EP: 24 "Development Codes are Fun, They Say”

0:00 Howdy, and welcome to episode 24 of Hello Fairview, your local podcast made right here in Fairview for people in Fairview and the surrounding areas. This is a weekly show released every Wednesday featuring stories that aim to inform and inspire. Local radio stations and newspapers don't exist in small towns like ours, so we'll use Hello Fairview to fill that void with news related to Fairview. This is a value for value podcast, which means you contribute what you can based on the value you receive. This concept was founded by the podfather himself, Adam Curry, and his co-host John C. Dvorak on the No Agenda show over 18 years ago. Currently, this is just a one-man operation, so if you have any ideas, events, business opportunities, or job openings, please don't hesitate to let me know.

0:47 Just use the contact form on the website, and we'll work to get the updates on the next episode. You are a producer of this show. You are not the product because your time and attention are not being sold to advertisers for their value. Some shows will be longer, others will be shorter, but I'll do my best to always keep things relevant. Traffic time. Well, it is construction busy right now for sure, where you can wait four to seven minutes in the morning or the afternoon to make a left and sometimes a right at 100 Old Cox to the rec center. the sidewalk product or project is stretched out from Cumberland down to Walmart and then to the rec center they have been starting to install the drains through the driveways on the west side of the Cumberland intersection with that little mini bridge and culvert there have also been lane closures that have caused serious backups on you know Monday and this week and even last week and so and that was even with school out so it's only going to get worse before it can get better to wrap up that phase. And you know, it's luck of the draw if there's a lane closure each day on 100.

1:52 So good luck. Red light update. We still have three. Old Cox, Publix, and Walmart. Still going to see what's going on there. But the city center entrance and one is actually got the red lights hung a week ago. So we'll see when they actually turn them on. But they put all that in there and they repaved that little section of road and repainted those lines in front of city center. And so we'll keep seeing otherwise there's still a mountain of dirt at the city center. So there hasn't been much going on from there. We're growing. Well, things are definitely kind of rolling back to normal. Traffic update from the city is that there's a three-way stop has been installed at the intersection of Horn Tavern Road and Cleveland Lane.

2:36 This will take a while for people to get used to it. So make sure you're actually more careful around that intersection because people might be completely blowing through that intersection. with that. March 7th, they announced that, which is this weekend here on the 2026 Arbor Day celebration. This had been talked about before at one of the BOC meetings and planning commission about that they have 200 trees to hand out. And that is from 9am to 12pm at 2199 Fairview Boulevard. So come out there and do that. The city of Fairview has contacted, contracted a state bid for debris removal from the ice storm. Please keep your, you know, uh, stuff. If you're in the city, obviously, uh, prior of March 16th, do not let debris, you know, approach on the roadways, keep debris five feet away from fire hydrants, you know, maximum height of three feet. If you hire a contractor, they got to do it. Uh, and if you're wanting to help clean up and we'll talk about this again, but the United way, um, and Jan Seymour is who you reach out to there. She'll organize a project and there's more things coming up for that just from the united way and the city will resume all chipper service april 1st in accordance with the city ordinance restriction including a 10 foot by 10 foot by 3 foot and 4 inch diameter branch limit so please refer to the chipper service on the website and that's on the calendar too so you're there they had to send a big easter egg update because it doesn't look like buoy park is going to open

4:07 anytime soon. So March 28th at 10 a.m. is where they're going to have the Easter egg hunt. So it's been moved from Bowie. So we'll see how that goes. And then probably the biggest talk of our town and probably a couple of years is we probably have double hospital trouble. We covered this the last episode about Ascension Healthcare coming over by volunteer pools. But then, you know, a couple weeks later, uh, Tristar announced that they're doing their thing on two 27, 26. So, uh, Ascension announced on two 13, 26 and Tristar on two 22, 27, 26. Um, and this one's going to be at the intersection of Bowie Lake road, right across from good times, wine and spirits. Uh, so we'll see, but basically one costs 20.6 million from Ascension 21 million from there.

5:01 Both are still waiting for their pending certificate of need approval. I don't know if both could be approved for such a small area, but we'll see. Both offer 24-hour emergency services. The TriStar ER, it doesn't have the space specified. One has 10 rooms and the other has 11 rooms. One has a triage of this. One has a triage of that. Both one one says it has, you know, the Ascension says they have on site CT, x-ray and ultrasound imaging. The other one just says it has imaging services and both have a laboratory.

5:41 So I don't know how this will technically work out to have both of these here. And, you know, we'll see how all that goes. So we'll have to check that out when it gets closer. Homes for sale. Well, there is 233 homes for sale from 224 last week. So it's going up. There's still the same $3.9 million house, uh, which is on just five acres instead of 70, but it's an 8,400 square foot house. Uh, so it's definitely a big one. And then the other house that's the cheapest is $230,000. Little town home there is went down from 250 to 240 and now to 230. And that's a two bed, one bath, partial bath, thousand square foot house.

