Would you stand please? Lets pray together. Father, the story was told of a person who needed You so desperately and about a people who are so preoccupied with their own lives that we fail to see and fail to notice, fail to do something. I pray that we would take that message to heart this morning. I pray that You would help us to leave this place more effective because of what we have learned, what we have heard. I pray we will see the world in a different way; well see the difference we can make, and well determine to be that difference. I pray that You would also minister to those who are hurt this morning, those who desperately need Your touch. Touch them today, we pray in Your name, Amen. Lets open our Bibles up to Lukes Gospel, the fifth chapter. We left off in Verse 26, so today were in Verse 27. Were going through Luke together. We will be taking a hiatus along the way, a couple of them, because its going to take a long time to get through this book. Well go off and do some short mini-series along the way, but well always try to return to Luke until we do finish our task. This morning we want to talk about Witnessing for Dummies. Its not calling you and me a dummy. Its simply has become, in our modern day vernacular, a way of explaining something that seems to be hard or difficult and making it easier: Computers for Dummies. You buy that book Computer for Dummies, and it helps you learn how to work the computer. I dont know about you, but sometimes there are projects I start to do, and once Im into them, I find out they arent as hard as I thought they were. I had to put together a vacuum cleaner for my oldest child this week. I thought it would be hard. I looked at the instructions and thought, Man, how am I going to figure this out? I got into it, and it wasnt bad. Have you ever done that? You start doing something, and it just isnt as bad as you thought. Maybe, you were so spooked by a project because it seemed so hard-it seemed like it was going to be tedious or difficult-that you didnt get started. You thought, What if I fail? What if I cant do this? Its going to take so much of my time and resources, Im not even going to start, so you didnt start a project because of an anxiety about what was involved in that project. Sometimes witnessing is like that. You and I should speak, we should say something, but we dont because were afraid. What if I say the wrong thing? What if I misunderstood? What if I confuse the person instead of helping the person? What if I interpret the scriptures wrong and lead them in the wrong direction? What if I make them mad, and then he or she never comes to Christ because I screwed up my opportunity to share Him? So because of this anxiety and apprehension, because of the unknown factors of what theyll do or say, we keep our mouths shut when we should be opening it. Youre like the person in the drama we saw at the very beginning of the service this morning where the body parts were saying all the reasons why they shouldnt share the Lord. Maybe you have felt that way, so as a result, you kept your mouth shut when you should have said something. Anybody here like that this morning? Look around-you have company. Youre not the only one. My job this morning is to share some truths from Gods Word that will enable you to open your eyes and go, You know what? Its not as hard as I thought. Its not as difficult as I was making it out to be. In fact, the way youre saying it, it takes the pressure off of me. Now, Im actually looking forward to witnessing, believe it or not; because as soon as we start saying, Oh, were talking about witnessing, you think, Oh boy, here it comes. He is just going to lay into me and make me feel all guilty. Im going to leave and go find a victim. Ill just dump all this theological stuff on them and go whew! There, thats done until the next sermon. Thats not what were going to do. I promise you that you will leave this place thinking, I can do that. I can be an effective witness for Christ. Are you ready to begin? In Luke 5:27 (page 1020 of pew Bibles), Jesus is beginning His earthly ministry. He is assembling His team of disciples. We read about Peter, James, John and Andrew coming to Him, the miracle of the fish with the nets, and now Hes going to add another important disciple by the name of Levi, or Matthew. This is the same man who would eventually write the Gospel of Matthew-a very key player. Hes called Levi here. He goes by either name. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. Follow me, Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him. Now we should not think that this is all Jesus said. It wasnt like there was some sort of mysterious trance Jesus put him in [where] a total stranger went up and said, Follow meee, and Matthew went okay. There was a dialog here. We are not privileged to read the dialog. We just see the outcome of the dialog. Jesus certainly challenged him, and he caught the vision. Maybe He said something similar to Peter, Instead of fishing for fish, youre going to be fishing for men. Maybe He used some sort of play on words to talk about what Matthew was going to be doing. Whatever He said, Matthew followed him. Verse 29, Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. The first thing I notice about Matthew is he has this tremendous change in his