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
Christ Is Enough: Discovering Your True Inheritance
For many, the word predestination brings more fear than comfort. Visions of a distant God choosing some for heaven and others for hell can feel unsettling. But what if that’s not what Scripture is saying at all?
In this episode, we look into Ephesians 1:11-14 and discover the breathtaking truth: predestination isn’t about God excluding people, it’s about God making a way for everyone through Jesus. Long before the world began, God wrote your name into His divine will. He didn’t overlook you. He chose you to receive the greatest inheritance possible, not riches or lands, but Christ Himself.
We’ll talk about what it means to be sealed with the Holy Spirit, how every taste of God’s joy now is only a foretaste of glory to come, and why the family of God has no outsiders. At the cross, all walls come down. Every believer is equally loved, equally chosen, and equally secure in Christ.
If predestination has ever unsettled you, this conversation will change your perspective. Instead of fear, you’ll find rest in God’s love and confidence in your eternal inheritance.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Welcome back to, followed by Mercy. I am so excited every time I get to talk to you and let you know how much our God loves us. Our Father, if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have eternal life, and that has begun already, because eternal life is to know the Father and to know the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. The Father, and to know the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, and so we are in the process of living it already. I'm taking you through the book of Ephesians, and we're in chapter one. We've seen some exciting things. Let's go over some of that again today. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his will that we should be to the praise of his glory. Who first trusted in Christ and whom you also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy.
Austin Gardner:Now, one of the scariest words in here for many of us and for me for many years, is predestined. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined, and so we want to talk about that today. I was afraid of that word because it was often used like God chose some people to go to heaven and some people to go to hell. Well, the truth is, man chose to walk away from God in salvation and God chose to love everybody. He did predestine the way to be saved, and that would be in Christ. That would be in the fact that Jesus, god in human flesh, would come to the earth and live among us, god in human flesh, and then he would die on a cross and be buried and rise again, and you would only be saved through him. Now remember in Ephesians 1, god's talking to all of us as his children. He has already called us saints. He has called us faithful, not because of what we did, but because of what Jesus did. All of that's because we're in Christ. We have been chosen, we've been predestined to the adoption which we've talked about. I hope you go back and listen to that if you haven't. But the adoption is when he publicly recognizes you as who you are and gives you everything as a co-heir to Jesus Christ.
Austin Gardner:But in this passage of scripture we have obtained an inheritance. Have you ever felt like you were forgotten, maybe overlooked or left out of something important. Here's the good news Before the world ever began, god wrote you into his will. You are important to the God of heaven. Your father has not forgotten you. There may be millions of children, there may be millions and millions of people that are believers, but he knows you. You're important to him and he has appointed you by lot to receive a portion.
Austin Gardner:You remember in the Old Testament, when they got into the promised land, joshua had the job of. They drew lots and they divided the land and each person got their inheritance that would pass down from family to family. So when a Jewish person reading Ephesians, they understood that you finally got your inheritance. You obtained what was appointed to you. You received your portion. Well, our inheritance is Christ Jesus himself. Hudson Taylor once said I am left alone with him, but Christ is enough. So the glory of the inheritance is that we are the heirs of God himself. You and I are the heirs of God himself. If you are in Christ, you are in the wheel and no one will ever take away your portion.
Austin Gardner:Now remember predestination is not about fear, it's about comfort. It's about the fact that God sat down and made a plan about what he was going to do and how he was going to work it out. We talked about it. It's similar to the builder who sits down and has a blueprint to build your house, and so he's predestined. He has made a plan, he's got all the ingredients to put together, he's bringing it all together to work out his plan, and so that's exactly what the Lord does. He at first we saw he predestined us to the adoption by Jesus Christ. So we're predestined. That's not fear, that's comfort. God chose you before you ever knew you needed him, and so we know that we are not an accident and your salvation wasn't an accident, and no matter what's going on in your life, you need to know this you are chosen. God loves you. Jesus paid the sin price for you and salvation is yours. He predestined us the adoption. So let me go ahead and explain that real quick one more time. So here's what's going to happen Right now you're not adopted.
Austin Gardner:See, adoption was a public placing of the son or placing of the child, and so you and I have been born into the family of God. We were born into Adam sin, and then we're born again into Christ, and now we have eternal life. But on top of that. We are now predestined to the day that God will publicly recognize us and call us forth and set us out in front of everybody and say this is my beloved son, austin. I love Austin. I am well pleased with Austin and everything I have I give to him. I love Austin. I love him like I love Jesus, and I love Jesus with everything in me. And see, that's exactly how God feels about you. And so the day is coming when he's going to give you your new body. You're going to inherit everything, and so right now we see through a glass darkly. We're waiting for it, but there's a day coming when we're going to enjoy every bit of it. We're going to be right there in the presence of God. So I'm not afraid. Now I finally think I'm beginning to get a grasp on and understanding the predestined.
