What The Bible Teaches Us About Faith: September 2017

Sunday, September 10, 2017

How Do We Worship In Spirit And In Truth?

This is the manuscript of the sermon that I preached at Christ Church, Los Angeles, CA September 10, 2017.

To worship God in spirit and in truth is to declare that God is worthy of our reverence. We do this in spirit through our heart, the seat of our emotions, based on the truth of who He is, the truth of who we are, the truth of what God does and has done for us, and the truth of what is going on in our lives. - Audio at the end of the manuscript.

Last week I talked about delighting ourselves in the Lord and said that we delight ourselves in the Lord by doing what pleases Him. Our thoughts are constant towards God and that everything we do is in obedience to Him. Since we know now what it is to delight ourselves in the Lord today I want us to look at what it means to worship Him.

Turn in you Bible to John 4:23-24

We all remember the story of the conversation that Jesus had with the woman at a well in Samaria. If you don’t know the whole story you can read it in John chapter 4. In the conversation, Jesus revealed that He knew about this woman she had been married 5 times, and the guy she was living with now with was not her husband. This made her uncomfortable, so she changed the subject from her personal life to religion, asking why the Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim and the Jews at Jerusalem. Jesus’ response was that a day was coming when that it didn’t matter WHERE a person worshiped God. What mattered was HOW they worshiped Him. He said they must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:23-24 NLT

So the question is just how do we worship God in spirit and in truth?

Let’s first look at a definition for worship; it’s “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity”. To Worship then, is to show reverence and adoration for (a deity); to honor them with religious rites.

Of course the deity we are talking about is God.

We praise God for what He’s done. We Him for who He is. Worship is our response to God’s greatness. It’s us, the created, responding to Him, the Creator. It’s our spirits being energized in His presence.

Eugene Patterson the creator of “The Message” Bible translation says that worship is “A tribute to God when He comes.”

We worship when we come into God’s presence. God’s presence makes us who we are. His presence sets us apart from others. And every time we draw near to Him, He draws near to us.

It’s like I said last Sunday when we talked about what it means to delight ourselves in the Lord. Remember we read in Zephaniah 3:14-17 that just as the Israelites, we are to delight in the Lord because He is present with us and because He is present with us He delights in us too.

We don’t have to be in a church or any specific place to feel God’s presence and worship Him. Psalm 139 says that God's presence can be wherever are.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord , You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

Psalms 139:1-10 NKJV

We know that God isn’t confined to a church building or only available at certain times of day. So we don’t have to wait until we come to church or a certain time of day to worship Him. We don’t even have to wait until we feel spiritual. If we are delighting ourselves in Him, like we said last week, we can be confident of His presence all the time.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV

The very last thing that Jesus said to His disciples, before He returned to heaven was that He would always be with them.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

There is nowhere we can go, no situation, no challenge, no relationship, no conversation where God isn’t present. Because of His great love for us, and His spirit at work in and through us, worship of Him will invade every nook and cranny of our lives.

Acknowledge God’s Greatness

When we worship God, we must understand and acknowledge how mighty He is and how insignificant we are. God is the King of the universe and all creation inevitably bows down before Him.

Isaiah 45:22-23 (NLT)22 Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.23 I have sworn by my own name; I have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to me.”

In the New Testament in Philippians 2:9-11 Paul writes;

Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Worship is all about responding to who God is and what He’s done for us. It’s about being so into God that we can’t help responding out loud or with our actions. Worshiping God is just about focusing on Him.

God doesn’t require some kind of perfect, complicated worship act. He just wants it to be authentic and genuine.

Let me give you an example of phony worship, and God’s response to it.

“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord . “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

Isaiah 1:11-15 NIV

He didn’t say they weren’t bringing their sacrifices and offerings, in fact they were bringing them. They were observing the festivals and feasts that God directed them to keep but because of their lifestyle He didn’t want to have anything to do with their worship.

Here’s what He wants in worship.

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord . “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 1:16-20 NIV

We should be so tuned into God that we’re feeling His presence in our lives in big and small ways. It’s about who He is, what He does, and our response to those things. Worship isn’t about us. It’s about Him.

Still The Question Is How Do We Worship Him In Spirit And In Truth

As I said before worship of God is not to be confined to a place or a prescribed formula or actions. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, death, burial and resurrection, worship became a matter of the heart rather than ceremony.

