Mark 1:14-28

Later on, after John the Baptizer was arrested, Jesus went back into the region of Galilee and preached the wonderful gospel of God’s kingdom. His message was this: “At last the fulfillment of the age has come! It is time for God’s kingdom to be experienced in its fullness! Turn your lives back to God and put your trust in the hope-filled gospel!” As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he noticed two brothers fishing: Simon and Andrew. He watched them as they were casting their nets into the sea and said to them, “Come follow me and I will transform you into fishers of men instead of fish!” Immediately they dropped their nets and left everything behind to follow Jesus. Walking a little farther, Jesus found two other brothers sitting in a boat, along with their father, mending their nets. Their names were Jacob and John, and their father Zebedee. Jesus immediately walked up to them and invited the two brothers to become his followers. Jacob and John dropped their nets, stood up, left their father in the boat with the hired men, and followed Jesus. Then Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum, and he immediately started teaching on the Sabbath day in the synagogue. The people were awestruck by his teaching, because he taught in a way that demonstrated God’s authority, which was quite unlike the religious scholars. Suddenly, during the meeting, a demon-possessed man screamed out, “Hey! Leave us alone! Jesus the victorious, I know who you are. You’re God’s Holy One and you have come to destroy us!” Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Silence! You are bound! Come out of him!” The man’s body shook violently in spasms, and the demon hurled him to the floor until it finally came out of him with a deafening shriek! The crowd was awestruck and kept saying among themselves, “What is this new teaching that comes with such authority? With merely a word he commands demons to come out and they obey him!” So the reports about Jesus spread like wildfire throughout every community in Galilee.