This sermon delves into the significance of God's rest on the seventh day, not due to tiredness but to emphasize the need for man to rest and fellowship with God. It contrasts God's perfect will with what was permitted in the Old Testament, highlighting the importance of fellowship with God over mere religious practices. The message stresses the value of studying the Scriptures to gain strength, overcome challenges, and maintain a close relationship with God, encouraging listeners to prioritize fellowship with Jesus above all else.

Genesis chapter 2 and verse 2. Here we read about the seventh day. God completed his work and rested on the seventh day for all his work with God. And he blessed and sanctified and rested on the work which God had created. Now we know that God is not tired. So it's not because he was tired that he rested on the seventh day. He was teaching man the necessity for resting. Because man had been created on the sixth day. So the seventh day was the first day for man. So we can say when God made man, the very first day, he said, this is a day of rest. You don't work. Then he worked for six days and rested again. So later on when the law came, God taught Moses that he worked six days and rested on the seventh day. But when God made man, it was not like that. He said first one day of rest, then six days of work. He must remember that in the Old Testament, there were many things that God allowed man to do, which was not his perfect will. For example, animal sacrifice. That's not God's perfect will. That was only a picture of what Jesus was going to do. We don't kill animals today. The same way, the killing of human beings. There were so many cases in the Old Testament where God told the Israelites to kill certain people. That's not God's perfect will. There were many things God permitted in the Old Testament because people's hearts were hard. You know, in the Old Testament, if you were not happy with your wife, you could send her away and marry somebody else. And the Pharisees asked Jesus about this in Matthew 19. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, verse 3? He said no. And he said from the beginning, it was not like that. And then he said, but now in the law, it was permitted because, verse 8, your hearts were hard. So, that verse teaches us, your hearts were hard, teaches us that many things in the Old Testament were not God's perfect will. You know, just like when children are 6 months or 1 month, 1 year old, we allow them to do a lot of things which we won't allow them to do when they are 20 years old. 1 year old child slapping the father, it's not a serious thing. 20 year old doing that is more serious. And a 1 year old child just knocking a glass off the table, that's not a big thing. 20 year old doing that is serious. So, same way, in the Old Testament, what people did was not serious. They were like babies. David had 7 or 8 wives. God allowed it. That was not God's perfect will. You read here, God's perfect will was one wife. The same way, in the law, he said 6 days you work and 1 day you rest. That was not God's perfect will. No God's perfect will, like he said here, you must go to the beginning. That's what we read here, Jesus said, go back to the beginning if you want to know God's perfect will. God's perfect will for Adam as soon as he created him was 1 day rest. Now what did he mean by that 1 day rest? Adam was not tired. He hadn't done any work. See, throughout the world, people take 1 day rest in 7 days because we are working so hard for 6 days. But why did Adam need 1 day of rest right in the beginning? And before sin came into the world, you just never got tired. You didn't need rest even after 100 days of work. There was no perspiration. There was no question of tiredness with that original body of his. He could have worked for 7 years and not felt tired. Or 700 years. Then what did this 1 day rest mean when God made it for man right in the beginning? It was not for physical rest. What God meant was, you must spend that 1 day in fellowship with me. Not any other work. There is a garden that has to be looked after but that can wait till tomorrow. So what the Lord was teaching man is, as soon as the first thing you have created, you have created first of all not to work for me but to fellowship with me. You see, God already had millions of angels before he made Adam. And those angels would have done a first class job in the garden without Adam being there. But what did God create Adam for? Very important to understand. What could Adam give God which the angels could not give? You know, the angels were not created in God's image. It's very important to understand that. Angels can do tremendous things. But they were not created in God's image. And therefore God cannot fellowship with an angel. It's like saying a lorry can go much faster than a man. But you can't have fellowship with the lorry. You have to fellowship with the man. But the lorry's nature is not like yours. So an angel can also fly much faster than a man but God can't have fellowship with that angel. You see, a computer can calculate things much faster than a man but you can't have fellowship with a computer. So even an angel may be able to be very intelligent but God can't have fellowship with that. How is it you can have fellowship with a three year old child? How can you have fellowship with a three year old child? Because it's got the same nature. So now listen to this if you have not heard it before. You have heard many things from me that you have not heard in other churches. Now you will hear something else in the Bible. When God said let us make man in our image, that was the first thing in creation that he made in his image. No angel could turn to God and say Father. We could say that. It's just like a dog in the house can't say Father to me. But a little child can. So therefore, this is what I wanted to