Copyright C 2002 by Lightheart                     wwwPracticeGodsPresencecom                           The Gospel of Mark______________________________________________________________________1        The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of GodAs it is written in the prophets Behold I send my messenger whoshall prepare the way before thee The voice of one crying in thewilderness Prepare the way of the Lord make His paths straight Johndid baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentancefor the remission of sins After confessing their sins many from theland of Judaea and from Jerusalem were baptized by him in the river ofJordanJohn was clothed with camels hair and wore animal hides around hisloins and he ate locusts and wild honey He preached saying Therecomes one mightier than I the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthyto stoop down and unloose I have baptized you with water but He shallbaptize you with the Holy GhostAnd it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth ofGalilee and was baptized by John in the river of Jordan Immediatelyupon His coming up out of the water John saw the heavens open and theSpirit like a dove descend upon Him And there came a voice fromheaven saying Thou art my beloved Son in whom I am well pleasedThe spirit drove Him into the wilderness There among wild beasts Hewas tempted by Satan for forty days Then the angels ministered toHim Now after that John was put in prison and Jesus came intoGalilee He began preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God andsaying The time is fulfilled The kingdom of God is at hand Repentand believe the gospelHe walked by the sea of Galilee He saw Simon and Andrew his brothercasting a net into the sea for they were fishermen And Jesus said tothem Come ye after me and I will make you fishers of men Immediatelythey left their nets and followed HimWhen He had gone on a little farther He saw James the son ofZebedee and John his brother in a boat mending their nets Jesuscalled them They immediately left their father Zebedee in the boatwith the hired servants and went after HimThey went into Capernaum On the sabbath day He entered the synagogueand taught And they were astonished at His doctrine for He taughtthem as one with authority and not as the scribes And in theirsynagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit He cried out andsaid Let us alone What have we to do with thee Jesus of NazarethArt thou come to destroy us I know who thou art the Holy One of GodAnd Jesus rebuked him and said Hold thy peace and come out of himAnd when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voicehe came out of himThe people were amazed so much so that they questioned amongthemselves saying What is this What new doctrine is this He evencommands with authority the unclean spirits and they obey HimImmediately His fame spread throughout the region around GalileeAfter they left the synagogue they went to the house of Simon andAndrew Simons wifes mother lay sick with a fever and presentlythey told Jesus about her He came and took her by the hand Then Helifted her up and immediately the fever left her And she thenministered to themThat evening around sunset many people were brought to Him who werediseased and some who were possessed with devils And all the citygathered together at the door Jesus healed many that were sick ofdivers diseases He cast out many devils and did not allow the devilsto speak because they knew HimThe next morning rising before dawn He went to a solitary place topray Simon and those who were with him followed When they found Himthey said All men seek for thee And Jesus said to them Let us go onto the next towns that I may preach there also for therefore came IforthAnd Jesus preached in the synagogues throughout Galilee and cast outdevils There came to Him a leper Kneeling down and beseeching Himthe leper said If thou wilt thou can make me clean Jesus was movedwith compassion He put out His hand touched him and said I willBe thou cleanAnd as soon as He had spoken the leprosy departed and the man wascleansed Jesus directly charged him to say nothing to any man Jesussaid Go thy way Show thyself to the priest and offer for thycleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony to themBut he went out and began to broadcast the matter He said so muchthat Jesus could no more openly enter the city but had to stay out indesert places And they came to Him from every quarter2        After some days Jesus entered Capernaum again and His arrivalwas widely announced The people knew that He returned to the houseAnd immediately many gathered so much that there was no room toreceive them no not so much as outside the door Jesus preached theword to themThere came to Him one sick with palsy who was carried by four othersWhen they could not get near Jesus because of the crowd theyuncovered the roof above where Jesus stood Having broken throughthey lowered down the bed wherein the sick man lay When Jesus sawtheir faith He said to the sick man Son thy sins are forgiven theeThere were certain of the scribes sitting there They wondered Whydoes this man speak blasphemies Who can forgive sins but God onlyWhen Jesus realized that they so reasoned He said to them Why reasonye these things in your hearts Whether it is easier to say to thesick man Thy sins are forgiven thee or Arise Take up thy bed andwalkSo that ye