READ: Hosea 6:1-5
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. – Hosea 6:3
When you go to church and feel dead, stale and dry, it is because you did not experience the presence of God. Perhaps, this is one of the easiest ways to detect the presence of God. It is something you must look out for in
a ministry. Sometimes, when I watch ministers, I notice how they give beautiful illustrations, philosophies and even scriptures. It may be very logical and very convincing but somehow I do not sense a freshness and a refreshing that comes from the presence of God. That is how you know that the ministry is departed from the presence of God. It has ceased to bring a certain refreshing.
I once listened to a great man of God teaching. I truly enjoyed his messages and searched for more of his preaching tapes. After a few years, however, I could not understand what he was preaching about any more. I gradually stopped listening to him and I could never re-establish that line of blessing till he died.
After he died, I found out that he criticized the preaching of the cross and the blood of Jesus. I was amazed as I listened to him ridiculing the all-important message of the cross and the blood of Jesus. I thought to myself, “Perhaps this is why I somehow didn’t enjoy his ministry any more.” At the time, I did not have a good reason. I was just not refreshed with his preaching. Perhaps the presence of God had left him. The blood of Jesus and the cross on which Jesus was sacrificed can never be replaced by anything. The wisdom of men, laced with scriptures, cannot replace the wisdom of the cross of Jesus Christ.