Calvary Baptist Church Sunday Service - Revelation 15 and the Tribulation Judgments

Description

Speaker: Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church

This recording captures a full Sunday morning service at Calvary Baptist Church, likely in early 1968. The service opens with prayer and a hymn ("Jesus Our Blessed Redeemer," hymn 223), followed by a responsive reading of all 31 verses of Proverbs chapter 11. New members Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Denise O'Neill are formally welcomed into the congregation with the church covenant recited by the congregation.

A lengthy announcement period covers numerous church matters: recent baptisms (Mr. Harvey, Eugene Singleton, Lee Singleton, Donna Radcliffe, Denise O'Neill, and Debbie Harvey), the new 1968 church budget of $50,460 ($460/week with $400/week for the building program), a Heritage class meeting at Reverend and Mrs. Smith's home at 2411 Dresden Road, a Monday work night to build a three-tier choir platform under Mr. Coons's direction, nursery workers needed for Saturday Awana meetings, and the likely cancellation of next Saturday's Awana due to Dr. Hein's visit regarding the building program. Dr. Hein called the previous night to report that building plans are accelerating and he wants to meet with the site plans committee, building committee, and a new finance committee, possibly bringing his superintendent Mr. Butler by plane on Saturday. Other announcements include Chaplain Lewis receiving the Army Commendation Medal for heroism in Vietnam, the birth of Christy Mason to Bill and Sandy, Mrs. Whitmire's hospitalization, a shut-in visit for Mrs. Lusel Jackson, upcoming Sweetheart Sunday, and technical difficulties with that morning's television broadcast.

The sermon continues the pastor's extended study through the book of Revelation, picking up at chapter 15. He provides extensive background on the Antichrist (the beast out of the sea) as a future world political leader, and the False Prophet (the beast out of the land) as a future world religious leader, both controlled by Satan. He discusses the mark of the beast required to buy, sell, or hold employment during the tribulation, drawing sharp contrasts with the relatively mild social pressures Christians face in the current era. He criticizes the ecumenical movement, the World Council of Churches, and religious leaders who deny Christ's deity, referencing Bishop Pike by name. He warns that those who have heard the gospel before the rapture but rejected it will be unable to be saved during the tribulation. The sermon examines Revelation 15:1-2, explaining the seven last plagues as the completion of God's wrath, and interprets the sea of glass as the crystallized Word of God upon which tribulation martyrs now stand in heaven. The evening service is promised to address the fire mingled with the glass.