big knives. A little scary but anyway. Wonderful young ladies. Alright, are you listening?

Isaac, you're listening? Good boy. Okay. The great founder of the faith desires not only to have disciples, but to have about him men whom he might train to make disciples of others. Both from His words and from His actions we can see that He attached supreme importance to that part of His work which consisted in the training of the twelve.

In the intercessory prayer, John 17, he speaks of the training he had given these men as if it had been the principal part of his own earthly ministry. As such, in one sense, it really was the careful painstaking education of the disciples secured that the teachers influence on the world should be permanent. Jesus Christ prepared the next generation. Did you hear what A.B. Bruce said?

A principal part of his work was the training of the 12. Second, Paul prepared the next generation of leaders. If there's ever a religion that teaches training of its people, equipping it's the religion of Christianity. Christianity is not a clerical laity division religion. It's not.

That came much later. Listen to Acts 20, 28. Final words to the Ephesian elders. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

In other words, man, I'm leaving. I've done my job. I have no further responsibilities. Everything I know I gave to you, the whole counsel of God. Here's the sad thing today.

Ask the average Christian you meet to tell you the story of the scriptures, or ask him, how do the books of the Bible fit together? I can guarantee you the vast majority of Christians have no mental concept of the storyline of the Bible. It is a storyline, starts right in Genesis 1, 1. In the beginning, man. Wrong, Again?

It's the second time. In the beginning, humanity. Oh, man. What is it? And where does the story end?

Revelation 22. God is with his people in the new heavens, in the new earth, and the new glorified body. It's a wonderful story of redemption, God's self-revelation of himself. How do these books in the Bible fit together? It's a foreign book to many Christians.

Paul said, I did not draw back in any way from declaring to you everything, The whole redemptive story, the covenants, the patriarchs, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the coming of the Son of God to the, think of Romans, think of Romans, oh my, there's the whole story right there. So, Paul said, I gave you everything. I'm leaving and my conscience is clear. There is, as the watchman would say, I'm free from the blood of all of you. I've done my job.

So Paul is a man preparing the next generation. If there's failure, it's gonna fall on their part. Alright, get another point in here. Three, three, Timothy prepared the next generation of leaders, Timothy prepared the next generation of leaders. Scott, right there is a glass, Could you put a little water in it and bring it up?

Alright, listen to what we hear here in 2 Timothy 2, which we will come back to. What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. Now here's a key word. Entrust, commit, transmit to faithful men who will be able to teach others. Another fine young man here.

Thank you very much. You did a good job. See that? That's good training. He's being trained right now.

All of you are being trained right now. Now listen to this again. Entrust, commit, transmit the gospel. Two characteristics of the people you transmitted to. Faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Now, this particular passage is not Ephesians 4.11, which we'll look at next. Ephesians 4.11-12 is equipping the saints for the work of ministry. In other words, everybody, everybody gets equipped for doing the service of the Lord, right? That's not this passage. This passage is for a specialized group of people.

It's targeting and marking people, first of all, two characteristics of these people. Look for them. They're dependable. They're trustworthy. They're reliable people.

You look for the kind of people that show up to church all the time, they take responsibility in the church, you look for those people. They got good character. We're gonna talk about the shepherd's eye in a moment. Training people starts with looking for the people, the trade. So look for Timothy, look for the people who are dependable, trustworthy, faithful people.

Second thing though, now this is what separates everything. The people I want you to look for are the people who will be able, capable, to teach others also. So you're going to teach the kind of people who have the ability, doesn't mean you're an orator or speak to millions of people, could be just very personal, could mean a small group, the kind of people, I want you to get these people, mark them out, who are able and they're willing to take what I teach you and they want to teach other people, they have the mental ability and the capability to pass this, transmit this same word onto others. So, two characteristics, character and ability, character and ability. Fourth point, Elders are to prepare the next generation of leaders.

Really, it's our business, it's our work. We're to have an eye for the future. We are to always be thinking of who's gonna shepherd after me? How do I transmit all I've learned to others? How can I do that?

And I should be doing it. I think this is a good point to stop at and we'll come back to this. And then I'm gonna give you some practical ideas of how you would train Isaac and, Zachariah? Where's Ezekiel? Ezekiel.

I mean, you can't train better people than Ezekiel and Zechariah and Isaac. I mean, these guys are right out of the Bible. So, all right. How are we going to train these young people? We'll talk about that when I come back.