Toni Collier Preaching the Gospel Inside Women's Prison

Want to do something special want everybody to stay where they are We're gonna go back into that song in just a second I've been asking the Lord. Why am I here? My name is Tony. I'm originally from Texas The best state in the world. Thank you very much. I Live in Georgia, and I've just been asking the Lord why I Just been asking the Lord why am I here? Why am I here? You know we get to travel all over the world We get to preach to people that know the name of Jesus, but don't be acting like it Clock it I I Like to call those the towers of ministry The church is the conferences and they're great beautiful Lots of people that know Jesus meet Jesus there again and again and again the towers of ministry And I just kept hearing the Spirit of the Lord say This place is no tower These are the trenches And Here's the truth, I think we find Jesus in the trenches And I don't even really need to think it I actually know it because the Bible says that Jesus will leave the 99 who's doing I To go after the one lost in the valleys in the dark places in the trenches It is just who he is It's in his character to stand in the trenches and so me and my friends and this team We've come to the trenches Because we've come to meet Jesus Be who he is a Savior a Redeemer a friend in a time of need so I stood in the back and I said Lord What am I doing here in the trenches and I felt the soft whisper of the Holy Spirit say Tony

You're here to remind these girls or maybe tell them for the first time Who and whose they are? Baby listen, listen, I didn't been through a little bit too much. Okay Addiction alcohol. I'll be sober for a year in April I Just been through a little bit too much I Just been through a little bit too much To be afraid of the trenches No, no, no we we get armed up in the trenches We get a little bit stronger in the trenches We shake some things off in the trenches And so let me tell you this before our time is up girls I need you to know that you are walking out of these doors equipped in the name of Jesus That the enemy of our souls who thought He had a group of women on his side best believe that we're running to the winning team in Jesus name So we're gonna go back into this song and we're gonna declare that the Lord will have his way in our lives Who's ready for that? Right there, come on, come on. Yes Jesus I Come on Lord have your way. It's all yours. Come on Oh, come on one more time, come on one more time, come on like you mean it You know what just came to mind? The creation story. Listen, check this out. You mean to tell me that the creator of the universe who had plans for how this entire universe would be shaped said, all right, listen, I'm going to go ahead and create the sky, darkness and light. I'm going to throw the stars perfectly into place. You mean to tell me, hold on, you mean to tell me that the creator of the universe created

the sun and the moon perfectly aligning them to shift up and down. You mean to tell me the creator of the vast waters, the creator of all the little animals, some we don't know, okay, there's billions of them out there, many we do know. You mean to tell me that he created man and he did I, I'm just kidding. It's men up in here, we love y'all, okay? The future is female and male, thank you, okay? He created male, Adam, and you mean to tell me he said it's not finished, no, no, no, not until I create woman, I've come here to tell you who you are, you're the period to earth's creation story, the final breaststroke to the beautiful painting that God created, it's you, woman, come on, daughters. So you mean to tell me that we're going to let the enemy of our souls fighting for our beauty, fighting for our worth against the maker of the universe, convince us that we're unworthy? Baby, I complete things, what you talking about? You mean that this world was not complete until I breathe my first breath, are you kidding me, woman, God? I came here to remind you who and whose you are. I'm going to pray over you, I'm going to preach the word of God because that's what we came here for anyway, and then things are going to get a little rowdy and I hope you're all with us. Baby, it's time to rise, okay? We're on the winning team, dear Lord, heavenly father, God of the entire universe who created us and knows us by name, Jesus, our big brother, who came down and endured the worst of pains for you and for me, Holy Spirit, who lives on the inside of us, who works and moves miracles through God's people. We acknowledge you in the room, triune God, come and have your way. We are surrendered, we are ready, we are expectant, we are excited, we are standing in awe of who you are. Come in this place today and have your way and darkness, you better get ready. You have no dominion and power here.

