Pastor's Blog

Contentment is missing...

7/31/2018

It seems to me the more that I observe people that there are few who are genuinely content with what they have. So many are looking for their next opportunity so hard that they are missing the mark in making a difference where they are. I've tried to live with the thought of "bloom where you are planted" and "God has you there for a reason.
So many times it's economics that cause people to be discontent. Remember there will always be someone who has more but more is not necessarily what you need. I'm reminded of these verses of scripture:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. I Timothy 6:6-8

But seek first the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Matthew 6:33

I see many people who have great needs but I also see some that have very little yet are satisfied with what God has provided. If you have more than you need then look for opportunities to be generous. If you lack in some basic necessity then seek the King and HIS kingdom and watch God provide. We each have a choice to be content and to be a giver rather than a taker. Which will you be?

Content in Christ,
Pastor Don

Thankful to be a Southern Baptist...

6/19/2018

This past week I traveled to the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas it was once again a joy to be called a Southern Baptist. For the first time in years I took messengers with me from our church. It was different to say the least and perhaps a little more exciting having five others with me who have never participated in the convention. Our church members were able to see that we are a part of a much greater body of believers than just our church.
Highlights of our trip included the election of officers including Dr. J.D. Greerar as President and an African American and a Hispanic as 1st & 2nd Vice-Presidents. The two secretaries elected were both from Missouri, Dr. John Yeats and my good friend Don Currence. We also witnessed 79 new missionaries commissioned from the International Mission Board who will be going to the ends of the earth taking the good news of the gospel. Hearing Vice-President Mike Pence share his testimony and commend Southern Baptists for their relief efforts as well as taking the message of the gospel to all fifty states and around the world.
What a joy to know that we share a common cause and mission with 37,000 churches and over 15 million believers. I'm indeed thankful to be a Southern Baptist Pastor.
Yours for Kingdom Growth,
Pastor Don Satterwhite

The importance of family...

5/5/2018

Most weekends I spend at least one or two days, Friday and Saturday with my family. This is because when all is said and done they will be the one's who will be with you in the end. You start together with them in life and ministry and hopefully if the Lord is willing you will end with them. I'm very thankful that God has blessed me with a loving and caring family. I'm speaking not only of my wife, children and grandchildren but also of my brothers. I believe that heritage of a close family came from the long and loving relationship of my parents and from the way that we stuck together when things weren't so good. We had our share of troubles but God carried us through every trial.

The family of God which exhibits itself through the local church is also a family. How we relate to each other is a reflection of our relationship with the Father. We share a common faith, "For you are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus" Galatians 3:26. We also share a common mission, "to know Him and to make Him known." When troubles and trials come we need to love one another and stick together for the common good and the glory of God.

I love serving as the pastor of Calvary and trust that God is going to do greater things in the future as we are obedient to Him.
Yours for the Family,
Pastor Don

Pray for our students...

3/1/2018

The following poem was written by my friend Greg Stier of "Dare to Share"

There’s a generation in crisis

Right before our very eyes.

Can you feel their secret pain?

Can you hear their silent cries?

Suicide and school shootings
Are now a common thing.
Death is right among us
And teens can feel its sting.

Some turn to social media
Being fed by just their feed.
Measuring their self-worth
By the lives that others lead.

Some turn to drugs and alcohol
And look for hope in highs.
But short-term satisfaction
Cannot stop their inner cries.

A handful turn to violence
They bully, they fight, they kill.
They take vengeance for their pain
And innocent blood is spilled.

We mourn the loss and make a plan.
We lock our schools down tight.
We hire guards and enact laws
We won’t go down without a fight!

But there is another enemy
Invisible to human eyes.
He whispers lies in tingling ears
And cheers when our teens die.

Satan's army is in the millions
And he has a plan to win.
Armed with empty promises
He destroys our teens with sin.

But now’s the time for us to fight
It’s not just through locks and laws.
It’s through prayer and the Gospel.
It’s through the power of God!

It’s by energizing every church
To mobilize their youth
To gospelize their schools
Until teens hear the truth

Until they hear the truth that Jesus
Died for them upon a cross.
Enduring ultimate grief and pain
He entered into human loss.

Until they hear the hope of Jesus
That he was raised up from the dead
So they too can be resurrected
From this life of sin and death.

So rise up church and be the church!

Let’s fight for these young lives!
Upon our knees we’ll call on God
And then we will arise!

We’ll rise to charge the gates of hell
To snatch teens from the flames!
We’ll fight the fight until it’s won!
And we’ll win in Jesus’ Name!

Dedicated to the victims and survivors of the most recent school shooting in Parkland,Florida.

Love makes the world go around...

2/6/2018

A popular song many years ago said, "What the world needs now is love sweet love, that's the only thing that there's just too little of." God's love is available to everyone in the world. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Have you recieved God's love which was expressed through Jesus Christ death on the cross to pay the penalty of your sin. When you trust Christ alone as your only hope for heaven you can know that you have eternal life.

If you have recieved this love, God wants you to share that love with others. All you need to do is tell others what they need to believe, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." What are you doing to make a difference for eternity in someone else's life?

You can pray a simple prayer like this "God, I know I'm a sinner and can't make it to heaven on my own but the best I know how I place my faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the one who died and rose again for me. Thank you for saving me. If you will sincerely pray that prayer you can know for sure that you have eternal life. Trust Him today.

God's Amazing Grace is for every race...

1/15/2018

The most popular verse in the Bible states it quite clearly "For God so loved the world that HE gave HIS only son that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have eternal life." God's love is for all people regardless of their ethnicity, the color of their skin or the country they live in or are from. When God says HE loves the world HE loves everyone.
We have no right to judge or condemn anyone. On this Martin Luther King Jr. day I'm reminded that it is not about the color of one's skin but rather the content of their character.

