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The traditional altar call is not outdated if

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 5431 **1/30/08 4:16 pm**

we use it for what it was intended for and not as a measuring stick of our success in ministry.

Faith without works is dead, being alone. You can preach the greatest sermon in the world, that brings the greatest conviction of sin, that convinces the most hardened sinner of their need to repent, confess their sins, and trust in Jesus' blood for the forgiveness of their sins--but

unless the convicted sinner is given an opportunity in some way to respond in faith to the Holy Spirit you run the risk of an aborted conversion or giving the devil a foothold to steal the Word that was sown in the heart.

Altar calls are an opportunity for faith and works to be combined together so they produce new birth and imputed righteousness.

I tell the people at the Caring Center that there is nothing magical about the altar or coming forward, but there is something spiritual about responding to the Holy Spirit through an act of faith, which is what coming to the altar signifies.

When altar calls fail is when they are used as a measuring stick to boost the ego of the minister or validate his worth as a preacher of the gospel. The focus of the altar call should be on the Holy Spirit and the person with the need, whether it be for new birth, Spirit-baptism, healing, or whatever. The altar is about God, not about us.