Austin Gardner:God has a great, wonderful plan. He began a good work in me and he's going to finish it. Things aren't an accident. God's at work in my life Now. You see, we first trusted in Christ. That's the Jewish people. And then, when it says you also, that's the Gentiles. And so what God has done is this blew their mind. But God didn't say just the Jewish people, but he said the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people, and he broke down the middle wall of partition between us so that now there's not Greek and Jewish, there's not man and woman, there's not free and servant. We're all one at the foot of the cross. The ground is level with the Lord Jesus in Christ. There are no outsiders. We are one family and you are loved equally with the other child.
Austin Gardner:I think that ought to sink into your heart, because I think you can easily look around when the devil starts messing with your heart and your mind and you begin to see another person. You think they're more blessed than you. You think they got more than you. You think maybe God forgot to give you some things and God kind of left you to the side. That is not what's happening. That is not what's happening and that's not what has happened. That is not what's happening and that's not what has happened, and I want you to understand that.
Austin Gardner:I want you to understand that you have been given all of that in Christ. Not only that, he tells us, I have sealed you with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now, the seal that was a mark of ownership, of authenticity, of security. So what happened is. The Holy Spirit was given to us like the down payment on what God has promised. We have not seen it all yet. We are not in heaven, we're not enjoying the presence of God, we're not walking in all the things that he promised, but we're close and we have received the earnest of our inheritance. We've had the down payment. That cannot be removed. It was a deposit. It's a foretaste of heaven. Samuel Rutherford called it the kisses of the king. So we have already got just a little bit of an idea of what God is going to do. So I want you to know you have got an inheritance coming, and it's not land or money or reputation, it's Jesus.
Austin Gardner:Now, how does knowing Christ himself is your inheritance change your perspective on life's losses? You're losing some things. Things aren't working out the way you wanted them to and you've been chasing worldly things instead of Christ. How does that affect you? Think about it. My portion is Christ and he is enough. Pretty estimation that we have God's plan. God's will not my works, god choosing us, and so God is doing a work. How does it help you, when things are going wrong and when you're living in failure and doubt, to realize that God's got a plan and he's going to work it out in your life. You can rest in God's eternal purpose in your life.
Austin Gardner:So once you say to him Lord, remind me, you chose me before I even knew you. No matter how much you messed up, no matter what you've done wrong, he loves you and he's brought us all into this one family in Christ. You understand that? And he did it for the praise of his glory. That we should be the praise of his glory, of his glory. Who first trusted in Christ? You see, we're the praise of his glory.
Austin Gardner:How does being a part of God's family change how you view others in the church? Do you realize? And Paul instructed this to Timothy. He said you treat all the older people like your dad, older men like your dad or mom, and the younger ones like your brother or your sister. This is family. Too much division, too much fighting, too much acting superior to one another, too much I'm holier than thou going on in the family, if you understand it, there's no outsiders. We ought to change that. Some people are pushed to the margins. Some people are forgotten and pushed away. Don't let that happen. They belong and you need to remind them of that.
Austin Gardner:See, the Holy Spirit's been given and he's marking you as the child of God. Nothing and no one can break that seal. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. When God seals you, no one can break it. When God seals you, no one can break it. When God seals you, no one can break it.
Austin Gardner:What does the Holy Spirit seal on your life mean? It's security in Christ that ought to help you feel loved when you feel unworthy or when you feel afraid. You remember you are sealed, safe and secure by the Holy Spirit of God. He's not only a seal. He's a down payment. He's the foretaste of glory to come. Every joy in the spirit that we have now is just a picture of what we've got coming.
Austin Gardner:So the Lord is doing a work. Have you ever felt the Holy Spirit move in your life? Have you ever felt a love for him and warmth? Just realize that's just a foretaste of heaven. Your future is guaranteed. Your inheritance is guaranteed. No matter how many trials you face, no matter what you're going through right now, no matter how bad you're hurting, you will never, ever lose your inheritance.
Austin Gardner:So it's time to think about all the little things God's doing already to show you that he is showing you to the praise of his glory. See, it's not about what you do, it's about what he does. That's why it's not about praising you for how good you've been. Some of us get this whole idea that it's us and we want to think about what we've done. We want to consider who we are, but it was to the praise of his glory.
Austin Gardner:So in Christ we have already got an inheritance. It's already ours and we are already predestined for the purposes that God is going to work out in the counsel of his own will. God is going to work. You are not an accident, and it will all be the praise of his glory. We trusted him and we have been sealed by him and we are waiting on our redemption.
Austin Gardner:So I want you to work out today. I want you to listen, I want you to go on with your life and I want you to realize just how important you are to the Lord. He sat down and wrote his will and he thought about you and he put your name in it and he sees you as important to the cause and important to what he's doing. And so you and I are chosen, predestined to the adoption a plan of God laid out in our lives. We are made acceptable. We are saints, we are holy and he has made us holy not us being holy and it's all by the grace of God, all of it, to bring praise and honor to him. So you live today with purpose and thankfulness. Thank God for who he is and what he's done in your life and what you're going to enjoy. I sure appreciate you listening. I hope that you are blessed a little bit by listening to the Followed by Mercy podcast and maybe you could share it with somebody. But thank you and God bless you very much.
