God Never Laughs at an Honest Heart — Carter Conlon

Wisdom's Call in Proverbs

If you'll turn with me to the book of Proverbs, please, right after the book of Psalms. For those that are new to the Lord, you'll find the book of Proverbs. And if you have it on your iPad, I don't know how to do that.

You'll have to figure that out yourself, or your phone. But the book of Proverbs, chapter one. God never laughs at an honest heart. God never laughs at an honest heart. Father, I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit.

I praise you, God, and I bless you with all my heart today. Lord, we feel in our hearts that you are drawing us to yourself. Lord, we feel in our hearts that there's no fear in being drawn towards you.

Lord, you speak to us for good and not for evil. Help us to understand this. Help me, Lord, to convey your heart today. Speak through this vessel. I yield my body to you, Lord, as a living sacrifice for your purpose in this pulpit.

What a great privilege, Lord, to stand and allow you to speak through me. I ask you, Lord, to overshadow my frailty and my weakness, Lord. I ask you to cover me and speak through me. Father, bless every life, every heart.

God, give life where there's death. Give clear thinking where there's confusion, freedom where there's bondage. God Almighty, God Almighty, give a sense of purpose that can only come from you, Holy Spirit.

I thank you for what you will do this day. I thank you that we are living in a season of the miraculous, and you will never laugh at an honest heart, no matter the depth of our struggle, and I praise you for it in Jesus' name, amen.

Proverbs chapter one, beginning at verse 20 to the end of the chapter. Wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses at the openings of the gates in the city.

She speaks her words. How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke. Surely, I will pour out my spirit on you.

I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I've stretched out my hand and no one regarded. Because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity.

I will mock when your terror comes. When your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer.

They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies.

Society's Rejection of Truth

For the turning away of the simple will slay them and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil. Now, this week, while I was at home, I was watching a panel discussion in a local news network about our present day.

And right out of the blue, one of the panelists put forward a question which I felt emanated from an honest heart. It wasn't part of the script. It actually took people by surprise. Suddenly, this one panelist just blurted out a question very similar to what I've written down.

What is it about our society that we will consider electing obvious corruption into public office simply because we perceive it to be to our advantage? What has happened to truth? Why does it no longer matter?

And what are we collectively becoming as a people? It was a profound question. It was a profound moment, really. And it caught the panel who usually have no shortage of things to say. If you're watching any of the news today, there's no shortage of things to discuss.

But suddenly, the whole panel drew back in shock and surprise. And the hesitation was awkward. It was an awkward moment. And what it showed me as I was watching it is that there was an initial thought which everyone on that panel had to subdue in their minds.

Something came to the surface, and it was like people's mouths opened, but it was as if they couldn't speak it. They couldn't say it. Maybe it was just too not in vogue or perhaps too simplistic an answer.

When they finally got around to answering the question of this one panelist, the answer was vague with its usual list of suspects. As a matter of fact, it was so vague that I can't even tell you what they said.

Because it didn't make sense. The answer didn't make sense. But it was amazing. It's as if somebody asks you a question and says to you, for example, where were you last night? You know where you were, but you don't wanna say it.

So you draw back just for a moment. It should be obvious where you were. And you try to think of all the places where you could have been. And you begin to give that as an answer. But the hesitation tells a huge story.

I believe it was a situation where wisdom, once again, was crying out for a response. In our opening scripture, we talked about wisdom is God in society. God's presence, God's spirit, the knowledge of God is crying out for a response from this generation.

And the response was simple. It's the one thing nobody could say. We have turned away from God. That is why truth doesn't matter. That's why we will elect people who are corrupt into public office. That is what we are collectively becoming as a people and as a nation.

We have turned away from God. And the amazing thing is, I could tell people knew that answer. I could see it on their faces. The hesitation, the awkwardness. That answer came immediate to the surface.

It's like a moment of conscience, but nobody will dare speak it. Nobody wants to be laughed at. Considered so at vogue in this generation. Too simplistic an answer for our complex society that we now have.

