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
Adoption: When God Says "This One's Mine"
Have you ever wrestled with words like predestination or chosen and wondered what they really mean? Far from being cold or intimidating, these truths open up the beauty of God’s eternal plan for you.
Predestination is not about fate or favoritism. It is about a loving Father who made the first move. Before time began, He secured your salvation in Christ so you could live with confidence, not uncertainty. To be chosen is to be wanted. It means God set His heart on you and wrote the last chapter of your story, glory with Him.
Through adoption, God does not just sign heavenly paperwork. In the Roman world, adoption meant every debt was erased, a new name was given, and the adoptee was publicly declared a full heir with every privilege of the family. That is what God has done for you. You no longer approach Him as a stranger begging for scraps but as a beloved child crying, “Abba, Father.”
The story of Mephibosheth paints this picture. Broken and hiding in shame, he was sought out by King David, carried to the royal table, and given a permanent seat of honor. That is what grace has done for us in Christ.
Right now, we live in the “already and not yet” of adoption. We enjoy intimate access to God, but one day we will experience the fullness when our bodies are transformed to be like Christ’s. Until then, we live as dearly loved children, walking in obedience not to earn God’s favor but because we already have it.
No matter how beaten down you feel today, remember this: you are chosen, wanted, adopted, and secure. Your place at God’s table is unshakable, and your future is brighter than you can imagine.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Welcome back, my friends, wherever you are. However you've come today, know this God has set His heart on you. We are going to spend time in His Word and discover what it means to be predestined to adoption, the joy of God's eternal plan. The Bible says in Ephesians 1, 1 and 2, bible says in Ephesians 1, 1 and 2, paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul begins with grace and peace, not polite greetings, but gifts from God himself to us. So we pray now. Father, open your word, let us see our place at your table, and, lord, I ask you to work that out in every life of every person listening. Ephesians 1, 3 through 4 says Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. Now you remember last time we talked about what it meant to be chosen and what it means is, god took the initiative. It was God who set the method that salvation would only be through Jesus. It's not about favoritism, it's about his love making the first move, him providing the way, and that way is Jesus. So, before time ever began, god saw you in Christ. He refused to leave salvation in your hands. He placed it in Christ's hand. You and I would have failed at earning our salvation, but Jesus can secure it forever. And that leads us to Ephesians 1.5,.
Austin Gardner:Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Those are some scary terms, you know, chosen and predestined, and I've been afraid of them in my life because I didn't understand them. They came from one side of a religious group without me fully understanding. But here we're going to see that it was God's delight See adoption and his plan for you is not into his family, see Romans 8, 15 through 17,. Romans 8, 15 through 17,. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear. You have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, father, that's Daddy, father, the spirit itself, bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and of children than heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ. If so, be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him. You don't whisper into a stranger's ear. You cry only to your father, abba. That's the intimacy that we have as his children. We're not talking to a stranger, we're not talking to a distant God, we're talking to our father. It's like a child running into his father's arms at the airport. You don't hesitate because you know you belong, you know he's your Father and you run to him with full trust and full confidence, and that's what the Lord's done for us. So I want to talk with you today about what is adoption.
Austin Gardner:The Bible says in Galatians 4, 5 through 7, to redeem them that are under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, god has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, father, wherefore you are no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So adoption is a whole lot more than paperwork in heaven's court. It's the Spirit of Christ, crying Abba, from within us. It's the Father's love flowing in your spirit. But what we really want to see is is.
Austin Gardner:We misunderstand adoption because we think in terms of our modern day and how we do that. But in Roman law, the adoption erased all your debts, gave you a new name. That's what God has done. We're no longer tied to our old life and we now have his name, and we now have his name. Adoption in Roman days was the public acknowledging of you, of the son, in front of everybody, of saying this is my son, I am well pleased with him. I am giving him all the rights and privileges of my family. He buys and sells in my name. He is in the family. So that's why we can come boldly to the throne of grace and find mercy, obtain mercy, find grace to help in time of need. See, new birth brings you into life. Adoption declares I publicly state you are mine forever. So you walk into the throne room boldly. You're not a beggar, you're a son or a daughter. That's what God's doing when he places us. It's when our body will be redeemed. Adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. It's when God will bring us and say this is my son. I have done everything I promised. I gave the Holy Spirit as a seal to what I was going to do, and now I'm doing it and you and I are predestined to that.
