"But I certify you brethren that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."

       While it is absolutely necessary that we understand the relevancy of all scripture, there is something about the writings of the Apostle Paul that not only holds such distinctiveness to God's plan for man, but its towering truths hold the major key that will ultimately carry us over from a life of mediocrity to a life of divine empowerment.

       In fact, within his letters to the churches we discover four major reasons why we need to pay particular attention to what God gave Paul as a revelation for this dispensation. According to Second Thessalonians, he writes: "Whereunto he called you by our gospel" (2 Thess. 2:14). Paul mentions this phrase "my gospel" on several occasions. In other words, Paul grasped the weight of what Jesus had revealed to him as being the essential ingredients to walking in all that Christ accomplished on the cross. He was so completely convinced that he had the truth on it that he said over in Second Corinthians thirteen: "For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth" (2 Cor. 13:8).   

       The second thing we discover is that through Paul's revelation we are not only called to Christ, but we are called to obtain the glory of Christ. This same verse we just read says: "Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 2:14). What a powerful truth! The gospel of Paul points us to the ultimate end of our redemption - the glory. The glory represents the divine order originally decreed over the creation of man. It is where our dignity, honor, and endowment for dominion living lies. When we understand the full message of the glory we will discover the truth to the order of life, and how it is to bring us into the order of divine things.

       Thirdly, we discover that Paul's revelation holds the key to establishing us in the full revelation of the mystery of God.  Romans chapter fifteen says: "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began..." (Rom. 15:25. What that means to us is that all that was written, even from the writings of the prophets, has now been brought into the full light of God's eternal purpose. It is upon these great truths that we are now able to build a solid foundation for divine living.

       As much as each of these three key reasons hold tremendous power as to why we need to dig deep into Paul's message, the most essential reason is contained in this final key. Paul writes to the saints at Rome and says, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel" (Rom. 2:16). Think about what that means? All that Paul taught, particularly about who we are in Christ and our place in him is what we are ultimately going to be judged by. It never really dawned on me until one day the Holy Spirit said to me, the BEMA is not a day of determining whether you will go to heaven or not. It is the day when the secrets of men and all that was designed by Christ's finish work will be revealed. We will literally stand before God and give an account as to what we did with all that was provided in redemption. Did we walk in our calling? Did we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us from glory to glory? Did we become established in the truth of the gospel so as to enter into our full inheritance and shine as lights in the world? Did we capture the full intent of what God did in bringing us into a life of excellence, of divine empowerment, and truth?

       The BEMA will be the day when God pulls back the curtain and we see the untapped, unreached, and undeveloped resources that were at our disposal where we had available to us everything needed to do the works that Jesus did and even greater works!

       I've listed below all the great truths we would never know today if it had not been for the revelation Jesus gave to the Apostle Paul. Think hard about how significant his teachings hold to us today.

1. Our association to Adam's sin and why we needed a redeemer (Romans 5)
2. The Rapture of the Church ( 1 Thessalonians 4)
3. The Revelation of the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11)
4. Our relationship to the Abrahamic Covenant as the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3)
5. They mystery of Israel's blindness (Romans 11)
6. The intercessory ministry of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit (Romans 8)
7. The depth of redemption - What happened to Jesus from the cross to the throne (Ephesians 1-2)
8. The gift of tongues ( 1 Corinthians 12-14) Note: Jude mentions praying in the Holy Ghost, but never mentions tongues).
9. The Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5)
10. The Gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12)
11. The Five fold Ministry Gifts (Ephesians 4)
12. The Armor of God (Ephesians 6)
13. The Present Day Ministry of Christ (Hebrews 3:1; 4:13-15; 6:20; 7:22; 7:25; 8:6; 9:24; 13:20)