The Unseated Series: Unseating Performance (2)

The Drug Called Power

Introduction/Opening:

What concerns me is that somewhere along the way, we began to idolize the manifestation of supernatural power more than we value alignment with God.

We crave encounters, signs, and moments, but we resist submission, obedience, and formation.

Luke exposes this exact tension in **Acts chapter 8.

He introduces a man named Simon, who amazed the people for a long time with power, so much so that they confused the appearance of power with the authority of God.

Simon didn’t lack power. He lacked submission.

Welcome to The Unseated Series.

This is a teaching series designed to confront the systems, mindsets, and patterns that prevent maturity and limit kingdom impact.

Today’s conversation is titled “The Drug Called Power.”

We’re going to talk about how the desire for supernatural experiences can quietly replace intimacy with God, and how performance is born when God becomes a means to an end instead of the end.

Context/Historical Background

Today’s reference scripture is Acts chapter 8:9-11. And it reads:

New American Standard Bible (2020) Chapter 8

9 Now a man named Simon had previously been practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; 10 and all the people, from small to great, were paying attention to him, saying, “This man is the Power of God that is called Great.” 11 And they were paying attention to him because for a long time he had astounded them with his magic arts.

In our focus text, Luke puts us in a scene in Samaria and in this period of the church, the Gospel had begun moving outward from Jerusalem. We are beginning to really see the manifestation of God’s promise to Abraham. And the people of Samaria are some of the first to experience this promise.

The Samaritans were descendants of Israelites who had intermarried with other nations, and that mixture did not just affect ethnicity, it created religious tension. They only accepted the Torah, rejected Jerusalem as the center of worship, and were excluded and despised by Judean Jews.

This is why, when Jesus meets the woman at the well, she acknowledges that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. That divide was not social alone, it was spiritual and historical.

This condition produced a people that were spiritually hungry, religiously marginalized, and open to alternative expressions of power.

So Samaria became fertile for power divorced from alignment.

So Luke introduces us to a man named Simon, who is practicing what the text calls “magic.” And if we read that word through a modern lens, we miss the depth in what Luke is actually communicating.

In the world of this text, figures like Simon fit the category of what was understood as a divine man. This is someone believed to mediate between the spiritual and natural realms, someone who accessed hidden knowledge, someone whose power validated their authority.

And Simon’s ability to produce these expressions of power led to dependance and trust from the people.

In verses 10 and 11, Luke uses language like, “paid attention to him”, “they called him the power of God that is called great”, and “he astounded them”.

These phrases don’t describe curiosity.

They describe belief

The people don’t just admire Simon, but they derived meaning and validation from him.

This power became identity-giving, community-shaping, and spiritually addictive.

Movement 1: Results Over Intimacy

When you look at the Samaritans’ dependance on Simon without context, you might view them as foolish. But the Samaritans in this text were being true to their spiritual training. They followed Simon because their spiritual formation trained them to value outcomes over intimacy.

They had scripture, tradition, belief, and expectation but they used these sacred parts of Faith as tools to produce the supernatural, not as tools to form relationship with God.

That kind of formation doesn’t teach people to wait on God, it teaches them to measure God by results. Instead of teaching them to hunger for intimacy, it taught them to hunger for results.

In a community shaped by exclusion and incomplete spiritual formation, power becomes proof.

If something works, it must be God. If it produces results, it must be divine.

This is why the people were so drawn to Simon. Not because he brought about transformation, but because he gave them something their religious system never did. Tangible outcomes.

But the problem is, when intimacy is inaccessible, desire doesn’t disappear. It redirects.

It’s in these moments that the supernatural becomes addictive. Not because it’s evil, but because it scratches an itch intimacy with God was meant to heal.

When a people are trained to value results over relationship, whoever produces power will be trusted, regardless of where that power comes from.

Movement 2: Simon’s Hunger for Affirmation

This trust and validation that Simon receives from the Samaritan community causes him to cling to power.

He clings to this power because it works.

Power gave him influence.

Influence gave him authority

And authority gave him identity.

And when power becomes identity, ministry becomes a mirror.

He was known, trusted, and called great. But the danger is that once power becomes the source of your affirmation, you don’t protect alignment with God, you protect access.

And ministry without alignment with God is a ministry rooted in pride.

The thing about prideful ministry is that it is not always loud arrogance. Sometimes it presents as quiet dependance on being needed.

Simon didn’t just enjoy power, he needed it.

Because without power, he loses influence.

Without influence he loses control.

And without control, he loses identity.

And when your identity is anchored in power, you stop asking what God is refining and you start asking what the people are responding to.

Ministry slowly shifts from obedience toward appetite. You give the people what keeps their attention, not what leads them to transformation.

And when the perception of the people becomes more important than alignment with God, ministry stops being yielded to the refining power of the Spirit and becomes yielded to the expectations of the Crowd.

The people didn’t ask Simon if he was aligned with God.

They asked if he was effective.