6:24 So that's good. Town meeting updates. Well, there was only one meeting since last show. So we had the Board of Zoning Appeals, nothing. Planning Commission, nothing. But Board of Commissioners, that was 2-19-26, and there is a meeting coming up tonight. This approved another 14 units from the previous Planning Commission meeting on 2-10-26. So basically, as we kicked off, you know, the mayor's comments. basically remember you can always watch this stuff and the development code meetings are still going on we had three residents sign up for public comment and Janet was a city resident congratulating Mayor Anderson and former Mayor Patty Carroll on Ascension Health and how they wanted to build a 55 plus retirement community and she basically was talking most of the time about the aggressive behavior from the BOC members and even the city manager of how they were wanting proof of what Patty did. We covered this a little bit in the last episode and we've covered it before too, where they were micromanaging her. They talked about all the work that she's done and we appreciate her staying positive of all this stuff going on and economic development, which is what she is. It's like fundraising. It's 90% relationship building and 10% asking. Patty and Mayor Anderson worked hard on their accomplishment for the last eight months

7:57 in negotiating this deal. And we want to make sure that there's like a formal motion that says that the scope of authority is outside of the city's charter for that. And then we had Andrew talk about his candidacy for county commissioner of District 1 in the May 5th primary. He expressed concerns regarding the recent county resolution asking the state for more authority over municipal annexation and urban growth boundaries labeling it government overreach. Craig came and talked about the new zoning ordinance but requested an amendment for the 50-acre property near his home, the Sullivan property, which is the one by Jingo Java, or not Jingo Java, but Jingo Market and Jefferson's, asking it for it to be zoned four units an acre instead of 4C, which is 16 units an acre. They approved the city manager, talked about some of the critical updates focused on the recovery from the ice storm. Bowie Nature Park has still over 200 widow makers, hanging libs, public volunteering for chainsaw work is prohibited due to liability, but residents are encouraged to log volunteer hours and keep moving the right of way for the debris for FEMA match. Highway 100 construction, TDOT has not provided any specific schedule, but the project is expected to be completed by the end of July, 2026, which would be good. Police training facility, all the bids were too expensive. So they've adjusted the product and they've resubmitted and hopefully

9:28 was respecified to residential grade standards to help lower the cost. So basically they asked for something too fancy. A new fire truck was ordered three years ago and is scheduled for delivery on May 2026. It is funded through a capital outlay over 12 years at roughly $108,000 per year. So that's $1.5 million, somewhere in there, $1.4, $1.5 million for that new fire truck. so that is exciting the agenda was proved uh and then we had new business we had no old business resolution 626 past 5-0 this was the board of the commissioners talking about installing that traffic sign they basically talked about this traffic sign for a little bit here while speeding is a concern the study noted only one crash in three years and reminded the board that stop signs should not be used for a speed control. We've ran into this before at previous subdivisions.

10:31 Resolution 727, pass 5-0. This is basically talking about the bids and warranty implications that were going on when it came to the new city sign and trying to get that all done. And so we were hopefully going to see that go through, but basically $163,692 for a couple signs. so it's kind of crazy how expensive this this little project has gotten and this was awarded to Jarvis Awards Sign and Flag Co and then on February 9th is where they did this here so we will see how these signs are we had a picture of it before but that seems kind of crazy but I know they also have to pull a lot of permits resolution 826 also passed five to zero. Basically, this was where the city has to have an ADA compliance and plan to become ADA compliant for their city workers. And so when cities have 50 or more employees, it requires this. So they're going ahead and getting on that with, because I guess they were just went over it technically with the number of people in the police, fire department and everything in public works. Resolution 926, this was not on the agenda. And this is three hours and 21 minutes into this meeting and definitely out of order to the way they mentioned it.

11:54 So this was a resolution to allow the mayor to authorize emergency debris removal agreements to be able to be completed by them instead of, I guess, the normal longer process. And then they talked about debris removal. The city estimates that there's around 15,000 cubic yards of debris and the cleanup is around seven thousand dollars seven hundred thousand dollars FEMA is expected to cover 75 percent in there and so basically in 12 and a half percent to the county and then 12 and a half percent to the city which is 87,500 and so they talk about this a couple more times below but basically the more volunteer hours we have the cheaper it is because we can use that as credits like to FEMA that we have been working for free. And so this is kind of a very interesting time to kind of see this. Ordinance 2026-02, pass 4-1. Basically, this is talking about the TPUDC meeting and how we've been working on this for 20 months. This is the first voting planning commission that hasn't made any changes. The traffic studies, they yapped about that some and the mandatory traffic studies of subdivisions with 30 or more lots. This replaces the previous staff recommendations. Garage feed, garage dimensions in response to citizen feedback, the interior dimensions in certain districts were increased to 24 by 24 to allow for space

13:24 for vehicles and storage. So when you start getting so specific like this, it gets kind of wild HOA requirements. This is kind of interesting. This continues to require all HOAs for new subdivisions primarily to shift liability and maintenance costs and stormwater ponds away from the city. So they're forcing every new subdivision to have an HOA so that the city doesn't have any of those liabilities. There was a whole lot of talk about buffers from Commissioner Roberts and almost the rest of the team and talked about how that applies to the parks and other cities are doing from TPUDC also and saying that we not crazy for doing that and this is all about 50 feet around Bowie Park plus everything else. So that passed 2026-03, passed 4-1. This is the 14 units. This is the donut getting filled on Northwest Highway. This is five acres uh basically becoming uh from rs40 to r20 and uh this is where they're estimating there's going to be 14 houses on here and then discussion we had mr buffalini uh talking about communication and talking about more transparency uh with the city manager and the city staff so that they can hear stuff because they're basically getting more updates from people than the city staff and learning about it from them instead of that. And then the city attorney also said that based on that is that your job is not to micromanage the city manager to the board of commission.

