Free Indeed

Indiana Women's Prison

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: C.A. Murray (Host), Lemuel Vega (Host), Shelly Quinn (Host), Michelle Jones, Joetta Walls

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Series Code: FIN

Program Code: FIN000006


00:01 Hi, I'm C.A. Murray and this is Free Indeed,
00:05 a different kind of ministry.
00:07 The men and women that you will meet
00:09 in this particular program have found Jesus
00:11 in very trying circumstances.
00:15 They are going to tell you their story,
00:16 their own personal journey of their walk of faith.
00:20 We haven't changed their music
00:22 and we haven't changed their words
00:23 because it's their personal testimony.
00:26 It's their walk of faith with Jesus Christ.
00:29 So you're gonna meet some people,
00:30 some men and women who've made
00:31 some mistakes in their lives, but they're trying to change
00:34 that through the power of Jesus Christ.
00:37 You will meet men and women who've found
00:40 as we have found that freedom is not really,
00:44 doesn't have much to do with where you are.
00:46 It is more what you are.
00:48 You'll find as they have found that in Jesus,
00:51 you can indeed be free indeed.
01:10 What do you see when you look in the mirror?
01:13 Do you like what you see when you look in the mirror?
01:16 Do you want to change what you see?
01:17 Would you like to alter what you see and how important
01:21 is the image that stares back at you
01:24 from your mirror each day?
01:26 Is that more important than what's inside?
01:29 On today's program, we travel once again
01:31 to the Women's Prison in Indiana.
01:33 We wrestled with this idea of self image.
01:37 Do you like what you see?
01:38 What length will you go to,
01:40 to change what you see in the mirror?
01:43 In this country, cosmetics is a multi-billion dollar industry,
01:47 plastic surgery, makeup, so many, many things
01:51 we do to change what's on the outside when perhaps
01:54 we ought to spend a little more time looking
01:56 at and concerning ourselves with what's on the inside.
02:01 Today, we meet Michelle, we meet Joetta
02:04 and we hear ministry from Shelley Quinn.
02:06 Joetta spends a little time telling us about
02:08 the after effects of a visit by 3ABN
02:12 and Christmas Behind Bars.
02:14 How is the life of the prison changed?
02:16 How are the lives of those inmates changed
02:19 once we leave, is it good, is it bad, is it better?
02:23 And then, Michelle talks to us about self image
02:25 and Shelley speaks to us
02:26 about a positive self image in Jesus Christ.
02:30 You want to stay by.
02:31 This is a-- powerful presentation
02:33 from a Women's Prison, here on Free Indeed!
02:39 Today, we have Michelle Jones with us
02:41 and it's just been blessing to work with her
02:43 in the music time that we spent here
02:45 going over the songs and stuff.
02:47 Michelle, is this your first time in prison?
02:49 Yes, sir. And how long you have been locked up?
02:51 14. 14 years. Yes. You look almost too young
02:55 to have 14 years in, in prison.
02:57 My grandmother's genes that's all I can say.
02:59 Well, I'll tell you what, at some point, you shared
03:02 with me that you were ready to check out, yes sir, of life.
03:06 Yes, sir. I was completely trapped in a very,
03:10 very bad relationship and-- I was using drugs and alcohol
03:12 to numb out so much so that, you know,
03:16 my child died in the process from my neglect
03:18 and I, I'm here now for that and it was tremendously hard
03:22 because I wanted this person.
03:24 I had made this person my everything,
03:26 instead of making God my everything.
03:29 I made this one man my everything and when he ceased
03:32 to be that perfect image that I had setup, I crumbled.
03:35 I completely collapsed and I caused a very, you know,
03:39 a heartfelt horrible situation in my life
03:42 and my son died as a result of my neglect.
03:44 And it was, it was traumatic.
03:45 It's the worst thing I've ever been through in my life.
03:48 Would you look out there, Michelle, and would you share
03:51 with those people in the world today as this goes literally
03:53 around the world that there is a message of hope for them,
03:56 because many people feel like checking out especially
03:58 in this time of earth's history.
