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
The Cosmic Glue: Jesus Holds Everything Together
The mystery of God’s will isn’t meant to leave us confused. It’s intended to give us hope. In this episode, we explore Ephesians 1:8-10, where Paul reveals that God is working through Christ to gather everything back together again.
When sin entered the world, it broke everything: our relationships, creation itself, and even our connection with God. But through Jesus, God is healing what’s been shattered. If you’ve ever felt abandoned, broken, or lost in the chaos of life, this conversation will remind you that your story isn’t random and your wounds aren’t wasted.
God doesn’t cause your pain, but He promises to redeem it. Like Joseph told his brothers who sold him into slavery, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Even the mistakes you’ve made can’t derail His plan. Philippians 1:6 assures us that the One who began a good work in you will finish it.
This episode will help you see Jesus as the One holding all things together, the “cosmic glue” when your world feels like it’s falling apart. Whether you’re wrestling with the question of why suffering exists or wondering if God has a plan for you, you’ll find strength in the truth that His grace is greater than your circumstances.
If this message encourages you, share it with someone who needs the reminder that God is still in control and His plan is to restore all things in Christ.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Welcome back to, followed by Mercy, our podcast where we find ourselves today in the book of Ephesians. I am joined today by David David Gardner, our son missionary to Peru, and I'm excited to have him here with me as we dive into some more scriptures in the book of Ephesians. David, do you want to give a word there?
David Gardner:I'm just excited to be here and hopefully I'll learn something.
Austin Gardner:Well, I hope I'll learn something as we just discuss it. You know we're in Ephesians, chapter one, and it's wonderful because it's telling us who we are. It's our identity in Christ. Who we are, it's our identity in Christ. And so Paul, who was a bad guy, got saved like all of us were bad guys and got saved, writes to the saints and the faithful in Christ, and that's who we are. It's like when you get married and you call your wife your wife, she's your wife. It's not because she's doing stuff, you don't have any rules about that. It's just the day that I married Betty, she became my wife and she was no more my wife today, at 52 years of marriage, than she was that first day. And we are saints. It's not based on our behaviors, based on what Jesus called us. That's our identity. And then you know, I think David a few days ago emphasized to you grace and peace, but we've been blessed with all spiritual blessings. I'll dive more back in. Let David say something here.
David Gardner:Oh, I'm just. I really am curious what you think of verse 8. You know so, after he's done's done, redeemed us through His blood, after he's forgiven of our sins, the riches of His grace and all of this, verse 8 says wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Austin Gardner:I'd really like your explanation of that, and I'd really like your explanation of that you know he has been so good to us and he has just poured it out on us. And so now it's like climaxing and the Apostle Paul, leadership of the Holy Spirit, makes the comment that God Jesus has abounded toward us and he's given us all wisdom and prudence and he's made us understand the mystery of his will. Those are things that are kind of like. I mean, most of us we kind of read over that real quickly. We don't quite understand what mystery means and we don't understand what God's doing.
Austin Gardner:And today we want God to give us wisdom. I want him to give you wisdom as you think through it, because the word he's using there is divine wisdom, god's wisdom, the word prudence there is insight or practical understanding. So he doesn't just forgive us and redeem us and forgives us, but he opens our eyes to learn wisdom and practical discernment from heaven and what God is doing. And so the Jesus in us opens up all the treasures of heaven and wisdom. In Colossians 2, 3, it says in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? Proverbs 2, 6 says for the Lord gives wisdom, out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. And so it is the Lord giving us all that. It's not something we earn, but it's something God is going to reveal to us as we continue to learn in it. It's learning to see things like God sees them.
David Gardner:Would you say that it is a wisdom of not only seeing things as God sees them, but like knowing Him.
Austin Gardner:I think it is knowing Him, and knowing Him opens our eyes to see what he's doing.