14:55 Then he also mentioned that there was week old information from the interstate lighting project where an email was dated a week before it was actually sent to the board. City manager said he'll try to do better. Commissioner McDonald or Vice Mayor McDonald would like to know what we're paying per hour to have these meetings when some of these were just talking and talking and talking and this is when we're already past the three hour mark with the planning with the work session on top of that. The fire chief talked about some of the 9-1-1 and some of the limitations and working through the weather event and they talked about the communications that they wanted to do too talked about the citywide emergency plan and then finally we got to the round table commissioner hall thanks everyone he had one more thing but he said he have to wait to there commissioner buffalini uh said thanks to the high school or the middle school basketball team being fourth in the state in the high school basketball team heading to the playoffs and that this development code is very very important uh things are going to keep growing and we need to be ready for that and for that. Commissioner Roberts thanked everyone and thinks that another work session would be good next on the agenda and that there's more volunteer opportunities coming from United Way. So make sure that you do that. I put the link on here to sign up for the winter day cleanup. And so basically that is from March 14th, 830 to 1pm

16:31 and there's 43 spots remaining in Fairview. And so talked about that. Vice Mayor McDonald didn't have any comments on this one. Mayor Anderson talked about the urban growth boundaries and the city mayors, how they don't want that to happen. And that was mentioned earlier. And she also talked about e-bikes and some of the injuries for her daughter that got injured and was out of work for a couple of weeks. There are regulations coming. This is definitely going to continue to be a problem, especially how fast these things go and she's excited to see ascension states thomas uh come into fairview and basically how that was holding back some retirees from coming here because we didn't have an er so then they also had the work session from tpudc and we already kind of talked about that um and it uh talked about the key points the infrastructure and grants this evolved The intersection of Cumberland 100, the interstate lighting project, and the 840 City Thoroughfare Plan, which is the widening project all the way there.

17:36 They have a multi-million dollar medical campus is coming. Competitive representation, Commissioner Hall noted that the Fairview previously hosted lost major retailers like Target and Lowe's because the city lacked a representative sit at table with developers. future goals talked about the plans of what they're trying to do concerns and criticisms basically talked about the cost of benefit ratio and a lack of formal oversight then we also talked about some of the costs of some of the critics pointed out that was hired for you know a hundred and some thousand dollars and increased approximately there plus a company car lack of evaluation a commissioner noted that the you know position is not undergone formal performance evaluation, historical context, about public execution of duties, or raised to why Mr. Dory wrote strategic goals for himself rather than the economic development. So basically, this is just kind of the back and forth between them. And the proposed solution, the City of Turner, Mr. Carter, suggested that the board could be kept more informed through code names for projects and confidential communication via the attorney and administration to stable governance standardization agreed that others are implementing that so basically it was a lot of back and forth between there we've got the links in there of the video if you want to check that out our next town meetings planning commission is march 17th at 7 p.m board of commissioners is

19:09 march 5th and march 19th board of commissioners town hall is until april 30th parks and landscape is April 6th, but then there's also the United Way cleanup or the Local Parks and Recreation Fund grant, which is March 17th at 6 p.m. This is the public meeting regarding the application for local parks and recreation fund. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the proposed local grant project. If awarded, we'll make improvements to the historical village. So this is the new farmer's market in this new amphitheater. Roundtown Coffee is next week at March 11th.

19:50 And our next agenda is for the 3-5 Board of Commissioners meeting on 3-5-26. And that one basically has a piece of property on Northwest Highway. Again, this is a different one here, uh this 5.38 acres here so basically it's just continuing this the final hearing uh of that same piece of property uh that is 14 units um and then this 2026 02 which is basically updating and voting on the development code uh and then after that there is a resolution establishing um on new business, how able-bodied safety personnel could work. So basically, I think when you read the way this memo is written, it's that if another disaster happens, other people in the city government can be emergency support personnel for the fire department and police department, and obviously not do those types of jobs, but do admin work. And then Mayor Anderson talked about that she had something else on the agenda, but it's not posted or not sure where it was.

21:00 the state of tennessee well the boring company and the metro council are at it again they had a press conference and a hearing and a vote they made a vote 20 to 15 to oppose the construction overall uh there was lots of good public comments like you know basically what's in the fracking juice and the you know the fluid they use to lubricate everything and talking about poisoning our well our well our water table and everything else but then the state is also trying with the Tennessee House to make a pass a bill to allow that to allow the construction to be managed by the state so that the Metro Council has no power over this carry permit changes are likely to be amended the state is also trying to work through some budget gaps from the winter storm cleanup. Everybody is trying to figure out how to get FEMA money is what it seems like. And I know there's still lots of stuff to do and we probably do need it, but it definitely with our extensions of our own city of Fairview emergencies, it makes it feel like all we're doing is waiting for the payday to be done and all this work to be cleaned up so that we can get all this stuff claimed.

22:12 The Tennessee and one of the lawmakers there is working to stop immigration and customs enforcement from building a large detention center in Lebanon. And this is House District 46 in Wilson County said Monday he supports ICE and its apprehension of criminal undocumented immigrants, but that Highway 109 corridor in Lebanon is not the right place for this. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth touted Western values and decreed foreign influences from what he called the godless leftists during a speech at the Christian Media Convention in Nashville on Thursday. Hegseth took the stage to speak to attendees of the National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention.

22:55 And one of the quotes here that they had put on here, as you know, there is a direct through line from the Old and New Testament and Christians' gospels to the development of Western civilizations in the United States of America. So he was here at the Gaylord and basically in one sense was talking about the founder's Bible type of thing that this country was founded on all that. The bills. Well, they're slowing down again. There's only one thing on the agenda after a week and lots and lots of things. one side note is i put the link in here is that the titans junior team actually had a bill hjr 0971 which is a public decree about how they had an undefeated season last year and that they didn't allow any scores all year so that was good on 3526 is the ways and means committee Um, and basically that is talking about 218,144,755.

