Leaving A Legacy (Feat. Lee Domingue) | #075

Summary

Podcast Summary: Leaving A Legacy (Feat. Lee Domingue) | Jabin Chavez Leadership Podcast #075

Date: December 3, 2025
Host: Jabin Chavez
Guest: Lee Domingue
Main Theme: Embracing Generosity and Legacy in Leadership and Life

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Episode Overview

This episode features a powerful and practical conversation with Lee Domingue, an influential entrepreneur, legacy pastor at Church of the Highlands, and a passionate advocate for generosity. Lee shares his personal story—successes, failures, family, and faith—to encourage leaders to move beyond personal achievement and focus on building a legacy through generosity, intentionality, and a surrendered heart. The session is filled with real-life lessons, memorable stories, and actionable takeaways for anyone wanting to leave a lasting impact.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Pursuit of Fulfillment (02:29–04:35)

• Lee recounts his entrepreneurial beginnings—rising quickly to financial success and then losing everything:
  • "Went from zero to $50 million in two years. And then two years later was out of business. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn." (02:47)
• He shares the emptiness of chasing after worldly success and underscores that real fulfillment only comes from walking in God's purpose:
  • “Outside of you fulfilling what God created you to do, you are never going to find it.” (04:32)

2. Learning Through Loss (05:20–07:04)

• The pain of failure became his greatest teacher, as Lee describes clinging to Bible verses during his lowest moments:
  • “All I had was His Word. That's all I needed. That I have the mind of Christ… greater is He who is in me than he who's in the world.” (05:43)
  • “Though my situation did not change immediately, my perspective certainly did. And my faith rose.” (06:56)

3. Abundance and the Kingdom Mindset (07:14–07:47)

• Lee encourages a mindset of abundance, cautioning that lack creates selfishness, but God desires overflow for His people:
  • “Abundance is my deal. Like, I’m all about abundance. Everything I touch grows. So saith the Lord. Lack is not … you can’t help anybody if you operating in lack.” (07:14)

4. Vocation as Calling – Redemptive Work (09:21–10:58)

• A pivotal moment: Lee’s pastor reframes his business work as “redemptive,” equally important as ministry:
  • “What you do for a living is a holy calling. It’s redemptive. It’s equally as important as the calling that’s on my life as your pastor… as the calling that was on Billy Graham’s life or the Apostle Paul’s life.” (09:58)
• Lee urges marketplace leaders not to undervalue their role in God's plan.

5. Led vs. Driven—Legacy over Dynasty (13:41–16:00)

• Key question from his mentor: "Are you led or are you driven?" (13:41)
  • “It’s the Holy Spirit that leads, but demons drive.” (14:02)
• Lee distinguishes between legacy (generational, selfless) and dynasty (selfish, ends with you):
  • “Dynasties are selfish. Legacies are selfless.” (14:55)
• His family’s commitment: be intentional, forgive quickly, and break generational cycles of dysfunction.

6. The Five Whys of Giving (17:06–35:12)

1. Because God is a Giver (17:06–18:37)

• “The God I serve is a giver. For God so loved the world he gave.” (17:06)
• He emphasizes that God gives seed to the sower—not the keeper—and that faithfulness with little is the key to stewardship.

2. Setting an Example for the Next Generation (19:15–22:23)

• Lee shares a moving story about blessing a waitress at PF Chang's, teaching his son by example:
  • “They [our kids] not listening to me. They watching me.” (19:15)
  • Memorable encounter: “You did an amazing job and you earned every bit of that. God loves you. He ain't forgot about you.” (22:01)

3. Covenant with God and the Local Church (22:23–23:29)

• Stresses loyalty and generosity towards the local church—God’s “Plan A” for redemption.
• “What you sow into your church doesn’t stay in this church. It gets multiplied through this church.” (23:11)
• Collective impact: “None of us in this room are as good as all of us.” (23:18)

4. Generosity is the Bridge from Lack to Overflow (23:29–34:08)

• Jesus never teaches scarcity, but stewardship, sowing, reaping, and overflow.
• Overflow requires:
  • A Surrendered Heart
  • A Generous Spirit
  • A Willing Step
• Personal story: Lee’s daughter’s paralysis and miraculous recovery, illustrating the importance of surrender and community faith:
  • “Sometimes you need to have somebody in your life… that can see your big mountain as something that’s just a little bump.” (29:15)
  • “Don't tell me what your problem is. You tell your problem who your savior is.” (30:03)
  • “Success not shared is failure.” (31:55)
  • “The main focus of generosity is heaven.” (31:57)

5. Living for Jesus & Eternal Rewards (35:12–41:50)

• Lee’s life is anchored by this question from Pastor Chris Hodges:
  • “Is what you’re giving your life to… going to show up in heaven?” (36:10)
• Explains the two moments before Christ:
  • Great White Throne Judgment: Salvation
  • Judgment Seat of Christ (EROI – Eternal Return on Investment moment): Rewards for what was done for Christ
• “Only the things done in Jesus’ name will survive.” (39:36)
  • “If we just pass out water… we help some brother with his thirst for a day. Why withhold the greater gift, which is salvation? Let’s give them both.” (40:11)
  • Encouragement to shift giving towards what echoes in eternity.

