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
Redeemed and Free
Redeemed and Free: Living from Your True Identity in Christ
What if the most dangerous lie you’ve ever believed isn’t about money, success, or culture, but about who you are?
In this episode of Followed by Mercy, we take a deep look at Ephesians 1:7 and the life-changing reality of redemption through Christ’s blood. Using the vivid picture of Roman slave markets, we uncover how Jesus stepped into the marketplace of sin, paid the ultimate price with His blood, and declared us eternally free. The chains aren’t just broken; they’re gone.
You’ll discover why the cross measures your worth to God, why being “blessed” isn’t something to chase but something you already are, and how your identity as a redeemed child of God changes everything about the way you live.
Too many of us keep sneaking back into cages that Christ already opened. However, the truth is that the door is wide open, the ransom has been paid, and you are free.
Join us for this robust conversation and be reminded: your identity isn’t self-made, it’s blood-bought.
Subscribe to Followed by Mercy so you won’t miss tomorrow’s episode, where we’ll continue in Ephesians 1:7 and discover what true forgiveness means for our daily walk.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Well, do I have a treat for you? Today You're on the Followed by Mercy podcast. One of my co-hosts that's been with me before and is back today is our oldest son, chris Gardner. We're extremely proud of him. God has used him greatly and given him abilities and just all sorts of things that just thrill me. And then the fact that he loves Jesus and understands so much about the Word of God blesses me, and so I think you're going to get blessed today, and so he's going to discuss with me. We're just going to chew the fat through Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 7, if you've been following along and we're talking about what it means to be redeemed during the minute, you want to say hello to everybody and jump right in and I'll come back.
Chris Gardner:Yeah, absolutely. So glad to be with you guys today. It's an honor to be here. This is a podcast that I listen to. Every single episode of it I have thoroughly enjoyed it. I've loved listening to Robert Canfield, david Gardner, kg and my. The truth is it's one of my favorite podcasts. The only podcast I do not listen to is any of them that I'm on, because I'm not sure that I love my voice, if you know what I mean.
Chris Gardner:But when Dad was talking about Ephesians, chapter 1, it's a really, really amazing passage, an amazing book, and I am so looking forward to talking about it I taught a thing about identity in Christ and I opened up with this thought when I was talking to the young men and women that were going into ministry. I said what if I told you that the most dangerous lie in your life isn't about money, it's not about success and it's not about culture, it's about your identity. So too many of us are walking around like we're spiritual orphans and heaven calls us his sons and daughters. And man, what a rich, rich passage here in Ephesians, chapter 1. Can't wait to dive into it and get some more.
Austin Gardner:I think one of the things that goes right in there with not knowing who you are in Christ and not knowing your identity which I do agree with that but is not knowing God loves you, already accepts you on your worst days. We were just discussing it, Chris and I just sitting here in the office just chewing the fat. It just, Chris and I just sitting here in the office, just chewing the fat. You know, when you have a newborn, you have a newborn babe where you get one up before he starts trying to walk. There's no question that he's your child and you don't quit loving him because he stumbles and can't walk yet. You just love him, pick him up and help him and you're happy with him and you joy over him and you delight in him. And that's exactly how you do that about potty training You're just excited for them and you're loving them. And that's how our Father is over you. He loves you right now, right where you are. You may have some struggles, you may have some ups and downs, but that's how he feels.
Austin Gardner:So, anyway, we're going to talk first about Ephesians 1, verse 7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, and so I know that Chris will have a whole lot to say to you, but we ought to discuss just briefly what redemption is. And it is being released from captivity by someone paying a ransom. So it's like in the Bible days, in the Roman slave markets, where tens of thousands of men and women children were standing in chains and they would be sold to the highest bidder. Some were kept as slaves, and sometimes a wealthy man might buy a slave, pay the price and release them, and that transaction was public. The record was sealed. The person could never be enslaved again. Well, that's exactly what Jesus did. He walked into the slave market, paid the ransom with his own blood and declared us free forever.
Chris Gardner:I love. You know you think about the book of Ephesians. One of the things I love asking myself is how did the people that originally heard the message? How did they hear that? And in the book of Ephesians it wasn't this abstract idea about slavery, because they walk past the slave market every day. The idea of redemption wasn't some abstract idea that had to be explained. It was greedy, it was costly, it was bloody, it was. This was just a, something that they knew very, very well, and the value of something is determined by the price that was paid for it. Oh, that's pretty good to know. You think about it.
