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
Paths of Righteousness
Have You Been Getting Righteousness All Wrong?
Psalm 23 says, "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." But let's be honest—how many times have we heard that and thought, "I need to try harder to live right"?
In this episode, we unpack what that phrase really means. And here's the surprising truth: it's not a demand. It's a promise. It's not about your performance. It's about your Shepherd's leading.
We break open the deep truth that righteousness isn't something you earn by spiritual discipline, rule-keeping, or moral striving. It's something God gives—completely and freely—through faith in Christ. Like sheep, we don't naturally know where to go or how to walk rightly. But the Shepherd does. And He's committed to leading us in the right path, not because we've earned it, but for His name's sake.
Here's what we explore:
- How Psalm 23 isn't a guilt trip—it's a grace gift
- Why righteousness is received by faith, not achieved by effort
- The radical truth of Romans 4: Abraham simply believed, and God called him righteous
- The divine exchange of 2 Corinthians 5:21—Jesus took your sin and gave you His righteousness
- What it really means to "frustrate" grace when we try to earn what God already gave (Galatians 2:21)
- How the Holy Spirit produces real change from the inside out—without the pressure to perform
This episode is for the weary, the worn out, and the ones who feel like they're never "enough." If you've been walking with a heavy weight on your back, trying to prove something to God or yourself, let this truth wash over you: You're already righteous in Christ. You're accepted. Loved. Led. Not because you've got it all together—but because He's your Shepherd.
Let go of the burden to perform. Trust the One who leads you. This is the path of righteousness—and it's lighter than you ever imagined.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Well, today we are back to. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. You see, we have talked about he's our shepherd. We've talked about how he meets our need with food and water and plenty and peace and quiet in the middle of the storm. We've talked about how, when we're discouraged and how we're at the end of our rope and we don't know where to turn, he is there and he restores our soul. We've talked about how we don't know how to navigate the path, but he will navigate for us, he will lead us through, he will take care of us.
Austin Gardner:But I want to jump to an erroneous conclusion that I think I've made so much. I read Paths of Righteousness and I thought to myself okay, austin, if the Lord's your shepherd, he takes you to where you're doing right, and I put so much pressure on me that I was to be the one doing righteous things. But you know, you were in Adam before, you were in sin before, and God saved you, took you out of the first Adam, adam the sinful Adam, the natural Adam, the carnal man, and put you in the spiritual man, the new Adam, jesus. If you're a born again believer, you're in Christ. You're in Jesus. You were in sin and now you're in righteousness. You were in wickedness and now you're in righteousness. You're in wickedness and now you're in holiness, and it's hard to understand that. But then I will admit, we don't know how to walk in righteousness. We just don't know how to do it. I mean, it's just not our nature. Our old nature was a wicked nature. We got plenty of time doing that, but now we need God to help us. So we want to stop right now and just think about what it means to be righteous and go with me for the next day or two and I think you'll enjoy this.
Austin Gardner:But here's what is righteous means doing what is right. What is just and that's where we put the emphasis is on doing me, doing what's right. It means following the norm, following the rule. It means being honest and loyal. But I'd just like to show you that in the Psalm you saw what it said. The emphasis wasn't on me doing right, it was on he leads me, he.
Austin Gardner:Psalm 23 is really not about what you do in any area of your life. It's what the shepherd does. The sheep doesn't know how to get from this pasture to that pasture. The sheep doesn't know how to live the life, but the shepherd is there to take care of it. He's going to help you Now.
Austin Gardner:Righteousness, righteousness. Can we just stop a minute and think about what righteousness is? We got to understand that righteousness is not something you can do. Righteousness means to be just, means to be right, and it's a gift, it's a present. It's not something you earn, it's not a salary.
Austin Gardner:The Bible says in Romans 5, 17,. For by one man's offense, death reigned by one. So Adam brought death much more. They which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, jesus Christ. Adam who we were, jesus, who we are, adam, who I was Adam and Adam, I am now a new creature. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a new creature and there's no condemnation. And so it's the gift of righteousness. That's what I want you to focus on. It's not something you earn. It's something you receive as a gift, and the Bible makes that clear in Romans 5, 17.
Austin Gardner:And the way you get the gift is by doing something. The Bible says in Romans 3, 22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. It's actually the faith of Jesus Christ, who went to a cross and paid our sin debt. It's actually the faith of Jesus Christ, who died and was buried and rose again. I'm actually saved, not because of anything I do, but because of what he did. Not even because of my belief, but because of his belief, and I just grab a hold of his belief. It's like the child trying to cross the street. When the dad grabs a child by the arm to carry him across the street and take care of him, it's not the strength of the child, it's the strength of the dad. My salvation is from God and it's by faith. I am the faith of Jesus Christ Now. It's not by works, it's not by what you do. I need you to focus on and learn. It's not by what you do, you see, it's a gift and it's by faith in Jesus Christ.
