#116 S4 EP 26: Finding Hope in Hardship: Pastor Larry Ragland's Inspiring Path

My husband is not here today , michael , but I have a co-host with me today and his name is Larry Ragland . He's a pastor as well , and I'm just so excited to hear about what he's doing in his branch of Zion that God has given him . So just after we pray , we will bring him into the room . Amen , amen .

So , father , we thank you so much for your grace and your mercy . Thank you for allowing us this day . Thank you for , again , your grace and your mercy . Thank you that we have the ability to use our hands and our feet . We have a mind to serve you . We have a heart to serve you . We thank you for every ear and , again , every heart that is here .

Thank you for every ear and , again , every heart that is here . God , we just bless this man of God and bless ministries all around the world who are representing you . I pray , god , that we can be the light you desire us to be . I pray , god , you will continue to shape in us and make us and mold us for this journey . We are on , father .

We bless your people and we bless this time . We bless your name . We pray that it all be done in your name , in Jesus Christ's name , amen , amen , hallelujah . I hope y'all are ready , because I am certainly ready and we are going to bring Larry here in in just a moment . Here we go . Hello , larry , will you say hello to me and everybody that is here ?

So tell us a little bit about yourself .

We were just going to serve the Lord and just go to church as a family Got married in May of 89 . By August of 89 , that same year , just a few months later , we were youth pastors and then , like two years later , we planted our first church . And two and a half years later we planted this church . So we've been in ministry for 35 years .

We have a YouTube channel called the Big Picture . We've just released our first book called I See Greatness in you , that we'll talk about today . But I have two grown daughters . One who's married gave me my two grandbabies , so I'm also a papa , which is awesome . So , yeah , that's us . You know it's all about the kingdom .

We we just , you know , if it ain't about the kingdom , we don't want to have nothing to do with it .

And what I tell them all the time is , you know , if anything the pandemic did , is it pruned out the fake church . And so the reality is , you know , people are looking for authenticity . So , to answer your question , they're not looking for showmanship , they're not looking for entertainment .

The ones that are coming to church , the ones that are hungry for the kingdom , because during the pandemic we lost a lot of people . I don't know if you knew this stat , but 70% of regular churchgoers walked away . Of those 70% , 30% remain . Of those 70% , only 20% have come back .

So 50% , half of the church that was going to church three years ago is gone and has never returned .

So a lot of the people that have returned , or the people not just returned , that are coming to the church , coming to podcasts like this , coming to YouTube and searching out answers , spiritual answers they're not a part of the traditional church type environment , so they're not looking for the things that worked for us when we were kids and for our parents and

our grandparents . Not compromising the gospel , that's not what I'm saying . But I'm talking about programs and so forth , things that used to work from generation to generation . This generation is saying you know what ? That's all great , but I'm not here for the fluff , I'm not here for the smoke and mirrors . I need to know the truth .

If this thing is real , if God is real , if the Bible is real , you're going to have to show me how real it is in your life . And what I like to say all the time . I don't know who originally said it , I've just sort of stole it as my own , but I know it's not my own . But it's this .

You know , a man with an argument is at the mercy of a man with an experience . So the reality is this people can argue all want to about this , this and this , but you won't change my mind because I've had an experience . I've had an experience . I've had an encounter with my God . So you know what I'm saying . So here's the reality .

The reality is people want to know how can I have an encounter with God ? Not know how to be churchy , I want to know how to know God , and so I would say the answer to that question is people are looking for the authentic real deal . If they don't get it , they can get entertainment anywhere . I mean my goodness in their fingers .

They can sit and watch entertainment all day long If they're coming to a pastor , a preacher , a church , a revival , a YouTube channel that is kingdom-based . They want the real deal because they ain't got but 24 hours in a day and of that time they got a few hours that they're allotting to that kind of part of their life . So they want the real deal .

Even times I've seen my mother laying in the kitchen floor after being abused by my father on and on and on . Even times I've seen my mother laying in the kitchen floor after being abused by my father on and on and on . But more than anything , he he wrecked me mentally , he wrecked me verbally .

I had extremely , extremely difficult childhood and so and I and , like I said , many instances , like one particular instance to give you an idea of my childhood when I was 10 years old , my mom finally had the guts to pack the car . She had threatened many times to leave him and she finally packed the car that night . And I remember it so vividly .

