Ransom 2025

Summary

Podcast Summary: Transformation Church – "Ransom 2025"

Date: April 20, 2025
Host: Transformation Church (Lead Pastors Michael and Natalie Todd)
Episode Theme: The ultimate meaning of Easter – Jesus as the “ransom” for humanity, God’s love, and the invitation to transformed life

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Overview

This special Resurrection Weekend episode, titled "Ransom 2025," centers on the message of Jesus’ sacrificial love and the freedom His resurrection brings. Pastor Michael Todd speaks passionately about salvation, the grace of God, and the tearing down of walls between humanity and God. The episode intertwines creative arts with a bold gospel proclamation, culminating in an invitation to faith and an expression of worship. Though the full production "Ransom" is not rebroadcast, listeners are given the core message and access to a new worship song, "The King is Alive."

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Resurrection Weekend Matters

• Pastor Michael emphasizes that Resurrection Weekend is about celebrating "the greatest championship ever": Jesus’ victory over death.
  • Quote (00:06): "This is the weekend we celebrate the greatest, like, love story but championship ever." – Pastor Michael Todd
• The resurrection is framed as an ultimate underdog story, fulfilling God’s plan of salvation.

2. Vision for the “Ransom” Production

• The church presented "Ransom" through arts, dance, and drama but withheld a public rebroadcast, hinting at bigger faith plans for broader outreach in the future.
• Pastor Michael expresses gratitude to the global Transformation Nation for their engagement and support.
  • Quote (01:13): "You have to love what resurrection stands for... Jesus defeating death, hell, and the grave for the pinnacle of the sin that we should have deserved. But God?" – Pastor Michael Todd

3. Worship Experience Gift to the Audience

• Instead of the full play, the stream features an unreleased worship song, "The King is Alive," recorded during the previous Easter. The intention is for it to be a soundtrack for daily life and a reminder of the resurrection.
  • Quote (02:30): "Jesus is alive, that we serve a risen Savior." – Pastor Michael Todd

4. The Gospel Message: The Wall Between Us and God

• The episode transitions to a concise gospel presentation using the metaphor of a “princess” separated from the king (God) as a symbol of humanity’s lostness.
• Sin is described as the wall that separates us from God—built not just by obvious actions, but private struggles and secrets.
  • Quote (04:26): "All of us have built a wall between us and God. And today, what God wants you to see is... He wants that wall to be torn down." – Co-Pastor or Worship Leader

5. God’s Desire to Destroy the Wall

• God longs for relationship, not separation. The “counterfeit comforts” we turn to are revealed as inadequate replacements for God’s presence.
• Sin is redefined as "an illegitimate attempt to fulfill a legitimate need."
  • Quote (09:24): "All sin is. Is an illegitimate attempt to fulfill a legitimate need." – Co-Pastor or Worship Leader

6. Jesus – The Ransom Paid

• 1 Peter 1:18 is highlighted: God paid a ransom for us, not with gold or silver, but with Jesus’ precious blood.
• Pastor Michael shares personal vulnerability, connecting his flaws and temptations to the necessity of Jesus’ sacrifice.
  • Quote (10:35): "He didn’t just take care of sin. He became it... his record will be clean if he just receives me." – Pastor Michael Todd

7. Relating the Gospel to Everyday Experiences

• A memorable restaurant story illustrates that God has already paid the price and wants us to receive His grace without hesitation.
  • Quote (15:08): "I just needed to receive what he was giving me." – Pastor Michael Todd
  • Quote (16:22): "You’re in proximity with somebody who has it. He has everything you need, and he's already paid it all." – Co-Pastor or Worship Leader

8. Invitation to Salvation

• A clear, simple invitation to receive Jesus is extended to listeners, marked by an emphasis on relationship rather than religious rule-following.
  • Quote (17:16): "We serve a God that if you give him your heart, he will change your habits." – Pastor Michael Todd
• A salvation prayer guides listeners to repent, receive grace, and begin transformation.

