Remember Acts 16 – Paul really wanted to go to Bithynia but the Spirit prevented him. His plan made sense and seemed the way to go. But what the Spirit leads us to is often beyond what we could even imagine. We tend to work with what is. The Spirit creates out of nothing.

Good theology aids in the church doing the work that God has called and equipped it to do. Any dichotomy between academic theology and actual ministry is entirely false. If a theology – an attempt to explain aspects of the Gospel and the kingdom of God – is accurate and clearly laid out then it will find practical application. It might take some serious work to figure out how, the way it takes a measure of training and skill to use professional grade power tools.
If a theological expression really has no practical import then it is entirely worthless and we need to start over. And that is not a bad thing. We have to start theology over again all the time because each generation, each culture has to think through the truth of the revelation of God and express that in terms that make sense under the logic of that time and culture. The truth of God doesn’t change. But we constantly do and thus our theologies with us.