say. That apart from Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who had fellowship from all eternity. The first time God could have fellowship with anybody was when he made Adam. Have you heard that before? The first time God could have fellowship with anybody outside of that trinity was when he made Adam. He could not have fellowship with the angel. They obey him. They are like servants. If you have a servant in your house, there is a lot of difference between that servant and your son. The servant may work much harder than your three year old son, but you have more fellowship with your three year old son. A big businessman may have 10,000 servants, but he has more fellowship with his one son. That was the position Adam came to. It's like a millionaire who has got one million servants and he has one son. Imagine for many many many years, he has had no children. But millions of servants, huge businesses across the whole universe. But no son. And then one day, this millionaire businessman has a son. Oh, how he looks forward to that. That's how God felt when he had Adam. What did he want Adam to do? Not work. Not work first. He had millions of servants already. He wanted Adam to give him something which those millions of people could not give. Why am I saying this? Because when Adam fell, God was so disappointed. It's like this businessman's son turning against the father and going and working for his enemy. How would he feel after all that the father has done for the son? He turns against the father and joins his enemy. That's the sorrow that was in God's heart when Adam fell. That's why even when he joined the enemy, God went after him and said, where are you Adam? Why am I saying this? Because you and I are in the same place. We have also joined sides with God's enemy. Every time you tell a lie, you're taking sides with God's enemy. Every time you hate your brother or hate somebody, you're taking sides with God's enemy. Every time you hate your husband or wife, you're taking sides with God's enemy. Every time you're proud and lift yourself up above your brothers and sisters, you're taking sides with God's enemy. Every time an elder brother becomes a Maharaja and not a servant, he's on the side of God's enemy. He's called to be a servant. Do you know how many things we do which prove we are on the side of God's enemy? When you lust after women, you're taking sides with God's enemy. God is disappointed. He comes after you and says, where are you my son? Where are you my daughter? Why are you going away from me? I'm the only one who can do you good. And you're running into the arms of someone who wants to destroy you. Do you know what God wanted from Adam? What can man give to God? All the preachers and pastors in the world say God wants your money. That's one of the biggest lies that Satan has promoted in Christendom. Do you know why we don't take a collection in our meetings? It's not because we are all very wealthy. Just look around here and see if we are all millionaires sitting over here. No, it's not because everything here is free. We have to spend a lot of money for these mandapams and food and everything. And those who love to give, give. And those who have enough to give, give. We don't force anyone. Many churches voluntarily give because they recognize their responsibility. But the reason we don't take a collection is to prove, not with words, but by action, that God doesn't want your money first. But He wants you. He wants your fellowship. Not your money. Not even your work. But your fellowship. That was the message of the seventh day. Or the first day for man. God, we can say it, to use human language. God rested means God stopped all His work. And told man, this one day is only for you Adam and Eve, both of you and me. That's all. All the angels can do what they like. Today it's just you and me. And that is what God wanted Adam to know. I created you my son. You know the Bible says Adam is called the son of God. Read that in Luke chapter 3, the last verse. Adam was the son of God. God said, son, today I want you to fellowship with me. That's all. I've put aside all my work today. And I think he fellowshiped with God that day. But the next day, he went out and sinned. Is it because the next day God didn't want to fellowship with him? No. God wanted Adam to fellowship with, to do everything, even in the garden, in fellowship with him. That's what they wanted to teach him by putting fellowship on the first day. Now what do you think God wants from you and me when we are born again and become his sons and daughters? Fellowship. How much fellowship do you have with God? Not how many meetings you go to. You may go to no meetings and still have fellowship with God. See, I'm locked up in jail for 10 years for preaching the gospel. I can't go for meetings. They may take away my Bible from me. But they can't take away my fellowship with God. Every day I'll have fellowship with God. Nobody can stop that. Dear brothers and sisters, Learn to value fellowship with Jesus Christ as the most important thing in your life. That is the message of God rested on the seventh day. It's like God stopping everything and saying to you, I want to fellowship with you. And I praise God that God has opened my eyes to that. That's why my Christian life has become so fresh and living. Because to me the important thing is not going to a conference or preaching. I don't care if I never preach for the rest of my life. But if one day of my life I can't have fellowship with Jesus. It will be like the electricity going off in this room. Everything stops. Mic stops, light stops, fan stops, everything stops. Is it like that in your life? That one day fellowship with God is not there. Everything stops in your life. That is true Christianity. And the reason why many Christians are dry and cold is because fellowship is not number one thing in their life. There