23:55 Uh, and this is a funding assignment for broadband equity, uh, access and development program. So this is the national U S department of commerce, national telecommunications and information administration. So someone is about to make a lot of money and I'm guessing this is, you know, middle Tennessee Electric and Frontier and a couple other ISPs and Comcast are going to be making a lot of money because it doesn't say who it's going to and any other details from there. So we'll have to see what that actually turns into from there. How's the hill? Well, it's definitely back to it for sure. It's passable. It's basically back to normal minus there's still some trees. There's been a lot of frustration of people when they were closing down lanes as they were clearing up breeze on the hill and it was backing up for you know you know half mile to a mile or even more so but you know I think that's on the it's on the mend now I think they're almost done with that section of the road this week the weather guessers are predicting highs from 65 to 82 and lows from 56 to 64 and some rain possible this weekend and even into early next week so we'll have to see how that is businesses well nothing new was spotted yet so far a couple business little news related to Jingo Java as moving to Uncle Lenny's and Vigilance Art Martial Arts will be moving to Publix too, but it's been delayed a little bit. They're not moving until I think like the 15th now or have to somewhere in there. Both businesses had to relocate because their location was sold

25:27 where they both have been for years. I want to say a prayer for each of these businesses because moving, because we know when you move from one location to another, it's one of the most important things in any business and some companies and businesses thrive and others don't make it at new locations. So Lord bless these businesses as they move. May they prosper in their new location and continue to support Fairview and all the things they do. We hope that this helps them grow and gain new customers and that old customers will continue to make the trip to their new locations. Amen. Ace Hardware is getting a lot closer. They've finished up the garden area and all that make a lot of progress outside so it's been really cool to see that other than that i haven't spotted anything else there's still only two product two commercial properties for sale on drag strip road and loblolly road the farmer's market make sure you keep checking that out every saturday morning 8 a.m to 12 p.m at messick chiropractic and fairview fresh deli donuts located across the road from publix there are so many good places there to get you know breads treats local beef pork fruits vegetables alongside some hot sauce fishing lures and other gifts our brick and mortar highlight is jefferson's this is one of our local sit-down restaurants and probably a crowd favorite and on fridays and saturdays you can definitely tell that it is popular because its parking lot is filled up to the max with other people even parking on the side of the road this is your typical american food menu from burgers and wings and they have a

26:59 full bar. And one of the things that was cool is they have, uh, you know, every year they honor national coaches day at Jefferson's, these coaches made an impact to their players. And so the coaches were Mr. Ron King and Kaylee Heggie. Um, and then the national teachers day, um, when they recognize someone there and that's Angela Campbell, uh, is their teacher there. So we've put a link in the show notes for there. Um, so if you haven't been there from there, job openings, well, it went from 41 to from 31. So we've had a little bit of growth here. And one of the new jobs that is probably the hottest is the Bowie Park maintenance crew that was just posted this week. And so other than that, just like we talked about before we won read the whole list but pretty much every restaurant every service industry thing has uh an opening and almost every place when it comes to selling things and retail is has something too along with like speg and you know tractor supply co and you know destination pet and a couple other places are also uh out there and part of this so if you have any other job postings you'd like to support just fill out the contact form we'll do it on there history nugget Well, we are in 1730 now of our Tennessee history series here.

28:16 And this is Sir Alexander Cummings, sent by the British government, negotiated the first treaty between the English and the Cherokee. A group of seven Cherokee chiefs even traveled back with him to England to declare their loyalty to the king. another explorer Dr. Thomas Wather was sent by the Loyal Land Company of Virginia and named the the Cumberland Mountains and the Cumberland River in the honor of the Duke of Cumberland and the Prime Minister of England so that's cool upcoming events basically you know the middle school boys basketball team had a lot of support coming and going back and forth to that state tournament and ended up fourth in the state. The book sale at the library went well for the friends of the library. So that's always good. And, uh, new events, basically, you know, they actually posted on Buies park that there's a lot of homeschool events that are being rescheduled. So make sure you're checking out that March 21st is the eight to 10 PM joint star party, uh, at Bowie nature park. I don't know if that's going to happen. They haven't officially to be scheduled that one yet. April 28th is the Fairview Titans Pro four man scramble golf tournament. So definitely check that out. March 28th is the Easter egg hunt. And May 2nd is the arts and crafts fair at Bowie Nature Park. May 16th is movie night at Bowie Nature Park. And so hopefully we're back in there before then. And then everything else is listed in there. It's definitely voting season. So we'll see a little bit more of voting things start

29:49 on on april 6th will be our last time to register vote and april 15th through 30th is our early voting and so you'll see that finally wrap up there and for the kids well there's still tons of activities to do in sports in fairview to keep your kids engaged there are some cheer programs recreation teams from baseball basketball softball football and many others so if you're into any sports pretty much got you covered there's a thriving girl scouts and scouts bsa programs from elementary school kids to high school kids and if you have any homeschooler make sure you're always checking out the buoy park schedule because a lot of clubs meet there if you have any kids interested in dance gymnastics or cheer please check out la la's dance studio and elevate gymnastics and cheer vigilance martial arts is our local taekwondo and jujitsu school that teaches way more than just moves the fairview youth jacket wrestling program is a great program for your kids to get into and they even had some summer care options which is great school news well uh it was a short week from with midwinter week a week ago with president's day and now everyone's just waiting for this week to end so that they can start their spring break which is next week from march 9th through 13th and then we have a spring holiday which we actually know on april 3rd is called good friday in the rest of the world and our last day that we're all hunting for is may 21st is our last half day dismissal at 11 20 hawk and tiger news no new news since last week and uh you know just

