Good morning. Uh my name is Dennis and I’m here with Aaron uh Kranton and his wife Wanda. And we are uh the old Strath Kona street outreach ministry and we work here in the uh in the old Strath Kona area where we spend our time six days a week on the streets of Old Strath Kona and we minister to the homeless and the addicted who live here. men and women who have become our friends and our neighbors over the years. And uh we are joined by a number of regular volunteers as we offer a helping hand to those wishing to improve their situation in their lives. And along with our daily walks on the street, we have a number of programs that we employ to assist our efforts in that in that u uh thought. It’s fall time and uh because the the uh the fireside room is now cool enough that you can actually sit in there all day long. Um we uh we are showing episodes of The Chosen. And um The Chosen, for you, those of you who may not know is um is it’s a series uh based on the life of Jesus and his ministry before he was crucified. Um, we have this every Thursday at 100 p.m. in the fireside room and uh there are members from this church who uh attend and what we do is we um we show an episode and after the episode is done uh there’s a discussion period and uh as far as I’m concerned this is this is the best part of the whole the whole afternoon. uh the things that that we hear on a day-to-day basis. People who who come into this building, visit this building and see this u this uh um series on on a weekly basis. Um people who have had an relationship with God. Some who want a relationship with God, others who don’t know yet but are there to find out about their relationship with God through Jesus. come to these uh me uh episodes and watch it on a weekly basis and the insights and and the experiences that they have on a daily basis just blows my mind. The things that come out of the come out of their hearts and their souls and they’re sharing. Uh everyone is welcome. The entire community is is welcome to come. Anyone from the church here if you’d like to come. It starts at 1:00. Uh after the uh discussion session, we set up the chairs in the fireside room. Uh there’s a hot lunch that’s pro uh that’s served. Um and this is uh food that is brought in been prepared in other places by other churches, other individuals, other uh people who uh partner with us. And we serve it and we sit down and we break bread with our friends and neighbors from the street and just have a time of fellowship and friendship. And it’s a wonderful, wonderful experience. Um there’s days we don’t get out of there till 4:30, 5:00 and it’s just amazing. Uh every um the second Tuesday of every month we have u haircut day and that happens right down in the gymnasium and uh we set up a little barber shop and it kind of reminds me of an old country style barber shop where uh you know where pe people come in, hang around, talk, may not even get a haircut, you just come in and and have some conversation. And this again is open to uh everyone in the in the neighborhood. It starts at uh uh 11:00 a.m. in the morning and goes till 1:00 p.m. And if a few people um if a few people come that uh we we weren’t counting on uh this lady that does the work will stay extra. She is uh from one of the partnering uh uh churches we have from the Tilligar area. She’s a hair uh dresser. She owns a business and she comes once a month and gives of her time and efforts um to um do beards, haircuts. Uh look how good I look today. I mean she she’s a dream, you know. And um she does ladies hair as well. So um uh again this it’s more than just a haircut. Um it’s people gathering in in in fellowship, in friendship, in community. Um there’s coffee, there’s snacks. Uh there’s a lot of good nature talking, ribbing, joking, and it’s just a really good time on a Tuesday morning. Uh again, if any of you u were to uh decide to drop in, love to have you and um maybe uh maybe get that beard trim, maybe get that haircut, guys. It never hurts. Um we have a fellow by the name of Alistister who works through uh uh Alberta Health Services and he’s a qualified certified psychologist and he has made himself available to us u upon request. Uh Alistister um lives in the neighborh neighborhood. He’s close and he has set aside Thursdays for days to come and see people who just need someone to talk to. Somebody who need a few m some people who need a few minutes to you know just air their exasperations, their problems, their issues and just somebody to to share with. And Alistister uh uh comes and he does this of his own free will, his own free time. and his program allows him to come in and give these services free to our friends uh who and neighbors who come in off the street and need this. Uh we have a U AA meeting here every Wednesday night at 7:30 and uh again it’s open to the entire community. We started this about um three years ago. Three, four, beginning of the pandmic. You didn’t answer my question. Five. Okay. About about five years ago. You’re I I don’t do math on Sunday morning. Um yeah, about five years ago. And