7. Impartation and Prayer (41:50–45:30)

• Lee urges leaders to give themselves permission to walk in overflow, forgive, and embrace God’s call.
  • “The devil wants to tell you you disqualified. But God has the final say.” (42:51)
• Uplifting prayer over listeners for breakthrough, wisdom, healing, and a spirit of overflow.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Failure and Redemption:
  “God doesn’t work that way. He’s saying, I want to refine you, son, if you’ll keep your heart soft.” (03:09)

• On Generosity as Identity:
  “Generosity is not just a gift. It’s a pathway. It’s a pathway.” (33:24)

• On The Purpose of Wealth:
  “I refuse to invest in things that aren’t going to show up in heaven.” (32:51)

• Challenging the Listener:
  “Is what you’re giving your life to, your time, your money, your influence, is it going to show up in heaven?” (36:10)

• Practical Legacy:
  “It only takes one to change.” (16:00)
  “Success not shared is failure.” (31:55)

• Identity Shift:
  “Generosity is not an amount. It’s an identity. It’s going from owner to steward.” (33:41)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & Context by Jabin Chavez – 00:00–02:29
• Lee’s Entrepreneurial Journey – 02:29–05:20
• Lessons from Loss & Recovery – 05:20–07:04
• Abundance & Mindset Shift – 07:14–07:47
• Vocation as Calling – 09:21–10:58
• Led vs. Driven, Legacy over Dynasty – 13:41–16:00
• Five Whys of Giving – 17:06–35:12
• Overflow and Practical Generosity – 23:29–34:08
• Eternal Perspective & EROI – 35:12–41:50
• Final Encouragement & Prayer – 41:50–end

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Final Takeaways

• Fulfillment and legacy are found not in self-driven ambition, but in being led by God, stewarding resources, and focusing on eternal impact.
• Generosity is an identity rooted in God’s character, not merely a charitable act.
• Every leader, regardless of vocation, is called to contribute to God’s purpose and legacy.
• Overflow for the Kingdom requires surrender, a generous spirit, and active steps of faith.
• Ultimately, what matters is what we do for Christ and what ‘shows up in heaven’.

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This episode offers wisdom for leaders in every arena—inviting you not just to build success, but to leave a legacy that outlives you and echoes into eternity.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, what's up friends? And welcome to this week's Jabe and Chavez leadership podcast where we are trying to bring you fresh content every week to help you get bigger, help you get better, help you get stronger. Because I believe that the organization is following the leader. The Bible says in Genesis 1 that everything is reproducing after its own kind. I believe that we don't always reproduce what we want. We reproduce who who we are. And I am so fired up about this week. I believe it's going to be a blessing to you. Make sure that you like, subscribe, follow, do all the things to the page. Every week City Light is bringing you a live stream service every Sunday morning at 10am we're bringing you a brand new sermon. Every Sunday night, every Wednesday we're bringing you fresh leadership content. And then every Friday we're dropping fresh worship. So we're here to resource you, here to help you, here to encourage your walk with Jesus. And today you're going to be so blessed. We recently had Lee Doming with us. Pastor Lee Doming. What an amazing man of God. He is a entrepreneur, he's a business leader and he is the legacy pastor at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. Lee is a legend. He is one of my dearest friends and one of the greatest voices in the body of Christ releasing people in the gift of giving. He truly has an anointing to get us to think about God, the kingdom of God and the legacy that we're leaving for the next generation. I asked Lee to come and speak to all of our serve team at our last team night of the year. He absolutely crushed it. And when I heard him share, I thought thought to myself, I need all of my friends to watch this. I need every pastor and leader to watch this. If you're a business leader, you need to watch this. It's going to activate your faith. If you're a pastor, you need to watch it. It's going to activate your faith wherever you're at on your journey. I believe that really it was an impartation more than a teaching, more than an idea, more than a talk. It was an impartation of the gift of faith and the gift of generosity. I believe our church will never be the same and I'm believing the same for you. So you're going to love this message by Lee Doming. Let it bless you and we'll see you next week. Have an awesome week.

[B]

I was sitting there looking at my life early on and you know, dropped out of college and started working and kind of never looked back. Started the first virtual automotive platform in the mid-90s on the web and was wildly successful. Went from zero to $50 million in two years.

And then two years later was out of business.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.

There's two ways to do something, y', all, if you're taking notes tonight. Number one is the right way. That's brilliant, isn't it? And number two is again.

