“Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?” 2Timothy 4:6-8

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

M OSES & J OSHUA E LIJAH & E LISHA P AUL & T IMOTHY J OSHUA & T HE J UDGES D AVID & S OLOMON

Exodus 24:13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

Exodus 32:15-17 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp."

Deuteronomy 31:7-8 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

M OSES & J OSHUA E LIJAH & E LISHA P AUL & T IMOTHY J OSHUA & T HE J UDGES D AVID & S OLOMON

1Kings 19:19-21 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, "Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you." And he said to him, "Go back again, for what have I done to you?" And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.

2Kings 2:2 And Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

M OSES & J OSHUA E LIJAH & E LISHA P AUL & T IMOTHY J OSHUA & T HE J UDGES D AVID & S OLOMON

Acts 16:1-3 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

1Corinthians 4:17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

Philippians 2:19-22 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.

M OSES & J OSHUA E LIJAH & E LISHA P AUL & T IMOTHY J OSHUA & T HE J UDGES D AVID & S OLOMON

Judges 2:6-11 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.

M OSES & J OSHUA E LIJAH & E LISHA P AUL & T IMOTHY J OSHUA & T HE J UDGES D AVID & S OLOMON

Why were Joshua, Elisha & Timothy able to “step up” to the Challenge? Mentoring, Apprenticeship, TEACHING – Joshua was with Moses from the beginning of his time as leader of Israel – Elisha walked side by side with Elijah – Timothy was trained by Paul from a youth

O UR T IME I S L IMITED O UR I NFLUENCE C ONTINUES

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Titus 2:1-6 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

2Timothy 2:1-2 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Two Questions.. Who will fill your shoes? Who's shoes will you fill?