uh it was basically u uh started to accommodate the people on the streets. They they didn’t have anywhere to go. Um there’s a a huge amount of uh addiction and alcoholism out there like substances and alcohol and um they had nowhere to go. um and and um there was the traditional established um meetings that were out there and programs that are out there, but many of them felt, you know, that maybe they weren’t welcome, maybe they didn’t fit. And so um uh we got together with some people with the mustard seed and we started that five years ago. And uh it has um it’s taken off and it has some traction. Today it is now mainstream uh uh AA. It’s on the AA website uh and it’s uh listed um uh right there on Wednesday uh evening at 7:30 and uh we’re having a lot of people from regular AA meetings come in which is wonderful because people who are coming in who are new, they want to hear and they want to see that this could work for them. And when you have people with long-term sobriety showing up and giving their stories, that gives hope, that gives uh uh people the the motivation to carry on and keep on going and keep coming back and um maybe get that help for themselves. Um we have a step five person um at our uh at our beckoning call, if you will. Um, I’ve agreed not to use this person’s name as one of the clergy in the uh neighborhood. And he’s available for fivestep uh work. And um in the 12 steps of uh Alcoholics Anonymous, the fifth step uh says u admitted to ourselves to God and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. And uh uh that’s what he does veer wellversed in it. This man uh uh has had his own issues as well in um with substances etc. and he freely gives of his time and sets up sets up five-step uh work for people who might need them. last Wednesday of uh of every month we go to Laurier Heights where there’s a group of people called the House of Prayer and uh they partner with us um uh in prayer and and they partner with us financially as well and uh we go there every Wednesday morning uh the last morning uh Wednesday of the month and we go with a list of people uh to pray for people that have come to our minds, people who are on our hearts and we show we give that list and the people from that group. That’s all they do. They get together. They um they are dedicated to prayer and to asking God for help for all of us and and certain individuals. And we do that on on a monthly basis. Uh um it’s a wonderful experience. And I’m I’m just amazed at how often uh after one of those mornings um of prayer, that one hour of prayer, um the things that they’ve prayed for that actually come true within sometimes minutes, sometimes hours that very s same day and how prayer is answered and how powerful and and wonderful it is. And um yeah, they’re they’re just a great group of people and they give us that time. They donated us at that time to us that one hour. We have a collaboration group here um in Olrath Kona. Uh yeah, I got five. Um I know there’s a collaboration group um here in Old Strath Kona and and uh what we’ve done is we’ve gotten together as a group. we all work with um the marginalized and the homeless on the street to some degree and we thought it would be a good idea and u Aaron um really kind of spearheaded this uh a number of years ago and got it going and it’s it’s gotten traction and it’s doing very well and what we wanted to see was we wanted to see people knowing know what the history was of a certain person um we we get together and we will take people that are of um are heavy on our hearts that we feel should be followed and when we have an interaction with that person we get on the the WhatsApp u u app I guess you call it and we document that so all the other groups that are working with this person now knows the the latest status of that person their whereabouts what the interaction was etc instead of having to start all over again each and every time and is starting to build build um uh really good relationships out there and bear fruit. Uh the groups that we uh have include the Edmonton City Police Help Team, Edmonton Public Library, OSYS, which is a youth organization, uh Mustard Seed, George Spy, the Higher Good uh group, and and us. So, there’s quite a number of people there. And uh I believe I yeah I also I forgot to mention the old Strath Kona uh business association have a representative and they’re involved as well. So um whenever we spot these people see these people have an interaction we we share that information and things move along a whole lot quicker when you don’t have to start all over again right from the beginning. um six local and rural churches partner with us financially and uh by person um personal service and by that I mean uh you know helping us with the u with the uh chosen helping us with the lunches helping us with haircuts coming out on the street and and financially as well. And we now have two Bible schools one from Camros. Um this was their first year and they plan on coming back. And we have um a college, a Bible college from Nipplean, Saskatchewan that