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
What Religion Never Taught You About Your Heavenly Father
What if everything you thought about God as Father has been shaped more by human pain than by who He really is?
This Father’s Day, let’s break free from the tired religious stereotype of God as a distant, strict judge. Instead, we’ll explore the heart of our Heavenly Father—the One who loves deeper and wider than we can imagine.
Maybe your view of God has been clouded by a harsh or absent earthly dad. Maybe you’ve heard that Jesus is kind and gentle, but God the Father is the stern disciplinarian waiting to catch you in failure. That divide keeps so many from experiencing the full, rich love God wants to pour out on us.
In this message, we’ll uncover five life-changing truths about our Father’s love. You’ll discover a God who loved you before you were born, before you ever believed, without demanding that you clean up your act. Unlike human love that sometimes runs out, His love never fades or quits. When He forgives, He wipes the slate clean, separating our sins “as far as the East is from the West.” More than just religion or rules, God wants friendship with you, a real connection, heart to heart. And best of all, He loves you more than your failures, seeing you through the perfect righteousness of Christ rather than your mistakes.
For fathers here on earth, these truths offer a powerful model: love first, don’t give up, forgive fully, express love openly, and value relationship above performance. When dads reflect God’s love this way, they help their children grow into a healthy understanding of both earthly and heavenly fatherhood.
Whether your experience with your earthly Father was beautiful or painful, this message will help heal your heart and reshape how you see the Father who made you on purpose, knows you inside and out, and loves you without condition.
You were never an accident. You were intentionally designed by a Father who loves you first, loves you forever, forgives completely, desires true friendship, and loves you more than your failures.
Join me as we explore these five powerful truths, which can change everything—from how you see God to how you live in His love.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
But I really want to focus on and happy Father's Day to all you dads. Pretty happy day in our lives, amen. I certainly remember the day that Chris was born. He's a big old guy now when you see him, but I still remember that day he was born and how it changed my life and made me extremely happy. So I was thrilled to be a dad. But today I want to focus on our Father. I want us to think about the God of heaven who is our Father. I think sometimes Mother's Day gets really special time and, by the way, she probably ought to get more special time and, by the way, she probably ought to get more special time. She does more of the work, I think, than us guys do.
Speaker 1:But when I was in Mexico and I was studying Spanish, I started. I went to the bookstore and I bought all the little children's reader books so I could learn Spanish. So I took my classes, I spent time on the streets and when I had free time, I read the little books like you read when you were time on the streets. And when I had free time, I read little books like you read when you were in kindergarten or whatever, and I read through all of them and I was reading along through one of the books and I got to Mother's Day and it had tons of things about Mother's Day being a dad. I was so excited, I couldn't wait to get to Father's Day and see what they had to say about Father's Day. They skipped it, tommy. There was no Father's Day and I was like I don't like this culture, I'm upset. But then I thought, well, that's kind of like our culture in America.
Speaker 1:But I want you to think today about your Father in heaven. I will give you five truths. I think that ought to excite you and motivate you and make you more in love with your Father today than you've ever been. Often you have a negative view of god, the father, because of what religion has taught you, because maybe you had a bad relationship with your dad, maybe your dad was demanding and you never did measure up, or whatever. Mama was sweet and daddy was rough. Jesus is sweet and the Father is rough. That's not the Bible picture of our God at all. So I want to invite you to think with me and meditate with me on God, our Father. Father in heaven, I love you, we love you, this church loves you. I think that's obvious in the way they come and the way they love each other and the way they strive to worship you faithfully all the time. But, father, I want to thank you on behalf of all of us for being our Father, and I want to thank you because you love us and you do so much in our lives and we are so grateful. And, like earthly dads, we often forget what you do. We forget about our dads, we forget about their effort, we forget about you and sometimes we put a lot of negative connotations on you. We don't want to do that, and so today we're going to look at you and think about you and I ask you to speak to our hearts and to warm your children and to help them love you In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in 1 John 3 and verse 1, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knows us not because it knew him not. So John said can you believe it? God calls us his children. God, the Father, calls us his children. That's a shocking thing because if you're in Jewish culture and you know the Old Testament, there's only a couple of references in the Old Testament about God as Father. He's God as a judge, he's God as giving commandments, he's God as Lord, he's God as Almighty, he's God as Creator. But there's not this personal, sweet relationship. But the Apostle John knows there is something special he's our Father and he calls us His sons First time. I think that it's really mentioned.
