Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Tabernacle Of Our Hearts: Sermon By Rev. Geoffrey Muchai

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he [in behavior – one who manipulates]. He says to you, “Eat and drink,” Yet his heart is not with you [but it is begrudging the cost]. 

Proverbs 23:7 AMP

God has always been in the business of building a house. He is looking for a place to dwell with His people.

God created man to be in His image. To have a mind, soul and spirit.

The heart is the locus of human personality. Everything concerning your life is determined by your heart.

It is due to the fall that man is unable to represent God.

Humanity is the glory of the earth.

For He has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself from the dominion of darkness, and has transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Colossians 1:13 AMP

When Adam and Eve fell, everything that was good become corrupted. We now live in a world that is dominated by bad things.

In the kingdom (of God), you cannot manifest the glory of God outside of the jurisdiction of the kingdom.

He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation. 

Colossians 1:15 AMP

In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. 

John 1:1 AMP

The main task of believers is to attain to the exact image of Christ. We are to become the perfect image of God.

God wants us to be the testimony of who He is.

We cannot manifest the glory of God if our hearts are corrupt. A corrupt heart results in a rebellious mind.

These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel [while they were still] beyond [that is, on the east side of] the Jordan [River] in the wilderness [across from Jerusalem], in the Arabah [the long, deep valley running north and south from the eastern arm of the Red Sea to beyond the Dead Sea] opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab (place of gold). It is [only] eleven days’ journey from Horeb (Mount Sinai) by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea [on Canaan’s border; yet Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years before crossing the border and entering Canaan, the promised land]. 

Deuteronomy 1:1-2 AMP

God always has a shorter way to fulfill His purpose but He is more concerned with our destiny than our destination.

Destiny is not just about the destination but the many assignments we have along the way.

God is very specific that we do not move forward until we capture His heart and mind.

God is very faithful and integral to Himself. He will always keep the covenant He has made despite the state of our hearts or what happens around us. 

In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded him to say to them, after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived at Ashtaroth in Edrei. Beyond (east of) the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying, “The Lord our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough on this mountain. Turn and resume your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland (the Shephelah), in the Negev (South country) and on the coast of the [Mediterranean] Sea, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. Look, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore (solemnly promised) to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their descendants after them.’

“I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘I am not able to bear the burden of you alone. The Lord your God has multiplied you, and look, today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven. May the Lord, the God of your fathers, add to you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, just as He has promised you! How can I alone bear the weight and pressure and burden of you and your strife (contention) and complaining? Choose for yourselves wise, understanding, experienced, and respected men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as heads (leaders) over you.’ And you answered me, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and made them leaders over you, commanders of thousands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens, and officers (administrators) for your tribes.

“Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the matters between your brothers [your fellow countrymen], and judge righteously and fairly between a man and his brother, or the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) who is with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear and pay attention to the [cases of the] least [important] as well as the great. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you [to judge], you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ I commanded you at that time [regarding] all the things that you should do. 

Deuteronomy 1:3-18 AMP

In the execution of God’s purpose there is need to be rank and order. This is for the purpose of submitting one to another.

Ranks in the kingdom are defined in accordance with the capacity of everyone.

Without rank, we cannot learn to honour each other.

When we submit to one another, we submit to the grace the other person has.

God will not call you to do things that you are able to do on your own. He will always call us to things that will require us to trust Him.

God will always capacitate you for the execution of His purpose.

Patterns change with shifting seasons.

Idolatry is not just physical worship of a tangible god but it is also esteeming a system or pattern more than the knowledge of God.

Whenever God is doing a new thing, our temptation is be limited by our perception of what we had understood in the previous season.

For you to move and shift with the Spirit of God, your heart needs to be in the right place.

And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which the Lord our God is about to give us. Behold, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and take possession of it, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

“Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men [into the land] before us, so that they may explore and search the area for us, and bring back to us word regarding the way we should go, and the cities we should enter.’ The plan pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. Then they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they reported back to us, and said, ‘It is a good land which the Lord our God is about to give us.’ 

Deuteronomy 1:20-25 AMP

Every time God gives you a prophetic word, He will always give you an opportunity for you to taste and see His goodness. When they went to spy the land, they confirmed that it was a good land.

Before we desire more, we need to look at the places where God was faithful.

After tasting, God will also test and examine your faith and trust in Him. He does so by bringing something that’s beyond your ability to execute by yourself.

The insecurity you have is an invite from God to go deeper in Him so that He can show you how He sees the situation that you are in.

The other purpose of testing is so that we do not have questions regarding God’s integrity.

“Yet you were not willing to go up [to take possession of it], but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. 

Deuteronomy 1:26 AMP

How we perceive the personhood of God determines how we transition in life.

The Israelites had been in the wilderness for months not 40 years. In this period, God gave them the blueprint for the Tabernacle. He wanted them to be priests and kings and therefore He was teaching them worship. But they did not understand this. 

The challenge the Israelites had in the wildernesses is that the Tabernacle was built physically but it was never built in their hearts. It’s the same challenge modern day believers face.

We must first be His habitation of glory before we can see the manifestation of His glory.

The Israelites’ heart posture caused them to doubt the love and purpose of God.

God has a way to bring about situations where the deep considerations of our hearts are exposed. He does it not because He does not love us but because He wants to deal with the issues in our hearts. 

Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them. The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you Himself, just as He did for you in Egypt before your [very] eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried and protected you, just as a man carries his son, all along the way which you traveled until you arrived at this place.’ Yet in spite of this word, you did not trust [that is, confidently rely on and believe] the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 1:29-32 AMP

God will always give us an opportunity to repent. When we take God’s mercy for granted, we lose out on our destiny.

God’s glory is meant to bring about relationship between us and Him. It is possible to see the glory of God yet we are disconnected to Him and outside of fellowship with Him.

The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”

Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’  Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ”

Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “As for you, son of man, take a stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand.

“And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not show us what you mean by these?’— say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.” ’  And the sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.

“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

“David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, where your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children’s children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” ’ ”

Ezekiel 37 (NKJV)

Presumptions is the killer of relationships.

We need to ask ourselves what presumptions we are making about God in the new season? Are we willing to let go of our presumptions?

God is in the business of doing a new thing. At the time of the birth of Jesus, no one had heard of a virgin birth.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give us the Light of the knowledge of the glory and majesty of God [clearly revealed] in the face of Christ.

But we have this precious treasure [the good news about salvation] in [unworthy] earthen vessels [of human frailty], so that the grandeur and surpassing greatness of the power will be [shown to be] from God [His sufficiency] and not from ourselves. We are pressured in every way [hedged in], but not crushed; perplexed [unsure of finding a way out], but not driven to despair; hunted down and persecuted, but not deserted [to stand alone]; struck down, but never destroyed; always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown in our body. For we who live are constantly [experiencing the threat of] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced in our mortal body [which is subject to death]. So physical death is [actively] at work in us, but [spiritual] life [is actively at work] in you. 

2 Corinthians 4:6-12 AMP

We need to constantly wash our hearts with the water of God’s word. He desires us to be caught in the Spirit of the Word.

The majesty of God is revealed in the face of Christ.

We need to repent of loose words that we have spoken. The enemy can use those words to guarantee the end of that which has been spoken of.