You may have held our stories long enough, but on March the 26th, baby, you have lost your grip. These women are about to get rowdy because we will be reminded or maybe told for the first time who and whose we are for, the living, breathing, miraculous God who moves mountains and or gives us the strength to climb them. And so Lord, come in this place, help me preach the word of God as you intended. Put my little crazy behind from this stage and replace my thoughts and my words and my heart and every single fiber of my being with you, the living God. We love you. We acknowledge your presence in the room. And in Jesus' name, every daughter of the king said, amen and amen and amen. As you go to your seats. About five high fives here. Don't leave me hanging. Hello. Don't leave me hanging. Hey, girl. Don't leave me hanging. I really love that Autumn kicked us off. I really do. She said some things that I just think we really do need to be reminded of. And it is that we have an enemy of our souls who, since we were little girls, has whispered lies into our hearts. And the truth is, if we're 100 percent honest, we believe them. We believe them. We believe that we were too broken to be used by God, that we were discounted, that we was nasty a little bit. Because that one was for real true, you know what I'm saying? Baby, and I want to tell you this right now. I don't speak from a place of condemnation. I speak from a place of authority because I've been there, done that. Lost my virginity at 13. Had my first blunt at 14. Started drinking a little wine, cool as the 15, 16, taking shots. I could chug a beer down to the best of them, to the ground. Slept with probably over 20 men by the time I was 20. Partied, popping, twerking, drinking, smoking. I mean, I've been called Ratchet many times in my life. Anybody else been called Ratchet up in here? Just a little bit. Just a little bit. They could have made me the captain of the twerk team, okay? I was just, oh, put it down in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. You got to remember. You got to remember, okay?

And the truth is, I still think about doing wild things sometimes. I do. Because when you live over half of your life living reckless, it takes a little time to get right, you know what I'm saying? Like, you say yes to Jesus, but you're like, man, if I could scrub the ground one more time. Now I'm sweating these edges out for Jesus, praise the Lord, but y'all. Y'all already know, okay? The truth is, God has radically transformed my life. At 21, I finally got saved, but the truth is, I was like a fan of God, not a follower. Uh-huh. I was in church on Sundays, knew every worship song. That's why my voice is gone, because I love to sing. I'll be like, yes, on Sunday. And I was in the club on Friday and Saturday, you know what I'm saying? Still smoking, still getting high, still numbing the pain, because I believe the lies that the enemy told me. See, it's almost kind of easy for us to say yes to Jesus, but to live like it is a little bit harder. To live like we said yes to Jesus, to look like Jesus. And the truth is, we have seen believers who know the scripture from the top to the bottom, but they mean, you be like, sit down. You're making us look bad out here, okay? Because the church, the movement of God, we have done a pretty good job with getting people to say yes to Jesus. But for some reason, the discipleship, the, but what you doing, how you changing? Are you not cursing no more? I officially stopped cursing when I was 24, 10 years ago. Because I can't say that I have kindness in my mouth. I can't say that the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of me and I'm popping off on people on the road. Get your, you better calm down. I cannot say that I trust the Lord with my whole body and my mind and my spirit when I get a little anxiety and I'm like, let me get a little blunt. Because I'm not depending on him anymore. I'm depending on me to numb the pain. I don't know where to put that. I ain't got no hands. What you doing? Okay. Thank you. We have to be people that proclaim the word of God and live like it too. We can't be playing Christian up in here like we was playing house.