31:24 like we said we don't get that newsletter and they don't post a lot on the website so we can't really tell a lot falcon news the house of honor and valor both have chick-fil-a lunches for the things they did that were going on and we have a new sixth grade math teacher the softball had a successful tournament this last saturday today is the official grand opening of the girls flag football and on that flag game opening thing that was they beat burns 21 to 6 so congratulations girls and that i mean they've got a pretty busy schedule kicking off too um so then from there we've got you know there's been a bunch of games softball and baseball uh two there and basically our parking lot at the high school and middle school has just been packed uh over the past couple of weeks because all spring sports are kicking. Uh, I know this, uh, that there's more games coming and it's going on from there. Uh, so the other, still some parenting zoom webinars, um, that are coming up and, uh, that's the April 22nd, six to 7 PM. The high school cheerleading tryouts were this week, uh, and, uh, at the high school gym. So if you're doing that, charlotte's web auditions start april 9th through 11th so if you're interested to do that march 5th is the makeup pictures for the spring pictures day and the course selection stuff for eighth graders is still going on and congratulations to the students that had their art at the frist

32:54 art museum in the williamson county superintendent art show from march 7th to march 22nd so you still have a chance while you're on spring break to make a trip up there and go see some of our students art jacket news the newsletter was out on time the high school cheerleading tryouts are still going on just what we're talking about it's the 21 days of act have started t is the season of test for sure um and uh 2026 prom is april 20 april 18th cost is 90 bucks you got to be a junior a senior to do that yearbooks can finally be purchased between now and april 3rd march 6th is the end the third quarter the FCCLA Care Closet is working and they even highlighted this on the latest edition of The Hive on YouTube. The annual Fairview Athletics Committee golf tournament will be at Topgolf 2 to 5 p.m. on February 23rd and I saw some people post on that and so it looked like that went well. March 6th is the FAFSA help day all day and this is mandatory play meeting to go from there, the high school lady jacket soccer team on April 9th. And, um, and then there was a student who is a remarkable, talented singer, actress, and musician, but also an AP honor student with a heart of gold. She recently made the selfless decision to have shave her hair, her head, um, to help raise money and show solidarity with kids fighting cancer. So that was really cool to see, uh, and hear about. And we put that link in the show notes of that part too.

34:24 senior rings and all that stuff can be ordered and then make sure if your kid's driving that you fill out all the forms correctly faith moment well this week with current events in iran i heard a couple messages related to it but i think our one from our very own one church home by ian gilchrist i think was the best that hit to the point normally i would have clipped this but i put the whole thing on because there was just it was too spot on It's not going to make the show any, I don't think, any epic longer. But with so many awesome biblical references and sayings, I just had to include the whole thing. So here we go. I love teaching in series, and we've been in a series for the last several weeks.

35:08 And I had a plan. I had a sermon written. Everything was great. And I woke up yesterday, and the world shifted. And as a pastor, I feel compelled, I feel called to bring clarity from the scripture about how we as Christians, first and foremost, should acknowledge and look and see, and the filter that we see what's happening needs to have clarity brought to it. because I don't know about you, but I am tired of YouTubers and podcasters getting to tell Christians how to think.

35:57 I love a good podcast. I love a good YouTube video. I love all that stuff. But we need the Bible more than we need commentary. We need the Word of God to show us how to think, not be told how to think and then read into our word. And so today, as we take hold and call this kind of an audible to bring clarity, this is holy ground. This is stuff that I want to impart how I'm thinking about, how I'm looking at and what ultimately, not what I think, but what I see in the scripture.

36:40 observations that we need to take away from and the places we need to find our self-standing in as Christians and believers today. As of yesterday morning, the United States and Israel have engaged in proactive military action against the tyrannical regime of Iran, specifically the Islamic Republic government that's held power for nearly five decades. A regime widely accused of funding terrorism, threatening the annihilation of Israel, and suppressing its own people and persecuting Christians.

37:21 The headlines have been loud and opinions have been louder. Social media is on fire and Christians, I believe, are divided. some are celebrating some are outraged some are confused some are silent and the thing that i have to just bring to the table because as as podcast and and youtube has started to become the new pulpit in america i sense there is this churning happening where there's been a subtle resurgence of anti-Semitism in the American church.

38:05 Not always loud, not always overt, but present. There's confusion about Israel's place in God's plan. There's this idea of replacement theology resurfacing. It's not a new thing. Moral equivalency between a covenant and terror being proposed. and a hesitation to stand clearly with Jewish people. So today we're not asking what does the news say, we're asking what does the word of God say? And this title of this message I've called, Where Do We Stand?

38:46 And I want to say right up front, we stand in three places. We stand beside Israel. We stand against tyranny. and we stand for hope. I wanna start by identifying something that's gonna be very familiar if you've been in this church for any amount of time. This isn't new news that we believe Israel deserves to have their homeland. We stand with the Jewish people. We believe in Israel. But I wanna just remind us really quickly from the scriptures. Genesis 12, one through three reads like this. Now the Lord had said to Abram, get out of your country. from your family and from your father's house to a land I will show you.

