The Profit Dare: Winning at Wealth Without Losing Your Soul

By Timothy S. Kiser

The vast majority of Americans are broke. Regrettably, that includes church members. Many pretend to be wealthy, but most are living paycheck to paycheck and have nothing saved for retirement. For most families, college without a heavy debt burden is, at best, a pipe dream. If that describes you, smile—I have good news for you! God has an excellent financial plan for you and your family.

The Profit Dare is a scriptural journey. In it, eight pillars of prosperity are revealed for winning at wealth without losing your soul. God, through these pillars, utterly transformed Tim’s life. His story is shared with humility, gravity, candor, and a pinch of humor. God is no respecter of persons. When these pillars are put into play, lives are radically transformed!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973639190

Timothy S. Kiser

Tim Kiser was raised in abject poverty and discovered that being broke was not fun. At all. At a young age he began searching for an exit strategy. The way out was provided to him in the wisdom contained in The Bible. Answers to his financial problems were not hidden from him but for him. Tim is a former youth pastor, church planter, and short-term missionary. He taught personal and business finance at Cornerstone University where he also earned his bachelor’s degree and MBA. He is a VP of Business Development at a Fortune 100 company and a partner in a family owned manufacturing business. Tim is also a certified financial coach through Ramsey Solutions. Tim and his wife Dawn have been married for twenty-five glorious years. They are active members of The Edge Church in Aurora, Illinois. They have two adult children, Brooklyn and Dawson. Their black lab, Bolo, is convinced he is the boss.

Book preview

THE PROFIT

DARE

Winning at Wealth Without

Losing Your Soul

TIMOTHY S. KISER

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Copyright © 2018 Timothy S. Kiser.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (AMPCE) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-3920-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3921-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3919-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018910750

WestBow Press rev. date: 9/25/2018

Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1 Butterscotch Pudding and Pordue

Chapter 2 Zip The Lip

Chapter 3 Philosophy

Chapter 4 Purpose

Chapter 5 Promises

Chapter 6 Plan

Chapter 7 Partner

Chapter 8 Practice

Chapter 9 Principles

Chapter 10 Patience

Chapter 11 Profit

Epilogue

FOREWORD

Benjamin Disraeli once said, When I want to read a book, I write one. For many years I had hoped that someone would write a balanced book on biblical prosperity. Some wrote books that were nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to increase offerings and to sheer the sheep. If you give me money you will get rich! Other books were written in a manner that vilified financial success. Prosperity was considered anathema. Of course these same writers and ministers encouraged success outside of the bible (climb the corporate ladder, become a doctor, or a lawyer) but success that was spiritually based was diabolical in their lofty opinion.

I was convinced that scriptures such as Deuteronomy 8:18, Isaiah 48:17, and Psalm 35:27 were perfect foundational scriptures for a solid book on true, Godly stewardship. I failed to find such a book. If there was such a book I was unaware of its existence. There were a few practical how to books that sprinkled a few scriptures but nothing scripturally comprehensive. I continued to dig deeper into The Book that truly mattered.

Everything I learned was put into practice. Sometimes the effort was painful and quite often it was slow. I awkwardly stumbled forward. I pressed on refusing to quit. It was ugly but it was effective. God rewarded the diligence.

The stories told in The Profit Dare are real. Names have not been changed. Nothing written in this book is meant to embarrass, shame or denigrate the persons mentioned. If something comes across as offensive or unkind that was never its intent and is probably more of an indictment of a rookie writer. The stories are simply a way to convey truth in an honest and candid manner and to help those mired in a monetary mess.

I’m not in the least bit ashamed of my childhood. Everything that happened in my life has helped to mold and shape me into the person that I am today. I’m not perfect and still have countless flaws. God is working in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure. I’m crucifying my flesh daily. It just does not always seem to cooperate.

The Profit Dare is my humble attempt to help a Church in financial crisis. The Church, for the most part, travels parallel with the world. The Church, in many instances, has bought into a secularist view of money—on both sides of the coin (poverty & prosperity). We could improve in leading the way financially. This is my contribution.

My prayer is that you not only enjoy The Profit Dare but it also encourages you to think and inspires you to take radical action.

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

—Jude 24−25 NKJV

CHAPTER 1

Butterscotch Pudding

and Pordue

Son, Psalm 68:5 proved to be a lifesaver for you. God has been more than faithful! Walk with God.

Love, Mom

—Note inside the Bible my mom purchased for me on my twenty-sixth birthday.

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.

