Theory Vs. Application

Knowing the right words is easy. Living them when it costs you is the real test. We open Matthew 13 on Good Friday and sit with Jesus’ question, “Have you understood all these things?” then follow His image of a disciple who brings out “new things and old” like a head of household stewarding treasure. That one line becomes a gut-check about Christian discipleship, Bible study, and what it actually means to grow in faith rather than just collect religious facts.

We talk about the tension between head knowledge and application and why knowledge without obedience can quietly limit your life with God. Holy Week adds urgency: faith is not a theory project, it’s practice. We reflect on formative traditions like the stations of the cross as an example of embodied learning, while also calling out the trap of permission-based spirituality where people feel they must get approval from church leadership before taking a step of obedience.

From there we widen the lens to everyday life: work, politics, and even ministry spaces where confident talk can replace real fruit. We share stories that highlight the difference between credentials and experiential knowledge and why doers naturally stand out over time. If you’ve felt stuck at “I know what I should do,” this short is a push toward hearing the Holy Spirit, acting on Scripture, and letting your walk with Christ become visible.

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Transcript

New Things And Old Treasures

Head Knowledge Vs. Application

Holy Week Practice And Stations

Breaking Free From Control Culture

Why Talkers Rise In Politics

Smart Without Sense Stories

Experiential Knowledge In Ministry

Apply What You Learn Closing

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hey, everybody, this is C Dub with another Woe Foyo short. Going to get in the word for ourselves in Matthew chapter 13 on this Good Friday. And Jesus has been giving parable after parable about the kingdom. Jesus has been giving parables about the sower sowing the word. He's been talking about the mustard seed. He's been talking about how the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which expands when it's folded into the meal. And the disciples are asking him about the explanation, and then he gives them a fuller explanation rather than the obvious picture story that he has just told everybody else. And he talks about the pearl of great price. And he asked them, Have you understood all these things? This is Matthew 13, 51. Have you understood all these things? They said to him, Yes. And Jesus said to them, Therefore, every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of household who brings out of his treasure new things and old. And when Jesus finished these parables, he departed from there, and he came to his hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, with the result that they were astonished and said, Where did this man acquire this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is this not the carpenter's son, his mother not called Mary, and his brothers James, Jophus, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where did this man acquire all these things? And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not dishonored except in his own hometown and in his own household, and he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. I wanted to bring you back up to verse 52, where Jesus said to them, Every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household who brings out of his treasure new things and old. And one of the things that has really been the overriding theme here, probably in the last three weeks, four weeks in walking with the Lord is he's been bringing example, example, example, example, example after example of the difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it. Of people having head knowledge, these scribes have all this head knowledge, but if you've become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven, that is application. So now you have both the head knowledge and you have the application. The greater of the two is the application, but it does not hurt to have head knowledge, but it does you no good just to have head knowledge. If you don't apply what you learn, then you're really, really limiting yourself. You're limiting God moving through you because all you do is you're always coming to the knowledge of God, but never arriving at it. So I want to encourage you all in this holy week to make sure that you are applying the Word of God. You know, one of the things that they would do growing up Catholic, they would have the stations of the cross, and they would have this story, and there's 12 stations, and it would be on the side of a lot of your Catholic churches, and they would say a prayer, and you're going through this process where Jesus is sentence to his crucifixion, to his burial and resurrection. You're going through this process, and one of the things that happens in that is it teaches you a certain amount of application, a certain amount of how can I do kingdom things? Now, one of my big critiques would be uh a lot of people think that you have to go through a nun or a priest or something like that to do anything. You got to get that approval. And really all you need to do is be obedient to the voice of God, learn how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and obey. But the Protestants are just as guilty because there's people out there that will try and keep their parishioners under their thumb and their congregation, if they do anything without checking with their pastor or their bishop or their apostle, whatever title they're going to give the person that's preaching the Sunday message. You know, some of them they want you to check in with church leadership if you wipe your butt. And if you're stuck in that situation, get out. It's not going to do you any good. What will do you good is becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. What will do you good is getting in the word for yourself. What is going to do you good is streamlining the lessons that you learn. Sometimes the Lord will even have you slow down what you learn so you have a chance to apply what you're reading in scripture. So you have a chance to walk a little bit in the footsteps of these men and women of God that are examples in the word, that are examples for our walk with the Lord and Jesus Christ being the being the greatest example. But there's a lot of other examples, and especially when it comes to following Jesus Christ. These things are there for our benefit. So get in the word, get your head knowledge, absolutely. But it has become extremely evident here in the last three weeks, whether it's work, whether it's different things that are in the news, whether it's you know, politicians, whether it's ministers, it becomes very clear who knows what they're doing and who's actually doing it. There's a lot of people that like to pontificate and well, you know, and that's why it takes so long to get something worthwhile actually passed in your state legislature or get getting it passed in Washington, D.C. This is because you got a bunk bunch of people that think they can stay in forever, and all they have to do is just talk about stuff, and then they distract you and never do anything, and then they try and distract you so you're not paying attention to what you voted to put them in there to do. And so there's a lot of pontificating, a lot of head knowledge. I would I've told the story uh recently about this guy went to Tulane University my freshman year, and this guy was featured in the student prospectus for new students going in there. Guy was a road scholar. And in some areas, don't get me wrong, he was super smart. And others uh went when I actually met this guy. I go, what in the world is wrong with this dude couldn't walk and chew bubblegum at the same time. Just out there and talked to some of the people that were smart, but had a little bit of common sense. Oh, yeah, he's like that. So you you will run into all sorts of people. They might have all these lofty ideas, but they really have no practical experience. You know, we talked with a guy that had been the chaplain of the Illinois Capitol, Joel Satterfield, and he said one of the things that we don't talk about is experiential knowledge being just as valuable, if not more, than head knowledge. And uh in my experience, that has been the case. I remember hearing a guy, he was a labor law attorney, was giving a speech over around New Orleans area, and uh name was Steve Ridley, and he was talking about, you know, you can get a whole room of people that think they're important, and you let that thing play out over the course of an hour, and there'll be 10 people around one guy or one gal, and it'll break down, and those will be the movers and the shakers because that's the guy or that's the gal that know what they're talking about. And everybody in the room is just blowing smoke up each other's rear end. And if you think that can't happen in um ministry circles in the church world, uh think again, it happens all too often. So make sure that you're a disciple of the kingdom, but also get your head knowledge, but make sure that you're applying what you learn because what you learn, you retain. What you apply, you retain. And that will help you to have a powerful walk with Christ, and it will make you stand out. Woe FOYO. Everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woofoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. For Bones and Myself, this is C Dub, reminding you that if you're going to grow, you got a woefo yo. Get in the word for yourself. Happy Easter, folks.