I only have residual details of this story. A minister of the gospel who is from Asia once travelled to the United States. He visited a couple of places and saw gigantic things that some ministries put together. He would later comment to this effect: “It is amazing what our western brethren could do without the Holy Spirit”! The moral of the story is that it is possible to build great things without God. Cain received a just punishment for his crime in killing his brother, Abel. The Lord cursed him from earth that received Abel’s blood. The ground would yield less than his input, and he was going to wander through the earth. It is interesting that it was after the Lord slammed him with this judgment and had departed from His presence that he built a city. Yes, we can build things even when we are not in league with God. The difference is that such enterprise will not carry the insignia of the Spirit.

We cannot do anything in the flesh and hope to put the Spirit’s stamp of approval on it…Those who do things outside the confines of the Spirit, will have their work burned and lose their reward.

What you do in the presence of the Lord is of the Spirit; but what you do outside of His presence is of the flesh. We cannot do anything in the flesh and hope to put the Spirit’s stamp of approval on it. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians and offered that all works shall be tested by fire, I believe it is in the spirit of this. Those who do things outside the confines of the Spirit, will have their work burned and lose their reward.