Speaker 1:Jesus is praying and he's teaching the guys how to pray. They're having a discussion. The guy said would you teach us how to pray? He said all right, when you pray, you pray like this. Our Father, which art in heaven, you have to understand. Our father, which aren't in heaven, was totally foreign, totally new to them. What in the world? He said father. He said father. He called God the father, not God the creator. He called him father. He didn't and that's not Jesus didn't just call him father. He called him our father, our father. Together he's our Father and he was marveling that God would let him be called, that we could be called the sons of God.
Speaker 1:Five things I want you to think on with me today as you meditate on Father's Day, and I will apply a lot of things to our fathers, but watch this Number one our father loved us first. Our father loved us first. Now, that's an important thing for you to understand. Somewhere along the way, religion makes it like you've got to come beg the father to love you. You've got to come to God and say God please, I know I have messed up, god, I'm bad, but the Bible says the Father loved us first, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. The Father loved us first. Now I think about it.
Speaker 1:When Chris was in the womb and I loved him, he didn't love me yet, he didn't even know who I was. I went to Betty and I said to her I said you know, honey, I think we ought to have a baby. And she said well, I don't know, it was just a little scary. And I said I know it's scary, but we ought to have a baby. And so we got talking about it, we agreed, and then she was with child. She had a little baby inside of her and I named him William Christopher, long before he was ever born. And I was in love with that kid, because when I was a boy you probably never watched this, but there was a TV show called the Rifleman. How many of you have ever watched the Rifleman? Oh, I like that Number one. He had a rifle that could shoot 9,000 times in about 10 seconds. You know, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. They don't even make a gun like that, but anyway, I love that guy. But you know what I liked mostly? It wasn't the rifle, it was the son in him. I loved how Lucas McCain and his son Mark're so close and I dreamed of that relationship.
Speaker 1:Our Father loved us first.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. You didn't have to clean up for God to love you. You didn't have to clean up for God to love you. You don't have to come begging God to love you. God loves you. He's the Father and the Father loves you. In fact, as the verse says, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. Can you believe? God loves you that much.
Speaker 1:The second thing I want to show you at this point we'll go through them in a minute. But the second thing I want to show you is God loves you forever. I need you to think on that one a minute. God loves you forever. I got tons of Bible verses to prove all this. You see, sometimes earthly fathers will love you when you're a little baby. Come on, you know. Six, five, six, you're good. Eight, nine, you're still fair. 12, 13, you start getting a little questionable. 17, 18 is like, I think, mark Twain said when they turn to a teenager, stick them in a whiskey barrel, carve a hole in it and then, when they turn 18, just go ahead and plug the hole and let the kid die, you know? In other words, so sometimes we don't love forever, but the father loves forever.
Speaker 1:There's a verse I'll show you in a minute. Do you know what he said? He said can a mother forget a baby that's on her breast? Can a mama forget a baby that came out of her womb? He baby that's on her breast. Can a mama forget a baby that came out of her womb? He said maybe, but I'll never forget you. How about that? He said a mama might forget, because he knew that everybody in this room knows if anybody's going to forget you, it won't be your mama, be your daddy. But he said no, I won't forget.
Speaker 1:He loves forever. What only does he love forever? He forgives completely. He forgives completely. Do you understand what that means? There's nothing between you and the Father that's not already completely paid for by Jesus Christ and you're justified. The Father forgives completely. I'll show you some verses about that. Then the Father wants a friendship. Did you know that? All the way from the very beginning of the Bible, all the way to the end of the Bible, you know what God desires A relationship with us. What's really beautiful is when Jesus tells his servants, his disciples, he said I don't call y'all servants, I call you my friends. Then he said not only did I call you my friends, he said you know why? Because, friends, you tell your friend everything and I tell you everything. He wants a friendship, relationship with you. And then last and we'll look at the verses now but the last thing is I want you to know this, this he loves you more than your failures. He loves you more than your failures. You trusted Christ as your savior. You believed in God.