39:30 I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. this covenant is unilateral God didn't negotiate it with him God did not condition it on Israel's perfection and just to be clear the promise was for a nation it was rooted in God's sovereignty and it was everlasting Genesis 17, 7 and 8 says and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant.

40:27 And it goes on, also I give to you and your descendants after you there the land. So he promised them a nation, he promised them a land. Everlasting means everlasting. Now some say the church has replaced Israel, but listen to the apostle Paul in Romans 11, one and two. I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not. He goes on, God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. That phrase, certainly not, in Greek is the strongest possible rejection. It means absolutely not. May it never be so.

41:09 The church is grafted in, not swapped in. Romans 11, 17 and 18. You being wild olive tree were grafted in among them. Do not boast against the branches. Let me be clear. Replacement theology is boasting against the branches. And it's a strict call on Christians not to do that. Paul continues in Romans 11 28 and 29 Concerning the election they are the beloved for the sake of the fathers for the gift and the calling of God are irrevocable Let me just say this. If God revokes Israel's calling, how can we trust him with ours?

41:57 Furthermore, Romans 15 continues. In verse 27, it says, if the Gentiles have been partakers of the spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things. That's the support of Israel from a Gentile. From Israel, we've received the covenants. We've received the law. We've received the prophets. We've received the scriptures. We've received the Messiah. Make no mistake, Jesus was born a Jew. The apostles were Jews. Our Bible came through Jewish hands. To harm her anti-Semitism in the church is a spiritual contradiction. We don't stand with Israel because it's political. We stand because it's a covenant God made with his people and we honor it. So make no mistake, it's right and good to stand beside Israel. Does that mean everything they do is perfect and we have to just go, well, I like it.

43:06 no more than me being a part of a family and going, does every member of my family do exactly what I think they should do and act the way that I think they should? No. But you don't renounce your family because they make a decision you don't like. So we stand with them. then we look at this idea of tyranny of standing against tyranny let's start with the question why we stand against tyranny as christians we have to distinguish right out of the gate as we're talking about this very specific situation that's happened in the last 24 hours the Iranian people are not the regime of the Islamic Republic.

44:04 We have to separate those two things. All Iranians, all Persians are not part of this. In fact, I heard a statistic yesterday I was talking and it's something like there's 94 million Persians and 96% of that 94 million people don't align with and don't want the Islamic Republic to be in power. So we're not talking about 94 million people. We're talking about a tyrannical government that has overthrown and enslaved people. And that's the problem.

44:45 Furthermore, Iran is home to one of the fastest growing underground church movements in the world today. So we're looking at a nation all the way around the world that's home to millions of people that are living under an oppressive rule where God is still speaking and moving and growing and building his church that are then being tyrannically ruled and overseen and slaughtered and run out. But you have to back up and recognize, yes, tyranny is a problem. Oppression is a problem. But what does the Bible say Christians should respond to that? How should we just turn a blind eye and kind of ignore it and put our head in the ground and not focus on it? Should we, well, listen, I got a lot of problems. I live here in fair of view. I've got issues, man. I've got things I've got to deal with. Life's hard. I get it. It is. But as believers, it is imperative that we don't turn a blind eye to this sort of thing.

45:53 Proverbs 31, 8 and 9 says, open your mouth for the speechless. In the cause of all who are appointed to die, open your mouth, judge righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy. We move to Psalms 82, three and four. Defend the poor and the fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and the needy. Deliver the poor and the needy. Free them from the hand of the wicked. That is the expectation of the scripture. God does not shrug at oppression. He doesn't just look at it and go, well, I get it for them over there. I hate it for them.

46:34 God hears the cry. I believe that that's why the church is on fire there. Because God says, hey, I'm gonna come and minister to your heart. Ecclesiastes 4.1 goes on. It says, then I returned and considered all the oppression that is done under the sun and look, the tears of the oppressed, but they have no comforter. the heart of God bends toward the oppressed and then you look at it and you put this together with this piece of the scripture Romans 13 3 and 4 it gives an expectation for what governments are supposed to do they exist to restrain evil Romans 13 it says for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. For he is God's minister to you for good, an avenger to execute the wrath on him who practices evil. So when governments silence dissent and imprison believers, sponsor terror and commit genocide on their people, something has to change.

47:49 so that begs a question that has been argued that has been dealt with and and pulled around like i've we have so many opinions these days but it's like you know we don't have to be the first people to come up with good ideas history is history for a reason and if we go back and look at history the church has dealt with how do we reconcile our faith and call to peace and yet our call to fight back on oppression. How do we deal with these things? How do we wrestle with these things?

48:34 Standing against tyranny doesn't mean we celebrate war. The Christian position has never been bloodthirsty. It's never been reckless. it's never glorified violence in fact historically the church has begun with the opposite presumption war is tragedy war is evidence of sin war is never morally neutral and the commandment still stands in Exodus chapter 20 you shall not murder killing is always a grave matter before God and it's something that we should not deal lightly with or think doesn't matter.

49:16 It's not something we should rejoice in in the sense of just, oh, I'm glad, da, da, da, da. There's something, this is sacred stuff. Scripture also shows us that there are moments when the duty to protect the innocent overrides the presumption against violence. Ecclesiastes tells us in Ecclesiastes 3.8, there's a time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace. So the question has always been, and it's been wrestled with historically throughout the centuries. When is that time? Early Christian thinkers like Augustine, however you pronounce it, observed that while the kingdom of peace will only be fully realized when Christ returns, we still live in a fallen world where evil must sometimes be restrained.