The Hardening of the Collective Conscience

I believe that this generation still knows this initial response, but we are at a crossroads now. We are in danger of becoming so hardened against God that this initial thought will one day soon vanish from the collective consciousness of American society.

I want you to hear me on this. We are at the edge of losing the awareness of God as a people. We have tipped, we tipped several years ago into godlessness. The majority of this society now are not godly.

The majority are godless. The majority do not want the things of God. The majority want the things of godlessness, which is why that question in the first place even has to be asked. It's a sad moment for this nation.

It's a sad moment for this society. To even have to speak a message like this, that we are in danger of following the course of history that other nations have followed before us, of so pushing away truth out of our consciousness that eventually it's not even there anymore.

Proverbs 21, 29 says a wicked man hardens his face. Proverbs 28, 19 says he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. Proverbs 29, verse one said he was often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.

The destruction will be swift, it will come and there will be no way out. There'll be no sudden turning. Just like with Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament, the principle here is that the human heart has the capability of becoming so hardened against actual and real truth.

Your heart has that capability, you know, so does mine. Only the Holy Spirit and the truth of God can keep us from it. But we have that capability of declaring evil to be good and good to be evil. We are doing it now as a society at a rapid pace, an alarming pace.

You should be alarmed. Every one of us should be alarmed. We can become so hardened, so corrupt in forming our own declaration of good and evil that our hearts become as set as concrete, no longer able to recognize a return to truth no matter how clearly it is presented to them.

Sodom, Judgment, and the Rejection of God's Messengers

Think about it for a moment. Two angels came into Sodom. Two angels representing pure truth and reflecting the glory and the justice of God. Both were there, mercy and justice. Both walked with these two messengers of God.

So what was the response of that society? How hard had it become? The response was that people in that culture tried to forcibly attempt to make the messengers from God partakers of their sin. If you want to be blunt about it, they wanted to rape them.

That's how vile they had gotten. That's how immoral society can become. That's where when we take away the boundaries, when we take away the ethic of law and right order as God prescribes it, there is no limitation now to what humankind is capable of doing.

Almost unthinkable, but that's where humanity had gotten to. That was the flashpoint of God's judgment. When wickedness tries to make the messengers of God partakers of its sin, that is the end of that society.

And if you don't think wickedness is knocking on the door of the church of Jesus Christ today, then you are not reading the news that I'm reading today. We are very close to that point that came upon that society.

Revelation's Warning About Unrepentant Humanity

In the book of Revelation, you don't have to turn there, I'll just read it to you. In chapter 14, it tells us in the last days of this world as we know it, that this same scene that happened in Sodom and Gomorrah will repeat itself again.

Verses six and seven, listen to what John says. Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, in the last days, folks, of this world, as it's going to be known, in the last days, angels are going to preach.

That's what John saw. And saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth and the sea and the springs of water.

So we ask ourselves, what kind of a response, what kind of a response do you think that society will give, that society yet to come will give to actual angels, calling them to repentance? Just over in chapter 16 in verse nine, it says, and men were scorched with great heat and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues and they did not repent to give him glory.

Even though Peter the apostle says the heavens will be on fire in the last days. You know, if you know anything about nuclear weaponry, Karl Oppenheimer, who was actually the inventor of the nuclear bomb that was used in World War II, the first time he tested it was gravely afraid.

I remember reading his book. He was gravely afraid that he was going to set the atmosphere on fire because he knew the capability of what he had created. And he feared that even just the test of it would set the heavens on fire.

Not fully understanding, I'm sure, the scriptures. And that weapon was only a small portion of the capability that we have today. And even though the heavens appear to be on fire, according to the apostle Peter, even though angels are preaching in the skies in the last days of time, they did not repent and give him glory.

The human heart will have become so hard that, in other words, they will not admit that God's ways are right and our ways are wrong. That's what it means. They will not repent and give him glory. They will not say, Lord, your ways are right, ours are wrong.

