Paul Harvey. Good day!

Good Day

"Paul Harvey. Good day!"

Do you remember hearing this ending of midday radio broadcasts? I do. This
was the way Paul Harvey would conclude his radio broadcasts such as "The
Rest of the Story" followed by his "News and Comment."

Harvey was once asked by Guideposts Magazine to write about his faith in
Christ, his "testimony." He agreed to do so, and in the article he wrote
about when he was baptized.

Harvey revealed that he had received almost every possible award for
broadcasting yet he still felt empty inside. All of this changed on one
very good day.

One summer while on vacation, Harvey and his wife decided to go to church
services. That wasn't something they always did. They ended up in the
Sunday morning service of a tiny church in Cave Creek, Arizona. Only about
a dozen people were present.

Harvey said there was a good spirit about that place. For some reason he
began thinking about John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave one
and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life." He said, he liked the "everlasting life" part. He
thought he believed in Jesus, but he had never publicly acknowledged it or
been baptized. He felt that there was still something that was missing.

When the preacher got up, he announced that his sermon was going to be about
baptism. Harvey said, "I yawned. But as he started talking about it I
found myself interested. He talked about the symbolism behind it. He said
it symbolized surrender to Jesus Christ. He insisted that there was nothing
magic in the water. But he said a cleansing took place inside when you
yielded yourself to Jesus."

Harvey said that he surprised even himself when he stood up and walked to
the front when the preacher offered an invitation to be baptized. He
describes what happened: "The preacher had said there was nothing magic in
the water. Yet as I descended into the depths and rose again I knew
something life-changing had happened." Harvey went on, "The change this
simple act made in my life is so immense as to be indescribable. Since
totally yielding to Him in baptism, my heart can't stop singing. Also,
perhaps because baptism is such a public act and because one's dignity gets
as drenched as one's body, I discovered a new 'unself-consciousness' in
talking about my beliefs."

Baptism is part of saving faith's response to what Jesus did for us on the
cross. Jesus paid the price for our redemption from sin by dying for our
sins (Ephesians 1:7).

God will save and give everlasting life to those who place their faith and
trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts
17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). Then, as we
walk in the light of His Word, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us
from all sin (1 John 1:7-9).

It is a "really good day" when one surrenders His life to Christ in baptism.
And now you have. the rest of the story.

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from "Three Baptism Stories" by Roger Thomas,
www.sermoncentral.com.