We have to actually be equipped and armed followers of God, not fans. And for some of us, it's easier said than done, man, because listen, life be sucking out here. Like for real, for real. Like I just kind of hate like the prosperity preachers that be like, you're going to have this and you're going to have that. Yeah, but like when? What you talking about? The Bible clearly says that this road that we're on, the Christian road is narrow. It's hard. Target's on our backs and the enemy is ready to ride and baby, we have to get to the point where we ready to ride too. Where we're equipped, where we know God, where we know the word and when the enemy tries to whisper something crazy in our heads, we be like, ah, that ain't true. Psalm 34, 18 says, the Lord is close to the broken hearted and revives those that are crushed in spirit. So when the enemy comes up in your ear and say, you're alone, you be like, ah, ah. Back up, I know, I know. When the enemy says, just do it your way, you got this? Just numb the pain, you straight, just like Audra was doing for four years, you good. You need to be able to say, ah, ah, ah, ah. Second Corinthians, chapter 12, verse nine says, his grace is sufficient for me. His power is made perfect in my weakness. So I'm gonna boast about my weaknesses so that Christ's power will rest on me. I won't hide them, I won't numb them, I won't pretend they're not there. I'm going to say what I've been through

and I'm gonna let God rest on me, so boo. So in John chapter eight, that's where we're going. I almost didn't go here, which is nuts, but Jenny preached for the first session and she said it and I was like, God be doing his big one. I was supposed to do it, I was talking about it yesterday. She did it, confirmation, boo. Let me give you a little context about the book of John because scripture without context is just a good story. What's happening in the book of John is that John is writing all of these chapters telling people of miracles because he knew that then and one day today, right here in good old West Virginia, we would need. We rode up here, I was like, is cows everywhere? I don't know. They got a Starbucks or how's this working? John knew that today we would need to be reminded that we don't serve Buddha. We not bowing to no little doll. That we serve a miracle working God. And so the book of John is just full of miracles. One after the other, after the other. John is making an argument that no, no, no, listen. He is the God of miracles. He is the God that moves mountains and when he doesn't move a mountain, he'll give you the strength to climb it.

This is who he is. He raises people from the dead. He heals the sick. He lets the blind see. He will heal somebody from a whole nother city because he can. So that's the book of John. And in John chapter eight, we find the God of miracles also being the God of mercy. The God of miracles who is also the God of mercy. The God of forgiveness. The God who knows you and all your little ratchet things down to the thing you can't even be honest about with yourself. Cause I didn't do some ratchet things. Steph, I'm just like, I'm not going to say that out loud, but he know. He know that one night in college. No, I'm just. I'm going to say it. I never said this out loud. It was one time I met this guy in Miami for spring break. And he was fine. He had a little tattoo on his side. Don't ask me how I know. I was ratchet enough to not only sleep with this brother in the morning time, but messed around and found somebody else and slept with him too in the same day. And I think I'm supposed to tell y'all that, you know why?

Because now maybe you'll really believe that God can use anybody. So what had happened was in John chapter eight, verse one, it says at dawn, he, Jesus appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him. And he sat down to teach him all of them. Now what's important about verse two right here in John chapter eight is that it says at dawn he appeared again. He came back to a place he wasn't wanted. He came back to a place that people wanted to kill him at, arrest him at. And he came back to this place because his work wasn't finished. Because Jesus knew that he walked in the light so it didn't matter how dark. And how dangerous this place was because when you walk in the light when you know who you are you suit up and you go to work So he teaching them right Verse three the teachers of the law and the pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery they made her stand before the group and said to Jesus teacher this woman was caught in the act of adultery and in The law of Moses it commands us to stone to kill such woman Now, what do you say? verse 6 John tells us they were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him now Let's get a little bit more context. We need to go deep in our word out here Jesus Jesus is there and the Pharisees the little bougie stuck up that I know every word Oh that Jesus that God has for me, but really I'm not nice at all. I'm ready to condemn somebody I'm ready to push someone out. I'm ready to make sure that you know that you messed up too much to be loved by God