We have created this calamity because of our rebellion against you. They cannot, they will not, as I said, their hearts are like cement. They become like stone. They cannot be turned. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues because of pain.

They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and their sores and did not repent of their deeds. No matter how difficult it gets, and God's mercy is, God's judgment is just because it will come in segments and give at every opportunity a chance for people to turn from their sin, but they'll have become so hard in their hearts that all they can do is curse God.

They will not give him glory. They will not declare his ways to be right and humankind's ways to be wrong, and they will not repent of what they're doing. They will not turn from it and turn to God no matter how he tries to bring them to a place of mercy.

False Christs and the Recreated Jesus

The human heart is so hard when it turns away from God. That's why it's dangerous for anybody here today. You're hearing a message from the word of God. You're going to hear about the opportunity to turn to Christ, but every time you harden your heart against truth, every time you put it off till tomorrow, it puts another layer of hardness there, another, it makes it just easier every time to somehow just duck away from the word of God and never have to deal with it.

You know, there are people in the last days that will call out to a form of God they have crafted. There are going to be, Christ said, there's gonna be all kinds of false Christs and false prophets leading them to these false Christs, and they will abound.

They're not gonna be just a few. It's as many are going to rise up, and many are going to be deceived. They're going to turn to a Jesus, but it's a Jesus created out of the human spirit, not the Christ of the text of Scripture, and they're gonna call out to this Jesus that they have crafted, but it's a God over whom they still retain in their own minds the right to dictate to and ultimately control.

They're creating a Jesus, but it's a Jesus they can steer. May I put it that way? It's not a Jesus who has the right to their lives. It's not a Christ who bought them with his blood. It's not a Christ who declares that it's reasonable to give their lives for his purposes as a living sacrifice.

It's not a Christ who says, come, follow me, take up your cross. No, it's a whole other Jesus, and you see, many people will call out to this Jesus, but they will not get an answer because it isn't the real Christ.

It's a Christ out of the hardness of the human heart, but remember, at the end of what I read in the opening text, he said, but whoever listens to me will dwell safely and be secure without fear of evil.

Hearing God's Word Today

Whoever listens to me, whoever opens his heart, her heart, whoever is willing to say, God, my ways are not your ways. Lord, just prove me. As David the psalmist cried, prove me. Reprove me. I don't wanna just read your Bible.

Let your Bible read me. Search me, God. No, see if there's anything inside of me, God, that is wicked, anything that's gonna lead me astray. God, search me. You see, that's the cry of the honest heart, the cry of the one who will dwell in safety is not afraid of the word of God, not afraid of what God, not trying to recraft God into their own image, but they're willing to say, God, speak to my heart.

And folks, you have to understand, we're living in a dangerous moment in history right now, a danger. Did you know that the president of Russia is telling his people to prepare for nuclear war with the United States?

Did you know that? Did you know that you and I are not guaranteed tomorrow? If they do decide to strike the United States, where do you think they're gonna hit first? You aren't guaranteed tomorrow. You aren't guaranteed.

That's why the writer of Hebrews, he's writing in the context of people who are trying through the law to craft another way to redemption and trying to push away the total redemption of the cross. But yet still in this, you find a principle that applies to you and I today in the context of what I'm speaking.

The writer of Hebrews in chapter three, in verse seven, he says, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Today, today, not tomorrow, not next week.

Don't put it off for next month. I'll leave that. I'll leave that adulterous relationship tomorrow. You might not have a tomorrow, sir or ma 'am. Today, today, today, today, Sunday, end of October, New York City, Times Square Church, today, if you can hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

The Deceitfulness of Sin and Sustained Disobedience

Beware, brethren, verse 12 and 13 of Hebrews three, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Beware of being hardened through the deceptive power of sin. When you let something into your life that God says is wrong and you try to declare it to be right, or you try to plea bargain or negotiate it with God, it has a deceptive power.

You can end up in a place that you don't want. I could give you some examples from this congregation that would shock you of people who attend here, raise their hands, declare to love God, and have come to me with some of the most preposterous situations.

