God’s

empowering presence
ALWAYS PURSUING, NEVER PRESUMING
Dr. Roger Valci
The New Testament Formula
for the Church has never changed.
Ordinary people
+ touched by the Spirit
= to reach the city
People are God’s method, God’s answer for this broken and battered world.

People who are willing. People who will take risks. People who look for ways to make the unseen
hand of God visible in this world. And if people are God’s method, then God’s empowering
presence is His means. God takes ordinary people and rewires their motives and priorities
so they can continue the words and works of Jesus. How does He do this? Through God’s
empowering presence.

The key to individual and societal transformation

of the New Testament church was not charismatic
figures, flashy programs or entertaining services.
What is God’s
Clearly, the revolutionary force behind this
burgeoning movement was God’s empowering
presence, through simple, common folk like you
empowering
and I. The hero of the Early Church is not an iconic
individual like Peter or Paul; it is the Holy Spirit,
working through believers to touch a needy world
— that’s God’s empowering presence.
presence?
God takes ordinary people and rewires their motives
 God’s
empowering
presence
is ALWAYS for
The Call
The Call is God’s plan to reach cities through the local church.

All throughout the Bible, God is not just reaching individuals, but cities. Abram intercedes for
Sodom (Genesis 18:16-33). Jonah is sent to Nineveh (Jonah 4:11). Jesus warns the cities of
Chorazin, Bethsaida, Tyre, Sidon and Capernaum of impending judgment (Matthew 11:20-24) and
weeps for Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). The Call is God’s plan to reach cities through the local church.

Jesus’ standing orders to the Church is to go and reach cities (Acts 1:8). Jesus is coming back not just for
local churches, but also for cities that exalt and glorify His name. The gospel is meant to penetrate all
aspects of culture, turning selfish institutions into instruments of God’s righteousness. God’s empowering
presence mobilizes Christ’s followers to engage in God’s endeavor to transform cities.

Jesus is coming back not just for local churches,

but also for cities that exalt and glorify His name.
 God’s
empowering
presence
is for
EVERYONE
 What was unique for some
is now common to all.
In the Old Testament, God’s empowering presence fell on a distinct few, primarily prophets, priests
and kings. In the New Testament, this door is pushed wide open. Moses longed to see the day
when every person would receive God’s empowering presence (Numbers 11, especially verse 29).
Joel prophesied that it would come on all people regardless of race, gender or economic status
(Joel 2:28-32). Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and declared that this day, coveted
by so many in the Old Testament, was here in the Church now and forevermore (Acts 2:14-21).
What was unique for some is now common to all.
 God’s
empowering
presence
is SEPARATE
and DISTINCT
from
salvation
The Holy Spirit has two job descriptions in the Bible: salvation and empowerment. Many people
wrongly presume that these two events of the Spirit are one and the same. While the Bible
shows examples of God’s empowering presence falling on new Christians (such as on the day of
Pentecost, Acts 2, and the household of Cornelius, Acts 10), there are numerous examples of
others who received this heavenly touch apart from salvation (see footnotes in back).

Whenever you see a verse in the Bible regarding the Spirit, one must ask,

“Is this salvation or empowerment?”

SALVATION | Includes justification, sanctification and glorification
EMPOWERMENT | Always associated with a God-ordained task that relates to The Call
One has to do with the infilling of the Spirit and the other has to do with the unleashing of the
Spirit. One is faith and the other is for works. One gets me to heaven and the other gets others to
heaven. The God who saves, who regenerates, who convicts us all of sin, is also the God who equips
and empowers for The Call. It is a distinct work of His Spirit separate and beyond salvation.
 God’s
empowering
presence
is
DISCERNIBLE
When the Holy Spirit comes upon a believer in an empowerment manner,
His mark is clear and unmistakable.
It is something that can be recognized by the person to whom it happens and by others who look
on at the person. His touch is both transformational and discernible.
Whereas salvation tends to be internal, private
and very personal, empowerment is external,
public and social.

When God’s empowering presence touches a person, the Essentially,

glory of God comes upon them. Their spiritual senses are
heightened. Their motivations for the faith change. They
God transforms
have boldness to fulfill The Call. They begin discerning
cosmic clashes in the spiritual realm. They have greater
us so that
assurance of their own salvation and in the promises of we may
Scripture. They are more apt to give of what limited
resources they have. They take greater risks for God’s transform
name and work. Usually some form of Spirit-inspired
speech, such as prophesy and tongues, begins to operate in
this world.
their lives. Essentially, God transforms us so that we may transform this world.
The people in Ephesus were asked this probing
question from the Apostle Paul: “Did you receive the
Concluding
Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2). Something Questions
was clearly started in these new believers, but Paul
encouraged them to add God’s empowering presence to
that initial experience. That is what we see here and
so I must ask, “Is this also the story in your life?”

Do you have God’s empowering presence?

Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Do you know anything of His power for you?

Can you point to a transformative moment in your

walk when God ignited your soul and set you ablaze
with His desires and will?
Your answer
to these
questions
may not
change but it may determine the
your eternal
destination, eternal destination
of many others around you.
Old Testament empowerment examples include:
• The construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 28:3; 31:3; 35:31)
• Joshua (Numbers 27:18 and Deuteronomy 34:9)
• Judges like Othniel (3:10), Gideon (6:34), Jephthah (11:29) and Samson, who is
empowered several times (13:25; 14:6, 19 and 15:14)
• King Saul (1 Samuel 10:6, 10; 11:6; 19:20, 23)
• King David (1 Samuel 16:13 and 2 Samuel 23:2)
• The Prophets: Elisha (2 Kings 2:9, 15-16), Azariah (2 Chronicles 15:1), Jahaziel, the Levite
(2 Chronicles 20:14), and Ezekiel describes the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him (Ezekiel
2:2, 3:12, 14, 24; 8:3; 11:1, 5, 24; 37:1; 43:5).

New Testament empowerment examples include:

• John the Baptist (Luke 1:15), Elizabeth (Luke 1:41), Zechariah (Luke 1:67), Mary (Luke
1:35) and Simeon (Luke 2:25)
• The Twelve Apostles (John 20:21-22, Acts 2:4 and Acts 4:31)
• The Apostle Paul (Romans 15:19, 1 Corinthians 14:18; 1 Thessalonians 1:5)
• The Samaritan’s (Acts 8:14-17)
• The church in Ephesus (Acts 18:24-19:7)

Footnotes
Recommended Resources
Deere, Jack, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993.
Deere, Jack, Surprised by the Voice of God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.
Hayford, Jack, The Beauty of Spiritual Language. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996.
Lloyd-Jones, Martyn, Joy Unspeakable, Power and Renewal in the Holy Spirit. Wheaton: Harold
Shaw Publishers, 1984.
Stronstrad, Roger, The Charismatic Theology of St. Luke. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson
Publishers, 1984.
About the Author
Dr. Roger Valci is the Senior Pastor of Valley Christian

Copyright 2010 | Valley Christian Center | All rights reserved.

Center in Dublin, California, where he is raising up
five hundred ministers to reach the Tri-Valley for Jesus
Christ. In 1995, he left his engineering career and
traveled to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, to prepare for the
pastorate. He received both his Masters of Divinity
degree and his Doctorate in Preaching. In 2001, he
became licensed as an Assembly of God minister,
and in 2003, became ordained. Today, Roger lives
in San Ramon, California, with his wife of eighteen
years, Janae, and his three children: Matthew (15),
Taylor (12), and Erin (8). They all attend Valley
Christian School.

7500 Inspiration Drive | Dublin, CA 94568 | www.dublinvcc.org