Parallel Bible results for "1 thessalonians 4"

1 Thessalonians 4

New Revised Standard NRS

1 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more.

2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication;

4 that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor,

5 not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

6 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.

8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

9 Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another;

10 and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more,

11 to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you,

12 so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.

15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.

16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The Message Bible MSG

1 One final word, friends. We ask you - urge is more like it - that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance.

2 You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus.

3 God wants you to live a pure life. Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity.

4 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body,

5 not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God.

6 Don't run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God's concerns, and he will take care of them. We've warned you about this before.

7 God hasn't invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful - as beautiful on the inside as the outside.

8 If you disregard this advice, you're not offending your neighbors; you're rejecting God, who is making you a gift of his Holy Spirit.

9 Regarding life together and getting along with each other, you don't need me to tell you what to do. You're God-taught in these matters. Just love one another!

10 You're already good at it; your friends all over the province of Macedonia are the evidence. Keep it up; get better and better at it.

11 Stay calm; mind your own business; do your own job. You've heard all this from us before, but a reminder never hurts.

12 We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging off your friends.

13 And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don't want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word.

14 Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.

15 And then this: We can tell you with complete confidence - we have the Master's word on it - that when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they'll be ahead of us.

16 The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God's trumpet blast! He'll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise - they'll go first.

17 Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master.

18 Oh, we'll be walking on air! And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words.