Faith Covenant Christian Church

11:00 a.m. Service

CALL TO WORSHIP

*INVOCATION

*CONGREGATIONAL HYMN

*RESPONSIVE READING

*PRAYER

SONG OF PRAISE AND WORSHIP

WELCOME / ANNOUNCEMENTS / FELLOWSHIP

OFFERTORY PRAYER AND OFFERING

*INTERCESSORY PRAYER

*PRAYER OF FAITH AND COMMITMENT

SPECIAL MUSIC

WORD OF GOD – Pastor Nokomis Yeldell, Jr.

*INVITATION TO SALVATION AND DISCIPLESHIP

PRAYER OF COMMITMENT

Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I want to turn from my sins, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son. I believe He died for my sins and that You raised Him to life. I want Him to come into my heart and to take control of my life. I want to trust Jesus as my Savior and follow Him as my Lord from this day forward.

In Jesus’ Name, amen.

[You may join Faith Covenant Christian Church by: Baptism, Christian Experience,

Re-Dedication, Transfer Letter, or Watch Care]

HOLY COMMUNION (1st Sunday Of Every Month)

BENEDICTION

This Week's Message

Date: March 22, 2026

Preacher: Pastor Nokomis Yeldell, Jr.

Sermon: Don’t Allow The Love Of Money Be Your Downfall

Scripture: Luke 16: 22-24

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY 😊

The redeeming death of Jesus saves individuals, but it does more than just this. It creates communities, miraculously forming redeemed people into churches who live as family with one another. In Romans 15:7, the apostle Paul identifies the goal of true Christian community: “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Paul wrote these words to the church in Rome, which was experiencing considerable tension between Jewish and Gentile Christians, who disagreed about eating certain foods and observing certain days. Into this conflict, Paul declared the gospel truth that “Christ has welcomed you.”

Every church wants to be a welcoming church. But the “welcoming” is often superficial, limited to a warm greeting with a smile, a handshake, and a welcome packet on Sunday. Christ’s welcome isn’t just a friendly handshake and a pleasant smile. It is salvation (Romans 10:13), reconciliation (Romans 5:10), reception into the family of God (Romans 8:16). And it was expensive: it took Christ’s death in our place and resurrection from the dead so that we could be welcomed by him. Nevertheless, it was a price that the Son gladly paid in order to receive us (John 10:18).

Christ’s welcome of us is the basis and model for our ongoing welcome of one another. How does a true family interact with one another? We love one another through disagreements, like a healthy family does. We’re willing to reconcile and worship and work together. We don’t avoid or despise family members who have quirky personalities, or annoying qualities — or those who are simply different from us in the way they dress or talk or look. We accept one another because we’re part of the same family. We find ways, both big and small (making a call, sending a card, sitting by a hospital bed, providing food or transportation, praying faithfully, working through conflict, and in a thousand other ways) to say, “You are family to me”.

The result of a global Christian community actually living this way is breathtaking. Paul says that we should welcome one another as Christ welcomed us “for the glory of God.” It is possible for a community of redeemed sinners to display God’s worth to the world. Paul’s teaching is great news for small, ordinary churches. It means you don’t need gorgeous buildings, or state-of-the-art ministries, or famous pastors, or phenomenal music, or programs for all ages in order to bring glory to God. Your church glorifies God by being family to one another and by welcoming all as Christ has welcomed you.

SUNDAY SCHOOL NEXT WEEK

SUNDAY SCHOOL – March 29, 2026

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Waiting for God's Peace ~ Isaiah 2:2-4; Acts 17:26-28

Lesson Aims After participating in this lesson,

each learner will be able to:

1. Summarize the main points of Isaiah's prophecy.

2. Explain how God's peace is already present in the world

but not fully manifest until Jesus returns.

3. Create a plan for fostering peace in a specific context

where unresolved conflict exists.

Isaiah 2:2-4 2 In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple

will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

The Mountain of God Isaiah—God’s prophet to the nation of Judah—envisions restoration, not only for his people, but for all nations. It exceeds what God’s people might naturally expect. Isaiah writes, “The mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains” (Isa. 2:2), meaning it will be recognized for its enduring importance. Rival hills—representing rival kingdoms and their gods— shrink away to nothing. All will see the true God for who He is: the center of Israel’s worship, which will become the center of the whole world. The nations will come to worship Yahweh, “streaming” to the place of His presence, like a flowing river. Isaiah reveals that many will long to be part of God’s people, going up to His mountain and to “the temple of the God of Jacob” (Isa. 2:3). Jacob had inherited the promises God made to Abraham and Isaac that God would make Abraham’s family into a great nation and bless all people through his family (see Gen. 12:1–3). From Jacob came the twelve tribes of Israel, who inherited God’s covenant after being rescued from slavery in Egypt. Isaiah 2 reveals that the nations will come to embrace the God of Jacob and be included in the Lord’s tribe. People from all nations will become a part of God’s people. They will come with the purpose of learning God’s ways and walking in His paths. This will result in the law—the word of the Lord—going forth from exalted Zion, borne by the nations to spread throughout the earth. In verse 4, Isaiah speaks of God as the righteous judge who will bring peace to the nations as they submit to Him. He will “settle disputes for many peoples” (Isa. 2:4). As a result, the nations will put away war and violence against one another, turning their pointless weapons into useful tools for farming. Here, “plowshares” refers to the metal tip of a plow used to break up dirt or dig a furrow for planting (v. 4). The shards of broken swords would serve this purpose well. Similarly, the head of a spear can be fashioned into a curved knife for pruning. The transformation of weapons into tools means the ground will no longer be covered with the blood of violence, but cultivated for the good of earth’s inhabitants. The nations will no longer need to “train for war” (Isa. 2:4), since God brings a lasting, abiding peace.

