PROFITABLE AND UNPROFITABLE WORK

Titus 3:8-11 (KJV)  

(8) This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. 

(9) These things are good and profitable unto men.

(10) But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

(11) A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”

Today we want to look at the epistle of Paul to Titus.

There are things we can do in the name of God’s work and yet, that may not be accepted by God because such is not a profitable work. I pray that through this Bible study today the Lord will open our eyes to see.

As we look at this portion of the Bible, we discover that towards the end of Paul’s epistle to Titus that he was a young evangelist who was passionate for the word of God. Paul, having more experience in the ministry, about the things of God and about the work of God more than Titus.

Titus was a spiritual son to Paul the Apostle. It is very important for every Christian to have a spiritual father. This will help to be a guide for your life.

Paul the Apostle was giving an instruction and exhortation to Titus. The first were things that Titus had to affirm as an evangelist. This is seen in verse 8.

Titus 3:8 (KJV)  

“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”

The second exhortation that was given to Titus were on things that he needed to avoid.

The instruction of Paul to Titus is not limited to him alone. This is a divine instruction to all Christians, pastors, evangelists and prophets. This exhortation is meant for anyone that is named by the name of the Lord, especially in our days that we gave a lot of people who are just babbling around and setting up all kinds of doctrines that do not have any backup of the scripture.

The passage also spoke about things to avoid in verse 9.

Titus 3:9-11 (KJV)  

(9) But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

(10) A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

(11) Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

In such doing, Paul described things that are profitable and that is what we see in  verse 8. This is what we should constantly affirm. Then, it talks about useless things that can affect the work of God in His hands. This is seen in verse 9.

In this teaching today we shall be describing and going deep on what Paul called profitable and what he called unprofitable.

I’m going to start with what is profitable. 

WHAT IS PROFITABLE?

This is the first question we ought to ask ourself. If there is a work that is profitable, what does it mean? Paul gave an instruction to Titus that he must be careful to maintain good works. This is what Paul the Apostle had done himself. It was his own personal lifestyle. 

Titus 2:7 (KJV)  

“In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,”

And in chapter three:

Titus 3:1 (KJV)  

“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,”

Titus 3:14 (KJV)  

“And let our’s also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.”

If you look at all these scriptures, something is being mentioned and that thing is, ‘good work.’ What is the role of good works? If God is saying that we have to maintain good works, what then is the role of good works?

The first thing we must understand before I say anything further is that, God saved us by His grace and not by our works. Yet, we have been creates in Christ Jesus to do good works.

If we say we are in Christ and our works is the opposite if out confession, then we are not Christians.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)  

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

When we have been created in Christ Jesus, we have been created to do good works because all things have now become new. Why then are we to do good works?

WHY ARE WE TO DO GOOD WORKS?

1.They bring glory to God.

Our demonstration of good works in our places of work, the office, the community and eveeywhere nrings glory to Gof. People will begin to see the glory of God in your life. 

They will say, “Indeed, this is a child of God.” Do you remember when Christ died on the cross? Despite the torment, torture and everything He was going through, He never exhibit a different character. When He shouted ‘It is finished!’ and gave up the ghost. The soldiers said, “Indeed, this is the son of God.”

Our actions and reaction towards situation,  things we do, words we utter out will either bring reproach to God or it will bring glory to God.

When we maintain good works, it deals with the use of our tongues – what we say and discuss. This is very important. 

You may think nobody is listening to what you are saying, but people are minding the way you talk. They are taking note of that. Our good works ought to bring glory to God.

Matthew 5:16 (KJV)  

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

When the unbelievers see our good works, good conducts, good words and actions, they will glorify our Father which is in heaven. In the case of Christ, they testified that He was indeed the son of God.

When Christ was baptised, the voice of the Father came as well to testify and they all heard Him.

Matthew 17:5 (KJV)  

“While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”

They heard the testimony of the Father concerning Him. Our good works bring glory to God.

2. They can prepare unbelievers to be more receptive to the gospel.

There are some people who have made up their mind not to have anything to do with Christ or the church. 

