Transformation Church Podcast

Episode: Withholding Nothing // Triggered (Part 11) // Pastor Michael Todd

Date: November 30, 2025

Episode Overview

In this eleventh installment of the "Triggered" series, Pastor Michael Todd delivers a powerful message about the importance of moving beyond our triggers and excuses, challenging believers to "withhold nothing" from God and the world. He urges the congregation to recognize how past hurts, disappointments, and betrayals can cause us to hold back our gifts, love, resources, and acts of faith. Drawing from biblical stories, personal anecdotes, and practical advice, Pastor Mike emphasizes the necessity for active faith—faith that leads to action, generosity, and transformation, regardless of our circumstances.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. From Identifying Triggers to Taking Responsibility

• Recap of the Series: For 10 weeks, the church explored how various life experiences trigger us—but now it's time to ask, "What are we going to do about it?"

  "Many of us have turned our triggers into the excuse for disobeying God." (02:45)

• Responsibility over Excuses: Pastor Mike emphasizes that while the pain and triggers are real and must be acknowledged, faith cannot remain stagnant—they are not an excuse for inaction.

  "It may not have been your fault what happened to you, but it is now your responsibility." (13:50)

2. Withholding Nothing: What Are You Holding Back?

• Definition of Wealth: Wealth is not just money, but anything of unique value that you can give—time, encouragement, talent, kindness.
• Examples of Withholding:
  • Reluctance to give because of being hurt or disappointed (e.g., giving in church after seeing funds misused, or withholding help at work because of lack of recognition).
  • Limiting oneself based on age, experience, or past failures.
• Call to Action:

  "What did you willingly take out of the equation because of a past situation?" (10:17)
  "Somebody's praying for what you got. When people cry out to God, He starts talking to solutions." (12:10)

3. Trading Triggers for Faith Activation

• Active versus Passive Faith:
  • Citing Ecclesiastes 11:4: "Farmers who wait for the perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest." (17:14)
  • Don’t wait for perfect conditions to start giving, helping, or acting in faith.

  "You ain't getting no more until you sow what you got." (14:13)

• Faith Paired with Works:
  • From James 2:17: "Faith without works is dead."
  • Real faith produces action and generosity.

4. The Enemy’s Strategy: Stealing the 'Thing Behind the Thing'

• Root Attacks: The enemy's goal isn't just to disrupt your situation, but to make you withhold your God-given gifts—your ability to encourage, serve, love, or lead.

  "The enemy was not after me being on a platform... he was trying to steal my generosity." (22:18)

• Personal Transparency: Pastor Mike shares struggles with bitterness in ministry, highlighting how easy it can be to give up or pull back under attack or criticism.

5. The Biblical Example of Joseph

• Endurance Through Betrayal and Injustice:
  • Joseph consistently gave what he had—leadership, trust, prophetic gifts—even in adverse situations: thrown in a pit, sold into slavery, lied on, imprisoned, and forgotten.

  "If he would have let the trigger keep him from sowing, he would have never gotten to the place that God said in the beginning." (1:08:34)

• Forgiveness & Redemption: When his brothers return in need, Joseph chooses grace and provision over vengeance, completing his God-given assignment.

6. Interrupting the Cycle: Sowing as a Cure to Withholding

• Practical Advice:
  • Don't wait for ideal conditions to give—start with what you have now.
  • Train your triggers to activate your faith. When triggered to anger, sow kindness. When triggered by lack, sow what little you do have.

  "A seed interrupts cycles. The only thing that interrupts biologically a woman's cycle is a seed." (1:17:59)

• Real-Life Parallels: Giving time, resources, or influence—even small things—can break longstanding cycles of pain, lack, or stagnation.

7. Generosity and Transformation

• Personal Testimony: Pastor Mike describes how his own journey of generosity started with a $1,000 seed as a 17-year-old, breaking the mindset of poverty and opening doors for God's trust and provision.

  "God will never ask you for what you don't have, but He will ask you for what you do have." (36:50)

8. Practical Steps and Encouragement

• End-of-Year Challenge: Take inventory of what God has placed in your life and begin to sow it—material possessions, encouragement, skills, or influence—into others’ lives.

  "I’m not asking you for what I didn’t put in you, but could you give what you got?" (1:13:22)

• Giving Beyond Money: For some, generosity means time, attention, emotional availability, or unique talents.

  "Money’s not the issue. The issue is showing up for somebody." (1:26:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Excuses:

  “Most people want to identify their triggers and then make their triggers their excuse.” – Pastor Mike (04:00)

• On the Enemy’s Tactics:

  “He wasn’t trying to steal the thing. He was trying to steal the thing behind the thing.” – Pastor Mike (07:12)

• On Legacy:

  “The goal, Miles Monroe said, is to die empty. The wealthiest place in the world is the graveyard—because everybody’s dying with what he placed on the inside of them, still on the inside of them.” (14:50)

• On Faith and Works:

  “Sow what you got. You may not have much, but sow what you got.” (48:45)

• On Joseph’s Forgiveness:

  “What the enemy meant for evil, God turned it for good.” (1:10:28)

• On Active Faith:

  “I’m training my triggers to actually move me into action by faith.” (1:17:10)

• On God’s Ask:

  “God will never ask you for what you don't have. He’s so good, but He will ask you for what you do have.” (36:50)

Important Timestamps

• Acknowledge & Validate Triggers: 02:00 – 10:45
• Transition to Action/Responsibility: 10:45 – 14:50
• Ecclesiastes & the Danger of Waiting: 17:10 – 18:25
• Faith Activation—Sowing Despite Triggers: 19:30 – 23:39
• Enemy’s ‘Thing Behind the Thing’ Explained: 22:18 – 27:30
• Anecdote: The Little Mermaid Voice / Giving Away Power: 29:40 – 31:32
• On Parenting, Example & Withholding Kindness: 33:03 – 36:15
• Personal Testimony on Generosity: 36:50 – 41:23
• Joseph’s Story Recap: 50:09 – 1:10:28
• Forgiving Betrayal—Joseph & His Brothers: 1:10:50 – 1:13:22
• The Power of Small Seeds / Breaking Cycles: 1:17:59 – 1:21:05
• Giving Beyond Money—Influence & Time: 1:26:38 – 1:29:20
• Prayer for Unwithholding Hearts: 1:30:45 – 1:35:12
• Salvation Call & Closing: 1:36:10 – End

Final Encouragement

Pastor Mike closes with a challenge to examine personal "withholding"—to leave no God-given gift unshared. He encourages everyone to train their triggers to inspire faith-filled responses, to interrupt negative cycles with deliberate, even small, acts of generosity, and to trust that God will honor every seed sown. The message ends in prayer for hearts to be open and for the faith to withhold nothing from God and others.

Action Steps for Listeners

• Inventory your gifts, resources, and experiences—ask God what you might be withholding.
• Practice sowing in the area you feel most triggered or reluctant—no matter how small.
• Embrace a posture of open-handedness and generosity, moving beyond excuses rooted in past disappointments.
• Allow your faith to become active through tangible works—both inside and outside the church.

Transformation Church’s motto: "We represent God to the lost and found for transformation in Christ."
This episode is a call to live that transformation boldly—by withholding nothing.