come out on the streets with us, too. I think this will be their third year, right? Four. Fourth. Okay. Yeah, my math’s really off this morning. Fork. Sorry, I ain’t getting none of it right. But yeah, and they’re coming out. They come out with us. These are young people uh in their first second years of Bible school. and uh they go out with Aaron and I to experience um what it’s like dealing with people who have the issues, the trials, the tribulations um of living homeless. They go to other areas as well. U and we are one of the groups that are blessed with their presence. Um yeah, that’s it. Um that’s a quite a list. So you can see that we’re we’re really quite busy. We got a lot of things to do and and none of it can happen without um without uh the gen the generosity of people like you. Um I mean uh Knox Evangelical Church, you you partner with us financially. Some of your members um um u donate on a regular basis on a monthly basis. you share this beautiful building with us and we are so blessed to be able to have it and to use it and and and just to do God’s work in here and uh and and the way you’ve handed it over to us and allowed us to use this and given us, you know, pretty much pretty much car blanch as long as we take care of it. Um it’s just been amazing. We can’t do it without people like you. And um I’ll just end up by saying thank you Knox. Thank you for this building. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your prayers. And thank you all for having us this morning. If I take this mic out of here. Can I uh move around with it or does it have Yeah, it is so good to be here. I look and like I know so many of you. So many of you are my friends. It’s uh like there’s a couple um unfamiliar faces and spirits to me, but boy, there’s a lot of people I know in here. this and not just no like I mean know have a a friendship with and that’s what we’re going to talk about that’s what I wanted to share with you um yeah be you know so a big part of what we do is building relationships with our friends who are struggling with hopelessness so we don’t believe that the problem in Edmonton and society in general is is homelessness uh we believe that the issue boils down to hopelessness and Um, yeah. Because the word homeless to describe our neighbors who are living on the streets and in the shelters is a soft, perhaps less emotionally challenging word that harmfully and inaccurately insinuates that the solution is simply to provide housing. And I know we’ve most of you know what we do and what we don’t do and why we do, but because there’s a couple new faces here, I’m just want to fill in some things here. Our neighbors who struggle with hopelessness are bound down by resentment, anger, unforgiveness, shame, and guilt. Sound familiar? Who suffer from multiple addictions and trauma who are caught in an endless cycle of toxic relationships and most sadly live believing they are punished by God for their mistakes. Because yeah, that’s true. Who amongst us amongst us have not experienced the weight of those feelings? disappointment, unforgiveness, and resentment, or the lingering hurt that comes from being misunderstood. So, what Dennis and Wanda and I do, and the volunteers that join us, we walk the streets of Old Strath Kona six days a week in the alleys and in the shelters. And um we serve those who are uh struggling with hopelessness by building relationships to encourage and facilitate positive changes in purpose, lifestyle, and behavior. So we do this by building relationships with our neighbors on the streets. We listen to their stories. We share our own. We have a desire to know and equally importantly a desire to be known. And um yeah, we listen to the stories as God creates friendships between us. And often our friends are moved to change their circumstances and transition from hopelessness to hope. So you notice I use the word friends. So we don’t refer to uh our friends out there and in the shelters as clients or community members. It’s friends. And that happened right at the very beginning. And I didn’t Yeah. We didn’t like contemplate that. It just it just started started happening. And someone asked me why. And I thought, why do we do that? Well, a big part of it, it’s it’s a declaration. This person, if they’re not yet, they’re going to be my friend. It’s also an acknowledgement and reminder for Dennis, Juan, and I and the volunteers that join us just what this relationship is about. It’s about friendship and it’s about mutually vulnerable relationships. So our goal that God has given us through this his street mission is to encourage our friends to see themselves as God sees them. Humans created by him wonderfully made with purpose and to encourage them to love themselves as his creation in his image. So when I first came to Christ, what 11, 12 years ago, something like that, when I first came to Christ and started going to church, I believed that uh yeah, I believed that yes, we were called to love one another, but not necessarily like one another, that there’s not always our personalities would be