03:59 For me, when I felt like giving up, completely giving up,
04:04 there was some still voice, small voice inside me
04:07 that was God that said, you know, get up, get up.
04:11 And when I came to prison, I really did not want to get up.
04:14 I laid in that bed. I took my Prozac.
04:16 I took my Paxil. I did not want to live
04:20 and God sent someone to me and said get involved
04:24 and I chose one thing that I could do.
04:26 And God let me learn from that experience
04:29 that there are more than one, more than one thing
04:31 that you can do, Michelle.
04:32 You can do this and you can do this.
04:33 So I would say to them, find that one thing
04:36 you know that lights up your spirit,
04:38 that lights up your heart, that fills you with joy,
04:41 go out and do that.
04:42 And when you find that you are in service to others,
04:45 God begins to reign down blessings on you.
04:47 And the next thing you know, you've got a support system
04:49 or maybe money comes and a check is coming,
04:51 mail or job opens up or you find housing.
04:54 So find that thing, give it to God.
04:58 Do that work and give it to God and watch the blessings
05:01 reign down 'cause that's what's happened for me.
05:03 I will give up or give in
05:09 I'm holding on to thee
05:15 I will be steadfast, I move above
05:22 Always abounding in you
05:29 Lord, I'm staying in your will
05:40 I will give up or give in
05:46 I'm holding on to thee
05:52 I will be steadfast I move above
05:59 Always abounding in you
06:06 Lord, I'm staying in your will
06:14 I'm staying in your will
06:18 I'm staying in your will
06:21 I'm staying Lord
06:24 I'm staying in your will
06:26 I'm staying
06:30 I'm staying in your will
06:33 I'm staying Lord
06:35 Said, I'm staying in your will
06:42 I'm staying in your will I'm staying Lord
06:48 I'm staying in your will I'm staying
06:54 I'm staying in your will I'm staying Lord
06:59 Said, I'm staying in your will Promise you Lord
07:08 I'm staying in your will, your will
07:16 Promise you Lord
07:20 I'm staying in your will, your will
07:28 Promise you Lord
07:32 I'm staying in your will, your will
07:38 Promise you Lord
07:45 I'm staying in your will, your will
07:52 Promise you Lord
07:56 I'm staying in your will, your will
08:04 Promise you Lord
08:09 I'm staying in your will, your will
08:20 God has done so much for me that I cannot,
08:25 I cannot, even with the loss of my only child
08:28 I'll ever have, I cannot sit here and not be thankful
08:34 for what God has done and not tell you that God
08:36 is moving in my life and-- blessing me and changing me.
08:41 Even with everything that's happened. I couldn't do it.
08:50 Today, we're at the Indiana Women's Prison and we have
08:52 our guest speaker is Joetta Walls,
08:55 also knows as Lady out there in secular society,
08:59 but today you carry the gospel message
09:02 for Jesus Christ in prison.
09:03 Joetta is this your first time in prison?
09:05 Yes, this is. First time in prison,
09:07 how long have you been in prison?
09:09 I've been incarcerated seven years.
09:11 Seven years, what message of hope
09:13 would you like to share with the world?
09:15 You are not just talking to your,
09:16 to your co-inmates here, but you're talking to the world.
09:19 What message of hope would you have this afternoon
09:21 for those people in the free world?
09:23 The message of hope I have today for the world
09:26 is that Jesus Christ is the way.
09:28 He is the truth and he is the life.
09:30 He saved me out of a place that I didn't think
09:32 I could be reached.
09:34 I didn't think anyone cared.
09:35 I felt abandoned and rejected most of my life
09:37 from my family, friends, people who were close to me.
09:39 I just felt unloved.
09:41 But He reached down from His Holy Sanctuary
09:43 and He picked me up in the palm of His hand
09:46 and He shared His love with me as He does this very moment
09:49 that I stand here with awesome breath of life
09:51 that He fills me with.
09:52 So you if you're feeling like I did for so many years,
09:55 I'm 47 years old by the grace of God and I thank Him
09:57 for each and every breath that I breathe and everyday
09:59 that I live to see because this is a gift from Him.