are many people who say, I forgot to read my Bible today. How can that happen? It's like your wife being in your home and you say, I didn't talk to her at all today. That doesn't mean you forgot. It means you didn't want to talk to your wife. How can you live a whole day in your home and not talk to your wife or husband? Have you ever thought of that? Supposing 24 hours go by, you never say a word to your wife or husband in the same house. Then I would say you had a fight, that's why. Otherwise normally we would talk. How can you spend a whole day and not talk to Jesus and not listen to Him? I don't think there has been a day like that in my life. I mean, 30 years I can't think of such a day. That's the most important thing. I mean, there are many days I never preached. Never a day when I didn't talk to Jesus and try to listen to Him. Because I saw one thing very early in my life, God created man for fellowship. And there's another thing I discovered very early in my life. That in the whole world, there's only one book that God wrote. There's only one. And that's this book. You got it in your language. And it's one of the most wonderful things, one of the most wonderful gifts of God that He's given us His book in our own language. Do you know that there are some places in India where people don't have the full Bible in their own language? I was once in one remote village in northeast India. Somebody was translating for me. I said, let's turn to Isaiah. He said, brother, we don't have Isaiah in our Bible. We have only New Testament. Old Testament is not translated in that language. I tell you, I really began to thank God that day that I have the Bible in my own language. You got the Bible in your own language. You have had it for many years. Have you read it? Have you read all of it? You see, I can't understand a lot of it when I read it. A lot of it is boring. When I started reading the Bible 46 years ago, I couldn't understand most of it either. But then I read it again. I read it again. And some places were boring. I admit they were boring. It doesn't mean it's bad for us. It doesn't mean it is bad for us. Which is more tasty, oranges or bitter gourd? Is your taste buds different from mine? If you put orange and bitter gourd before me, I know which I will choose. Then why do people eat this bitter gourd? Many people make curries with it. Why? It's good for the body. They say it's good for people with diabetes. So people take it even though they don't like it. They say it's good for the body. They say it's good for the body. They become healthy and strong when they eat it. This is an artificial food. This is bitter like bitter gourd. This is bitter like bitter gourd. It's okay. It's good for you. It will save you from diabetes. So just like other food, we know some food which is not so tasty is good for us. In the same way, I have found even the passages of scripture that are heavy and boring and difficult have been good for me. I'll show you one passage like that. Turn to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles. Have you read 1 Chronicles? Do you know where it is? Is it Old Testament or New Testament? 1 Chronicles. Okay, you're all awake. Chapter 1. Just look through the verses there. Starts with Adam. You know him. What about all these other people here? Okay, skip on that. Go to Chapter 2. Full of names here also. 55 verses. Chapter 3. Doesn't seem to finish. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9 also, about half of it. What is this? It's like Pavakka only. Why has God put all this? Shall I tell you what? I learned from all this. I'll show you another passage. You go to Ezra. Just two chapters after this. You go to Chapter 2. Here's another big list. So many names. And then, later on in the Bible also, you read about another list in the end of Chapter 10. You know what I learned from all these things? That God doesn't say, Okay, one million people after Adam. No, no, no. Every name is there. And that teaches me something. When you look into the Book of Life, He doesn't say, Okay, okay, 500,000 people from Tanjavur. And another 400,000 from Madurai. No, it's not like that. Every name. Including your name. My name. I'm not just listed as 500,000 from Bangalore. My name is there. When I look in the Book of Life, my name is there. So I read these passages and I say, Praise God. He's interested in every individual. So that's the message I get from that. So even though it's like pavakai, it's good for me. That God is interested in every individual sitting here. I don't know all your names, but God knows. Now the first time I read the Bible, I didn't get that message from those passages. It took me many years to come to understand that. You see, like children, when they are five years old, they don't understand the value of pavakai. When they are 25 years old, they understand. So there may be difficult passages in the Bible. You say, Lord, I can't understand this yet. That doesn't mean it's bad. What about chicken? Is it good or bad? What do you think? Don't try and act spiritual. Just tell me the truth. Chicken is good or bad? I like it anyway. You like it also. But if you put it into the mouth of a six-month-old child, you know what will happen? It will die. You won't put such solid meat into the mouth of a two-month-old child. You won't put solid meat into the mouth of a two-month-old child. You won't put solid meat into the mouth of a two-month-old child. If you eat that, you won't be able to digest it. It will die. The Bible can be like that. If you find something is like meat, leave it aside and drink the milk in it. Later on, as you grow up, you'll be able to digest that also. I want to encourage all of you to develop the habit of studying God's word. It's very, very important. That is the only thing that will make you strong. I want to show you a verse in 1 John 2. In 1 John 2, it says, the