parallel enough. But over the years, particularly in the past few years, uh I don’t believe that’s any that’s true. I believe that we are called to be friends as well to like one another as well because the long lasting heart, mind, soul, and body fulfillment of hope of the hope of Christ and living that out is best shared and experienced with one another through and in Jesus community. It takes place when we allow God to bring us into relationships with one another. And these relationships can be temporary, lasting only a few minutes, or as God wills, they can blossom into yearslong friendships. We have a bit of a problem in Edmonton, in our society. We have uh lots of oil and gas money here. We’re very very rich city and we have um lots of food and clothing and housing programs and addiction service, mental health issues. It’s not perfect. None of these things, but we have a lot of it. But it doesn’t stop there. And it can’t it can’t if we’re going to significantly reduce hopelessness, thus homelessness. See, because again, the hope of Christ is best shared and more effectively and transformatively shared in community with one another in friendships. Uh Sarah, could you please pull up that uh Genesis 3 slide? So, friendship is important to God, and we’ll get to uh why that is in just a moment. So, when the first two people on earth did something that they weren’t supposed to do, what did they do? Well, let’s look here where we Yes. So, um, when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were open. They realized they were naked. So, they sewed fig trees together and made coverings for themselves. I’m going to add a part of that scripture. When the evening cool breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking through the garden. So they hid from the Lord amongst the trees. Then the Lord called to the man, “Where are you?” That’s the second question that comes up in the Bible. It’s the first question God asks. So God saw that they weren’t only hiding themselves from him, they were hiding themselves from one another. They were noticing each other’s differences in their shame and guilt. They succumbed to hiddenness. And they were noticing their difference instead of their similarities. Where are you? Unity was threatened. So what are the similarities that we all have? Well, I believe that we’re all created in in God’s image, beautifully made and for wonderfully wonderful purpose. And we’ve all we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God and continue to do so every day. John 15, Jesus says, “I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends. For everything that I learned from my father, I have made known to you. So, I notice when I hear that and read that that if we’re all good enough for Jesus to be our friend and to like us and to be concerned about us, to get a kick out of us, then I believe we need and with spirits, his spirit’s help, we need to do the same with one another. Because he who knows the darkest darkness of our hearts and the glorious goodness of our hearts not only loves us but actually likes us. And so I believe that that directs us to desire for us to desire to see everyone as God sees them. So we love and like one another. to see beyond what irks us about a person and disregard where our beliefs, opinions, and lifestyles aren’t parallel. And to feel that defilement, the spirit of defilement that comes in when we allow the spirit of offense to creep into our relationships with one another. We want to have a desire to just feel sick when that spirit of offense enters our relationships and tell it to go in the name of of Jesus. So why is friendship important to God? The answer is on your website, your first page. Sarah, could you bring that up, please? Thank you so much, sister. Scroll down, down, down, down, down, down, down. There we go. Perfect. Back up a little bit. Add a little bit more. Yes, Charlene. Jesus and Adam. Well, I’ll put it in order of importance. Jesus Charlene and and uh yeah, and Adam put this um website together recently. And there we see just above the word impact. Disciples who make disciples and it’s put in again in the little blurb be underneath world uh be disciples who make disciples. Uh you can okay so Sarah uh yeah you can take that down please Sarah. Thanks Elizabeth. So how do we disciple and be disciples? Because we’re called to make disciples, not converts, right? So, how do we disciple and be discipled? Well, when we’re in relationship, we’re in mutually vulnerable relationships. When we’re friends, who does he want us to disciple? Unbelievers. Uh-huh. For sure. Believers? Yep. Me? Yep. You? Yep. Everybody? Yep. Always. And who does the discipling? All of us. And I just want to add and note that it’s been my experience that uh personally that Jesus has discipled me at times through unbelievers. I want to tell a story. Um I want to tell a story here. I’m going to take this out. Uh this is a story about my friend Johnny. And in the summer I was walking down White A. Uh beautiful uh Thursday afternoon. Lots of action going on White