Would you pray that my boyfriend would leave his wife so he can marry me? A prayer request. Hardened, hardened, hardened. Not novices in this congregation. Hardened through the deceptive power of sin.

Getting to the point of not even understanding how wrong this is, how captivating it can be, how blinding it is. Hebrews 3 .15. Again, the writer says, today, if you'll hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

In other words, beware of thinking that you know a better way than that which God in Christ Jesus has ordained for you. Beware of thinking that your ways are better than God's. Hebrews chapter four, verses five to seven.

Again, the writer says, and again in this place, they shall not enter into my rest, since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience.

And again, he designates a certain day, saying in David, today, after such a long time, today, if you'll hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Beware of willful and sustained disobedience to where his mercy is leading you.

The Pastor's Warning and God's Safety

You folks, you have to understand something. As your pastor, I'm not against you, I'm for you. Don't you understand that? I feel sometimes like I'm standing on the other side of a fence. You're standing, some people are standing in the midst of a four-lane highway playing with a ball, and you don't see what's coming your way.

You don't understand the danger of the moment. And you set your judgment above those that God has, the word of God, and those that God has set over you to watch for you. You see, if you do these things, the rest that God promised through Jesus Christ will always be outside of your reach.

You see, whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure without fear of evil. Safe and secure. I'm not afraid for tomorrow, folks. That's not an idle boast, that's the truth. God knows it.

I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of what comes. But I am afraid for you, for some, who just fall into these categories of knowing the answer, and it comes to conscience, but can't bring yourself to say it.

I'm living outside the will of God. I'm doing something I know that I shouldn't be doing. I'm involved in something I know is wrong, and I'm justifying it constantly. And that's why in Proverbs chapter one, verse 23, listen to this now.

He says, turn at my rebuke, and I will surely pour out my spirit on you. I'll make my words known to turn at my rebuke, and this book will open to you like a flower, and it will explode inside your heart, and you'll begin to understand things you didn't know before and the power of God to become everything that God has destined you to be will suddenly be released inside your life.

God's Welcome to the Honest Heart

God will never laugh. You see, the scripture says, there's a certain generation that says, you hated my counsel, you despised my reproof, you wouldn't listen to what I said, so that when your calamity comes, then you'll start to call, but I won't answer you.

But God will never laugh at or mock the heart that is sincerely wanting him, never. It's really the mocker that he laughs at. It's the person who really knew but mocked him, really knew but disdained him, really knew but did not choose.

To walk with him. But he'll never laugh at or mock the heart that's sincerely wanting him, no matter how deep or how far from him your mistakes have led you. You think of the book of Acts chapter 27 when people on that ship decided to go on a journey and the word of God was there warning them that this journey was going to incur loss, not just of substance, but lives were going to be lost.

But they ignored the apostle Paul and they stuck him in the belly of the ship and they just pushed him away like this generation has somewhat done to the church of Jesus Christ and the messengers of God.

But then suddenly the storm arose. And those same people that had ignored the warnings, that had ignored the word of God, suddenly had an awakening of conscience, may I call it. And they called for the apostle Paul who stood on the deck and he started to give them instruction.

He showed them the boundaries of where safety was. Don't look for an escape route apart from the word of God. Don't listen to any other voice but the voice of God. I have a word from God for you. Listen to this word.

Don't look for another route. Don't look for any other pathway. Don't seek out any other plan. Don't formulate any other escape route. Listen to the word of God. That's where your protection is. Cut off the lifeboats, he says.

Do this, do that. Take some meat. I love it. Paul says, take some meat. In other words, listen, you can't live the Christian life on snowflakes. You have to get some meat out of the word of God. You have to go into this book.

Take some meat. He said, it's gonna be for your health because it's gonna be a long, it's gonna be a difficult journey. You're gonna be, I know some of you can't swim, but there's lots of wood to go around.

You grab hold of that cross and you're gonna make it to shore. Now, those people weren't necessarily spiritually saved because of the word of God that came at that time, but they were physically saved so they could make a decision on their eternity.