Here’s the danger with that.

When ministry is anchored in self instead of submission, power doesn’t sanctify the minister.

It feeds the appetite of the people and quietly hardens the heart of the one producing it.

The truth is this.

Power anchored in God produces humility.

Power anchored in self produces control.

The difference is not what you can do but who you’re submitted to.

Movement 3: Belief Without Surrender

So, as we move forward to verse 12 and 13 we see a shift in the story.

Luke writes,

New American Standard Bible (2020) Chapter 8

12 But when they believed Philip as he was preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were being baptized. 13 Now even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was repeatedly amazed.

Philip brings the Gospel from Jerusalem into Samaria, and the same community that once depended on Simon for spiritual guidance now believes the message of the kingdom of God.

But Luke is careful to tell us something else.

Not only does the community believe, Simon believes too..

And Simon doesn’t just believe, he follows Philip as he moves from place to place.

But Luke also exposes why Simon follows.

He follows because he is watching the signs and the miracles, and he is amazed.

This is important because Simon’s proximity to the Gospel does not immediately produce transformation.

It produces fascination.

Simon follows not as someone seeking formation, but as someone observing power.

Simon follows the apostles not like a disciple seeking transformation, but like an apprentice studying a trade.

His belief is still rooted in results, not in surrender to the Gospel.

His amazement never becomes repentance. His proximity never becomes submission.

And when influence and identity are tied to perception, proximity to God becomes something to exploit rather than something that forms.

God is no longer encountered as Lord. He is evaluated by usefulness.

Movement 4: Gift of God for Sale?

Peter and John later hear that Samaria has received the word of God, and they come down from Jerusalem. They pray, lay hands and the Holy Spirit is manifested in a visible way.

And it is here that the tension in Simon’s belief begins to surface.

Here’s what Luke reveals in verses 18 and 19:

New American Standard Bible (2020) Chapter 8

18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

On the surface, Simon’s request doesn’t sound evil.

People receiving the Holy Spirit is a good thing. Transformation is a good thing. The spread of God’s power is a good thing.

But Simon’s misunderstanding isn’t about what he wants. It’s about where he positions himself in the process.

Simon doesn’t ask how to receive the gift of God. He asks how to control access to it.

He assumes spiritual authority is a commodity, something that can be purchased, possessed, and distributed.

And this reveals something important.

Simon isn’t trying to buy power for intimacy. He’s trying to buy power to remain central.

Up until this moment, Simon was the one people looked to. He was the source. He was the mediator. He was the one associated with greatness.

But now the power has shifted.

And Simon realizes that if he is no longer the one through whom power flows, he loses influence. He loses control. And he loses the identity he built around being “great.”

What Simon brings to this moment is not rebellion, it’s old theology.

He brings the broken framework of pre-gospel Samaria into contact with a holy God. A framework where spiritual access can be purchased. Where holy things can be exploited for personal gain. Where beliefs are mixed instead of surrendered.

Simon’s belief in Jesus is sincere, but his formation is incomplete.

And this teaches us something sobering.

Before someone begins to impart and minister, there must be a separation from beliefs and patterns that are pre-salvation and misaligned with the truth of God.

Because if those patterns remain, they don’t disappear in ministry. They get carried into it.

Simon genuinely wants to be effective. But effectiveness without submission turns holy things into tools.

He was not trying to buy the Holy Spirit.

He was trying to buy influence.

He was trying to buy control.

He was trying to buy the ability to remain impressive, relevant, and affirmed.

And this is the danger.

When ministry becomes transactional instead of transformative, it creates a culture where God’s presence is identified by how the experience made us feel.

And when the church begins to measure God by spiritual encounters instead of the fruit of transformed lives, we repeat Simon’s mistake, even if our intentions are sincere.

There is something to learn from Simon’s story. That truth is that:

Intention does not excuse offense. And sincerity does not replace submission.

Movement 5: Peter’s Rebuke

Peter responds to Simon, he doesn’t just correct his behavior. He diagnoses his condition.

Peter says,

New American Standard Bible (2020) Chapter 8

May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could acquire the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart will be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of unrighteousness.”

That phrase, “gall of bitterness,” is important, because Peter is not talking about emotion.

In Scripture, gall is something poisonous. It’s toxic. It spreads.

What Peter is discerning is not anger, but grief that has turned inward.

Simon isn’t bitter because he didn’t get what he wanted. He’s bitter because he lost who he thought he was.

He lost influence. He lost control. And in losing those, he lost the identity that came from being seen as great.

And when identity is threatened, bitterness forms quickly.

Not loud bitterness. Quiet bitterness.

The kind that says, “I just want to be useful.”

But underneath that usefulness is a deeper need.

The need to be needed.

Peter also says Simon is in the bondage of unrighteousness.

Not because Simon is immoral. Not because Simon doesn’t believe.

But because he is still bound to the need to be seen as great.

Simon sees his request as reasonable.