I'm 56 years old now and I still remember it like it was yesterday

. I was 10 . My dad came in the room with a double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun and loaded both shells in the barrels right in front of me , pulled it back , pulled back the levers and grabbed my little 10 , 10 year old hand and put it on the trigger and put the barrels in his mouth and began to scream at me to pull the trigger and kill him .

And uh and I . And I screamed out you know , I , I can't , I'm not doing that , dad , I love you , I love him . He said well , you either kill me . You either man up and pull the trigger and blow my brains out , or get in that car with your mother and I'll do it myself . Either way , you live the rest of your life knowing you killed your daddy .

So you might as well pull the trigger and be a man . So that was my life I was . I was 10 years old , so you can imagine that kind of verbal abuse just shaped me in the wrong way . I was the poster child for prison . I was the poster child for homeless .

I mean , I was everything because my dad had told me I was a loser , I was nothing , I was worthy of nothing , I was going to end up having nothing in life . But when somebody is abusive , they're a master manipulator , they're a master liar , and he was that .

And there is a process that the viewers and the listeners need to get is that when you are raised in a difficult situation , the thing you hate the most , you will become that without God , and it is absolutely a fact Ninety percent of the time . You know , when you're raised in an abusive home , you'll be abusive .

If you were raised in a liar home , you'll be a liar , and so I hated the man , but I became the man and subconsciously I did not become violent like him , but I became a master manipulator , a master liar , and I had manipulated my way all the way through high school and lied my way into this fake persona that I was somehow okay , that I was popular , I

was the jock on the football team , that I had it together . But everything was a lie . And to answer your question about the book , the reason it's called I See Greatness in you is this I graduated high school barely and I began to date this high school senior a couple of years younger than me . She was 18 years old , her name is Sandy .

She's my wife now . Spoiler alert but she had agreed to marry me and she had just been out of high school . She just turned 18 . She was basically still a kid and right before we got married I got arrested and for some things that she had no idea that I had done .

And when , when I got arrested and I stood before the judge , that night , she was standing outside the courthouse waiting on me and , uh , we were supposed to be married in a few months . And I realized at that moment , standing there , everything that my dad said about me is true . I was nothing , I was never going to have anything .

My only shot of happiness was standing outside of having any kind of life and I had just ruined it . Because there was no way that she would want to stay with a liar like me . Because , by the way , every single thing she believed about me was not true . It was all based on a lie . I had lied my way into her heart .

And so I walked out of that night and I looked at her and I said , sandy , I need you to turn around , keep the ring , walk away and never look back , because if you stay with me , you know the truth . Now I'm going to destroy your life . You will have nothing . It's going to end so badly . I'll never talk bad about you .

I need you to walk away and never look back and find you , a man that deserves you . And that little 18-year-old girl grabbed my hand and she looked at me and she said I'm not leaving you , larry . And I said why would you stay with me , sandy ? You know the truth now . Everything you believed about me was a lie . I said you know the truth now .

Everything you believed about me was a lie . And she said , larry , because when I look into your eyes , I see greatness in you , and that's why I called I see greatness in you , because those five words changed my life . I was froze , I couldn't say a word . I said what did you say ? She said I see greatness in you , larry .

You can't see it , but I'm going to help you see it and I'm not leaving you . And I just couldn't believe , because no one had ever said anything good , let alone great , about me ever . And I just I said are you sure ? She said I'm sure you know , and I've asked her many times over the years . Like I said , we've been married almost 35 years .

This may be 35 years . And I said Sandy , what would make an 18-year-old girl that's only been 18 for two months , right out of high school , say such profound words ? And she said Larry , it wasn't me that said it , it was God .

God came out of me and said it to you , because he knew what he had planned for you and you would never be able to see it on your own . And so it set me on a journey . I gave my life to the Lord .

We got married and , as I said earlier , with no desire for ministry , but God was up there laughing going let me show you something , boy , and what I really had planned for you . But God was up there laughing going . Let me show you something more . And you know what I really had planned for you , and that's been our life of ministry .

But I trace it all the way back . So I say this a long answer about the book , but I will say this to the viewers and listeners is this Not everybody ? I realized that not everybody has a Sandy . It took me 20 something years to have the guts to write this book , because there's some very but I would say 75 to 80% of the stuff that's in this book .