last part of verse 14, you young men are strong because the word of God abides in you and therefore you have overcome the evil one. How did you overcome the evil one? Because the word of God abides in you. The word of God is like a sword or in today's language, a gun by which you can shoot down the enemy. He can't come near you. See, if somebody is coming to attack you and you got a gun, he can't come near you. But if you don't have the gun, then of course, he can knock you down because he is stronger than you. I don't use a gun against human beings but I'd certainly be glad to use it against the devil. And the devil doesn't have any weapons. The Bible says, Jesus took away all his weapons on the cross. Do you know that that's one of the things that happened on Calvary's cross? Not only he took away our sins, we all know that. But it also says in Colossians 2.15, Colossians chapter 2, in verse 14, it says he took away all our debt. We know, he took our debt. 15 says, that he took away all the armor from Satan. All the guns and all Satan had are gone. But I've got a gun now. That's God's word. Now let the biggest enemy come against me without a gun. I've got a gun. Even if I'm a small boy, I can overcome him. That's God's word. But if you don't have God's word, you don't have any weapon. The devil comes against you. He's like Goliath and you're like David. He will crush you. He doesn't need any weapon. He's so strong. If you've got a weapon, God's word, he will flee. Do you know that even Jesus, when he was a man, was weak before Satan, but he used this weapon? Why did Jesus say to the devil in Luke chapter 4? Verse 1 to 13. It is written, it is written, it is written. Verse 4, verse 8, verse 12. He quoted God's word to the devil. He had God's word in his mind which he studied for 30 years. If I were to ask you, all those who want to be like Jesus Christ, raise your hands. I'm sure all of you will raise your hands. Is there anybody here who doesn't want to be like Jesus Christ? We all want to be like Jesus Christ. Well, you're in the very first area where you can be like Jesus Christ. What is that? To know the word of God. How did Jesus know the word of God when he was 12 years old? Those days, nobody had a Bible like this. This type of printing and binding and all started only about 600 years ago. But Jesus lived 2000 years ago. Nobody had a Bible in their house. Those days, there was only the Old Testament and it was written on big leather pieces with a pen and ink. It would take many years for people to write one Old Testament. And it's very expensive, all these leather sheets. And in the synagogue, there will be one copy. People didn't have a copy in their home. Too expensive. So they had to listen in the synagogue in order to hear. When the children would go to school during the week, they would be taught the Bible every day. That's why Paul told Timothy that you must still read the word of God publicly in the meetings. See 1 Timothy 4, 13 Here in my Bible it says, give attention to the public reading of scripture. 1 Timothy 4, 13 That is the reading of scripture publicly. Why? Because nobody had a Bible. Now just imagine if you were living in 30 AD, 2000 years ago. And you are sitting in a meeting. Nobody will have a Bible. There will be just one Bible in the front there. And you better pay attention because for the next one week you won't hear it. There was no question of quoting a verse or a chapter because nobody has got a book. With that type of teaching of the Bible, of course children would go to the synagogue school everyday that would be read for them everyday. That was the only way for Jesus to know the Bible in 12 years. He never had a Bible at home. How did he know the Bible so well in 12 years that he could discuss it with the greatest scholars of his day? Shall I tell you? He sat in the meeting listening. Have you seen how the 5-6 year old children sit in our meetings? They are maybe keeping quiet but many of them are not paying attention to what is being said. I can imagine Jesus sitting in a meeting from the age of 3. And Joseph and Mary must have told him. When you sit in the meeting, listen. You must have sat next to Mary. Mary said, listen. My name is 4 years old, 5 years old, 6 years old. Listen, listen. He kept on. He was different from all the other children. Listen, listen. I mean in our meetings even the grown up people are not listening carefully. But he was listening, listening, listening, listening, listening. By the time he was 12 years old, he knew the whole Old Testament. Without a Bible at home. You know, you don't know it unless you take the study of the scriptures seriously. So, I would apply it like this. Jesus did all that as a man. It's one of the great truths of scripture. It was not by some supernatural ability which we don't have. I want to say that if you are born again from that time having your Bible at home in half that time, in 6 years, not 12 years, in 6 years, you should be able to know the Bible. That's what I did. I was born again in 1959. By 1965, in 6 years, I knew the Bible. I read it, read it, not just read it once, I studied it. First of all, in 6 months, I read the whole thing. And then I studied it, studied it, studied it, studied it for 6 years till I knew it. I wasn't in any Bible school. I was working in the Navy. While I was working, I want to encourage all of you. You have never done it till now. From today, you start the habit of studying the Scriptures. Get the books that will help you to study the Scriptures. Listen to the CDs, read the books and study the Scriptures. And you will be strong to overcome Satan in your life. And you will come into fellowship with God. It's very important. I want to encourage all of you, especially young people to do it. Before you get married, study the Scriptures. And set aside the time every day to study the Scriptures. Get up half an