—Psalm 68:5 NKJV

S tatistically speaking, I should be an abusive husband. Seriously. Not only should I be a husband who beats his wife but also I should be a penniless, job-hopping, alcoholic. Let’s take it a step further. I should be a penniless, wife-beating, job-hopping, alcoholic who divorced his wife, abandoned his children, and never paid child support. Praise God I am none of those.

Boys who witness abuse in the household often follow in their fathers’ footsteps. Alcoholics beget alcoholics. We’re often told, that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Girls, who have loose moms, typically live in a promiscuous manner.

Families who struggle financially generally produce children who also battle the same issues. Some call this repeated behavior generational curses. I have good news. Actually I have great news. Curses can be reversed. Even the dreaded curse of poverty can be reversed.

When I was young boy, probably five or six years old, I witnessed my dad savagely beating my mom. She was pregnant with my youngest brother at the time. I heard a noise and woke up and went into the living room. She was on the ground and he was kicking her in the stomach. She looked at me and said, Go to bed, baby, it’s going to be okay. I froze in my steps, and she repeated herself. I really don’t know what happened to her after that. My brother, thank God, made it into the world. My dad, also thank God, was gone shortly after that night.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next in our lives. My mom was a young, single mother raising four boys. We lived in a house we could not afford and had little money. Our dad did not pay child support and rarely contributed to the financial cost of raising his boys.

I recall only one Christmas or birthday gift from him. The gift was an electric racecar track for all four of us. We set it up and it didn’t work. He was supposed to return it and exchange it for another. The operative word in that last sentence was supposed to exchange it. I’m sure he returned it and pocketed the cash. My mom soldiered on and took on the dual role of mom and dad.

If you ever are around my three brothers and me you will see an unbreakable covenant that was forged in the fire of affliction. Our mom doesn’t appreciate us sharing these stories but we all know those experiences united us like nothing else could. Plus, we would do anything for our mom.

Quitting was the easy way out—and who would have blamed her? But, she did not quit. Sometimes the difference between winning and losing is simply refusing to give up. She refuses to take credit for how we all turned out, but she deserves it. Trust me—we were not choirboys.

Memories have a tendency to fade and change. Bad memories soften and good memories often improve. Some of my worst memories are not so bad since they developed a fire inside of me to despise poverty. I truly hate it and have zero tolerance for its insidious nature. Some people mollify poverty. Others even go so far as to think it’s a sign of spirituality. I don’t think such people have ever truly been poor or genuinely broke.

The spirit of poverty is a nefarious force and its influence is diabolical. Those affected by it often say and do things that are peculiar. For example, one day our neighbor informed us of an opportunity to obtain free food. When you’re broke free food is a good thing. A local cannery discarded its number-ten (restaurant-style) cans that were dented or had no label. The only caveat was that these cans were discarded at the city landfill (we called it the dump). No, you didn’t? Yes, we did.

We all piled into our neighbor’s car and drove to find our treasure. Two moms and several kids traipsed through the dump in search of shiny cans filled with food. We scored our booty and returned home. The opening of these cans was an exciting time for us kids. The first can contained green beans; the second was tapioca pudding, the third contained beets, and the last one was filled with butterscotch pudding. Score! Obviously, this is behavior of people mired in a spirit of poverty.

Life was tough on us, but we really did not know it. All we knew was poverty and lack.

I recall once being allowed to spend the night with my cousins. I have the best cousins in the world. Hopefully you feel the same way about your cousins. My cousins and their children are the best.

I woke up the next day and they had already eaten breakfast. The table was not yet cleared. It was obvious that cereal was the breakfast of choice. I looked at the bowls, and there was chocolate milk in the bowls! What is this craziness? Who has so much money that they can use chocolate milk on cereal? Moreover, why did they not drink it? Inconceivable! At this point in my life I had never been exposed to Cocoa Puffs or Cocoa Pebbles. My brothers and I were like JJ from Good Times. Oatmeal was our breakfast of choice.

Another time my mom sent me across the street to the supermarket to get a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk. This was in the seventies when kids could actually do things on their own, so please don’t judge us too harshly. You probably know where this story is going. There is a good reason I am not a mystery writer.

Yes, you guessed correctly—I misplaced the twenty-dollar bill. For us, that Andrew Jackson could have been $200 or $2,000. I’m sure it was all that we had to our names. I sheepishly went up to the customer service counter to see whether anyone found and returned the money. At the same time one of my classmates was at the counter with her mom. She had found the money and returned it. To this day, whenever I hear her name or