David Gardner:In Proverbs. It's. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
Austin Gardner:And that word fear, by the way, you know so many. If you're listening, you may twist that word fear. That word fear is the word awesome, reverence. It is when you see it as great and that's why you know if you are afraid of something, you're actually worshiping it, because you look at it as so big, bigger than you, and you look at what it could do to you, and so you're actually worshiping it. Some people worship their fear of flying on an airplane Like ooh, it's so big. But if they turn their eyes, so what we do is it's not a fear like ducking, he's about to hit me. It's a fear realizing he's bigger than me, he's taking care of me.
David Gardner:All reverence of him, what it would be an all and reverence of him. That's right.
Austin Gardner:It's like I really care what he thinks and I see who he is, and so fear here is. It's a beautiful thing, it is not some terrible. He's going to hurt me, and performance-based religion has turned fear into this thing, like he's always mad and he's always in a bad mood. When I was a kid he's always mad, he's always in a bad mood. When I was a kid, my mother would sometimes whip us and be angry with us, all of the four kids, and we all knew you don't want to see mama. Daddy would whip us. Five minutes later it was okay, everything was fine. But my mother, you didn't even want to walk to the room for a week because she might just jump up and whip you again.
Austin Gardner:Well, that's almost how I felt about God for a long time. I was terrified. But that's not what we're talking about here. That's not what's going on. So he is somehow pouring out all this wisdom on us and it's really leading to the key word, and that's mystery. So read the verse wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He's given us this divine understanding, discernment, having made known unto us the mystery of his will Mystery. We want to talk about that word and what it means. That word's used a lot in the Bible.
David Gardner:Yeah.
Austin Gardner:You want to say a little bit about mystery.
David Gardner:Well, in Colossians 1,. It talks about revealing the mystery. I believe it's Colossians 1, going off the top of my head, but basically he's revealed the mystery of the gospel, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of his grace, and so understanding what God's plan is is found in Jesus, is found on the cross, is found in His death and His resurrection, and so he reveals that mystery to us, and having that mystery revealed means that we can know God and we can know Him on a personal level.
Austin Gardner:So mystery in these Bible terms is just a truth once hidden but now revealed by God. It's not a riddle, it's a revelation. It's God showing it. For example, the church was a mystery. You want to explain how the church was a mystery real quick? The people in the Old Testament had no concept.
David Gardner:No, that doesn't mean it wasn't true. No.
David Gardner:You're catching me off guard. Now You're going with the church, the mystery of the church, ephesians 5, where it talks about the man and the wife. He says this is a great mystery, but I'm not speaking of a man and wife, I'm speaking of Christ and the church. And I don't think that when you're going through the Old Testament, that they had this idea that Christ was going to come and redeem a people for himself, jews and Gentiles, and redeem it into a church. But now we can see it pretty clearly.
Austin Gardner:Think about this mystery Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, what would a Jew have thought if you had told him God's going to move into you? Yeah, the Jew thought we got this temple and there's a court of the Gentiles.
David Gardner:Are they? We're not going to worship in the temple, we're going to worship in spirit and truth. Yeah, that's a court of the Gentiles, are they? We're not going to worship in the temple, we're going to worship in spirit and truth.
Austin Gardner:Yeah, that's a mystery. But see, women could go so far, then Jewish men could go a little further. But there was this one place where only the high priest could enter once a year. And all of a sudden, jesus said I'm moving in. Yeah, and that was a mystery. The truth was there. It just hadn't been revealed yet.
Austin Gardner:And so here's a good one. You don't know how God is going to turn whatever's happening in your life into something good. It's a mystery, but we know the truth. All things brought together for good. But we know the truth, all things run together for good. Joseph has no idea how being sold into slavery and abused by his brothers is going to turn out for good. And so what we got here is God has a purpose and a plan, and we don't know what it is, but we know that God is going to work things out. And so the whole thing is now. Go back up and let me read the verse with you again. The verse says he has abounded towards. We know things today that no one has ever known before. Do you realize? Think about this, david, you can kind of just tell people how much Bible did Joshua have?