life. He is now following Jesus. Hes excited about it. Hes so excited, hes leaving his business and hes going to pursue a new life with Christ. Hes invited his new friends: Peter, James, and John. They are coming over too with his old friends. Hes not abandoned his old friends. He has not disowned his old friends. His old friends are still going to very much be a part of his life. The longer you are a Christian, you will notice the easier it is to have only friends around you who are Christians. If you are not careful, pretty soon everything you do socially, everything you do otherwise, you are going to be surrounded by Christians because we tend to like to be around people who think like we do, who share the same values we do. Its kind of an easy thing. Theyre like us so we want to be like them and be around them. Sometimes its harder to be around somebody who doesnt think, talk, value or believe the same things we do. It can be an irritant sometimes. Just because our lives are so busy, we tend to see people at church or people involved in ministry and tend to spend time with them exclusively. We certainly encourage relationships and friendships within the Body of Christ, but not to the point of exclusivity-not to the point where the only people we are hanging around with are fellow believers because Jesus definitely gave us an example that was contrary to that. Jesus was always criticized because He was a friend of whom? Sinners. He loved to hang around with people who didnt know the Lord. He loved to hang around with people who needed God. He didnt just spend time with only the disciples. You would find Jesus at weddings, parties, other get-togethers and festivals, talking with people in the street. You would find Jesus interacting with non-believers all the time. If we look at our lives and say, Over the last six months, I havent hung out with a non-Christian other than people I have to work next to or I havent shared my faith or I havent invited a person to church in about a year or longer, friends, if thats you-something is wrong. Chances are whats wrong is some of these fear factors were going to talk about and get rid of today. Were going to free you up to be effective. So Matthew has a party. He invites his old friends and his new Christian friends to come and join them. Thats not a bad idea because in that context, as they intermingle, there is going to be some interaction that takes place. Since 1982, I have organized a reunion of my friends. There are guys, a lot of them, who I went to grade school with. A lot of these guys, all of them, we all went to high school together. One of the things a lot of us had in common was hoops. So every year we get together, we rent a gym, we play basketball, and then we go out for pizza. Its been interesting to watch over the years now, as some of those guys now are 50 or approaching 50 years old, our skills are rapidly deteriorating. Were watching ourselves become these old, slow middle-aged guys trying to play a young mans game. Ill go around to some of the sons that are now playing with us, and Ill say, Your dad used to be an athlete. Your dad used to be able to play. They are like, Are you serious? Yeah, he really did. Then we go out for pizza, and we do that really well. In fact, were starting to play ball less and less and eat pizza more and more. Its getting to be where one of these days we will get together, play a game of horse and probably go out and eat after that. But its an interesting mix when we get together because a few of the guys, maybe five-maybe six-of us are Christians, and the other six are not. Its interesting how you catch up on your families and your business and tell some stories. Invariably, as youre sitting around that table, you start talking about spiritual matters. Maybe this guy is going through a divorce; maybe this guy has had some health issues; or this guy has other kinds of problems. Almost all of us were drinking pop, but there was one guy drinking beer. Hed had a couple, and he came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder-a little private conversation- and says, I love you, buddy. I said, I love you too. He said, Ive done some bad things. I said, What did you do? He said, I told some lies. I feel bad about it. Do you think God could forgive me? I said, You bet He could. I shared a little bit with him. I felt a little tug of the Holy Spirit telling me, You need to talk to this guy more than twice a year because some of those guys I see more often than others. Some of them I just see once or twice a year. I felt a little tug and said, I need to spend some more time with him. But every year we interact. We share some spiritual things together, and some good things happen. Ive noticed over the years, certain ones will come to Christ and start thinking about spiritual matters or start to seek the Lord. So I think our getting together is a good thing, that inner mix. Keeping those relationships alive is a good thing. Maybe there are some people you know that you havent touched based with in awhile…maybe there are some phone calls you need to make or some emails you need to send out, some letters you need to write, saying, You know what? Weve lost touch. We need to get together because you need to be having relationships with friends who dont know the Lord. Im not