And after they chose to listen to the word of God and all 276, which is a miracle in itself, in a storm of that magnitude, made it to shore. After that, they saw the miraculous power of God. They saw that a snake that would kill anybody couldn't kill the apostle Paul.

They saw the power of God flowing through the same hands the devil tried to influence and destroy. They saw and they had an opportunity to receive Christ as their savior. You see, if you can hear, God will never laugh at you.

The Prodigal Son and the Father's Mercy

Story in the Bible of a son of his father who just took off, went far away from his father's house and his father's heart. And then one day he just, he still had a conscience. You see, that's what I'm trying to get across.

If you can still hear, he still had a conscience and he said, what am I doing here? Everyone's got a good in my father's house and I'm starving in this place. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna go back. His father didn't laugh at him.

And this is New Testament. This is Christ talking about the heart of God. He didn't mock him. He saw him coming and he ran to him. And when he ran to him, he covered him. He covered his failure. He gave him power over his weakness.

He gave him shoes for a journey to tell others about who God is and let him become partakers of his joy. Brought him into the house. The scripture says where there was music and dancing. Didn't we do that today?

Didn't we hear, I can dance. I forget the name of the song, but I can dance in the presence of God. And we saw our elder Vicki dance before the Lord unashamedly because you do that when you're in right relationship with God.

The Urgency of Responding Today

That's the peace. That's the security. That's the lack of fear when evil comes. And I guess that's the word that the Lord's given me for you today. If you can hear, I don't know why God is so impressing this on my heart, but I don't know how many tomorrows we have, folks.

I just don't know. But I tell you one thing, you shouldn't gamble with it. If you can hear him today, have the courage to say, God, my ways are not your ways. Have the courage to say, my deeds are not your deeds.

This is not your will for my life. I know this is not your will for my life. I know I'm not living, thinking, doing, speaking, acting in the way that glorifies you. And forgive me for trying to come to church and make it right when it isn't.

Today, I hear you, Lord. I'm not gonna be like that news panel that draws back and knows the answer, but won't speak it. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna harden my heart. I'm not gonna be part of this society that goes over a collective cliff of a dulled and burnt conscience.

I'm not going to do it. I'm gonna stand for you, oh God, and I'm gonna believe that in the coming storm, you're gonna use my life to make a difference like you use the Apostle Paul. I'm gonna stand for truth.

I'm gonna stand in truth. I'm gonna stand with truth. I don't care who mocks me. I don't care who laughs. I don't care who says it's out of fashion or out of vogue. I'm gonna stand with Christ and I'm gonna stand in the truth of God.

I'm gonna stand for the truth of God as much as I know it. I'm gonna walk in the truth of God as much as it's revealed to me. And I trust in my pursuit of Christ that if I falter, if I fail, if I've fallen short, that I am covered by the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

I thank God for that with all my heart. But I hear it today and I'm not among those who are coming to church to play games with God and hope that my attendance just gives me a form of fire insurance. I'm here because I want to live with God and for God.

I'm here because I want to walk with God. You know, I know there's a lot of young people here today that say, oh, pastor, if I go all the way with God, I'm thinking of all that I have to lose. I want you to think about what you lose if you don't go all the way with God.

You'd regret this day for the rest of eternity. You were here, you heard, you walked away. Today, today, I never thought I'd be standing in this public pleading with people. I preached like this once before on a Tuesday night.

I kept repetitively saying, you don't know if you're going to have tomorrow. Today is your day. Shortly after the service, a man just in his 40s dropped dead right on the sidewalk right out here. I ran to him, he was dead when I got to him.

I ran out, I was sitting in a restaurant just around the corner and I ran out. First thing I was looking for was a Bible in his hand. Did he hear me? Did he just, did he hear me tonight? Did he just put it off for one more day?

Did he just say, well, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, I'll get it right with God? Just in his 40s and just walking by right in front of where Pastor Teresa and I were sitting, dropped dead right on the sidewalk.

