Matthew 27:6-10

One of the most amazing things to me about the Bible is all of the fulfilled prophecies, especially the ones that weren't self-fulfilling. Here are Jesus enemies actually fulfilling prophecy. They have every reason not too, and they do it, probably because they were unaware. Sure Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and even had evidence to prove that he was, but they refused to believe. It's almost like they didn't want to believe.
We like to think that we can create the perfect program that will minister to everybody. But it can't be done. It's still up to the individual to determine how they will respond. Even people that are heavily committed to your program can still walk away unchanged. The point is to mitigate the percentage that do that by creating a relevant, inspiring ministry.

Matthew 22:41-46

I love that the Pharisees finally give up on trying to trick Jesus with questions. Isn't it amazing how long they tried to do it, though. Consistently they looked stupid and Jesus provided them with amazing answers. This bolstered everybody else's belief that Jesus was more than a common teacher or pharisee. So while the pharisee's popularity was at an all time low, Jesus was steadily climbing.
It's amazing to me how long we can hold onto ideas that don't work. We think we have a brilliant plan, but it's just not working out. So we tweak it a little bit and run it into the ground until finally we give up and come up with a completely new plan.
That's basically how my ministry has been. Great ideas meet with little or no response. I revise the idea a couple of times only to receive the same response until finally I abandon the idea.
I guess instead I should seek out God-ordained ideas. There are tons of great ideas out there, but I'm not sure if God is willing to bless all of them. I think the key is to find what God is willing to bless and run with that. JM

Matthew 21:23-27

Too many people lack guts today. Some might call it fortitude, some might just call it balls, but however you say it, there seems to be a shortage of it. The pharisess were so against Jesus, but that's about all that they stood for. When they are trying to figure out the answer to his question, they never mention what they really think. Rather they just feel trapped by either answer they could give. I think Jesus would have respected them more if they just would have given their answer.
We're just like the pharisees, though. We look for the easy way out, or the "right" answer, rather than speaking our convictions. I wonder how different my life and ministry would be if I really spoke my convictions and held to them unswervingly. JM

Matthew 12:22-32

It's so awesome to think about the fact that "the kingdom of God has come to" us. Isn't that incredible. God became flesh and redeemed mankind. Amazing thought.
I wonder if I would have been like the pharisees and not recognized it. We have a tendency to think that anything new is obviously bad and not of God. I wonder. JM

Matthew 5:17-20

So Jesus came to fulfill the law. Verse 20 is really interesting: "I tell you that if you are no more obedient than the teachers of the law and the pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Jesus is setting people up to make sure they know that they will never earn their way into heaven. The pharisees were insane about keeping the law. That's all they cared about. They were uber-religious about it. Then Jesus says that you have to do even more than that to get into heaven. Obviously it would be nearly impossible to better than they were doing, so they must have been missing something.
Jesus was trying to point back to himself. I've done something more than the pharisees because I've placed my faith in Jesus alone and not in my religious devotion to rules. My devotion to rules flows out of my love for Jesus, and that's a key difference.
Jesus always had a cool way of putting things. He always made you think. Made things real and impacting. I wish I could adopt some of that style into my speaking. There's so much about Jesus that is amazing. JM