David Gardner:Oh, none, yeah, I mean you have no scripture. No, the only, I mean, if you really think about it, the only revelation of God is whatever he heard from his parents, whatever he saw in creation, whatever he felt in his conscience and whatever times he fought with God in the middle of the night, that's about it, but look how much it's abounded towards you. Yeah.
Austin Gardner:You don't just have the Old Testament. Even the guys, even the disciples, they didn't understand so much of God. Because in the Bible there's progressive revelation. God shows you a little bit. We know him a little bit in Genesis 1, but we know him a whole lot better in Genesis 6. Then we know him a whole lot better time we get through the Old Testament. And now he's living in us. So he's abounded toward us in wisdom and he's showing us his will and what's his will.
Austin Gardner:Look at the verse Ephesians 1, 8 through 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he will bring all things together in one. You know what happened in the creation. God put us it was all together. Everybody was in the garden, all the animals were friends, people were friends, animals weren't eating animals. There was no hatred, there was no division, there was no gossip, there was no slander, there was nothing bad. And then sin crept in and when sin crept in it all got split up and all of a sudden creation lost what it had and it became sad. And now animals are eating animals, animals are trying to eat people, people are turning on each other, brothers are killing brothers, corruption's everywhere, and it's so bad that creation is groaning and and crying, wishing for the day Jesus would come back. And when he comes back, guess what? And see, this is the mystery he's coming back. He's going to put it all back together again.
David Gardner:Go ahead, that's the fullness of times.
Austin Gardner:When the time's right. Yeah, now listen to this. What do we know about when we read about the millennium? The day's coming when kids will play with snakes and not get hurt, and lions will eat hay and not other animals, and men will die as babies at 100 years of age. It's all said about the millennium. And peace will reign all over the world. Why Jesus is coming to put it together. See what it said that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, those that are in heaven and those that are on earth.
David Gardner:Even in him. In him he's the key in me, I think. Vernon McGee in Colossians 1 in his commentary says that Jesus is the cosmic glue that holds everything together. Oh yes, he is.
Austin Gardner:He's the only thing holding us together as much as we are right now and think about it right now. Some of you are listening and you're suffering. I'm thinking about one of you right now and you're like well, my family's broken. My children are doing things I don't want them to do. I'm not allowed to see my children, I've got health issues. I'm thinking about you and it's like the whole world's coming apart at the seams. Good night. Russia and North Korea and China are getting together like they want to take over the world.
Austin Gardner:Nobody knows, things are upside down right now, but God's got a plan and he's going to bring it all together at just the right time. In Christ, the great mystery is not Christ ruling at a distance, it's Christ in us. We are included in that relationship and God is going to work it out. Even though you don't see it, god has a plan and God's at work. So can I trust his will? Can I trust that God is in charge of all that's happening and will work it out for his glory? So Colossians 1 16 says for by him were all things created and all things were created by him and for him. And so Romans 8, 21,.
Austin Gardner:I mentioned this one a while ago. The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption under the glorious liberty of the children of God. Here's a wild one, and David, I know you've seen it and think about it and preach about this but even the rocks would cry out. Yeah, what does that mean? So do rocks have feelings? How can rocks cry out? But the creation groans. You realize, the lion knows it's not supposed to be like it is. The lion knows that corruption and rottenness and the devil is in charge, and he can't wait till Jesus comes back.
David Gardner:Yeah, I was just reading in my devotions today in Psalms, where he talks about you know everything that you've made, everything's under your power, everything's under your dominion, and everything you know declares your glory. Everything cries out to you. And so, yeah, I mean, if we really take a biblical perspective, yeah, absolutely, even rocks cry out.
