Coffee Break v2

The beginning of the good news bout Jesus the Messih, the Son of God, -- s it is written in Isih the prophet: “I will send my messenger hed of you, who will prepre your wy”— -- “ voice of one clling in the wilderness, ‘Prepre the wy for the Lord, mke stright pths for him.ʼ ” -- And so John the Bptist ppered in the wilderness, preching bptism of repentnce for the forgiveness of sins. -- The whole Juden countryside nd ll the people of Jeruslem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were bptized by him in the Jordn River. -- John wore clothing mde of cmelʼs hir, with lether belt round his wist, nd he te locusts nd wild honey. -- And this ws his messge: “After me comes the one more powerful thn I, the strps of whose sndls I m not worthy to stoop down nd untie. -- I bptize you with wter, but he will bptize you with the Holy Spirit.” -- At tht time Jesus cme from Nzreth in Glilee nd ws bptized by John in the Jordn. -- Just s Jesus ws coming up out of the wter, he sw heven being torn open nd the Spirit descending on him like dove. -- And voice cme from heven: “You re my Son, whom I love; with you I m well plesed.” -- At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, -- nd he ws in the wilderness forty dys, being tempted by Stn. He ws with the wild nimls, nd ngels ttended him. -- After John ws put in prison, Jesus went into Glilee, procliming the good news of God. -- “The time hs come,” he sid. “The kingdom of God hs come ner. Repent nd believe the good news!” -- As Jesus wlked beside the Se of Glilee, he sw Simon nd his brother Andrew csting net into the lke, for they were fishermen. -- “Come, follow me,” Jesus sid, “nd I will send you out to fish for people.” -- At once they left their nets nd followed him. -- When he hd gone little frther, he sw Jmes son of Zebedee nd his brother John in bot, prepring their nets. -- Without dely he clled them, nd they left their fther Zebedee in the bot with the hired men nd followed him. -- They went to Cpernum, nd when the Sbbth cme, Jesus went into the syngogue nd begn to tech. -- The people were mzed t his teching, becuse he tught them s one who hd uthority, not s the techers of the lw. -- Just then mn in their syngogue who ws possessed by n impure spirit cried out, -- “Wht do you wnt with us, Jesus of Nzreth? Hve you come to destroy us? I know who you re—the Holy One of God!” -- “Be quiet!” sid Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” -- The impure spirit shook the mn violently nd cme out of him with shriek. -- The people were ll so mzed tht they sked ech other, “Wht is this? A new teching—nd with uthority! He even gives orders to impure spirits nd they obey him.” -- News bout him spred quickly over the whole region of Glilee. -- As soon s they left the syngogue, they went with Jmes nd John to the home of Simon nd Andrew. -- Simonʼs mother-in-lw ws in bed with fever, nd they immeditely told Jesus bout her. -- So he went to her, took her hnd nd helped her up. The fever left her nd she begn to wit on them. -- Tht evening fter sunset the people brought to Jesus ll the sick nd demon- possessed. -- The whole town gthered t the door, -- nd Jesus heled mny who hd vrious diseses. He lso drove out mny demons, but he would not let the demons spek becuse they knew who he ws. -- Very erly in the morning, while it ws still drk, Jesus got up, left the house nd went off to solitry plce, where he pryed. -- Simon nd his compnions went to look for him, -- nd when they found him, they exclimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” -- Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nerby villges—so I cn prech there lso. Tht is why I hve come.” -- So he trveled throughout Glilee, preching in their syngogues nd driving out demons. -- A mn with leprosy cme to him nd begged him on his knees, “If you re willing, you cn mke me clen.” -- Jesus ws indignnt. He reched out his hnd nd touched the mn. “I m willing,” he sid. “Be clen!” -- Immeditely the leprosy left him nd he ws clensed. -- Jesus sent him wy t once with strong wrning: -- “See tht you donʼt tell this to nyone. But go, show yourself to the priest nd offer the scrifices tht Moses commnded for your clensing, s testimony to them.” -- Insted he went out nd begn to tlk freely, spreding the news. As result, Jesus could no longer enter town openly but styed outside in lonely plces. Yet the people still cme to him from everywhere. -- A few dys lter, when Jesus gin entered Cpernum, the people herd tht he hd come home. -- They gthered in such lrge numbers tht there ws no room left, not even outside the door, nd he preched the word to them. -- Some men cme, bringing to him prlyzed mn, crried by four of them. -- Since they