He is with those people and they have surrounded him in a circle and brought this woman Who's been caught in the act of adultery now, let me give you a little context with no cell phones What no TMZ what no shade room what no nothing the only way for them to come and bring this woman to the temple courts and to say that she had committed adultery is That more than two people had to see her do it It do it They was messy What they somebody had to tell somebody y'all know she already being fast with somebody else man, maybe This woman was used as a pond She was used as bait and for some of you in this room you've been set up and used as bait Not only in the earthly realm But in the spiritual realm That the enemy would really think oh I'm gonna use her Her depression and her anxiety to maybe get the other woman sitting next to her across From the hallway in the next cell to think that if she's depressed because of her life Then I should be depressed too. The enemy has used you as bait. But when you look at the enemy and say I Will still have joy So She was used as bait to bait Jesus in this moment to break the law of Moses But I just want you to just imagine for a second They had to see her in the act who they probably followed her They was around the little bushes coming around. She was in somebody else tent situation They had to watch her get into the act and they had to pull her out of the situation I'm sure she was naked breast all out. Okay, I Don't know if they gave her a cloth or covered her body But what I do know is that they snatched her out of the situation and brought her to the temple courts Ashamed And so there they are With Jesus

Surrounding him threatening to stone this woman and in John chapter 8 Verse 6 it continues and says but Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger Nobody knows what he was writing or drawing. But here's what I do know. The Savior of the universe is kneeling Humbling himself Making sure that he's right down there with his daughter This is the same Jesus Who would go on? to endure the cross Not only endure it die on it be put in a tomb and Raise from the actual dead This is the Jesus of miracles who is right now in this moment the Jesus of mercy So in verse 6 it says he bent down he starts to write on the ground verse 7 when they kept on questioning him he straightened up and said to them, let any one of you, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw the stone at her. I love what happens next. In verse eight, again he stooped down on the ground and continued to write. I love that he was like, I'm right here with my daughter, humbled in mercy. But for those of you that stand up against her, I'm about to stand and ride out and put you in your place. We know what happens next. In verse nine, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first,

until only Jesus was left with the woman still standing there. Here's what I love about this line. I love it because they all sinned before. Jesus said, fine, you want to stone her, here's your prerequisite. If you want to stone her, you got to make sure that you ain't never sinned before. Bye, boys. And you know what I really love? That the oldest ones left first because they was the one that's really been around the bend for a little while. No, you go, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh. You got to go. I love this next part though. It's right at the end. As they left one by one, the woman was still standing there. In verse 10, Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, this is so funny, where are they? I know she had to be like, I mean, you about to die. And this man that made everybody go that was supposed to like take you out. And then he was like, where everybody at? And you're like, are you like being sarcastic or? She was probably nervous and laughing a little bit like, yeah, I don't want to see them either. I don't think Jesus was just making light of the situation. I think he was trying to get her to say it.

I think he was trying to get her to see it. Look around at the result of my mercy for you. He could have easily just said to her, okay, everyone's gone. Okay. He said, wait, wait, wait, wait. Do you see? Do you see what Jesus does? He protects. Do you see what his mercy does? He loves. Do you see what his mercy does? He saves, he redeems, he rescues. Do you see, daughter? Has no one condemned you? She looks at him and she said, no one, sir. No one here condemned me. And Jesus says something so profound that really just describes his character. He is a God who is all grace, all truth, all the time. I want you to turn to somebody and say, all grace. All truth. All the time. He says, neither do I condemn you, daughter. We ain't saying that she was supposed to have her legs open like that. We are not giving her a free pass to sin. No, this is mercy that she's receiving. Like, you know you weren't supposed to be in there with that man.

And Jesus says, I don't condemn you of that. Actually, that's what I'm here for. To save you from this sin. To forgive you from this sin. To forgive you from this sin. To forgive you from this sin. But don't miss the last line. Jesus says, then neither do I condemn you, he declared. Go now and leave your life of sin. Uh-huh, y'all don't wanna clap for that. You ain't got to. You ain't gotta do it. I'm gonna tell you about it. Don't you worry. He's all grace, all what? All truth. He's all grace, daughter. Daughter, I forgive you. All truth all the time. He does not just want you to know that he loves you. He also wants you to live like you know, to make decisions like you know, to turn the other cheek like you know, to make sure that you ain't dabbling in a little something, something you ain't supposed to be something, something in, like you know, to be kind like you know, to be patient like you know, to live like it. In a second here, we're gonna get some of y'all saved.