Is again. So I had to start completely over, lost that business, failed. The world wants your failures, your setbacks, your shortcomings to define you. God doesn't work that way. He's saying, I want to refine you, son, if you'll keep your heart soft. So started a second business. It's still doing really well today all over the world. Serves thousands of retailers in the credit and lending process of technology. It's a fintech company. It also allowed me to be involved in long term acute care hospitals. Back when they made money. I sold them before they stopped making money. Hallelujah. And. But involved in real estate. Just very entrepreneurial. But always in my life, I always was longing for more. And I didn't know quite how to get it. So I was trying to fill the void of that with a lot of things. And we've all chased things, we've all tried to get things, and then when we get them, it doesn't bring the same fulfillment is what we thought. You know, you guys, we all may have different sports teams we like, we may have different food we like or music that we listen to, clothes and fashion that we wear. But all of us in this room, matter of fact, every single person outside this church in Las Vegas, we all long for the same thing. And that's fulfillment. We long in for fulfillment. And outside of you fulfilling what God created you to do, you are never going to find it.

You were never going to find it. And so, you know, God's given me. Yeah, I'm known as being somebody who teaches on the gift of generosity or helping pastors and business people come together because I was the business person. When I started that second business, I was having to travel a lot and I was negotiating with God. God, if you bless me again, I won't blow it. I know none of y' all ever prayed that prayer. And I'm looking up and just looking up at God saying, lord, if youf bless me again, I promise I'm a steward it well. And I could hear God kind of laugh about that. He said, son, how about being faithful with the $50 you got in your pocket versus the 50 million that you think you're praying for.

See, God protected me from myself. And let me tell you something. When I went through that business setback, it was the single greatest thing I ever had to go through. It taught me things that I would never know if I hadn't gone through that. It shaped me, it refined me. Cause I kept my heart soft and my heart soft to the Lord. And I started seeking him. And I started when I'm in a fetal position in my three story house and I'm looking at my wife going, man, honey, this doesn't look good. We may lose everything. And I'm crying out to God and all I had was his Word. That's all I needed. That I have the mind of Christ and hold the thoughts and feelings and purposes of his heart. That I'm a believer and not a doubter and I hold fast to the confession of faith. And, and I walk by faith. My faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Jesus is the author and developer of my faith. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. Every tongue that rises up against me shall. Shall be. Judgment shall be shown to be in the wrong. Because God is on my side. I tread upon serpents and scorpions and all over the power of the enemy. Because greater is he who is in me than he who's in the world. You know where that came from, being in that fetal position? Nobody's calling me to go to lunch. Nobody. I'd given away 32 cars, homes to a lot of church people too. Ain't nobody asking me that. I was like, oh gosh, he's. He's failed. And it was just me, my wife, and the Lord and his Word. And that's all I needed, man. My faith was building up. I memorized those scriptures every single day. God gave me 30 scriptures that I was just memorizing and I was confessing it every single day. And though my situation did not change immediately, my perspective certainly did. And my faith rose.

And so he started to teach me these lessons of like, son, I got so much more for you. Matter of fact, he do you know that abundance is my deal?

Like, abundance is my deal. Like, I'm all about abundance. Everything I touch grows. So saith the Lord. Lack is not lack just points to itself. You can't help anybody if you operating in lack. And I'm not, by the way. I'm not some prosperity, hyper prosperity preacher. But I know it takes resources to move the kingdom of God. And your pastor can set vision. But y' all set the speed of it.

When I started, completely over.

Man, that was a tough season. But I had this fire in my belly and I was not going to allow the naysayers in my life to slow me down. I don't listen to the noise. I focus on the king. I'm not listening to this outside. And it's like, you know, the thing about success and is people don't mind you being successful. Just not too much.

Some of them in your family.

Or I should say in my family, but my life journey. When I started that second business, Pastor, I was trying to close the. I can't tell you who the bank was, but the stage coach is their logo.

Trying to sell them this technology and it was going to change the trajectory of our whole business.

So I missed three Sundays, I'm traveling, I'm trying to close this big deal. And you missed three Sundays in the South. I'm talking the deep, dirty South. When you miss three Sundays in the south, you go to hell.

So I remember the fourth Sunday, Pastor. I'm in the foyer and I'm hiding from my pastor, who is my friend. And I'm like, I'm a grown man hiding from my pastor. And it hit me going, why am I doing this? I was like. And he comes up to me and he says, man, where you been? And I'm like, oh, Pastor, I'm so sorry. I said, I'm so sorry. I've been traveling. I'm. I'm trying to close this deal. It's going to change the trajectory of my whole life, my family. It's going to change everything.

Like, financially. He got excited, kind of leaned in a little more.

Some of you'll get that. And. And he was, he said, he goes, lee, he goes, are you kidding me?

And if you're a business person here tonight, and let me define that, I don't care if you're retired. I don't care if you are cooking God's chicken at Chick Fil A or you own 50 chick fil A's. If you're not in full time ministry, working at a church or on the mission field, and you're in the marketplace, you need to hear what I got to say.