Acts 17:26-28 26 "From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.

God’s Desire for the Nations Acts 17:26–28 finds Paul in the midst of a speech in the city of Athens—where residents fashion themselves to be educated and intellectual, open to all of the latest ideas. What a place to give a sermon! The Areopagus is where all of the best teachers and philosophers would come to speak, and Paul had inflamed opposition by debating Greek philosophers, who accused him of “advocating foreign gods” (Acts 17:18), a serious offence. Still, the Athenians seem curious. As a springboard for his words, Paul mentions an altar he has seen, “to an unknown god” (Acts 17:23). Seizing upon this show of religious devotion, Paul says that he is not so much advocating foreign gods as he is proclaiming the one, true God who the Athenians are ignorant of—the Creator who is Lord of heaven and earth (Acts 17:24). In verse 26, he proclaims that all nations are a result of God’s creative work and intention. Moreover, God is over them and their leaders as their rightful Lord. Throughout history, nations rise, expand, and fall—all according to the will of God. In verse 27, Paul conveys God’s intention by appointing times and boundaries for the nations. Paul says, “God did this so that they would seek Him” (Acts 17:27). Yet the seeking is not without difficulty. According to Paul, those seeking can “perhaps reach out for him and find him” (Acts 17:27). This language conveys the idea of groping in the dark. Paul reassures the gathered crowd, “[God] is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27). It explains Paul’s mission, for it is tragic when God is not known by men and women who might be seekers. The city of Athens was full of idols and competing religious ideas (see Acts 17:16, 18). The true God remained unknown to them, obscured by pagan beliefs. Paul desperately wants the people of Athens to know the truth of the gospel, which is not only for Jews, but for all nations. As he continues, Paul appeals to literary sources that would be familiar to his Greek audience. He shows that he has studied their poets and religious ideas, not only his Jewish Scriptures. Since the words of famous philosophers and poets carry weight for his audience, he quotes what serves his argument. This does not amount to wholesale approval for everything these writers say, but Paul knows that all truth is God’s truth. In other words, if something is wise and true, it belongs to God—no matter the source. In verse 28, Paul says about God, “For in him we live and move and have our being.” He is actually quoting a line from the Cretan philosopher, Epimenides. Paul uses it to argue that all people owe their existence to the Creator—the “unknown God” who is in entirely knowable. Paul adds the poetic phrase, “We are his offspring” (Acts 17:28), originally attributed to the Stoic philosopher Aratus. Aratus wrote the phrase in a poem to Zeus—the right idea about the wrong deity! Paul makes the phrase point back to the true Creator, for all nations are from His creative design.

About Us

OUR HISTORY

Faith Covenant Christian Church began on February 27, 2014 following a fellowship dinner for displaced former members of Crossroads Christian Church. Following that first meeting, we formed a Planning Committee and began meeting @ Best Western Hotel at Cedar Bluff.

On May 7, 2014, we adopted the name Faith Covenant Christian Church, with our foundational verse being Jeremiah 50:5. On June 22, 2014 an invitation to membership was given by Rev A. David Baxter and 21 people united with Faith Covenant Christian Church. Women’s and Men’s Ministries began having regular meetings. In September 2014, we began having Sunday School and Wednesday Night Bible Study. In November, Youth Ministry began. By the end of 2014, ten more people joined, three as new converts. We moved to 1027 Summer Wood Drive on April 1, 2015. Following a yearlong pastor search, Violet P. McRoy, was called as pastor on April 18, 2016. In March 2018, Pastor McRoy resigned as pastor, due to poor health and other personal issues. God quickly responded to our prayer-laden search and Nokomis Yeldell, Jr. was elected to the pastoral position on April 16, 2018. On Easter Sunday in 2025, we moved into a new sanctuary at 1021 Summer Wood Drive. In May, 2025, we celebrated our 11th church anniversary and are looking onward, upward and forward to serving God faithfully.

OUR PASTOR

Nokomis Yeldell, Jr.

Pastor Yeldell was born in Mt Pleasant, Texas, the third of five children of Nokomis and Dollie Pearl Yeldell. His father, also a Pastor for over 60 years, was called to Memphis, TN, where Nokomis Jr. grew up. Following graduation Pastor Yeldell attended Southwestern Christian College. He then served four years in the United States Air Force. He then decided to move to Knoxville, TN to further his education. After serving in leadership capacities in various ministries at Foster Chapel Baptist Church, Pastor Yeldell was called into the ministry in 2010.

