The story of the early church advances another step in this chapter. Initially all the new believers were Jews. In Acts Chapter 8 the gospel reached mixed race Samaritans and an Ethiopian eunuch – both were barred from worshipping with the Jews in Jerusalem's Temple. In Acts Chapter 9, Saul of Tarsus (a Jew and also a Roman citizen) is converted as he went into Syria. Now, in Acts Chapter 10, the narrative focuses on the first Gentile who is recorded to have believed the gospel, and be welcomed as a true believer in Jesus.

Cornelius was a Roman citizen, a non-commissioned army officer who had worked his way up through the ranks to take charge of 100 men, one sixth of a cohort (regiment with 600 men) and one sixtieth of a legion (brigade of 6,000 men). He was well-respected, hard-working, religious, kind and generous. He did not know God but prayed to Him. He had raised his family in a moral way to honour God, had an acute conscience about right and wrong, but He did not know Him.

Cornelius' vision was from God. He saw an angel-messenger telling him that God knew his name and all about him. God knew the soldier was trying to find favour with Him. Stationed in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Israel, Cornelius had clearly moved from the pantheistic religious habit of Roman and Greek culture (a different god for everything), to understanding that there is only one God, and that He knows everything. And yet Cornelius had no relationship with Him.

That is still true for many people today. Humanity naturally wants to believe in God, but does not know where to look. As we shall see, Cornelius was only satisfied when he found that Jesus is the only way to God. It is important for us to realise that there is a deep hunger for God in our friends and colleagues. Some may have tried to satisfy that hunger in other ways, and failed. Others may have fought against it and angrily resented any inner desire to reach out for the God who made them. Some turn to the nearest religious promise – praying, giving, showing kindness to the poor and fasting. But unless somebody tells them the gospel of Jesus, they will never know how to find Him (Romans 10:14). Their need is for you to tell them about Jesus (www.crosscheck.org.uk).