What he told me that day totally unlocked something inside of me that was dormant, that I was trying to figure out a whole lot of different ways. And he looked at me and he said, lee, he goes, are you kidding me? What you do for a living is a holy calling. It's redemptive. And I'm Like, I'm starting completely over after getting my rear end handed to me with a business loss. He says, no, God's got his hand on you, that what you do for a living is redemptive. It's equally as important as the calling that's on my life as your pastor. Then he had to bring Billy Graham into it, and he said, it's equally as important as the calling that was on Billy Graham's life or the Apostle Paul's life. Because Colossians 1:16 says, I'm created by God, but I'm created for God. And if you buy into that scripture, that means your behavior has to change. That means that everything I'm aligning myself with has got to change.

And so we're sitting there trying to build this church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

And what my pastor did is he. He affirmed me. He helped me understand my value of my calling. That's what your pastor's doing to with you guys. Y' all are celebrating serve Team legacy, team ushers, people who serve in different areas. God's called everybody to be generous, but some people have a gift for it. God's called everybody to be a worshiper, but some people have a gift for it. Okay, don't discount what you have or see the lane God's given you as a limitation. What he's trying to tell you is it's an invitation to step into the area that he's called you.

None of that was in my notes, so we're going to get to my notes.

All right?

I'm going to share with you some real personal stuff. Is that okay? You don't want to know what I think. You want to know what I've done? You don't want to know. You can learn something, but when you've lived it, there's an anointing and an authority in that area. But if you just learned it, it's a value. But go live it before you share it with anybody.

My pastor back in Texas, I lived in Houston, met my beautiful wife there. She was in Miss Texas pageant. And I'm like, exactly. And I said. I said. I said to myself, self, you better close that deal. Because if you don't and she wins, it's over. She's gonna find her some European count in some foreign nation that like royalty or something. You just occasion.

Man. I closed that deal that night before I asked her to marry me. She says, I'll marry you, but in five years. I said, it's gonna be a long engagement, but I'm in. I got My foot in the door. But how many of you know when you a closer? 11 months later, uh, we married.

Some of y', all, got y' all foot in the door, and it's time to close the deal.

Hello. All right. So my pastor, he married us, and he married my wife and I, and he asked me a question after I was really riding high in that first business before it tanked, and he. This question is probably one of the greatest questions I'm going to give you the top two questions ever asked that changed my life. Number one is he looked at me and he said, lee, are you led or are you driven?

And I'm like, well, he's. Because he was a preacher, I had to. I had to throw Jesus in it. My response. Or the Bible. Throw some scripture. I knew. And so I looked at him and I said, well, Pastor Curry, I'm driven. I'm gonna do something great for the kingdom of God. Had to throw that to God in there. He said, that's the wrong answer, son.

He goes, it's the Holy Spirit that leads, but demons drive.

Yeah. I was like, oh, man, I missed that one. He said, lee, he goes, when you're led by the spirit of God, it's generational. It always includes others. When you're driven, somebody's got to lose, and there's always collateral damage when you're driven. Now, I'm not talking about driven with godly ambition. What I'm talking about is selfish ambition. Like, I'm going to get over on you as hard and fast as I can, because he who has the most digits wins. Well, when you're driven, I don't want to be. I want my kids to love me. I want my wife to love me. I want to love my wife. I want to have a legacy, because that didn't start out well. I want to have a legacy over a dynasty.

Dynasties, dynasties are selfish. Legacies are selfless.

Legacies go on for generations. But it's all about the father. It's all about. It's God's kingdom. It's not some institution I'm just trying to build. And so I made a decision in my life. You know what, Lord? I'm going to leave a legacy. And it's not perfect. My family has a. We got a lot of dynamics we've gone through, but I'll share this with you.

We're not quitting. And we are so intentional. Perfection's never the goal. Intentionality is, man. We forgive quick, man. I'm so sorry I said that. I'm so sorry, man. Would you please forgive me? We don't let any grass grow under our feet in that area because we're not going to let the enemy come in. Because we both came from two families that were very toxic, broken, divorce, abuse, all these different things in both of us. And we made a decision like we changing it. And it only takes one to change.

Only takes one.

So let's focus on being led by the spirit so we can leave a legacy, not be driven. So we just build a dynasty that dies with us.

You know, I was thinking about my why. Why I give why, Laura and I give why we do what we do. And remember, I was sharing with you. I want to share with you what I've actually lived. See, I think when you've learned it and lived it and you share it, God puts an exponential logarithmic increase to it. Okay? And I'm gonna get to that. Hold that thought. So I wrote down tonight, I'm gonna share five reasons why I give. If you don't know your why, if you're taking notes, you don't know your why, you lose your way. So you got to remind yourself it's not just a good thought or. Oh, legacy over dynasty. Well, that's kind of cute. Or you should be led versus driven. That's kind of t. That's kind of catchy. I get that. No, no, no. You need to understand the why behind it. There's a why behind everything. And if you don't know your why, you will lose your way.