But, when they see our good conducts, compassion, love and good works, some of them will be challenging to come to Christ. 

There are many people who have come to our programs and when some came to me personally they said, “I have given up on church because…” 

They had lots of excuses for having that kind of conviction. But because of the good works of somebody whom they saw was different. 

They saw love, care, compassion, and the glory of God and they said, “Please, I see that you are different in this area. Can you take me to where you are going?” 

And the person replied, “It is a vigil. Can you attend?” And that was how some people started coming to the vigil and became permanent members of this place and became sold out to God. 

There are unbelievers that will not be converted by our sermons, but it is our good conducts that will convince them of their sins. Do you remember the jailer? 

When the prison door was open, he thought Paul and Silas had run away and wanted ro kill himself. But, they stopped him from doing that letting him know they were still there. He asked them, “What can I do to be saved?”

Another example is Peter. He and others had toiled throughout the day unable to catch any fish and Christ asked to borrow their boat. Jesus used the boat for ministration and afterwards told Peter where he should throw his net. 

Imagine it was not even the middle of the river that Jesus told him to cast the net to. Which fish do you want to catch at the river shore? God is great.

Luke 5:5 (KJV)  

“And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”

When he threw down the net, he gathered fish he was unable to pull. What did he say after that? 

Luke 5:8 (KJV)  

“When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Our good works will convince sinners of their sins.

3. They demonstrate the living nature of our faith.

That is, it demonstrates that our faith is alive and not a dead faith. A dead faith is a faith without prove – good works. But, a living faith is a faith with good works.

James 2:14-17 (KJV)  

” What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”

What is it trying to say? It means a faith without works is not a living faith. 

James 2:15-17 (KJV)  

(15) If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

(16) And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

4. They are necessary if we are to be like Jesus.

A hymn says:

“More, more about Jesus

More, more about Jesus,

More of His saving fullness see,

More of His love who died for me.”

If we want to be like Jesus, it is necessary to maintain good works. That is what makes us resemble Christ. If we don’t have good works, then who do we resemble.

Luke 6:46 (KJV)  

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

5. They are good and profitable to men.

When we gave good works as a Christian, it will be profitable unto men. I told us something the other day. 

I said, “If everyone in our community hates sin and are living for God with a living faith and good works, you can even sleep without closing your door because there will not be fear of anything. 

Why do you have to lock the door od your house when you are going out? You have to lock it because we have sinners and people who does not have good and profitable work. 

But if everybody can possess good works, the world will be a better place. This can only happen by grace because even if some people sees hell fire face to face, they don’t mind going there.

Paul the Apostle told Titus about the works that are profitable. I want to ask you, do you now understand the role of good works in our life? 

Listen, I was telling my workers how to win the favour of man. How can you win the favour of man? Anywhere I find myself, I want to do good to those people. Do you know the reason? 

In this life, you need men and relationships. There are some defence that your life needs that will only rise for you through your good works to men. When we have good works among men in the community and family, they know who you are. 

They know they kind of lifestyle you live. They know things they can suggest to you and things they cannot, they know what you can do and what you cannot do. If others are talking and they want to criticise you, they stand in, “Don’t talk about her o, she’s different.” 

That will be your testimony in Jesus name. Anytime they say that God is happy and proud of us, “That is my son!” “That is my daughter!”

I told you of an experience I had when I was in school. I was talking to the students that they don’t need to pay for an exam to pass. They can perform well in the exam and have good result without paying for anything. A teacher heard about it.

Early one morning as I was going to the class, that teacher called me and said, “You! You want to turn this school to a church? I will not allow you. Go on your knees.” He started searching for cane. The students who were passing by were asking, “Pastor, what did you do?”

I am praying for us that the good works that will convert and convince the hearts of the hardened simners around us, the Lord will give us grace to possess it in the name of Jesus. 

How can you later tell somebody you fought about Jesus? You were shouting that you would break somebody’s head and you later carried Bible to preach to the person, would the person listen? 