9. Hope and Next Steps

• Assurance is given: no matter the listener’s current situation, transformation and hope are possible.
• Listeners who accept salvation are encouraged to text "saved" for resources.
• Pastor Michael previews a new series, "Mustard," about faith as small as a mustard seed changing everything.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "But God?" (01:18) – Pastor Michael Todd
• "All sin is an illegitimate attempt to fulfill a legitimate need." (09:24) – Co-Pastor or Worship Leader
• "He didn’t just take care of sin. He became it." (10:35) – Pastor Michael Todd
• "God doesn’t bless who you pretend to be. He blesses who you really are." (12:45) – Co-Pastor or Worship Leader
• "You're in proximity with somebody who has it... He's already paid it all." (16:22) – Co-Pastor or Worship Leader
• "If you give him your heart, he will change your habits." (17:16) – Pastor Michael Todd

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–02:30 – Introduction: Resurrection, the "Ransom" production, and worship gift
• 03:41–04:50 – The wall as metaphor for sin
• 05:30–08:26 – Counterfeits, walls, and God’s longing for intimacy
• 08:55–10:35 – The price of sin, the concept of ransom
• 10:35–12:37 – Personal application, Christ’s sacrifice
• 12:38–14:02 – Removing the mask and receiving grace
• 14:02–16:24 – The restaurant story: God’s extravagant grace
• 16:59–17:57 – Invitation to faith and the salvation prayer
• 18:00–End – Next steps, encouragement, and preview of new series

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Conclusion

"Ransom 2025" distills the essence of Easter—Jesus’ self-sacrificial love—as a present and personal offer to every listener. Pastor Michael Todd’s relatable storytelling and unfiltered honesty lay bare the truth that everyone struggles, but God’s grace is greater, available, and already paid for. The invitation is not just to believe a story but to see oneself in God’s redemptive plan, to accept the authentic relationship offered, and to step into a life of transformation.

Action Steps

• Listen to the worship song "The King is Alive" (link in episode description)
• If you accepted the invitation of faith, text "saved" to 828282 for support
• Join next week’s series, "Mustard," to explore how faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains

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Transformation Church Message:
Progression, not perfection – keep moving forward in faith and transformation in Christ.

Transcript

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Hey, what's going on, family?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I want to say happy Resurrection Weekend.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

This is the weekend we celebrate the greatest, like, love story but championship ever. Like, if you like sports, if you.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Like the underdogs winning, if you like.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

All this, you have to love what resurrection stands for. It's the Lord our God named Jesus, defeating death, hell and the grave for the pinnacle of the sin that we should have deserved. But God? Come on, somebody say but God. And today we did a presentation called Ransom, and it was full of arts and dance and drama, and it's one of the greatest things that I've ever seen. And because we have big plans in crazy faith for this production, we are not actually putting it out for rebroadcast and we public consumption. We are actually going to be praying that some things that I can't speak about right now happen so we can get this message out to a broader audience, to the world, for people who aren't even looking for God. Because, you know, the vision here is representing God to the lost and the found for one reason, transformation in Christ. So I thought, what could we do to allow the people who normally watch this stream every week faithfully? Number one, I want to just say thank you. There are hundreds of thousands of you every week that participate in being a part of Transformation Nation all around the world. And because of what God has done through you, in you, with you, Transformation Church is what it is today. And so I just want to say thank you. The other part is I said, well, we could give them a worship song that we've never released yet and allow them to experience what God does through worship. So we did a worship experience of the King is Alive that is going to be available at the end of this video. And you can find the link in the description. And this song was recorded last Easter and now is out right now. And we want you to worship with this, worship with it. As you're cleaning the house, as you're on your run at your office, I.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Want you to remember all year long.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

That Jesus is alive, that we serve a risen Savior.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

