1 This story is good news. It is all about Jesus Christ, God's son.
7 And John told them this message, “A man is coming soon. He is more powerful than me. He is so important that I cannot even get down on my knees and touch his foot.
8 I baptised you, I washed you with water. But this new man will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 At that time, Jesus was living in a town called Nazareth in Galilee. Galilee was in the north part of Israel. One day Jesus left his home and walked down south to where John was baptising people in the Jordan River. When he got there, Jesus went down into the water and John baptised him.
10 When Jesus came up out of the water, he looked up and saw right into heaven. It was like the sky split open and God's Holy Spirit came down onto Jesus like a pigeon.
11 And God said to Jesus, “You are my son. I love you very much, and I am very happy with you.”John the Baptist baptised Jesus|src="IMG_6391 Jesus baptised final.tif" size="col" copy="Janet Mick, Canteen Creek artist and Richard Davies" ref="1:11"
12 Straight away, the Holy Spirit made Jesus go out into the dry country.
13 Jesus stayed out there for 40 days, and the Devil, the Cheeky One, tried to get Jesus to turn away from God, but Jesus didn't take any notice. There were wild animals in that place, but God's angels looked after Jesus.The Devil tried to make Jesus do the wrong thing|src="tlc-017 Devil tempting Jesus.tif" size="col" copy="Global Recordings Network ( Australia)" ref="1:13"
14 One day King Herod sent some men to arrest John and put him in jail. Then Jesus went back north to Galilee to tell people God's good news.
15 He said to them, “The time has come for God to do something new. Very soon God will show that he is the king over everything. So, believe this good news and turn back to God.”
16 One day, Jesus was walking along next to the water of Lake Galilee and he saw 2 men throwing a net into the water to catch fish. The men were Simon and his brother Andrew.
17 Jesus said to them, “Come and follow me. You know how you catch fish and bring them into your boat, well, I will teach you how to bring people into God's family.”
18 Straight away, Simon and Andrew put down their nets and followed Jesus.
19 Jesus was still walking next to the water when he saw an old man named Zeb-ed-dee (Zebedee) and his 2 sons, James and John. They were in a boat getting their nets ready to go fishing.
20 Jesus called out to them and said, “Come and follow me.” So they left their father and the other workmen in the boat and they followed Jesus. Jesus called Simon and Andrew to follow him|src="lll6-14.tif" size="col" copy="Global Recordings Network ( Australia)" ref="1:20"
21 Jesus and his followers went to a town called Cap-per-ni-um (Capernaum). The next Saturday, on the day that the Jewish people had their rest day, Jesus and his followers went to the Jewish meeting house. At that meeting, Jesus started to teach the people about God.
22 When the people heard him, it was like they were listening to God himself talking to them. Jesus said strong and straight words, and the people were amazed. The Jewish law teachers did not teach like that.
23 Straight away, a man with a bad spirit in him shouted out,
24 “Jesus from Nazareth, leave us alone. Why do you make trouble for all of us spirits? Are you going to finish us up? We know who you are. You are God's special man.”
25 Jesus growled at the bad spirit and said, “Be quiet. Come out of him.”
26 That bad spirit made the man shake like he was taking a fit, and the spirit made a loud noise as it came out of the man.
27 All the people were looking, and they were really shocked. They said to each other, “What's going on? This man is teaching us something new, and he has so much power. He tells the bad spirits to get out of people, and the spirits do what he tells them.”
28 Those people went out and told everyone what they saw and from that time all the people in Galilee knew about Jesus. Jesus made a bad spirit go out of a man|src="CN01668B.TIF" size="col" copy="David Cook" ref="1:28"
29 At the end of the meeting, Jesus, James, and John went to Simon and Andrew's house.
30 When they got there, someone told Jesus that Simon's mother-in-law was really sick and lying on her bed.
31 Jesus went to see her. He helped her stand up and straight away she was better. Then she went out and got food ready for them.
34 Jesus made the sick people better and he sent a lot of bad spirits out of people. Those spirits knew that Jesus was God's son, and so Jesus told them to be quiet. He didn't want them to tell everyone who he was. Jesus made Simon's mother in law better|src="tlc-025 Peter's min law.tif" size="col" copy="Global Recordings Network ( Australia)" ref="1:34"
35 The next day just before the sun came up, Jesus walked out of the town to a quiet place to pray by himself.
36 When Simon and the others got up, they looked everywhere for Jesus.
37 When they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
38 But Jesus said, “Come on, let's go. I have to go to the other towns around here too and tell people my good news. That is why I came here.”
39 So Jesus went to all the Jewish meeting places in Galilee. He told people about God and sent many bad spirits out of people.
40 A man with a bad skin sickness walked up to Jesus. He got down on his knees and said, “I know that if you want to, you can make me better.”
41 Jesus was feeling really sorry for him and said, “I do want to make you better.” Then Jesus touched the man with his hand and said, “You are better now.”
42 Straight away, that skin sickness was gone.
45 But the man did not do what Jesus said. He went away and told everyone what Jesus did for him, and so people came from everywhere to see Jesus. So many people came to see him that he could not walk in the towns anymore. He tried to stay out in the dry country, but the people still found him.