Acts 8, 9, and 10 give us a clear picture that no one, meaning NO ONE, is excluded from the opportunity to be part of God’s Kingdom.

• A black government official – Acts 8.26 – 40
• A Jewish, anti-Christian terrorist – Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9.1 – 22
• A Roman military officer – Cornelius, Acts 10

The Passion Translation has an intriguing note relating these conversions all the way back to Noah’s three sons:

At last the gospel broke through and penetrated into the non-Jewish cultures and people groups. The Holy Spirit was now uniting Jewish believers and non-Jewish believers into one mystical body of Christ on the earth. Because of this, there would no longer be a distinction between Jew and non-Jew, but one family of believers formed by faith in Jesus Christ. See Gal. 3:26-29. The three conversions of the Ethiopian dignitary in ch. 8, Saul of Tarsus in ch. 9, and the Roman officer Cornelius in ch. 10 prove the power of the gospel of God. One could view these three as representing all of the sons of Noah: Ham (Ethiopian), Shem (Saul), and Japheth (the Roman Cornelius). A black man, a Jew, and a gentile were converted! (Acts 10.38 note, TPT)

And all three people were missional right away!

Saul (later called Paul) began his public preaching in Damascus immediately even though he didn’t know much at that time…

And immediately [Saul] proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” (Acts 9.20, ESV)

It’s likely that the Ethiopian began to sow the seeds of the gospel in his homeland, which today is over 60% Christian.

Cornelius had a house full of people when Peter (reluctantly!) preached in Acts 10, and the Holy Spirit came on all of them.

God is inclusive while we sometimes try to exclude. Saul had a hard time being accepted in Jerusalem, not because he wasn’t Jewish, but because of his history as a terrorist. Barnabas had to come to his rescue.

And when [Saul] had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. (Acts 9.26, 27, ESV)

All of Acts 10 and half of Acts 11 is given to Peter’s visit to Cornelius. Peter had to be convinced to go, and the Jews had to be convinced that it was OK for him to go.

Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” (Acts 11.1 – 3, ESV)

I wonder what part of Acts 1.8 did Peter and his Jewish friends not understand?

[Jesus said,] “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1.8, ESV)

Have we gotten the picture?

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3.26 – 28, ESV)