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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. 1Thess. 4:3-18
