Cornelius, right?There is a passage where they recieved the Holy Spirit and then commanded to be baptized.
It's interesting to me that there were so many different ways this happened there at the beginning. It's almost like God wanted to make sure we didn't latch onto some particular formula.
There are clear commands to be water baptized, and there is equally clear teaching about how water baptism doesn't save us. Some reconcile that in saying water baptism is an outward expression of an inner change. I've never seen that in Scripture though.
It's like you said,
The Ethiopian man that Philip evangelized on the desert highway,and to have it done correctly.
Acts 8:35-38 KJV
35) Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
36) And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37) And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
38) And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
Nowadays we tell people to say a "sinner's prayer", but it seems to me the original idea was to be baptized into the faith, and that aligned very much with their culture and history. Baptisms in the OT were about ceremonial cleanliness, and, culturally, about gentiles becoming Jews.
When I became a Christian, that's what I did, because in my circumstance that was what made sense to me. I'd been invited to be baptized, but I didn't believe. When I came to believe, I accepted the invitation, was baptized, and that was my moment of conversion. I could tell.
But with that being said, I find some very specific teaching that water baptism isn't for us as such. That after Israel gave final rejection of the Gospel, and it was sent directly to the Gentiles through Paul, he wasn't sent to baptize, but to preach the cross.
Much love!