If I am even the one I would not listen because if you had broken my head that day, would I still be alive to listen to your message? That’s the truth. We must be very careful.

Let me tell you something, the devil wants your name destroyed. He wants to destroy your influence. He can stir up anybody against you – landlord, neighbours and any one. They can tell lies against you, falsely accuse you of something, may even curse you or do things to provoke you. 

This is so that you can say things or react in a very negative way. Because the devil is waiting for your reaction. The moment you react negatively, he will go and minister to the hearts of many, “This is the person that you called a Christian o.” 

And the day you dare open your mouth and say, “Jesus is the Way, repeat of your sin.” They will say, “Evangelist, pastor, brother, father Jesus, save yourself first before you come to us.”

Good works can convict sinners of their sins. What are the good works that are spiritual?

We have good works that are spiritual and good works that are physical in nature.

WHAT ARE THE GOOD WORKS THAT ARE SPIRITUAL?

1.Telling others about the grace of God.

That is, how God saved you. It is the grace of salvation that has appeared to all men calling all men to depart from their evil works.

2. Encouraging other Christians.

That is, encouraging them not to give up in their Christian life, to keep on striving, amd moving forward. Encouraging other Christians is good work. When you see a Christian is down and no longer doing well nor fervent in his work, we are to encourage them.

Hebrews 3:12-13 (KJV)  

“Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

You see that? We are to exhort one another daily because many of us may be going through a lot in our lives. There was one Friday that was a black Friday for me, but how many know that? Nobody. I smiled and laughed, doing the work of God the way I normally would, but my wife knew what I was going through in my life.

Don’t be deceived by a smiling face because you don’t know what a brother or a sister might be going through. And for those who came to the Bible study that Friday, could you have suspected what I was going through? You cannot.

I am praying for somebody here that the Lord will restore your hope. We are to exhort one another daily because you don’t know what that Christian sister/brother might be going through in her/his life. But, your encouragement could lift them up. It will keep them going. I’m telling you the truth. 

If you don’t always learn to encourage yourself in the Lord in this end time, you will backslide. We are at a time when everybody is minding their own business. This year, I’ve not seen up to three people who say, “How is your life? Is everything alright with you?” They are not up to three from January till November. 

They believe that pastors do not need encouragement. Pastor is the one to encourage you. Pastors cry in the room and come out to perform miracles and blessed life and everyone is blessed and happy. But, the pastor returns to his pain.

We are to encourage one another, but also always learn to encourage yourself in the Lord. You are going through hard times and you say, “If someone could just talk to me now. I just need somebody to talk to me now. I need somebody to encourage me now.”

I met somebody from Malaysia. Nobody would know that she was even planning to commit suicide. Even her husband did not know that she wanted to commit suicide because everything just turned upside down for her. She said, “I want to kill myself.” 

I told her not to kill herself, there is hope. I see somebody rising above his situation today in the name of Jesus.

3. Restoring weak brethren.

There are brethren that are weak. They were once strong, fervent, zealous, doing well, always available for the things of God. But now, they are weak because of life’s situations. 

I’m sorry to say, but it is heartless for you to know that this person is going through a lot and you don’t bother to even ask about it. The only thing you say is, “We are going for another assignment. Meet me by 3pm.” That is nonsense. 

Christ is not like that. He is compassionate. Some of these people have not even backslided or gone into sin. Some lost their jobs, business opportunities, closed doors and things that some cannot even say it out. 

These things put them in a difficult situation and at that particular moment, they are not strong, jovial, and ferbent again. What are we to do as Christians? We are to restore them. 

When you see that your spiritual leader or pastor is weak, you are to encourage him. When your pastor is weak, you will know. A pastor finished preaching on a Sunday, and went to hang himself. 

A pastor was preaching and while he was preaching he collapsed on the altar and died. This is not a story. By the time they find out what happened, they discover that he had been depressed. 

It is not easy for a pastor who is not living in his own personal house. There is house rent to pay, school fees to pay, especially when they have children in secondary school or university.  