Here’s something that Jesus said when somebody asked Him what the greatest commandment was?

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Mark 12:28-30 NIV

To worship God in spirit and truth means loving Him with heart, soul, mind and strength.

True worship must be “in spirit,” engaging the whole heart which is the source of our emotions. Unless there’s a real passion for God, there is no worship in spirit. At the same time, worship must be “in truth,”. We have to know who we are worshiping. Unless we have knowledge of the God we worship, there is no worship in truth. We get that knowledge from the Bible, God’s Word. Jesus said that the truth makes us free.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32 NIV

That freedom is what allows us to worship in spirit and truth.

Passion and knowledge are both necessary for God-honoring worship. Spirit without truth leads to a shallow, overly emotional experience that could be compared to a high. As soon as the emotion is over, so is the worship. Truth without spirit can result in a dry, passionless encounter that can easily lead to a form of joyless legalism. The best combination of both aspects of worship, spirit and truth, result in a joyous appreciation of God. The more we know about God, the more we appreciate Him. The more we appreciate Him, the deeper our worship. The deeper our worship, the more God is glorified.

Make Time

In everyday life, there are so many things pulling you in different directions. So many things fighting for your attention. Things fighting for your worship.

We’re either worshiping God or we’re worshiping something else. But we can’t worship both. Worship is how we respond to the thing we value the absolute most! The thing we spend most of our time thinking about, doing, giving the most attention to, putting all our energy into is what we worship.

True worship is your response to how great you know God to be. We should worship Him with everything we have, everything we are, and everything we do.

When I was doing the research for this message I came across some quotes from A. W. Tozer about worship.

Tozer was an American pastor, author, editor and mentor. More than 60 books were compiled from sermons he preached and articles he wrote. Here are a few of those quotes about worship:

“The church that can’t worship must be entertained. And men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.”

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”

“We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end.”

“If you’re not worshiping God on Monday the way you did the day before, perhaps you’re not worshiping him at all.”

“Worship is no longer worship when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us.”

“We must never rest until everything inside us worships God.”

When we worship in spirit and truth we do what Paul urges us to do in;

Romans 12:1 (NLT)1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Because God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you—because God loves you so much—because God has done great things in our lives—our only natural response to all of that should be the sacrifice of our whole lives.

There is a gospel song, by Richard Smallwood the title is “Jesus You’re The Center Of My Joy”.

The lyrics of that song are;

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

All that's good and perfect comes from you

You're the heart of my contentment, hope for all I do

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

When I've lost my direction, you're the compass for my way

You're the fire and light when nights are long and cold

In sadness, you are the laughter that shatters all my fears

When I'm all alone, your hand is there to hold,

You are why I find pleasure in the simple things in life

You're the music in the meadows and the streams

The voices of the children, my family, and my home

You're the source and finish of my highest dreams,

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

All that's good and perfect comes from you

You're the heart of my contentment, hope for all I do

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

Worshiping God isn’t just something you do, it’s the way you live. Worship can be as intense as spending an hour every day in quiet time listening and talking to God. It can be something as simple as when you go to work, or to volunteer, or to talking just talking to someone on the street and thanking God for the opportunity that He has given you. You realize that it’s because of Him that you get to do any of these things.

Jesus, sometimes we are too embarrassed to celebrate you the way that we should. Please help us to worship you in spirit and in truth, without worrying about what other people might think. I your name we pray Amen.

Sermon Audio How Do We Worship In Spirit And In Truth

Sunday, September 3, 2017

What Does It Mean To Delight Yourself In The Lord? - A Sermon

This is the manuscript of the sermon that I preached at Christ Church, Los Angeles, CA September 3, 2017.

When we truly delight ourselves in the Lord, then we desire His will more that our own. Yes, God really does give us the desires of our hearts when we delight ourselves in Him.

Psalm 37:1-4 (NKJV)1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb.3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

This is a scripture that we Christians take great pleasure in quoting. We quote and claim this because we believe that if we do in fact delight ourselves in the Lord He will give us whatever we ask.