Austin Gardner:I like this. Adrian Rogers said Jesus is not just a part of the story, he's the point of the story. Wa Criswell said all of history is moving toward one grand climax the lordship of Jesus Christ. And so WR Newell, who wrote a great commentary on Romans, said God is not reacting to Satan, he's revealing Christ. The mystery is the eternal purpose, not a divine afterthought. So here's the whole deal. No matter how messed up the world seems, I know God's going to put it all back together again, and I can live confiding in God and trusting God and know this that Christ is on the move and he's moving forward and he's in control. He's in control. So, David, why don't you address people that are listening, that are hurting? We got people that we love and they're hurting right now. They're hurting because their family's broken. What does all this mean for them?
David Gardner:Well, I think that the more we know about Him, it's interesting when, even you read the verse, it's said that he's made known unto us the mystery of His will, that he is going to bring things together, yes, in the future, but it's that because we know that will and we know that His will is that he's going to make everything right, it means that today I can know that he's in control. Today I can know that this hasn't caught him by surprise. Something I've always said when I'm preaching, especially in Spanish, is that nothing that you're going through right now has ever caught God by surprise. Nothing has caught him by surprise, which is really comforting. It's also kind of irritating sometimes because on your carnal, carnal side, you're going then, if you knew, you know all this and why are you?
David Gardner:allowing it. You know, and and I think that, um, uh, so a few years ago I was actually, you know, going through a really dark period in my life and, um, we actually spoke to some christian counselors stuff, and one of the questions that the counselor asked me is you know, have you been angry at God, have you been upset with God? Because you know, a lot of people get upset with God and get mad because of things that they're going through and, you know, maybe even want to blame it on him. And so he asked me have you been mad at God? Have you been upset at God? And, honestly, I don't think that I was ever mad at God. I don't think that I was ever mad at Him, and that's not saying anything super spiritual about me, but I do think that my thought constantly for months and even years, and many times even today, isn't really you know God, why in the world would you? Or, or you know why did you do this?
David Gardner:To me it's more of like man. I just can't wrap my head around what you're doing. Like, what are you doing? And I think you know that's probably a little bit healthier than why are you doing this, Because I know why he's doing it. It's because he's in control. I know why he's doing it. It's because he's, you know, going to work everything for good. I know why he's doing it because he's giving me what's best for me, even though it doesn't feel like what's best for me now. And I think you know, the better question might be you know, God, what are you doing? And if I can't understand what he's doing, I can't understand why. And it's that he loves me and that he's in control and that he's going to bring all things together. He's going to make everything right. He's going to write every wrong. He's going to write every wrong done against me and write every wrong that I've done against others.
Austin Gardner:You know, here's, I think, what really worked and showed me. I don't believe God did anything to you, nor do I believe that it's correct to say he allowed it to happen to you, because God doesn't want you hurting. God doesn't want people hurting you or anybody else. But when mankind decided to become God which is what we did in the garden, when we told God we're going to eat this fruit so he can be like you, that meant we get to make the decisions, step out of our lives. So this whole world is in chaos, this world is split up in an agony and the creation has grown it and God hates it. That's not what he wanted, it's not the way he designed it, not the way it's going to be when he takes back over.
Austin Gardner:Remember the devil said to Jesus. He said if you bow down to me, I'll give you the kingdom. Jesus didn't say you don't have the kingdom, so no, but I don't take it that way. I take it by the cross. So I think the whole point is to realize God didn't do it to me, but God's going to work it out for good. So I don't think God gave me cancer or let me go through all the chaos I've gone through. I do think sin in a sin-cursed world caused people to divide and gossip and slander and falsely accuse. I do believe that my body is wracked with junk because we live in a sin-cursed world. But Jesus, here's the mystery he's going to turn this for good, like they meant it for evil against Joseph, and God turned it to good.
David Gardner:That's one of my favorite words in the whole Bible and it's not in English or in the King James. In Spanish, when Joseph is talking to his brothers, he says you know, you meant it for evil. In the King James it says but God meant it for good. But in Spanish it says he, he routed it, he re, he repathed it, he pathed it for good. And so it's almost like you know this idea of of detours in life and whatever detours that life might bring toward us or whatever. You know, just my path is going out of the way. God reroutes it and he, he cuts a new path and and and reroutes it for good and he re-weighs it for good and uh, and that you know, obviously is is comforting, it's, it's helpful to know that there's no path in following Jesus that's going to lead me into, you know, death and abandonment. It's always going to lead me to Him and it's always going to lead me to good.