But number one, why I give, if I'm going to share those with you tonight, number one is because the God I serve is a giver. The God I serve, he is a giver. For God so loved the world he gave. Right.

I love this quote. It's by a guy who I do not know, but I'm gonna give him credit. John Bonnell. If one first gives himself to the Lord, all other giving is easy. I remind myself constantly of where I was back in the day. Y' all didn't know me back in the day. I know I look like an accountant, but hey, y' all didn't know me back in the day. I was a DJ in clubs. Come on, somebody pastor didn't even know that when I was in. That's probably why I was on the two year program at lsu.

I take myself back to where I was and I remind myself, look at what God's done in my life. And you know What? To be 61. You know what? The kiss of death for me is to stop being teachable. I gotta stay. I gotta keep my edge sharp, and I gotta choose that. I don't feel like being teachable the older I get, but I gotta be teachable. So choices lead. Feelings will have to follow later. And I want to see. I want to say, you know what? I'm going to remind myself, God, what you took me out of, and. And look at what God did.

God gives seed to the sower, not the keeper.

And it's never about an amount, man. Just be faithful to what you do have. And that could be a compliment. That could be. You know what I'm going to give? I'm going to bless that waitress with an extra $5. Maybe I'll get my Starbucks that afternoon. But I'm going to sow seed into someone's life, and you could be a part of changing the trajectory for their life. And in so doing, you change the trajectory of your own. Number two. I give because I love how I feel when I give. And I want to be an example to my kids. My kids, you know what I found? They not listening to me. They watch. They watching me.

They watching me. I remember my son Harrison, who usually travels with me. He ain't coming to Las Vegas with me, though. Mama's coming to Las Vegas. And so Harrison, he usually travels with me. And he used to work at P F Chang's in college. And we were in Detroit and was speaking at a church there. We're at Detroit, Pastor Jabin. And it's the longest terminal of, like, the universe. It's like gate 1872. I'm like, it's just one long thing. Could y' all have not broke it up? Like, it made it shorter. But we're walking through there, and there's P F Chang's. You know what we call that in my house?

So we're sitting there at Pff Changs, and we go get us a table, and Harrison looks at me and he's like, dad. He goes, man, I love Pff Changs. I said, me, too. It's great. And there's a waitress, and, you know, and you've seen servers, they have a smile, but there's a veneer of a lot of pain behind that. And this precious lady, she was working her tail off for us. And I looked at my son and I said, boy, that's just. I said, boy, we're going to bless her. And he's like, oh, man, dad, that's amazing. What are we going to do? I said, well, you ain't doing nothing. I'M doing the blessing, you doing the watching because you ain't have any money.

And so I get the ticket and I said, but it's not about us, son. We got to run. We're going to get out of here real fast. I'm not putting the Jesus fish on the ticket. I'm not going to, you know, putting some scripture verse. I'm just going to bless her. And we gone.

We write it out. Put that number on there. And then I looked at him, we going to add a digit. Add a digit. Kind of Fox Newsworthy at that point. And he goes, oh, my God, dad, that's awesome. And I said, all right, let's go. So we go down, we're walking down the terminal 100 yards. True story. He looks back, he goes, oh, my God, dad, here she comes.

That mama was coming in running full speed. Look, she's coming in so fast with everything. Flying apron and everything. And she's twice my size. She's coming in and she's like, oh, my baby, you not leaving without giving me a hug.

She's coming in hot. Well, hang on, it gets better. She's coming in hot. I'm getting nervous because she's coming in very quick. And I'm like.

True story.

So we embrace and I tell her, I look at her, I said, you daughter of the king.

God has not forgotten you.

You did an amazing job and you earned every bit of that. God loves you. He ain't forgot about you. She's crying. I'm crying. My son's hiding. How many of you know? I give because I love how I feel when I give. And I want to show my kids what an example of that is.

Number three, I give because I'm in covenant relationship with God and my church. It's God's plan A. There ain't no plan B. United way ain't gonna lead you out the way. Salvation army ain't gonna be your army to rescue you. It's the church of the living God.

Now, I have nothing against any of those organizations, but we do something very different. We gonna feed people, we're gonna help the poor, but we gonna do it in Jesus name. And there's a big difference between that.

I believe in the vision of my church. I wrote this down as I was prepping. What you sow into your church doesn't stay in this church. It gets multiplied through this church.

And you know what else? None of us in this room, none of us in this room are as good as all of us.

If you stay in your Lane. You stay in your lane. You stay in your lane. We're gonna build a super highway and we'll get a whole lot done for the kingdom.

Number four. I give because generosity is the bridge from lack to overflow. I give because generosity is the bridge between lack and overflow. You know what? Jesus never teaches scarcity.

He teaches stewardship. He teaches faith. He teaches sowing and reaping. He teaches overflow. But what I found about overflow.

