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  THE GOSPEL IN ITS COSMIC SETTING
  by Art Katz
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Summary: Art Katz explores the expansive cosmic significance of the
Gospel and its implications for humanity's relationship with God and His
covenant.

Topics: "Cosmic Gospel", "God's Redemptive Plan"
Scripture References: Genesis 12:1

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DESCRIPTION
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Art Katz emphasizes that the gospel encompasses a cosmic perspective of
God's redemptive wisdom for all humanity, warning against reducing it to
a mere formula. He highlights the significance of Abraham's calling as a
response to the rebellion of nations, illustrating the gospel's
expansive narrative that begins with God's promise to establish His rule
on earth. Katz warns that any simplification of the gospel leads the
church towards apostasy, as it diminishes the glory of God's plan. He
points to the final days when nations will openly oppose God, yet
affirms that Christ will ultimately reign over all. The sermon calls for
a deeper understanding of the gospel's profound implications in light of
God's overarching narrative.

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CONTENT
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When you hear the word gospel, you need to think in terms of a cosmic
overview of God's supreme wisdom of a redemptive kind for the whole of
mankind. The gospel is more than a little truncated formula. Paul speaks
of "my Gospel." There is a sense of affectionate, personal devotion to
the great message of God, which, in our time and for the most part, has
been reduced to a formula. Any time that the church will reduce the
glory of this cosmic redemptive view to a simple formula for salvation,
it is already in the process of apostasy.

So the gospel is much larger in its meaning than the way in which that
word is presently used.

The gospel begins with the advent of Abraham, the calling of a nation,
out of which will come a people for His name, and the establishment of
His rule in the earth. Note how this call came to Abraham in Genesis
chapter 12--immediately following the account of the Tower of Babel and
the rising up and the formation of the rebellion of the nations. The
very next chapter is God's statement against it through the call of
Abraham.

So you need to see the whole Abrahamic gospel-faith, and redemptive saga
in view of God's answer to the rebellion of nations. This drama will be
brought to its final conclusion in what the scriptures call the last
days. It will be a time of unbridled hostility. The nations will be
ventilating the depth of their enmity against God. They hate the
covenant because they hate the God of the covenant, and they do not want
to submit to His rule. "We shall not have this Man rule over us" was the
final statement of the Jewish people to their Messiah--but rule He will,
not just over Israel, but over all the nations through that redeemed
nation from the holy hill of Zion in Jerusalem. See Psalm 2.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/art-katz/the-gospel-in-its-cosmic-setting/
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