They will call daddy for money and he does not even have up to ten thousand naira. And the landlord said, “Don’t forget the rent on the 23rd of this month o.” 

It takes a high level of faith to not be shaken when your landlord just called you to remind you of your house rent payment due for a week, and there is no money anywhere. 

Let’s restore the weak ministers. Don’t criticize, “You see that our pastor. Before you will see him move around and talking and moving. But now, he is just standing in one place.” Did you know what he is going through?

Pastor Kumuyi had an accident several times when he was going for programmes – God’s work. Sometimes, when he finishes his preaching and he enters his office, they will have to massage his leg. And sometimes, by the time he gets home they will have to hang his leg. 

But do you know that? You can never know. That’s why I can never and will never join The gang of people that do crictice ministers of God. It is a terrible spirit that people are now using as a source of living. 

They talk about pastors and write books about pastors. Some are hosting programs on YouTube and Facebook about pastors. And as they are advertising on their videos, they are making money. 

I laugh at them because when their tribulation will come, even God will not hear their prayers. Somebody called me and said, “They have chased me away from my church. I don’t know where to go now. I need your help.”

And the Spirit of God told me, “This is the reward of his work of speaking against pastors.” You are a pastor yourself, why are you criticizing other pastors? It has now come to him. 

Return weak ministers and don’t condemn. Don’t wait until they fall sick and you will say, “More grace,  Sir. The Lord is your strength.”

As I looked at the ministry of Christ, He did not limit His good works to spiritual things only. People had been with Him for days without food, listening to the word of God in fasting.

His disciples said, “Send these people away.” It’s not because they are not compassionate but there was no food. Jesus said, “These people had been with me for three days. If we ask them to go like that, they may faint on the road. Tell them to sit down.” These people were all fed.

I am surprised that some people will go and do crusades inside a village and they will still call these people to sow seed in the ministry, “Come and sow. 10,000 came out. If you give ten thousand naira, you will have ten thousand miracles.” That is heartlessness. 

Instead, your good works in that village of gathering them and giving them food items and clothes will make you unforgettable to those villagers. 

Christ did not expect His disciples to limit their good works to spiritual things alone. We should be a helper to others.

WHAT ARE THE WORKS THAT ARE UNPROFITABLE?

Some people may be offended by these, but the truth needs to be said. 

1.Engaging in foolish disputes.

Titus 3:9 (KJV)  

“But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.”

There are some questions that are foolish. Did you know that? It is the Bible that said it, not me. 

Example of such is this. Somebody asked, “In whose name were you baptized?” I said, “In the name of God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.” He said, “That is wrong. You have to go back and do another baptism in the name of Jesus, then you will he accepted.” 

I said, “Really? So you mean that because I am baptized in the name of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I am going to hell?” He said, “No o, I’m not talking about that.” Then what is the reason for the dispute? 

There are some people on the internet or even seeing this now, that are feeling condemned because they were baptized in the name of God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. And many are going back to do another baptism in the name of Jesus. I laugh at them. It is not good to lack understanding. 

You must avoid foolish disputes. Some will say, “We have the blood of the Israelites in our body and because of that, we are one of the 144,000 that will be saved. So, I can even miss the rapture and I will be saved.” “Generations of Abraham are better than the other generations.”

This is why Christ was correcting the Pharisees when they said that they had Abraham as their father. These are a question of genealogies. Avoid it.

That verse also talks about contentions. 

“Who preaches the best?” Did you know that this question has scattered many churches? I’m telling you the truth. This happened in a ministry I know.

We must be very careful of the praise of people. It happened to people. David only killed Goliath and those women singers put him in trouble. They said, “Saul killed a thousand and David killed ten thousand.” 

Did he really kill ten thousand? That was what put David in trouble. And Saul became angry, “I am the king and they are pressing this boy more than me. He must die.”

This is happening in many churches today. Pastors are poisoning themselves, some are going to the house of herbalists, and some are praying wicked prayers in the mountain against themselves. Some have pictures and handbills of themselves and are praying against it. 