50:15 Augustine wrote that those who wage war in obedience to lawful authority for the sake of justice have by no means violated the commandment thou shall not kill. The church developed what came to be known as just war thinking. Not as a license for violence, but as a break against it. It asks serious moral questions before a nation would go to war. Is there a just cause such as defending against aggression and protecting the innocent? Is it declared by legitimate authority?

50:57 Is it truly a last resort? Is it the intention of peace rather than revenge? Is there a reasonable hope of restraining evil? are noncombatants protected and is force used proportionately. See, this is the burden of proof that rests on the one who goes to war because killing remains a grave moral weight. But here's the biblical foundation underneath the framework. Proverbs 24, 11, deliver those who are drawn toward death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If a man storms into a playground to slaughter children, you have the ability to stop him.

51:42 Love requires your intervention. Love for the aggressor does not cancel love for the innocent. Justice and mercy are not enemies. Government itself, as we've already read, is given authority by God to restrain evil. so when a regime funds terror threatens genocide imprisons believers and crushes its own people the moral question becomes not merely is war terrible of course it is the deeper question becomes is failing to restrain evil more terrible the church's historic teaching has been this war is never good but in rare cases it may be justified to prevent greater injustice.

52:34 And even then it must be fought without hatred, without cruelty, without targeting the innocent, with grief and with restraint, with prayer for peace. So as we can center the intervention against this tyrannical regime in Iran, we don't cheer destruction, we pray that evil is restrained, that innocent lives are protected, that the suffering is minimized and the underground church would flourish, and that peace would come quickly through this situation. We stand against tyranny, not because we love war, but because we love justice.

53:19 And even as a force may be used to restrain evil, our ultimate weapon remains the gospel, because no missile can regenerate a heart. only Jesus can. That's why thirdly, I've said we stand for hope. We have to have biblical perspective as we look at this global narrative, this historical moment we find ourselves in. Listening to all the noise, trying to chirp in our ears, telling us, well, this is great and you're either far right or far left or far this or far that. How about far cross? As I look upon what's happening in our world, it further validates the need for Jesus to invade the hearts of people all over this world and here in America as well. We need to stop creating narratives and start getting our Bible aloud and reading it more. Focusing on what God really says. Not standing in fear. Understanding that Psalms 33, 12 says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. The ultimate solution for Israel, Iran, and America, and every nation on earth is repentance. Second Chronicles 7, 14 says, If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, pray and seek my face,

54:51 then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. Let me be clear, beloved. I want to see Iran free. I want to see Israel free and in their rightful place. I want to see America strong. I love this land. I love that land. I care deeply for these things. but political victory without spiritual awakening is temporary our hope isn't in alliances it's not in missiles it's not in strategy it's in Christ alone so 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 says, I exhort first of all that supplications and prayers be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority.

55:49 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires all men to be saved. so as we navigate through these complex times as we look at what's happening all over the place as we as we try to filter through how to understand and how to how to interpret this as we look through the scripture lens first not through our narrative lens first over the scripture we realize that we are called by God to stand beside Israel to support them to honor the heritage that has flown through Israel and that we've been partakers of we recognize that it's right and good as Christians to stand against tyranny and I know there's tyranny happening in other places, but right now the focal point of that is what's happening in Iran and God loves people to be free.

57:02 So it's our prayer as Christians for freedom to happen, but all of that is also, it's the first two pieces, but aside from that, we also pray that nations would repent, turn their heart to God, see Jesus for who he is, see him clearly, receive his hope and see him heal their land. It's the only hope for any nation in the world. And we can't have one without the other. So we pray for Israel's protection. We pray for Iran's freedom. Right now, we're praying for American leadership's wisdom.

57:43 we're praying for the salvation of leaders we're praying for revival in the middle east because hear me say this God is not done building his church so today I want to challenge you before we pray we're going to pray here in a second don't drift into anti-semitism don't fall for replacement theology don't collapse into fear don't worship politics and don't lose heart we stand beside Israel because God's covenant stands we stand against tyranny because God defends the oppressed and we stand for hope because Jesus Christ still reigns and above all we stand for Jesus Hebrews 12 28 says therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us have grace because empires will shake.

59:09 Kingdoms will rise and fall, but his kingdom cannot be shaken. So we pray boldly for these things. We pray with confidence in these things. We stand clearly where God has called us to stand. This isn't a time the world needs a church that's going to be sheepish and afraid to step forward and say, no, I don't care what talking heads say. I stand with Israel. I reject tyranny And I believe Jesus is still the hope of the world In the marketplace in the White House in the church in this city in this nation and in this world That's our position.

59:56 And it's our posture. You can't be passive about this. It's like there's so much fear and confusion of, well, if I say what I really think or what the Bible actually says, if I think this or I act this way, then I'm gonna somehow get in trouble or whatever. Like if aligning myself to what God's word says gets me in trouble, then take me in. Like the world doesn't need a church that's sheepish and afraid. The world needs a church that's a city set on a hill, a light in the midst of darkness.

1:00:37 we have hope so why would we hide it for a promotion for an opportunity my God owns the cattle on a thousand hills my God can do anything what do I have to be afraid of if I'm more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus and so at some point we can't well what do you think about Israel it's like man they might not be perfect but that's their land and they're a sovereign nation and they deserve to defend themselves against foreign threats they deserve to defend themselves against crazy people next door that want to wipe them off the face of the earth they might not do it all perfect let me be honest I wouldn't either complicated global situations I just I find it hilarious that we have such commentary on situations that you go, have you ever even considered the vast ramifications of what these guys put up with and have to deal with?

