Ted Stricklin

Pastor

I had the great blessing of growing up in the home of Christian parents. My father was a Baptist pastor for many years in Warwick. As early as I can remember, I was brought up in an atmosphere that acknowledged God’s loving rulership over our lives. From the very beginning of my life, I was taught about God from the Bible. I learned about God’s goodness, His wisdom, His power, His love, His perfect righteousness, His hatred of sin, and His provision for the forgiveness of my sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus. As a young boy in elementary school, I came to the realization that I personally needed Jesus to save me from my sin. Even at that age, I knew that I had sinned against God already many times. When I heard from the Bible that Jesus died and rose again to save me from my sin, I confessed my sinfulness to God and placed my total trust in what Jesus had done to save me. From that day on, I have had a desire in my heart to obey God. I love Him and trust Him as my Father. Jesus literally changed the desires of my heart and the way I think about God. Although, there have been many times since that day that I have disobeyed God, there is an unquenchable longing in me to please Him. Currently, He is in the process of making the way I live correspond to what He declared me to be the day He saved me: righteous.

The Bible teaches that when a person turns from their sin and places their total trust in Jesus as their Savior, God accepts the blood that Jesus poured out in His crucifixion as the payment for all the sins that person has or will ever commit and credits the sinlessness of Jesus to that person’s account permanently. This person now stands before God completely righteous because of Jesus, and God adopts him as His own child. The Bible refers to this kind of person as “born again”. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3).

When a human baby is born into this world, he begins to grow until one day he becomes a mature human being. So it is with those who have been born again. They are born into a new kind of life in which God’s Spirit now lives in their body. God promises that every one who is born again will grow into a mature Christian. I’m so glad for God’s patient and faithful love, as He completes in me the great work He started in me the day I was born again. Being a member of a Jesus-focused, Bible-teaching, loving, genuine, committed church of fellow Christians is a huge part of that maturing process. I love Downcity church, and I know you would, too!