Chris Gardner:My salvation, it was the death of God Almighty on the cross of Calvary and he says that's what I'm worth. And you know, I live as if I'm some. I live as if I I. I miss my identity because I miss the.
Chris Gardner:The jesus did not look at the cost for chris gardner. You, how many of you have ever been to the mall and you're looking at clothes like man, this would be perfect shirt. And you look at the price. You're like, okay, sticker shot, that's the perfect shirt for somebody else because I can't afford it. Well, the sticker shock that should have been had. When God Almighty looked down from heaven, he looked at the cost of Chris Gardner. It was the cost of his son, it was the cost of Jesus dying on the cross and he said it's worth that for me. He said, man, that alone that is what redemption is, and that changes our identity. It doesn't change our identity because it is who we are if we're fathers of Christ, but it does change the way we view our identity. It changes how we don't understand that he wouldn't suck it in to pay that for me.
Austin Gardner:No, he wouldn't. He intentionally on purpose predestined.
Chris Gardner:He planned it out, he knew he planned it out and he's not going to walk away going man buyers were worse. No, no, that's exactly what I did.
Austin Gardner:That takes me to John 3.16. You know, this is something to really think about, for God so loved the world. Now that love that he felt that so loved the world. Now that love that he felt that so loved the world. Now we can know what it was. He loved me, we could change that to God. So loved Austin and Chris. That here's the price he paid for God so loved that he gave his only son on the cross to suffer and die, be buried and rise again, and so that is what we're worth. And so here's a promise for us in this passage of Scripture. It's the reality we are redeemed now by the blood of Jesus Christ. We're already redeemed. We've already been purchased off the slave bot, and that's not just a transaction, exchange of money for people. Jesus took our shame. We took his acceptance.
Chris Gardner:Amen and you think about it. This is not. I believe that every person that's a follower of Christ believes that redemption is forgiveness. It's the forgiveness of your sins, but it goes beyond the forgiveness of your sins. It goes. It goes to. This is not just forgiveness, it's release. You're not chained anymore. You have, in the Roman law, redemption meant that you now belong to the person who paid for you. You're no longer your own, you now belong to the person that paid for you. And Paul ties that redemption directly to yes, you're forgiven, you have the forgiveness of sins, but the chains weren't just broken, the chains were erased. They are no longer there, and that is just a powerful, powerful thought.
Austin Gardner:We are not just freed from sin, we're brought into union with Jesus and we're now in God. God is now in us, jesus is in us, christ, in us the hope of glory. And so that's the hope of glory. And so sin brought death. Sin had wages that brought death. But God gives us a gift, and 1 Corinthians 6, 17,. We are now joined unto the Lord and are one spirit with him. So let that sink in. You're not just forgiven, you're not just bought out of sin, you are joined to the Lord. You're in his life right now. His righteousness, now your righteousness, his place before the Father, that's now your place.
Chris Gardner:Yeah, here's. You know, paul is really attacking an idea here. He's attacking the idea of identity, amnesia. We forgot who we are we, just because here Paul is not teaching. He's attacking the idea of identity, amnesia.
Austin Gardner:We forgot who we are, because here Paul is not teaching us A lot of that forgot is yes, we forgot. But the devil attacks that identity Absolutely.
Chris Gardner:Repeatedly he states in Christ you are no longer who you are. You're not in Adam anymore. So when people look at me, you're not who you were. They look at me through the lens of Jesus. So hey, is this Chris Sims? Yeah, chris Sims, but Chris is in Christ, and so that idea is just a crazy concept. And so Paul here is not teaching them to become blessed. I believe that's where we mistake the book of Ephesians, just thinking that the book of Ephesians is about becoming blessed. He's not talking about becoming blessed. He's reminding them. You already are blessed.
Austin Gardner:Did you catch what he just said Becoming? And he said you're not becoming because you are redeemed. Yeah, yeah, that's. It's not that you will be sanctified, we are already sanctified, we're already purified, and it's the most costly gift possible. First Peter says we are redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, from our vain conversation, our worthless way of living, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without spot, without blemish. So you need to understand what he's done is. He's bought us, he's redeemed us, he's taken us to himself to be his.
