This passage is sometimes misinterpreted as endorsing exhaustive coverage of every conceivable topic in preaching regardless of relevance or as prioritizing secretive house-to-house evangelism over public proclamation, ignoring the context of Paul's farewell address to elders where 'profitable' specifically refers to gospel truths essential for salvation and sanctification; others wrongly apply it to justify indiscriminate teaching methods without doctrinal purity or to diminish corporate worship in favor of individualistic instruction.
Acts 20:20
King James Version (1769)
20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,
Paul declares his complete commitment to the Ephesian believers' spiritual growth by affirming that he withheld nothing profitable, teaching them openly in public assemblies and privately from house to house, demonstrating a model of thorough, selfless ministry driven by love and obedience to proclaim the full counsel of God without reservation or partiality.