The Altar Call: Turn to God Today

You don't know. You say, pastor, are you trying to scare me? Yes, I am trying to scare you. And if you're not walking with God, you have every reason to be scared. You do, you do. You don't know the day of his return.

You don't know what tomorrow's going to bring. None of us do. Today, today, today. And that's my altar call this morning. You know what to do. You know what you need to do. I don't have to start listing all the sins and behaviors and such like.

You already know. You know what to do. And I wanna open this altar and between the screens in the annex and the same in North Jersey and those that are at home online, you just can stand up in your living room, your kitchen, your bedroom, wherever you happen to be right now.

But today, you say, God, I hear you today. Thank God I still hear you, Lord. Today, I'm not gonna harden my heart. I'm not gonna rebel. I'm not gonna try to declare my way better than your way, God. I am going to walk with you as best as I know how for the rest of my life, and it's going to begin today.

I'm going to start trusting the word of God to get out of my storm that I find myself in. If I'm far from the house of God, if I'm far from the heart of my father, I'm getting up and I'm going home and I'm doing it today.

I'm not gonna wait till tomorrow. I'm going to get right with you, Lord, today. I'm gonna start believing you today. I'm gonna put my family in your hands and my future today. I'm giving it all to you, Lord.

And I'm asking you, oh God, as according to your word, that if I will do this, you will keep me quiet, you'll place your rest in quietness and I will not be afraid of evil. That's your promise to me. And so, Lord, today, today, today.

Oh, please. Oh, please. Today. Do it today. Come to him today. Put away what needs to be put away today. Don't put it off till tomorrow. Do it now. Father, I thank you, Lord, that I have delivered your heart and I'm asking you, Lord, to help these precious men and women, young and old, to make a good decision today.

Sometimes we don't even know how we're going to do this, but we do know that you're calling us to trust you for the strength. You said if we would turn, you would pour out your spirit upon us and make your words known.

So we take you at your word, Lord. We trust you for the direction and the power to do what we need to do. God, I thank you with all my heart. I praise you. The Lord's spoken to your heart. We're going to stand in a moment.

I'm going to ask you to balcony, go to either exit in the main sanctuary, slip out and just come and join with me today. Just come and join with me here today. And we're going to pray for the strength that we all need to live a life that brings glory to God.

Please, would you stand? The Lord's speaking to your heart while we worship, just come. You know, those of you, those of you who are at the altar today, you're the smartest people on the planet. You really are.

You're putting yourself in a place of protection, provision, security, and joy. Even in the midst of storms and trials, you're making the smartest move that anyone in humanity could ever make. I'm putting myself in the hands of God.

And Lord, I'm just going to do it your way. Whatever you say that is, that's what it is. I'm going to live for you. I'm going to trust you. And what you say is right, I'll embrace it. And what you say is wrong, I'll let it go.

And I'm going to trust you for the power. And you said, if I would turn, you would pour out your spirit upon me. That means that you'd give me a power that can only come from God, through the third person of God, to become what God has called me to be.

And everything really my heart's ever longed for, God will make me and make me into. I let go of relationships that are drowning me, and I lay hold of one that will lift me. The hand of God, the son of God.

And I trust you, Lord, to meet the loneliness in my heart. I trust you, God, I put away the substance that I'm putting in my body to try to make me feel good, which is really just causing me to spiral down into despair, and I lay hold of that substance that you say will make me feel good, will be my strength, and will be my portion.

And for those who feel successful here this morning, it's the person who really is successful is the person who says, God, I let go of my life plans. And I lay hold of your plan for my life. What a phenomenal difference it is.

And the end result of walking with God is the absence of fear. That's how you can know. I'm not afraid of tomorrow. I know who holds tomorrow. I know where I'm going when tomorrow's finished. I know it in my heart.

Hallelujah. I'm just gonna pray for you, if you don't mind. Father, I thank you for these men and women that have come to this altar today. I thank you for those in their hearts that have responded today online, and even in this sanctuary.