10:02 If you are feeling abandoned, rejected, nobody wants
10:05 to be around you, no one likes you, then just praise God
10:08 and thank Him for it, because He set you apart
10:11 for His purpose and for His reason and for His glory.
10:14 He is making you for Himself and I had to be incarcerated
10:17 to come into the truth of that knowledge,
10:20 but I'm so thankful for the time that I've been here.
10:23 I'm thankful for the people he's brought into my life,
10:25 the women here, the administrators,
10:27 the medical staff, all the-- ministers as Brother Lemuel
10:31 and the other ministries have come here
10:33 to minister to our hearts.
10:35 I'm just thankful for God's goodness
10:36 and for His faithfulness.
10:37 So like I said, if you feel that way
10:39 and you feel that there's no hope for you,
10:41 Jesus Christ is the living hope.
10:43 Let's talk about the anger and revenge.
10:45 You told me that played a big part in your life at that time.
10:48 There is a lot of anger and revenge
10:50 going on in the world today.
10:51 What would you share to the people that can't
10:53 find that forgiveness?
10:54 As the sister who just spoke before me,
10:56 my encouragement for you is to surrender that.
11:00 Give that to the Lord, because He knows your anger.
11:02 He knows those feelings that we think
11:04 we can hide from everyone else.
11:06 You might say all the right things.
11:07 You might play the part you might look the role,
11:10 but God says, He is the searcher of hearts.
11:12 He test the hearts and He searches the mind
11:14 and there is nothing hidden from Him.
11:16 So my suggestion to you and not only my suggestion
11:19 but my encouragement to you is to surrender
11:21 that to the Lord, so that He can heal your heart
11:24 of those wounds that you are carrying,
11:25 all that pain from years ago, so that you can forgive,
11:28 because without Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit
11:31 working in you, it cannot be done.
11:33 So you came from a background
11:34 of a lot of shame and guilt.
11:36 There was some sexual abuse in that--
11:38 but through this journey, you've been able to find
11:41 that hope and forgiveness. Yes. And you'd recommend
11:43 for that people in society as well. Yes,
11:46 I highly recommend that you seek help,
11:48 two words, seek help.
11:50 Jesus says if you come into Him,
11:51 He will give you rest from all of your burdens.
11:54 But He also sets people in your life that
11:56 you can go and talk to and that you can speak to.
11:58 All of us have different callings.
11:59 All of us have different purposes,
12:00 but we are all the same at the foot of the cause.
12:03 And so, I just encourage you to go and seek help.
12:05 I didn't do that when I was younger because of shame,
12:07 because of stigmatisms, because of the way
12:09 society sets you, sets you in categories in little clicks
12:12 and it kind of keeps you out of what you might
12:14 want to do or you think so at the time.
12:16 I encourage everyone to seek help.
12:18 If you've been abused, whether it's a family member
12:20 or someone close to you, a stranger, seek help.
12:22 Go and talk to someone about that,
12:24 because there is hope for you. Amen, in closing,
12:26 what is a Bible verse, I know, you have many,
12:29 but what is a Bible verse that you would like to leave.
12:31 Yes, that's kind of hard to choose from,
12:33 but the Lord places on my heart and today
12:36 is just my living testimony that the Lord is my strength
12:40 and He is my song.
12:41 He is my God and I will praise Him.
12:44 He has become my salvation.
12:45 He is my Father's God and I will exalt Him.
12:48 You'll praise Him no matter what.
12:49 No matter what, "For Christ I live and for Christ I die."
12:53 Thank you. Thank you.
12:59 That just blows me away. That's just so awesome to me
13:02 how God uses you when you feel like,
13:05 you were the second rate citizen.
13:07 There was no value left in my life.
13:10 Thrown off to the side.
13:11 Nobody wanted me.
13:13 He showed me how much He loved me
13:16 and He wants me.
13:19 He showed me the hope that is in His son
13:22 and the reason why he sent Him
13:24 because how cruel we are to one another.