Speaker 1:Here's a bad thing about a little boy brought up in the WMU and the Royal Ambassadors and Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. I got saved in 9-7. I've done more sinning since I got saved than I ever did before I got saved. How many of y'all like that? I mean, just be honest. I mean I'm not one of those guys. You know, when I was a kid they used to have these people come and give a testimony. They spent 40 years in sin. They've been living for Jesus for a year or two. I spent six or seven years years without being saved. Then I got saved and I've done even more. But you know, my father forgives me forever and he loves me more than my failure.
Speaker 1:I want to show you a couple of other Bible verses, real quickly. In Romans, chapter 8 and verse 14, listen to what the Bible says about our father. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The sons of God, let me, let me. I skipped a verse I wanted to show youatians 4 6. In Galatians 4 6, he said that the spirit of his son cries in our heart. Abba, father, he put the Holy Spirit in you to love your father and say daddy, father, abba was like daddy, not father, not stern, bossy, demanding, demanding, rule-giving, work-giving father, but daddy, the guy whose lap you climb up in, the guy whose neck you hug, the guy that you're in love with, daddy. And then he said in Romans 8, 14 through 15, he said this 14 through 16. Did you know he sent his spirit in to tell you about the adoption as a son.
Speaker 1:A lot of times people don't understand what that means. Can I just real quickly show you what that means? In the Bible days, the adoption wasn't like being adopted we're born into the family we're not adopted in. We're born into the family we're not adopted in. We're born into the family we're not adopted in, but we're going to be adopted. You know what the adoption is? It's that public display when you say to the world this is my son.
Speaker 1:In the Roman culture this book was written to. In the Roman culture, when a person was adopted, it was a day when he finally grew up. And one day, in front of everybody, dad stood up and said this is my son and I am well pleased in him. And he took off his ring and he put it on his son and said I want everybody to know this is my son and when he speaks he speaks in my name. He's adopted. You know that's what the father does for us. He is proud you are his son.
Speaker 1:Now I want to show you real quickly how our father loved us. First, I want you to take your Bible. If you're looking in your Bible. You can go to Psalm 139. Look it up later if you want.
Speaker 1:Now, when I was I don't know how old I was one day my daddy told me son, you're an accident. You're an accident. We did not want you. Oh, I appreciate that, dad. I was old enough to understand that I was born 10 months after they got married. He said it was an accident. We really wanted to wait longer, but you're here.
Speaker 1:Then he said this. He said you're the ugliest baby I've ever seen. Can I get an amen right there? I hadn't improved a whole lot, but anyway. And I said I really appreciate that Dad. He'd laugh. He said I'm just telling you the truth. He said you turned out a lot better than what I thought you was going to. Amen for your dad. Amen.
Speaker 1:But I want you to know your dad loves you first. Your dad loves you first. Your dad loves you first. Our dad, our father, made us. Now we know. I know you're saying well, everybody knows that. Yeah, but when God made you, he made you real special, like In Psalm 139, and I won't take the time to read through it all because I could be here all day with what I want to show you today.
Speaker 1:But in Psalm 139, the Bible says says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are not an accident. Did you know that God made you more than you ever? Look at your son and say man, look at the baby we made. God looks at you and says no, no, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm your father. You are fearfully made. Did you know? It says in the Bible that he made every bone that's in your body. Did you know that in the Bible it says he likes you because he made you on purpose. You are not an accident. Did you know? He made you according to a plan Psalm 139, he made a plan.
Speaker 1:Most of my life I've thought my head is just a little too big for my body, come on. And I've thought my legs are a little bit too short. I got a long trunk and loopy legs. Betty and I have the same inseam. That's ridiculous. She's 5'7" and I'm 6'1". What did the Lord do? And the Lord said I made you on purpose. I just want you to know your skin color is not an accident and you're not less than or more than anyone else, because God made you on purpose. He's your father and he created you just like you are.
