Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
Who is the LORD Gracious
Do you really know who your Shepherd is?
Many of us grew up with a distorted picture of God—distant, disappointed, always watching for us to mess up. But what if that image isn't just off—it's completely wrong?
Psalm 23 opens with a game-changer: "The Lord is my shepherd." That's not just a poetic line. It's a radical shift in perspective. David wasn't focused on himself, his enemies, or even the cave he was hiding in. He was focused on who God is.
And that's the same invitation for us: stop letting secondhand ideas define God and let Him speak for Himself.
When God introduced Himself to Moses in Exodus 34, He didn't lead with power or judgment. He said, "I am merciful. I am gracious." He doubled down: "merciful, merciful." In Hebrew, those words go even deeper—He's kind, compassionate, generous. "I am" isn't a harsh taskmaster. He is a God who bends low to care for the broken.
Jesus lived this out. Remember the woman caught in adultery in John 8? Everyone had stones in hand. Jesus didn't ignore the sin but didn't condemn her either. He said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." That's the real heart of God: mercy first, compassion over condemnation.
So whether you're walking through cancer, heartbreak, failure, or just the grind of life—hear this clearly: your pain isn't a punishment. It's part of living in a broken world. But your Shepherd hasn't changed. He's still merciful. Still gracious. Still with you.
Psalm 23 comforts us not because life gets easier but because we realize who's with us. The Shepherd is good.
Here's what this truth grounds us in:
- "The Lord is my shepherd" shifts our focus off ourselves and onto who God is.
- When God reveals Himself, He starts with mercy, His leading trait.
- "Gracious" in Hebrew isn't just polite, it means kind, compassionate, generous.
- Jesus embodies this fully: mercy without compromise, love without condemnation.
- Your struggles aren't signs of divine anger but symptoms of a fallen world.
- True peace comes when we stop obsessing over our failures and start seeing our Shepherd.
Today, choose to trust the God who is, not the version you've heard about, feared, or misunderstood.
He's merciful. He's gracious. And He hasn't taken His eyes off you for a second.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Well, we were talking about who the Lord is, and you know, because we're in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd and the whole psalm revolves around the Lord. It's a shocker, but it doesn't revolve around David. You see, david is in a cave and he's scared and he's running for his life and he could easily be thinking, oh, I've failed and oh, you know, I deserve that God answer my prayers, I deserve that God gets here. But David has learned to focus his thoughts not on who he is, but on who the Lord is, and that's why the psalm starts abruptly with the Lord is my shepherd. Now I've established I hope that you don't know who the Lord is, that you have preconceived notions that are wrong, and so we have decided to allow God to tell us who he is, and the Bible says.
Austin Gardner:The Bible says the Lord is my shepherd. We found out that means Yahweh is my shepherd. It means I am is my shepherd. And yesterday you learned merciful mercy is my shepherd. And yesterday you learned merciful mercy is my shepherd. Now, is that not a wild and crazy thought? Not harsh, not judgmental, but mercy is my shepherd. But I want to remind you, we're letting God tell us who he is. And in Exodus, chapter 34, verses five through seven, he said I'm going to tell you my name. And he went in front of Moses and he said hey, listen, Moses, don't let other people tell you who I am. I don't want you to get in secondhand knowledge about who I am. I'll tell you who I am. I am merciful. The Lord God, I am Yahweh, I am God, but I am merciful. And the second word he uses is I am gracious. That is a crazy word. I am gracious. The reason I think it's so funny is because the basic meaning of gracious in the Hebrew is I'm merciful. So the first two things God says is we'll get more into what gracious means but he basically says I am merciful, merciful. You want to know who I am? I'm merciful, merciful. Now, that blows your mind. It blows my mind. I've grown up with a God who's like Austin. If you don't measure up, austin, if you don't quit failing Austin, I'm watching you. You're not working hard enough, you're not good enough. You've had some dirty thoughts and I see this judge and harsh. And why'd he do that to me? And God said whoa, whoa, whoa. I am merciful, I am gracious. And gracious means merciful, but it also means kind. I am kind. God says you won't know who I am. I'm merciful and that means merciful. Merciful, but I am kind. Could you go back to the Lord as my shepherd and change it to kind? My shepherd is kind. My shepherd is compassionate. My shepherd is generous. My shepherd is compassionate. My shepherd is generous. My shepherd extends favors. My shepherd is gracious.
