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
Beyond Your Failures
Do you ever feel like your past owns you? Like your mistakes follow you everywhere and define who you are? This message will change that. When God the Father looks at you, He doesn’t see your failures. He sees His child, fully forgiven and deeply loved.
Take Rahab, for example—the woman called a harlot in the Old Testament. Yet later, she’s in Jesus’ family line without mentioning her past. That shows us something amazing: God completely separates who we are from what we’ve done. Through Jesus, our past doesn’t stick to us anymore.
But God’s fatherhood goes deeper than forgiveness. Jesus said, “I call you friends because I have told you all things that I heard of my Father” (John 15:15). God wants more than just respect or obedience—He wants friendship with us. That changes how we relate to Him and to each other, especially as fathers. This message gives practical advice for dads—how to listen without rushing to fix, how to be real and vulnerable with your kids, how to make memories that matter, and how to cover their mistakes with grace, just like our Father does.
We also face the lie that God is harsh or distant. Romans 5:20 reminds us, “Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound.” No matter how far we’ve strayed, God’s love is bigger. He doesn’t give up on us. He walks beside us, gently bringing us home.
If you’re struggling with shame, wondering if you’re enough, or wanting to live out God’s love better in your family, this message is for you. It’s about finding freedom in how the Father really sees you.
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He looks at you, he doesn't look at what you were. When he looks at you, he doesn't see what you did. He separates it from you. He never brings that up. That's not who you are, such were some of you. But you're washed and sanctified and justified in the Lord Jesus.
Austin Gardner:Just a real quick word for the fathers Don't hang their past over their head. You know, I'm a granddad now. I'm a great granddad and sometimes it's easy to remember when they did you wrong and to kind of just throw it in every now and then Just kind of make a little hint about it. But our father doesn't do that. You'll never, ever, be sitting with the Father and hear Him say one thing about your bad days, because it's blotted out. I take the time in this particular point to write this down. But it's not just blotted out. He paid for it Himself, in the form of Jesus Christ, as he died on the cross, and then he took all the holiness and purity of Jesus and put that on your account. He forgives forever. He forgives completely. He never quits loving you. Don't hang it over their heads. Don't hang it over their heads. Don't bring up the past. Don't mention it again.
Austin Gardner:I love this, rahab the harlot. You remember her? Rahab the harlot gets saved. She's a harlot, she's a prostitute and she's running a house of ill repute, most likely on the walls of Jericho by the time you get to the New Testament. She's just a great-grandmother of Jesus, the great-great-grandmother of Jesus. No, harlot mentioned. Praise the Lord, because he separates it and forgives it completely. I would like to show you that he wants friendship. Our Father wants friendship.
Austin Gardner:One of the sweetest things I have going for me right now is I'd have to say that my children are my best friends. When I was a young father, I had an older man who's in heaven now, and I was just telling him how much I loved Chris. Chris was a little bitty toddler. I was telling him how much fun it was to go home and have Chris come running to me. I was talking about all that you know that, daddy, stuff that you like too, and he said it'll only get better and I thought that's not true, can't be that it'd get better. But as my children have grown, it has gotten better, because now they're not just my children, they're my friends and I want you to understand that when you see Jesus, you see the Father. When you see Jesus, you see the father. When you see Jesus, you see the father. Thomas says show us the father. And Jesus looked at him, said what are you talking about? If you see me, you have seen the father. And guess what Jesus said in John 15 15. He said I call you friends because I tell you what my daddy tells me From the very beginning he wanted a relationship.
Austin Gardner:That's what that spirit of adoption is about. It's like saying you are in and publicly I acknowledge you in front of everybody. Other people might be looking at you and saying he don't deserve to be a child of God. And God said oh, he's mine, he's mine and I ain't ashamed to say it. He's mine. And everybody listen, everybody write it down. He's mine. And everybody listen, everybody write it down. He's mine, he is my child.
Austin Gardner:So could I just throw a couple of things at you real quickly for dads, start by listening and not fixing. A friend listens. Men, we have a problem, you know. First thing I want to do, betty starts telling me something wrong. I'm like okay, I got to fix that. And you know how women are, man, they like to talk. I shouldn't have said that. I'd be in trouble later, you know, but she just wants to talk and I need to learn to listen. I need to be vulnerable and real. That's what friends are. Friends are open and transparent and they're real. They're not who you see in the pulpit, they're not who you see in public. They're the real person. They're the real person, share interest and create memories together and pray, pray.
Austin Gardner:If I could go back, by the way, dads, I was so busy doing ministry. I can't explain to you. I was building this ministry in Peru. I didn't take vacations. I should have taken vacations. I didn't make enough memories. I should have made memories and I challenge you to consider doing that Now. I want to give you the last one and I close.
Austin Gardner:Our Father loves you more than your failures. Our Father loves you more than your failures. In Romans 5.20, it says that where sin abounded, where there was a bunch of sin, there was even more grace. Where there was a bunch of sin, there was even more grace. I want you to understand something my dad was an easy guy to cross. I've literally been knocked away from the table multiple times. Boom, I came up one time after I was about 16 or 17. I was starting to get some muscles on me. I had my fist doubled up and he said you want more? And I said no, because he was massive. I just want you to know your father loves you more than your failures.
Austin Gardner:Some of you doubt how much the father loves you because you say I haven't really been living up to who I am. I haven't been living my Christian life. I fail God so much and I'm not sure where I stand with him. You don't understand the father. You don't understand the father. You don't understand the Father. The Father loves you more than your failures. The Father loves you beyond your failures. The Father loves you in your failures. You need to understand he never leaves you.
Austin Gardner:So often we act like we walked away from God. You can't walk away from Him because he will never abandon you. He'll never leave you. So when you walk off and do wrong, he just goes with you and says hey, is that where we ought to be? Don't forget we're friends. This ain't where we ought to be. He's going to talk to you about it, but he won't quit on you. He loves you more than your failure. He loves you. He's got more grace than you have failure.
Austin Gardner:Could I just say this to parents dads you should have enough grace to cover mistakes. Your kids are going to cheat on tests. They're going to do things that embarrass you. They may use drugs. They're going to do a lot of dumb stuff. Kids are dumb because they come from dumb parents. We all know that. But our Father told us how to love. We love beyond their failure. We believe in them. After their failure, we're there for them. We're reflecting the love of God.
Austin Gardner:So today I just honestly, I was like Chris said I'm going to be on vacation, I want you to preach on Father's Day, and I was like ah, and I got to thinking. I'd like to think about my father. I haven't had a close relationship with my father Because I've kind of worked on the Jesus thing and the Holy Spirit thing, but I've always kind of thought of the father as being so severe. Come on, be honest, I'm like he's a little aggravated at me. I don't please him most of the time, but I was so wrong.
Austin Gardner:I want you to know your Father loves you and believes in you and is there for you. Would you trust him? Would you love him? Would you just accept the love he's sending your way? Father in heaven, I thank you so very much for how good you are and how kind you are and what you're doing. I thank you for being our Father. I thank you for being the wonderful ideal of a Father. I thank you for all you are doing and all you have done. I pray that you would just be honored and glorified today, as I love you as my Father In Jesus' name, amen. Y'all want to stand together? Go ahead, go ahead.