1 Thessalonians 4:1-18.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 (GNT)
1Finally, our friends, you learned from us how you should live in order
to please God. This is, of course, the way you have been living. And now
we beg and urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to do even more. 2For
you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality.
4Each of you should know how to live with your wife in a holy and
honorable way, 5not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not
know God. 6In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other
Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we
strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that. 7God did
not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness. 8So then, whoever
rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God, who gives
you his Holy Spirit. 9There is no need to write you about love for each
other. You yourselves have been taught by God how you should love one
another. 10And you have, in fact, behaved like this toward all the
believers in all of Macedonia. So we beg you, our friends, to do even
more. 11Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to mind your own business,
and to earn your own living, just as we told you before. 12In this way you
will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have
to depend on anyone for what you need. 13Our friends, we want you to know
the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are
those who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and
so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died
believing in him. 15W_ hat we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching:
we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who
have died. 16There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice,
the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from
heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first;
17then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with
the Lord. 18So then, encourage one another with these words.
God bless you.
1Finally, our friends, you learned from us how you should live in order
to please God. This is, of course, the way you have been living. And now
we beg and urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to do even more. 2For
you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality.
4Each of you should know how to live with your wife in a holy and
honorable way, 5not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not
know God. 6In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other
Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we
strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that. 7God did
not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness. 8So then, whoever
rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God, who gives
you his Holy Spirit. 9There is no need to write you about love for each
other. You yourselves have been taught by God how you should love one
another. 10And you have, in fact, behaved like this toward all the
believers in all of Macedonia. So we beg you, our friends, to do even
more. 11Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to mind your own business,
and to earn your own living, just as we told you before. 12In this way you
will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have
to depend on anyone for what you need. 13Our friends, we want you to know
the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are
those who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and
so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died
believing in him. 15W_ hat we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching:
we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who
have died. 16There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice,
the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from
heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first;
17then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with
the Lord. 18So then, encourage one another with these words.
God bless you.
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