There are a couple of others we love to quote too:

John 14:13-14 (NKJV)13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Well most of us know from experience that God doesn’t always give us what we want or ask for. So I have two questions. One, if we don’t get what we ask God for does that mean that we aren’t delighting ourselves in the Lord? The other question is after we know what it means to delight ourselves in the Lord how do we do it?

Delight yourself in the Lord

When we read all of Psalm 37 we see that David was upset because of the prosperity of the wicked. They don’t follow God and yet everything looks like it’s going great for them. But while the wicked do enjoy carnal or physical things, we should never envy them, because as we see when we read the entire Psalm that the end of the wicked is destruction.

Psalm 37:38 (NKJV)38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

But I’m not going to talk about the wicked today because this Psalm says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord that He will give us our heart’s desires. So we should look at and delight in the things of God and His Kingdom and not worry about the wicked because David says that we will be rewarded with the desires of our hearts, if we delight in the Lord.

The Hebrew word translated delight in Psalm 37 is “anag” (aw-nag). “Anag” means something “delicate” or “soft” that a person would enjoy, and take delight in.

Isaiah uses the same word of a nursing child who delights in his mother;

Isaiah 66:11 (NKJV) That you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, That you may drink deeply and be delighted With the abundance of her glory."

So the enjoyment that a baby has when nursing is the kind of enjoyment we should have in our relationship with God.

When you have that kind of delight in something, you’re constantly thinking about it, and when you think about it you smile. When things get tough, thinking about it lifts your spirits. That’s the kind of delight David is talking about. That’s the kind of delight we should have in the Lord.

This Delight is Mutual

According to Psalm 37:4 if we have that kind of delight in the Lord then the Lord will give us the desires of our hearts. That shows that it is a mutual relationship. We delight in the Lord... and when we do He will give us our heart’s desires.

Here’s an example of what I mean from the book of Zephaniah

Zephaniah 3:14-17 (NLT) 14 Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 For the LORD will remove his hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy. And the LORD himself, the King of Israel, will live among you! At last your troubles will be over, and you will never again fear disaster. 16 On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be, “Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid! 17 For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

What Zephaniah said was the nation of Israel was to rejoice. In other words delight themselves in the Lord because He was with them. Then he says, in verse 17, that because He was with them He delighted in them. That means that we are to find our delight in our relationship with the Lord.

How do We Delight Ourselves in the Lord?

We delight ourselves in the Lord by doing what pleases Him.

Matthew Henry in his Exposition of the Old and New Testaments said “He has not promised to gratify all the appetites of the body, but to grant all the desires of the heart, all the cravings of the renewed sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and live to God, to please him and to be pleased in him.”

Delighting ourselves in the Lord means that our thoughts are constant towards God and that everything we do is in obedience to Him. Let’s go back to Psalm 37.

Psalm 37:5 (NKJV) Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him,

Psalm 37:7-8 (NKJV)7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; Do not fret--it only causes harm.

Psalm 37:27 (NKJV) Depart from evil, and do good;

Psalm 37:34 (NKJV) Wait on the LORD, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

God wants the kind of delightful friendship, which develops through commitment, trust, and patience.

• First, a believer must commit his or her ways to God.

Psalm 139:23-24 (NKJV)23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;24 And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

This means that we invite the Lord to examine our desires and intentions—and change whatever does not fit His purpose or advance His plan for our life.

• Second, a believer must trust God.

Romans 8:32 (NKJV)32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Who is more worthy of our faith than the Father, who gave Jesus Christ to save wicked sinners? The One who would not spare His only Son will certainly provide all that His children need

• Third, a believer must rest in God.

Psalm 27:13-14 (NKJV)13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

When we fret about an issue or something that we consider necessary, we are neither committing ourselves to the Lord nor trusting in Him. Because our human viewpoint is extremely limited, waiting patiently is not easy. God, however, has infinite wisdom and knows when circumstances and timing are perfectly aligned for His will to be done.

That’s easy to say and do and when things are going great, but what about those times when you or a loved one is seriously ill, your finances are at a point where you don’t know how you are going to survive, a marriage is falling apart, you just lost your job with no prospects for finding another one, you have a wayward child, or any other catastrophe.

So let’s say you do those three things; commit your way to the Lord, trust Him, and rest in Him and things don’t change. The key is to believe in the promises of God and to trust that what He says He can do He will do.

