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November 12 - 1 Thessalonians 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here and it is Wednesday.
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  It's the 12th of November. Great to have your company on
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  this day, this day of both the awesome and the utterly
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  ridiculous. A couple of amazing things as
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  I've been reading about today. Firstly, you know back in 1970
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  on the 12th of November, there was this enormous sperm whale
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  that that washed up on the beach in Oregon and they didn't know
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  what to do with this 8 tonne corpse that was rotting and
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  smelling. So they decided let's get the
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  local council workers with crates of dynamite to blow up
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  this whale into such small pieces that the crabs and the
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  seagulls would clear it. So they cleared the crowd 400
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  metres back, ignited the dynamite and it blew this
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  almighty explosion which just sent chunks of whale like over
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  half a kilometre all around, smashing cars and landing on
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  people and making a mess and unfortunately.
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  Most of the whale. Was.
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  Untouched and so they had to bury it in the beach after that.
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  So that is just such a disgusting story.
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  I love it so much. But then we've also achieved
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  brilliance. On this day in 2014, we were
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  able to land a probe on a comet flying through space.
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  Isn't that amazing? Yep, we we landed a spacecraft
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  on a bit of rock. Flying through space.
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  We're so. Clever.
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  And so. Stupid all at the.
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  Same time. But cleverness and stupidness.
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  Aside, this letter that was written all those years ago to
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  those people was written to basically convince them that
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  life in Jesus, despite the madness of the world around us,
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  is actually incredible. And so those early disciples,
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  even though all the pressure was on them to ditch their faith,
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  should hold onto it because it was worth holding onto.
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  So today, Paul and Silas and Timothy and are going to write
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  about how to live to please God and the incredible hope that we
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  find in him in the resurrection. So let's read that together.
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  So we let us read First Thessalonians chapter 4.
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  Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name
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  of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God as we have
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  taught you. You live this way already, and
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  we encourage you to do so even more for you.
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  Remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
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  God's will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all
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  sexual sin. Then each of you will control
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  his own body and live in holiness and honour, not in
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  lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God in His ways.
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  Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by
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  violating his wife. For the Lord Avengers all such
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  sins. As we have solemnly warned you
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  before, God has called us to live holy lives, not impure
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  lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to
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  live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching, but
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  is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
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  But we don't need to write to you about the importance of
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  loving each other, for God Himself has taught you to love
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  one another. Indeed, you already show your
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  love for all the believers throughout Macedonia.
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  Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love
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  them even more. Make it your goal to live a
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  quiet life, minding your own business and working with your
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  hands, just as we instructed you before.
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  Then people who are not believers will respect the way
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  you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
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  And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know
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  what will happen to the believers who have died, so you
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  will not grieve like people that have no hope for.
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  Since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we
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  also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back
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  with him the believers who have died.
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  We tell you this directly from the Lord.
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  We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him
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  ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come
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  down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice
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  of the Archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.
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  First. The believers who have died will
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  rise from their graves. Then together with them, we who
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  are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in
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  the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
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  Then we will be with the Lord forever.
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  So encourage each other with these words.
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  Jesus, thank you for this encouragement.
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  Thank you for the hope that we have in you.
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  Thank You that mankind's mortal enemy, literally mortal enemy,
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  death that comes to all of us is not the end, and that in You and
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  Your gift to us we have this everlasting life that we will
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  live in Your glorious presence. And Lord, I also thank you for
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  this wonderful passage that speaks of the goodness of a
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  quiet life lived in honest work serving You.
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  Our Lord, so often we can be caught up thinking we need to be
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  out there. We need to be vocal, We need to
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  be evangelistic. And yes, those of us who are
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  called to be that should. But we hear this encouragement
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  to your people to live good, honest, quiet lives, working
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  hard and providing this example that points people to you.
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  So Lord, help us be your upright people, living in a way that
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  pleases you and blesses all those around us.
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  You're a good God, and we thank you for your love.
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  And we pray all of this in your precious name, Jesus, Amen.