Faith Covenant Christian Church represents Pastor Yeldell’s third and prayerfully final pastorate.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

FAITH COVENANT Christian Church accepts the Holy Scriptures as the revealed will of God, the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice, and holds to the following foundational truths:

1. The One True God

GOD IS… He is the eternally existent and immutable Father, Creator of the Universe and everything therein. He is the Lord of heaven and earth, and in Him we move and have our being. He is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is One God in three distinct persons: one in essence and purpose and distinct in personality and function. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. He is the essence of love, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, mercy, grace, holiness, righteousness, and justice.

2. The Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the eternally existent Son of the living God, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, the image of the invisible God, and the firstborn of all creation. Through Him was made everything that is made—things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things are held together.

He was born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God through His substitutionary death on the cross. He was resurrected bodily from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us.

3. The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Counselor, the Spirit of Truth, who goes out from the Father and testifies about the Son. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of guilt in regards to sin and righteousness and judgment. He is given to all who believe, for Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit according to the promise of God the Father, who gives the Spirit without limit. The Holy Spirit lives with us and in us, bringing about the endowment of power for life and service, as well as the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry. These gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to His own will (Hebrews 2:4) include: prophecy, service, teaching, encouragement, contributing to the needs of others, leadership, mercy (Romans 12:6-8), message of wisdom, message of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, distinguishing between spirits (discernment), tongues, interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).

4. Salvation from the Penalty of Sin

By grace, through faith, we are saved from the penalty of sin. Mankind, though made in the image of God, has inherited through the first man, Adam, a sinful nature. By this nature, all mankind has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and thereby, was alienated from God; dead in transgressions—gratifying the cravings, desires, and thoughts of the sinful nature; following the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air; stirring up wrath against himself for the day of God’s wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed. But God did not appoint mankind to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—and saved us by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

5. Salvation from the Power of Sin

By grace, through faith, we are saved from the power of sin. Having been crucified with Christ, we put to death the deeds of the body so that sin shall have no dominion over our mortal bodies. We have received the Spirit who is from God so that we may live by faith, understanding what God has freely given us to accomplish His purpose:

He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our personal knowledge of Him as Savior and Lord.
He has given us His precious and magnificent promises by which we may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
He has given us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ, His church, may be built up.
He has given to us the manifestation of the Spirit through spiritual gifts for the common good.
He has given us the ministry of reconciliation: that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him.

6. Salvation from the Presence of Sin

By grace, through faith, we are saved from the presence of sin, for the Lord Jesus died and rose again, and will Himself come down from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. And there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth will pass away. And we shall dwell with God in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. We shall be His people, and God Himself will be with us and be our God. He will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away.

7. The Inspiration and Inerrancy of Scripture

God’s Word is TRUTH. The Holy Scriptures (both the Old and New Testament) is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. We are saved from the penalty, power, and presence of sin by grace through faith that comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, which testifies of Jesus Christ. By His Word, God has revealed Himself, His plan, His purpose, and His ways—so that we would come to Him to receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.

OUR MINISTRIES

Faith Covenant Christian Church operates under a FIVE FOLD Ministry concept

I EXALTATION

Deacons- Bro. Reggie Lindsey

Holy Sacraments And Sacred Days – Sis. Earlenia Lindsey

Media- Sis. Tiaeshia Kelso, Bro. Anthony Lindsey

Music- Bro. Reggie Lindsey

Program – Sis. Earlenia Lindsey

Public Relations – Bro. Reggie Lindsey, Sis. Sabrina T. Wilson

Pulpit – Pastor Nokomis Yeldell, Jr.

Reconciliation – Ministerial Council

Ushers – Sis. Teresa Farmer

II ENABLING

Benevolence – Sis. Earlenia Lindsey

Food Pantry – Bro. Karl Townes

Hospitality – Sis. Teresa Farmer

Intercessory Prayer – Sis. Earlenia Lindsey

Missions – Sis. Earlenia Lindsey

III EDUCATION

Bible Study – Pastor Nokomis Yeldell, Jr.

Youth Church –

Sunday School – Bro. Reggie Lindsey

Supplemental Education And Training – Bro. Reggie Lindsey

Vacation Bible School –

IV EDIFICATION

Church-Wide Edification – Sis. Sabrina T. Wilson

Men’s Ministry – Bro. Karl Towns

Women’s Ministry (WICS) – Sis. Teresa Farmer

Youth – Sis. Earlenia Lindsey

V EQUIPPING

Administration – Sis. Sabrina T. Wilson

Finance – Sis. Teresa Farmer, Sis. Tiaeshia Kelso, Sis. Sabrina T. Wilson

Transportation – Bro. Karl Towns

Trustees – Bro. Karl Towns

Kitchen Ministry / Special Events – Sis. Teresa Farmer

Comfort And Care Ministry - Pastor Nokomis Yeldell, Jr.