hour earlier or go to bed half an hour late, but study the Scriptures. Get up half an hour earlier or go to bed half an hour late, but study the Scriptures. You know, the other day, I'll tell you something that happened to me. I was very busy. And I was thinking of various things to do. And the Lord said, talk to me a little. I said, sure Lord, I'll just talk to you. The other things can wait. They are not so important. And I was talking to the Lord just a few minutes. And while I was talking to Him, He suddenly reminded me of something very, very important that I had to do, which I had completely forgotten to do. I said, oh, I'd forgotten to do that. It's something very important for my work. And then the Lord said to me, wasn't it good you talked to me? If you had gone and done those other things, you would not have remembered to do this thing. Do you think it's a waste of time talking to the Lord? Do you know that if you talk to the Lord, He can remind you of many things you have forgotten to do? In some complicated situation, which would normally take you many hours to do, He may give you the solution in two minutes. And you go to God in prayer, and then go to the government office, you may find your work done much quicker than if you go without prayer. You know, your ordinary work, God can help you. Teach our children to pray about their problems. I remember once, one of my sons sent me a message that he was having a difficult computer problem to solve in his work. I said, you pray, God will help you. God knows the answer. Can't He tell you the answer? And the next day, he told me, I got the answer. You know, there are many problems you face in your life. You know who's got the answer? God. He's got the answer to every problem. One of my biggest needs is this, that when I stand up to speak, as I'm doing right through the year in different places, I said, Lord, my biggest problem is to know what to say to these people. I got one thousand messages or two thousand messages from which I can choose any one of them. But that may not be what they all need. I mean, it's like a doctor having two thousand medicines on his shelf. How can he just take anything and give it to a patient? That's a useless doctor. And I'm like a doctor sitting there with two thousand medicines, not knowing which medicine to give this patient. But if I say, Lord, I'm not the doctor here. I'm only the servant. You're the doctor. Tell me which medicine to give. I don't know. He said, take that one and give it. Okay. And the people say, oh brother, that was exactly according to my needs. It's not me, brother. It's the doctor. He just asked me to give it to you. Do you know that God has the solution to every problem you can face in your life? I have proved that in 46 years. All types of problems. People have taken me to court. The answer was with God, not with courts or lawyers. Whatever the need is, problems with children, sicknesses, and diseases. Different problems children have at different ages. Spiritual problems. When your children have spiritual problems, the parents have to fight the devil for them and deliver them. My children have gone through those problems like all other children in the world. But I know the solution is with God. I say, my father, I didn't produce these children. You gave me these children. And you must be having a solution to their need. Whatever your problem is, in your work, in your home, in your church, you know in 30 years, in all the churches, there have been so many problems. You don't know it. But there are. Just like children growing up. And I say, God has got a solution. When it comes to a church problem, I tell God the same thing. I say, Lord, I didn't plant these churches. I didn't even plant one church. You planted them. They are your children. I'm only a servant. You tell me to take this one from the shelf and give it, I give it. You're the doctor. I'm not a doctor. I'm not qualified at all. But I can pick the medicine if you tell me which one. That's our job. You know, you can go through this life. Helping people around you. Your neighbors, your relatives. Simple words that you say will be the answer to that problem. You can be a man and a woman of God like that. What is the secret? Walk with Jesus everyday. Talk to him. Make sure there is no sin in your life. If you sin, confess it immediately. I do that. If I get a thorn in my foot, shall I tell you how long I wait till I take it out? How long do you wait? I take it out immediately. I don't wait till the evening. If you commit a sin, how long do you take to confess it to God? Okay, let me take a practical case. Supposing you got angry with your wife. Shout it at her. Or you got angry with your husband and shout it at him. That's like a thorn in your foot. Now when are you going to apologize? When are you going to apologize? Evening? Tomorrow? How long are you going to keep that thorn in your foot? Let's look at the past, in the past one year. How long did it take for you to take out the thorn from your foot? Or are you saying last one year I never got angry with my wife? That's great. Then you got victory brother. I'm talking to all the other 99% of people. How long did you take to get the thorn out of your foot? You know that's why so much infection has come? You keep a thorn in your foot even for a few days and you get all puss. That's why your spiritual life has become like that. The Lord told me that even if you speak rudely to a beggar, go and apologize to him. Supposing one day you got upset with a beggar and say go away, I don't want to talk to you. You come back inside and God says, is that the way Jesus would speak? What would you do? Would you go running after that beggar and say, hey just wait I want to apologize. Don't do that my brother, you'll be a man of God very quickly. Be wholehearted. Have you understood something today? May God help you. Let's pray.