My children , who were grown at the time the book came out , never knew my church never knew I had lived with secret things that I never went public with . Only my wife , myself and one other person in my life knew the things that were in this book , so it was very difficult for me to write it .

But when I was writing it , dealing with all the things that I had to go through , I felt the Lord speak to me , that you know , not everybody has a Sandy to call out greatness in them , but I want you to write this book to be their Sandy , because if they'll read this book , the same thing that happened to you outside the courthouse will happen to them .

At the end of the day , my conclusion is you give people hope that have none . You , this book , is going to give people hope that have no hope . You're going to give a diamond that is here and listening hope that it is not over that my past does not determine my future . Amen , and this is hallelujah .

This is the essence and the reason why we do this , because so many things happen in our life and we're left thinking I'm not good enough , he'll never forgive me . Things of that sort run through our mind , because the enemy is a liar and he likes to feed us a whole bunch of garbage , and we , because we don't know who we are in Christ , listen to it .

Because we don't know who we are in Christ , listen to it . And so I just hear the Spirit saying I'm going to use you , larry , to impact in such a way that it's going to change people's lives . Amen , hallelujah to God be the glory . This is how we really impact . The kingdom is when we don't hide who we are .

We allow God to use our past and all of our mistakes we make right now to his glory . Amen . I oftentimes talk about this scripture and I can't quote it verbatim , but I know he says to us that those that he is called he's justified , who he has justified .

You want to add anything to that .

So therefore , that potential for greatness is there . What happens is many people try to pull that greatness out on their own . You can read books , you can go to seminars , you can study and you can be a great success . You can see a life of greatness and a life of impact , but there is a level of greatness that cannot be unlocked by you .

You cannot unlock it . And when you try to unlock that level of greatness , that level of kingdom , impact that is beyond the human realm , if you try to do that on your own , that becomes what is known as pride , and pride comes before the fall .

And so when people begin to believe that they don't need God , that they can be the ultimate success without God , they move into the realm that Lucifer moved into before he fell from heaven . But the reality is this that greatness in God's infinite design of humanity .

He designed that little bit of extra impact kingdom impact that's beyond your human potential to come out of you by the means of someone else seeing it and calling it out . That's why the Bible says the power of life and death is in your tongue . It's not just a lot of preachers have preached it only halfway .

They've preached the life and death power in your tongue is about the things you speak about yourself . If you say you're poor , you keep saying you're poor , you'll be poor . If you keep saying that you're a failure and you're a loser , and all the time I hate myself .

Well , you speak death of yourself , but the reality is this the mouth is also meant to call life out of others .

And when you understand that the world is not about you and your life is not necessarily only about you , but that God did not put you here just to exist and live and everything was supposed to be about you and that's why you're here , you've missed the whole purpose of even existing . God puts you here to live and to have an abundant life .

But you are to make disciples . You are to lay hands upon the sick and see them recover . You are to cast out devils . You are to teach people . He asked Peter , do you love me ? Of course I love you . Well then , feed my sheep .

So the power of what I'm trying to get across to you is that you have a responsibility to be the voice of God , to call potential out of people . You've got the power , you've got dominion , according to Genesis 1.26 . When God gave dominion to man , you have the dominion here to create life in someone or to create death in someone .

And that is the power of your voice and that is why I wrote the book , because I wanted the book to be a voice that and I've heard from people all around the world I give God the glory . That was my heart to touch people's lives . People are saying I could not ever put it into words . I read this book and it finally my life has been changed . Why ?

Because not only do I tell the story about I see greatness in you , but I also give you principles on how to move into that kingdom impact . So it's all about you know , once you finally get on a mission to where you understand it's not about you . That's the game changer for you , because what you make happen for others , god will make happen for you .

It's the law of sowing and reaping .

We also have a YouTube channel and a podcast called the big picture , and all of the archives are there for that , as well as information about how to connect with us social media . Everything is there . One simple site , larryraglincom .

But I want to say this to everyone that's watching and listening In God's infinite wisdom , he's the Alpha and the Omega . Remember that . He's the beginning and the end . He doesn't predict the future , he is the future . Okay , so he's already been there .

So he knew exactly when the final generation would exist , and I believe that we're either the final generation or our children , our grandchildren , are the final generation . I believe the final generation is alive today . When you look around , you see signs , biblical signs left and right , everywhere . So it's getting very , very close .