Three things are required. If you're praying, asking God, lord, I want you to bless me. Why? For what? You see, every time God wants to bless someone, he usually has kingdom purpose attached to it. Because it can never just be about us. That's the great thing about the church we come in, we come to Christ. Think about where you were when you got saved. All of you right now. Think about where you were. Think about what God got you out of. And now you want to serve team at church. Think about that.

But overflow requires three things. Number one is a surrendered heart. A surrendered heart. And surrendered heart is just saying, God, everything I am and everything I have is yours. Period. End of story. See, God blesses what he owns, not what you dedicate.

He's family, so that means y', all, we family. So I can. He's given me permission. But a surrendered heart is required. And not everything is going to go well. And sometimes you need to lean on a brother or sister. That's the beauty of the church. Sometimes you need to tap into somebody else's faith or when you getting your tail kicked, somebody you need to lean on and say, you know what, brother, you look like you got some skip in your step and I've lost mine. Can I spend some time with you? You look at my family, you see a beautiful family. That's cause my wife is beautiful. But you see the beautiful family and our only daughter, Isabella Grace. It wasn't but 11 months. Excuse me. Thirteen months ago, it was a different story. You want to talk about surrendered heart? I 50 years old, I quit my kind of marketplace role to give my life away to help thousands of churches. And it's had the greatest year ever for the kingdom. Impact effectuated. Over $8 billion funneled to Kingdom causes and advancing the body of Christ forward.

Incredible. But it was the hardest year, personally.

My daughter goes to Auburn University and she's a senior in school and she goes get a steroid shot from a. She's got a little chest issue happen. And they said, well, just take a steroid shot. That'll knock it out. And the nurse there administered the shot in the wrong spot with the wrong kind of needle and paralyzed my daughter.

That'll get your attention.

We have her home. She can't move. She got to pick her up to go to the bathroom to bathe her. My wife's with her for weeks and weeks and weeks. Just this is kind of like. It's just she can't do anything. She's just in bed and they doing all this medication, it backfires and they do. We're just trying to figure it out. And you know what? No money, I had no connections, I had none of that could do anything about this.

And we're sitting there going, man, this is just crazy.

Week in, week out. She's crying every night, she's sleep deprivation, can't sleep. She's in massive nerve pain. And she just keeps holding my wife's hand going, mom, mom, is this going to be my life?

Who's going to want to marry me?

And she's looking at me, and I'm the one supposed to protect her.

I'm going to tell you what, man, you go through seasons. Just because it looks all glorious on the outside don't mean that there ain't a lot of chaos happening.

Pain didn't prejudice y'. All.

It happens at the country club and the hood.

So weeks are happening, weeks are going on and we're just like, man, what's, this is just nuts. And then I'm with a friend of mine and we're in New Orleans and we're about to get on an airplane to come home. And we had been there overnight. And he said, man, I could not sleep thinking about your daughter. And this brother is old school Pentecostal.

Like old school, big hair.

Still wearing a three piece suit.

Not that part, not that part, but I embellished that. But he is old school faith. Guy just believes. Great faith. God can move the mountains. Let me tell you what, I didn't care what, what he was. I was tapping into some of that because this brother's saying, you know what, Lee, I couldn't sleep at all last night thinking about your daughter. And, and you know what? I just started praying, lord, why do you got to wait to heal her?

And I'm like, man, keep talking, brother, because I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm beat up right now. I don't have any more faith. And I have a gift of faith.

He said, no, I just prayed. He goes, matter of fact, let's pray right now. Let's believe God for Us. Suddenly.

Sometimes you need to have somebody in your life that has bigger faith than. That's got bigger faith than you, that can see your big mountain is something that's just a little bump.

God's got the last word on your issues. We get home.

We look at the stairway, there's crutches at the stairway. We sit there going, oh my God, what's going on? Run upstairs. My wife goes, honey, come up here quick. And I'm like, oh, my God, what's going on? I run up there like a old dad who dat? You know? And I run up there and all of a sudden.

My sweet little daughter comes walking around the bathroom saying, whoa, dad, I can walk because I can. Oh, I can move my foot because I can. Oh, I can do a stand been moved because I can. Glory to God. Don't tell me what your problem is. You tell your problem who your savior is.

You got to have a surrendered heart. You know what Bella would tell you if she was here? She says sometimes it's just a different level of surrender.

Overflow requires three things. You want it surrendered heart number two, a generous spirit. Generous spirit is use me to bless others and advance your kingdom. Side note, every financial breakthrough, and I've had a lot of them, every financial breakthrough I've ever had always came. And after I had an act of generosity, you got to put seed in the ground. Some of you trying to harvest something, and I'm not an agricultural guy, but some of you trying to harvest some. You, you're saying, you know, bank pay me interest, but I'm not making a deposit first.

Some people say to the fireplace, put off some heat. Then I'm gonna put some logs on it.