at all suggesting we have friendships only for the purpose of sharing our faith. That would be inauthentic. The buddy I was telling you about-should he never come to Christ, 20 years from now, God willing, hes still my friend. I will love him just as much then as I do now. In fact, if he becomes a Christian, I wont love him anymore than I do now. In fact, we will just be able to have a whole other dimension of conversation together, a whole other realm of relationship we can have together. Hell always be my friend. There are some people in your life that you can get together with and have a little mini-Matthew party with, hang out, talk about life, and just see where that conversation goes. You can try to steer that conversation in a spiritual direction. Share your faith! Share what the Lord means to you. Talk about your ministry; talk about your church; talk about a message youve heard. [You think], I dont know. What if I mess it up? What if I dont say things right, and the person ends up going away from Jesus instead of going toward Jesus? What if he doesnt become a Christian? Friends, Im going to tell you something that will both humble you and free you. Youve never converted a soul, and you never will. Salvation begins and ends with God-not with you. Theres no pressure on you. Youre simply a vessel. Youre simply a mouthpiece, a vehicle, a servant through which God speaks. Theres no pressure on you for that person. Thats in Gods camp-whether that person receives Christ of not. You plant the seed, and you come along and water the seed, but God is the One who makes it grow. Lets turn in our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 3. Lets look at that. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth and telling them how immature they were because they were talking more about Apollos and Paul than about Jesus. Paul is like, Listen, theres no room for celebrity in the Body of Christ. The only star in this operation is Jesus, so when you make a big deal out of Paul or Apollos, we are only servants. All we are is a mouthpiece for the Lord. Listen to what he says [in 1 Corinthians 3:5, page 1129 of pew Bibles], What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe-as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God… Say that with me, Only God. …only God, who makes things grow. Remember last week? All you do is cast the net; God is the One who fills it, right? He says, …only God who makes it grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are Gods fellow workers, you are Gods field, Gods building. I have a part to play. Its an important part, and I partner with God as a seed planter and as a seed waterer; but when that seed takes root, God is the One who gets the glory, not me. Thats Gods job, not mine. Lets pretend we live in California or Arizona. My mother-in-law lives in Arizona and has an orange tree in her yard. Its kind of handy; if you ever want a snack, just go out and pick one. If somebody comes over to your house, and youre going to have a snack together, theres this orange on the table there; they take the orange and bite it. They say, Oh, man. This orange is so good. How did you get this orange so juicy? Whats your secret? It is so orange. The color on this orange is unbelievable. How did you make this so orange? It smells so citrusy. Do you want orange juice right now? It just smells…oh, man. It makes my mouth water. How did you make this orange taste so good? You will say, Well, five years ago, I dug a hole. I put in an orange tree, and I covered it and I watered it. Thats what you did. Who made the orange so juicy, orange, and taste so good? God did. If they walk in and notice some flowers on your table, and they smell them and say, Oh, what is that? You say, Thats a Fragrant Viburnum. They say, Man, that just smells like spring. How did you do that? How did you get those little flowers on there like that? And the green of the leaves, how did you make that so green? How did you make that smell so good? Can you teach me how to do that because Id love to be able to do that? That is just amazing how you did that. Can you share with me how you made this? I bought a Viburnum bush, and I dug a hole. I put it in the ground, covered it up with dirt, and I watered it. Did you put those flowers on there? Did you make it smell like that? Did you make it green like that? We got ready to have a sandwich, so we got some meat and veggies from your garden. You got some green peppers, onions, and cucumbers. You make a sandwich and take a bite of your onion, and you say, Man, this onion is sweet! You know the story. How did you do that? How did you get all those layers on there like that? All that skin! How in the world did you make that onion taste so good? You say, I dug a hole, I put in an onion seed, I covered it with dirt, and I watered it. God made the onion, didnt He? God made all the layers and the flavor in that onion. If you share your faith with somebody, and they come to Christ, and their life starts to change, they start to produce fruit, and then somebody comes up to you and says, Man! You led that person to Jesus, and now hes a Christian! His whole life has changed! Isnt it great what is happening in his life! How did you do it? You say [arrogantly], Just a servant of the Lord, thats all. Im a borderline theological