The Vision by Rick Joyner

The Ministry and the Message
Ep 61
As I pondered this, he watched me closely. Then he continued, "There are two things we attained in our time that were lost very quickly by the church. They have not yet been recovered, but you must recover them."
"What are they?" I inquired, feeling that what he was about to say was more than just an addendum to what he had already shared with me.
"You must recover the ministry and the message," he
said emphatically.
I looked at the Lord, and He nodded His affirmation, adding, "It is right that Paul should say this to you. Until this time he has been the most faithful with both of these."
"Please explain," I implored Paul.
"All right," he replied. "Except for a few places in the world where there are great persecutions or difficulties, we can hardly recognize either the ministry or the message that is being preached today. Therefore, the church is now but a phantom of what it was even in our time, and we were far from all we were called to be. When we served, being in ministry was the greatest sacrifice that one could make, and this reflected the message of the greatest sacrifice that was made-the cross.
"The cross is the power of God, and it is the center of all we are called to live by. You now have so little power to transform the minds and hearts of the believers because you do not live, and do not preach, the cross. Therefore, we have difficulty seeing much difference between the church and the heathen. That is not the gospel or the salvation with which we were entrusted. You must return to the cross.'
With those words, he squeezed my shoulders like a father, and then returned to his seat. I felt as if I had received both an incredible blessing and a profound rebuke. As I walked away, I began thinking about the level of Salvation on the mountain, and the treasures of salvation I had seen inside the mountain. I began to see that most of my own decisions-even the decision to enter the door that led me here-were based mainly on what would get me further, not on a consideration of the will of the Lord.
I was still living for myself, not for Him. Even in my desire to embrace the judgments here, I was motivated by what would help me make it back in victory without suffering loss. I was still walking much more in self-centeredness than in Christ-centeredness.