Ever see the ol’ Bill Cosby routine where he uses the word “obey?” The routine is called “Who’s the Boss?” At about 1:50 into it, he starts in on the word “obey.” You gotta listen to it; it’s a classic! (for you younger folks, Bill Cosby ruled the comedy world in the 70’s)

So, I was chatting about the value of education in Christianity and how the most active, growing and vibrant Jesus followers seem to be doing the fabulous, incredible and even miraculous have little or no biblical education; while, those of us who’ve been bombarded with biblical knowledge feel woefully inadequate to serve.

What’s up with that?

Why do we continously stress education, knowledge and learning, base our corporate future on it, yet see the church in our society dying much faster than it is expanding? How might you explain this disconnect between reality and our perception of it?

It seems that the problem isn’t more education, it appears that we are lacking obedience. You might say that we Amercian Christians are educated beyond our obedience. We don’t need more education, we need to increase our faith in the Spirit and his Word. That directly results in obedience; joyfully, willingly and with anticipation of the results.

A perfect example is Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8. The two get together, the eunuch believes, even insists on baptism and then goes on to become the early church’s first international missionary, on his own, without training. All he had was the indwelling Spirit, doing what Jesus promised the Spirit would do… lead us to complete understanding.

So, just how does this thing work?