May we as the family of God welcome all who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The most important law that we must observe is the "law of love." If we will love God with all of our heart soul and mind and then love our neighbor as ourselves then this world will be a better place for all. Let's let love reign supreme.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...

12/24/2017

If you have been dreaming of a White Christmas it just might come true this year in Sedalia. We have close to two inches of snow and since we will be staying in the deep freeze I'm sure it will be around tomorrow. Snow at Christmas is one of those acruemements that I never know growing up in Florida. It wasn't until I was 16 years old at a snow camp in Maggie Valley, NC that I first saw snow. Through over 40 years of ministry I've lived through many snowy winters in PA, NY, MD & CT. I'll trade the White Christmas for a 75 degree green one anytime. It's beautiful though and hopefully this snow won't stop too many people from coming to church.

The concept of a White Christmas is one of the fun things about Christmas. Let's not let all of the trappings stop us from celebrating the ONE who is indeed "the Reason for the Season". May you and yours have a wonderful Christ filled Christmas.

Merry Christmas from Calvary Baptist Sedalia,
Pastor Don

November 19th, 2017

11/19/2017

"In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I Thessalonians 5:18
Why should we give thanks? Because that is what God told us to do. When should we give thanks? In everything. That means in the good times, the bad times and the in between times. Whatever happens in our lives we need to thank God. I call it having an attitude of gratitude.
I'm thankful first of all that God saved me. As a 12 year old boy I understood that God loved me and sent HIS only Son to die to pay for all of my sins. If I would put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the one who died and rose again for me then I could KNOW that I had eternal life.
I'm thankful that God called me into the gospel ministry. When I was 16 years old I told God that I would go where HE wanted me to go, do what HE wanted me to do and be what HE wanted me to be. That has taken me to 7 states and numerous churches preaching Christ.
I'm thankful for my church family. At this point in my life I couldn't ask God for a better church family. It is a delight for me to serve the Lord in and through Calvary Baptist Church.
Finally I'm thankful for my family. God has blessed me with the best wife, she is my best friend and faithful companion. She completes me. I'm also thankful for my grown children and most of all my grandchildren. I'm also thankful to be part of the "Satterwhite" clan and to be in the family business of serving the Lord.
What are you thankful for today?

America's Greatest Need

9/25/2017

What America Needs Most
I think that most everyone would agree with me that our country is hurting spiritually. We live in a sinful nation and world. The lines have been blurred about what is right and what is wrong. Marriages are in trouble with infidelity, rising cohabitation and a rampant divorce rate. From what I understand divorces are down but that is mainly because more people choose to live together rather than to get married. What couples don’t know is that when they live together before getting married their chance of the marriage surviving is only 25%.
Another serious problem that I see is that the difference between families that are faithful in their church attendance is not much better than those who don’t go to church. There is another statistic that says that the family that worships together on a regular basis both at home and in the fellowship of the church has a greater chance of their marriage surviving. In other words, it may be true that the family that prays together stays together.
God’s word clearly tells us how we can get on the right track both in our personal lives and as the church of Jesus Christ. Psalms 85:6 “Will you not revive us again, that your people would rejoice in you.” Psalms 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” II Chronicles 7:14 says “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
America needs Revival. We need a fresh wind of God’s Holy Spirit power to sweep over the church and cause people to renew their commitment to God. Too many times churches are just maintaining the status quo. Instead of seeking to strive and move forward bringing glory to God they are just trying to survive. The world is waiting for the people of the church to get right with God and then they just might listen to the message that we want to share.
Alexis de Tocqueville said “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”
Would you pray for God to bring Revival to your church as well as our community and nation? There was a moral compass and fiber that guided the American people. Folks I believe we have lost that fiber. We need to once again bow before a Holy God and ask for forgiveness and submit ourselves totally to HIM.
It is for this reason that we are hosting a Fall Revival October 8th – 11th. We will have one service at 10:00 am that Sunday morning. We will also be having services Sunday through Wednesday evening at 6:00 PM. Our guest preacher for these services will be Dr. Paul Jones the pastor of Faith Life Fellowship in Lake Hamilton, Florida. We will also have special music every service which will include a concert by Second Generation, an outstanding trio from Arkansas. Each evening we will be having guest musicians. Don’t miss a single service as we seek God to bring Revival to our church and community.

Leaving a legacy...

8/30/2017

Yesterday, August 29th was the day my father, Norman C. Satterwhite was born. He would have been 98 years old. Every year on his birthday I would call my mom, but since she has gone to be with him last November that's not possible anymore. I thought about my father yesterday and the legacy that he left behind.

He was a hard worker. Most of my life growing up he worked two jobs. He was a full time insurance agent and he went out and made sales. He took care of his customers. While he wasn't polished or highly educated, he was faithful and loyal to those he served. My mother used to get upset when she heard he paid someone's premium, but he always wanted to help someone out. He started carrying a paper rouIte for the Tampa Tribune when I was seven years old. He ended up with a route of 1,000 or more customers. For ten years I worked with my dad in the early hours of the morning. He taught me the discipline of hard work and service. He also taught me the importance of taking time off because he seldom did. If there was one regret from my childhood it would be that we didn't take vacations very often. That may be why time off is so important to me.

The most important legacy he left me was spiritual. My dad loved the Lord and never missed going to church. He was faithful as a servant leader in the church. He was a deacon, training union director and friend to the pastors we had. His faith was passed on to his family as all five of his children went on to serve in full time vocational ministry.

Thankful for my Father,
Pastor Don