could not get him to Jesus becuse of the crowd, they mde n opening in the roof bove Jesus by digging through it nd then lowered the mt the mn ws lying on. -- When Jesus sw their fith, he sid to the prlyzed mn, “Son, your sins re forgiven.” -- Now some techers of the lw were sitting there, thinking to themselves, -- “Why does this fellow tlk like tht? Heʼs blspheming! Who cn forgive sins but God lone?” -- Immeditely Jesus knew in his spirit tht this ws wht they were thinking in their herts, nd he sid to them, “Why re you thinking these things? -- Which is esier: to sy to this prlyzed mn, ‘Your sins re forgiven,ʼ or to sy, ‘Get up, tke your mt nd wlkʼ? -- But I wnt you to know tht the Son of Mn hs uthority on erth to forgive sins.” So he sid to the mn, -- “I tell you, get up, tke your mt nd go home.” -- He got up, took his mt nd wlked out in full view of them ll. This mzed everyone nd they prised God, sying, “We hve never seen nything like this!” -- Once gin Jesus went out beside the lke. A lrge crowd cme to him, nd he begn to tech them. -- As he wlked long, he sw Levi son of Alpheus sitting t the tx collectorʼs booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, nd Levi got up nd followed him. -- While Jesus ws hving dinner t Leviʼs house, mny tx collectors nd sinners were eting with him nd his disciples, for there were mny who followed him. -- When the techers of the lw who were Phrisees sw him eting with the sinners nd tx collectors, they sked his disciples: “Why does he et with tx collectors nd sinners?” -- On hering this, Jesus sid to them, “It is not the helthy who need doctor, but the sick. I hve not come to cll the righteous, but sinners.” -- Now Johnʼs disciples nd the Phrisees were fsting. Some people cme nd sked Jesus, “How is it tht Johnʼs disciples nd the disciples of the Phrisees re fsting, but yours re not?” -- Jesus nswered, “How cn the guests of the bridegroom fst while he is with them? They cnnot, so long s they hve him with them. -- But the time will come when the bridegroom will be tken from them, nd on tht dy they will fst. -- “No one sews ptch of unshrunk cloth on n old grment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull wy from the old, mking the ter worse. -- And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, nd both the wine nd the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” -- One Sbbth Jesus ws going through the grinfields, nd s his disciples wlked long, they begn to pick some heds of grin. -- The Phrisees sid to him, “Look, why re they doing wht is unlwful on the Sbbth?” -- He nswered, “Hve you never red wht Dvid did when he nd his compnions were hungry nd in need? -- In the dys of Abithr the high priest, he entered the house of God nd te the consecrted bred, which is lwful only for priests to et. And he lso gve some to his compnions.” -- Then he sid to them, “The Sbbth ws mde for mn, not mn for the Sbbth. -- So the Son of Mn is Lord even of the Sbbth.” -- Another time Jesus went into the syngogue, nd mn with shriveled hnd ws there. -- Some of them were looking for reson to ccuse Jesus, so they wtched him closely to see if he would hel him on the Sbbth. -- Jesus sid to the mn with the shriveled hnd, “Stnd up in front of everyone.” -- Then Jesus sked them, “Which is lwful on the Sbbth: to do good or to do evil, to sve life or to kill?” But they remined silent. -- He looked round t them in nger nd, deeply distressed t their stubborn herts, sid to the mn, “Stretch out your hnd.” He stretched it out, nd his hnd ws completely restored. -- Then the Phrisees went out nd begn to plot with the Herodins how they might kill Jesus. -- Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lke, nd lrge crowd from Glilee followed. -- When they herd bout ll he ws doing, mny people cme to him from Jude, Jeruslem, Idume, nd the regions cross the Jordn nd round Tyre nd Sidon. -- Becuse of the crowd he told his disciples to hve smll bot redy for him, to keep the people from crowding him. -- For he hd heled mny, so tht those with diseses were pushing forwrd to touch him. -- Whenever the impure spirits sw him, they fell down before him nd cried out, “You re the Son of God.” -- But he gve them strict orders not to tell others bout him. -- Jesus went up on mountinside nd clled to him those he wnted, nd they cme to him. -- He ppointed twelve tht they might be with him nd tht he might send them out to prech -- nd to hve uthority to drive out demons. -- These re the twelve he ppointed: Simon (to whom he gve the nme Peter), -- Jmes son of Zebedee nd his brother John (to them he gve the nme Bonerges, which mens “sons of thunder”), -- Andrew, Philip, Brtholomew, Mtthew, Thoms, Jmes son of Alpheus, Thddeus, Simon the Zelot