Austin Gardner:God counts your faith, your believing him, your trusting him, as righteousness, and he gives us a Bible story about that in Romans, chapter 4, verses 3 through 9. And he explains it. He says this is what the scripture says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. He believed and god said that's enough. He believed that god said that that makes you righteous. He believed and god called us righteous. And then it says it's not by works, because if it works, if it's worked it's something you owe, it's a debt, but if you'll receive it as a gift, then it's grace. And then in verse 5, he says who was it given to Him that works not but believes? God doesn't give righteousness to you because of what you do, and I know so much of church, puts so much pressure on you that you live almost in a spirit of bondage, a spirit of fear, a spirit of.
Austin Gardner:I think God's upset with me when you don't realize that Jesus paid it all. We sing the song, we just don't believe it. Jesus paid it all. It's not by works, but by leaving, but by believing. That's how we get this faith. So faith was reckoned to Abraham, it was counted to Abraham, it was put on Abraham's account and that's how he got to be righteous.
Austin Gardner:And David said in Romans, chapter 4, he said, boy, can you believe it? How happy can a man be when God calls him righteous? Not you, not the church, not the group of pastors, but when God calls you righteous? Now I need you to see. I think it kind of goes against the grain, because there's something in you that says I know he saved me, but I got to live righteous and you will live righteous. Don't get me wrong. You will live righteous If you're born again. Something inside of you makes it. Come't get me wrong, you will live righteous If you're born again. Something inside of you makes it come from the inside out. You want it, so you are. But it's never because you're straining to get it. You received it as a gift. See the Bible says in Romans 10, 10,. Listen, listen. You know every verse. I'm saying nothing new here.
Austin Gardner:With the heart, man believes unto righteousness. With the heart, man believes unto righteousness. With the heart, man believes unto righteousness. See, it was with the heart. It was with the heart that man believes. It wasn't with the hands that man works. It wasn't with the faithfulness to church. It wasn't how many times I didn't miss Sunday school, it wasn't how many times I dressed right, talked right, walked right. It was Jesus. I believed him.
Austin Gardner:Now, I think maybe this is the verse of all verses In 2 Corinthians 5, 21,. God made Jesus to be sin for us. God made him to be sin for us. God made Jesus to be sin for us and he did not know any sin Jesus had never sinned, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. First, it's not the righteousness of a man or the righteousness of your church, it's the righteousness of God. And then I think what's key is we're made the righteousness of your church. It's the righteousness of God. And then I think what's key is we're made the righteousness. God made us righteous. I didn't make me righteous, he made me righteous, he made you righteous. And that leads me to the next verse for us to consider.
Austin Gardner:And that leads me to the next verse for us to consider, and that is how often we frustrate the grace of God. That's found in Galatians, chapter 2 and verse 21. It says I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Now listen to this. You see, if I can be righteous by what I do, then Jesus died for nothing. I do not frustrate the grace of God. I will not accept the responsibility of being righteous. It comes by what Jesus did. That frustrate there means if you're not careful, you'll nullify grace. You'll act like it doesn't matter that Jesus died for you. You will declare invalid the grace and gift of God, you will set aside what Jesus did on the cross. You'll go back to the rules again. That's exactly what he was freeing all the people from. Paul said I will not, I do not frustrate the grace of God If righteousness comes by the law, if righteousness comes by keeping the rules, if righteousness comes by what I do, then Jesus Christ died for no reason. He died to make us free. Now, before I close, because I know some of my friends are probably just getting nervous right now Righteousness is produced in us as a fruit.
Austin Gardner:It comes out of us naturally. The Bible says in Philippians 1.11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness. You see, when you get saved, god changes you. But it's not because you're working on changing the outside, it's not because you paint the building. It's because the building's fixed on the inside. You see, it says which is by Jesus Christ, under the glory and the praise of God.
Austin Gardner:So it's about what Jesus is doing. It's the fruit of righteousness. It is the fruit of righteousness. It is that every one of us that is born of God does righteousness. You will change, but the pressure is not on you. It's on how the Holy Spirit is going to work in you. Your job is just to draw close open the door. Let God live through you. We'll get into that more at another time. I hope it'll impact your life as much as it does mine to realize that God's not aggravated at you. He's working in you. Even by your listening to this, god is at work in you, getting you more and more like he wants you to be. God bless you and you live this new life led by the shepherd. Trust the shepherd.