But I want to tell you that in God's infinite wisdom , in all of the plan of God , he chose you and he chose me and he chose us to be alive today . Thank God for Peter , james , john , thank Paul , thank God for Oral Roberts , thank God for all the great people , the Billy Grahams and all these that have gone on to be with the Lord .

Whether you agreed with their doctrine or not , they had great impact . They filled stadiums and they wrote hundreds , if not thousands , of books that we all read and study . But they're gone . We're here and God trusted us to be alive , and we have a choice .

We can go into hiding , we can crawl up in the ball in the corner in the fetal position and say , lord , come , get me , get me out of here . Or we can rise to the occasion and we can understand . And that God says this to you Just maybe you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this .

Just maybe God not , maybe it is you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this . Just maybe God not , maybe it is you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this . So God has said you have a voice . Maybe you don't have a platform of millions of people that know you . Maybe you're not on Christian television .

Maybe you're not on a podcast with a million followers . Maybe you don't even have a podcast . Maybe you have no desire to have a podcast . You just like listening to podcasts like this . It feeds your soul . Well , let me tell you what you do have . You have a neighborhood . You have a job . You have a family .

You have a church , you have a group of people that look at you , that you call friends . It's time for kingdom impact . It's time for you to see the greatness that's within you .

See , when Adam was walking in the cool of the garden with God and the Bible said that every day God would come down and walk with Adam in the cool of the day and then all these animals were made and all these things were made , but Adam was still just walking with God .

Think about this there's nothing more that a child of God could ever want than to walk with God . What if you were walking actually with God , having conversations with God ? I mean , there's no greater thing that a child of God could ever . But watch what God said . God said not Adam . God said it is not good for man to be alone . What I mean ?

You think about it . He didn't need anything else . If you ask Adam , do you need anything , do you need somebody to hang out with ? He's like why do I need anybody to hang out with ? I got God , I'm hanging out with God . But God said it's not good for man to be alone . So he created a helpmate , eve , to Adam . What was he saying then ?

It wasn't just about marriage . And , yes , it was about the institution of marriage , but it was alone . You were never designed to be your own little kingdom and your own little thing . And now we've got this wave of people that have checked out on the church . They don't have nothing to do with that Just me and God is all we need .

Well , guess what God said ? It's not good for you to be alone . God said you need to be having people speaking into your life . You need accountability , you need love , you need covering , but you also need to be speaking into people's lives , because if you make it all about yourself , you become selfish , and God does not bless selfishness .

The entire kingdom of God can be summed up not everything , but most everything . If you understand this principle , you can understand how you're supposed to operate with God . Jesus himself said the kingdom of heaven is like a man that went forth to sow seed .

And when you understand that , if you sow seed every day , you just speak , you give life , you find potential , you help people every day . There is zero chance that you live a life that's not blessed , because it is the process of exchange . God said if you'll bless others , I will bless you . You have come to the kingdom for such a time as this .

Rise up , remnant and speak , because it is your moment larry , I'm gonna tell you what .

So if you would do me a favor , one last favor , and pray for us , pray us out of our conversation today .

Lord , I just know your hand is upon everything they're doing . I just speak encouragement when they're tired and they're weary . God , give them strength , give them vision , keep them focused , god , not let the spirit of discouragement take over them .

Lord , I pray for my brother and sister right now , and God , I pray for every man , woman , child , teenager that's watching or listening to this broadcast , regardless of what time of the night , time zone , country , continent in the world , it doesn't matter .

God brought you here for a specific reason to hear this message , to hear the message of the greatness and the potential that's in you , that God put in you .

He loves you and the first step of that unlocking that greatness is that you turn your life around to God and you surrender your life to God , repent of your sins , and give your heart to the Lord , confess him as the only way , and get your name written in the Lamb's book of life and then , when that name gets wrote down , praise God .

You then become a candidate to be used by God to impact the world that's around you . So I pray for you . I pray for life , I pray for encouragement , I pray against suicidal thoughts , I pray against depression . I pray against everything that's trying to go through your mind right now . It's trying to make you think there's nothing great in you .

It's a lie from the devil . God said the DNA of greatness is in you because you were created in his image .

Y'all have a great week , a great day , and we'll see you next time , amen , amen .