Hello.

And as God blesses you and you start having success, which is a. Could be a state of mind, could be success physically in your body, spiritually, emotionally, not just financially. But success not shared is failure.

Success not shared is failure. You ever wonder, church, what the main focus of generosity really is? The main focus of generosity is heaven. It's heaven. You don't build this building just for the building. You build this building so there can be life change that's happening in this building where we can bring more people in here that need Jesus.

Number three, I got eight minutes. Blessed are the short winded, for they shall speak again.

Number three, a willing spirit. Excuse me, I'm sorry, I was still up in the spirit. A surrendered heart, a generous spirit, and a willing step.

What does that mean? Lord, I'm going to sow. I'm going to Give, and I'm going to trust you. Giving is an exchange of trust. It's an exchange of trust with God, and it's an exchange of trust with who you're giving to. I refuse to invest in things that aren't going to show up in heaven. And I'm going to get to that here in a second.

You can believe all you want for overflow, but you step into it through generosity.

Generosity isn't a gift. It's not just a gift. It's a pathway. It's a pathway. You have to step into it, which requires action. And I'm not just talking about financially. Some of you. Some of you need to be generous in your relationship with your spouse. Hello.

Generosity is not just a gift. It's a pathway. Generosity is not an amount. It's an identity. It's going from owner to steward. It's like, Lord, it comes to me to go through me. I believe in living a big life. God has blessed us. I'm not. Look, I don't have a scarcity mindset. I have an investment mindset, and I don't have an expense mindset either. I have an investment mindset.

You know that Jesus never blessed the seed in the barn. He blessed the seed in the ground.

What are we sitting on? I got buddies of mine that have hundreds of millions of dollars and, oh, that's their foundation. I said, what's it doing in your foundation? It ain't blessing anybody. I said, you're not generous until it leaves your foundation.

When you get 60 and older, you can say some stuff. Y' all, come on, somebody. I ain't worried about it anymore. Like I was.

Hallelujah.

I wrote this down and I proclaim this over this church tonight. City Light Church. You are not a church of lack. You are a church of overflow.

And then lastly, I give. And this is the most important one. I give because one day I'm gonna meet Jesus. I'm gonna meet Jesus. And you know what? I didn't start out well, guys, I got some scars on my body, but scars have wisdom if you keep your heart right. Wounds, they need to be healed. Church is a great place for that. But scars. I like doing life with people with scars.

One day, I'm going to meet Jesus.

The second greatest question ever asked to me, and if I could speak on one thing, and I knew it was going to be my last thing I could share with any church, it would be what I'm going to say next.

Is when my pastor at the time, Chris Hodges, looked at me and he said, lee, he goes, I know you and Laura, you're moving from Baton Rouge to Birmingham. To volunteer, by the way, to volunteer at the church. Who does that at 50 be.

Best place to be is where God's called you. And he looked at me. He goes, is what you're giving your life to, your time, your money, your influence, is it going to show up in heaven? And I'm like, that's a tough question. You messing with me now? I mean, I give to LSU football. It's purple and gold, the colors of heaven.

He said, don't you know there's going to be two moments before the Lord, not one? I said, now you're getting in my theology. You got to explain that. He says, the first moment is the Great White Throne judgment or the salvation moment. And what that is, it's just. Do you know Jesus? What did you do with Jesus? Did you receive him as Lord?

And if you've received Jesus, then we're in heaven. And the second moment is going to be beautiful. They call it the judgment seat of Christ. And I'm going to ask Jesus why you got to name it that? It sounds so intimidating and harsh, but I think it's. I call it the Eroi moment, the eternal return on investment moment.

Hello. It's a rewards moment. You know what it's going to be like? It's going to be like an Olympic competition where some getting gold medals, some silver, some bronze, some happy to be in the room.

Has nothing to do with salvation. Has everything to do with what did you do with what I gave you. Watch this, watch this. Hang on. It gets better. It changed my life. You see, the salvation moment, that's by grace you're saved. Ephesians 2:8. For it is by grace you've been saved through faith. This is not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. The judgment seat of Christ, or the Eroi moment. Watch this. Revelation 22:12. Jesus is like, this is at the end of the Bible. It's kind of important.

Behold, I'm coming soon, and I shall bring my wages and rewards with me to repay and render to each one just what his own actions and his own work merit. I never heard that before. I read through Revelation. It just didn't. I didn't get it. Took a pastor to help unlock that in my life. First Corinthians. Watch this. This is a powerful scripture. First Corinthians 3, 10, 15. It says, by the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder and someone else is Building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, straw, their work will be shown for what it is. Because the day everybody say day, that's capital D. That means the day Jesus has returned will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire. And the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive reward. If it's burned, the builder will shuffle loss, but yet will be saved. Even as one escaping through the flames, he's still going to heaven. All right. When I read that verse, you know what screamed out at me? Church. It said, what survives, like what shows up in heaven, like what survives. And then it hit me.