13:27 No matter what type of job that you have,
13:29 no matter what type of house you live in,
13:31 or what kind of car you drive,
13:32 or which school your kids go to, that we're all cut
13:36 from the same rug.
13:39 And it has to be washed in the blood
13:42 of Jesus Christ when it's still dirty.
13:46 And that's what gets me through the day,
13:48 each day knowing how much God loves
13:50 not just me, but all of us.
13:53 It's so beautiful and it's just so wonderful
13:57 and so I tried to let that light that's in me,
14:00 shine so that others can see how much God loves them.
14:05 No matter how you look, can be either someone who looks
14:09 on a magazine cover or a person that's walking next
14:12 to you to the left or to the right.
14:14 The only thing that-- matters is the reflection
14:16 that you see in that mirror when you look.
14:18 Who do you see when you look in the mirror?
14:20 Do you see Jo Walls?
14:22 Or do you see, Christ?
14:27 I see Christ.
14:30 I see Him reflecting His image,
14:32 because now I can look in the mirror again.
14:34 It was years when I didn't even look in the mirror.
14:36 I know how to put make up on without looking at.
14:38 I can put on lipstick in the dark.
14:40 I didn't look in the mirror, because I didn't knew
14:42 who that person was that was in the mirror.
14:45 I didn't know who that was looking back at me because--
14:46 it was a scarred person.
14:48 It's kind of like you pickup a dirty penny off the street
14:52 and you don't know it's a penny
14:53 till it gets all washed off and clean again.
14:56 That's what God did to me.
14:57 He picked me up, He cleaned me up.
15:01 And He reminded me who I was and where I was from,
15:03 that I belonged to him
15:06 and that I'm His daughter and He loves me.
15:09 And no matter where I'm in and what I've done,
15:14 mercy doesn't remember any of that.
15:17 When I look at a crowd this size,
15:21 I know that there is more than one person in here,
15:23 there is probably many people in here who were told
15:27 as a child you're worthless,
15:29 you'll never amount to anything.
15:33 You know, you're no good.
15:35 And I want to tell you something.
15:36 That is-- a lie of the devil.
15:39 He is-- the father of lies,
15:40 he has lied from the-- beginning and that is a lie.
15:44 To each and every one of you, whether you've accepted Christ
15:47 as your Savior or not, let me tell you this.
15:50 You are worth nothing less than the price
15:54 that He paid for you
15:55 with the blood of His only begotten Son.
15:59 A God who'd humble himself, become human,
16:04 show up as a baby.
16:06 If I was God, I'd be coming in as a King, but he showed up
16:09 as a baby, so that he could lead a life and understand
16:14 everything that-- you're going through
16:15 and experience every temptation.
16:18 God showed us how much He loved us by sending His Son
16:21 into the world to die for us.
16:24 And you know, the Bible is very clear.
16:27 He says in Ephesians 2, verse 4 beginning there.
16:31 This is what Paul says, God is so rich in mercy.
16:34 He loved us so much that even though we were dead,
16:39 spiritually dead, because of our sins, He gave us life
16:44 when He raised Christ from the dead.
16:47 It's only by grace that you've been saved. When--
16:58 I grew up with a great fear of abandonment
17:01 and a fear of rejection.
17:03 And I had even as a Christian, I had an identity crisis.
17:08 I didn't know who I was.
17:11 And I can imagine that-- most of you coming in here
17:15 have experienced that identity crisis.
17:18 You know, the Bible tells us in Second Corinthians 5:17
17:23 that we are new creations in Christ Jesus.
17:26 When you accept Christ, the old is gone
17:29 and the new is come.
17:31 Now, I don't know about you, I claim this promise
17:36 and I claim along with it Philippians 1:6
17:39 that God is faithful and that He will complete the good work
17:42 He has begun in me.
17:44 But I don't always feel like the old is gone
17:47 and the new has come.
17:49 But I confess it over my life because--
17:52 Romans 4:17 says that God is a God who gives life
17:56 to the dead and calls things that are not
17:59 as though they already were.
