1This story is good news. It is all about Jesus Christ, God’s son. The story starts like this,
2A long time before Jesus was born, God told a man called Isaiah to write about the things God was going to do for Jesus some time later. Isaiah wrote, “God will send a man to get everything ready for him. That man will talk about him, and will make a way for people to listen to him. That man will be out in the bush, and he will call out to people, and he will say, ‘You mob get ready. God is coming to this country so you have to get ready for him. It is like when a big boss comes, and you have to make a good road for him.’”
4Isaiah was talking about a man called John. God sent him to get things ready for Jesus, so he started to tell people God’s message. He lived out in the bush and wore rough clothes made out of camel’s hair, and a leather belt. He ate grasshoppers and bush honey. John talked to people out there in the bush. He said, “You mob have to be really sorry for the wrong way you are living. You have to turn right around and live God’s way.” He also told them, “If you do that I will take you through a special washing ceremony, I will baptise you.” A lot of people went out into the bush to listen to John. They came from the big town called Jerusalem and from other towns in that country, called Judea. Some people told John that they were sorry for the wrong things they did, so he baptised them in the Jordan River.
7John told them, “A man will come to this country later. He is more important than me, and he is stronger than me. I’m not good enough to untie his shoes.
8I’m just nothing. You see, I cleaned you on the outside with water but this new man will clean you properly with God’s power. He will clean you on the inside with The Holy Spirit.”
9At that time Jesus was living in a small community called Nazareth, in Galilee country. Then Jesus left his home and walked all the way south to a place on the Jordan River. John was baptising people there.
10After he got to that place Jesus went down into the water and John baptised him. As he got up out of the water Jesus looked up and saw the sky split open, and he saw the Holy Spirit. It looked just like a pigeon, and it flew down to Jesus.
11And God said to Jesus, “You are my son. I love you very much, and I’m very happy with you.”
12Straight away the Holy Spirit sent Jesus out into the bush.
13Jesus stayed out there for 40 days. The boss of all the bad spirits, called Satan, came to him and tried to trick him. Satan tried to make him do something bad. But Jesus didn’t do it. There were wild animals in that place but God’s special helpers, called angels, came and looked after Jesus.
14One day the government boss of that country sent some soldiers to grab John and put him in jail. After that, Jesus went back to Galilee country, and he told everyone God’s good news.
15He said, “Now is the right time for God to take people into his family. You mob have to take notice and turn right around and live God’s way. You have to believe this good news.”
16One day, Jesus walked next to a big lake, called Lake Galilee, and he saw 2 men throwing a net into the water to catch fish. That was their job. One man was called Simon and the other was his young brother Andrew.
17Jesus said, “Hey, you 2, I want you to come with me. I want you to stop catching fish and start catching people for me.”
18Straight away Simon and Andrew dropped their nets and followed Jesus.
19As Jesus kept walking along next to the water he saw an old man called Zebedee and his 2 sons, James and John. They were all getting their nets ready to catch fish.
20Like before, Jesus called out to James and John to stop their work and follow him. Straight away they left their father and the other workmen in the boat, and they followed Jesus.
21Jesus and his followers went to a town called Capernaum. On Saturday they went to the Jewish meeting place and Jesus taught God’s word to the people. You see, Saturday was their day to rest and show respect to God.
22Jesus talked with clear and strong words and the people listened to him, and they were really surprised. They knew that he was teaching God’s words really straight. The Jewish law teachers didn’t talk like that.
23Then, in the middle of the meeting, a man with a bad spirit in him called out,
24“Leave us, Jesus from Nazareth. Why do you trouble us? Are you going to kill all of us bad spirits dead? We know you. You are God’s special person.”
25Jesus talked to the bad spirit strongly, he said, “Be quiet. Come out of him.”
26The bad spirit knocked the man down and made him shake and scream loudly as it came out of him, and then it went away.
27All the people were watching, and they were really surprised. They asked each other, “What’s going on? This man is teaching us something new, and he has so much power. He tells Satan’s workers to get out of people, and those bad spirits do what he tells them to do. They just go away.”
28Then all those people went out and told everyone about Jesus. Everyone in Galilee country heard their story about him.
29After the meeting, Jesus left the meeting place and went with Simon and Andrew to their house. James and John went with them.
30Simon’s mother-in-law was sick. She was lying in her bed, really hot and sweating a lot. They told Jesus, “This lady here is sick,”
31so he held her hand and started to lift her up. Straight away she got better. Then she got up, and gave them a feed.
32Late that afternoon, just after the sun went down, all the people from that town got all the sick people, and people with bad spirits in them, and they brought them all to Simon’s house.
33A big mob of people were there outside that house.
34Jesus made lots of the sick people better, and he forced lots of bad spirits to go out of people. The bad spirits knew that Jesus was God’s son, but Jesus wouldn’t let them tell everyone. He forced those bad spirits to be quiet.
35The next day Jesus got up very early, before the sun came up, and he walked out from the town to pray by himself.
36Then Simon and the others got up and they looked everywhere for Jesus.
37After they found him they said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
38But Jesus said to them, “Come on, let’s go. I have to go to the other towns around here too, and tell everyone the good news. That’s the job I came to do.”
39So Jesus went all around Galilee country, talking to people in their meeting places and telling them God’s story. And he forced bad spirits to go out of lots of people.
40A man walked up to Jesus. He had a really bad skin sickness. He got down on his knees in front of Jesus to show him respect, and kept asking him to make him better. That man said, “I know that if you want to, you can make me better.”
41Jesus was really sorry for the sick man, and said, “I do want to make you better.” Then Jesus touched him with his hand, and said, “You are better now.”
42And straight away that man was better.
43Jesus then told him strongly, “I don’t want you to tell anyone about this. But I want you to go to God’s house and show your skin to the leaders of the Jewish ceremony, so that they can see that you are better. And you have to do the right ceremony that Moses gave us, to say thank you to God. He is the one that makes us better. When you do that ceremony, everyone will see that God was good to you.”
45But the man didn’t do what Jesus said. He went away and told everyone, “Jesus made me better.” After people heard the man’s story they came from everywhere. Lots of people came to Jesus. He couldn’t walk by himself in the towns any more. There were too many people. So he had to stay out in the bush. But people still came from everywhere and found him.
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