Awesome. We want you to have access to eternity, but surprise, baby girl, we probably still gonna be here tomorrow, okay? On this earth, in this darkness, in this weird, disjointed, sinful world. And so until we get to eternity, how you gonna act? Who will you be? How you gonna suit up? What prayers are you gonna start praying? What time are you gonna start carving out of your life to live like you said yes to the Jesus who loves you? It's not enough to just say yes. We know Christians, that is doing wrong, sinning. They may have said yes to Jesus and got access, but the sin has created barriers in between them and the God who saves and loves and wants intimacy and wants closeness. This is not to say that you'll never make a mistake again because baby, you will. I remember the first time I was like, I'm gonna stop cursing, this is it, it's done. About two weeks later, I got into a high-speed chase on the highway. I did. No, I wasn't with the cops. I probably should have specified that from the beginning there. This guy was riding my tail on the highway, and I'm like, brother, I'm in the second to the left lane.

You can get over to the left lane and pass me up. Don't be trying to ride my tail. So I pump my brakes a little bit, kind of get a little feisty, lock eyes with him in the rear view mirror. I'm like, what? Back up. He swerves around, comes in front of me, puts his brakes down. I said, oh, you trying to play? Next thing you know, this man is chasing me on the highway. Look, and then one time, at one point, I saw the exit, and I was like, I'm gonna just jump through all the lanes and exit off, and he ain't even gonna catch me. I jump through all the lanes, he jumps through all the lanes. We both exited the highway, no kidding, true story. I go down the street, find this little shopping complex. I was like, I'm gonna go behind it, loop around and lose him. I go behind it, it's a dead end. So I drive straight, I back up, I drive straight again, I back up again. And I'm facing him, he facing me. Luckily, I, like, swerved around him, right on down to the carpool to pick my daughter up from elementary school. I will never forget it. You know why? Because I've been abused by men. When I was just seven years old, I got addicted to pornography. And my parents' bedroom and promiscuity and lust and all these things just invaded my life. My dad was an alcoholic, and my mom was real sick.

I was a tiny little caregiver, I was taking care of her. So I got into my mom's cigarettes, I got into the little wine coolers. I thought that the only way to be loved, because my alcoholic, abusive father yelled at us all the time, was to give away my body. The lie that I believe from the enemy is you are worthless without a man. You need them. And most of these nasty little boys only want one thing from you, unless they for real a good man. So I gave it up. And at 13 years old, I lost my virginity, I had sexual abuse in my past by family members, y'all know. I was, like, numb to the reality that my body was a temple. And then when I was 14 and 15, got into some other drugs, left my parents' house at 16, I somehow got into college, and was, I don't even remember half of the first semester for sure. All I know is I was in remedial math, because numbers is hard for me. Smoking every single day, popping eggs, partying all the time. I would go to different colleges.

I don't even know whose car I had. How did I get here? I don't know. And did you know the whole time, God was chasing me? So when I get on the road, and a man starts to make me feel unsafe, I get triggered. I get angry. I'm in a bad mood. A high-speed train is going to get my daughter from the school. Pull up, I'm, hey, did you have a good day? Okay, what? God wanted me so he could heal me, so he could show me I will be your husband. I will be your father. The truth is, my story hadn't gotten any easier. Now, thankfully, I'm sober now, so I've been making better decisions. But I got married to a man who was abusive, just like my dad. That's what happens when you got trauma as a kid. You just kind of keep living in it because it's comfortable, familiar. I had a little daughter. I had a little son. I had a little daughter. I had a little daughter. She turned one. He cursing us out. I'm like, I got to go.