18:01 He can do that because He knows
18:03 the end from the beginning.
18:06 And you know what, you can know the end
18:08 from the beginning too, because it is written.
18:11 Everything in this book is written for your benefit
18:17 and you will become what you behold.
18:21 Let me read you this scripture from the Amplified,
18:23 it say in Second Corinthians 3:16.
18:26 It says, "Whenever a person turns
18:29 that means to repent return to the Lord,
18:34 then the veil is stripped away."
18:37 That veil of identity crisis when you look in the mirror
18:42 and think who is this that's looking back at me.
18:45 Have your ever felt like that?
18:47 Who is this? What's wrong with me Lord?
18:52 But it says, "The Lord is the Spirit,
18:55 and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
18:57 there is liberty."
19:00 You can be free from your bondage
19:02 and it goes on in verse 18.
19:04 It says, "All of us with unveiled face,
19:07 because we continue to behold as in the Word of God
19:12 as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
19:15 we are constantly being transformed
19:19 from one level of His glory to the next."
19:22 From glory to glory.
19:25 You become who you behold.
19:28 That's why some of you are here.
19:31 You became what you beheld in your own home.
19:36 But you can have a different life by looking into this word
19:41 and knowing that-- God's promises are yours
19:45 and beginning to claim them and confess them
19:48 over your life and God will change you.
19:51 There is transforming power in the word of God.
19:54 James 1:21 says that this word, when it's planted
19:58 in our hearts, has the-- ability to save our souls.
20:04 In second Peter 1:3 through 4, some of my most
20:09 favorite scriptures, and it says this,
20:16 "God's divine power has given to us all things
20:20 that pertain to life and godliness."
20:23 Everything we need, God provides.
20:25 God doesn't tell you to be something
20:28 that he doesn't call you to be something that he won't
20:31 cause you to be if you learn to rely on Him.
20:36 It goes on and says, "He has given us all things
20:40 that pertain to life and godliness,
20:42 through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory
20:45 and virtue, by which, by his glory and virtue,
20:49 have been given to us exceedingly
20:52 great and-- precious promises."
20:54 So that through these promises, the Bible says,
20:58 you can become a partaker of the divine nature and escape
21:04 the corruption that's in the world through lust.
21:08 I cannot tell you how much it means to me when God
21:13 first taught me to take scripture and to pray it back
21:17 to him to claim it over my life, to tell Him,
21:21 Lord I thank you, that I'm the righteousness
21:26 of God in Christ Jesus.
21:28 I thank you that I'm a new creation
21:30 and He taught me to do this and one day,
21:32 after He had given me a bunch of promises,
21:35 and I wrote them all out, beginning with I'm.
21:38 The Lord told me to go and look into the mirror
21:42 and speak these promises over my life.
21:44 You know what, it was easy, somewhat easy,
21:47 for me to have these promises written out
21:49 and to claim them and to pray them.
21:51 But when I went to look in the mirror,
21:53 I want to read you this, this affirmation that I was reading
21:57 in the mirror.
21:59 Here's what the Lord gave me and it came from
22:01 Ephesians 4:30 in First John Chapter 5.
22:05 The affirmation said, I'm sealed for the day of redemption.
22:10 God has given me eternal life and this life is in His son.
22:14 As long as I abide in Jesus, I have assurance of my salvation.
22:20 That's what the promises are from Ephesians 4:30
22:23 and First John 5:11 and 12.
22:26 And I had this written out on paper.
22:29 I was praying it.
22:30 I was speaking it. But God said go look in the mirror.
22:35 And when I looked in the mirror,
22:38 and I said to, looking into my own eyes,
22:41 I am sealed for the day of redemption.
22:46 All of a sudden, what was written on paper,
22:50 the light of God's word actually
22:53 entered into my heart, into the deep recesses,
22:57 the dark recesses of my heart, because I had never had
23:01 assurance of salvation until I did that.