So that's the first thing.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

The second thing is in the middle of our presentation called Ransom, I always take a moment to very plainly connect the dots of what this story actually means and share the gospel message. And it's about 12 to 15 minutes, but I thought that it would be beautiful for you to just see and hear this one portion of the message of Jesus Christ so that you would never, ever get it twisted about how much God loves you, how he would go to the ends of the earth to have relationship with you, how you would leave the 99 and come back for the 1. And I thank God for that, because I was that one. And you may be in a place right now where you feel very far from God. Like there's walls between you and God. And today, I just want to let you know through this very short gospel message that God loves you and so do we. This is about to be a great expression of God's love for you and towards you. Enjoy this moment. For those of you who may not.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Understand, the princess of the people represent all of us. The parts of us that all the way back in the garden, had a perfect relationship with God. A relationship that had nothing to do with provision. Everything was already provided. Had nothing to do with being secure because everything was set up for our safety. It was the perfect relationship. But somehow, because God decided to keep one thing away from them, their flesh had to know what it was like to have the one thing that God.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Said they couldn't have.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Now, I don't know about you, but if we're going to be real in this place, has anybody ever stepped over the line and actually did the one thing God told you you shouldn't have done? Some of y' all said, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The truth of the matter is the princess of the people is us. The one who God loves, the one who God desires to be in relationship, the one that God provides for. But what ended up happening with her is the same thing that happens with us. That wall that was being built, the walls in our life that are being built, the walls are built by our sin, by the things that we don't Instagram and the things we don't Facebook and the things that we don't introduce ourselves with, but the things that we think and have deep in our heart. And if we be honest, in this place, all of us have built a wall between us and God. And today, what God wants you to see is that. That wa. The thing that he wants to keep you away from him. He wants that wall to be torn down so that there is nothing between you and Him. But many of us love our walls. We love those things that we've gone to to find comfort and to find hope and to find relief and to numb ourselves. And I don't know what those sin issues are for you, but if we were to be real in this place, all of us have something that we've gone to instead of God. Okay? All of us have something that we've gone to that We've drank, that we've laid down with, that we've talked to, that we have, that we have put in a position other than God because we felt like we couldn't get to him, so might as well get to this. And God says that's a counterfeit. And because of God's great love for all of us, he said, I gotta do something to tear down this wall on this Saturday. This is all God wants you to know, is I don't want the wall between me and you anymore. You thought the wall was for protection? No. That wall is not protecting you, God. I'm the one protecting you. And today, there are people under the sound of my voice that are sick and feeling like God is the big man out there, the big man upstairs. My Bible tells me that God wants to be and is concerned about the details of your life, knows the number of hairs on your head, bottles, every one of your tears. And today, with all the passion that I have in my heart, I want to let you know that God's plan through this weekend and through Easter was to tear the walls down in your life. And that's why you're about to see, in a moment, a depiction of the King's only son, the prince. We would call him Jesus, the one who could actually become man and actually take on sin so that we could actually be back in relationship with God. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm one of four. I'm one of five brothers, and I ain't never taking a whooping for my brothers. I don't know about you, but ain't not one time I. It was them. But think about God's saying, jesus, I need you to go be the sacrifice.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

So that all my other children can have a relationship with me.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Most of us, if it would have been up to us, it would have been like, I think me and you was cool.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

God, it can just be us.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

But Jesus had to pay for what our sin ran up the bill. And see, that's why you gotta understand that in this moment, when we do things, when we walk away from God, we think it's cheap. But the Bible tells us the wages of our sin, or the payment for.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Our sin is death.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And that's why Jesus had to go to the cross. And that's why 1st Peter 1:18 says, for you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life that you've been living. How many people know that there is a place in your life that has been empty? And today I'm speaking to the parts of you that you don't want anybody to know about, but God sees. Every day you wake up with an area of your life empty. And that's where we go in our human attempt to try to fulfill it. And that's why I want to expose the lie on sin. All sin is. Is an illegitimate attempt to fulfill a legitimate need. You need love legitimately, but then you go try to find it in their bed. It's just the wrong attempt for the right thing. And today I want to give you the opportunity to stop settling for the counterfeit, to not have a knockoff relationship with God, to actually be authenticated with the real thing. And that's why God said, this ransom that that needs to be paid was not paid with mere gold and silver, but it was paid with something way more valuable. It was paid with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless, spotless lamb. So every time I went to those websites and I was thinking about myself and pleasing myself, I didn't realize there was a wage of sin that went along with those images that I was seeing. And God said, I know Michael can't pay that. I know he doesn't have enough to do it in himself. So I'm gonna send my only son who knew no sin. He didn't just take care of sin. He became it. He said, I'm a step into every mistake Michael would make, and I'm going to step into every misstep that he would do, and I'm going to step into every lie that he would tell, and I'm going to step on it, and his record will be clean if he just receives me. Today I'm coming to ask you to receive the One who's paid it all, to receive the One who didn't do anything wrong, but now has gotten all the punishment that I deserve. It should have been me on the cross. So today I need you to see the rest of this program is not a story that we're just telling. It's your story. It's your life. It's God's love for you. It's God's love for me. And that's what Matthew 20:28 tells us, how good God is. He said, for even the Son of me did not come to be served. He didn't come for us. Just bow down. And he said, I came to serve y' all and to give my life as a ransom for many. This is my prayer. That every time you see that princess of the people, you see yourself.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