Austin Gardner:It's kind of like the story of Mephibosheth. It's found in 2 Samuel 9, 1 through 13. Mephibosheth was lame and ashamed and living in exile, but the king went looking for him. That's adoption. See, you, don't crawl to God. He comes to you, he carries you to his table and he covers your lameness with his feast. But God committed his love toward us and while we were yet sinners, christ died for it. Now think about it. Picture yourself, take a moment. You're seated at the king's table. Your weaknesses are hidden, your shame is gone, your place is secure. You have been adopted, brought into the full presence, acknowledged publicly that you are the son, publicly that you are the son.
Austin Gardner:Now the Bible says in Romans 8, 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be known as the firstborn among many brethren, moreover, whom he did predestinate. Then he also called, and then he called, he also justified and glorified. So predestination is not about fate. It means your story ends in glory because God has already written the last chapter. Adoption that you are predestined towards is his guarantee.
Austin Gardner:You belong in the plan, in whom we also have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after his will. It's like a surgeon preparing every tool for an operation. God has arranged every detail, nothing is left to chance. That surgeon knows what he's going to do at every moment, with every tool, and you can believe God knows exactly that. So the father has a plan to give you a new name, one only he knows. That's intimacy beyond words, revelation 2, 17. I'll give him to eat of a hidden manna. I'll give him a white stone and a stone with a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it.
Austin Gardner:See, we are in Christ, in God. Our life is hid with Christ in God, our old family, adam and sin have no claim on us. We are hidden in Christ beyond reach of sin, beyond reach of the accuser, the slanderer, the separator, satan and the devil. See, adoption is real, but its fullness is coming. We're predestined. So we're happy like an engaged woman, like a bride-to-be is being prepared for that day, and she's happy. She's engaged, she's on her way to being there, she's the fiancé and she's enjoying that. And so that's what we're doing. We're living in the now and the not.
Austin Gardner:Yet we are to be adopted. We're not yet adopted, and he's going to change our vile body and it'll be fashioned like his glorious body. He's going to subdue everything to himself and we're going to be like him. And Jesus was on earth and he ate and he could be touched and felt. And he came and he walked in and he saw them and they saw him come through the doors and they could touch him and see what. Here's what he says.
Austin Gardner:Behold, I show you a mystery. We're not all going to sleep, but we're all going to be changed In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. The trump will sound, the dead will be raised, incorruptible, we shall all be changed. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? Look at the risen Christ. He is what you will be, and your adoption guarantees that, because you're going to be placed in public on the same footing and the same stand in Christ, and that's our promise. We're predestined to that. It's already planned. Every step has worked out. God has taken us there.
Austin Gardner:So I want you to get a hold of it. I want you to see yourself right now seated at the table. All your wounds, all your failures and shame all are covered by grace. You belong. We obey, not to earn His love, but because we are loved. You see, our obedience flows out of belonging. We do what we do because of who we are. Grace writes God's laws on our hearts and we're free to live as his child. So we are predestined. Do you understand that?
Austin Gardner:So I want you to know he's got a lot of things planned for you. He's planned to make you like Christ. He's going to take you all the way through. He's planned to set you in public and publicly announce that you are his and you belong to him. He is not ashamed of you. He is not hiding you. He has big plans for you.
Austin Gardner:You are chosen, you are wanted, you are loved and you're on your way to something more glorious than any wedding day has ever been. That's God's plan for us. We are predestined towards that. I hope that excites you and motivates you as much as it does me. I want you to see it now.
Austin Gardner:I want you to see it now as they bring Mephibosheth in to the king's table and the king publicly announces this is my son. He will live at my table, he will eat at my table and I will cover all of his expenses. And I'm giving him all these gifts because I'm good. That's what God's doing to us. You and I, through Jesus, are on our way to the most glorious thing possible. We have been chosen, we have been saved by his grace, we have his peace and we're headed towards the day we will be publicly recognized as His sons as we are seated at His table. I hope that blesses you. I pray God will bless you and keep you. You are predestined to adoption. You are wanted, you are chosen. So I want you to go today and enjoy the day. I don't know who you are, I don't know what you're going through, I don't know how beat up you are, but I know this your future is absolutely wonderful. God bless you.