23:06 When you take what the Bible says and apply it personally,
23:12 don't think his promises are too great for me because
23:15 He says in Second Corinthians 1:20,
23:18 All of His promises are ours in Christ Jesus
23:21 and as you do that, as you learn as Proverbs Chapter 3, 5
23:28 through 7 says, "To trust in the Lord
23:31 with all of your heart."
23:33 He is trustworthy, he loves you--He cannot lie.
23:38 He has totally separated from evil.
23:41 There is not anything evil in God.
23:43 And the Bible says trust in the Lord
23:46 with all of your heart and lean not
23:49 on your own understanding.
23:51 Well, if we're not going to lean on our understanding,
23:53 whose understanding would we lean on,
23:55 God's and where do we find it?
23:57 In the Bible. And then, He says, acknowledge Him
24:02 in all of your ways and He will direct your pasts.
24:08 Please, understand that as you look into this word,
24:14 what you will see is who you are in Christ Jesus.
24:20 We have an identity crisis.
24:23 You're not the only ones.
24:24 There're so many people in the church
24:26 who don't understand who they are in Christ.
24:29 But God wants us to get into His word.
24:31 Let the word get into us, and to begin to understand
24:36 that someone quoted earlier, Romans 8:28,
24:41 "All things work together for good for those
24:43 who love the-- Lord and are called
24:45 according to his purpose."
24:46 You cannot disconnect that from Romans 8:29
24:50 because his purpose it goes onto say,
24:53 is for those He foreknew, He predestined
24:57 to become like Jesus.
25:00 Your destiny is to be like Jesus and when you look
25:05 into the mirror of the word, you will see
25:08 who you really are in Christ.
25:11 Thank you all so much for coming.
25:20 The importance of programs coming in like Free Indeed
25:24 is huge for the women here and for myself personally.
25:27 We had this wonderful day and all these people came in
25:33 from Free Indeed and we were able to pray and worship
25:37 with them and the-- someone was able to sing
25:41 and Pastor Vega was able to preach, and it was a wonderful
25:47 coming together of people and I love when volunteers
25:51 come in personally because of their openness
25:55 and willingness to share their lives with us.
25:57 They don't treat us as if we are junk or garbage
26:01 or throwaways or castaways or outcast people
26:07 and we are people. We are people who need to hear
26:10 the word, Lord.
26:11 We are the people who need to find our way back to God,
26:16 because I don't believe there is any real separation
26:19 between ourselves and God is always present,
26:21 always in our lives, ever present in everything
26:23 and sometimes we need to have people come in
26:29 who can help us remember that and have opportunity
26:32 to express that in a open way, to pray and worship
26:37 and shout and say thank you in an open way
26:40 and when Free Indeed came in, there was such a spirit
26:43 of revival in the women.
26:45 Women were raising their hands and clapping
26:48 and standing up and testifying and crying out to God
26:51 and so whenever volunteers come in like that
26:56 with their hearts open, ready to share,
26:58 ready to worship, its transformational,
27:00 its transformational.
27:02 Some of you may know, my name is Lemuel Vega
27:05 and I work with
27:06 Christmas Behind Bars Outreach Ministry,
27:08 which carries the gospel message
27:10 literally around the world, 365 days a year.
27:13 We've come to a really critical point.
27:16 We need Bibles at this point
27:18 and we are asking for your help.
27:20 Do you have any idea as how we can get
27:22 700 Bibles every month to put in these people's hands?
27:26 We have a warehouse that's been donated
27:28 and we have skids of material in that warehouse.
27:32 Bibles, the skid is empty.
27:34 700 every month and we need your help.
27:36 A new Bible costs $3, 3 simple dollars
27:39 to put a brand new Bible into these people's hands.
27:43 Is there anybody here that would like a Bible,
27:47 but don't have one?
27:54 We're trying to get more Bibles brothers.
27:57 So if you don't have one, please pray
28:00 that we can get more Bibles.
28:02 At this point, we're asking for your help
28:05 combined with God's grace,
28:07 I know that the word of God and these inmates,
28:09 many of them, will be in the kingdom of heaven,
28:11 because you are willing to serve in this capacity.
28:14 Thank you very much.


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Revised 2014-12-17