In Acts 20, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders. He wanted them to travel down to Miletus to visit with him before he left for Jerusalem. He knew that this was the last time he would ever see them.
He told them that they knew he had served the Lord with humility. They knew he had labored among them with many tears and temptations. Then, he told them that he had ‘kept back nothing that was profitable’ to them. He had taught them publicly and privately.
The words ‘kept back nothing’ in verse 20 pertain to a sailing term. It referred to taking in the sail. This was done most often in heavy winds of a storm. Paul was saying he never pulled back from teaching the truth. No matter how heavy the pressure was against his teaching, he continued to teach and preach what was profitable. In other words, he always taught the truth. He was never intimidated to the point of withholding proper teaching. Paul kept his ‘sails’ wide open.
We should always keep our sails wide open when teaching and preaching. The truth is greater than anything man has. The teachings of the Bible are profitable. We need to teach all of the truth, not just part of it. In order to be able to teach the whole truth, we must study and learn it first.
Study your Bible. Learn all that you can. Teach it to others, and if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