Those of us who put pictures on handbills must be praying because there are people that will collect them for evil purposes. I’m telling you the truth. They do that because of evil contentions.

Some group of people were just saying, “This man can preach more than the General Overseer.” And this caused a problem. The next thing was that the wife of the GO released a prophecy concerning the person they said could preach more than her husband. She said he was a fake pastor and he was excommunicated from the ministry. 

We must be very careful of foolish disputes and comparison. 

“That brother is so fervent. You go and sit down somewhere, it is that other brother we want to see.” You will put the spirit of contention in the heart of that person and that can generate hatred.

I told you of an evangelist that God was using in a big pentecostal church in Ondo state. They had about twenty thousand branches. God was using the evangelist mightily. But because of contention, the pastor invited him to a program and poisoned his food.

Be very careful. Stop comparing pastors with pastors, it is wrong. Stop comparing ministers with ministers; it is wrong. It will bring glory about contentions. I pray that God will help us.

2. Striving about the law.

Somebody told me, “Your wife will go to hell because she made her hair. She will miss the rapture because she made her hair.” I said that is nonsense. What kind of doctrine is that?

Some will go to the inbox of some of our members and say, “I saw the picture you uploaded. You made your hair. You will go to hell o.” They are striving about the law.

This almost caused problems among the apostles. It was about the issue of circumcision and uncircumcision. They Jews believed that one must be circumcised if one will make heaven. They said it was a requirement.

But Paul said in: 

Galatians 6:15 (KJV)  

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.”

It is the circumcision of the heart that is important. There are churches today where women in their period cannot go to church. They dare not go to church because it is considered an abomination and they are unclean to the Lord. 

There are churches that say a woman who ministers or preaches in the church is going to hell.

Somebody told me, “I saw that your wife used to lead prayer on the altar.”

I said, “Yes. That is what many pastors are praying for, a woman who will support them in ministry. I am lucky to have one.” And the person said, “I won’t support your ministry again until she stops doing that.” I said, “I don’t mind.”

About the sabbath, some say that those who worship on Sunday are going to hell. They say that Saturday is the day of service. Either Saturday or Sunday is for Jesus. Listen to me, everyday is for JESUS. It is not just Sunday or Saturday. 

And because of that, people won’t go to church on a Sunday. They even say it is the Catholic Church that introduced worship on Sunday. While the Bible says, “On the first day of the week.” When is the first day of the week? It is Sunday. 

All these striving are described as unprofitable and useless laws. They don’t make sense. That is why we must be careful of engaging ourselves in such.

Some time ago, I decided that I wanted to block many people. You know why? Some people are like spies. This is the truth. Some people have boldness, they don’t even feel shy to say certain things that are foolish disputes.

Some told me, “The next time I see you put the picture of your wife online and she did not cover her hair, I will block you and I will tell people to block you.” I said, “Wow, I love that. I will help you.” I blocked him, I don’t want those kinds of people in my life. I don’t want foolish disputes. 

You are covering your hair 24/7. Your hair will be smelling. God has not called us to uncleanness.

WHAT IS THE HARM OF FOOLISH DISPUTES?

1.It can cause division in the church.

Some churches say, “Don’t use drum.” And some of them are using it on their keyboard. That is, they don’t use a physical drum but on the keyboard. Either virtual or physical drum, it is still a drum sound. It is foolish dispute.

They say, “That church they used to dance.” Is dancing not in the Bible? God will help us. These will cause division. This is why it seems that the church of God is divided.

Some say, “Why would you sing praise?” But the Bible says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”

Some say, “Why are you singing? Why are you clapping? Just sit down and sing hymns. That is what God wants.” It causes division. 

Some say that women should not use hats or berets because it is a sin. They even say women must not wear shiny things on their head gear, because with shiny things you cannot walk in the heavenly street of gold. These are foolish disputes causing division.

Some say that you should not put on lace. The only thing that is wrong about lace is when you put on lace that has big holes that would expose your body.