To delight yourself in the Lord is to completely submit to and accept His will. When catastrophe strikes, the only way that we can continue to delight ourselves in the Lord is by yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit even helps us pray when the don’t know what to say or what to even pray for;

Romans 8:26-28 (NKJV)26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

But The Question Still Is Will God Really Give You the Desires of Your Heart?

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Delighting ourselves in the Lord means that we find peace and fulfilment in Him. Does that mean if we go to church every Sunday, bible study every week, have a long quiet time with Him every day, feed the poor, pray for the sick, and “seek and save the lost”, that He will give us a new Mercedes, a big new house, or lots of money? He may do those things but that’s not what Psalm 37 or other scriptures say. The idea in Psalm 37 and other scriptures is that if we really delight in the things of God, then our desires will start to look like His desires for us. Chances are that when you delight in the Lord your greatest desires will not be for material things but your priority will be on Him. When that happens He will fulfill every one of our desires, because those desires will be the ones that He has for us.

While wealth, status, and material possessions are good things, and there is nothing wrong with any of them, they are temporary and can never really satisfy. The more material things we have the more we want. The more prestige we have the more we want. The more money we have the more we want. If your “desires” are for the stuff of this world that would detract from your complete satisfaction in God, then you aren’t truly delighting yourself in Him.

Again there is nothing wrong with any of these things but they are all temporary. The things of God’s kingdom are the things that will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NKJV)16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

When you delight yourself in the Lord you will say like Paul said in;

Philippians 3:8-9 (NKJV)8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Many people delight in wealth, status, material possessions, and other temporary things of this world, but they are never satisfied. They never truly get what they want, they are always wanting more. Just like Solomon said all that stuff is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NKJV)2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

Meaning all the temporary things of this life are meaningless when compared to the things of the Kingdom of God and everlasting life with Him.

At end of Ecclesiastes he said

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NKJV)13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.

14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

Everything that Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes from beginning to end was summed us with this thought;

The only way that you can enjoy this life and delight yourself in the Lord is by committing, trusting and waiting on God because He is in control, and He can be expected to reward righteousness.

Material things, prestige, position and the other things the world offers will never completely satisfy or fulfill us. God is the one who will meet all of our needs. He will always provide above and beyond our expectations.

Philippians 4:19 (NKJV) And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:20-21 (NKJV)20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

God will satisfy the desires of anyone who is truly delighting in Him because those desires will be according to His will. The key to enjoying life is not in getting God to give us what we want. It’s in learning to want what a loving God wants to give us.

When we delight ourselves in the Lord we are content;

Philippians 4:11-13 (NKJV)11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

We will never be deeply fulfilled or “happy” with the things this world has to offer. If we place our joy and hope in God first, He will meet all of our needs. If we truly place priority on the Lord, chances are our heart’s greatest desire will not be a big house or lots of money, but eternal treasures in Christ. He will grant the things we want as our hearts’ desires begin to match up with His will. Then we will be really praying like Jesus taught when He gave the disciples the model for prayer and we say; “Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done.

When we truly delight ourselves in the Lord, then we desire His will more that our own. Yes, God really does give us the desires of our hearts when we delight ourselves in Him.

Let’s pray;

Heavenly Father if you see wrong in us, any delight that is not your delight, any habit or sin that grieves you please forgive us. Teach us to walk in and live according to your Word. Produce in us the desire to make Jesus our example for all things. Cause us to delight in your Word which is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our pathways. Thank you for delighting in us by giving us your Holy Spirit who guides us so that in all our ways we will acknowledge you knowing that when we do and when we delight ourselves in you that our desires will become what You desire for us. This is our prayer in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

God’s desire for you is that you first accept His Son as your Lord and Savior. If you haven’t done that the there is no way that you can really delight yourself in the Lord and no way that He will give you the desires of your heart. There’s something in the way of developing that mutual relationship. That something that’s in the way is sin. God sent His Son to get that out of the way. Jesus accepted the penalty for sin for you. pay the price for your sin. That penalty was His death on the cross. When you acknowledge that He did this for you you will be well on the road of delighting yourself in the Lord. The scripture says

Romans 10:8-11 (NKJV)8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

If you’ve never done this or you’re not really sure that if you die today that you will be with the Lord now is your opportunity to be absolutely sure.

Benediction

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.