1 Thessalonians 4
4
A Life That Pleases God
1Brothers and sisters, now I have some other things to tell you. We taught you how to live in a way that will please God. And you are living that way. Now we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live that way more and more. 2You know all that we told you to do by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3God wants you to be holy. He wants you to stay away from sexual sins. 4God wants each one of you to learn to control your own body. Use your body in a way that is holy and that gives honor to God.#4:4 Or “God wants each of you to learn to live with your wife in a way that is holy and that gives honor to God.” 5Don’t let your sexual desires control you like the people who don’t know God. 6Never wrong any of your fellow believers or cheat them in this way. The Lord will punish those who do that. We have already told you this and warned you about it. 7God chose us to be holy. He does not want us to live in sin. 8So anyone who refuses to obey this teaching is refusing to obey God, not us. And God is the one who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9We don’t need to write to you about having love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. God has already taught you to love each other. 10In fact, you love all the believers in Macedonia. We encourage you now, brothers and sisters, to show your love more and more.
11Do all you can to live a peaceful life. Mind your own business, and earn your own living, as we told you before. 12If you do these things, then those who are not believers will respect the way you live. And you will not have to depend on others for what you need.
The Lord’s Coming
13Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about those who have died. We don’t want you to be sad like other people—those who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died, but we also believe that he rose again. So we believe that God will raise to life through Jesus any who have died and bring them together with him when he comes.
15What we tell you now is the Lord’s own message. Those of us who are still living when the Lord comes again will join him, but not before those who have already died. 16The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And the people who have died and were in Christ will rise first. 17After that we who are still alive at that time will be gathered up with those who have died. We will be taken up in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air. And we will be with the Lord forever. 18So encourage each other with these words.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
1 Thessalonians (1 Th) 4
4
1Therefore, brothers, just as you learned from us how you had to live in order to please God, and just as you are living this way now, we ask you — indeed, united with the Lord Yeshua, we urge you — to keep doing so more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Yeshua. 3What God wants is that you be holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4that each of you know how to manage his sexual impulses in a holy and honorable manner, 5without giving in to lustful desires, like the pagans who don’t know God. 6No one should wrong his brother in this matter or take advantage of him, because the Lord punishes all who do such things — as we have explained to you before at length. 7For God did not call us to live an unclean life but a holy one. 8Therefore, whoever rejects this teaching is rejecting not a man but God, indeed, the One who gives you the Ruach HaKodesh, which is his.
9Concerning love for the brothers we do not need to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other; 10and you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do it even more.
11Also, make it your ambition to live quietly, to mind your own business and to earn your living by your own efforts — just as we told you. 12Then your daily life will gain the respect of outsiders, and you will not be dependent on anyone.
13Now, brothers, we want you to know the truth about those who have died; otherwise, you might become sad the way other people 14do who have nothing to hope for. For since we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, we also believe that in the same way God, through Yeshua, will take with him those who have died. 15When we say this, we base it on the Lord’s own word: we who remain alive when the Lord comes will certainly not take precedence over those who have died. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar; those who died united with the Messiah will be the first to rise; 17then we who are left still alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord. 18So encourage each other with these words.
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