A. I was walking along with one of our volunteers, Marne. And um we’re walking at the other section of uh White A to um headed towards 109th and there was my friend Johnny, not his real name, in the doorway. and uh hadn’t seen him uh hadn’t seen him for many many years and then earlier in the year he popped up again in this area and uh I know Johnny for years and years and years. We went to church together across the street. Uh Johnny’s in his 60s, chronic alcoholism, angry, resentment, disappointment, unforgiveness. And uh one time my son and I uh quote unquote helped him move, but we did we did the move and and he was drunk. I I wouldn’t do it that way again. I was new I was new here, so it wouldn’t look that way next time. Um but uh yeah, and when he showed up again after like not seeing him for 6 years or so, I didn’t even think that uh he remembered who I was or cared or any of this kind of thing. So, we were walking down the street and there’s Johnny in the uh doorway and came up to him and said hi and introduced him to Marne and uh started talking to him and saying hello and and he was sober he was sober minded at that time and uh yeah so you know we started talking to him and and he’s a believer he’s definitely has accepted Jesus in his life and he said that uh that He’s angry at God right now cuz uh he’s taken his um God has taken his wife and and daughter uh home to heaven. And he was feeling really disconnected from God and angry. So we were talking to him and and we talked to him about we talked to him about, you know, Jesus always has his hand out ready to help. And I showed him a picture of that. And uh once we started invoking the name of Jesus Christ, he started getting really upset and he started swearing at us and telling us to just get away, go, go, get away from me. And very abruptly and very angry. And so we said, “Okay, we’re going.” So we walked down the street a bit more. And although we were sad that he was at that state and and and we had grief over where his heart position was, we were it wasn’t lost on us that he wasn’t indifferent. That at least there was an emotion there, an angry, hateful emotion, but there wasn’t indifference. There wasn’t lukewarm. And we said to each other, “Who knows what could happen with this? What just happened here? something tremendous I bet is going to happen. We had a great rest of the afternoon. Powerful times. The very next day I’m walking down the street with uh Wanda and uh uh we’re walking in the same area and I filled Wanda in what just happened and I said to to Wanda, I don’t even know if if how human and I used these words that Yeah. I mean, I’m human too, right? And I said, I I I don’t even know like where Johnny is. Does he even know? I don’t even know how human he is anymore. He’s so bound down by resentment and unforgiveness and and hurt and anger. I And I don’t even think he knows who I am or who cares who I am. He’s so embedded in his addiction. And uh yeah, and so we’re walking down past and there’s Johnny and he was sitting in in the same doorway and there was a guy standing there and we’re sort of walking slowly as we do on the street when we’re doing street ministry. And he said, “Aaron, hey, hey, Aaron, can I talk to you?” I said, “Hey, Johnny. How’s it going? Talk to you later.” And I kept going. I wasn’t still in the right frame of mind, right? I I mean, yes, I was being a Christian, but I’m uh yeah, I I didn’t want to um yeah, I hadn’t uh reconciled yet with God in and about this situation. So, we kept walking and then on the way back and we’re coming by and he said, “Aaron, I just want to talk to you for a sec.” So, we stopped and there was lots of bustle and hustle going on and walked over and I said, “Hey, Johnny, what’s up?” And he looked at me and Wanda. And he said, “I’m really, really sorry.” He said, “I am so sorry what I did yesterday. I swore and got mad at you and told you to go away.” He said, “You’re out here doing the Lord’s work. these people that you come out with, you and Dennis and these ladies that you come out with, and you don’t deserve this. You’re trying to help people. And he said, “For years, you’ve been trying to help me, and I am so sorry. I am, yes, I’m mad at God right now, but you didn’t deserve to be the uh brunt of my my anger.” And he said, “Will you accept my apology?” and he was lying down and I said, “Of course, brother.” And I leaned in and gave him a hug. And uh that was the Holy Spirit prompting. It takes great vulnerability, especially if you’re don’t know how the person’s going to accept your apology, especially if you’re a person who doesn’t forgive people as well. But Johnny decided to be obedient. he decided that this relationship was important enough to him. And uh I I grew at that time too cuz I felt remorseful that I questioned Johnny’s uh Johnny’s humanity. Our friends on the street Most so-called friendships among our friends on the street are toxic and far from lifegiving. Dennis Wanda and I and the volunteers who join us model what healthier friendships, Christian friendships look like with a hope that they would become oaks of righteousness and desire the same in their relationships, ending homelessness from the inside out. Those on the street struggling with hopelessness need to hear our own stories of struggle and how we have learned to trust in God to help us be overcomers. Romans 10. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they’ve never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? This is why the scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news.” Revelation 12, “And they have defeated him by the blood of the lamb and by their testimony.” So Dennis um mentioned that we uh there’s an AA meeting here every Wednesday evening and step one of Alcoholics Anonymous states we admitted we were powerless over alcohol that our lives had become manageable. So when we bring things in out of the darkness and into God’s light, they lose their power. Don’t get hung up on that word alcohol. Put anything in there. So right now I don’t have an obsession. God removed the obsession of alcohol and drugs from me. I know I’m still an addict, an alcoholic, and I can never drink again. But right now, I’m practicing what it is to be a forgiver. I woke up the other day and said, “God, someone asked me what I do. I want to say I’m a forgiver. I learn how to forgive people and I learn how to forgive myself. Please show me who I need to forgive still.” So when we’re in Jesus-led, mutually vulnerable community with one another, afflictions, troubles, traumas, character defects are brought into the light and they move from hiddenness into God’s light, life, and love because we share our testimonies with one another. We encourage one another. We correct one another. And we build up I want to be mindful of the time, but I also I also want to bring up quickly here suffering. We live in a culture that uh we don’t want to be uncomfortable in any sort of way. And suffering is the Jesus way. I said it last time uh we shared together here um a year ago. The Jesus way isn’t about safety and comfort, but it’s about lives transformed. And uh we’re called to suffer alongside one another. But as Christians, as we wait in expected hope for his miracle, and yes, 100% I know this every day, the suffering is way too painful for us to bear. But it’s not too painful when we ask Jesus and allow him into our relationships and the circumstances that our father in heaven leads us into with one another. It’s not by accident that we have friends who are struggling with hopelessness on the streets camped out at the churches. Our church here, the church across the street, this isn’t an accident. Because when we suffer with one another alongside Jesus and allow him to carry the burden, our journey together stays lifegiving. I had a conversation with a friend after The Chosen during uh when we were breaking bread together and we were talk we were sitting there and he’s not usually a touchyfey kind of guy but he’s an open guy at times and he said to me just he just said to me you know Aaron I got to tell you it’s hard to have faith to keep I asked asked him. I asked him, “So, how would you describe your faith?” Call him Mike. “How would you describe your faith?” He goes, “Oh, I I believe in God.” Yeah. And I said, “Jesus,” he goes, “Oh, yeah, for sure. I’m uh yeah, I’m a Christian.” And I said, “Good.” He goes, “But I got to tell you, it’s hard to keep my faith and to be human.” When do you say living the way I live? And I said, “Uh, what do you mean? you mean homeless and everything that goes along with it, like the addiction, the resentment and hopelessness? And he said, “Yeah.” And I said, “Oh, do you want to make a change?” And he said, “Sometimes.” And I said to him, “How’s your hope?” And he said, “Well, right at this second, I feel hopeful.” These are such vulnerable things to say to another person. And these conversations happen between friends. They happen between humans living together in God’s kingdom. Because to be human together in God’s kingdom is to receive God’s grace and mercy and to be gracious and merciful. To be human together in God’s kingdom is to live in the joy of God’s love and to live determined to love everybody. To be human together in God’s kingdom is to firmly know the hope of Jesus and to everybody be the hope of Jesus. Let’s pray together as friends. Lord, we confess that we sometimes allow the busyiness of our lives and our own journey from brokenness to wholeness to get in the way of entering into new friendships. Guide us, God, by your spirit and give us the courage and wisdom to ask for Jesus’s help and guidance. as we walk, work, shop, as we socialize after church service and whenever we interact with strangers who are not yet our friends. Jesus, don’t stop giving us the privilege to participate with you in your acts of compassion. Thank you that you bring new people into our lives to nourish our hope and our joy and our desire to be like you. Thank you, Jesus, that through you we’re saved from spiritual death. And you’ve given us a purpose to lay down our lives for our brothers and our sisters. Amen.