Austin Gardner:Now, the best illustration anytime you want to know who God is. Now, of course, I think firsthand knowledge of what God says about himself is extremely important. We should go back and get that and we should definitely use that and that should be a part of who we are. But if you want to know God, you look at Jesus. Jesus told Philip if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, and so Jesus is God personified. Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus is God being who we are and you can see him.
Austin Gardner:Some people are like you know God's stern and Jesus is sweet, god's harsh and Jesus is heart. And there's this attitude that Jesus and God are different. They're not different, they're the exact same person. It's a trinity, three people God, the Father, god the Son, god the Holy Spirit. But when you see Jesus, you see God.
Austin Gardner:And here's a story that just thrills my heart. There's a woman that's been taken in adultery and her story is found in John, chapter 8. John, chapter 8. And she's been taken in adultery. They caught her in the very act. So they caught her in a man doing what they weren't supposed to do and they brought her to Jesus to be judged. Now, the real reason they're bringing her to Jesus is to trap Jesus Because Jesus is God. Trap Jesus because Jesus is God and that's keeping the law and Jesus is merciful and Jesus is grace and Jesus is all they're seeing and they're like we got him, because if he's kind, if he's kind, that ain't like God, and if he's harsh, he's like us. We got him. And they take her to Jesus and she's been caught. Funny thing is they let the guy go. They caught the guy and the girl Might have been one of them, because a lot of them took advantage of women and they brought her in and they're there getting ready to have her destroyed. They're going to stone her and they asked there getting ready to have her destroyed, they're going to stone her and they ask Jesus, what do you think we ought to do? We know what the law says what should we do? And Jesus knows exactly what the Father thinks. Jesus is exactly like the Father. Jesus and the Father are one.
Austin Gardner:And the Bible says in John chapter 8, by the way, so many preachers, we're wanting to throw the rocks. Now you listen to me. We want to throw the rocks because we've got to preserve the sanctity of marriage. Yes, but look what Jesus does. He says and Jesus lifted up himself John 8, 10, and he saw none but the woman. So the first thing Jesus did was bend down and write in the sand. And he said whichever one of y'all is not in sand, y'all go ahead and throw the first rock, y'all stoner. Then he writes in the sand who knows what he wrote in the sand? And they all leave.
Austin Gardner:Now what's Jesus going to do? Everybody's gone, they've slunk away in their guilt, because it's easy to throw rocks until you start thinking about yourself. It's easy to throw rocks when you're thinking about what the other person did wrong. And Jesus called on them to think about what they'd done wrong. And he lifts up his head and everybody's gone.
Austin Gardner:And he looks at her and says Woman, where are your accusers? Where are your accusers? And has nobody condemned you? Is there no one here ready to throw rocks, no one ready to kill you. And she says no man, lord. And he said to her neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. He bestowed favor on her. He didn't approve of her sin, he didn't approve of her committing adultery. He didn't approve of her doing wrong. Because he didn't approve of her doing wrong, because God doesn't approve of it, obviously. But he's merciful, he's gracious and that's the God you serve. And this morning, as you, or whenever you're listening to this, you're thinking about I don't deserve God to love me. Well, that woman didn't deserve Jesus to not condemn her. That woman lifted up her head. She's shocked.
Austin Gardner:God in human flesh has said I don't condemn you. God has said I don't condemn you and she leaves. You can imagine how happy he is. Now I bring it back to you, jesus. God said I, I am, said I am merciful, I am gracious, I am merciful, merciful, I am merciful, compassionate, I love, I give favors, I'm generous. That's the god you serve.
Austin Gardner:So, as you meditate through psalm 23, maybe you're like me and you're dealing with cancer and you're kind of like oh, I wonder what I did to bring this on myself. And you want to blame God. God did this to me or God allowed this to happen to me, when really you live in a sin-cursed world where all the garbage that came on you is because we chose to live our own lives and step out of the garden and step into the world of sin. God didn't do this to me. He loves me, he is my God, he is I am. He is my shepherd, he is merciful and he is gracious. He is kind and benevolent and he cares about me and he cares about you.
Austin Gardner:So, as we end today, I want you to spend the day thinking about this. I don't deserve his goodness. He's generous. That's what gracious means. I don't deserve his goodness. He's generous, that's what gracious means. I don't deserve his kindness, but he's kind. See, it's not about me. The whole Psalm starts off the Lord is my shepherd. So we want to change our focus from myself to the Lord, and that's why I want to challenge you to go today Meditate on this. I am is merciful, I am is gracious, I am is kind, I am is merciful, I am is gracious. I am as kind, I am as compassionate, and he's your shepherd and he is taking care of you. Trust him today.