End up meeting another man who was just as horrific as the first one. But because I needed a man, the lie, the enemy told me, I got remarried in like six months. But this time, he was a pastor. So I was like, I won. I'm Cinderella. And about two and a half years ago, I went through my second divorce, this time publicly as a pastor, preacher, whatever you want to call me, because my ex-husband was hiring prostitutes as a pastor. It was embarrassing. And I'll never forget the moment my counselor said, how are you feeling towards God? And I was like, I'm not mad. Because how are you going to be mad at the guy that saved you, right? Like, I can't be mad at God, man. Like, the truth is, I wasn't mad. I was disappointed. God, you know what I've been through. You know all the crazy things that's been done to me as a little girl. You know. It's just going to keep going. Now, I got two kids, two baby daddies. How am I going to get back up and preach? Like, people are going to be looking at me crazy. Why is this my story?

My second marriage was the redemption. What happened? What happened? And I will never forget the God of the universe saying, hey, I know. I'm sorry. I know. I know you've had to carry a lot. I know you got these babies who are depending on you to stay strong. I know. The God of the universe met me and said, you can be disappointed. I am too. I'm mad that those men did that to you. I'm sorry that sin and darkness has invaded the world. I'm so sorry, daughter. In the same book of the Bible that we're in, in John chapter 11, Jesus, the one who saves the whole world, does this with two women, Mary and Martha. He cries because their brother Lazarus has died. Before he goes and raises them from the dead, he literally raises their brother from the dead. Before he goes and does the miracle, he sits and cries. Daughters, he knows. And he is with us in the trenches. Why? Two reasons. Because he loves you, number one.

And because he needs to be with you long enough until the moment you have the strength to stand back up again and say, enemy, you can't have me. No. I have got to go all the way to West Virginia and tell the women that we don't back down. We don't back down, we don't stop, we get back up again and again and again. He can't have us. No, absolutely not. He does not get to have our souls. He does not get to keep whispering lies in our head that we choose to believe. We're going to stand up. We're going to rise up and we're going to fight. We're going to pray over our sisters. We're going to pray over our kids. We're going to get back up again and we're going to defeat addiction. And we're going to say, no enemy, no. I've got purpose on the inside of me. And I know who and whose I am. And so here's how we're going to sucker punch the enemy of our souls today. Number one, we're going to get saved. And number two, we're going to get baptized so that we can show all of our sisters and the entire world and the enemy who's lurking, lurking in the shadows of this building, trying to take over. Not only will I say yes to Jesus, but I'm also going to get in this water. And for those of you who don't know anything about baptism, it's all good. I didn't know either. This is a public declaration of what's happening on the inside of you. And I believe with every fiber of my being, because I've been in the trenches

and I've seen miracles and I've been in the trenches again and I've seen miracles, I know with every fiber of my being that you will get under that water and things will die off of you. Scales will fall from your eyes. The Holy Spirit is going to saturate your body. And when you come up, you'll be a new creation in Jesus Christ. You will have a new name. You will be free indeed. And so, number one, if you are in this room and you have never, ever said yes to Jesus and you want for March the 26th to be the day that you have declared who and whose you are, I want you to just lift your hands up. I am not going to even do no little eye close in the church. This will be happening. People be like, close your little eyes and be all cute. No, if you want to say yes to Jesus, I dare you to throw your hand up. There you are. Yeah, just throw it up. It's just whatever. It's whatever. Come on. And every single believer in the room, you better look around at how we're packing out heaven right now. We are packing out heaven. For any of you that rose one hand, I want you to raise two and repeat after me. Like that. Lord Jesus. Today, March 26th, I have been changed. I will stop trying to do things my way and I will surrender my whole life to you. I am declaring that you are my savior, that you died for me and messed around and rose for me, too. I claim victory today over my life,

over anyone's life who surrounds me, over the generation after me. I claim victory over everything I touch in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Give up. Come on. Lord, give me the strength.