Because he is still interpreting kingdom things through the lens of a distorted spirituality. A spirituality where access can be purchased. Where holy things can be leveraged. Where power exists to secure identity.

Simon’s bitterness and his bondage are connected.

Because bitterness hardens the heart.

And a hardened heart resists conviction, because conviction requires release.

You cannot be healed while still holding onto control.

To be free, Simon would have to let go of the identity he built on affirmation, influence, and relevance.

And that’s terrifying for someone whose worth has always been measured by response.

This is why Peter’s rebuke is not harsh. It’s pastoral.

Peter is interrupting Simon before the bitterness poisons him completely. Before the need to be great becomes the thing that destroys him.

And this is where the warning meets us.

Leaders don’t fall apart because they lose God.

They fall apart because they lose being needed.

And if your identity collapses when no one is looking to you, when no one is affirming you, when no one is dependent on you, then power has replaced Christ as the anchor of your soul.

Movement 6: Modern Church Connection

And what makes this moment uncomfortable is that nothing Peter names here is unique to Simon.

He doesn’t rebuke a magician. He rebukes a heart that tied identity to influence.

And if we’re honest, the danger of needing to be great didn’t die in Acts chapter 8.

It just found new language, new platforms, and new systems.

What makes Simon’s story so uncomfortable is that it exposes a temptation the church has not outgrown.

The addiction to power that is no longer rooted in submission to Christ, but in the pursuit of affirmation, effectiveness, and spiritual impact apart from the forming work of the Holy Spirit.

The modern church has learned how to crave experiences of God without remaining abiding in God.

We chase moments. We chase atmosphere. We chase emotional response.

And we often confuse that with spiritual depth.

We have created environments full of encounters and emptied them of transformation.

Loud services. High energy. Strong emotion.

But shallow roots.

We have trained people to recognize God by how they feel, instead of how they are being formed.

And because we are enamored with the supernatural, we have lost discernment.

We struggle to tell the difference between spiritual gifts flowing through someone who is unsubmitted and spiritual authority resting on someone who has died to themselves.

And when discernment is lost, manipulation doesn’t have to force its way in.

It’s welcomed.

We sing harder. We shout louder. We pray longer.

And we subtly begin to believe that if we do enough, God will show up on our terms and give us what we want.

But Scripture exposes this lie.

God performed signs, wonders, and miracles in Egypt, yet Israel remained immature, impatient, and disobedient.

Because encounters reveal God’s power, but they do not mature the heart.

Formation does.

Refining does.

Obedience in obscurity does.

And the moment Israel had to wait, the moment God didn’t respond fast enough, they built an idol they could control.

Not because God failed them, but because they were never formed to trust Him without spectacle.

And this same condition exists in the modern church.

We have trained leaders and congregations to measure worth by response.

If the crowd shouted, if people cried, if bodies fell, then God must have moved.

And if He didn’t, we quietly question whether we are anointed at all.

This creates ministries that survive on adrenaline, not oil.

Rooms that are shifted, but lives that remain unchanged.

And here is the hard truth.

Many ministers have not lost intimacy with God.

They have replaced it with the appearance of intimacy.

In charismatic spaces, that appearance often looks like power.

But power that is not birthed from private submission has no authority to produce lasting transformation.

We have learned how to move crowds.

We know the phrases. We know the promises that stir people. We know how to create momentum.

But noise is not glory.

And response is not fruit.

I love celebration. I love dancing. I love shouting.

But celebration divorced from truth becomes performance.

And performance always exists to secure identity.

The hour has come and the hour is now when those who worship must worship in spirit and in truth.

And here is both the warning and the invitation.

If we are not careful, the church will drift into irrelevance, not because we lack power, but because we have misplaced it.

Our authority was never in atmosphere.

Our authority was never in manifestation alone.

Our authority has always been in Christ.

And repentance in this hour does not look like louder services.

It looks like relinquishing control.

It looks like refusing to manipulate moments.

It looks like allowing God to define fruit again.

God is not calling us back to stronger encounters.

He is calling us back to deeper submission.

And that is where true power has always lived.

Close:

As we close, hear this clearly.

Your identity in Christ is not your ability to produce.

You are more than your effectiveness.

You are more than the moments you can create, the rooms you can shift, or the responses you can draw.

In Christ, there is more for you than expressions of power.

There is formation. There is maturity. There is transformation.

And if the only proof of God’s work in your life is what happens in a moment, then something deeper is being invited.

The question this text leaves us with is simple:

Are we satisfied with producing power, or are we willing to be formed by God even when no one is watching?

Because what God is after in this hour is not your ability to impress, but your willingness to be submitted.

I want to thank you for taking the time to engage this episode of The Unseated Series.

This platform exists to confront the systems, mindsets, and patterns that prevent maturity and limit kingdom impact.

If this resonated with you,

I invite you to stay connected so you can continue walking through these teachings with us here at Unseated Generation, a space for those who are willing to be formed, not just informed.

A safe space for the remnant.