Only the things that are going to show up in heaven, only the things done in Jesus name. So my wife And I founded 18 years ago a large anti trafficking movement called Trafficking Hope. Produced a major motion picture, rescued 542 ladies out of the sex trade in America.

Okay, praise God for that.

But watch this. If none of them come to Christ, we did something noble for the moment. But we lose in light of eternity.

If we just pass out water. We help some brother with his thirst for a day.

Why would we withhold the greater gift which is salvation? Let's give them both. And that's what the church does. The church says we're going to help you, but at some point we're going to lead helping the need. But we go bring the gospel at some point because let's give them both.

And so if we give them both, that's going to show up in heaven.

That changed me the way I give. I'm not saying I don't support things, that is somebody's golf tournament or something like that. That's fine, I can support that. It's just not showing up in heaven. I can put my name on the UNLV business college for $100 million. My reward is my name on the building. Nothing wrong with that. But now my lens is different. I'm looking through the lens of eroi. I'm looking through the lens of. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to help you. But boy, I want to. I want you to have the better, which I'm gonna bring the gospel at the same time and not withhold that greater gift. That's what this whole thing is about. Why is your pastor teaching you on giving? Because he's trying to get you have the mindset shift so that you can go and walk in overflow, not in lack. So you can sit there and go be a blessing to other people. Because if you're just struggling to pay your light bill and you can't make it, then you can't really do anything for anyone else because it creates. You just have to focus on yourself. You don't even have a choice. You can have an amazing heart that wants to help people and be a blessing, but you're just. You're just. Just trying to make it.

And I think if we would take God's word and that we would trust him. So I came here tonight. Half of what I had wasn't even my notes. But I came here tonight. I wanted you to laugh. I came here tonight, I wanted to connect with you because I love your pastors. I told him that in the green room. He said, man, thank you for coming. I said, dude, you know I love you. I celebrate you. I am so proud of you. Like, it's just amazing.

But I wanted you.

And encourage you to give yourself permission to walk in overflow. Give yourself permission to trust in a God that can do all things. Give yourself permission that you can forgive that person that hurt you, that hurt you. Give yourself permission that you can step into what God has for your life.

The devil wants to tell you you disqualified. But God has the final say.

So I just want to take a moment. I'm out of time. I want to take a moment and I want to pray over every single one of you. The Bible says they anointed the prophets, the priests, and the kings. Any of you ever been anointed for business? Any of you ever been in a situation where you're like. It's like what your pastor just said. He says when Pastor Jensen laid hands on him, there was an impartation. I have a gift in business. I have a gift in generosity. That's about it. I've got a small little lane I run in, but I know where I'm good at, and I'm staying right there.

And there are many of you in here. Some of you, you wanted to quit. Some of you, you stressed out, you worn out, you tired. I'm believing that tonight as we pray over every single one of you. God's going to break that off of you, number one. Number two, when God wants to bless you, he brings a person in your life.

When the enemy wants to destroy you, he brings a person in your life. You got to be able to discern through the weapon of patience.

Your alignment. You're the key backbone of this church, the serve team. Nothing happens without the serve team. Church don't happen without the serve team. You were the backbone of this thing.

But some of you are limited because you have a self imposed mindset because of something that you went through, something that you've gone through. It could just be fear of failure. Let's break that off tonight once and for all. So I want every single one of you to stand, please. If you're with your spouse, grab their hand. If you're not, keep your hands to yourself.

Have you enjoyed it tonight?

All right, let's pray. Lift your hands up to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, we come in the name of Jesus.

We thank you for your goodness. We thank you Lord, that we have nothing to prove. We can just exhale tonight and receive your goodness, receive your grace. I pray, Father, over every single person in this place right now. I pray God, Lord, where they've come in with a lot of pain. I pray that you would bring comfort, that you would bring peace. I pray, Father, where they've come in with scarcity, mindset or limitations, but because of something they went through that'd be broken off tonight. In Jesus name that that sin that so easily besets them, that keeps them where they feel disqualified, that stops tonight. In Jesus name. I pray, Father, that you would release not only a spirit of overflow over this house, but you would give them, Father, the ability to steward it. Give them wisdom, God, beyond their own ability. Give them discernment like never before. I pray you remove wrong relationships and bring the right ones. In Jesus name. I pray, Father, that Lord, that your presence would be what we seek. God. I pray, Father, that your grace is more important than our preparation and God. I pray that we receive your grace right now. And we, Father, just invite you to be Lord of our life in every area. God forgive us where we've tried to shortcut things, but give us where we tried to created maybe some deception or we haven't been honest with ourselves or others. All of that is ending tonight. Today is a new day. In the name of Jesus. Today is a breakthrough day. In the name of Jesus. Today we commit me and my house will be a house that serves the Lord and will be a house of overflow. In Jesus name, everybody said amen.