Chris Gardner:Yeah, and when we truly understand that we are blessed that we're not striving for blessings, that we're not when we truly are. We are blessed that we're not striving for blessings, that we're not when we truly are. We are blessed and he's reminding us of who we are when we understand that it doesn't just change a thought in your life, it reframes the entire Christian walk because we go from striving to recognizing and all of a sudden you recognize who you are and then you begin to live like that. If you ever do much um studying on on changing major habits in your life, they tell you when you wake up in the morning just say I'm an athlete. An athlete doesn't eat like that and an athlete doesn't act like that. An athlete doesn't sleep like that.
Chris Gardner:And so because I say who you are, it changes your, your mentality of I don't go out and eat cheetahs.
Austin Gardner:You're not lying yeah. But you're not lying yeah Because you are a new creature.
Chris Gardner:Yeah, I am in Christ.
Austin Gardner:You are in Christ, yeah. And old things have passed away. And behold, all things have become new. And what you're saying? It's going on Ephesians 1. I mean, who does he address? He addresses saints and faithful in Christ. Who does he address? He says chosen people too. He addresses those predestined to the adoption, he addresses those who are accepted. He's addressing, and now he says and, by the way, in Christ we have redemption. Now we have redemption, yeah.
Chris Gardner:Paul applies it to the spiritual realm. He says humanity, the entire humanity, is enslaved to sin and guilt. The only way to know whether you're enslaved to sin and guilt is to do the two finger test. You take two fingers, stick them on your neck and if you feel a thump, thump, you are enslaved to sin and guilt. If that's true, then the only true freedom is found only when that debt is paid. And there's only one way to pay that debt. If you're dying, you're spending eternity separated from God. That's the only way to pay the debt. Or have someone pay that debt for you and Jesus paid it all only way to pay the debt. Or has someone paid that debt for you and Jesus paid it all and all to him so on the cross, all of your sins.
Austin Gardner:And they were all future when he died. And they were all future when he planned this, as it says right here in Ephesians, one before the foundation of the very earth, when he planned all that to save us. Everything we would do is future. And then Jesus goes across in Ephesians, Isaiah 53,. God puts all of our sin on him and he dies. And in 2 Corinthians 5, 21,. He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. Jesus knew no sin, but God made him sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So, before Chris jumps back in as we wrap this one up a little bit, but remember it's all in Christ, Not in the church, not in what you do, not in performance. It's in who we're in and that's what the redemption did. It brought you out of the slavery to sin in Adam and placed you in Jesus, in Christ, who is the freedom, liberator from sin, who's the Savior, who's the Redeemer.
Chris Gardner:And I always like closing as you talk about stuff about how this changes your daily walk, because if the Bible does not change your daily walk, then you're not reading it correctly, you're not studying it correctly. And here's the changes in your daily walk. When shame rises up, you have to remember redemption is past tense. He says we have redemption, not maybe one day, it's already done. When fear whispers, hey, you're never going to change. Redemption says the power of sin has been broken. You may still struggle, but you are not enslaved. And then, third, when culture tells you identity is self-made, paul says identity is not self-made. Identity is blood-bought. You cannot earn it, you can only receive it. And thank God, I am redeemed. Redemption isn't about escaping punishment, it's about stepping into freedom. If you only see forgiveness as God erasing your past, you're going to miss the joy of Him unlocking your future.
Austin Gardner:I think, before we close, what Chris just said to you is so strong you need to understand. You woke up today. You're feeling beat, beaten. You feel like you're worthless. But the Lord showed you your value when he bought you. He bought you with the blood of his son and you're feeling beaten and you're feeling embarrassed and you're seeing who you were and you're seeing all your failures. But did you know? God saw all your failures. God saw all your mess-ups. God saw everything you've ever done wrong. And he still bought you and saved you and gave you new life. And he didn't just buy you and set you free. I think that's a good one for you to consider. He didn't buy you and set you free. He brought you and took you to Himself and brought you into the full fellowship with His Father and the Holy Spirit. And we now live in the center of all the love God has for God and he loves you like he loves his son.
Chris Gardner:And so live that way, stop living like a free slave that sneaks back into the cage. The door's open, the blood's been shed, you've been bought, you are free. So walk like it, because that's your identity, because, after all, you are in Christ.
Austin Gardner:Amen. Well, I hope you've enjoyed this and I hope it's helped you. That's the real goal is to help you, and if it is helping you, I'd ask you to leave a comment, put a like. You can do that in Spotify, you can do that in iTunes, any of those that you're using you can do that. You can do it with Amazon, even, and so I'd appreciate it. Share it with somebody and we'll see if we can do more Tomorrow, the next podcast, we're going to be talking about forgiveness right there in that same verse. Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow.
