Oct. 22, 2010
For Immediate Release

By Christina Miller, office assistant

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — “Sheep are the dumbest, most stupid of animals… I don't know if I like being called a sheep or not, but Jesus is the Great Shepherd,” Dr. Don Mathis, president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, said in his address to Campbellsville University's chapel service Oct. 20.

Mathis referred to three passages of Scripture throughout the service, Matthew 9, Luke 15 and John 10, to determine what each have in common.

Matthew 9 places an emphasis on needs. Mathis said, “Jesus saw the multitude; he saw the individuals one by one and was moved with compassion. His heart leaped in our direction. Jesus comes about every need in our lives… he knows you individually, your circumstances and your needs. Jesus is the specialist in meeting needs.

“Every need you have, the answer is Jesus and Jesus only.”

Mathis said he heard a secular speaker at one time say we have three basic needs, and one of those is the guilt complex. Mathis told Campbellsville University, “We have a guilt complex because we're guilty!”

Mathis referred to Romans 3:23, “All fall short of the glory of God,” to say we are compared with Jesus. “You're not compared to anyone except Jesus, and then you must say you're a dirty, rotten, filthy sinner.”

But the good news is the gift of God is eternal life. “He then equips us and uses us,” Mathis said.

At age 13 Mathis was saved. He said, “I knew I got saved, but I didn't know the answers to the questions, except I knew I didn't want to go to hell.” But, one night he discovered, “I am a child of the King!”

Mathis said he discovered that when he began to study the Bible, that the Holy Spirit came to live inside of him and didn't come empty-handed. “He equips us for the good, with a purpose and plan for our lives.”

The Scriptures Mathis compared also place an emphasis on names.

“He calls his sheep by name. Jesus knows everything about you, and if you've not yet begun to follow him, he's calling you to do so and he's calling you by name.”

Mathis said he once went to preach a revival at a church of 1,400 people, but when he arrived, he was hit with a battle of shyness. At the time he thought, “I don't know one person in there by name.” But then Jesus told him, “Don't worry about it; I know every one of them. I will call them, and I will call them by name.”

Mathis said, “He's calling you by name today, and he won't stutter, stammer or mispronounce your name.”

In the parables of Luke 15, there were 100 sheep, one was lost, 10 coins, one was lost, and two boys, one was lost. “We're not saved by mass production; we are saved with a plan and purpose, one by one. The Lord calls us to follow him, and he calls us to follow him one by one.”

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with over 3,000 students offering 63 undergraduate programs, 17 master's degrees and five postgraduate areas. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.