Speaker 1:You say well, the way my eyes are formed. I was sitting at the table with one of my girlfriends 55 years ago. I was sitting at the table with one of my girlfriends 55 years ago and we're just sitting there you know how you teenagers are. And she looked at me. She goes ooh, your eyes aren't connected. They look like they're going to fall out of your head. And I went to the home and I looked in the mirror. I was like I don't think they look that weird. They look kind of normal to me. I just want you to know you are fearfully and wonderfully made and everything about you.
Speaker 1:God made you on purpose. Our father loves you. First, the psalmist said I cannot believe this, how you formed me. In Jeremiah, chapter one, in verse five, he said I formed you in the belly. This is what I really like. You know what he told Jeremiah While you was in your mother's womb, I knew you. You hear that you are not an accident. Maybe your daddy looked at you one day and said you was an accident, but you're not.
Speaker 1:Our father made you on purpose and our father loves you. First. In 1 John it says we love him because he first loved us. You know, he, he made the sacrificial offering to save us. He loved us first. But not only did he love us first, he loved us again. You know, he loved us when he made us. And then we messed up. We all messed up, we all went our own way, we did our our own thing, we went out into sin, we went out into rebellion, we went out into making our own decisions about what we do. And he said well, I don't want you to die, I don't want to lose this For God. So loved the world, he gave his only begotten son and he said Jesus, adapt for us. Our father loved us first. Our father loved us again. Our Father loved us again. He loved us.
Speaker 1:By the way, I need you to understand something you don't have to get the Father to love you. In Romans, chapter 5 and verse 6, romans, chapter 5 and verse 6, the Bible says when we were yet without strength, yet without strength, he died for the ungodly. He died for you when you were weak. He died for you when you were ungodly. He died for you when you were weak. He died for you when you were ungodly. He died for you when you had no way to get to him. He died for you when there was nothing good about you. He loves you. He loves you In Romans 5,. He died while we were yet sinners.
Speaker 1:So could I just talk to dads just for a real brief minute? Jeff, you may be the one I may met the most, but he might just take this from our father learn this Love, the love first, love first, love after mess ups. And how about this one? Be expressive of that love. Now, you know, when you see big old Chris, now 50 year old, chris, daddy, chris, I mean it don't remind you nothing of that little baby that came home with me from the hospital. I went and picked up mom and baby from home to the hospital when he was first born man, I kissed him on the mouth, I kissed him on the forehead, I kissed him on the belly, I kissed him on the back. I threw him up. He puked on me. He did other stuff on me. We won't discuss. That's what come on. How many of you dads know about that? Say amen, I think you do. I think you do. But then you know, he started getting bigger and my dad never said he loved me.
Speaker 1:My daddy was not going to be expressive. My daddy wasn't going to be expressive, not because he didn't love me, but because he came up in a time when men didn't show emotion, when if you're tough, you don't cry and you don't say stupid words like love, and you can love God, but you can't love your children. You can love God and maybe you love your wife, but anyway that's who my dad was. And so one day I noticed I quit kissing him and I quit hugging him and I quit telling him I loved him. And I told Betty, I said I'm not going to do that. I'm going to be expressive on purpose. Our father is expressive of his love to you on purpose. And the second thing our father loves forever. That's important. That's important. Our father doesn't disown his children. Did you hear that? Our Father doesn't throw you out of the house?
Speaker 1:In Isaiah, chapter 49, verse 15,. I already told you what the verse said. I already told you what the verse said. But then the verse a woman might forget her baby, but God will never forget his people. In Psalm 103, 13,.
Speaker 1:As the father pities, as the father feels love, as the father has compassion, as the father is tender, as the father talks to his child, so the Lord does all the same to us. I want you to know that. Listen to me, he feels every pain you have. And when you're laying in bed at night with a little bit of fear trembling through your body because you don't know what's going to happen, you can't pay your bills, your marriage is in trouble, you're not living up to what you want to be and you're scared and you're worried, I want you to know the Father pities you. He feels for you. He has compassion for you. He takes your burdens on him. That's who our Father is. He will not quit loving you. He will not quit loving you Romans 8, 31. When my granddaddy lay dying, my cousin read this passage to him over and over. My granddaddy was well into his 90s and he read this passage Romans 8, 31.