They say that any church that choristers are wearing button shirts as uniform, they are going to hell because they are wearing what belongs to a man. It is a foolish dispute. All of us cannot dress the same way. 

Foolish disputes cause division. This is why some churches feel that they are more spiritual. And if you sit down to reason why they think they are spiritual, you will discover that it is foolish things – doctrines that do not make sense.

Some say, “You must not marry outside this church.” They believe only their church is recommended by God. They say, “If you bring a brother/sister from another church, you will not see us in your engagement.” And it is true, because they will not come for real. You will not see them there.

Some churches have tithe slip that they usually mark to take note of those who pay tithe and contribute. So that when something happens they will first confirm, “Has she been paying?”

This is not how the church is supposed to be. We don’t render help to somebody because their tithe is big. Everything was done equally in the early church. God will help us in Jesus name.

• Paul warned Titus repeatedly against battle words. When a pastor says, “This person spoke about me. No problem. I will show him that I too have my mouth.” The next Sunday, he spoke up. And the other one retaliated in his next program.

There is also the issue of tithe. Should we pay tithe or we should not pay tithe? Some say that it is an old law. But before the law, there was tithing in the Bible. 

Before the law, Abraham gave his tithes to the king of Salem. Who told him about that? I believe that by the inspiration of the Spirit of God he knew.

While some say, “Oh, so you don’t pay tithe? Your hell fire is doing exercise.”

There are people that what they are going through in their life and finance is very tough. I know somebody that there is no way she can survive because her income is too small to even pay house rent, talk less of eating.

The issue of tithe is one of the things that is causing big division in the church. I ministered in a very big church in Ondo state. About 13,000 people were there. 

One of their pastors told me, “In our church we don’t believe in tithe.” I asked why but he said, “That’s what our fathers laid down. But now, I’m confused o.” I asked why, and he said, “What we give is called seed of faith.” 

I asked how they pay their seed of faith and he said that the seed of faith is above 10%. I told him there is no need for arguments. 

We are paying our tithes and they are paying their seed of faith. No need for fighting or arguing about it. Give your seed of faith and we will give out tithes.

I attended a church at Abeokuta. They wanted to have a convention. There were about 5000 people in attendance. The elders came into our midst and told me, “We want you to preach first.” Before I preached they said, “We agree with everything you say. But when you get there, don’t mention tithe o, because we don’t believe in that.” 

I said, “There is no problem. I don’t have business with that.” And God helped me not to mention it. But, that doesn’t mean that tithing is wrong. Do you understand?

Christians should not engage in battle words. Somebody wrote something under my post, “You did not talk about this.” I responded, “God did not call me to preach about that.” So, should I be preaching about vaccines? Is that a message? God will help us.

They cause disputes instead of godly edification.

3. They create envy, strife and evil suspicions.

People will start suspecting one another.

“I am suspecting this man of God. Can’t you see the way God is using him, but I don’t think it is God. There must be something under that suit he is wearing.”

4. It will cause many to go astray from the faith.

Did you know that there are people who say, “The confusion in this church is too much. Let me leave this church for them.” And they stopped going to church altogether because of foolish disputes. 

It will lead some people to go away from the faith and will increase ungodliness. This will then spread like cancer and overthrow the faith of people. 

5. It generates strife.

WHAT ARE WE TO DO INSTEAD OF ENGAGING OURSELVES IN FOOLISH DISPUTES?

1.We must possess godly edification with a pure conscience. 

2. A sincere word and doctrine which is according to godliness.

3. We are to correct those in opposition with gentleness, patience and humility. Don’t preach with pride.

4. Disagreeing without being disagreeable. 

Do you get that? 

5. You must contend for the faith without being contentious.

Defend and preach the faith without being contentious.

I believe that with this message today, God has convinced us about profitable and unprofitable work. Because if we say we are doing God’s work and what we are preaching is those contentious things and doctrines, you are not doing God’s work. I’m telling you the truth. Preach salvation to people.