Austin Gardner:He has predestined you to be conformed to the image of His Son. Yeah, and everything in it. He's saying I'll turn you into me. And, by the way, he submitted Himself to all the same junk we live in. Yeah, he came down here. Mama had to change His diaper. He was a baby, yeah, and there were probably days when they didn't have enough to eat. It was a poor family in a poor section of Israel and he subjected himself to everything.
Austin Gardner:And here's what I would like if you're listening as we wrap up, I'd like you to know you are not an accident, you are not random. Your wounds aren't wasted. God is going to use this to bring glory to his son. He has an eternal plan. He's bringing it all back together. I yearn for that day. If Jesus were to come today, it would all be over. He would take us and he would wrap all this up. I'll make a new heaven and a new earth and there'll be none of that trash left because we'll be back under His leadership. But, as of today, you live in a sin-cursed world and things happen and you're hurting, but he hurts with you. He can be touched with the feelings of your infirmity. So cast all your care on him and trust him and just think about this. We know things they never knew, and that's the whole point of the verses. Go ahead.
David Gardner:And I just added one thing to that is that you haven't ruined God's plan for your life either. That's good, and so I think a lot of people you know we've lived hearing God's perfect will for our life, god's permissive will, and you know there's this one path that you lead down that man. If you just follow all the right steps, you're going to make it, and if you don't, well, that's not really that. God's just going to kind of wink at you and allow it and you'll never reach. You know God's plan for your life and you know God's power and God's grace and God's Holy Spirit working in us is much more powerful than the poor decisions we can make. And you know Philippians 1, 6, that he says, being persuaded that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ. And so you know, no matter how many times I mess up his plan, is for good.
Austin Gardner:That's right. I think you need to drive that point home. He started it, yeah. He's going to finish it, yeah. And we make ourselves too big a part of the equation Well, I was thinking— we're like your children in the car, acting like they're buying the gas, acting like they bought the car, acting like they're going to pay their way into Disney World.
David Gardner:Well, I was thinking about this the other day. You know about God's perfect will for our life and it's like you know, I've grown up hearing other people say this is man, if you, if you follow all the right, if you just make the right decisions, you know you marry the right person and you're the right thing and you go to the, and so you know there's almost like a paralysis to make decisions because this might not be God's perfect will. But then I just started thinking about it is. I don't think there's a day that goes by that I fulfill God's perfect will, and there's days that I either speak ill to my children or I think wrong thoughts riding down the road, or I'm saying wrong words or having wrong attitudes or having wrong responses. I make wrong decisions pretty often. I don't think there's a day goes by that we're in perfectly aligned with everything that God has for us and once again, it's not really dependent on me that God is going to fulfill his work.
Austin Gardner:It's his Holy Spirit that he began the work and he'll perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. I think Ephesians 1, up to the point where we are right now should draw all of our attentions to this. It's all about what he is doing, and so our language is gratitude. Thank you, because he's the one. If you don't remember, he made you a saint, he made you faithful, he predestined you to be adopted, he chose you, he redeemed you. He redeemed you, he forgave you, and he's even poured out the wisdom for you to understand that he's at work and he's going to bring it all together in the end. So what David just said ought to change your life. I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's not so much about you, it's about Jesus. All right, we're going to wrap up today. I hope that you've gotten a blessing from this. It went a little bit longer, but I thought it was too good a discussion to stop. David, do you want to add any further words there?
David Gardner:No, I think it was great. Thank you very much for the lesson.
Austin Gardner:Well, thank you very much for letting us come to you today. I love having David with me and talking with us, and I hope that this is blessing you and, if it is, you share it with somebody else. God bless you.
