Walter Scott was an early preacher in the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. Studying Acts 2:38, he taught that people respond to God by believing, repenting, and being baptized, and that God responds with forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life. He made it simple enough to count on one hand, and generations of Disciples learned it as the five-finger exercise. On November 18, 1827, he preached on Matthew 16:16, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Scott later called that sermon the one that restored the ancient gospel. Over the next three years his preaching on Ohio’s Western Reserve brought more than 3,000 converts. Most had been outside the church entirely. Keep the gospel clear enough to share.
