A note on Abdul Rahman, the Afghan Christian convert facing the death penalty in our day.
Discovering The Formula
gtcotr/ss032606
Matthew 9 NKJV (Provide context concerning that day & that house)
en He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus
said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord."
29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you."
30 And their eyes were opened.
On August 6, 1881, a baby boy was born to a family in Lochfield, Scotland … his name, Alexander Flemming. Perhaps his parents never imagined that one day he would win the Nobel Prize and be Knighted to become Sir Alexander Flemming. What was he noted for? To what did he owe his knighthood?
He is credited with discovering this Chemical Formula: C16H18N2O5S
Although some people know this, most cannot recall just how it happened. Let me refresh your memory.
After serving in the Royal Medical Corps during WWI and witnessing the horrible after effects of battlefield injuries, with rampant infections and the toll gangrene took on its victims, Flemming took a teaching position at St Mary’s Medical School, London University. It was there he hoped to find a way to fight bacterial infections.
One day in 1921, while looking over several petri dishes of growing bacteria which were setting on his lab desk, mucus from his own nose inadvertently dropped into one of the dishes. This went unnoticed for a few days until Flemming found that the bacteria had ceased to grow in that certain spot whereupon his nasal secretion had fallen.
This led to his initial discovery of the substance, Lysozyme, a chemical in bodily secretions which has natural anti-bacterial qualities.
Seven years later, in September 1928, much in the same way, Flemming with his several petri dishes of growing bacteria spread out on his desk, noticed that a spot of mold was growing in one corner of a certain dish. In the spot where the mold was, to his surprise, there the bacteria had been killed.
This, to his credit, was the discovery of Penicillin. Although Flemming did not continue his experiments to find the full uses of this discovery, which actually came many years later, he is nonetheless credited with being the father of penicillin, sharing the Nobel Prize in 1945 with Ernst Chain and Howard Florey who had continued with Flemming’s initial experiments.
Sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose, discoveries of chemical compounds and formulas like penicillin have changed the lives and life expectancies of untold millions on the battlefields and city streets of the world. Where would we be without a way to fight infections today?
Where would we be if everyone believed that everything which could be discovered had already been discovered and that there was nothing new to learn?
There is a difference between an invention and a discovery.
We invent things which did not exist in that particular form before.
We discover things which were existent before we found them, but unknown, as yet unrevealed --- un-discovered.
To discover is to uncover what was already there.
Christopher Columbus did not invent America any more than Benjamin Franklin invented electricity or Sir Isaac Newton invented gravity, but rather Columbus discovered a new land for the European peoples.
This brings up an important point. To the people who were already living in the Americas in the 1400‘s, Christopher Columbus did not discover anything. They already knew that they and their native lands existed, it was only a discovery for those who were not as yet enlightened in this matter.
So, the greatest discovery of the 15th Century for so many educated and important people, was already known and being taken advantage of by some of the poorest and most illiterate people in the world.
In fact, the first person who ever ran their hand through their hair on a dry day and then touched another person actually may have been the first to discover electricity. Even though they may not have been able to have articulate it, it worked for them and was waiting to be harnessed for use by the whole world.
This reveals an important principle.
Others may already know and may be experiencing things which we are yet to personally discover.
What it may take is continued articulation and experimentation of discovered formulas in order to get their full affect.
Let me give you one such formula which I know will work miracles for those who are willing to experiment with its properties. This can make pioneers of us all.
Won’t you turn to the book of Romans, Chapter 10
Romans 10:10
King James Version
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
New King James Version
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
New International Version
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
New American Standard Version 1995
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
New Living Translation
For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
Young’s Literal Translation
for with the heart doth one believe to righteousness, and with the mouth is confession made to salvation
From this we can easily conclude that God’s word declares:
It is with the heart that a person believes and is made right with God and then subsequent to that, standing in the position of being right with God, that person utters agreement with God resulting in personal salvation.
What is salvation? What does salvation refer to here in this context?
AW Pink put it this way in his Fourfold Salvation: We are saved from the penalty, power, presence and most importantly the pleasure of sin.
Romans 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Romans 4:3 Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness.
Not that Abraham was perfect, but righteous. Not that Abraham kept the law or had no fault … but … he was connected to God.
When a person connects to God, fault has no power.
Believing God connects us to God and agreeing with Him saves us.
With the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
This is the formula I want to entrust to your care. I encourage you to experiment with it. I know it will produce miracles for you and those around you.
Step 1. Research what God says in His word about your situation: * Your Past
* Your Present
* Your Future
* Your Marriage
* Your Children
* Your Finances
* Your Job
* Your Friends &
* Your Enemies
and Know What God Says And Believe God!
Step 2. Declare your belief. (Put works to faith - James 2:20)
As we read in the beginning of this message in Matthew 9:28
“Do you believe that I (Jesus) am able to do what you need?”
That’s good … it is a necessary first step … now …
Answer Him like the blind men did … “Yes Lord.”
And it will be to you according to what you believe.
This is the formula for success … only you can put it to its full use.
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