genius. Its just a gift I have. I knew exactly what to say, what to do, and, you know, Im a good example. He followed me. What can I say? You better not do that. Do you know what you had better say? I planted a seed, and I watered it. God caused it to grow. Youre not powerful enough to convert anyone. You cant forgive sins. You cant create new life in a person. All you can do is faithfully be a witness of what you have seen and what you have heard. Once you plant that seed, its Gods business. Its Gods business that oranges come on that orange tree. Its Gods business that flowers smell good from that Fragrant Viburnum. Its Gods business that this onion is sweet and flavorful. He does that-not you. Youre the seed planter. Thats fun. You plant a garden, or you landscape and plant things. Its fun, but certainly dont take credit for the beauty of the flowers and the taste of vegetables. Thats Gods department. Number one: pressure off. Thats not your responsibility that they cross the line of faith. Thats in Gods department. Your job is to faithfully share the message or invite them to hear the message. The pressure is off there. The second thing I want you to notice in this text is the heart that Matthew has. Matthew doesnt just think of himself, but Matthew thinks of his friends. He says, You know what? Jesus made such a difference in my life; I want Him to make a difference in my friends lives too. So Matthew says, I want my friends to meet this Jesus and His followers who have made such a difference for me. Matthew sees with a spiritual lens. See, for us, theyre just a nameless, faceless crowd that we read about. For Matthew, these were people he knew and cared about. He wanted to see them influenced for Christ. Do you see through the right spiritual lenses today? Or do you have such tunnel vision that the only thing you see is your world, your troubles, and your concerns. Its important as believers that we develop eyes to see and ears to hear. Remember what Jesus said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Hes talking about a certain type of hearing, a certain type of seeing, where we can train ourselves to be aware of the needs that are around us, so we will know how to respond, so well know how to share the Gospel to meet that need. My wife is an intensive care nurse. Over the years, shes treated thousands of patients, so shes learned different signs and symptoms to look for. Occasionally, well see somebody, and shell say, See that person? I will say, Yup. Shell say, They have such and such. How do you know that? Ive seen it a thousand times. They have this, this, this and this. That organ is failing, or this is going on. Theyre going to need a transplant there. Shell recognize those signs because shes been trained. I dont want you to get all nervous and think when you talk to her, shes diagnosing you or anything like that. Medical people see things differently than you and I do. When you walk into that doctors office, that doctor is already sizing you up before you tell him about your owies. Theyre looking at your skin color; theyre looking at your skin-period; theyre looking at your gate, how you walk, your posture, if youre favoring anything; theyre looking at your nose and your eyes, your teeth; theyre listening to your voice. When they listen to your chest, they hear things, your breathing and your heart. They hear things that you and I wouldnt hear because their eyes and ears have been trained to do that. What Im suggesting to you this morning is that you and I, if we will ask God to help us do this and we are willing to do this, we can start to see and hear things in a sensitive way to be able to respond to the needs that are around us. Wouldnt it be cool if there were just an easier way? If you could put on a pair of glasses, and when you put on this pair of glasses, magically you could see not only the person but their need? You could see why that grumpy person is grumpy; or why that talkative person is so talkative; why that quiet person is so quiet; or why that person who cut you off was in a hurry, why they were in a hurry. Do you think that would give you more patience, more sensitivity? Maybe youd see the world differently. Were going to watch the story of a guy right now who did find a pair of those glasses and how it changed his life. Lets tune in. (Click on this link to see a preview: http://www.sermonspice.com/search?fpage=1&q=get%20service) Matthew sees the needs of his friends. Jesus gets it. He sees their needs. The Pharisees dont get it. In Verse 30 [back to Luke 5:30, page 1020], …Pharisees and the teachers of the law… There is an open courtyard here. Its a big house. Its very common in a big house with a large crowd, they would go out in the courtyard-not in the house proper, so this is where this conversation takes place. By the way, the name Pharisees means the separated ones. The only people the Pharisees hung out with were other Pharisees, people just like them-thought like them, believed like they did, valued what they did, and talked like they did. They only hung out with other people like themselves. They complained to the disciples, Why do you eat and drink with sinners? Notice in Verse 31, they complained to the disciples, but who answered? Jesus did. He said, I think the problem you have is with Me. Whats