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No, I took no offense. It's vital that we hear and understand the gospel. Where else will we find the answer to our prayers for salvation?

If I pray and ask God to "give me this day my daily bread", and then ignore the job opportunity He has put before me in answer to my prayer, you'd probably say I didn't really want what I prayed for after all. And you'd be right! Maybe I wasn't hungry enough yet, otherwise I would've accepted God's answer to my prayer.

The Ethiopian wanted to understand the prophecy about the Messiah. But without a teacher who knew the gospel, he couldn't even tell whether Isaiah was talking about himself or somebody else. Desire wasn't enough. The man needed to be taught the gospel. So God saw too it that he could hear it. And we know he wanted to obey God, because as soon as he understood what God expected, he looked around for some water.

It's vital that people hear and understand the gospel. As Jesus said in Mark 16, the preaching of it will sort people into two categories: the saved and the condemned. And He told us how we can tell who is in which category.

Like you, I was deeply convicted by the sermon on the mount. In ch. 3, Jesus had preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And the sermon in chs. 5-7 is almost an answer to the question, "What do I need to repent of?" If anyone comes away from that sermon still asking that question, I'd say he was nodding off while the Preacher was preaching. :-)

So how did you finally come to understand the gospel? Did someone open the Scriptures and explain it to you as Philip did? After you prayed for your sins to be "washed away", did you then "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" as Saul did? Or did you get a different answer to your prayer than those in the Bible?

A fuller understanding of the gospel has been an ongoing process since my initial conversion. But I believe I received saving fath when I had that thought to look at what I was distractedly reading(2 Cor 5:21) and to understand it. Suddenly I realized the meaning of the cross, that Jesus took my place as a sinner, that I might be granted his status as a son of God. I then became a sponge for reading scripture and for evangelical etching. I hope this answers your question.