diff --git a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/handler/invocation/reactive/AbstractMethodMessageHandler.java b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/handler/invocation/reactive/AbstractMethodMessageHandler.java
index 5fb60c9074faf1dc4661d4441775395e6e770505..bb0c3c31996b82f5ca449fde44e844cfa7abdfaa 100644
--- a/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/handler/invocation/reactive/AbstractMethodMessageHandler.java
+++ b/spring-messaging/src/main/java/org/springframework/messaging/handler/invocation/reactive/AbstractMethodMessageHandler.java
@@ -267,10 +267,6 @@ public abstract class AbstractMethodMessageHandler<T>
 
 
 	private void initHandlerMethods() {
-		if (this.applicationContext == null) {
-			logger.warn("No ApplicationContext available for detecting beans with message handling methods.");
-			return;
-		}
 		if (this.handlers != null) {
 			for (Object handler : this.handlers) {
 				detectHandlerMethods(handler);
@@ -281,6 +277,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractMethodMessageHandler<T>
 			logger.warn("[" + getBeanName() + "] Auto-detection of message handling methods is off.");
 			return;
 		}
+		if (this.applicationContext == null) {
+			logger.warn("No ApplicationContext available " +
+					"for auto-detection of beans with message handling methods.");
+			return;
+		}
 		for (String beanName : this.applicationContext.getBeanNamesForType(Object.class)) {
 			if (!beanName.startsWith(SCOPED_TARGET_NAME_PREFIX)) {
 				Class<?> beanType = null;