the question? [Jesus answered] Its not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Jesus refers to Himself as a doctor. Have you ever referred somebody to a doctor, a medical professional of some sort? Eye or heart? Skin? Dentist? Have you ever done that? Ever been referred to? I have. I had a problem with my arches years ago from playing too much ball. I was talking to a buddy of mine, and I said, Man, when I get up, right here-my heal-it just hurts. I can hardly walk in the morning. He said, You have planter fasciitis. I said, Planter whatsa whosit? He said, Planter fasciitis. Its an inflammation of the tendon. You have to go to this doctor in Beloit. What hell do is hell make a cast of your foot, and hell make some orthotics for your foot. I said, Orthotics? That sounds like something an old person wears. I dont want to wear something called an orthotic. Cant I just get those spongy things for my shoes, so I can be jellin? He said, No, no, no, no. These are better. Theyre hard, but theyre shaped just to your foot. Itll make you feel a whole lot better. So I went to go see the doctor, and he made some forms of my foot. Then he made these orthotics, which I will be putting in after this sermon. I wore them, and he said, Two weeks from now, youre going to feel great. Two weeks later, I felt great. Since then, I havent had that problem again. Did my friend have to understand the inner workings of the foot? Did he have to know about every bone, every tendon and muscle and how it connects in my foot to help me? Did he have to know how to make the cast or how to make the orthotic itself? What did my friend have to do? Point me to the direction of the doctor. The doctor had to do the work. The doctor is the guy that I said a friend referred me to you, so the pressure is on him. Hes the one who has to use his knowledge and expertise, experience, to help me with my problem. The pressure is on him-its not on my friend. My friend knows, based on experience, that if he sends me to him, Im going to get the help that I need. Maybe youve had a toothache, and you say, Boy, Ive got a good dentist. Hes really good. Or maybe you have a friend who struggles with vision, and you say, You know, theres a guy who does this great LASIK procedure, and my friend had it done. He can see 20/20 now. If you have a friend whose breathing is bad. He says, Boy, Im always out of breath, and Im having some pain, youd say, You know what? Maybe you have a heart blockage. Maybe you need to see a cardiologist. I have a friend who had this cardiologist who did a great job. He did a procedure on him, and he feels wonderful now. Do you need to know anything about the heart? For the dentist, do you need to know about teeth to refer somebody to a good dentist? Or [do you have to know] how eye surgery works? Somebody has a rash; do you need to know what that rash is and what medicine makes it better to send him to a dermatologist? Whats the answer? No. You simply need to know what direction to point them. Friends, you dont need to understand everything about the persons condition. You dont need to understand everything about the cure for their condition. You have to simply point them to Jesus because if theyll go to Him, theyre going to find a cure. Theyre going to find the help they need. Thats your job. Your job is to say, I cant help you with that, but theres somebody who can, and then point them in that direction. I have heard many people, over the years, use the excuse-some of you have used this excuse, You know, I just dont know the Bible as well as I should. Ive never been theologically trained. Im afraid I will say something wrong or misinterpret Scripture or not be able to answer the question correctly. I think if I just had more theological training, then Id be able to do it. How much theological training did Matthew have? How much? None. How about the woman at the well who lives a loose life, comes to Jesus, and He administers to her. She runs back and says, Come meet a man who told me everything Ive ever done. He could even be the Messiah. The village comes, and heres Jesus, and they all become Christians. How about Andrew who just meets Jesus and goes back to Peter and says, We found the Messiah. Come and meet Him. Come and hear! How much theological training did he have? How about any of them: Peter the fisherman and John? How much theological training did they have? You know what, friends? Speaking as a person who has had theological training, it helps, but not as much as you think it does. Sometimes, it complicates things. Theological training comes in handy if youre talking to somebody who has had theological training. If theyve had systematic theology, it helps really well. If theyre a normal everyday person, like you, probably just talking an everyday normal language is what works best. Recently my wife typed up a paper I did. The title of my paper was a Soteriological Study of Substitutionary and Governmental Theories of Atonement. In it, I Juxtaposed Reformed and Armenian theology as it pertains to atonement. My wife read my title, and she said, Boring! She read the paper, and she said, You guys make this stuff not fun! (Pastor looks toward his wife, Brenda and asks) Did anything in that paper help you, spiritually, really? Nothing. Its a good trade off though. She