Speaker 1:What shall we say to these things? If God before us, who can be against us? In other words, if God is determined to stand with us and tell us? Tell me, if God's for us, who can be against us? I want you to know your father's for you. I want you to know your father's for you. He didn't hold back anything. He did not spare his only son. I want you to know that no one can accuse you. If the father himself loves you and loves you first and loves you forever. There is no one left that can accuse you. Because the judge is your father, because the lawyer is Jesus, your brother. You have something forever. Nothing can separate us. It is Jesus, your brother. You have something forever. Nothing can separate us. It is Jesus himself praying for us. Nothing can separate us from the sweet love of our father For dads.
Speaker 1:Real quickly, don't quit on your kids. They run away. They do things they shouldn't do. They get caught. They embarrass you. They embarrass you. If you've been a dad, you've probably had a few embarrassing moments. Don't give up. Don't walk away. Always go find them, no matter where they are, no matter what they do. Go find them.
Speaker 1:I know a guy whose daughter ran away from home and she went a long way from home and she was walking down the street with her boyfriend and she turned to him and said I'll promise you this, my dad will be here soon. He never. You can't get away from him. And then all of a sudden he showed up behind her and said hey, how you doing. And took her back home.
Speaker 1:Don't quit on your children. Your father doesn't quit on you how many of us have wandered away? How many of us have done what we shouldn't do? How many of us know that if we were the father, we'd have abandoned us? But our father doesn't abandon us. Number three our Father forgives completely. I don't know how I can express this to you, but I beg you to take this to heart. Did you know? Now listen to me. When God looks at you, he doesn't see any of your sin. Did you hear that? You know that you remember that adultery you committed? He doesn't see it. You remember that drunkenness or those drugs? You remember that? You remember that anger or that pride? He doesn't see that Father. Our Father doesn't look at that because he forgives completely.
Speaker 1:In Luke, chapter 15, you have the story of the prodigal son and it's Jesus trying to help you see how the father is. He wants you to understand the father. So he tells a story. We call it parables. He tells a story and he said the boy took all of it. He was ugly to his dad and he took his dad's money and he went to a far country and he blew it all and he was doing wrong stuff with the money. And when he finally ran out and when there was nowhere to turn. But go back to daddy. He said I'll go home and he starts writing out a whole speech he'll give to his dad. I'll tell him I did this and this and this and I don't deserve to be called your son. I'll tell him if he could just let me be a hired hand that works every now and then when he has a need. That's what I'll tell my dad. And all the way home, I can only imagine he was dreading facing his dad. His dad any moment is going to come out and say you cannot come home. If you do come home, here are the rules. That's what he thinks is going to happen, because he has a bad view of dad. Like maybe you do view of dad, like maybe you do.
Speaker 1:But as he gets close to home, jesus said, the father jumped up, grabbed his robe, held it in his hand and took off running, the old man running towards the wayward boy and he hugged him and he kissed him and the boy starts talking. If you read the scripture it's really funny. The boy starts talking and the Bible says but scripture, it's really funny. The boy starts talking and the Bible says but the father. But the father said hey, my boy's come home, let's have a party. Get out the clothes, get out everything, get at the foot, let's have a party. My boy's gone.
Speaker 1:He never listened to the boy. He had compassion on him and he ran to him and he kissed him and he dressed him. He had compassion on him and he ran to him and he kissed him and he dressed him, because he forgives forever. He forgives forever. He made that clear. He doesn't bring up our sins. The Bible said in Isaiah 43, 25, he blots out and he doesn't remember. He erases and he doesn't remember. He pours ink on top of it. It's a redacted statement, like they would have it, but he doesn't even do that. He takes it, replaces it with Jesus. I think one of my favorite things I think about as he forgives us is he separates us from our sin as far as the east is from the west. That is so beautiful, because when you look east, west is behind you. When you look west, east is behind you. In other words, when