You.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

See your mistakes, you See the thoughts that you don't tell anybody. You see the. The things you scroll late at night when your husband or your wife asleep. You see what you feel about money and the extra thing I want you to see. You. I'm not talking about the fake you you put on to come to church. I'm talking about the real you. See, because God doesn't bless who you pretend to be. He blesses who you really are. Today, I want you to take the mask off and put. Put his grace on. But you can't do that until you surrender. So the rest of this story, it's about you and you and you and all y' all and you and you and me. And what? Our God, our good God, our faithful God, Our God that makes a way.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Out of no way.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Our God who is the champion of love. Our God who's the undefeated champion. This is about what somebody say, my God. It's what my God did just for me. Thank you, Lord, for sending Jesus to.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Pay for what I couldn't.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It makes. It reminds me of this story I've told a couple times, but I went out to eat with somebody that. That had a little money, and they took me to a bougie restaurant. And the reason, you know, it's a bougie restaurant is because there's no prices on the menu. See, some of y' all ain't never been to a restaurant like that. But then they be like, it's got the name and no. No numbers, so it's gonna be a lot. And I was just gonna have an appetizer. Oh, y' all gonna play me? It was the eighth. I had to get to the 15th. I was like, just give me some chips and queso. And the person said, order whatever you want. Hold on, now. Don't say that if you don't mean it. Order whatever you want. And in that moment, I already knew.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

That he was good for it. I just needed to receive what he was giving me.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And for some reason, there was still.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Hesitation, even though he said, I got it.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

And I was like, ma'? Am?

[Pastor Michael Todd]

She said, what would you like?

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

I said, I'm gonna just take the chips and queso, and I'll just, you know, I'll just get a little burger or something. He said, that's what you want. All you want is a burger. I was like, well, I really want a steak. He said, get him a steak. I was like, a steak. He's like, yeah, you want the burger, too? I said, hold on now.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Kind of.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

He said, get him the Burger. Get him the steak. You want anything? You want dessert? I said dessert. You order your dessert with your meal. Where are we at? And this man.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

It took me a.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

Second to realize that I was sitting with somebody who was going to pay for it. And so my concern should not have been my concern. I should have just received because I.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

Was in proximity with somebody who had.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

It this weekend at church. I want you to know that you're in proximity with somebody who has it. He has everything you need, and he's already paid it all. So today, in this second act, I want you to see how our amazing God sent his only son, the prince, to pay for our ransom.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

This is how much God loves you, that he would send Jesus to pay your ransom. And if you watch that and you want to receive Jesus right now, I want to give you an opportunity. It's very simple. It's not a bunch of rules and religion and confess everything that you've done first.

[Co-Pastor or Worship Leader]

No.

[Pastor Michael Todd]

We serve a God that if you give him your heart, he will change your habits. And today, if you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and savior, as you're watching with wherever you're at right now, I want you to make this the day of salvation on account of three. I just want you to raise your hand. Even if you don't do it out loud in front of everybody like you're making this decision. One, two, three. This is the moment. And today, I want you to pray this prayer with me. Say, God, thank you for sending Jesus just for me. I thank you for putting me in a position of grace. Here's my life. I repent and I turn to you. Change me, renew me, transform me. I'm yours forever. In Jesus name, Amen. If you just prayed that prayer right now, all of heaven is turning up. The Bible says that if one person gives their life to Christ, that all of heaven throws a party. And today at Transformation Church, as a pastor that has seen thousands of people make this decision, I am celebrating you. Hey, listen, if you want more information of how you make this journey a progression, not perfection, I want you to text saved to 828282 right now. And I don't know where you're seeing this and where God's finding you right now, but you may be in a very dark place. But I'm telling you, hope is coming to your life. This will be your best year yet. If it is your best year spiritually. And I believe that God is about to do a work in your life. I feel God right now that is going to be transformative to everybody around you. I think that God has a special plan for you and I know that this is the beginning of it coming to pass today. I just want to say I love you. Hey listen, that worship song, the King is Alive, play that all week long, play that all year long and we have probably 30 more songs that you can worship with from every style and genre that you can change your atmosphere and your playlist in life so that you can turn to God in a brand new way. And next week I'm starting a brand new series called Mustard. We are doing a series talking about the size of the seed that changes everything. And the Bible tells us that all we need is a mustard seed size faith and we can move mountains. And I want to teach you how God will take a little and turn it into a lot so you don't want to miss next week. I love you. I'm praying for you. I believe in you and I know that the best for your life is yet to come. Go out and live a transformed life.