typed my paper, and I got to cut off the craft [for this week in Childrens Church], so when you come home with the drawing with the kids, and it says, Keep learning about God and theres Jesus and a kid on the popsicle stick, I did that. I was watching the Cubbies last night, cutting paper. It was a fair tradeoff. It was boring to her. I said, It might be boring to you, but this stuff helps me be a better pastor and teacher, just like your boring medical journals help the body come alive to you and help you to be a better critical care nurse. People dont want you to talk theology with them. They dont need deep terminology. They need Jesus. Have you ever had an experience with the Lord? Hes blessed your life, and you want to bless somebody elses. Youre excited about your faith. Guess what? You are qualified. You might be a more effective witness than Professor so-and-so or Dr. so-and-so or Pastor so-and-so, who knows a whole lot more about the scripture than you do. That does not mean they are a better witness than you are. Its not so much about knowledge. You need to have some knowledge. Im not belittling that, but if theres enthusiasm, if theres sincerity, authenticity, if there is concern and respect, that goes a long way. That goes a really long way. In my early years as a Christian, there were times when I shared my faith, and it didnt go so well. There were some times when I overreacted to people who didnt believe as I believe. I was like, You believe what? Youre wrong! Youre dumb. Heres the truth. Bam! That didnt go well. Then I learned a principle. Peter said that we gently correct; we use meekness and gentleness, humbly correct. I have yet to have somebody who sees that I am showing them respect…even though I disagree with their viewpoint-I respect them. I am showing genuine concern and compassion. I have yet to see anybody offended in those contexts. It doesnt happen. Thats a myth. If somebody knows you care about them, somebody knows youre not trying to be condescending or judgmental, but youre going to truly listen to them, value and respect their opinion, and youre going to authentically share yours, and you do so with gentleness as the Scripture tells you to do it, youre not going to offend anybody. Youre not going to turn off anybody. If you do run across a question that you dont have an answer for, you simply say, I dont have an answer for that. Thats an excellent question, and Ill try to find out for you. Its not as hard and scary as we make it out to be. If it were up to me to make this thing (an orange) juicy or orangey or taste good, Id feel a lot of pressure. Its simply up to me to put the seed in the ground. Its not up to me to make this smell good or this taste good. Its just up to me to put the seed in the ground and water it. Thats all you do. You put the seed in the ground, and you water it. God causes the growth. Its not that hard. You try to learn to live life with ears to hear and eyes to see. As youre going through the course of life, and you see a need and hear a need, you respond to it. You dont have to have all the answers; you dont have to understand everything thats going on. You just simply have to say, I know somebody who can help you with that. Heres how the Lord helped me, and you refer them to Dr. Jesus. Let Him do His thing. Is that scary to you? Friends, the most effective witness for Christ isnt always our most highly-trained theologian, nor is it the person who stands on the street corner and hands out tracks. The most effective witness for Christ is when you go to a person you work with or you know, and you share from your heart what the Lord means to you. You plant a seed; you water a seed; and when that seed grows, you cant take any credit for it, gang, because that was Gods doing-not yours. Does that help you today? Does that take some of the pressure off of you and maybe even get you a little excited about the next opportunity to share your faith? I hope so. I see a team coming up to the platform right now, and that means theyre kicking me off, so I will take my orthotics and leave. Its time to sing. Lets stand together. Well continue on in Luke next week. * (This is a story about a man who is complaining of all sorts of things: First, its the kid who pulls out in front of his car, and he thinks, That kid, every time Im pulling out, hes right there! Man. I think somebody needs to talk to his parents-if theyre ever home. Then he begins complaining about the traffic and how everyday its congested. What is it with these dumb roads? he asks. Next, he reflects on how a driver cuts him off and then states how badly a car is parked in a parking lot. He walks into a restaurant and waits in line to order while he looks at the long line and grumbles about the man in line ordering a cookie (who doesnt need it). He orders a latte and is thanked for his patience in the wait for his order. The wait is quite long. Then, he puts on a pair of glasses and begins to see all the reasons for each situation. He starts to think things through differently when he sees all the reasons why each person reacted the way they did to the situation (i.e. why the boy rides in the street with no supervision, why the overweight man eats so much…). He changes his thought process and becomes more patient, more helpful to the people he comes across.