1:01:47 Well, I just think we need to focus on our roads here. I think the world's a little bigger than that. So I'm not saying go get in an argument after work tomorrow, at the lunch table tomorrow. I'm saying stand for what's true and reject the lies that are trying to permeate our ideology and make us rethink what the Bible actually says. Come on. We've got to stand clearly, pray boldly, love deeply.

1:02:29 and here's what we've got to do, beloved, and I think this is where a lot of people get nervous. You go, that's your job. No, it's our job. We've got to preach Christ faithfully. In moments like this, we have the answer. We all were lost one day and then we got found. We all were on a road to destruction and then we found hope and life. And somewhere along the way, life's pressures came upon us and pushed down on us and silenced our voice to say man I do stand with Israel I do stand against tyrannical leadership I stand against that I want freedom and safety for people I want freedom for people to be able to worship and I know who they should worship but I want to tell the world about him if we don't tell the world about who Jesus really is and some podcaster will.

1:03:29 We don't get to decide if that's the true Jesus of the Bible. So beloved, it's imperative upon us to preach Christ faithfully because the world is watching. So may they not see in us hatred or fear, but conviction rooted in Scripture and hope rooted in a risen Christ Amen So I wanna do something want to close today by us praying corporately for these things for this situation I want you to stand with me as we take our stand I'll let you guys out of here early today don't get used to it Father as we come into your presence this morning as we open up your word this morning as we seek clarity from your word this morning I pray that any part of us that is resistant to just what your word says

1:04:59 not what we've heard on the news or we've heard on this thing or that thing but any part of us that's resistant to your word that you would help us repent as we look at this massive situation that's unfolded here in America and Israel and I ran. We looked to this and we just realized, God, this is big. There's so many things we have to deal with and things that we have to think through and things that we have to try to navigate through.

1:05:41 But Lord, as your church right here in Fairview, Tennessee, we want to stand with you. we want to be aligned to what your word instructs us to do and how your word instructs us to even think and so god first and foremost where we're out of alignment we repent and say god come and do the things that you can help shift our minds toward you that scripture would be the lens we look at life through. And then, Lord, we do pray. We pray for Israel.

1:06:29 We pray, O God, that as we stand beside them, as Christians first, as we stand beside them and we support them, as we acknowledge that they are your people, that is your land, and that is your nation, we're grateful to be grafted in we're grateful to be a part of the great story that you've unfolded in humanity we're grateful for the gifts they've given us and we're grateful for the opportunity to support them and then oh god we turn our eyes toward Iran. And we look at the tyranny they've lived under for the last 47 years, the tens and tens of millions of people who've lived in oppression. And we say, God, please set them free.

1:07:27 We stand against the tyrannical leadership of that nation that's crumbling around them right now. and we say God would you bring a fast swift into that and that they would end up turning toward you they would see you they would have a leader rise up they would be faithful and fair and righteous God be with the nation of Iran protect the innocent bring about justice of God and then Lord for us here would you give us the courage to stand for hope Not being swayed to or fro not sitting on the sidelines but speaking, standing, praying. God, give us a heart of courage to bring hope forward into the world.

1:08:33 we might not understand all the geopolitics and all the things we don't want this to be a right or left thing we want this to be a cross thing so lord would you empower us to bring hope to the world when it needs it most would you give us the courage to preach the gospel of jesus christ to the world would you give us the courage to stand with Israel no matter what the cost would you give us the courage to stand against bullies and tyranny oppressors oh God give us courage to bring hope forward into the world God we seem so insignificant as individuals I look at situations like this and I say what can I do this is what I can do I can pray to the one who can do anything and so we come before you as your church today looking at your word asking that you would come and give us the strength to do what we can to support our friends in Israel to stand against hatred, oppression, and tyranny and to stand for hope.

1:10:05 We bless you today. We honor you today. And we give thanks to you today in the name of our King, our Savior, and our Lord, Jesus. Amen, church. Amen. Amen. And amen. God, oh yeah. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I got one more thing to pray for. Pastor Steve got me on this one. Father, we pray for our military that is overseas right now. God, we, that's not an afterthought, God. That is, we pray, God, that you would protect them doing their duty to protect their land.

1:10:50 God, would you keep them? Would you make your face to shine upon them? And would you give them peace as they protect, they do things that we can't even imagine. Protect their minds, protect their hearts, guard their soul. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen? Amen. God bless you guys. Look forward to seeing you really soon. Welcome back. Well, I hope you learned a couple things about this conflict and how the church should be positioned and what you can do going forward and that it's going to be all right.

1:11:31 And there's a bigger plan. And we're praying for, you know, basically everybody for all this to end, too. Right. Donations. The donations front's nothing new from Fountain. We're just hanging out here. Maybe one day it'll work, but we'll see. but other than that you know thank you uh if you have found this podcast helpful thank you thank you for your time uh your talents and your treasure if you have any ideas or suggestions please share them with with us uh you're a producer of the show your talents and treasure you know if you have skills that can help the show and help fairview let us know use that contact form treasure you're receiving this product for free without any paid advertisements you're getting truly local news and if that's worth something please consider supporting us financially in this value for value system.

1:12:21 And other than that, I hope you all have a great, great week and have a great time, y'all. Thank you.