1This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, Gods Son. 2The men of God, called prophets, long ago wrote about it this way: God said, See, I send my man ahead of you to tell about you. He will make the way ready for you. 3A man is calling out in the desert, "Make the way ready for the Lord. Make the road straight for him." 4John baptised people in the desert. He told them to stop doing wrong things and be baptised, and God would forgive them for the wrong things they did. 5People from all the land of Judea and all the city of Jerusalem went out to John. He baptised them in the Jordan River when they told about the wrong things they did. 6John wore clothes made of camels hair and a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7He told the people, Another person is coming. He is greater than I am. I am not good enough to bend down and untie his shoe strings. 8I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit. 9At that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in the country of Galilee. John baptised him in the Jordan River. 10As soon as he came up out of the water, Jesus saw the sky open. He saw Gods Holy Spirit come down on him like a bird called a dove. 11A voice from the sky said, You are my dear Son. I am very pleased with you. 12Right away, the Spirit made Jesus go into the desert. 13Jesus was in the desert for forty days. All that time Satan tried to make Jesus do wrong. Jesus was with wild animals. Angels came and took care of him. 14John was put in prison. Then Jesus went to Galilee. He told people the good news of Gods kingdom. 15The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God is here. Stop your wrong ways, turn back to God and believe the good news. 16Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee. There he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were throwing a fishing net into the water. Their work was to catch fish. 17Jesus said to them, Come with me. The work I give you will be to catch people. 18Right away they left their nets and went with him. 19Jesus went on from there and saw James and his brother John. Their fathers name was Zebedee. They were in a boat mending their nets. 20Jesus called them. Right away they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the workmen and went with Jesus. 21They went to the town of Capernaum. As soon as it was the Sabbath day, Jesus went into their meeting house and taught the people. 22They were very much surprised at his teaching because he taught them as if he had the right to teach them. He did not teach them like their teachers called scribes. 23A man who had a bad spirit in him was in the meeting house at that time. 24He called out, Jesus of Nazareth, what do you want to do to us? Have you come to kill us? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God. 25Jesus said to the spirit, Be quiet! Come out of him! 26The bad spirit threw the man around. It called out loud and then it came out of the man. 27The people were all surprised. They said one to another, What is this? Is not this a new teaching? He tells the bad spirits what to do and even they obey him 28The people all around Galilee heard right away about Jesus. 29As soon as they came out of the meeting house, they went to the home of Simon and Andrew. James and John went also. 30Simons wifes mother was sick and was lying down. She had a fever. Right away they told Jesus about her. 31Jesus went to her. He took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her right away, and she began to do things to help them. 32That evening when the sun went down, people brought to Jesus all the sick people and those who had bad spirits. 33All the people in the city crowded around the door. 34He healed many sick people. He drove the bad spirits out of people. And he did not let them speak because they knew who he was. 35The next morning Jesus got up long before daylight. He went out to a place by himself. There he talked with God. 36Simon and his friends went out after Jesus. 37When they found him they said, Everyone is looking for you. 38Jesus said, We must go to the next towns. I must tell the good news to the people there too. That is why I came here. 39Then Jesus talked to the people in all the meeting houses in all the country of Galilee. He also made the bad spirits come out of people. 40A man who was sick with leprosy a bad skin disease came to him. He kneeled down and begged Jesus saying, I know you can heal me if you want to. 41Jesus was very sorry for him. He put out his hand and touched him. He said, I want to. Be healed. 42As soon as he said this, the disease left the man and he was healed. 43Jesus talked strongly to him and sent him away. 44He said, Do not tell anyone about this. But go and let the priest look at you. Moses gave a law about the gift you must give to God when you are healed. Give it to prove to people that you are healed. 45But the man went out and told everyone everywhere what had happened to him. Because he did this, Jesus could not go into any large town freely. He stayed in places where only a few people were. There people came to him from everywhere.