Patrick started even before this with a story about his wedding in which he stated that he was so pale from fright and nervousness that certain members of his family derided him for days by calling him "Casper" as the "Friendly Ghost".  He said he was fully as nervous today as he was at that wedding.  But he did what he had to do and launched into what he called a "transparent and upfront" account of where our money went when we (the congregation) put it in a tithe envelope and place it in the offering plate as it is passed.

     With his power point program he had altered the picture of one or several dollar bills to show what percentage of the tithe supported the "WORLD CHURCH" or "General Conference" (he used these terms interchangeably) and what percentage supported the Southern Union and the Carolina Conference.  About 35% of tithe money actually supports him and Phil Rosberg, the two pastors at Foster Church.  Here similar information is being shown in a more familiar pie graph.

     After this he explained that OFFERINGS in addition to the tithe paid for the church budget and other projects and that these must be marked specifically to keep the various outreaches Foster Church is famous for giving these services to the poor and otherwise disadvantaged of Asheville.

     Offerings began, according to Patrick, a long time before the first tithe was paid, with the offering of vegetables grown in his garden by Cain, and a lamb brought to the Lord's altar by Abel his brother.

      Patrick's interpretation of why God rejected Cain's vegetables was that Cain had actually worked hard to make sure these vegetables were "good enough" to offer to God, while Abel had done no work to receive the lamb that he offered, so it was a free gift from God, as God's son Jesus would also become a free gift so that we could have totally free salvation.

     Fortunately for Patrick, few if any in the congregation could see that if they took this Cain-Abel application literally, the members, like Abel, would only bring offerings (and tithes also) that cost them nothing, and for which they had done no work. And there goes the neighborhood!

    Patrick skipped the story of Jacob and went next to the story of Samuel and King Saul, which, according to Patrick Williams, was the first to collect a real TITHE from the nation of Israel.  Kings have to be supported with money, and the TITHE was King Saul's support.  He did actually read the Biblical proof that this was to be the case and I looked it up this afternoon. Thank's Patrick, I missed that in my earlier research.

    It's a fairly long story, but based on Patrick's research that King Saul was really the first in the Bible to collect a TENTH of what everybody under his control owned and earned in Israel, it is indeed worthy of our consideration.

    It starts with 1 Samuel 8:1 "And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba."

     3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment."

     4 "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,  5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways; now make us a king to judge us like all the nations."

    Samuel did as they asked, but he was upset, and let the people know that he was upset, and to make some or all of them feel bad, he told them what this king would do to them. and prominent in this list of BAD THINGS that they would not like was  -- Saul would TITHE (10 %) of everything they owned or earned.   Mind you, this was not to be a rule imposed on them by God, but perhaps a PUNISHMENT by God for rejecting God's DIRECT RULE over them.

    1 Samnuel 8:13 "And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers."

    14 "And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants."

    15 "And he will take the TENTH of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants."

     16 "And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work."

     17 "He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants."

    18 "And ye shall CRY OUT in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you: and the Lord will not hear you in that day."

     (I don't believe Patrick Williams read that last verse or remarked on it, but perhaps he did -- I was not taking notes.)  But looking at the list of what King Saul would be doing with Israel's money it now occurs to me that it was remarkably similar to the pie-graph or cut up dollar bill that Patrick began his presentation with.  Lots of GOOD THINGS from King Saul's perspective.  GOOD THINGS that King Saul could take credit for and take pride in the kingdom of which he was now the King!

    Sensing perhaps that Malachi's curses on those who ROB GOD by not paying the last cent of the tithe "OWED" God, and a liberal offering beside was not the best way to TOP OFF the story of King Saul's TITHE TAX, Patrick moved on to the kinder and gentler story of RUTH the Moabitess, who, like Abel, had to depend on God and his generosity -- and JESUS as the "KINSMAN-REDEEMER" to come out the HEROINE of the Bible book bearing her name.

       Patrick Williams reminded us that Ruth had no money, and indeed no home except her mother-in-law Naomi's, who sent her out to glean grain so that her family could eat.  To glean is like begging, but you have to work to get anything, nobody just hands it to you and says -- "Foster Church wants you to have this, you look hungry."  By working hard (forget Cain, this is a different story) she attracted the attention of Boaz, who was in need of a wife with her qualities, but didn't quite know it yet.  Ruth helped him make up his mind with some womanly advice from Naomi, but Patrick wisely left these details alone.

      Finally, Patrick preached that GENEROSITY is the real reason that God likes people like us.  And reminded us how Foster Memorial church got its name.  The church, originally located on Haywood Street (or Avenue) needed a larger building and acquired the land where we were listening to Pastor Williams' sermon today.  Mrs. Foster gave some money to start work on the building, sold her house, and moved close enough to walk to church. But time went on and little money was coming in, so the members went back to her and talked her out of more money, lots of it.  She was growing old and ill, but the church was not quite finished.  Finally she gave almost all the money she had left.  She died never having once sat in a service in the church that now bears her name. The first service held was her funeral service.  The members rented or borrowed enough chairs to hold a big funeral service for this kind and generous woman.

FINISHED AND UPLOADED 1-17-2015